Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 504 A little test
The ten-day deadline agreed upon by Li Heng and Yehu was approaching. Yehu sent someone to ask Li Heng about his strategy, but got a somewhat unexpected answer, saying that the messenger from the west had not returned yet and they had to wait a little longer.

"Why is he so nosy?" After hearing the report, Ye Hu was a little dissatisfied.

Although he didn't understand the situation, he knew intuitively that the longer it dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for him. In fact, Wang Nan, who was guarding Chang'an City, saw Xue Bai take Fengxiang, so he sent troops to support him.

But this was a war for others, and no matter how anxious Yehu was, he could not go and die for Li Heng.

After waiting for another two days, Li Heng finally sent someone again, saying that everything was ready and agreed to annihilate the rebel army on July 15th.

"Your Majesty, have you arranged the troops?" Ye Hu asked, "What happened to the Western Route Army before?"

The messenger replied: "It's all right, but the road is blocked by Xue Ni's cavalry. Now the military order has been issued, and the generals should arrive as soon as possible."

"it is good!"

Ye Hu had long been impatient and was very active in the battle. He wanted to fight in the wild, and was worried that Xue Bai would close the city and hold on, leaving him here. So he sent small groups of cavalry to harass the outside of the city every day, robbing the people in front of Xue's rebels.

Sure enough, the other side soon lost their patience and were lured out of the city, driving out the Uighur soldiers.

Ye Hu seemed straightforward and simple, but he was actually quite scheming. He ordered his troops not to attack Xue Ni's rebels first, but to lead them further away each time and deliberately expose his camp to the spying of his scouts.

The defenses of the camp were not strict. Some of the looted food and cloth were placed by the fence by the Uighur soldiers, and the cries of the prisoners in the camp could be heard from a distance.

Whenever a soldier of Xue Ni's rebel army could not help but approach and shoot the Huihe cavalry guarding the gate, he was pulled back by his comrades. They all knew that the Huihe people were good at archery, and the terrain was higher, so they could shoot farther.

Ye Hu knew that Xue Bai would soon be unable to resist and attack him. He could sense it, just like when two wild animals confront each other, they could inevitably sense the movements of the other before they pounced.

By the Ghost Festival on July 15, it was rare to see people in Qizhou coming out to worship their ancestors, because even if the people were not killed or captured by the Uighurs, they were frightened and hid away.

The night before, Yehu deliberately ordered a grand banquet for the soldiers to create the illusion that the soldiers were all drunk. He hoped that by doing this, Xue Bai would send troops to attack him.

In the morning, the Huihe camp was tense inside and outside, with drunken men leaning against the fence. In fact, the warriors had already fed their horses and were resting and waiting in their tents in their armor.

After waiting for a whole night, no enemy came to attack. Ye Hu was feeling a little disappointed, but then he heard another report.

"Report, Xue Ni has sent out his troops."

It seemed that Xue Bai might have seen through his ambush, and wanted to take advantage of his soldiers' fruitless waiting all night to suddenly attack and catch him off guard.

Yehu was not surprised but happy, and immediately ordered his soldiers to prepare for battle.

He looked up at the sky. It was a cloudy day, but the clouds were high and it didn't look like it was going to rain. The weather was finally no longer hot and was a little cold, which was very beneficial for the Huihe and Northwest Army.

It seems that God is on their side.

According to the agreement, Li Heng's troops had already arrived 20 miles north of the Huihe camp. So, if Xue Ni's rebels came, the Huihe cavalry could use their speed advantage to retreat, and after entering the designated battlefield, they would join forces with Li Heng to attack fiercely. As for the Northwest Army, they would surround Xue Ni from the rear, cutting off Xue Ni's retreat and not giving him any chance to get support from Chang'an.

The plan was set, and the next step was execution. The Huihe scouts came and went like the wind, and had a natural advantage in controlling the battlefield. They quickly found out Xue Ni's marching movements and reported the news one by one.

"Report, there are two groups of enemy troops heading here. The western group is from Fengxiang Prefecture, led by Xue Ni himself, with 4,000 cavalry and several thousand followers, more than 20 miles away from the camp; the eastern group is from Jincheng County, led by Wang Nandai, with a number of troops yet to be determined, more than 90 miles away from the camp."

"Report, Xue Ni is still more than ten miles away from the camp, stop and organize the formation."

"Tang's Anxi Army Jiedushi Feng Changqing sent someone to report that they have passed Weiyang and will arrive in Fengxiang in half a day to attack the rear of the Xue rebels."

"Prince Guangping has marched to five miles north of the main camp. Pugu Huai'en is resting and reorganizing his troops. He can attack Xue Ni's flank at any time."

"Report, Xue Ni is still five miles away from our camp..."

Ye Hu didn't need a map; the situation of the entire battlefield naturally appeared in his mind.

Each of the enemy and our side had tens of thousands of troops. It was extremely difficult to get so many soldiers to arrive at the scheduled battlefield to fight as planned. Even the most powerful generals often could not get everything they wanted before the battle, and could only try to predict and adjust as much as possible. But Ye Hu was very successful, and the troops were controlled by his thoughts. It was as if he had divine help.

Today was not a siege, but a field battle. Because the terrain was simple, neither side had many strategies and both were eager to fight directly, so it was rare for this battle to be won purely by hand-to-hand combat.

Ye Hu liked this, and was already excited when he saw Xue Bai's flag, and wanted to order a charge directly. Unfortunately, he was just a reinforcement, and there was no need to pay such a big loss for Li Heng.

So he gave the order: "When the battle begins, we will pretend to be defeated and retreat, and let the Tang army fight with them in casualties."

"Don't be reluctant to part with those gold, silk, and children. After we win the battle, we'll ask Lord Tang to give us as many as we want!"

Finally, Xue Bai's flag was erected in front of the Uighur cavalry's formation. After a short rest, the horn sounded and the heavily armored cavalry immediately charged forward.

They held heavy and long spears, and after increasing their speed, they were as powerful as thunder. The Huihe cavalry here seemed to be flustered because of the hangover, and were still hurriedly forming their battle array. They all started to charge and the battle was in chaos before it even started.

It was like a stone hitting a beehive, and in an instant, the bees scattered with a buzzing sound.

But a stone may be able to break the hive and happen to kill a few bees near the hive, but it is difficult to cause serious damage to these lightly flying bees.

The Uighur cavalry were excellent riders and easily escaped before the heavy cavalry arrived. Some of them even hung themselves on the stirrups in a show of skill and narrowly climbed back onto the horse before falling off, screaming in fear to attract Xue Ni's rebels to chase them.

~~
Even though they knew that the Uighur cavalry was feigning defeat, it was still easy for Xue Bai's soldiers to feel that they had won a great victory.

After defeating the Uighurs in one round, Gao Can rushed into the Uighur camp on horseback. Looking around, he saw gold, silk, money, food, and captured women and children everywhere.

"Help!"

Most of the captives were tied up with ropes and stripped of their clothes. They huddled up to cover themselves and looked at them with pitiful eyes, asking for help.

Gao Can couldn't help but look around, trying to find Shen Zhenzhu inside.

"It's a trap, don't linger!"

The generals shouted loudly, and Fan Lao even stepped forward and whipped Gao Can, angrily scolding him: "Why are you running around?! Follow the military orders!"

Gao Can was in pain, but his heart was also bleeding. He knew rationally that defeating the enemy was the most important thing at this moment, but he was also worried that Shen Zhenzhu would get into trouble before that, so he had to suppress his pain, stop looking at the captives, pull the reins, and continue to kill the Huihe cavalry with Fan Lao.

As a result, their front line was also disrupted.

The Huihe cavalry were all good at archery and horsemanship, so they didn't need to follow a formation, so it didn't matter if they got in disarray. But if they got in disarray, their biggest advantage would be lost.

The two sides chased and fought, and soldiers fell from time to time, dotting the battlefield with blood. After half a morning, Li Heng's troops finally appeared in front.

"Woo——"

The long sound of the trumpet resounded through the heaven and earth. Pugu Huai'en's flag swayed, making a loud noise in the wind, guiding the well-rested troops to charge forward.

The situation at this time was that Xue Bai's troops were attracted to the designated battlefield by Ye Hu's feigned defeat and fell into an ambush.

Normally, Xue Bai would be shocked and order a retreat. Afterwards, the Western Route Army arranged by Li Heng surrounded Xue Bai.

But Xue Bai did not retreat, and also ordered an attack, so their horns sounded loudly, one after another, as if responding to the opposite side.

"Attack!"

Everything was ready. As soon as Fan Laoqi gave the order, Gao Can immediately rode his horse to charge.

He wanted to attack the Uighur cavalry, but the Uighur cavalry did not want to engage in a head-on battle and simply sped up their horses and ran to both sides, revealing the Pugu Huai'en troops who were fully equipped and lined up.

"kill!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Pugu Huai'en himself was a fierce general, and his soldiers also inherited his brave style. With three shouts, the shields in front were raised densely, the long swords like a forest were raised high, and the cavalry on both wings drove their horses to meet the enemy.

After several rounds of arrows, the two sides engaged in battle. Gao Can rushed to the front and chopped the shield of the opponent with his sword twice, but failed to disrupt the enemy's formation. Their physical strength consumption was originally greater, and Pu Gu Huai En obviously wanted to seize their weakness.

After two more slashes, Gao Can's blade had a gap, and it was no longer sharp enough to cut people. This small detail actually had a great impact on his life and death on the battlefield, but he didn't care at all. All he could think about was "winning". He wanted to win and save Shen Zhenzhu.

Big drops of sweat were blown away on his face like mist. As he struck with all his strength, his palm broke at the base of his hand, and the enemy soldier holding the shield fell to the ground because he could not withstand his force.

Gao Can then rushed forward, jumped on the shield, and slashed down with his sword, knocking down the unsuspecting soldier behind the enemy shield bearer.

"Destroy the enemy!"

His will to kill the enemy came from a ridiculous emotion that he didn't know where it came from, and his personal will was very small among these tens of thousands of people. But behind him were more angry Guanzhong soldiers, gathering into a strong fighting spirit.

They completely forgot that the ones they were fighting against were not the Uighur cavalry, but their fellow Tang soldiers.

Therefore, personal dignity, emotions, and the pride of defending the country seemed to be teased and even trampled upon by power and the times in this battle...

Li Chu, who was standing on a high battle platform in the distance and looking at the battle, raised his proud head slightly, with a look of certainty flashing in his eyes.

"Xue Ni is about to be defeated." Li Chu said, "He is using a small number to defeat a large number, and a weak force to defeat a large group. Even if Wang Nan can arrive at the battlefield in time, I still have reinforcements."

Standing behind him was Yu Chaoen, the military inspector appointed by Li Heng. He asked in confusion, "Prince Guangping, if that's the case, why did Xue Ni take the initiative to attack?"

"You can't just look at the battlefield in front of you." Li Chu said, "You have to look at the overall situation. Father is in the right direction and has ordered Guo Ziyi to leave Hedong. Chang'an has become an isolated city. Only if Xue Ni fights can he survive, otherwise he will just sit there and wait for death."

"I see." Yu Chaoen said, "I am narrow-minded."

Afterwards, the situation turned out to be just as Li Chu had expected. The defeat of Xue Ni's rebel army became increasingly apparent. Unfortunately, Wang Nan arrived in time and charged into the battlefield from the right wing.

From this it seems that Xue Ni is risking everything.

Li Chu sent someone to tell Yehu that it was time for the Huihe to contribute. Now that the king had come from afar and had not yet established a firm foothold and was running out of strength, he asked the Huihe to help defeat the enemy. After the victory, he would certainly reward them generously.

Yehu was a decisive man. After receiving the promise, he did not hesitate and immediately led his troops to attack.

He was full of confidence, believing that with the fighting power of the Uighur warriors, they could defeat the Tang army in a few rounds.

However, the Uighur cavalry were skilled in archery and horsemanship, but Wang Nandi's troops were also ferocious and difficult to defeat. As soon as the two sides fought, the battle became more intense than Yehu had expected. Even the explosives, crossbows and other weapons occasionally used by Xue Ni caused some casualties to the Uighurs, forcing Yehu to face it seriously.

At this point, both sides have deployed all their forces on the front battlefield.

Xue Bai was lacking in manpower and combat power, and was in a state of defeat, but he was still holding on tenaciously, and the outcome was still uncertain. But Li Chu was not in a hurry, because he had a backup plan.

Every fallen soldier on the battlefield was like an hourglass, and the generals used their lives to measure the progress of the battle...Finally, a cavalry unit appeared at the junction of heaven and earth.

That was Feng Changqing leading the Anxi Army stationed in Longzhou to come to the king's aid.

"Here it comes!" Li Chu was overjoyed and said, "The winner is decided."

In his opinion, the battle was over. He had completely forgotten his worries when Xue Bai captured Fengxiang, the Western Capital, and the impact this incident had on people's hearts at that time.

"Good, good, good." Yu Chaoen clapped his hands and said, "This battle was a great victory. Prince Guangping and General Pugu commanded well. But in the end, the strategy customized by the saint is still the safest."

Li Chu then sent a messenger to urge Feng Changqing to quickly join the battlefield.

However, at this moment, Feng Changqing's messenger arrived and handed over a memorial. When Li Chu opened it, his face instantly turned pale as a dead fish belly.

"How dare he do this? How dare he do this?!"

~~
Ye Hu glanced across the battlefield and noticed that Feng Changqing was already marching towards Xue Bai's troops, so he turned his attention to the battlefield where he and Wang Nande were fighting.

Victory is imminent. As long as Feng Changqing defeats Xue Ni, the Tang army will join him in attacking Wang Nandi from the front and back.

However, when Ye Hu suddenly turned around and looked at the formation where Xue Bai was, he was surprised to find that Xue Bai's flag was still standing there steadily, and he did not panic and retreat because of being surrounded. This was too strange, unless Xue Bai did not see the enemy coming from behind.

"It's a tough nut to crack."

Even a rebellious person like Ye Hu had to admit that Xue Bai's toughness on the battlefield made him regret taking on this tough task. All he could say was that he finally swallowed it.

Then, something even more strange happened to Ye Hu. Feng Changqing's troops did not attack Xue Bai, but cut across from the side of Xue Bai's formation and attacked...his side.

"What is he doing?!" Ye Hu was shocked and angry.

The scene in front of him reminded him of a story he had heard two years ago. Gao Xianzhi, a general of the Tang army, encountered the troops of the Arabs in Talas City. His Gelulu troops betrayed him and attacked the Tang army together with the Arabs. Gao Xianzhi was defeated and all his soldiers died.

Yehu knew this matter very well because the Gelulu tribe was a tribe that was subject to the Uighurs.

This incident is almost exactly the same as the current situation, except that the betrayer this time was Gao Xianzhi's deputy general Feng Changqing.

At this moment, Yehu had two choices. One was to abandon Li Heng and immediately retreat back to the grassland. Once Li Heng was defeated, his troops would certainly defect to Xue Ni, and the civil strife in the Tang court would end. He would certainly not fulfill his promise to him, and even the gold and silk he had looted would be difficult to take back. The second choice was to grit his teeth and continue fighting.

"Boom boom boom!"

The drums sounded loudly. It was Pugu Huai'en who ordered the drums to be beaten to encourage Yehu.

Faced with the sudden change, a normal army would have been defeated when Feng Changqing's troops changed their route, but Pugu Huai'en actually rushed to Xue Bai's camp in person following the drumbeats to show his determination to fight to the death. Anyway, Feng Changqing was not attacking him, as he believed that with the Uighurs' military strength and combat power, they could withstand Feng Changqing's offensive.

Yehu quickly weighed the situation in his mind amid the drumbeats. He had nearly 8,000 cavalry, while Wang Nandi and Feng Changqing each had only over 4,000 cavalry. The two sides had equal strength, but he was more powerful.

This arrogant mentality made him hesitate for a moment and he did not immediately order a withdrawal. However, Feng Changqing's troops had already arrived.

Feng Changqing was not willing to attack Li Heng's troops, as they were his comrades from Shuofang, Longxi and Hexi. But Xue Bai's words touched him deeply, that is, the Uighur cavalry should not be allowed to plunder Guanzhong.

"If the Uighurs were to abduct the people of the Tang Dynasty and make them slaves because of a fight for the throne, it would be a disgrace to us."

In this matter, persuasion cannot solve the problem. No matter how much Feng Changqing persuades, he cannot persuade Ye Hu to give up wealth, wealth and children.

The only way is to kill, and to kill the opponent's courage.

Therefore, all the deployments made by Xue Bai today are aimed at inflicting a heavy blow to Ye Hu.

Although this enthusiastic Uighur prince only came to support Li Heng, he became the party facing the greatest pressure on the entire battlefield.

"How dare you?!"

Yehu was furious. He rode forward a few steps and shouted at Feng Changqing's flag with a thunderous voice: "I, the Huihe, came to help the Tang Dynasty. The Tang army dared to attack me. Aren't you afraid of breaking the trust of all nations?!"

In the noisy battlefield, it was unknown whether his voice reached Feng Changqing's ears, but in any case, he received no response.

Ye Hu continued to curse: "The dignity of the Heavenly Khan has been destroyed by you!"

The scolding finally reached Feng Changqing's ears.

He thought of the stone tablet of Emperor Taizong that he saw in Lingwu. The three words "Tian Khan" made him more determined.

"Kill!" Feng Changqing shouted.

Yehu finally stopped thinking about whether to retreat. With his position and military strength, he could not be defeated faster than Pugu Huai'en.

It's nothing more than putting all the military forces into it and getting a result as quickly as possible.

At first the Huihe soldiers could not recognize which group of Tang troops arrived at the battlefield, so their morale was not greatly damaged by the sudden change and the fighting was very fierce.

~~
Feng Changqing also hoped to win as soon as possible and force Li Heng and Li Chu to admit defeat by defeating the Uighurs, so as to prevent more Tang soldiers from dying in meaningless internal strife.

At the same time, he also knew that if the situation dragged on like this, his strategic goal of inflicting heavy damage on the Uighurs and breaking their courage would be difficult to achieve.

"Li Siye!"

"exist!"

"You lead the vanguard to defeat the enemy!"

"Here!"

Following a loud roar, the tall and strong Li Siye took the order and led his troops into the Uighur formation.

The weather became increasingly cold during this Ghost Festival. The wind blew from the west, light at first, but gradually it became a gusty wind that blew sand into the eyes of people and horses.

Ye Hu, who was staring at the battlefield with wide eyes, was also blinded by the wind and sand, but he calmed down a little and planned to take this opportunity to retreat.

He did not think that this was the time for the Tang people to worship ghosts, but rather that it was a revelation from God.

As long as he could successfully leave the battlefield, he could just observe for a while and restore his original transcendent status.

The problem was that there were still too many Uighur warriors on the battlefield who were entangled in the fight, and many of the horses had sand in their eyes, and were becoming restless and anxious.

At the same time, on the other side, Li Siye also felt that he had less and less time to defeat the enemy.

"Dismount and fight on foot!"

Li Siye acted decisively, dismounted from his horse, and rushed towards the enemy formation with a Mo Dao in hand.

He was tall, so the distance of these few steps made little difference whether he rode a horse or not, but he was much more agile.

Since the battle was to be fought on foot, Li Siye held his Mo Dao.

The knife was extremely long, as tall as he was when standing upright, weighed thirty-five pounds, and was half blade and half handle.

He held the knife with both hands, raised it diagonally, and chopped it down. He did not use the strength of his arms, which were as big as barrels, but the strength of his waist.

"Oh!"

Unlike the previous situation where Gao Can swung his sword on the enemy's shield but failed to break it, Li Siye swung his sword and actually broke the Uighur soldier's shield directly.

Wood splinters and dust flew everywhere.

Also chopped to pieces were the Uighur soldiers behind the shields.

Everyone around was stunned, but Li Siye had already raised his knife again and chopped down, lightly and skillfully, as if cutting vegetables, and chopped another enemy soldier into pieces.

The timing on the battlefield lies in the most critical moment. When Yehu was still hesitating whether to retreat, Li Siye decided to dismount and fight on foot, and killed several people in succession. The Modao generals under Li Siye were greatly inspired, and lined up and killed in the strong wind.

"puff."

"Puff puff……"

The sound of such crisp and clean killing finally frightened the Uighur cavalry. They began to retreat without paying any attention in the wind and sand, without waiting for Yehu's order. As a result, the cavalry in front collided with the cavalry behind.

Horses are easily frightened animals. When hit by other horses, some of them will raise their hooves and kick hard.

"Hey!"

The scene became even more chaotic.

In today's battle, the first to collapse were not Xue Bai's, Pugu Huai'en's, or Wang Nande's troops, but the strongest army - the Uighur cavalry.

The sharp sound of the bugle suddenly filled the entire battlefield, and even a brave and fearless general like Pugu Huai'en finally ordered a withdrawal.

"kill!"

Xue Bai and Feng Changqing gave orders in succession, and Wang Nande and Li Siye rushed to lead their troops to chase after Yehu's flag.

I wonder how many new ghosts will be added this Ghost Festival.

Xue Bai stood under the big flag and looked out with a telescope. He could still vaguely see Li Siye's tall and eye-catching figure in the wind.

"Whoever blocks Siye's sword will be crushed to pieces."

With these words in his mind, Xue Bai felt that today's battle lacked some of the tragic color for Li Siye, and was more like a small test of his skills.

What Xue Bai hopes is that Li Siye's sword will not perish in meaningless civil strife, and that it will have more opportunities to shine in the future. One day, he should return to the Western Regions and go to a place farther.

(End of this chapter)