A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1263 Purple River Sunset Victory

Thirty thousand Xueyantuo cavalrymen galloped back and forth outside Dingxiang City.
The flag of the Shanyu Protectorate was flying high on the city wall. On the Eyang Ridge not far to the south, three beacons of smoke pierced the sky.

In the distance, above the long river, the setting sun is blood red.

Summer, the sixteenth year of Zhenguan.

Saibei.

Smoke is everywhere.

Xueyantuo Dadu squinted his eyes and looked at the Dingxiang City, which was built by the Sui Dynasty for the defeated Turkic Khan Qimin, and the Sui Dynasty also sent two princesses to the frontier to marry.

Later, when the Sui Dynasty was destroyed, Princess Yicheng persuaded Choro Khan to send people to bring Empress Su and Yang Zhengdao from Dou Jiande in Hebei to the outside of the Great Wall, and settled them in Dingxiang City. She supported them as the King of Sui, and assigned all the Sui Dynasty officials and civilians who had fled to the outside of the Great Wall during the Sui Dynasty chaos to Yang Zhengdao, and restored the Great Sui Dynasty. More than 10,000 Han people gathered here.

It is hoped that Chuluo Khan will die on the way to help Yang Zhengdao restore his country.

Within a few years, the Tang Dynasty sent troops to the north, launched a surprise attack on Eyangling and the court of Jie Li Khan. Not only did they capture the city of Dingxiang, but they also captured Jie Li Khan in Chang'an and destroyed the Eastern Turks.

The flags on Dingxiang City have also changed several times. Now it is the seat of the Great Tang Khan Protectorate. Li Simo, the so-called Eastern Turk Khan and the so-called restored Eastern Turkic Khanate, changed his surname from Ashina to Li. The Eastern Turkic Kingdom is still under the control of the Great Tang Khan Protectorate.

What kind of restoration of the country?
The Xueyantuo people, who had been oppressed by the Turks for several generations, would never allow the remnants of the Eastern Turks to survive.

"Simo, the Tang lackeys, have all fled into the Great Wall, so why didn't the Tang generals in Dingxiang City flee?"

The Tang general in Dingxiang City was none other than Shanyu Grand Protector Duan Zhixuan, the Right Guard General of the Tang Dynasty and Duke of Baoguo.

Dadu stood at the foot of the city and looked at Dingxiang.
Duan Zhixuan was also in the city gate tower watching the Xueyantuo army outside the city.

Duan Zhixuan, 45 years old this year, is in his prime. When he was 14 years old, this great general volunteered to conquer Goguryeo. As a childhood friend of the emperor, he was entrusted with the important task of defending the border.

"The Xueyantuo are nothing to be feared."

Duan Zhixuan had rich experience in fighting throughout his life. He could tell at a glance that there were about 30,000 troops under the city. This was a basic ability for a general. He could even estimate the number by the dust raised by the marching army.

Thirty thousand people, more than the defenders in the city, but these Xueyantuo people came from a long distance and had no siege equipment. Today, Dingxiang City, as the seat of the Shanyu Protectorate, has been reinforced over the years, with additional defense facilities such as enemy towers, urn cities, and arrow towers, not to mention the crossbow carts on the top of the city and the catapults behind the city wall.
Not only can it throw stones, but it can also throw kerosene, poisonous smoke balls, and even gunpowder packs.

"General, let's go out and take him down. I think they have a lot of soldiers, but they are just that strong."

"Don't attack without my order. If you scare them away, even if you wipe out all 30,000 of them, it will be in vain."

"These are not 30,000 enemy troops, these are 30,000 military heads. We can only look at them but not fight them. It's really frustrating."

Several generals sighed.

"Obey the command and follow the arrangements. The order we received is to stay in the city and not leave. If we keep the city well, it will be a merit. If the Xueyantuo people want to pass through us, then let them go south. But when they come back, we can't let them leave again."

The summer breeze outside the Great Wall is very cool.

Duan Zhixuan was very calm. As he expected, the Xueyantuo people circled Dingxiang City several times and sent people to the city to shoot arrows tentatively. After provoking them and finding that no one in the city paid attention to them, they were like a dog biting a hedgehog and had no idea where to start.

In the end, they simply took off their armor and rested not far from the city, made a fire to cook, watered the horses and cut grass.

The defenders in the city still ignored it.

"Such a despicable trick, can you lure our army out of the city in this way in the future? Hahahaha, Dadushe, when he was still breastfeeding, I had already been fighting on the battlefield for many years."

There were not many soldiers and horses in Dingxiang City, but they were very elite.

There are three thousand soldiers from the Protectorate.

These soldiers, together with the civilians in the city and the soldiers from the tribes and cities, can defend the city, but it is still very risky to leave the city.

The Grand Commander Li Ji had already issued strict orders that all troops outside the Great Wall were not allowed to attack on their own before his arrival and were only required to guard their respective castles.

Duan Zhixuan looked down on Li Ji somewhat. When he followed the emperor in his campaigns, he was invincible, but Li Ji often lost battles. But now Li Ji has become the Minister of War and even the Prime Minister.

Duan Zhixuan yawned as he felt a little sleepy due to the wind. "You guys keep watching them. I'm going to go downstairs."

Dadushe acted as if he underestimated the enemy at the gate of Dingxiang City, but after a whole day of performance, there was no response from the city.

Some Xueyantuo generals were so angry that their faces turned red and their necks became thick, clamoring to attack the city.

Dadu told them to shut up.

Datushe was the eldest son of Yi Nan. Although he was born out of wedlock, he had followed Yi Nan in battles for many years. When the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the Xueyantuo was still relatively close, he had been to Chang'an and even stayed in the imperial guards for a period of time.

He originally wanted to be the son-in-law of the Heavenly Khan, but unfortunately, several attempts to marry him were unsuccessful. In the end, he was canonized by the Heavenly Khan as the Little Khan Moheduo Yehu.

He was quite aware of the strength of the Tang Dynasty's city defenses. Without siege equipment, it would be very difficult to break through such a strong city.

Even with ten times the number of troops, it would be difficult to capture it.

Standing in the distance, he squinted his eyes and looked at Dingxiang City for a long time.

The strategy given to him by Yinan Khan for this march south was to march south before the Tang army gathered, kill Li Simo, the Tang's lackey, first, seize the Qinan area, then block the enemy at the Yinshan line, and finally reach the foot of the Great Wall and force the Tang to negotiate peace.

Because of the precedent of the Tang army destroying the Eastern Turks and Tuyuhun, especially the precedent of Wu Huaiyu's expedition to the Western Regions, Yi Nan did not dare to let the Tang army fight to the northern desert.

The Tang army was able to march into the Western Regions and easily conquer the Western Turkic tribes and countries, so the Great Desert was no obstacle at all.

Yi Nan has dominated Mobei in recent years and has a certain strategic level. He knows the importance of taking the initiative.

Knowing that the commander-in-chief this time was Li Ji, a guy who had been in charge of Bingzhou for more than ten years but had never fought any good battles, and it was even rumored that he had a nickname, the often-defeated general, this gave Yi Nan more confidence.

If the commander was Wu Huaiyu or Li Ji, Yi Nan would never dare to be so arrogant and take the initiative to attack southward.

A person's name, the shadow of a tree.

Who the hell is Li Ji?

Yinan Khan, who was far away in Mobei, also heard some rumors from the Central Plains. For example, after Wu Huaiyu conquered the Western Regions, his achievements were so great that he frightened the emperor and was hidden away. He was even almost assassinated in Luoyang.

As a result, the Heavenly Khan Li Shimin actually put the blame on him, saying that he was the mastermind who sent someone to assassinate Wu Huaiyu.

It’s a pity that Wu Huaiyu didn’t die, otherwise Yinan would wake up laughing in his sleep.

But although Wu Huaiyu did not take charge this time, Yinan still felt that he had already won half the battle without even starting the fight.

The great generosity issued a decree,
Bypass Dingxiang City, just like bypassing the Tang army’s military fortress in Yinshan before, ignore it and continue to attack southwards.

The Tang people wanted to lure them into attacking the city.

He won't fall for this.

When he was in Chang'an, he had learned the art of war and knew that in war one must take the initiative and not be led by the enemy.

The Tang people were good at defending and attacking cities, while the Xueyantuo were good at field battles.

The Xueyantuo people spent another night under the city of Dingxiang.

It was a quiet night.
The Xueyantuo people seemed relaxed on the surface, but in fact they took off their armor outside the tent, but put it on again once they entered the tent.

They were on high alert and did not sleep well the whole night, waiting for the Tang army to attack the camp.

If they come, it will be exactly what they want.

Unfortunately, Duan Zhixuan slept soundly in the city that night, and except for those on duty for defense, the rest of the thousands of Tang soldiers were also fast asleep.

Tianming,

With dark circles under his eyes, Dadushe cursed the defenders on the city wall as cowards, then he had to cheer himself up and continue marching south.

The soldiers passed by the city.
Duan Zhixuan stood on the top of the city wall and watched them go.

Quite harmonious.

But just a few days later,
Dadushe came back from the south, but this time he was a little flustered. He chased Li Simo but failed to catch up with him. Li Simo ran into the Great Wall.
The Great Wall defenders did not stop him.
Because when Tian Khan asked Fu Guo to be the Khan, he had made a request. He was willing to be the watchdog of the Tang Dynasty, but if the Xueyantuo invaded with large numbers of troops, he would be allowed to retreat to the Great Wall and wait for reinforcements.

The emperor agreed to his request, so this time Li Simo simply led his troops to retreat all the way to the Great Wall.

His escape was not without merit. Although not all of Datushe's 200,000 troops reached the Great Wall, 80,000 of them did, and 120,000 were still in Qinan.

Dadushe was not capable of attacking Dingxiang City, and of course he was not capable of conquering the Great Wall.

They ran all the way from Mobei to the Great Wall. After thousands of miles, they were exhausted and had little food and fodder to carry.

Nothing gained, and I am in a dilemma.

At this time, Li Ji had finally assembled all the troops and attacked all the way.

Dadushe received reports from various reconnaissance cavalry under his command.
After some thought, it was decided to evacuate from the foot of the Great Wall first.

The terrain here is not suitable for them and they can easily be surrounded.

Although he looked down on Li Ji, he still planned to retreat to the grassland and fight again.

He withdrew.

Li Simo's dog immediately came out of the Great Wall and followed.

When he turned around and wanted to kill Li Simo, he immediately retreated, sticking like a dog-skin plaster.

A few days later, Li Ji's flag appeared.

There are a lot of people and horses.

Dadu was a little panicked. He felt that the situation was not right and was developing in a direction that was extremely unfavorable to him. When he thought of the many Tang army castles such as Dingxiang on the way of retreat, he became a little nervous.

They didn't take those castles seriously when they came here, and they just went around the city walls. But if they go back now, will the Tang army let them pass easily?
Fortunately, the area outside the Great Wall is large, but there are not many castles.

Dadushe issued another military order.
Don't get entangled with Li Simo, retreat north at full speed. He retreats, Li Simo chases,
He runs, he chases, he can't fly.

Li Ji saw that Dadushe was running faster and faster, and his large infantry could not keep up, so he decisively abandoned the infantry and baggage troops and directly caught up with Li Simo with his light cavalry.

The two of them also accelerated their pursuit with the Tangtu cavalry.

Dadushe ran away, even faster than Li Simo fled south before.

He even directly ordered the army to disperse and retreat.

Now it would be very difficult for the Tang army to intercept or pursue.

Datushe turned around and retreated, but this did not shake off the Tang army.

There were pursuers behind them and Dingxiang City blocking them in front.

Seeing that the Tang army was still chasing,
Dadushe decided to set up his troops on the banks of the Zihe River to fight the Tang army in a desperate battle.

"I now have 80,000 troops on this vast grassland. Li Ji and Li Simo, two lackeys of Li Shimin who have forgotten their surnames, only have light cavalry, 30,000 Turkic dogs and 12,000 Tang cavalry.

We are twice as many as the Tang army. In a field battle, we are two against one. This is God's help. We Xueyantuo will win this battle."

Kill off Li Ji and Li Simo, the two Dog Slave vanguard light cavalry, and then turn around and fire a shot to kill the large group of infantry that are chasing them.

Take Dingxiang and then fight to the foot of the Great Wall.

"Array up!"

"dismount!"

"Fight!"

Datushe let out a loud roar and decided to use the famous fighting skills of the Xueyantuo people that swept across the northern desert and fight on foot.

Although the Xueyantuo people dominated the Mobei steppes, they were also a branch of the Tiele people, formerly known as the Gaoche people. They defeated the Turks not by cavalry warfare, but by defeating cavalry with infantry.

During the battle, the cavalrymen dismounted and formed a group of five, with four fighting on foot in front and one standing behind to watch the horses. If they won, they would chase on horseback.

The advantage of this tactic is that it still has strong mobility, but can also restrain the powerful cavalry of the Turks.

The Xueyantuo people could not defeat the Turks in cavalry battles, but when they used this infantry combat method, they won more battles than they lost.

Now that he had twice as many cavalry as Tangtu, Datushe used this tactic without hesitation.

Li Simo led 30,000 light cavalry from the Turkic Khanate and was the first to charge into the battlefield.
Faced with the dismounted Xueyantuo infantry, he ordered the cavalry to charge without hesitation.

Next came Prime Minister Li Ji. Li Simo planned to perform well and let that little bastard Datushe understand that when he was proclaimed Khan in Jinshan, Yinan was still riding sheep and chasing rabbits.

Thirty thousand light cavalry covered the sky and the earth.

In front of them, the 80,000 Xueyantuo warriors, except for the more than 10,000 who were watching the horses in the rear, the remaining more than 60,000 also formed an infantry line that stretched from sky to ground.

More than ten years,

There has never been a battle of this scale on the grassland.

The Xueyantuo people's spears were densely packed, forming one spear square after another, and it was like the grassland suddenly grew patches of thorns.

The 30,000 Turkic light cavalrymen held their scimitars and spears high, recalling the glory of their ancestors as they galloped. They once roamed thousands of miles east and west, and no one could defeat them.

Those damn Xueyantuo people were once just their slaves.

They shouted and vowed to crush them.

then,

The two armies collided.

The battle was extremely fierce, even tragic.
The Turkic light cavalry continued to fight.

But they could not break through the Xueyantuo infantry spear formation at all. Their spear phalanxes seemed endless. They destroyed one after another, but there was still no end in sight.

The Turkic light cavalry also continued to fall.

Their momentum gradually weakened and they could no longer move forward.

However, the Xueyantuo people were able to go against the wind, fight back head-on, and push back continuously.

Finally, some Turkic cavalry began to turn around.
They were afraid.
Dadu sent out orders and mounted his horse to pursue.

The Xueyantuo soldiers mounted their horses again, and this time it was their turn to give chase.

The morale of the Turkic cavalry fell to the bottom and they were chased everywhere by the high-spirited Xueyantuo.

Li Ji and his 12,000 Tang cavalrymen who had just arrived from behind,
They were surrounded by the Xueyantuo troops who had caught up with them.

Li Ji scolded Li Simo for being incompetent, but the situation was critical and he didn't care to hold him accountable at this moment.

After quickly thinking about the current situation, Li Ji decided to use his own countermeasures.

"All soldiers dismount, form infantry formations, and fight on foot with long spears!"

"Shoot three arrows before the battle,"

"After three arrows, throw the divine palm thunder again!"

"The Tang Dynasty is victorious!"

Li Ji shouted loudly, and the messengers rode their horses to the front of the battle, quickly conveying Prime Minister Li's orders to the soldiers in each camp over and over again.

Twelve thousand elite Hedong cavalrymen dismounted one after another. The horses were sent to the rear and guarded by a part of the Tang army. The rest of the soldiers quickly formed a battle array and raised their long spears.
The archers and crossbowmen not only took arrows out of their quivers and stuck them on the ground in front of them, but also took out the fuse, wrapped it around their wrists, and lit it.
Various firearms such as palm bombs and thunder bombs were also taken out.

The Xueyantuo people actually dared to fight on foot with the Tang Dynasty in the Central Plains. They were seeking death.

Faced with being surrounded by enemies several times their number, the elite troops of Hedong were not afraid, but instead prepared to attack from the center.

The Eastern Turkic light cavalry is incompetent, so we have to rely on the elite troops of the Tang Dynasty.

Hand-to-hand combat,

This time it was the Xueyantuo who charged on horseback.
They thought they had defeated 30,000 Turkic cavalry, but now the more than 10,000 Tang troops must be in panic and would collapse at the first charge.

But unexpectedly, he hit a wall.
Those spears were so long and sharp that their armor could not protect them at all.

The Tang army's bows and crossbows were also very powerful.

then,

Suddenly, thunder roared across the battlefield.
It wasn't just one or two sounds, but they kept coming one after another.

That's not thunder.
It was the firearms of the Tang people.
Horses neigh and people shout,

The Xueyantuo had also heard that the Tang army had such sharp firearms, but they had never actually seen them. Now that they saw them, they found them extremely terrifying and horrifying.

The Xueyantuo horses were frightened and ran away in panic.

Not to mention breaking through the Tang formation and crushing the Tang army in one fell swoop, they were the first to fall into chaos.

Just as the Xueyantuo army was terrified, something even more fatal happened.

The guards of the Dingxiang City Shanyu Protectorate, who had been as cowardly as mice and dared not fight when they passed by before, appeared, three thousand guards, plus two thousand soldiers from the Fanhu city.

Five thousand cavalrymen rushed to the battlefield and appeared behind them.

This dealt a fatal blow to the Xueyantuo people.

The morale of the army was completely broken and the Xueyantuo people fled in all directions.

The battle was so fierce that it lasted until sunset, and the Tang army pursued the enemy for hundreds of miles.

According to statistics after the war, more than a thousand people were killed in battle, more than 50,000 people were captured, and a large number of horses, weapons, armor, etc. were seized.

Datushe fled in panic with only ten thousand men, successfully escaped the pursuit, crossed the Yinshan Mountains, and joined up with the 120,000 follow-up troops in Qinan.

He didn't dare to stay in Qinan at all.

He didn't care about the soldiers who hadn't escaped yet.

He hurriedly led his troops to retreat northward, plunged into the vast sea of ​​sand, and fled to the northern desert.

Li Ji pursued them all the way to Qikou.
It was here that Wu Huaiyu and Su Dingfang captured Jie Li Khan. Unfortunately, they failed to catch up with him this time, and the big fish escaped.

Fortunately, the record is still good.

Li Ji looked at the battle results summarized by his soldiers, stroked his beard and laughed, his face flushed.

Finally, he succeeded in his battle.

This battle will surely let those who doubt and mock him see that he, Li Ji, is by no means a general who is always defeated. He, Li Ji, is also a dignified general.

He, Li Ji, is not inferior to Wu Huaiyu.

"Report the victory to the Emperor of Chang'an!"

Li Ji was proud and full of energy.

(End of this chapter)