Tibet.

Chapter 1256: First Battle at the Bridge
At night, on the east side of the first floating bridge, hundreds of people were building a temporary floating bridge on the shore. They strung together rafts one by one and tied them firmly. When the length was about the same as the width of the river, they put it vertically into the water. With the north bank end fixed, the floating bridge would move across the water, and the other end would cover the south bank.

This is the fastest and most convenient way to build a pontoon bridge. There are more than a hundred soldiers lying on the pontoon bridge, who are holding on to the ropes on the bridge tightly.

After the floating bridge was put into the water, it was quickly washed sideways by the current, and the middle part became curved. At the top were two soldiers who were very good at swimming. They jumped into the water pulling the rope, swam to the other side, and soon swam ashore. They pulled the rope with all their strength and tied the rope to two big trees not far away.

The floating bridge was washed into an arc by the current. Dozens of soldiers hurriedly drove two wooden stakes into the riverbed to support the floating bridge so that it would not be broken by the current.

At the same time, two thousand spearmen jumped onto the pontoon bridge and rushed to the other side at high speed. The pontoon bridge was only eight feet wide, less than ten feet, and was undulating from front to back and left to right. It was not suitable for war horses to cross the river, but infantry could.

In less than half an hour, two thousand infantrymen quickly ran to the other side and were not intercepted by the Tang army.

Seeing that the crossing of the river was going smoothly, Zhu Ci immediately changed the plan and ordered another 8,000 soldiers to cross the river. At the same time, he widened and reinforced the pontoon bridge to facilitate the cavalry's crossing of the river.

Zhu Ci originally planned to send two thousand soldiers to attack the Tang army's crossbowmen, but now there is no need for that. The army will cross the river directly, and ten thousand troops will protect the pontoon bridge from being damaged on the south bank.

Thousands of craftsmen were engaged in the process of widening and reinforcing the floating bridge. They first drove piles, one stake every thirty steps, to firmly support the floating bridge, and then widened and reinforced it.

Of course, several steps were carried out simultaneously, reinforcing and widening the bridge, while soldiers were also running quickly on the pontoon bridge.

Lai Chen had already received the report. He left 5,000 soldiers to guard the half-destroyed pontoon bridge, and he personally led 15,000 soldiers to the newly built pontoon bridge 30 miles away.

At the first watch, Lai Chen led 15,000 men to the place where the enemy was crossing the river. Suddenly, a volley of arrows came from both sides. The Tang army was caught off guard and hundreds of them were shot down.

Lai Zhen was furious and urged his horse to charge towards the ambush. He swung his sword to chop off dozens of arrows and charged into the crowd with his sword. There was a flash of cold light, the sword was flying, heads were rolling, limbs were broken, and he killed dozens of people in one breath.

The Tang soldiers behind them rushed forward and surrounded the 1,000 archers who had ambushed them. The archers picked up the spears on the ground and fought fiercely with the Tang soldiers.

The other side arranged a thousand men to ambush the Tang army in order to buy time for the Fanyang army three miles away to assemble.

At this time, the Fanyang Army had assembled 5,000 men, and the soldiers behind were still running across the river to reinforce the army on the south bank.

Lai Zhen also saw through the enemy's intention. He left 5,000 men to continue to encircle and annihilate the enemy, while he led 10,000 troops to rush to the river crossing.

Five thousand Fanyang soldiers shouted and rushed forward to fight, and the two armies fought fiercely by the river.

Soon, more than 4,000 Tang soldiers arrived and joined the battle after annihilating the enemy.

The soldiers of Fanyang Army fought desperately to protect the pontoon bridge that was being installed. Three thousand men formed a semicircle and fought to the death with the Tang Army. There was a steady stream of reinforcements on the bridge.

The 20,000 Uighur cavalry were also eager to try and began to prepare to cross the bridge.

All 10,000 Fanyang troops had crossed the bridge. They were well-trained and fought fiercely, and were in a close fight with the Tang army.

The pontoon bridge had been reinforced and widened, and the Uighur soldiers began to lead their horses across the bridge quickly. Soon, the first batch of 500 Uighur cavalry had crossed the river and started fighting. The situation began to turn unfavorable to the Tang army.

With the continuous influx of cavalry, the number of cavalry soon reached two thousand. The situation on the battlefield gradually reversed and the Tang army began to retreat.

At this critical moment, a low horn sounded in the distance, and Xi Wanli led 20,000 supporting cavalry to attack. Lai Chen looked at the battle flag in the distance and shouted excitedly: "Our reinforcements are coming, brothers, beat the war drums for me!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The Tang army's war drums sounded, and the morale was immediately boosted, and the Tang army began to counterattack.

But the number of Uighur cavalry also increased to 4,000. They were not afraid at all. They shouted loudly and charged forward to fight fiercely with the Tang cavalry.

Judging from the strength, the Uighur coalition was inferior to the Tang army, and it was only a matter of time before it was defeated. But the problem was that the tactics of the Uighur coalition were very clear. They were just trying to buy time so that their army could cross the river as soon as possible.

The Uighur cavalry crossed the river at a significantly faster speed. The cavalry no longer dismounted, but used their skilled horsemanship to control their horses to run on the pontoon bridge.

Soon, another two thousand cavalrymen were added to the battlefield, and the cavalry on the pontoon bridge continued to rush across the bridge.

At this moment, a 5,000-stone warship of the Tang army appeared on the river. Its wheels and oars rolled, and the warship accelerated and crashed into the pontoon bridge.

The soldiers of Fanyang Army shot arrows, but it was useless. The huge bow of the ship crashed into the pontoon bridge. With a loud "crack", the pontoon bridge was broken in half, and hundreds of cavalrymen on both sides fell into the water.

Although the number of Uighur cavalry on the south bank increased to 7,000, they were still no match for the 20,000 Tang cavalry. At this time, General Ma Sui also arrived with 20,000 troops.

They cut off the retreat route of the Uighur cavalry to the east. The Tang army became more and more courageous, while the coalition forces became weaker and weaker. Many soldiers wanted to surrender, but they had no chance.

The battle lasted until three o'clock in the morning. With the annihilation of the last few hundred cavalrymen, the battle finally ended. All 10,000 Fanyang troops were killed, and all 7,000 Uighur cavalry were also annihilated. The Tang army took no prisoners and all the wounded were killed.

However, the Tang army also paid the price of 3,000 deaths in this battle, and more than 4,000 people were injured.

Although the first forced crossing of the Juma River failed at the cost of nearly 20,000 people, Uighur Khan Dengli also saw hope.

He believed that the reason for the failure of crossing the river was that only one pontoon bridge was built. If three pontoon bridges had been built at the beginning, at least 50,000 to 60,000 people would have been able to rush across, and they would definitely have been able to break through the Juma River.

But the warships of the Tang army were a problem. They had no opponents in the river, and the pontoon bridge was hit by them at will. The most urgent thing at the moment was how to destroy the warships of the Tang army.

That afternoon, a soldier came to report that the Tang army's warships were on fire. This greatly encouraged Dengli Khan and he hurried to the river.

Not far from the half-floating bridge, a large ship on the river was on fire. The Tang army soldiers on the ship jumped into the water and swam towards a small boat not far away.

"what happened?"

"Reporting to the Khan, the ships approached the pontoon bridge, and our soldiers threw in several burning kerosene cans, and the enemy ships caught fire."

"Fire oil!"

Dengli Khan slapped his forehead. This is a powerful weapon for dealing with ships! He actually forgot about it.

(End of this chapter)