Chapter 62: Fifty Thousand Cavalry
"Quick, abandon the defensive formation and rush forward."

The Tang general who was escorting the grain was horrified when he saw this.

He immediately ordered his soldiers to leave the cover of the vehicles and rush towards the Turkish cavalry.

If a large number of civilians died as a result, he would be held accountable.

But the Turkic light cavalry, as swift as the wind, had already rushed behind the chariot and swung their butcher knives at the civilians.

"what……"

"General, help..."

"Don't kill me, I'm just a servant..."

Begging is useless, the Turkic cavalry cannot understand, and they will not show mercy to the Tang people who help the Tang army transport food.

"Pfft!" "Pfft!"

One by one, the unarmed civilians died under the scimitars of the Turkic cavalry.

The civilians were in a panic and they ran desperately towards the border troops and county soldiers.

Some civilians even ran around in panic and were caught up and killed by the Turkic cavalry.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..."

The Tang army archers finally approached, they stood up and shot arrows, but only knocked a dozen Turkic cavalry off their horses.

Seeing that the Tang army's formation was dispersed, the Turkic cavalry rushed over on horseback.

Those county soldiers who usually only caught thieves had never seen such a scene before. As soon as they came into contact with the Turkic cavalry, they collapsed instantly.

This caused the border troops' flank to be wide open and they were almost dispersed.

But the Tang army had a strong will to fight and had the advantage in numbers. They formed a team of three people and formed a small spear formation.

The Turkic cavalry, who had no armor protection, were knocked off their horses one after another.

The Tang general was even more brave. He took out a long axe and chopped off several Turkic cavalrymen from their horses.

"withdraw!"

After a fierce battle, seeing that only dozens of cavalry were left, the Turkic cavalry leader knew that he could not fight any longer and blew the horn to retreat.

After killing more than 200 Tang army civilians and hundreds of Tang soldiers, their goal had been achieved.

Such raids by Turkic light cavalry on the grain routes occurred more than ten times in just one day.

In one place, due to negligence, the defending general was killed, and the Turkic cavalry dispersed the Tang army, killing and wounding hundreds of civilians. Hundreds of civilians were beheaded, and all the food was burned.

The loss of food and fodder for the Tang army was only secondary. The war shocked the hearts of the civilians.

The civilians were unable to sleep at night and were so terrified that the rear army's marching speed was reduced by half.

If it weren't for the military order, these civilians would have wanted to run back into the Yellow River.

"boom!"

Inside the central army tent, Zhang Qiqiu slammed the low table, looking very angry.

The other generals thought that Zhang Qiuqiu was really angry and kept silent.

"More than a thousand civilians died. How can I explain this to General Wang and the court?"

Seeing that the generals were weak, Zhang Qiqiu spoke sternly.

"General, although the civilians suffered heavy casualties, our army killed more than 2,000 Turkic light cavalry. Who could have thought that the Turkic left wing would send so many death warriors and split up thousands of light cavalry into small groups to attack the rear army. However, one grain team was broken and the civilians were brutally beheaded. General Cui Zhan cannot escape the blame." The military historian of Dingyuan bowed to Yu Jing and said, he was trying to exonerate Zhang Qiuqiu and put the blame on Cui Zhan.

"General Xiang has already said that 5,000 border troops are to protect nearly 100,000 civilians. Can General Xiang do it perfectly?"

Cheng Gui has a good relationship with Cui Zhan and looks down on Xiang Yujing for taking advantage of his misfortune.

"If I were guarding the grain route, this would never happen." Xiang Yujing said shamelessly.

He approached Zhang Qiqiu, hoping that he would be the next Zhang Qiqiu after Zhang Qiqiu became the governor.

"General, General Li, the vanguard, has already sent the message. I also advised you to send at least 5,000 cavalry to chase these Turkic squads, but you only sent 2,000 cavalry in the end."

Li Guangbi suddenly stood up and said to Zhang Qiqiu.

In his opinion, such a tragedy could have been avoided.

"Li Yuhou, General Li previously only guessed that there were dozens or even hundreds of these small light cavalry teams, but he had not verified it. How could I place the main force in the rear army just because of a guess? You must know that the rear army already has 5,000 border troops led by General Cui, and 3,000 soldiers from various counties."

Zhang Qiqiu said slowly to Li Guangbi.

What he said was so well-reasoned that Li Guangbi, a lowly official, had no way to refute it.

"General Cheng, I will assign all 5,000 light cavalry of the Jinglüe Army except for the 1,000 heavy cavalry to you. Use them to guard the inner side of the grain road."

"General Hun, you lead another 3,000 cavalry to join the original 2,000 cavalry. A total of 5,000 cavalry will be used to chase the Turkic light cavalry on the plains. I only want their heads."

Zhang Qiqiu's eyes flickered and he issued two orders in succession.

"As ordered!"

Hun Shizhi was the first to receive the order.

He only had to obey military orders, and other things were not something he could worry about. But Cheng Gui felt something was wrong, as he was the commander of the right wing.

Cui Zhan, the commander of the left wing, was already in the rear army.

Now he is transferred to the rear army, what does this mean?
Even if 5,000 cavalry are to be transferred, they should be directly given to Cui Zhan to command.

"General Cheng, do you have any objections?"

Seeing that Cheng Gui was slow to respond, Zhang Qiqiu glanced at him.

"General, the Turkic army will eventually run out of manpower. They lost more than 2,000 men this time, so there won't be many left. Their goal is nothing more than to damage our morale and delay our progress. You are using 10,000 cavalry to intercept the Turkic light cavalry. Isn't this exactly what the Turkic army wants? I think we should speed up the march, compress their living space, and force them to fight passively."

Li Guangbi suggested to Zhang Qiqiu.

Not long ago, Wang Zhongsi invited Zhang Qiqiu and Li Guangbi to have dinner together.

And introduced Li Guangbi's strategy to Zhang Qiqiu.

Hinting to Zhang Qiqiu that he should listen more to Li Guangbi's opinions.

But Zhang Qiqiu had his own ideas and plans and didn't want to listen. He asked Li Guangbi: "If more civilians die, can you take responsibility for it?"

"I am willing to take responsibility."

Li Guangbi looked at Zhang Qiqiu with great confusion, because this was different from the Zhang Qiqiu he usually met.

Finally, Li Guangbi gritted his teeth and said.

The 5,000 light cavalry of the Jinglüe Army are experienced in hundreds of battles and are the most elite force.

Putting it in the rear army is putting the cart before the horse.

Hun Shizhi can lead 5,000 cavalry to approach the grain road.

"Humph! How high of a salary can you get? You are just a small guard? How can you take responsibility?"

Zhang Qiqiu did not take Li Guangbi seriously, and issued a strict order to Cheng Gui: "General Wang asked me to lead a small army to fight, and all the troops are under my command. General Cheng, military orders are as heavy as a mountain, you must execute them!"

"As ordered."

Cheng Gui had no choice but to obey.

Li Guangbi blushed after being scolded. He put himself in the right position and said no more.

The position of Du Yuhou in the Shuofang Army was even lower than that of the military envoy. He could only supervise the laws and maintain discipline and order in the army.

Ten thousand cavalrymen joined the rear army and, like crazy, chased and intercepted the Turkic light cavalry on the plains.

In two days, thousands of Turkic cavalry were beheaded.

This made it difficult for the Turkic cavalry to get close to the food supply route.

However, the emotions of the civilians were difficult to calm down, resulting in the marching speed being still slow.

Li Guangbi persuaded Zhang Qiqiu to personally come forward to appease the people.

But Zhang Qiqiu refused on the grounds of marching.

"What does the deputy governor want to do? At this pace, can we catch up with the Turkic cattle and sheep?"

Li Xuan was in the front army tent and couldn't help but ridicule Zhang Qiqiu.

In order to keep distance from the central army, Li Xuan now marched twenty miles a day.

What is the point of such a forward?

Li Xuan also learned that a large number of civilians had died and was extremely angry, and became dissatisfied with Zhang Qiqiu.

He had clearly reminded me.

At this moment, Li Xuan thought of Zhang Qiqiu's label as a "fake" general.

Historically, when Zhang Qiqiu was the governor of Shuofang, his military commander was beaten up by soldiers due to uneven distribution of grain.

When the soldiers were still planning to beat Zhang Qiqiu, Guo Ziyi arrived and protected him with his body, thus saving them from disaster.

Zhang Qiqiu believed in Buddhism and that all beings are equal, but he angered the entire army over such an important issue as the distribution of military rations.

In addition, a young general under Zhang Qiqiu committed a crime and was afraid of being punished, so he incited hundreds of soldiers in Huile City and rushed into the governor's office to capture Zhang Qiqiu.

Although it was resolved dramatically in the end.

But it can be seen how unpopular Zhang Qiqiu was among the soldiers.

"General, calm down."

Wang Sili tried to comfort Li Xuan. Although he also felt that there was something wrong, he could not conflict with Zhang Qiqiu for Li Xuan's sake.

"Report..."

Just then, the scout ran to the tent in a panic.

"General, at least 50,000 Turkic cavalry appeared 120 miles to the north. The sound was earth-shaking and dust was flying for 10 miles..."

After the scout entered the tent, he reported to Li Xuan breathlessly.

(End of this chapter)