Chapter 177 The Power of the Crossbow, the Bloody Battle at Chicken Heart Valley

When Tubo was mobilizing its troops and preparing to launch a fierce attack on Jixin Valley, Li Xuan led his personal guards to the foot of the hillside where Shibao City was located.

He was not wearing general armor, but the same Ming Guang armor as his personal guards, and there were no flags around him.

Like an ordinary Tang cavalry.

The Tibetan defenders in Shibao City have seen many such situations in the past two days.

The Lintao army had too many horses and it would be difficult for them to cross the Yellow River in a short time, so Li Xuan did not go to the Jishi army for the time being.

Moreover, Li Xuan also needed to wait for the fighting to start in Jixin Valley and then keep some of the Tibetan soldiers here.

At the same time, let Tubo see Xin Yunjing who was impersonating him in Qinghai.

This further weakened Jiuqu’s military strength.

Only in this way can we occupy Jiuqu safely.

After occupying Jiuqu, you must ensure that you can defend Jiuqu.

Because Chiling is next to Jiuqu, Shibao City is ultimately in the hands of Tubo.

Tubo can attack Jiuqu at any time.

Li Xuan did not want to wait until the Yellow River froze after December. He wanted to strike a heavy blow to Tubo before the Yellow River froze.

"Stone Castle City deserves to be called Iron Blade City by Tubo."

Li Xuan also shook his head when he saw the standing Stone Fort City.

He also felt that it was not worth it for thousands or even tens of thousands of soldiers to be killed or injured under the Stone Fortress.

There are now always five hundred soldiers stationed at the foot of the stone fort, and they are pointing their guns and crossbows at the path down the mountain.

Even though there were more than a thousand Tibetan soldiers in the city, they were powerless.

The defender of Shibao City, Xinoro, thought that the Tang army would attack the city, so they piled the city walls with stored stones.

The powerful crossbows captured from the Tang army were also taken out and placed on the city walls, and there were also many archers.

The food and grass in the city were enough to last for half a year, so they were not afraid of the Tang army at all.

Just when they were actively preparing for war and sharpening their swords, the Tang army refused to attack and instead blocked the path down the mountain with five hundred soldiers.

What does it mean?
"General, so many Tang soldiers passed through the slope, but only 500 stayed. Could it be that they want to bypass Tieren City and attack Qinghai?"

The deputy general of Stone Castle said to Sinoro.

At this moment, they dare not relax for a moment.

But if this continues, it will wear down the morale of the defenders of Stone Fort City.

"That's probably the case!"

Xinoro nodded slightly, he also saw many smoke signals in other directions.

It was thought that the Tang army was going to clear Chiling and prepare for the attack on Qinghai.

"The Tang army is so stupid. Our army holds Tieren City. Even if they go south to southern Qinghai, they cannot garrison there." The deputy general of Shibao City sneered.

"You can't look at it that way. Li Xuan is a bloodthirsty and brutal man who kills people without blinking an eye. Perhaps this expedition is just for a big fight to kill and injure our Tibetan warriors. The number of Tang people is as numerous as the stars in the sky, and they can always pick tall people from Longyou and Hexi to supplement their troops. And every loss of tens of thousands of Tibetans is a serious injury and will bring disaster to the country."

Sinoro analyzed from another perspective.

He believed that Li Xuan's actions were all intended to kill their Tibetan fresh troops.

After all, the Tibetan king portrayed Li Xuan as an evil person who opposed the gods.

At this time, Indian Buddhism had not yet been introduced to Tubo. Tubo believed in Bon religion from Zhangzhung civilization. They worshipped nature, gods, and totems, and their main characteristics were divination, taboos, witchcraft, and blood sacrifices.

Although it has the shadow of primitive Buddhism, it is still obviously different from Buddhism.

This also led to the Tibetans who believed in Bon to have a "misunderstanding" of Li Xuan, and they imagined that Li Xuan was unforgivable.

"Since ancient times, wars have all been fought to achieve strategic goals. If Li Xuan does this, he will surely be punished by God. He will die by the river, in the jungle, on the mountain, or in the ravine!"

The deputy general hurled a vicious curse at Li Xuan.

"It's a pity that we can only watch. It would be great if the Tang army attacked Iron Blade City. In this way, we can also delay some of the Tang army and reduce the pressure on the army."

Xinoruo looked at the Tang army guarding the hillside and sighed.

They had no other choice but that trail.

Because the hillside was too steep, they couldn't attack the 500 Tang soldiers below even if they wanted to.

It is impossible to spread one's hands, and if one rushes down the hillside rashly, there is a high probability of falling and rolling down.

It was impossible for the Tang army to climb up the hillside, let alone go down the hillside.

So they could only look to Qinghai, hoping that the Tubo army would win and kill the evil spirit Li Xuan.

If the Tang army suffered a major defeat, they could go out and intercept them.

When the defender of Shibao City was worried, Li Xuan came to Jixin Valley.

The battle here is about to break out.

Before this, the Dadou army had dropped many caltrops in front of them.

Now Enlanda Zhalugong ordered some soldiers from Dangxiang and Tuyuhun to clear away the caltrops.

The Tibetan infantry's bows and crossbows were also ready, and they built heavier shields.

Although Jixin Valley was spacious, the Tang army was too tightly deployed, and the chariots, deer horns, caltrops, and cavalry attacks would cause heavy casualties.

More flexible infantry is easier to charge into battle.

Li Xuan placed bows and arrows in a dangerous position.

Deploy powerful crossbows on flat terrain.

Heavy armored infantry and Mingguang armored soldiers are mostly in dangerous terrain.

It's not like a wall, which is an absolute defense.

The deployment of troops is still in the "fish scale formation", with 500 people in a large team and 50 people in a small team.

There is a gap between the squads that is big enough for a horse to pass through.

The gaps between teams are getting bigger.

The densely packed fish scale formation has greater lethality.

Tubo has experience fighting against the Tang army and would definitely not dare to pass through the gap.

The Tang army basically deployed 40,000 troops.

The remaining 20,000 people served as reserves and rested on the side.

At night, some people will be replaced and take turns fighting.

Their division was clear, and the soldiers in the reserve team knew which team they were going to replace.

Li Xuan observed the camp and felt that there was no problem.

Just wait for Tubo’s first charge and see the results.

If he could deal a heavy blow to Tubo on the first day, Li Xuan would leave with peace of mind.

Li Xuan instructed Liu Yan that during the battle, supplies must not stop.

All the arrows from the two towns were transported here.

In order to inflict psychological deterrence on the Tibetan soldiers, the Tang army also used chariots to transport forty crossbows.

Although the range of the bed crossbow is not very accurate, it can kill the enemy at a distance of 250 steps.

As long as the Tibetan army rushes in large numbers, they will always be able to hit the target.

If the distance is close, there is a possibility of being pierced by the gourd, which has a great deterrent effect.

"The Tibetans have cleared the caltrops and are preparing to attack our army. Get ready!"

Gao Xiuyan issued orders and gave commands at the front line.

The soldiers also looked serious and put bundles of arrows behind them.

Thousands of powerful crossbowmen stayed in the gaps between the teams, ready to shoot at any time.

Compared with the defending side, the attacking side can no longer shoot arrows when their infantry approaches the Tang formation, otherwise there will definitely be large-scale accidental casualties and loss of morale.

The Tang army's powerful crossbowmen could continuously fire crossbow arrows.

Archers can also shoot arrows behind the Tibetan formation.

"Generals, each of you will lead 5,000 men and attack the Tang army from the east, west, and middle hills in four directions. I authorize you to give the Tuyuhun and Dangxiang 300 sets of armor and 300 sets of mail mail each. I hope you can defeat the enemy in one fell swoop and lift the siege of Shibao City."

Enlanda Zhalugong gave cold orders to a general of the Tuyuhun tribe and a general of the Dangxiang tribe.

Obviously, let them take the lead, observe the weaknesses of the Tang army's formation, and further clear the Tang army's obstacles.

The Tang army had too many obstacles. The first team to attack had to clear more than a dozen layers of antlers in front of the Tang army's formation, and the casualties were at least twice that of the second wave of attackers.

Naturally, we cannot let the Tibetans do such things.

"As ordered!"

The generals of Tuyuhun and Dangxiang dared not disobey.

As a subordinate, you must be prepared to be cannon fodder.

Moreover, the Tuyuhun general had half Tibetan blood in his body and considered himself a Tibetan from the bottom of his heart.

He didn't care about the life or death of the Tuyuhun people, but only cared about whether he could make military achievements.

Only the Dangxiang general had a flash of dissatisfaction in his eyes, but at this time the Dangxiang were not even as good as Tuyuhun, so how could they have the ability to challenge Tubo?
Half an hour later, the Tuyuhun and Dangxiang soldiers reluctantly put on their armor.

At the urging of the generals, they held large shields and two-meter-long spears, preparing to approach the Tang army and fight against them...

Tuyuhun is now plagued by internal conflicts, and the people all hate the nobles. How can such an army boost its morale while fighting for Tubo?

So they pushed extremely slowly, for fear of being shot by the Tang army's arrows when their bodies were exposed.

Meiluqiongsangwoermang and Enlanda Zhalugong were watching the battle from a distant platform. If they saw a weak spot in the battle line, they would immediately send their elite Tibetan infantry to attack.

"This is the Tuyuhun army, right? General Gao, push the Tuyuhun prince to the front line and see if Tuyuhun will kill their prince."

After seeing the flag, Li Xuan gave instructions to Gao Xiuyan.

When they came here, they brought the Tuyuhun prince Xi Nongcan with them.

This was to use them as a threat when they met the Tuyuhun army.

Xi Nongcan had been captured in the Battle of Lishui and had been kept in the army.

Li Xuan also knew that the Tuyuhun royal family no longer considered him a Tuyuhun person, and doing this was just to kill people and destroy their hearts.

"As ordered!"

After Gao Xiuyan received the order, he brought Xi Nongcan, who was tied up and gagged, to the front of the battle and placed him on the chariot of the large shield soldiers.

Xi Nong had met Li Xuan before, and it was impossible to let him speak.

"That is……"

"That seems to be a prince?"

When the Tuyuhun soldiers came to more than a hundred steps away from the Tang army formation, someone immediately recognized Xi Nongcan. The Tuyuhun soldiers looked at each other and stopped where they were, not knowing what to do!
Even the Tangut soldiers stopped moving forward...

The Tang army did not release the crossbows, wanting to see their reaction.

"Why not move forward?"

When Meiluqiongsang Woermang saw this situation, he frowned and said.

Enlanda Zhalugong immediately summoned the Tuyuhun general to ask him about it.

After the Tuyuhun general learned about the situation, his face changed drastically and he ran over to report to Moluqiongsang Woermang: "Your Excellency, our Tuyuhun prince was tied to the chariot in front of the Tang army."

He and the Tuyuhun king had always thought that the prince had been killed by Li Xuan, but they didn't expect that he was still alive.

He was not afraid of the death of the untouchables, but was afraid of accidentally hurting the prince.

The little king of Tuyuhun is a petty person, and we will definitely take our anger out on him when the time comes.

"Xi Nong Can? The Tang army is using him to threaten us. Are we going to give up Shibao City? Even the son of the Zamp died for the country. What are you thinking?"

"Attack immediately! Anyone who dares to delay military operations will be killed! I will inform the Zamp of this matter!"

Meiluqiongsang Woermang was stunned for just a moment, then he immediately gave the order.

He can still tell what is important and what is not.

He believed that the Tuyuhun king could also understand the seriousness of the situation.

"As ordered!"

After receiving the order, the Tuyuhun general immediately turned around and rushed to the front line.

The drums and trumpets sound again...

The Tuyuhun soldiers could only continue to approach...

One hundred steps!

"Fire arrows!"

After the Tang army's generals gave a long shout, the archers in the formation shot arrows at the enemy.

The crossbowman pulled the trigger.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..."

With each sound, arrows covered the sky and rained down on the Tuyuhun and Dangxiang soldiers.

"Clang clang clang!"

"Pfft! Pfft!"

If the Tuyuhun and Dangxiang soldiers used shields to block the front, their thickened shields could block the crossbow arrows.

But the arrows shot from overhead would take their lives.

Not all Tuyuhun and Dangxiang soldiers had armor.

"You must charge forward amidst the rain of arrows... otherwise you will be shot to death by the Tang army's arrows and crossbows. Those who are afraid of fighting will have their families, wives and daughters made slaves."

Seeing that his men were hesitating, the Tuyuhun general gave orders and threatened them.

When the Tuyuhun soldiers heard the general's words, they became fierce and rushed towards the Tang army.

If they were not ruthless, they would be killed by the Tang army.

Since they would die anyway, they chose to fight for their families.

Only the Tuyuhun prince sitting in the car was trembling.

"Woooo..."

He was afraid of death and kept struggling and shaking his head, but at this moment, the Tuyuhun soldiers no longer cared about him.

He looked at the two large spears passing by him on both sides, and was afraid that when the battle broke out, he would be stabbed to death by the Tang army's spears or the Tuyuhun army's spears.

The Tang army's archers kept shooting arrows, and the crossbowmen waited for an opportunity to fire.

Every hundred steps, Tuyuhun and Dangxiang soldiers kept falling down.

"Bed crossbow ready!"

When they were nearly fifty steps away, the Tang army began to order the crossbows between teams to fire.

The Tang army's crossbow required eight people to operate, and the crossbow arm alone was nearly ten feet long.

Except for the soldiers who were observing, the rest of the soldiers stirred the wheels vigorously to draw the crossbow's force.

When the string was stretched to a certain degree, a seven-foot-long spear with feathers was placed on the crossbow arm.

"Boom!"

As the operator strikes the hammer, the crossbow arrow flies out of the air with extraordinary sharpness.

"Crack!"

"Pfft!"

Because the Tuyuhun soldiers were densely packed, the spear hit a shield in an instant.

While the shield was shattered into pieces, the spear arrows remained powerful and pierced through the Tuyuhun soldiers wearing chain mail.

The Tuyuhun soldier flew backwards and knocked down another soldier.

At a distance of less than fifty steps, the crossbow was too lethal.

“Crack!” “Puff!”

Dozens of spears flew out in other directions.

Although only dozens of people were killed, the deterrent effect it brought was far greater than killing the enemy.

At this point, the Tuyuhun and Dangxiang soldiers had no choice but to grit their teeth and move forward in the face of powerful crossbows and spears.

After another wave of soldiers died, they came to the deer horns about ten steps away from the Tang soldiers.

Each step was weighted with antlers and hammered into the dirt.

Before the deer antlers were removed, the two groups of soldiers could only become targets for the crossbowmen.

But when they moved their antlers, they would inevitably be exposed to the crossbowmen's field of vision, and shields would not be able to block them.

Along the long battle line, hundreds of people died for almost every layer of antlers removed.

Fortunately, the Tuyuhun and Dangxiang soldiers who moved the deer horns were not wearing armor, otherwise most of the armored soldiers of the two groups would have been killed here, and there would have been no need to attack the formation.

After great efforts, the two groups finally cleared the deer horns to within two feet of the Tang army.

At this time, there was still a layer of deer antlers and two chariots between them.

When the two troops were trying to hook the deer's horns, they were stabbed by the Tang army's spears.

"Crack!"

The two Tang soldiers looked at each other and worked together to stab a Dangxiang soldier holding a shield.

After the Tangut soldier's shield was knocked off, his body was exposed.

Two large guns, one above and one below, attacked his face and chest respectively.

There was armor on his chest that did not pierce through, but his face was stabbed directly by the spear, and he fell to the ground and died tragically.

Some Tang soldiers held long spears that could penetrate armor, which was even more deadly to the two groups of armored soldiers.

Fortunately, the last layer of antlers was removed in time, and they approached the Tang army and were able to attack them, causing casualties to them.

However, their weapons and armor were inferior to those of the Tang army, and it was often the Tuyuhun and Dangxiang soldiers who fell first.

The Tuyuhun and Dangxiang tribes not only had to face the Tang army, which was well prepared and well defended, but they also had to worry about powerful crossbows shooting at them from time to time.

At such a close distance, the powerful crossbow can directly penetrate the armor.

At this time, the most frightened person was Xi Nongcan. He watched with his own eyes as the Tang and Tu armies fought each other with spears in front of him.

The Tuyuhun soldiers did not intend to try to rescue him, they tried to fight for a slim chance of survival.

This almost drove Xi Nongcan crazy, but his mouth was blocked and he couldn't shout anything.

When the crossbow was ready and the second round was fired, one arrow injured two people, which made the soldiers of Tuyuhun and Dangxiang dare not approach the gap between the teams.

But on the battlefield, it is always inevitable to be exposed to the crossbow.

Blood spurted between the two armies, flowing into small rivers. The shouts and sounds of metal drowned out the sound of drums and horns.

The bodies of Tuyuhun and Dangxiang soldiers kept falling to the ground and on the Tang army's chariots.

When Tang soldiers were killed or injured in battle, they would be dragged away immediately, and the formation would be as stable as Mount Tai.

During the intervals between battles, the heavy armored infantry in the rear would replace the heavy armored infantry in the front, allowing the Tang army, which had been using heavy spears, to catch their breath.

All the military envoys and deputy envoys, knowing that Marshal Li was here, all put their full efforts in commanding the battle formation and did not dare to slack off in the slightest.

Missing formations will be filled immediately.

The Tang army's arrows seemed endless. They would pause for a quarter of an hour at most, then the bows would fire more than ten rounds of arrows and the crossbows would fire one neat round.

Every time the arrows flew, many Tuyuhun and Dangxiang soldiers were killed or injured.

The crossbow is always looking for opportunities.

A considerable number of soldiers from both armies died under the powerful crossbows of the Tang army.

The battle lasted for two hours, and the smell of blood filled the entire Jixin Valley.

There were corpses everywhere in front of the Tang army.

The corpses of Tuyuhun and Dangxiang soldiers blocked the chariots.

The Tang army also paid a certain price.

But the formation is unbreakable...

They all knew this was just the beginning.

After Tuyuhun and Dangxiang failed to capture the city after a long siege, they lost all their courage and only less than 5,000 people retreated.

Thousands of Tibetan archers came within a hundred steps of the Tang army.

They made preparations in advance and wanted to take this opportunity to catch the Tang army off guard.

But An Sishun had already been on the lookout tower and observed that the Tibetan archers were ready to attack, so he asked the soldiers to prepare their shields.

After the Dangxiang and Tuyuhun soldiers retreated ten steps, the Tang army's crossbowmen and archers put down their bows and crossbows and raised their shields above their heads.

"Dangdang..."

The Tibetan rain of arrows was almost blocked by the Tang army's shields.

Seeing that several rounds were of no avail, Enlanda Zalukong could only order the archers to retreat.

"Pfft!"

"Pfft!"

But the Tang army did not tolerate them. When the Tibetan archers retreated, the crossbowmen put down their shields and guided the crossbow arrows into the crossbow arms. In just one round, hundreds of Tibetans were killed or wounded.

(End of this chapter)