Li Xiangbu
After entering the grassland, Li Xiang did not idle for a minute. He led his men to advance directly. Although they were not very sure about Li Ke's location, they already knew the general direction, so it would not be difficult for Li Xiang. They had experience in marching on the grassland, and they also had sounding balloons, so it was easy to find Li Ke.
"Your Highness, come and see, this is our brother from the Tang Dynasty."
The sky was already dark, but there had definitely been a war in this area. There were many corpses around, and you could tell from their armor that they were our brothers from the Tang Dynasty.
"Find someone to give them a proper burial."
Li Xiang knew that there was no need to look for any survivors now. Seeing that many people had a smell on their bodies, it must have been many days. We should have won here. After all, there were many Turkic corpses around.
The most taboo thing to do on the battlefield is to be greedy for merit and act rashly. Li Xiang knew his uncle a little bit. He should be very cautious under normal circumstances, but because of the sudden rise of his own army and the previous confrontation between the two, Li Ge might have lost his mind a little. It doesn't matter if you lose your mind, but you still have tens of thousands of soldiers under your command. If you lose your mind in this state, then...
After entering the grasslands, the two sides clashed, and Li Xiang's army was immediately victorious. This was largely due to the fact that our cavalrymen were armed with chain crossbows. With one hand holding the reins, the other held the crossbow. Although the cavalrymen had no opportunity to exchange their weapons, each crossbow could fire ten hidden arrows, the equivalent of a ten-round pistol. How could the enemy withstand this? Wherever our cavalry moved, the enemy fell like waves of wheat in the wind.
But since then they have not found any organized army on the grassland. It is no wonder that the 4,000 cavalrymen have not even made a move. If the remaining people still want to cause trouble for them, then this general is simply mentally ill. It is better for him to stay away or attack Li Ge's army.
"Looking at the weather, this should be the last time we can launch a weather balloon. If the enemy doesn't have torches at night, it will be useless for us to launch one."
Su Dingfang looked around at the grassland, which was all yellow and bare, and there was no information at all.
"Night also represents an opportunity. Although visibility is better during the day, we might not be able to find the person we're looking for. At night, as long as there's a little light, we'll have a target. That's how their royal cavalry was destroyed in the Tuyuhun grasslands."
Li Xiang recalled a battle on the Tuyuhun grassland. We discovered their elite troops at night. As long as they had a little light at night, we could follow the clues to find them. Moreover, after so much practice, we were familiar with launching sounding balloons at night, which was much better than before.
Just as Li Xiang and his men were looking for Li Ke, Li Ke was already in a tough battle. Although the people on the grassland had grudges in their hearts, as Xueyantuo Khan said, they now had no way to retreat. They must take this opportunity to kill Li Ke's army and then withdraw to Mobei as quickly as possible, so that they still had a chance of survival. If they didn't do this, and wait for Li Xiang and Li Ge to meet up, the armies of both sides would attack them, and they would have no chance of survival.
"Hold on, everyone, hold on. The glory of the Tang Dynasty is in your hands. As long as we can survive tonight, we will receive reinforcements tomorrow."
In desperation, King Wu Li Ke could only lie. He could only use this method to motivate his men to fight. There were attacking troops everywhere, and dense arrows fell from the sky. His men were injured in waves, but at this moment they could only hold on. If anyone retreated, then all of them would be finished.
Fortunately, the people under his command are the elite of the Tang Dynasty, all of them are elite border troops and imperial guards. If he had brought some second-line troops with him, facing such a cruel battlefield, those people would have wet their pants long ago, and deserters would have appeared now.
Defending on the grassland is an extremely difficult task in itself, especially when our army is at a disadvantage. However, King Wu Li Ke is still an excellent leader. He piled up all the usable things in the military camp around and created a temporary camp by taking advantage of a relatively concave terrain.
Although this gives them the advantage of being attacked from all sides, it is also the only way to keep them. If we engage in a night battle with the enemy cavalry, especially when they are surrounded by enemy cavalry, then we have no chance of winning at all. Therefore, King Wu Li Ke can only take this bad strategy. He also knows that the number of casualties will rise sharply, but at least some people will survive. If we take the offensive approach, the army will be dispersed after dawn. If we are dispersed on such a large grassland, then we can forget about gathering together.
The soldiers under his command also knew that this was the end and they had to use all their strength. Although the casualties of the Tang army had exceeded 30%, the casualties of the attacking army were also not small, and the pressure on them was also very great.
According to the predictions of some Xueyantuo generals, they would be able to break through the Tang army camp in five hours at most, but they did not expect that the Tang army camp was huddled together. This resulted in heavy casualties, but also blocked them outside the camp. It was too difficult to break in, and their rain of arrows and the Tang army's rain of arrows could even collide in the sky.
Both sides were determined to win this war. If the Tang Dynasty won, the survival of the Xueyantuo and Turkic tribes would be extremely slim. King Wu's army had been wandering on the grassland for a long time and they were relatively familiar with the situation on the grassland. If these people were left behind, they would probably be caught up no matter how they escaped. Having such a group of people familiar with the grassland was their greatest sorrow.
Therefore, neither side could retreat a single step. When the person in front died, the person behind would take over. Often, they would attack by stepping on the corpses of their comrades. Although this was a highly disrespectful act, it was too late to worry about it now. If they were defeated, the chances of survival for both sides would be extremely slim, especially for the Tang soldiers, who were now bloodthirsty...
