Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 548 Can’t Lose

Faced with the counterattack of the Tang army, Amur did not care.

Having fought in battles for half his life, he had his own experience in how to retreat. He had already made arrangements in advance to deal with the pursuers and did not forget to instruct his student Ye Qide.

"Whether fighting or making plans, we should not be trapped by the immediate interests and wins. We should think long-term... The Qarluk incident is a lesson. The Qarluk people are greedy by nature, as long as the benefits are enough. They can indeed work for us, but have you ever thought that people who are not Qarluk can succeed if they want to work for us?"

"Li Ji never fully trusted the Qarluk people from the beginning. He only regarded them as knives to kill the enemy, not brains to obey orders. Li Ji had always been on guard against them, so why would he let the Qarluk know the location of the most important grain and grass camp at this critical moment? The only explanation is that Li Ji had seen through everything... He realized that the Qarluk had the intention of rebelling, and deliberately revealed the location of the grain and grass camp. In the words of their Eastern people, it was to lure the snake out of its hole."

Just as he said this, Amur's expression suddenly changed, and the casualness in his eyes turned into solemnity.

The situation on the battlefield was somewhat beyond his expectations. He originally thought it was a normal retreat, but he found that the strength of the Tang army's pursuit was somewhat abnormal.

This is a sense of battlefield that Amur has developed from his many battles. The other side is making a big move.

Amr ignored Yazid's instructions and issued a new order: "Pass the order, the left and right wing cavalry teams will immediately meet the enemy and don't give them a chance to cut off. The rear team will immediately become the front team and meet the enemy. The shield spearmen will immediately form a dispersed formation and let Fanzi organize the second line of defense..."

After assessing the situation, Amur issued orders at high speed, demonstrating the highest efficiency of a commander.

But the situation on the battlefield did not change much. The Tang army, which had taken the lead, had already captured the 3,000 soldiers of the Arab Empire who were responsible for the rear guard. If nothing was done, these 3,000 soldiers would be eaten by the Tang army.

Especially the cavalry on both wings. Once the cavalry on both wings of the Tang army complete the left and right cross-interweaving of their retreating soldiers, the three thousand soldiers will be completely swallowed up by the enemy.

"Hurry up!"

Amur urged in a low voice, looking at the battlefield.

He immediately arranged for the Arab cavalry to attack in order to prevent the Tang army from infiltrating...

As long as we can resist the Tang army's infiltration before it completes its infiltration, there will be a chance to save the situation.

Encouraged by his gaze, the cavalry of the Arab Empire quickly approached the cavalry of the Tang Army.

"Caught up! Clement, you've done a great job."

Amur's cloudy eyes became clear and he was greatly excited.

Clement did not hear Amur's shout...

A true team must have a certain tacit understanding. Especially in this battle situation, the commander does not have time to tell the generals on the front line about his thoughts and ideas, and the generals need to understand them on their own according to the commander's orders.

When Raymond saw the Tang army's cavalry flying on both wings and received orders from Amur, he immediately understood the enemy's idea. He stared at the Tang cavalry and shouted to charge.

The cavalry of the Arab Empire was extremely fast, it would not be an exaggeration to say that they were as fast as lightning, and their power was extremely terrifying.

They actually started later but arrived first and reached the front of the Tang army first.

Lemon felt strange and had a bad feeling. He had been fighting the Tang army for a while and had a certain understanding of each other's combat effectiveness and combat methods.

In terms of cavalry, due to the different environments, the fighting methods of both sides are different.

The core of cavalry is the horse, not the man. The characteristics of the horse are the direction of cavalry development. The military horses of the Tang Dynasty are mainly divided into two types, Beidi horses and Hequ horses.

The northern horse is a specialty of the northern grasslands. This kind of horse is fierce in combat, hardworking, able to survive in harsh environments, has excellent endurance, and runs very steadily, making it suitable for long-distance raids and horseback archery. The Hequ horse, also known as the Liangzhou horse, is a military horse introduced to the Han Dynasty from the Western Regions by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. This kind of horse runs as fast as lightning, is tall and sturdy, has strong explosive power, and is suitable for cutting and charging formations.

As for the horses of the Arab Empire, their Arabian horses can be regarded as one of the best war horses. They are taller, faster, and more explosive than Hequ horses.

When fighting against the Tang cavalry, the Arab cavalry was often able to gain a certain advantage by relying on their Arabian horses.

But even so, the Arabian horse would not be able to come out ahead in this situation...

At this moment, a strange and sharp sound reached his ears. Looking at the Tang army in front of him, Clement could not help but shout in horror: "Be careful..."

Countless tiny black shadows flew over like locusts!

The hundreds of Arab cavalrymen who were at the front were either hit by several arrows or had broken bones and tendons. Some of them fell off their horses without even a sound.

Is this a cavalry crossbow?
It is true that Arabian horses are superior to Hequ horses in various aspects, but in real combat, the Tang army did not suffer much loss. The reason lies in the diversity of Tang army's tactics. In addition to the cavalry that can break through the formation and charge, the Tang army also has cavalry archers who are skilled in horseback archery.

Arabian horses are too tall and have large movements when running, which makes them unsuitable for horseback archery. Most horseback archery in the West involves shooting from a stationary position on horseback, and it is impossible to shoot the enemy while moving like nomadic peoples.

Their long-range attack methods tend to be javelins, which are easier to control.

Faced with the Tang army's cavalry and archery, the cavalry of the Arab Empire suffered a lot.

But it was obvious that the enemy was riding Hequ horses, which were not suitable for mounted archery, which led to Raymond ignoring the Tang army's long-range offensive means.

Raymond had heard that the Tang cavalry had a kind of crossbow that could shoot while galloping at high speed on horseback, which was very powerful.

But Raymond had never encountered it before. He heard that only the elite cavalry under Li Ji were equipped with this kind of equipment and it was rarely used.

Clement had thought it was an exaggeration, but now that he experienced it himself, he felt a chill down his spine. He looked at the situation of his own troops: the front line was almost in collapse, and the injured horses were neighing and running around, throwing the knights to the ground.

The soldiers who were shot by arrows were either pierced through and bleeding profusely, or the crossbow arrows hit their armor, with a strong force that cracked their bones and made them lose their fighting power...

But the real horror is yet to come...

The lethality of a cavalry crossbow is actually very average, and a knight on horseback has no chance to shoot a second arrow.

The real power lies in the sudden attack after the crossbow arrows are fired.

The Tang army's attack did not stop at all. The transition between shooting and charging was extremely skillful. Like a flash of lightning, they took advantage of the chaos of the Arab cavalry and fiercely wedged into the enemy group.

The same thing happened to the left wing cavalry of the Arab Empire, and the situation was even worse. Their general was unfortunately shot dead by a cavalry crossbow in front of the battle, causing a stagnation in command and resulting in even greater casualties.

Only then did Amur realize that they were not trying to eat up his rearguard troops, but were trying to find a breakthrough from him.

Do you think you are an easy target?
Amur had a bad feeling, but he couldn't figure out what it was for a moment.

He took a look at Yezid, his disciple who came to gild himself, and knew that he could not lose this battle.

(End of this chapter)