Late Tang

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When Yu Juan led the cavalry from the five tribes to the battlefield, Li Jing actually arrived near Shanyang City almost at the same time as Yu Juan.Li Jing, who originally planned to lead his troops to break the siege of the camp, saw that Yu Yu had arrived, and after a little thought, he asked Zhang Chengye to bring a thousand cavalry and a large number of township flags to join Yu Yu. But he didn't rush to the battlefield.

On the battlefield, Li Ke used to be wary of Li Jing's 20 cavalry on the flanks, but in fact it was just the [-] cavalry brought by Zhang Chengye.The real Li Jing, however, led his [-] cavalry to the city of Shanyang, which was less than [-] miles away from the battlefield, after he rushed to the battlefield.

There were only three thousand infantrymen left behind in Tanming City, and almost all of them were recruits, and there was no general behind them.Li Jing had already decided to seize the opportunity to take down the city. Since Li Keyong and other generals of the Shatuo Army led the army to fight within [-] miles, there was no defense in the city.

Duan Shan led the special war cavalry and put on the Shatuo people's black clothes, black armor and black flag, and approached the city under the banner of sending a letter from Shuozhou. The defenders opened the city gate with little effort. .As soon as the [-] Special Forces members entered the city, they immediately beheaded the city gate defenders and captured the north gate. Afterwards, Li Jing, who had already been waiting, quickly led [-] cavalry into the city.On one side, [-] cavalry were specially sent to surround the other gates to prevent soldiers from escaping from the city.

Under Li Jing's surprise attack, the [-] recruits defending the city were defeated before they had time to react. Without the command of the general, many recruits directly surrendered to the town.Li Jing originally planned to capture the city, but he didn't expect it to be so easy, and it didn't even attract the attention of the battlefield twenty miles away.

Li Zhen suggested simply pretending to be a defender, and was going to blackmail Li Keyong.Just as Li Jing had this intention, he cleaned up the battlefield immediately, and the soldiers who suppressed the army put on the armor of the defenders, and escorted several officers who defended the city to the top of the city, with their daggers resting on their waists.

Things went smoothly as expected. With Yu Yu's support, Li Keyong was unable to defeat the Tang army, and finally had to withdraw his troops and return to the city.

Ten thousand Shatuo soldiers returned to the city. The front army was Xue Zhiqin, one of the seven generals of Yunzhou, leading three thousand cavalry.When they arrived at the bottom of the city, everything on the city was as usual, the city gate was closed tightly, the black flag of the Shatuo people was planted on the city, and the soldiers on the city head were lazily basking in the sun.Everything was normal, and even Xue Zhiqin saw Shi Shoushun who stayed behind standing on the top of the wall smiling at him.

He had just fought a big battle, but failed to win the final victory. Xue Zhiqin was so tired and gloomy that he didn't even notice Shi Shoushun's smiling face, the corners of his mouth were twitching non-stop, and his eyes were also looking at him. He winked, but Xue Zhiqin didn't see anything.

He just wanted to return to the city as soon as possible, take a good hot bath, change out of his blood-stained clothes, and eat a bowl of hot mutton soup. It would be best if there was a pot of kumiss.

Since they had just left Shanyang City for less than a day, even the elite Shatuo cavalry could not help but relax after arriving at the city. The continuous rush and fighting made them exhausted, so they withdrew from the battlefield to the city. , was about to enter the city, and everyone lost the slightest bit of vigilance.Their weapons have been sheathed, and the team is loose and straddled, not even a formation.

The three thousand former army broke into the city headlong like this, seeing that his eyes and small movements failed to attract Xue Zhiqin's attention, Shi Shoushun on the top of the city was very worried.Seeing that the former army had completely entered the city and the Chinese army was about to enter the city, Li Keyong's loyal Shatuo subordinate finally ignored his own life and shouted down: "Don't come in, there is an ambush..."

Halfway through his words, the guard behind him changed his expression and stabbed him to death.

However, his voice had already been yelled out, and many Shatuo people in the city heard it, causing chaos.Standing on the top of the city, Li Jing made a decisive decision and immediately ordered the city gate to be blocked.

The stones that had been prepared were thrown down immediately, and the city gate was quickly blocked, separating the front army from the rear army of the middle army.Li Jing originally wanted to lure Li Ke into the city, but now he can only block the three thousand former troops in the city.

"There is an ambush!" Xue Zhiqin's expression changed drastically, and he shouted out loudly, Zhou Dewei had already pierced his throat with an arrow, Xue Zhiqin blocked his throat with his hands, but he couldn't say anything, only the sound of air leaking from his throat , and then fell directly from the horse and was trampled by the chaotic Shatuo soldiers.

"Fire the arrow!" Zhou Dewei fired the first arrow, and the cavalry who had already ambushed on the roofs near the city gate and the city gate and in the shops all raised their bows and shot.

Row after row of densely packed archers appeared on the top of the city, and the arrows poured down on the unsuspecting Shatuo troops. For a while, the people turned their backs, and the suddenly blocked city gate took the Shatuo troops away. It was cut into two sections whose beginning and end could not be matched, and the former army lost Xue Zhiqin's command and fell into chaos.

The town guns poured out continuously from the roofs, shops, houses, the top of the city, and the caves of Tibetan soldiers, pouring a dense rain of arrows on the [-] former Shatuo soldiers who were trapped in the city.

The Shatuo cavalry is very strong, but they are trapped in a small street at this time. They want to rush, but the long-awaited Zhenguo Festival did not give them the slightest chance.On the long street, the Zhendong Army continued to pour out, dividing the three thousand Shatuo troops on Sheng Street into countless small sections. At the entrance of each street and alley, there were countless horses made of sharp wooden piles, and the horses were blocked one by one. Drag it out and block all intersections.

The cavalry of the Shatuo people completely lost the advantage of galloping vertically and horizontally, and were forced to form small battle groups, but facing the arrows shot from all directions, they could only fall down one by one powerlessly.

Li Ke, who was outside the city, had veins popping out of his anxious face, and ordered to attack the city, wanting to take back the city and rescue his subordinates.

But no matter how strong the Shatuo people are, they can't fly to the top of the city.Seven thousand tired Shatuo people faced the city guarded by Li Jing. Although they desperately launched several waves of attacks, they only left piles of corpses in the end.

After charging for about half an hour, the shouts of killing in the city became weaker and weaker. Li Keyong understood that Xue Zhiqin and the three thousand cavalry were probably gone.At this moment, he came to his senses, looking at the Shatuo cavalrymen who were still attacking the city wall like suicide, his heart was bleeding all of a sudden, he quickly stopped his subordinates, and the other Shatuo generals also understood at this time.Li Siyuan, Li Sizhao and the others were awake all the time, but they also had a chance of breaking through the city gate and rescuing the former army.

But now, this luck is gone.For this fluke, they paid the loss of more than [-] rides.

"Let's go! Go back to Jincheng!" Li Ke finally remembered his wife Liu's words at this time. No matter how hard they fight, they can't change the strength gap between them and Datang.Mayi was lost, and Shuozhou City was lost again. In addition to the loss of the attacking Tang army, he lost nearly ten thousand horses in these few battles.Among them are more than [-] elite cavalrymen of his, plus the [-] elite cavalry that his father died in the Jinglue Army City earlier, there are not many Shatuo warriors.

Li Keyong finally showed his heroic qualities at this time, and left without any hesitation, and the remaining 6000 Shatuo cavalry went all the way north, heading straight for Jincheng.

After losing Li Keyong's request for help, the town police in the city completely became shackles.The town police closed the door and beat dogs, using horses, shields, bows and arrows, completely restrained the three thousand Shatuo elite cavalry, encircled and suppressed them, and wiped them out bit by bit.The Shatuo cavalry completely lost their mobility to rule the roost. In the end, they couldn't even pull back. Li Jing was not in a hurry at all, and only ordered to encircle and kill them slowly. He was not in a hurry, and focused on keeping safety first.

Three thousand Shatuo's former army died in battle, and none of them surrendered, showing their sturdy nature.Li Jing admired these people very much, but after admiring them, Li Jing still ordered to kill all the leaders of the Shatuo people without mercy, and then sent someone to report victory to Zheng Congxuan of the camp.

In the camp of the Tang army, after Zheng Congxuan and Yu Jian met, they realized that although Li Jing's banner had arrived, Li Jing sent only a thousand cavalry, and they did not participate in the battle from the beginning to the end. Without coming, he and his four thousand cavalry don't know where they are.

In this regard, some generals believed that Li Jing was deliberately sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight, seeing death without saving, deliberately avoiding and not fighting, and preserving his strength.Of course, some people also said that although Li Jing's thousand cavalry did not participate in the battle, they were bluffing their flags, but they kept making the Shatuo people divide their troops for defense, which played a diversionary role.

But when it comes to where Li Jing himself is now, no one can tell.

"When I came, Li Zhenguo had already led his troops not far from Shanyang." Zhang Chengye had to answer honestly when faced with the question from Commander-in-Chief of the Seven Towns.To be honest, Zhang Chengye was also a little confused about what Li Jing was doing, and even couldn't help but doubt in his heart, could it be that Li Jing really avoided fighting on purpose in order to preserve his strength.

The atmosphere was a little awkward for a while, when someone outside the account suddenly reported.

"Report to Commander-in-Chief, Li Zhenguo's messenger has arrived!"

"After the battle is over, his messenger will arrive. Could it be that he has been watching us from the vicinity before?" Li Zhong of the Yicheng Army whispered a little dissatisfied. The camp was saved from defeat.But after this battle, his Yicheng Army has only 800 people left, and the loss is extremely heavy, so he is very dissatisfied with Li Jing who is nearby but has not come to help.

The person who came to deliver the letter was Li Jing's eldest disciple Liu Xun, and all the generals knew these six disciples of Li Jing.

Zheng Congxuan asked, "Where is Li Zhenguo now?"

Liu Xun straightened his chest, and under the unfriendly eyes of everyone, he replied loudly: "Returning to the commander-in-chief, after Deputy Envoy Li came here with [-] troops, he personally led [-] cavalry to attack Shanyang City in one fell swoop. A soldier from the capital pretended to be the Shatuo Army from Shuozhou, and deceived the city gate to capture Shanyang City, annihilating the [-] defenders in the city. The army cavalry entered the city, then closed the city and wiped it out. Li Ke used to storm the city for a while, leaving hundreds of corpses behind, and retreated to the north."

Hearing this news, all the generals in the tent were shocked on the spot.

Their tens of thousands of infantry and more than 1 cavalry who came to aid them added up to more than 1 soldiers and horses. They fought against Li Ke with 3 soldiers and horses. They fought for nearly a day and a night before finally annihilating Li Ke with [-] soldiers and horses.But their casualties paid more than [-], plus the previous battle, the siege of Shuozhou City, and Li Ke's attack on the camp to burn food and grass, and then the battle from last night to today, After the third battle, except for Li Jing's [-] soldiers and horses, the other [-] soldiers and horses lost half of them, nearly [-] horses.But their results, the three battles were nothing more than killing about [-] Shatuo soldiers.

Now Li Jing only has 4000 people in his hands. Not only did he capture Shanyang City, but he even wiped out [-] enemies, including [-] elite Shatuo cavalry used by Li Ke.

It's just unbelievable, but it's impossible for Li Jing to lie about his military achievements for such a thing, because he can know it clearly if he doesn't just check it casually.Well, this is the fact, but this fact is too surprising and shocking.

In the big tent, those who just said that Li Jing didn't come to the battle, but were deliberately preserving their strength, were suddenly speechless.Tens of thousands of troops could not capture Shuozhou City before, but now Li Jing easily took Shuozhou City down.Although it was because of the battle between them and Li Keyong that all the soldiers and horses in the city came out, Li Jing won it, but no matter what, Li Jing took Shuozhou City and killed more than 6000 Shatuo people soldiers and horses.

Zheng Congxuan was still in shock, but Cui Anqian had already stood up, and laughed loudly: "Although Li Zhenguo is young, he has the demeanor of a famous general. This battle was fought well. Even if Deputy Envoy Li participated in the battle, the effect he played was actually It's not big, not to mention that one of his flags has actually had the same effect, greatly restraining part of the Shatuo people's strength on the battlefield. Now Li Zhenguo directly outwitted Shanyang City and wiped out another 6000 Shatuo people So much vitality, this choice is quite wise. Played well, played great."

Cui Anqian made such a statement, Yu Yu naturally wanted to speak for his disciples, and nodded with a smile at the moment: "Ji Yu did a good job in this battle. The victory of Shanyang City not only took down a fortress of the Shatuo people, but also won the battle. It also wiped out so many Shatuo soldiers and horses, and more importantly, got the food and grass of the Shatuo people in the city, so our more than 3 soldiers and horses will have food to eat."

Zheng Congxuan also thought about the issue of food at this time, yes, their food and grass had been burned, and they fought hungry all day and night before.More than 1 people returned to aid Yu Yu, but he didn't bring any food at all.If Li Jing hadn't captured Shuozhou City, they would have temporarily repelled Li Keyong, but as long as Li Keyong hid in the city and spent a few days with them, their tens of thousands of troops would be defeated without attack.

"Cui Shuai and Yu Shuai are right. In this battle, Li Zhenguo's choice is extremely correct. Li Zhenguo should make the first contribution in this battle. He saved our defeat and helped us lock the battle." After finishing speaking, he turned to Liu Xun asked expectantly: "Shanyang City has been taken down, can the food and grass in the city be taken?"

Liu Xun was extremely proud at this time, no matter how powerful the soldiers and horses of the towns were, it didn't matter how powerful the soldiers and horses of the towns were, if there hadn't been a town commander to capture Shanyang City and force Li Keyong to flee north, the soldiers and horses of the seven towns would not last for three days.Smiling slightly, he said loudly: "Please rest assured, commanders, Shanyang City is the seat of Shuozhou, one of the three cities that Li Ke worked hard to manage, and a large amount of food has been hoarded in the city. After our army captured Shanyang City, Every single grain of grain in the city is protected, and there are a hundred thousand shi of grain!"

"One hundred thousand stones?" Zheng Congxuan exclaimed, with so much food, they don't have to worry about food supplies within half a year.

Liu Xun saluted Zheng Congxuan and the others again: "Li Zhenguo has ordered dinner for the army, and now please move the troops to Shuozhou city!"

"Okay! Let's go now!" After being hungry for a day and a night, Zheng Congxuan felt that his chest was sticking to his back. At this time, he couldn't help but feel a little impatient. (To be continued.)