Chapter 1094 Breakthrough
August and mid-autumn, the weather is cool.
Originally, this was Tubo’s favorite season for using troops. The weather was cool, neither hot nor cold, and the horses were fat. They could even supply supplies on the spot, which was easy to plunder.
But at this time, under the half-circle bright moon, Songtsan Gampo, who hurried from behind, looked from afar, watching the countless fire lights between the mountain and the river ahead, but remained silent with a sad face on his face.
The Hundred Thousand Qiang Army lit a bonfire at night, sat on the ground, still maintained the formation during the day, did not retreat back to the camp, did not rest, and just lit a bonfire to prepare for battle.
This stance, how could it look like the Qiang Luo in the impression that he would flee at the touch of a touch? They are clearly the elite soldiers of the Eastern Great Tang Dynasty.
Zanpu was silent and stood there for a long time.
"You were right in not rushing to attack during the day. These Qiangluos are indeed different."
Prime Minister Garmang said worriedly, "I didn't see the flags of the officers and soldiers of the Tang army in Longyou and Qinghai, but instead saw the flags of several generals in Songzhou, the generals of Liu Lancheng, Qiu Xinggong, Han Wei, and Yu Guni. The flags are all there. I suspect that there is a fraud in it, it is impossible for those generals from Songzhou to come around us, it is more likely that they are Tang generals from Longyou, and they may be the fourth Luben future."
The four generals of Luben refer to several Longyou generals who served as Luben Zhonglang generals in the Eastern Palace. They were particularly eye-catching in the last battle of the crown prince against Tuyuhun, and they were famous all over the world for their bravery. They were also known as Qin Lang's Five Tiger Generals in the East Palace.
Xi Junmai, Gao Kan, Gao Zhensheng, and Liang Jianfang are all the governors and military envoys of Longyou now. Each town is in one place, and Longyou is not too far away from here. Since the Qiang people can gather early to ambush here , then it is not surprising that the Longyou Tang army is here.
Compared with Liu Lancheng and the generals in Songzhou, he was more willing to believe that it was the Tang army from Longyou, and even the Tuyuhun soldiers from Qinghai. It is not uncommon to gather 100,000 people, but the question is how can you have such an elite momentum?
So the only explanation that makes sense is that among the 100,000 men fighting against the Dangxiang Sanqiang, there may be many Longyou, Qinghai Tang soldiers, and even Tuyuhun soldiers, and there are not many, at least 20,000 to 30,000.
"There is only one chance. I have ordered the rear army to come at full speed in the starry night. They can arrive before dawn. After a short rest, they can launch an attack. How is the prime minister planning to fight?"
Although both Zanpu and the prime minister believed that the Qiang soldiers on the opposite side were most likely mixed with the Longyou Tang army, and there might even be a small half of the Tang army in Guanzhong Hexi plus the Tuyuhun soldiers, but now the bow is on the string, Had to post.
Even if all the 100,000 opponents are Tang Jun, at this point, they can only fight to the death.
Gal has repeatedly tested for a long time during the day, and has roughly figured out the situation of some Qiang army formations. At this time, although the opposite side is in chaos and it is difficult to see clearly, he still briefly explained it to Zanpu.
"The Qiang army chose to set up their defenses here instead of at the narrow river mouth further west. It is estimated that they have Longyou and other Tang troops. The army formation they have set up is huge, a three-line battle formation, and the battlefield is ten miles deep. river······"
"The opponent put the most elite light cavalry on both sides. It must be to protect the flanks and prevent us from outflanking and dividing them, and abandoning the horse in the middle. This is a defensive style of play. My suggestion is to concentrate our elite forces to cover Suo Zijia's heavy cavalry acted as the vanguard, avoiding the real and attacking the weak, concentrated the elite to attack the weak point in the middle of the enemy army, and broke through the middle."
"The heavy cavalry is in the front, the light cavalry is in the back, and the rest of the troops follow closely behind, rushing all the way to the middle. Although it will be difficult to break through ten miles deep, we have enough troops and enough impact. As long as we persist, there is still a big gap." Opportunity to break through."
Gar's tactics were based on his testing of the strengths and weaknesses of the Tang army during the day. Since the opponent guarded the ten-mile-wide river valley channel based on the dangerous mountains and rivers, the most elite were placed on both sides, the weakest were placed in the middle, and the horses were abandoned. Fighting on foot in formation is a tactic of defending and fighting hard.
Then the Tubo army simply made a breakthrough in the center, regardless of other things, anyway, in this narrow terrain, even if there are many soldiers in Tubo, it is really impossible to outflank and turn around with two wings. As a forward, like a sharp knife stabbing into the center of the Tang army, as long as the Qingqi and others follow behind, they will not be afraid of the depth of ten miles.
The Tang army deployed about 60,000 troops in the middle, abandoned their horses and formed an infantry formation, ten miles deep, occupying the front of the battlefield about six miles wide, and also set up a protruding crescent array.
However, 60,000 people formed a position six miles wide and ten miles deep. There was still a lot of space in the middle of the army formation, but the space was relatively narrow. For the Tubo army, which is on the move, this is indeed relatively restrained.
In fact, there are no special characteristics in the use of troops by Tubo. They just like to concentrate their superior forces to defeat the few and use the strong to attack the weak. This is the case in the expansion wars of recent generations of Tubo Zanpu. They take the initiative to attack, gather superior forces, and even seek opportunities through maneuvering. In the end, we formed a situation where we were strong and the enemy was weak on the battlefield, and won the victory in one fell swoop.
The current situation is a little unfavorable for the Tubo people. The battlefield, time, etc. are not their choices. The local battlefield has some strength advantages, but the overall battle situation is already on the weak side.
"Senguomiqin reminded me that the Tang army's formation may be a trap. Although the central army in front is weak, it may be that the Tang people deliberately used the old and weak Qiang people as bait, and the elite Tang army in Longyou may be hidden behind. If you break through, you may be surrounded by the Tang army."
"It is possible, but I think it is necessary to take risks. If we attack in an all-round way, it will be very difficult to defeat these 100,000 horses. Even if we can defeat them, we will probably be exhausted by then. One hundred thousand elite Tang troops, with Qin Lang who is known as the God of War to protect the country, we can't take such a risk, we must break through as soon as possible."
Gar's meaning is very clear. He has no time and strength to wipe out the 100,000 horses in front of him. Even if he has a chance to win, he can't do it, because it may be a miserable victory, and the Tang army who will come behind will take it all at once. .
It is necessary to break through the interception of the Tang army as soon as possible, break through the siege, and ignore other things.
Maybe Tang Jun’s formation is a trap, to lure them to break through in the center, but they have to fight because there is no second way to go.
Moreover, Gar believes that even if the opponent is really a trap, with the deployment of the opponent's troops, the arrangement of the strong at the two ends and the weak in the middle is the only best chance to break through. He rushed into the trap, as long as they were strong enough, Tang Ren's net could also be broken through, and then break through directly.
Although he also understands that if the people of Tang really make such an arrangement, then if their desperate way of breaking through the encirclement succeeds in breaking through the Chinese army, it is very likely that a large number of people will be surrounded and unable to break out. .
At least it can stand out from most of them, and even with luck, maybe when the Qiang people are defeated, they can directly defeat the Qiang people, and then the whole army will win.
Zamp gritted his teeth.
······
In front of the bonfire, Kang Luo sat on the ground, wrapped in a felt blanket, still vividly remembering the battle during the day, and the arrow wound on his body was also in pain.
But he and his companions are silent.
This is not only because of the strict military regulations, there are light cavalry patrolling back and forth to supervise, but also because everyone's hearts are heavy at this time.
The battle during the day made Kang Luo understand the cruelty of war, and all the passionate fantasies about war that he once had were now inevitably bleak.
But it is impossible to go back.
Among the Tubo army in the distance, new teams are constantly arriving. It is said that the Tubo originally had more than 200,000 people. They lost a few battles in Songzhou and lost 30,000. , Another discount of more than 20,000 yuan, and now there should be no less than 180,000 yuan.
During the day, only a few thousand Tubo Qingqi came to attack, and they lost thousands of people. Kangluo, a hundred-man team, died of 17 people including his uncle, which can be said to have suffered heavy casualties, and this was just the opponent's temptation attack.
Tomorrow will definitely be a decisive battle, and he doesn't know if he can survive.
This night was extraordinarily long, and the atmosphere was extremely dignified.
The day finally slowly dawned.
When the sun rose in the east, the Tubo people on the opposite side had gathered an overwhelming team, and they were making the final preparations before the battle.
On the side of the Qiang soldiers, everyone just put away the felt blanket silently, then dug a hole on the spot to relieve their hands, then filled it with soil to cover it, drank some water and ate some dried meat, and they were ready.
Last night, Kang Luo searched for a pile of stones of the right size to put under his feet, and prepared the sling he used to drive horses. The Tubo people called it Udo, but the Qiang people just called it a sling. In fact, it's almost the same thing, all of which use wool braids to throw stones.
In yesterday's battle, Kang Luo had discovered that they were too weak to rely on two spears, two short spears, a short sword and a shield.
When the morning sun jumped out of the clouds and sprinkled thousands of rays of golden light, the Tubo army finally approached slowly. Looking at the Tubo army like a black tide, Kang Luo gritted his teeth tightly. He was not as flustered as yesterday, but But even more pessimistic and desperate than yesterday.
The distance was less than two miles, but the first ones to attack in the Tubo army were not those heavy cavalry wearing iron chain armor, only two eyes were exposed, and even their horses were wearing armor, but a group of tattered leather jackets. A slave with a spear and a sling.
These people can barely be regarded as light infantry, without horses, armor, or even helmets, and their weapons are so simple that they only have a spear, and some don’t even have a hard spear, only a wooden gun with a hardwood tip charred by fire. , or a sling, without a shield.
Driven by Qingqi's whip and bow, thousands of them rushed to the front of the Qiang army.
Last night, Zanpu and Gar discussed all night, and felt that even if they succeeded in breaking through the Chinese army, there would be a large number of mediocre slaves who would be difficult to stand out from, so it would be better to use them to charge the battle from the beginning to consume the fighting power of the Qiang army.
In front of the Qiang coalition forces, in the front row of the first line of the Chinese army, about 6,000 young Qiang soldiers, twelve battalions were deployed in a trapezoidal shape, slightly protruding to face the Tubo army.
Facing the slowly approaching Tubo mediocrity and light soldiers, they followed orders to stick to their formation, as motionless as a mountain.
The cavalry on both sides did not move out, and the archers did not move. They watched tens of thousands of Tubo mediocre slaves press down, and then fought with the sound of war drums.
Kang Luo has been promoted to the flag bearer of the team today. He remembers his new duty, which is to keep an eye on the flag of the regiment, follow his own flag, and guard the flag. When the regiment standard bearer issued the order of the regimental captain in the flag language, he would pass it on to the team leader, and at the same time signal to the soldiers in the team with the team flag.
The flag of the regiment is as immovable as a mountain, sticking to the formation.
The Tubo light soldiers approached and began to throw stones with Udo. The sky was full of stones, and Kang Luo and the others began to fight back with short spears and slings.
You come and go, two light soldiers lacking armor and shields, and people keep falling.
The Tubo light soldiers are still advancing.
Two short spears were thrown out, and a dozen stones were thrown out with a sling. At this time, the Tubo light soldiers were already ten steps ahead of the formation. Kang Luo stood at attention holding the team flag tightly in one hand, and raised the shield in the other.
The teammates around them also grabbed their spears and raised them like a forest.
The two armies engaged in hand-to-hand combat, there were shouts of killing everywhere, countless spears and spears stabbed each other, and people were shot and fell every moment.
This mutual stabbing lasted for about half an hour, and thousands of people fell on both sides. Kang Luo and his front line of 6,000 people were already a little broken, but they were still holding on.
(end of this chapter)