Chapter 127: Capture of the Marshal, Victory in the Battle of Lishui

Even though Xinoza was furious, he could only stop and defend himself from time to time under the threat of Tang army's horses.

The day passed quickly.

We only traveled ten miles.

We cannot stop at night and must continue marching.

They hoped that the Tang army would be more restrained at night.

Lun Xinuoza insisted that although they were very tired, the Tang army must not be in much better condition.

The rumbling sound of horse hooves should be from the Tang army, including all the cavalry on the east bank of the Li River.

What Xinoza didn't know was that Li Xuan only had 500 cavalrymen riding with 8,000 war horses.

Li Xuan also sent fifty Shen Ce Guards to lead five hundred light cavalry to rob and kill the Tibetan scouts.

The other soldiers were resting.

Tubo was dragged into the quagmire, and even if they took a nap, they could easily catch up.

This also meant that when Tubo was marching at night, the Tang army's elite cavalry and light cavalry would harass them again.

Even heavy cavalry appeared, deliberately letting Tubo see the presence of heavy cavalry.

As for Synozza, he formed a defensive array and did not dare to advance.

The Tang army remained in a stalemate with the Tubo army all night, harassing them by shooting arrows from time to time.

Seeing that the Tang army was ready to attack, the Tubo people did not dare to rest.

A cold wind blew all night!

Until daytime, the Tang army's heavy cavalry, elite cavalry, and light cavalry all disappeared from sight.

Every Tibetan has dark circles under his eyes.

As they continued their march, some of them staggered as if they would faint at any moment.

"Warriors, we can't stop. If the Tang army infantry catches up, it will be too late for us to retreat. Hold on, as long as we go back, we have plenty of time to rest!"

With red eyes, Lun Sinuoza encouraged the soldiers.

"Boom!"

As soon as Lun Xinoza finished speaking, the sound of horse hooves was heard.

He thought that the Tang army had returned and was going to attack them, so he immediately ordered the army to stop and form a battle formation.

When the sound of horse hooves stopped, Lun Xinoza realized that this was another "tactic of tiring out the soldiers" by the Tang army.

Half a quarter of an hour later, he ordered his men to continue marching.

This situation occurs more than ten times a day.

Fortunately, Lun Xinuoza was bolder and made the Tubo advance twenty miles during the day.

As soon as it got dark at night, the Tang army's armored cavalry, heavy cavalry and light cavalry rushed over.

At the same time, thousands of powerful crossbowmen on horseback were carried to a place not far from the Tubo army.

This time, the crossbowmen, under the cover of the cavalry, approached the Tubo army by 200 steps.

At this distance, powerful crossbows are fired from time to time.

Although the arrows failed to penetrate the Tibetan shield, they still harassed the Tibetan soldiers and kept them awake all night.

The Tibetan soldiers were in a state of tension, and some of them could not bear the double pressure and fell to the ground, dying!
The appearance of the strong crossbowman made Lun Xinoza despair.

They couldn't march at all because the crossbowmen were blocking them.

But after morning, the crossbowmen seemed to be exhausted and withdrew from the vicinity of their army.

The Tang army's heavy cavalry, elite cavalry, and light cavalry also evacuated together.

This gave Lunxinoza courage to continue heading south.

"Boom!"

Sure enough, the sound of Tang army's horses' hooves sounded again.

"Marshal, could it be that the Tang army is deliberately making things mysterious? They heard the sound of thousands of horses, but in fact there are only a hundred people driving the horses?"

A Tibetan noble official reacted and told Lun Xinuoza his guess.

"Makes sense!"

Only his voice is heard, but his person is not seen.

When Lun Xinuoza heard this, he thought it was really possible. Otherwise, why didn't the Tang army show up?
If the Tang army showed up like they did at night, they wouldn't even dare to rest.

"Let's fight! Ignore the sound of horses' hooves and march at full speed!"

Synoza knew that if they continued like this they would be exhausted to death, so he became angry.

The sound of horse hooves was heard again, and the Tibetan army did not stop.

The scout informed Li Xuan, who was several miles away, of this matter.

"The main force of our infantry just crossed the river not long ago. If we march at full speed, we will arrive here at noon!"

Li Xuan murmured.

It was normal for Tubo to see through his plan.

"Order the heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and elite cavalry to stop and rest, and go to the front of the Tibetan formation to block them."

The soldiers under Li Xuan were able to hold on, but the Tibetan soldiers had reached their limit.

Continue to appear in front of them.

As for the crossbowmen, Li Xuan did not plan to let them go to the front line.

We were able to scare the Tubo army yesterday, but that may not be the case now. It would be troublesome if the Tubo army went all out and charged directly at the strong crossbow army.

It’s not that Li Xuan was afraid of Tubo, but he didn’t want to suffer more casualties.

Li Xuan's plan was to wait for 10,000 infantrymen to appear and then cooperate with the cavalry to encircle and suppress the Tubo infantry.

With such a delay, the infantry will arrive in the afternoon.

"Boom!"

This time it was the real Tang Qi who arrived.

All the cavalry added up to nearly six thousand.

At first, Lun Xinuoza didn't take it seriously, but when he saw the dust getting closer and closer, he realized that this time it was real: "Form an array, form an array!"

"Woo...Woo..."

The Tibetan horns sounded intermittently.

The exhausted Tibetan soldiers placed their chariots and shields around them, ready for battle.

At this time, Lun Xinuoza actually hoped that the Tang army would attack.

But the Tang army made his hatred rise again.

The Tang army's cavalry was just a mile away, patrolling and running wherever they could see.

"Marshal, this won't work! The warriors are about to collapse from exhaustion. Perhaps the Tang army's infantry is on the way. We should attack southwards in an offensive formation. If the Tang army rushes over, we will fight to the death."

A Tibetan general shouted at him regardless of Lun Xinuoza's identity.

The occurrence of such a situation under the strict military regulations of Tubo meant that the general's mind had collapsed.

"Marshal, we will leave in the offensive formation. If the Tang army disperses us, we will all flee. You have always wanted to minimize the losses, but your army's losses are getting bigger and bigger."

A cavalry captain also said with resentment.

Their cavalry had already suffered so many casualties, yet they were still forced to not leave.

Li Xuan is invincible!

Should we let the cavalry be buried with the infantry?

Besides, even if the Tibetan soldiers broke up and fled in disorder, there would always be a thousand or eight hundred of them who could escape.

It’s not like now, where they are being played around by the Tang army like a group of livestock.

When the Tang army's infantry rushes to surround them, they will be completely wiped out.

In this battle, there were too many people who were dissatisfied with Lun Xinuoza. After one general took the lead, other generals followed suit to "persuade" him.

Lun Xinuoza's face turned purple, but he had no way to refute.

He boosted his last bit of momentum, but in the eyes of the Tubo generals, Lun Xinuoza was just like them, a stray dog, and he would not give in!
"Go south!"

Finally, Lun Xinoza closed his eyes and uttered two words.

The Tibetan soldiers showed determination on their faces and began to change their formation, focusing on marching.

When infantry marches in front of cavalry, they will reveal many flaws.

The Tang army's marching formation on the grassland must have had a large number of cavalry on both wings.

And the Tibetan cavalry was like nothingness!

"Go tell the crossbowmen to follow!"

"General Che, your cavalry are ready to charge at my command!"

"General Xin, observe the weak points of the Tibetan soldiers as they march, and shoot them quickly with light cavalry."

"General Nan, wait for General Xin to shoot open the weak spot, and then you will lead the elite cavalry of Lintao Army, Zhenxi Army and Momen Army to charge in and enlarge the gap!"

Li Xuan gave orders continuously.

Since Tubo was desperate, he had to make a prompt decision.

"As ordered!"

The generals take orders.

Li Xuan led his personal guards and approached the Tubo army.

The Tibetan army continued to march forward, and the archers didn't even have a chance to shoot.

Walking and shooting, it's like a joke.

Not to mention the slingshot.

"Without my order, you are not allowed to shoot!"

Xin Yunjing gave orders with a horn.

He planned to put pressure on the Tibetan soldiers through a tug of war, causing them to reveal bigger flaws.

Xin Yunjing divided the cavalry into four teams.

They roamed around in front, on the flanks and behind the Tubo army.

The last team stared at the Tibetan cavalry.

The Tibetan soldiers were marching nervously.

But all around were Tang cavalry galloping.

The pressure on the Tubo soldiers was like a mountain pressing down on their heads.

How could the exhausted defeated soldiers maintain a marching formation under such pressure?
In just half a quarter of an hour, a group of Tibetan infantry fell behind.

At the same time, several ox carts at the rear were stopped because the soldiers fell behind.

"In the direction of my finger, Pegasus will gallop!"

Xin Yunjing pointed at the flaw and gave an order.

Hundreds of riders followed Xin Yunjing.

They were armed with horse bows and held the arrows in their hands.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..."

After a few dozen steps, they all arrived, riding and shooting.

The Tibetan soldiers in that area were killed and wounded everywhere, and the others fled in panic.

More cars stopped.

Xin Yunjing stopped his horse just a few dozen steps away and continued to shoot from horseback. Tubo was unable to organize a defensive force.

"Soldiers, charge with me!"

Seeing the huge gap, Nan Jiyun immediately led the cavalry to charge forward.

"Quick, block the gap!"

As Synoza rode on his horse, his face changed drastically.

But they were in a marching formation, so it was not easy to move the heavy infantry over. When the heavy infantry went over with their shields, Nan Jiyun had already led thousands of elite cavalry to attack.

"Pfft!"

Before the shields were even erected, Nan Jiyun took the lead, knocking over several shields and killing several people.
The elite cavalry behind him rushed forward, wearing bright armor and piercing into the Tubo army like sharp knives.

The Tibetan formation was in chaos, and the soldiers in the front didn't know whether to continue moving south or turn back to fight.

"Woo..."

Li Xuan used the horn as an order and ordered the heavy cavalry to begin charging.

The heavy cavalry two miles away began to speed up.

Slow walk, fast walk, running, trotting...

When the distance to the Tubo rear army is 100 steps, the speed increases to the maximum.

The Tibetan rear army was in panic because the elite cavalry of the Tang army entered the battle.

Now seeing the armored cavalry charging fiercely, they simply stopped caring about the rear and ran towards places where there were no Tang troops.

As a result, the chariots of the rear army were not combined, giving the Tang army's armored cavalry many places to rush into the formation.

“Bang!” “Puff!”

The Tibetan soldiers in the rear army were able to escape the attack of the Tang army, but more Tibetan soldiers were exposed to the iron hoof of the Tang army.

In the dense marching formation and with one charge, hundreds of Tibetan soldiers were knocked away or stabbed to death.

As the armored troops rushed in, the Tibetan casualties continued to increase.

If the defense is not organized, a collapse is inevitable.

"Marshal, our army has no chance. Please follow the cavalry and retreat!"

His subordinates persuaded Lun Xinuoza.

Marching in front of cavalry may seem foolish, but it is the only solution.

Who made their cavalry lose so early?
"I'll die if I go back like this!"

Regarding Xi Nuoza, he looked uneasy.

"Marshal, do you want to die in your own country, or in the Tang Kingdom?"

A thousand-household leader of Tubo believed that Lun Xinuozha should go back and accept punishment honestly, and told the Zamp and the Great Theorem every detail of the battle.

So that we can find a way to deal with Li Xuan in the future.

"go!"

Synnoza's heart was bleeding as he watched the soldiers die tragically, but he still decided to escape with the cavalry.

Although, they may not be able to escape.

The Tibetan cavalry was always at the front so that they could withdraw at critical moments.

But at this time there were five hundred Tang cavalry in front of them.

"Give us 500 cavalrymen to delay the Tang cavalry!"

The Tibetan cavalry general ordered.

In addition to Lun Xinuoza, this trip also included a group of Tibetan thousand-household heads, noble officials.

They abandoned the infantry under the cover of the remaining 500 cavalry.

Before leaving, Lun Xinuoza ordered the Tibetan infantry to disperse and flee.

This will also give them room to escape.

Little did they know that Li Xuan had not charged into the battle line because he was keeping an eye on them.

When he saw the Tibetan flag and many animal flags falling, he knew that they were trying to escape.

He learned from Gao Xiuyan that it was a small Gonglun who was guarding Tuyuhun and Jiuqu who led the troops.

This is greater than the title of Jiedushi in the Tang Dynasty and is a good military achievement.

"Order the strong crossbowmen to ride to the front of the battlefield and block all the retreat routes. Send another 1,000 light cavalry to cooperate with the strong crossbowmen to prevent the Tibetan soldiers from escaping south as much as possible."

After Li Xuan issued an order, he led his personal guards to chase after Lun Xinoza.

After Lun Xinuoza and others had fled for more than ten miles, they suddenly discovered that more than a hundred elite cavalry of the Tang army were chasing them from behind.

He didn't take it seriously at first, because Xinuoza still had hundreds of personal guards wearing chain mail who could stop the Tang army's pursuers if necessary.

"Marshal, that seems to be the commander of Longyou... Li Xuan!"

A centurion became more and more frightened as he watched. After he basically confirmed the identity of the pursuers behind him, he stammered to Lun Xinuoza.

"what!"

Then Synoza's heart was shaken.

The most important thing is that many Tibetan cavalry also recognized that this was Li Xuan.

They kept repeating this name, and suddenly all the cavalry knew that Li Xuan was chasing them.

The sight of Li Xuan killing fierce generals like holding a lamb and moving freely among thousands of cavalry was their nightmare.

How could they possibly resist with such a small number of people?

"Is God going to kill me?"

Of Synoza he was in despair.

Seeing Li Xuan and Shen Ce approaching, he looked up to the sky and shouted.

The air was filled with sadness.

At the same time, the formation of this team of Tibetan cavalry was in chaos.

Several Tuyuhun cavalrymen threw away their spears and took off their armor.

The horse sped up and passed the other horses.

Some Tibetan cavalry even imitated Tuyuhun's "throwing away their weapons and armor".

They didn't dare to fight with Li Xuan and just wanted to escape with all their might.

As for Lun Xinoza, if it weren't for him, they could have left long ago and would not have been chased by Li Xuan, the god of death.

There were even some Tibetan cavalrymen who believed that it was because Lun Xinuoza was in their team that they lured Li Xuan over.

"Bold, are you still warriors?"

When Synnoza saw this, he was furious.

Although he was defeated, he could not tolerate his subordinates behaving like this.

At this moment, whether it was the Tuyuhun people, the Tubo cavalry, or even the nobles and officials, they all turned a deaf ear to Lun Xinuoza's words and fled on their own.

Only his personal guards "never leave him"!
"General, please throw down your sword and bow, take off your armor, and let's stop Li Xuan!"

The captain of the guard said resolutely.

If they stayed, they would die, but that was their fate.

"I would rather die than be humiliated like this!"

When Lun Xinoza said this, he was looking at Li Xuan who was less than three hundred steps away from them.

The Tang army's horses were better than the Tubo horses, but the Tubo horses had been badly beaten in the past few days.

"Marshal, you must return alive to meet the Zamp..."

The chief guard advised.

"That's fine!"

Then Synnoza threw away his golden sword, threw away his bow and arrows, with which he had not killed a man, and removed his heavy armor.

Suddenly, Lunsignoza's horse became faster.

"Warriors, die for the Marshal!"

The captain of the personal guards turned his horse, shouted loudly, and returned with a scimitar in hand to kill Li Xuan.

At this time, all of Li Xuan's personal guards drew their bows.

"Pfft!"

Within a hundred steps, the chief of the imperial guards was shot in the face by an arrow from Li Xuan and fell off his horse.

"Shhhhhh!"

Within fifty steps, all the guards will let go of their guards.

Chain mail can effectively defend against arrows, so the guards shot at the faces of the Tibetan cavalry.

In one round of arrows, more than thirty people fell off their horses.

In the second round, more than fifty people fell off their horses when they shot arrows at the 20-step mark.

The remaining ones were not to be feared, as the guards rushed over with guns and killed them all.

"what……"

When Lun Xinoza turned his head to take a look, he was shocked. His brave guards were killed in an instant.

Seeing this, the other Tibetan cavalrymen kept whipping their horses.

Li Xuan saw that his personal guards could not catch up with these Tibetan "light cavalry" for the time being, so he rode his Fire Cloud Horse to pursue them alone.

The Fire Cloud Horse is not as good as the Ferghana Horse in terms of explosive power, but its other qualities such as endurance and strength are far superior.

After half a quarter of an hour, Li Xuan caught up with a Tibetan soldier and put the spear blade on his back.

The Tibetan soldier was so frightened that he quickly reined in his horse and begged for mercy.

"Who is the marshal?"

Li Xuan asked the Tibetan soldier.

Although the Tibetan soldier did not understand Chinese, he seemed to understand what Li Xuan meant and pointed to a man wearing an exquisite leather coat about 120 steps away.

The Tibetans had clear class distinctions, and even what the marshal wore under his armor was different from others.

Li Xuan did not kill the Tibetan soldier who had "come on the road", but simply threw him off his horse with a spear.

He rode on and continued to pursue Lyssinus.

In a moment, Li Xuan was only ten steps away from Lun Xinoza.

Xi Nuo Za was only of noble status, but average in bravery. Not to mention that he had no weapons, even if he had weapons, he would still be vulnerable in front of Li Xuan.

Now he doesn't even have the chance to commit suicide with a knife.

"drive!"

Li Xuan squeezed the horse's belly and the Fire Cloud Horse accelerated again.

Quickly approached Lun Sinuza.

"what……"

When the two were less than a step away from each other, Li Xuan reached out and grabbed his collar, pulled Lun Xinuoza off the horse, and then put him on his horse's back.

Seeing Lun Xinuoza struggling and shouting, Li Xuan became impatient. He turned his horse around and came to the side of the guards, signaling them to stop.

"Tied!"

Li Xuan threw Lun Xinuoza off his horse and ordered his guards to tie him up.

"There is no need to pursue the remaining Tibetan cavalry."

The Tibetan cavalry had thrown their weapons and armor all over the ground. Perhaps they could be caught up with them after a long chase, but Li Xuan had to deal with the war that had not yet ended.

Another unit of Tibetan cavalry was attacked from both sides by the Tang army, which consisted of a total of 1,000 cavalrymen, and was completely wiped out.

The crossbowmen also rode on horseback and lined up on the path where the Tibetan soldiers were fleeing.

By the afternoon, the infantry arrived at the battlefield.

They pursued and intercepted the enemy, beheaded more than 15,000 people and captured 5,000 people.

It is inevitable that some of the remaining fish will escape the country.

However, in the memorial, it can be reported as "completely annihilating the enemy."

Captured the commander-in-chief, killed four of the most important generals, and captured two captains of ten thousand men.

A total of more than 60,000 people were killed or captured.

Fifteen thousand horses and two thousand cattle were captured, and the military supplies were inexhaustible.

This is the greatest achievement against Tubo in recent years.

At this point, the "Battle of Li River" ended successfully!
(End of this chapter)