Tibet

Chapter 699 Decisive Battle in Nancheng ([-])

Li Ye led [-] reinforcements into Quchifang. He shouted sternly: "General Wang Qi, you lead [-] heavy armored infantry to support the other courtyards!"

"Follow the order!"

A heavy armored infantry general waved his hand and shouted: "Follow me!"

He led a thousand heavy armored infantry towards Qinglong Temple.

Li Ye ordered again: "General Yang Lianfa, you also lead two thousand crossbows to support other areas!"

"Follow the order!"

Another general Ying Jie Lang also led two thousand crossbowmen to the direction of Qinglong Temple.

Li Ye is not worried about other areas. Two thousand heavy armored infantry are enough to kill everything, and there are two thousand soldiers to fill the gaps. There should be no risk there.

What Li Ye was really worried about was Leyouyuan. Leyouyuan occupies a large area. Although it is a dedicated road up the mountain, you can actually go there even if there is no road. It is easy for the Yan army to send a surprise force to the back of the Tang army.

There were only three thousand Tang troops on Leyouyuan, and it was difficult to stop the Yan army's attack.

Li Ye led [-] reinforcements to attack Leyouyuan. Sure enough, a thousand-man Yan army surrounded the Tang army from behind. The [-] Tang army encountered a front and rear attack of [-] Yan troops. They suffered heavy casualties and were already in danger.

The [-] reinforcements led by Li Ye suddenly came, and the [-] Yan troops who attacked from the north were in chaos. Li Ye opened his bow and set an arrow, and shot more than [-] arrows like a volley of arrows. The arrows were all missed. More than [-] generals were shot and killed one after another. .

Without the command of their generals, the soldiers of the Yan army were at a loss and their morale collapsed. Seeing that they were surrounded and desperate, they had no choice but to kneel down and surrender, begging the Tang army for their lives.

Li Ye led his army to the top of the mountain and joined the defenders. The Tang army's morale suddenly became high and their momentum was strong. They killed the enemy troops and retreated steadily, and then went down the mountain in rout.

At the same time, the [-] Yan troops who invaded the other courtyards also suffered a devastating blow from [-] heavy armored infantry and [-] Tang army crossbowmen. Their bodies were piled up, blood flowed into rivers, and the ground was covered with stumps and limbs. The heads are terrible.

The remaining two thousand Yan troops were so frightened that they fled from the other courtyard area shouting in terror. The two Yan troops were defeated almost at the same time.

Zhang Zhongzhi originally planned a sneak attack and caught the Tang army by surprise. He took the opportunity to rush into the city. At this time, he heard that the reinforcements of the Tang army had arrived. He had already lost more than half of his [-] troops. If he continued to fight, the whole army would be destroyed. He could only sigh. , ordered the troops to retreat and withdrew from Qujiang Pool.

Li Ye rushed to the other hospital area and saw broken corpses all over the ground, including hands, feet, half a head, and a body that had been cut into several sections. The air was filled with an extremely fishy odor of internal organs, which was nauseating.

He unexpectedly saw many heavy armored infantry squatting on the ground and vomiting. These were newcomers to the heavy armored infantry. The Tang army used the strategy of bringing in the old with the new, where a veteran led a new apprentice.

These new recruits and apprentices have actually been on the battlefield, but they have never experienced such bloody killings. They have had their heads chopped off in half, their brains splattered everywhere, their bodies split in half, and all their internal organs flowing out. They have not experienced such extreme bloody killings. I couldn’t bear it anymore.

The veterans did not comfort them. Everyone had come here like this. After killing too many people, they would no longer feel it after getting used to it.

In this battle, the Tang army paid the price of more than 170 casualties, most of which were the deaths of Leyou's original defenders. Among them, the heavy armored infantry also suffered the death of more than [-] people. Almost all of them were new recruits with no experience. He was knocked down by the enemy, stabbed in the head with a dagger through the eye, and died instantly.

Although heavy armored infantry is powerful, it also has obvious weaknesses. First, it is afraid of heavy blows. If it is hit behind by a heavy hammer, the armor will not be broken, but the internal organs will be seriously injured.

The second weakness is that the field of vision is not wide, and it is easy to be attacked from behind, dragged down with a rope, or knocked down, which is very dangerous. Therefore, heavy armored infantry must fight as a group and must not be left alone.

The more than 170 people who died in the battle were all overthrown and killed by the Yan army because they were alone. Li Ye sighed and ordered his men to take off their armor and take away the Mo Dao.

There were more than [-] Yan soldiers who surrendered. This was the first batch of soldiers Li Ye captured during the Chang'an battle. He captured a battering ram a few days ago and captured more than [-] people, but he couldn't tell. Something of value, I wonder if these prisoners of war can provide valuable intelligence.

Li Ye immediately ordered Li Xiyue to take these prisoners of war down for interrogation overnight, and ordered Guan Pei to repair the ice wall and restore the defense of Quchifang.

It was already the third watch, and Li Ye dragged his exhausted body back to his tent, fell down and took a nap.

Li Ye had just slept for an hour when he was woken up by Li Xiyue, "Your Highness, I got an important piece of information from interrogating prisoners of war in my humble position, and I need to report it immediately." Li Ye woke himself up, and then asked: "What important information?"

"A captured Yan Army general stated that the Yan Army also has heavy armored infantry, about 2000 people. They conducted simulation training in the military camp yesterday afternoon and trained to enter the nest car and climb the city."

The first half of this information is of little significance. Of course Li Ye knew that the Yan army also had heavy armored infantry. This was standard equipment and every frontier army would equip it. Even the Longwu Army almost equipped two thousand heavy armored infantry, but they didn't ask for it. , Longwu's army was all cavalry, and they thought heavy armored infantry was cumbersome.

Dugu Lie had already told Li Ye that Fan Yang's army had 2000 heavy armored infantry, with Li Guiren and Cai Xide each commanding a part. Cai Xide was fighting Li Guangbi in Hedong, so Li Guiren's part of the heavy armored infantry should be outside the city. There should be about [-] people, so the first half of the information is meaningless to Li Ye.

But the second half of the information is very important. The heavy armored infantry of the Yan Army actually participated in the training of the Chao Chariot. Then the first batch of Yan Army to board the city are most likely to be heavy armored infantry. But in this way, one's own defense plan will be There is a loophole.

After pondering for a moment, Li Ye immediately said to his soldiers: "Go quickly and bring General Xu Zongran and Wang Sima to see me!"

The soldiers rushed away, and not long after, Xu Zongran and Wang Suizhou arrived at the Chinese army's tent one after another. They saluted and said, "See you, Your Highness!"

Li Ye nodded, "Wang Sima, sit down for a moment. I'll have a few words with General Xu first."

There was a couch next to him, and Sima Wang Suizhou sat aside to drink tea.

Xu Zongran is the Black Spear. He has followed Li Ye for many years. He has seniority and great achievements. He is now also a tiger general. He is two meters tall and extremely strong. He serves as the commander of the heavy armored infantry.

Li Ye asked: "I came to you to ask, have you ever done a similar experiment, using a big yellow crossbow to shoot heavy armor?"

Black Spear thought for a while, "When I was in Anxi, Li Siye experimented with the Rhubarb Crossbow."

"The results of it?"

"Thirty steps is the boundary. Beyond thirty steps, we are not afraid of the big yellow crossbow. But within thirty steps, the big yellow crossbow can penetrate heavy armor. However, the Anxi heavy armored infantry all have a close-fitting inner armor. Even if the armor is penetrated, We are still safe, unless we are shot with an iron arrow within thirty steps, then the inner armor cannot protect us and we will definitely be shot through the body."

"Do the heavy armored infantry in other Jiedu Prefectures have inner armor? For example, Fan Yang Jiedu Prefecture."

Black Spear shook his head, "The Ordnance Supervisor only gave us heavy armor and Mo Dao. We decided to equip the inner armor ourselves. This is the case for the Anxi Army, and we don't know the low-level positions of other armies."

Li Ye thought for a while and asked again: "What kind of weapon is made of which Mo Dao can cut continuously?"

"Reporting to your highness, the long sword made of iron and steel, as well as our own long sword and heavy armor, the Mo Dao can't cut through. As long as other weapons are not very thick and strong, we can cut them in two with one sword."

Li Ye nodded and asked Sima Wang Suizhou next to him: "Are there any heavy weapons with long handles in the arsenal? It is best to use heavy weapons made of iron."

Wang Suizhou stood up, pondered for a moment and said: "Reporting to Your Highness, there are many long-handled copper hammers and long-handled axes, but they should not be made of iron, but ordinary pig iron weapons."

"How many are there?"

"There are probably several thousand of each kind. I forgot the exact number. I have to check."

"Do you have a Goulian gun?" Li Ye asked again.

"Yes! There are tens of thousands of hook guns used to deal with war horses."

Li Ye nodded, "Wang Sima immediately took people to get five thousand heavy weapons and five thousand guns each. I want the equipment on site."

Wang Suizhou bowed and left, and Li Ye said to Black Spear again: "The Yan army will most likely use heavy armored infantry to attack the city from chariots. The heavy crossbow troops will first respond to the enemy's attack from both sides, and you will fight the front. , as long as we withstand the enemy's first offensive after entering the city, we will be able to defeat Chao Che."

(End of this chapter)