Tibet.

Chapter 1233: Fierce Battle in the Wilderness

The two armies were getting closer and closer, and when they were three miles apart, they stopped. The two armies stretched for nearly ten miles, with flags waving and murderous intent everywhere.

Li Na's main force was 30,000 cavalry, almost all of whom were Donghu people, most of whom were Goguryeo and Xi people. They had participated in the Anshi Rebellion. They were veterans brought from Youzhou by Li Zhengyi's predecessor Hou Xiyi, and they were very sharp and good at fighting.

Another 20,000 troops were from Goguryeo brought over from Silla last year, and another 30,000 were recruited local troops.

The two armies faced each other from a distance, and in terms of terrain, the Zibo-Qingdao army had a slight advantage. The terrain was undulating, and they were on a slightly higher ground. This terrain was conducive to cavalry attacks.

Li Na was wearing iron armor and holding a long spear. He squinted at the Tang army formation. Deputy General Wu Yuanji whispered, "Marshal, the Tang army has no archers!"

Li Na nodded. Really not. He couldn't understand why Guo Ziyi didn't deploy archers, but he didn't think about it any more. He raised his spear and shouted, "Cavalry charge, break through the main force of the Tang army!"

Thirty thousand cavalrymen suddenly launched an attack, charging down from a height like a torrent, their horses galloping with a force that shook the world.

The 30,000 cavalrymen were all wearing armor, holding spears, with ferocious and terrifying looks, shouting and urging their horses to gallop.

Guo Ziyi ordered coldly: "Heavy infantry, step out, firearms battalion, get ready!"

"Woo——"

The Tang army horns sounded, and the 30,000 Tang troops in the middle retreated dozens of steps like a receding tide, revealing 6,000 heavily armored infantry.

They lined up in three rows, half-crouching on the ground, with the tails of their Mo Daos touching the ground, and stared at the enemy with cold eyes.

Li Na was shocked. It turned out that the Tang army had heavily armored infantry. No wonder their infantry dared to confront the cavalry. However, once the cavalry rushed out, it was like water that had been poured out, and it was impossible to take it back.

Li Na's murderous intent exploded, and he shouted, "Beat the victory drum!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Fierce war drums sounded, these were the drums that inspired the thirty thousand cavalrymen to destroy everything and kill everything.

Guo Ziyi was as calm as a mountain and ordered: "The cavalry will attack from both sides!"

Lai Zhen led the cavalry on both sides to attack. The 20,000 Tang cavalry did not fight the enemy cavalry, but made a detour and killed the enemy infantry from both sides.

Both sides used cavalry to deal with infantry, so it just depended on whose infantry was stronger. Theoretically, the Ziqing Army had a slight advantage because it had more people, but that was not necessarily the case. The Tang Army had powerful heavy armored infantry that specialized in dealing with cavalry, as well as a more mysterious firearms battalion.

The cavalry arrived at a distance of 150 steps from the Tang army's main formation. Thirty small catapults were ready, with thirty small iron fire mines loaded into the catapults.

The small iron fire bomb weighs about ten pounds and looks like a small watermelon. It can be thrown one hundred and twenty steps away. If it were gunpowder, it would not be powerful enough and the small iron fire bomb would not explode, but dynamite would be fine.

The overwhelming cavalry had rushed to a hundred steps away, and the commander shouted: "Fire!"

Thirty iron fire thunders rose into the air, emitting green smoke and smashed directly into the group of cavalry. In just a moment, a series of violent explosions, "Boom! Boom!", were heard among the cavalry.

The cavalry were blown to pieces, with corpses strewn all over the ground. Many people were blown into the air, with large amounts of iron pieces flying in all directions. A large number of cavalry were hit and fell to the ground, with gunpowder smoke filling the air for a while.

Li Na's face turned pale with fright. The thing he feared most happened. The Tang army actually used siege weapons on the battlefield. But at this time he had no choice but to pray that the cavalry would quickly charge into the Tang army.

Thirty iron fire mines killed or injured more than two thousand people, but for the thirty thousand cavalrymen, the casualties of more than two thousand people were really insignificant, especially for the cavalrymen at the back, who only heard the thunderous sound but did not know what happened.

The cavalry's attack was only slightly stagnant, and then it returned to normal. At this time, the six hundred firearms crossbowmen were ready. They worked in pairs, one passing arrows and the other loading crossbows. Three hundred explosive arrows were aimed at the cavalry eighty steps away.

"Click! Click!"

A series of crossbow sounds were heard, and two hundred explosive arrows were shot out, "Boom! Boom! Boom!" The crossbow arrows were shot horizontally, and three hundred arrows exploded almost at the same time, immediately blowing the enemy cavalry's limbs flying everywhere, and directly blowing thousands of people and horses into pieces.

The cavalrymen at the back saw their companions disintegrate and split in an instant, with bones shattered and flesh and internal organs flying everywhere. They were terrified and tried desperately to rein in their horses, but were then knocked over by the cavalrymen at the back, and the soldiers who fell to the ground were trampled to death by the horses' hooves.

However, the killing range of the three hundred explosive arrows was not large, with only seven or eight hundred casualties. However, the effect it produced was extraordinary. First of all, it allowed tens of thousands of Tang troops to witness the power of Tang army's firearms with their own eyes, which was extremely helpful in boosting morale.

The second is to hit the morale of the enemy, especially the cavalry running in the front. If their morale and murderous spirit cannot be raised, there will never be that kind of devastating effect, and the impact of the cavalry will be greatly reduced.

The Ziqing Army no longer had the murderous aura they had at the beginning. The thousands of cavalrymen in the front were almost pushed up by the cavalrymen behind. Facing the six thousand gleaming Mo Daos, they screamed in fear.

"boom!"

The cavalry rushed into the Modao formation, but what greeted them was an extremely cruel and bloody killing. More than two thousand people were pierced by the Modao, and instantly formed a wall of flesh and blood in front of the Modao soldiers.

Xu Zongran, the leader of the Mo Dao Army, yelled, "Kill—"

Six thousand Modao Army soldiers stood up and formed an extremely solid iron wall of swords to block the charge of nearly 30,000 cavalry.

The six thousand Modao soldiers stepped on corpses and flesh and blood and moved forward step by step. Wherever they passed, cavalrymen fell down one after another, flesh and blood flew everywhere, and corpses and heads were chopped off like weeds. All that could be heard was the wails and screams of the dying cavalrymen.

It was not only the heavy armored infantry that were mercilessly killed, but also a thousand javelin throwers. They were well-trained, and each of them carried five short spears made of fine steel. Every time a short spear was thrown, it would pierce the cavalry without missing a target. Sometimes only seven or eight hundred people were killed in a round, because two short spears pierced one person at the same time.

Small catapults also continuously threw iron fire bombs into the black crowd, which continued to explode in the crowd. With every explosion, all the people and horses within a few feet radius would fall down.

But the only ones who remained silent were the 600 crossbowmen from the Firearms Battalion. As explosive arrows could easily injure their companions by mistake, they stopped firing.

Seeing the low morale, Li Na became very anxious and personally led 3,000 cavalry to charge forward. He adjusted the deployment and led 8,000 cavalry to bypass the heavy armored infantry and attack the spear and sword and shield troops in the rear.

After the Zibo-Qingzhou Army changed its tactics, it gradually improved. The 50,000-strong army concentrated its superior forces and fought a fierce battle with 20,000 Tang cavalry. The two sides were evenly matched.

Although the 30,000 Zibo-Qing cavalry suffered heavy casualties, there were still more than 20,000 people with strong combat effectiveness. After adjusting their tactics, they no longer crowded together, but dispersed and fought fiercely with the Tang army in teams of thousands. The Tang army's iron fire thunder had to stop the attack, and the casualties of the Zibo-Qing army were significantly reduced.

The six thousand heavy armored infantry were also divided into six teams, with one thousand men in each team. The soldiers fought with their backs to each other and the enemy cavalry. However, the Zibo-Qing cavalry did not dare to engage in close combat with them, but retreated as soon as they were engaged. Although the heavy armored infantry were powerful, their lethality was much less than before.

Li Na's combat intention was very clear. He used the high-speed running of the cavalry to tie down the Tang army's infantry, and first concentrated 50,000 troops to surround and annihilate 20,000 Tang army cavalry.

The battle situation between the two sides gradually stabilized. At this time, Guo Ziyi ordered: "Blow the horn for reinforcements!"

"Woo——"

The Tang army's reinforcement horn sounded, and the low horn sound echoed in the wilderness.

"Woo——"

In response to the horn sounded in the distance, a long black line appeared ten miles away, and Xi Wanli's 30,000 elite cavalry arrived.

(End of this chapter)