Tibet.

Chapter 1344: Battle of Nanzhao (Part )

King Geluofeng of Nanzhao was extremely worried. After all, he was a sixty-year-old man and he understood the difference between a small country and a big country. Zheng Hui had told him more than once that it didn't matter if a big country lost ten times, as it could still make a comeback, but for a small country, failure once would mean the destruction of the country.

"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened!"

The guard general Aqiduo rushed into the hall. Geluofeng's face changed drastically and he asked anxiously, "What happened?"

"Wang Sun's army was defeated, and our 200,000-man army was completely defeated!"

Geluofeng's eyes went dark and he almost fainted. He was helped to sit down by several guards. After a moment, Geluofeng asked in a trembling voice, "What's the situation of the prince now?"

"After hearing that Wang Sun is gathering the defeated soldiers, he wants to fight the Tang army to the death again!"

"what?"

Ge Luofeng was shocked and said urgently: "Go and call him back immediately!"

As soon as he finished speaking, several justices came rushing over.

Qingping official Yin Choukuan stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the situation is not good. My grandson Yin Anping escaped and said that the Tang army had the help of the Thunder God. He used thunder to attack us continuously, causing all 30,000 war elephants to defect and crush the Nanzhao army. The general Meng Chengjin was trampled to death by the elephants. The situation of your grandson is unknown!"

Ge Luofeng's face became uglier and uglier. He turned around and asked the Qingping official Zheng Hui: "Can the Tang army really communicate with the gods?"

Zheng Hui shook his head. "Your Majesty, it's not a Thunder God, but a thunder and fire weapon. The Guanlong Army has had it for a long time, and it's just more powerful now. The current Tang Dynasty is no longer the Tang Dynasty of the past. Li Ye started from a local prince, and now he has become the ruler of the world of the Tang Dynasty. He has won the support of everyone in the Tang Dynasty. He must have his own strengths. Therefore, I have repeatedly advised you to be respectful and not to be an enemy of a big country. I am afraid that we will be liquidated by the Tang Dynasty. We have killed too many Tang army prisoners of war and Han people!"

The hall was silent and everyone was silent.

The guard general Aqiduo rushed into the hall again and reported in a hurry: "Your Majesty, the prince has gathered 30,000 defeated soldiers and brought 30,000 elite soldiers who were guarding the capital to fight against the Tang army!"

Ge Luofeng was shaking all over, and suddenly he spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

Geluofeng was an old man. He knew that if he still had tens of thousands of troops, he would at least have a chance to ask for peace with the Tang Dynasty and would not lose too badly in the negotiations. But if he had no troops at all, he would not even have the chance to ask for peace and would be completely at the mercy of others.

It's all over now.

Yi Mouxun had completely fallen into a mood of tragic martyrdom. The defeat of an army of 200,000 had completely broken his bottom line, especially after he witnessed with his own eyes his brother Cou Luodong being blown to pieces by an arrow from the Tang army.

The sense of aristocratic honor that had long been hidden in his bones was aroused. This was an extreme emotion of preferring death to loss of dignity, and it was actually a manifestation of his embarrassment.

Yi Mouxun was a young ruler. He was different from old rulers like Geluofeng. Geluofeng understood politics and knew the Tang Dynasty. He knew that Tubo was the biggest threat to the Tang Dynasty. He only needed to make good use of Tubo, show enough humility towards the Tang Dynasty, and blame Tubo for the root cause of the two Nanzhao wars.

The Tang Dynasty would understand that the two disastrous defeats in the southern expeditions were actually a failure in the competition with Tubo for Nanzhao.

Then the Tang Dynasty would not have destroyed Nanzhao, but would have joined forces with Nanzhao to deal with Tubo, and Nanzhao would have been able to survive between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo.

Yi Mouxun was too young and did not have enough life experience or political wisdom, so he thought that military defeat meant the destruction of the country.

Such young rulers tend to go to extremes. Simply put, they want to fight to the death with the Tang army and die together.

Yi Mouxun gathered 30,000 defeated soldiers, but this was not enough, so he also brought 30,000 troops guarding the capital, a total of 60,000 troops, and marched towards the Tang army in a mighty force.

The Tang army defeated the 200,000-strong Nanzhao army and made great progress all the way, killing the Nanzhao army and leaving corpses everywhere. In this battle, some Nanzhao soldiers were trampled to death by war elephants and killed by the Tang army. More than 100,000 Nanzhao soldiers were killed, and the armies of various tribes in the south also suffered heavy casualties. The remaining remnants fled south in panic.

Li Sheng strictly implemented the instructions of Emperor Li Ye, destroying the manpower of Nanzhao and Tubo, not accepting prisoners of war, and killing all soldiers. This was the most effective means to deal with small countries. The biggest weakness of all small countries is insufficient population. Once a large number of young and strong population disappears, they will not be able to recover for at least thirty to fifty years.

Especially for small tribal alliance countries, if they lose a large number of young and strong population, they will fall apart directly.

Thirty miles away from Yangzhumie City, Li Sheng received news from scouts that a Nanzhao army of about 60,000 people appeared ten miles ahead.

This news shocked Li Sheng, and he immediately ordered the army to assemble and prepare for battle.

At present, except for the five catapults, the rest of the army was there. The Tang army began to quickly organize its troops. He ordered the Tiger Guard General Yang Zhaonian to lead 10,000 cavalry to go around the enemy behind, so that if the Nanzhao army showed any signs of wavering, they could attack from both sides.

The Tang army took the time to rest and recover their strength.

Half an hour later, 60,000 Nanzhao troops appeared.

They formed their troops into two large square formations, with the elite troops guarding the capital in the front and the collected defeated soldiers standing in the back.

The Tang army did not stop, but marched towards the Nanzhao army in formation, with two thousand spearmen in the front and five thousand heavy crossbowmen hidden behind them.

There were still spear soldiers behind them. In fact, the five thousand heavy crossbowmen were hidden among the ten thousand spear soldiers.

The enemy lined up in battle array, full of murderous intent. In the front were 6,000 archers, half-crouching, raising their bows and pointing forward, ready to meet the attack of the Tang army.

The Tang soldiers began to run and shout loudly. The Nanzhao general shouted, "Archers, get ready!"

Six thousand archers raised their bows and arrows, ready to give the Tang army a head-on blow.

Although the Tang army did not use cavalry to charge, the meaning was the same for archers. As long as they entered the killing range, they would shoot without hesitation.

In fact, Yi Mouxun didn't know about the existence of arrow mines. When the Tang army was dealing with the war elephants, he was sitting ten miles away and had no idea how the war elephants would turn against them.
When the two armies were four hundred steps apart, the Tang army blew a horn, "Woo-woo-woo!"

Tens of thousands of Tang soldiers who were running stopped in unison, demonstrating their superb training level.

Five thousand heavy crossbow soldiers raised their crossbows and fired arrow torpedoes at the rear army formation.

The range of the Dahuang crossbow is seven hundred to one thousand steps, and the range of the Tang army's arrow torpedo is five hundred steps. This is the strangeness of Li Sheng's military strategy. He used the army's attack to confuse the enemy, but it created opportunities for the heavy crossbow soldiers.

Two thousand five hundred smoking arrows rose into the air and shot densely into the archer array, causing a violent explosion.

The archers were caught off guard and were blown to pieces, with flesh and blood flying everywhere. Corpses were scattered all over the ground, and more than 4,000 people were killed or injured. The remaining crossbowmen were so frightened that they turned around and fled.

The Tang army's heavy crossbow soldiers quickly rewound their bows and installed arrow mines. At the same time, the commander Yi Mouxun, who had already realized the danger, shouted, "All troops charge!"

He had already realized that the enemy's weapons were too terrifying. If he gave them two or three more chances to attack, his army's morale would completely collapse.

The Nanzhao army began to run, and Li Sheng ordered coldly: "Keep shooting arrows and grenades, and get ready to throw grenades!"

The flag bearer changed the order. Each of the 10,000 spear soldiers was equipped with two throwing grenades. Originally, they were used for street fighting, but now they could no longer take care of street fighting.

They had already used one grenade before, and now each of them had another grenade. When the Nanzhao army was within thirty steps, they began to throw them intensively.

Another two thousand five hundred arrows flew into the air and shot into the crowd, exploding in the crowd. Countless soldiers fell down. One of the arrows exploded next to Yi Mouxun, and dozens of iron pieces shot into his body.

Yi Mouxun let out a scream and fell down with his horse. His personal soldiers rushed to rescue him.

Then another 2,500 arrow bombs exploded in the crowd, and the Nanzhao soldiers were in chaos. All the soldiers were terrified and turned around to flee. Countless soldiers shouted, "The Thunder God is coming! The Thunder God is coming!"

At this moment, there was a great chaos behind Nanzhao, and 10,000 Tang cavalrymen attacked from behind.

Li Sheng originally wanted to fire two more rounds of arrows, but now it seemed unnecessary. He shouted in a stern voice: "Cavalry, attack!"

The 10,000 Tang cavalrymen behind also attacked. The 20,000 Tang cavalrymen attacked from the front and back. The Nanzhao army was defeated and fled in the wilderness. The Tang cavalrymen chased them and ruthlessly killed the fleeing Nanzhao soldiers.

Even if they knelt down and surrendered, it was of no use. They would still be hacked to death by the Tang cavalry, or pierced through the chest by the spears of the infantry who followed.

In the two major battles, the 230,000-strong Nanzhao army was completely annihilated, and the Nanzhao prince Yi Mouxun also died in the chaos due to serious injuries.

(End of this chapter)