Chapter 519 Qiang's Fate Is Fate
In Qin Qiong's view, no matter how arrogant Tuoba Qiang is, in his eyes, they are just a group of herders herding sheep. They may be professional in sheep herding, but when it comes to fighting, they are too amateur.
Never use amateurs to challenge majors. After all, Qin Qiong’s career is a general, specializing in war.
On the battlefield.
The sky-shattering shouts sounded from the sky above the Tang army's army formation, and the air rushed into the sky.
Behind Shuai Qi, a big cowhide drum began to beat.
The sound of the war drums was so exciting that every Tang army was as excited as if he had been beaten with chicken blood.
The time has come to kill the enemy and make meritorious service, and the time to **** the captives and cattle and horses is coming.
The Qiang people were a little panicked at first, and the people and horses seemed to retreat, but soon, under the order of some Qiang chieftains, they began to crowd forward again.
They also started to howl.
"Does Dongshi imitate?"
After roaring wildly for a while, the Tuoba Qiang people took the initiative to attack. Countless Qiang people rode horses and carried broken knives and spears, roaring towards the Tang army.
A cavalry duel?
Qin Lang was amazed at the huge vibration and impact produced by the thousands of troops galloping. This kind of scene is indeed very astonishing. Ordinary individuals appear so small and fragile in front of this charging cavalry group.
It's just that they ran into Tang Jun.
Six thousand Tang troops.
One thousand guards the commander of the Chinese army, and five thousand line up in the valley.
Three thousand cavalry in the center and one thousand cavalry on each side.
Tang cavalry lined up troops carefully, not just rushing like a swarm of bees.
When Tuoba Qiang started to run, the three thousand Tang troops in the Chinese army dismounted at this time.
The large shield is in front, the spear is in the back, the swords and platoons guard the wings, and the crossbowmen shoot in the center.
There are two-man crossbows, Fuyuan crossbows, and eight ox three-bow crossbows in the back row.
The earth trembled under the hooves of Tuoba Qiang's horses, but the three thousand Tang troops were fearless.
These government soldiers who were urgently recruited by Qin Lang from various prefectures in Bashu were experienced in many battles and fearless.
"Crossbow!"
A famous brigade commander and team leader gave orders in front of the battle.
The large and small crossbows with the longest range were fired together, and the arrows flew out like locusts. After one row of crossbowmen shot, the second row connected, and after the second row finished shooting, the third row connected again.
After the crossbowmen shot a round, the archers followed.
Whether it was spearmen, shield soldiers, or mountain cavalry with swords and axes, all of them drew their bows and shot towards the sky at this time.
Under the cover of the sudden burst of amazing firepower, the Qiang cavalry who just rushed into the range suddenly screamed again and again, and countless people were hit by arrows.
Qiang cavalry who lack armor and helmets are turned on their backs.
Adjust the galloping horse to overturn, causing the Qiang cavalry who followed closely behind to fall down countless times.
Each soldier only fired three arrows without aiming at them. He just quickly lobbed three arrows into the sky, then quickly dropped his bow and replaced it with his main battle weapon.
The shieldmen held up their large shields, the spearmen pointed their spears forward, and the sword platoonmen also held the shield with one hand and the knife with the other.
Only the archers, still under the protection of the front row, continued to shoot arrows with their bows.
In front of the army formation, rows of sharpened refusal horses stood up, and the barbed wire scattered by the Tang army shone coldly in the sun.
Far away.
Qin Lang saw that black wave of Qiang people slammed into the red Tang army formation fiercely, and it seemed that the world shook a few times for it.
Followed by hand-to-hand combat.
In the duel in this not-so-wide valley, the Qiang people actually rushed into the Tang army's formation.
What a terrible enemy, like a pig.
"Actually, they have no other choice, or they think this is their chance. They think they can win more than us, and they are more fierce and stronger than us. They may have forgotten their ancestors' fiasco in front of our Central Plains army!" Qin Qiong was still very calm.
He may have expected that the Qiang people would fight like this, so he didn't let the cavalry mount and shoot, but got off their horses and formed a formation to meet the enemy.
The valley became a meat grinder.
Qiang cavalry rushed forward one after another, but without exception, they all fell in front of the formation. They couldn't break through the Tang army's formation at all.
The smell of blood became stronger and stronger, filling the entire sky.
The water of the Minjiang River is also gradually dyed red, and the more it is dyed, the redder it becomes.
"The Qiang people lost."
Qin Qiong turned around and stopped watching the battlefield. There is no need to watch anymore. For these Qiang people, when they all went into the attack and charged together, they actually had only two possibilities left. Strangled, and finally won.
This is indeed the tactic of Tuoba Xigan who just replaced Tuoba Sitou.
The idea is good, but they never thought about it, what if they still can't kill the Tang army after all the 20,000 troops are thrown in?
Xigan didn't think about it, Sitou didn't think about it, all the leaders of the Tuoba tribe, even the Qiang people never thought about this issue.
Because in their view, 20,000 people beat five or six thousand, the difference is several times, the number is too big. Quantity also means strength, at least among the Dangxiang Qiang people.
Which tribe has more young and strong, it means that whoever has more fighters will have a hard fist.
You can’t suffer this loss, you can’t give them this chance, and the whole army will attack and crush them as soon as they come up.
When they charged and found that Tang Ren hadn't rushed over, they were just stunned for a moment without thinking too much.
But by the time they felt that something was wrong, the casualties were a bit heavy, and they still couldn't kill them, it was already too late.
On the battlefield, there are thousands of troops, and it is difficult to command.
For a general, there are only a few hundred people who can directly command on the battlefield. If this number is exceeded, it is no longer possible to command them only by voice or movement.
Need a more complex command system, such as horns, semaphores, etc.
But even with this complex command system, if you put all your soldiers on the battlefield, in a battle of more than 10,000 people, it will be difficult to adjust the soldiers you send out.
So a smart and experienced general like Qin Qiong will have several sets of plans, and there will inevitably be a reserve team. Even if the army formation is arranged, it will actually be in batches.
No one will send out the entire army at once, which means that you, the commander, have already thrown out all the chips and left all the initiative to others.
A general who has lost control of the army and the initiative on the battlefield has little chance of winning.
Tuoba Qiang only knew how to rush forward.
As a result, Qin Qiong let the Chinese army withstand the impact of the Qiang cavalry, and then kept sending orders to the school lieutenants on the battlefield with semaphore, asking them to listen to the order and move.
The cavalry on both wings waited patiently.
Qin Lang sighed, this is the art of conducting.
Those Qiang people were just like he used to study and fight in the streets. They didn't have the slightest command at all.
The Tang Army commanded by Qin Qiong was organized and coordinated just like a group of special forces.
"The cavalry on both wings attacked and outflanked the Qiang people's rear."
When Qin Qiong issued this order, it also meant that he had completely taken control of the battlefield, and now it was time to harvest.
There were a thousand Tang cavalry on each of the two wings, and they were flying like thunder. They didn't even look at the Qiang cavalry who were like headless flies.
Two sharp knives went straight to the back of the Qiang people.
There is the weakest point. A group of Qiang cavalry accompanying the army, women and children, old and weak, watched over the horses and herded sheep for the soldiers. They guarded the back and didn't know how far the battle ahead was going, thinking that they would surely win.
Still waiting for the signal from the front to let them capture the captives and **** the cattle and horses, all of them still have smiles on their faces.
When thunderous voices sounded in front of them, and when Tang Qi in armor appeared riding one after another with long knives in hand, their faces were full of inexplicable horror.
The battle continued until the afternoon.
More than 20,000 Qiang people were defeated.
The Tang army chased and defeated the Qiang people from the city of Songzhou all the way to the mouth of the Yangdong River Valley twenty miles away.
The Qiang people buried their corpses for thirty miles.
From the city of Songzhou along the Minjiang River to the mouth of the Yangdong River, there are lying corpses of Qiang people everywhere, as well as frightened cattle, sheep and horses running around.
Blood filled the mountains and valleys, and the Minjiang River was completely stained red.
The corpses piled up in the river even blocked the river.
Tang Jun is still chasing and killing the Qiang people.
Whether men, women or children, as long as they do not surrender their weapons, they will be shot down mercilessly by the Tang army. Those brave Tang soldiers are fierce in fighting and even more merciless in killing people.
The sound of Mingjin has not sounded, so the battle is not over yet.
There are no government soldiers at this time to cut off heads, rob cattle and horses, and search for gold and silver. Everyone is busy chasing and killing the defeated enemy, and they dare not do other things.
Qin Lang followed Qin Qiong to patrol the battlefield on horseback, and saw corpses everywhere, as well as piles of captives.
An indescribable mood.
Although he won a big victory, his heart became heavy instead. In fact, these Qiang people are also human beings, and Qiang's life is also a life. When the Qiang people were in later generations, they had already completely integrated into the big Chinese family, and they were a family that loved each other.
But at this time, as the losers of this battle, they lay dead bodies everywhere and ran for their lives in a panic.
Did you get what you deserve?
Qin Lang couldn't tell whether Songzhou belonged to the Tang Dynasty or should have belonged to the Qiang people? This is a topic that no one can tell.
"What are you thinking?" Qin Qiong asked his son.
"I was thinking, Qiang's life is actually a life, you can call gold and withdraw troops, don't kill any more." He shook his head and smiled bitterly, "It's a pity to kill, it's better to capture the captives and sell them as slaves, which is also a big profit, which can be given to brothers They compensate the casualties, reward military merits, and subsidize military supplies."
Qin Qiong looked at his son blankly for a long time, and finally said only one sentence, "War is merciless!"
He walked a few steps, called the orderly, and asked him to send an order to withdraw the troops.
"No prisoners shall be killed."
Zhang Tieqiang said to Qin Lang, "Actually, there is no need for so many captives. It may not be cost-effective to keep them to waste food, especially those who are old, weak and disabled, and sell them in Yizhou."
Under normal circumstances, the generals would be very rude and kill these food wastes, but now Qin Qiong is still worried about his son's feelings.
"Xifeng Bulai will soon lead the party's coalition army to arrive, and we don't have much energy to take care of these prisoners."
Qin Lang nodded, expressing his understanding, but insisted on taking as many prisoners as possible.
"The captives are handed over to me, and I will arrange for someone to take them out of Songzhou as soon as possible and send them to Yizhou."
"It will take a lot of soldiers and horses to **** so many captives. What's more, it's a journey of five hundred miles, and it's a lot of expenses for people to eat horse chews."
Qin Lang could only smile wryly, "We have gained a lot after this battle, and there should be no shortage of food for the time being."
Old Iron Gun laughed a few times, shook his head and left.
(end of this chapter)