Chapter 69 Li Guangbi Meets Cheng Gui at Night

When the remaining soldiers who followed Xi Jiejin to attack were going downhill, Boli angrily stepped forward and grabbed the collar of a soldier and asked, "Where is Xi Jiejin?"

"Xi Jiejin has been beheaded in public by the enemy general."

When the soldier replied, his face was still full of panic. The scene of Xi Jiejin being beheaded was lingering in his mind.

"Are you sheep? So many people rushed up, but were pushed down again. Are there many Tang troops up there?"

Poli thought that Xi Jiejin had just died in a normal battle.

"The enemy is too powerful. We have casualties everywhere up there, so we can't charge forward," the soldiers responded.

"No matter how powerful he is, he is no more than Qin Qiong or Yuchi Gong of the Tang Dynasty. Can he defeat a hundred people alone?"

Po Li did not believe it and thought that these people were frightened by the death of Xi Jie Jin in battle, so they retreated.

"He was simply not a human. He grabbed Xi Jiejin's spear and removed it. Then he lifted Xi Jiejin above his head with his left arm and chopped off his head with his sword. We surrounded him with dozens of people, but he killed us all in a short time. The Tang army gathered thousands of people and pushed forward, so we had to retreat."

Another Turkic soldier told Poli about the battle that had just happened.

"This……"

Poli was shocked and let go of the soldier's collar.

He was well aware of Xi Jiejin's military strength, which was second only to his among the Apodagan tribes.

According to the soldiers' description, he might not be a match for this Tang general.

"Are you just going to give up like this?"

"No, I can't give up!"

"The Tang army's reinforcements are still seventy miles away and will arrive at least tomorrow. If we can't even defeat the Feng'an Army of five or six thousand people, how can we face the main force of the Tang army?"

"Even though the Tang army has strong generals, there will be times when the divisions become old and the soldiers become tired. Even if we have to attack all night, we must defeat the Tang army."

After Poli confirmed the distance between the Tang army's infantry and cavalry, he became determined and vowed not to give up until he captured the Feng'an army.

He went personally to the chiefs and explained it to them.

Although the chiefs scolded Pori, they had no strong generals available and could only trust Pori.

They saw that the Tang army was tenacious and the soldiers were having difficulty attacking.

If they took charge personally, the result would be the same.

After gaining the support of the chiefs, Poli ordered the cavalry who had not participated in the attack to dismount and eat.

After eating and drinking, they took over the Turkic soldiers on the hillside at dusk.

Bo Li firmly believed that the Tang army had no time to rest and was trying hard to maintain their strength.

……

"call……"

Li Xuan fought hard and was exhausted, not to mention the other soldiers.

Just as Pauli thought, it was all supported by faith.

When Li Xuan looked down the hill, he saw the Turkic cavalry surrounding the hill dismounting one after another, as if they were eating.

He immediately realized that these Turkic soldiers, who had been recuperating for a long time, might replace the exhausted army.

He ordered all the archers to shoot a hail of arrows at Banpo again, and then changed to spears to replace the Tang soldiers who had been fighting for nearly a day.

The crossbowmen had already shot all their arrows, so they took over the spears and shields and stood at the forefront.

The prepared armored troops and infantry were all pushed to the front.

Fortunately, the Turkish soldiers' attack was not very fierce and no mistakes were made when changing formations.

The soldiers ate, drank, and recovered their strength.

Li Xuan wolfed down the food, took a gulp of water, and went to the battlefield again.

"Woo...Woo..."

The setting sun was as red as blood, and its afterglow fell on the mountains of corpses and the sea of ​​blood, making people feel cold and their bones stand on end.

The Turkic retreat horn sounded at this time.

"Woooo..."

They did not give the Tang army a moment to rest. When one wave of Turkish soldiers retreated, another wave of Turkish soldiers had already reached the halfway point of the mountain.

The Tang army had very little time to rearrange.

After a short rest, the armored soldiers came to the front row again.

"More than a thousand of our soldiers have been killed and hundreds injured."

Wang Sili reported to Li Xuan in a low voice.

"Damn Zhang Qiqiu, if he had listened to my plan, reinforcements would have arrived two or three hours ago. If Zhang Qiqiu doesn't give me a reasonable explanation tomorrow, I will not let him go."

Li Xuan seemed to be speaking rudely, but in his heart he was filled with dissatisfaction towards Zhang Qiqiu.

Their formation began to weaken in the afternoon. If reinforcements had arrived, so many brothers would not have died in the battle.

Of the eight generals of Feng'an Army, two stayed behind to guard Feng'an Army City.

Now Shi Qing was killed in battle. Another general, Guo Hecang, was stabbed in the shoulder by a spear and was no longer able to fight.

Ashina Fuwen was shot by an arrow from a Turkic archer, but fortunately the arrow only penetrated his armor and did not hurt him.

Judging from the mountains of corpses in front of the battlefield, their Feng'an Army killed at least tens of thousands of Turkic soldiers.

If reinforcements arrived at this time, the Turks would surely be defeated.

"General, our messenger cannot get out. I hope reinforcements will arrive tomorrow morning."

Wang Sili hoped, "Maybe some cavalry will come to support us tonight."

This battle was too brutal, and there was a risk of the entire army being annihilated. He was not afraid of death, he just felt sorry for the general's bravery and strategy...

"I hope so!"

Li Xuan gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist, and then he stood in front of the soldiers and shouted: "The enemy will have no morale if they step on the corpses of their companions and wade in their blood to attack. Today, each of us has made great achievements, so why not go one step further? Follow me and use your spears to scare the enemy."

"kill!"

"kill……"

The soldiers were greatly encouraged, raised their guns and shouted together, with murderous intent filling the air.

The Turkic soldiers preparing to attack from below had a different mentality from the first wave of soldiers.

They didn't know how many layers of corpses there were under their feet, perhaps they were the new layer.

Hearing the thunderous shouts of the Tang army, they were even more frightened, but they had no choice but to grit their teeth and move forward.

The Turkic leaders kept telling the soldiers that the Tang army had run out of strength and that they would win if they charged forward.

But the blood under their feet seemed to stick to the Turkic soldiers, making it difficult for them to move forward.

Seeing this, Poli immediately issued an order: "Whoever can take the head of the Tang army commander will be nominated as a melu by the chieftains to the Great Khan, and will be rewarded with a hundred slaves and a thousand cattle and sheep."

The guards spread these words to the Turkic soldiers in all directions.

Under the reward, there must be a brave man.

Many Turkic soldiers were so excited that they fought against the Tang army.

The two sides fought back and forth, stabbing each other.

The Turkic soldiers who attacked this time had no armor, and most of them even had no armor at all.

Although the Tang army had not recovered their strength, they were more at ease in the battle than in the morning.

Li Xuan will focus his main energy on the west and south.

The north side has a steep slope and is the easiest to defend.

He no longer remembered how many people he had killed. He only knew that the spear he often used had a crack on it and was no longer sharp.

The sky and earth were covered in darkness, and the bright moonlight sprinkled down, covering the wilderness with a silver veil.

The originally deep and silent night was destined to be endless.

……

Chinese army.

"Are you saying that the Turkic left wing tribes are still attacking our front army?"

Zhang Qiqiu frowned and asked the scout.

He thought the battle was over, but it was already evening and the front troops were still resisting.

The Turkic left wing tribes are too useless.

"Yes. We can't get close, but we can see from afar that Turkic soldiers are all over the mountains attacking the high slope where the front army is located." The scout replied to Zhang Qiqiu.

"Keep exploring!"

Zhang Qiqiu waved his hand to let the scout go down.

He deliberately carried a large amount of baggage to delay the march.

What should we do if we march to the battlefield overnight and Li Xuan is not dead?

"Uncle, we can only camp here for another night."

Zhang Mian said to Zhang Qiqiu.

Zhang Qiqiu was already confused as things had gone off the track he had expected.

"Send the order down and set up camp."

He paced for a while and ordered the infantry and cavalry to stop.

Open the bow without turning back the arrow.

If Li Xuan had not died, Li Linfu would not have spoken for him.

If he achieved Li Xuan's military exploits, he would be hated by Li Linfu instead.

He had to do it to the end.

When the news that Zhang Qiqiu ordered to set up camp spread, Li Guangbi immediately ran to Zhang Qiqiu and asked, "General, what is this for?"

"The soldiers have been marching for a day and are exhausted. They need to rest. Otherwise, if they encounter the enemy, it will be disadvantageous for the next battle."

Zhang Qiqiu was very disgusted with Li Guangbi and gave a perfunctory response, using the same excuse.

"The forwards are bleeding, can you sleep?"

Li Guangbi questioned.

"You are so brave! The front army is well-armored and will surely hold out for a few days. Go out and don't affect the overall situation of this general."

Zhang Qiqiu drove Li Guangbi away again.

"The enemy is ten times larger than our front army. How can they hold on to the high ground, which is not a city?" Li Guangbi was dissatisfied. He raised his head and said, "General, please give me the 8,000 light cavalry and 1,000 heavy cavalry in your army. I will lead them to rush to the front army overnight."

"Pass the order down. No one is allowed to move without a military order. Anyone who disobeys will be executed!"

Zhang Qiqiu stood up and gave orders to his personal guards, with murderous intent in his eyes.

Li Guangbi could only grit his teeth and leave.

The military rules of the Tang Dynasty were strict and penetrated deeply into the hearts of the soldiers.

But Li Guangbi was unwilling to give up.

That night, Li Guangbi left the military camp alone on horseback.

He knew that Hun Shizhi and Li Xuan had a big rift, so he didn't go looking for him. Moreover, Hun Shizhi's army had average weapons and armor, and average combat effectiveness.

He found Cheng Gui sulking in the rear army.

"Why did Li Yuhou come here at night?"

Cheng Gui, the Right Wing Army Commander, asked after seeing Li Guangbi.

"General Wang's achievement of conquering the country is about to fail. I am worried, so I came here."

Li Guangbi sighed.

"How can you say that! Marshal Wang leads his elite troops out of Yinshan, and we will surely win every battle and conquer every attack. Once our army joins Marshal Wang and threatens the royal court, victory will be just around the corner."

Cheng Gui was a staunch supporter of Wang Zhongsi and believed that they had no reason to lose this battle.

"During the Warring States Period, Mang Mao was valued by the King of Wei for his deception, but he was not worthy of his reputation, so he suffered a great defeat in the Battle of Huayang. Look at this Zhang Qiqiu, how similar is he to Mang Mao? I think this is the reason for his failure!"

Li Guangbi then told Cheng Gui about Zhang Qiqiu's abnormal behavior and the situation of the front army.

"What! The front army is in such a state, and he is still in a good mood to sleep? Isn't he afraid that he will lose his head when he wakes up?"

Cheng Gui said in surprise. He thought about it again and felt something was wrong: "We are in Huile City together, and the Zhang Qiqiu I have contacted has always been reasonable and well-founded!"

"There are 5,000 elite cavalrymen directly under our command. They are all brave, good at riding and shooting, wearing bright armor, and equipped with 1,000 horse crossbows. But now they are deployed to the rear army. It's like using a beautiful jade to crack a walnut. A smart general would not do such a thing."

Li Guangbi refuted Cheng Gui's words. He felt that Zhang Qiqiu had become possessed by chanting sutras.

What we have done in the past two days cannot stand up to scrutiny.

(End of this chapter)