People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 770 On the battlefield, only military orders follow
Thousands of Tibetan cavalry descended from the southeast along the upper reaches of the Tao River. The loud sound of horse hooves crushed countless wheat fields on the bank.

Soon, these Tubo cavalry had merged with the Brenzan Blade.

At this moment, the number of Tibetan cavalry on the other side of the Tao River exceeded two thousand.

……

"Dong dong dong..." I don't know when, a sound of war drums sounded on the wall above.

Li Xuan looked up to the southeast. He knew that someone was telling him that the remaining 500 missing Tibetan cavalrymen had already gone up.

Of the 500 Tibetan cavalry, [-] had already rushed across the Tao River, but more than half of them were killed or injured by crossbows and traps.

There were two thousand cavalry on the opposite side, and five hundred Tibetan cavalry were missing.

They did not disappear, but went to a place further upstream of the Tao River. They wanted to cross the Tao River from the upper reaches and then attack the south gate of the state city.

Nowadays, most of the Taohe garrison is at the west gate, and the guards at the other east gates, north gate and south gate are immediately very weak.

The only way to avoid the Tubo attacks was to close the city gates.

The Tubo people are all cavalry. Apart from shooting arrows at the top of the city, they don't have much real means of attacking the city...

At this moment, Li Xuan saw a commotion among the cavalry on the opposite side. The next moment, a cavalry of 500 people was galloping towards the lower reaches of the Tao River and towards the north gate of the city.

They seized on the weakness of Taozhou's city defense. There were still too few people. Even if they attacked the city with cavalry, it would be easy to capture it.

At this time, Li Xuan's breathing gradually became strangely steady.

He raised his head, crossed the wide Tao River, and his eyes fell directly on the person opposite Brenzan Blade.

At this moment, a ferocious smile appeared on Brenzan Blade's face.

He just waved his hand, and more Tibetan cavalry rushed towards the east side of the stone bridge.

The stone bridge is 50 meters wide, and below it is the fast-flowing Tao River.

After the Tubo cavalry rushed across the stone bridge, more of them began to move along the east bank of the river, close to the river, avoiding the rain of arrows, and extending in the north-south direction.

At the same time, there were actually quite a few cavalrymen who continued to move forward against the rain of arrows and rushed towards the pit.

On the battlefield, only military orders are obeyed.

Although Li Xuan had people dig a dozen pits about five feet long in front of the city gate, there was still a gap of about one foot in the middle of the pits.

As long as the cavalry avoids the pit, they can rush directly to the city gate from the gap.

Li Xuan turned sideways and looked to the left and right. On both sides there was a team of heavily armored Qianniu Guards. The long swords had been put into the sheaths by the Qianniu Guards. The long swords, eight feet long, were placed on the iron hooks behind the vests. , then place it next to the horse's neck and stab it diagonally from above the horse's head to the front.

The blade is cold and sharp.

Once the sprint begins, the heavily armored cavalry will immediately break through all obstacles in front.

"Pick up the bow and shoot freely." Li Xuan calmly ordered.

The next moment, hundreds of Qianniu cavalry raised their long bows on the left side at the same time, aimed at the Tubo cavalry who rushed through the pit, and shot an arrow directly at them.

Still shooting the horse's neck first, then the cavalry, hunting coldly and efficiently.

In the blink of an eye, all the Tubo cavalry who had just rushed through the pit fell to the ground, with blood on their necks flowing all over the ground. Their hands were on their long bows, but they had no chance to hit the arrow.

……

Li Xian stood on the city wall, the black flag behind him waving in the wind.

Looking down from above, whether it was the Qianniu Guards or the crossbowmen on both sides, they were all rhythmically hunting down the Tubo cavalry within shooting range.

As for the Tubo cavalry outside the range, they simply couldn't take care of it.

More and more cavalry rushed to the north and south sides, out of the shooting range of bows and arrows and pits. With just a turn, they could immediately stick to the city wall and charge towards Li Xuan and others at the city gate.

But on the front, there were still the same number of cavalry, charging and killing regardless of life and death.

On the front, the Tang Army had the absolute upper hand, but they couldn't free their hands to deal with the enemies on both sides.

As long as a while passes, there is no doubt that the Tubo cavalry on both sides will completely overwhelm them.

Li Xian was already very anxious. He raised his head and looked at the Brenzan Blade on the other side of the river. However, Li Xian's eyesight was not very good. He could only see a figure surrounded by countless cavalry in the center, and could not see it at all. The appearance of Qing Brenzan Blade.

Then, Li Xian turned his head and said to Zhang Yungong on one side: "Zhang Jishi, what do you think our chances of winning this time are?"

There was a hint of worry in Li Xian's tone, but Zhang Yungong couldn't really believe that Li Xian was worried. He bowed slightly and said, "Reporting to your highness, with the current military strength of our dynasty, the Tubo people don't have much chance at all; your highness has made careful arrangements. , So far, our soldiers have not suffered any casualties, which is really rare."

"Oh!" Li Xian turned his head in surprise and looked under the city wall.

Sure enough, so far, no matter whether it is the Qianniu Guards or the crossbowmen, the Tubo attacks have not been able to hurt them at all.

At this moment, a burst of exclamations came from the north and south at the same time, and there were already Tibetan cavalry sprinting against the wall.

At the same time, someone jumped up from his horse and climbed directly to the top of the city wall.

Although Taozhou City is a state city, it is not very high, only six meters high.

A rope was thrown up from below and directly wrapped around the female wall. The next moment, the Tubo cavalry jumped up from their horses, grabbed the rope and began to climb quickly towards the city wall.

With a "dang" sound, a sharp long knife cut off the rope directly, and the climbing Tubo cavalry immediately jumped down.At this moment, a bow and arrow shot down directly from above, and the arrow penetrated the throat of the Tubo cavalryman.

However, before everyone on the city wall could rejoice, at this moment, more Tubo cavalry began to climb up the female wall on the female wall.

In other words, there was a special group of Tubo cavalry who were responsible for climbing the city wall and attacking Taozhou from the other side while other cavalry were charging.

When Li Xian saw this scene, he couldn't help but breathe heavily.

Before he could say anything, there was a "boom" and a total of six trap pits suddenly appeared on the road in front of the Tibetan cavalry charging from the north and south.

Before they could react, dozens of Tubo cavalry who were charging at extremely high speeds had suddenly fallen into the pit and been penetrated directly by the sharp wooden stakes inside.

"Bang bang bang" more Tubo cavalry fell down immediately, but more people stopped in time.

Unlike the Tubo cavalry who had charged head-on before, they quickly passed through the crossbow coverage area and then rushed directly into the trap without being able to slow down at all.

These people had just turned the corner from the side, and their speed was not very fast. At the critical moment, more people stopped in time.

At this moment, the Tibetan cavalry at the front suddenly dispersed. The next moment, the Tubo cavalry carrying straw bags came up from behind and directly threw the straw bags full of soil into the pit. There were more behind them. The Tibetan cavalry also began to do the same.

Filling the hole, they are filling the hole.

If the Tang people could dig holes, the Tubo people could naturally fill them.

Not only that, the Tubo cavalry who were attacking the crossbow formation from the front also quickly dispersed to both sides without realizing it.

The density of the Tubo cavalry that rushed into the crossbow formation was decreasing rapidly, but the firing of crossbow arrows showed no tendency to decrease at all. It would not take long before the bows and arrows of the Tang crossbowmen would be exhausted.

Li Xuan raised her head, looked at the Blenzan Blade opposite, and couldn't help but sigh: "He is indeed a veteran on the battlefield!"

All of these people in the Qinling family are talented people.

On Qinling’s father Ludongzan, he helped Songtsen Gampo rise to the plateau all his life. His two sons successively served as the prime ministers of Tubo, and the remaining three sons also served the entire family in different fields in various places. Contribute.

As a general who leads one side, Brenzan Blade has experienced countless battles in his life. He participated in the Battle of Dafeichuan a few years ago.

He was indifferent to life and death and was full of cunning schemes. If Li Xuan hadn't been prepared today, I'm afraid there's no telling who would win and who would lose in today's battle.

……

Almost in a very short period of time, the pits have been filled one by one, and the situation has become increasingly unfavorable for Taozhou.

"Stop shooting." Li Xuan ordered.

In an instant, the drumming above the head stopped and changed.

In the warehouse courtyards on both sides, the crossbows all stopped firing in an instant.

"Charge!" Someone among the countless Tubo cavalry shouted. The next moment, they were already swarming towards the city gate.

At this moment, Li Xuan raised her right hand high, and countless people's breathing stopped at this moment.

The Brenzan Blade on the other side of the river looked straight at Li Xuan, with clenched fists. Looking at the red-clad and golden-armored Qianniu Guards on both sides of Li Xuan, the Brenzan Blade really wanted to kill them all. They all become their own merit.

More Tubo cavalry began to charge quickly. The cavalry was nothing more than speed. Those who were faster were killed, and those who were slower were killed.

"Send the order, throw iron caltrops." Li Xuan waved down his right hand. The next moment, he saw handfuls of black iron caltrops, which were thrown directly by the trebuchet on the city wall. Like a goddess scattering flowers, they landed directly on the city wall. On the ground a hundred meters away, and still spreading rapidly into the distance.

The Tubo cavalry, which was sprinting at high speed, encountered these iron caltrops. After just a few steps, the big horse under them could not help but neigh violently.

The next moment, the war horses fell sideways. In an instant, countless iron caltrops had pierced into their bodies, and blood flowed all over the ground.

In the blink of an eye, the Tubo cavalry who were charging at top speed from the front and both sides fell to the ground.

Not only that, more caltrops were still being thrown fiercely into the distance.

All the Tubo cavalry within this range fell into the range of the caltrops. As soon as they moved a little, they immediately stepped on the caltrops.

What's more, there are the whining sounds of the miserable horses. Although they were stabbed into their bodies by the ignored caltrops, they were not dead after all.

The miserable wails, on the battlefield, inexplicably carry an air of misfortune.

Li Xian on the city wall was shocked when he saw this scene. He couldn't help but look at Dou Xiao and asked, "When were these catapults sent to the city wall?"

"It was yesterday, but after these catapults were delivered, they were not assembled. They were quickly assembled only in the early morning of this morning, and there was no debugging. Who knew these caltrops were so easy to use." Dou Xiao couldn't help scratching his head.

These trebuchets, which were originally used to project stones, were replaced by projecting caltrops, and the Tubo cavalry lost dozens of cavalry and war horses in one fell swoop.

Not only that, more war horses, even if they were quickly restrained, were also forced to be trapped in countless iron caltrops, unable to move at all.

Li Xian looked at this scene and couldn't help but sigh: "No wonder my father once said that Uncle Wang guards Wushuang. With him here, I don't have to worry about my safety at all. It seems that what he said is true!"

Zhang Yungong's expression on one side couldn't help but change. He seemed to have mistaken the wrong person.

It seems that the person who created all this today is not Li Xian, but Nanchang King Li Xuan.

If you put it that way, then the heavily armored Thousand Oxen Guards below, they are just bait.

The Tibetan cavalry on the opposite side thought they had an opportunity and thought they could rush into Taozhou City by killing Li Xuan. However, they had no idea that Li Xuan had already set up defenses like iron barrels outside the city. What's more, there were also Qian Tang's cavalry did not show up.

Now, if nothing else happens, these three thousand Tubo cavalry may be finished.

(End of this chapter)