The raging fire on the lakeside, with the help of the wind, quickly swept the whole camp, and was not extinguished naturally until the early morning of the next day, this fire caused more than 4,000 Tibetan soldiers to die in the fire, most of them were trampled to death by startled horses and fire horses, and some soldiers trampled each other.

On a grassland that served as a place for discussion, Lu Dongzan, who was blackened, sat on a stone without saying a word, his face sank like water, and he glared fiercely at the general who was 'down', and the anger in his heart was unbearable.

In fact, the loss of more than 4,000 people was less than he expected, and he could afford such a loss. However, the fire scared their horses away by about forty percent, and at the same time seriously demoralized the army.

Dazan Gampo walked back and forth, pointing at the generals and scolding, "The whole army was frightened by the ordinary smoke, all of them are useless wastes and cowards, where is the blood and courage of the Tibetan men?" Have you eaten all your guts by wild wolves, or have you been eaten by dogs? Usually they boast that they are plateau eagles, but I think it is appropriate to be a flock of pheasants. Drinking, eating meat, and playing with women are all good hands, but fighting is a bunch of mischievous and cowardly goods...... The face of my Tibetan warriors has been disgraced to you. ”

More than 100 generals bowed their heads in shame in shame, especially Nong Zhunbao, who was in charge of the night patrol, whose head was about to shrink into his crotch.

He felt that he was too embarrassed, the kind of trees that emit stinky smoke are not uncommon in Tibet, but he saw that the soldiers fell to the ground after inhaling the smoke, and instinctively thought that it was the poisonous smoke released by the Sui army, so he ignored the most common phenomenon in peacetime, so he rang the bell to warn, which led to chaos in the whole army and gave the Sui army the opportunity to set fire.

"Prince, General Geer, maybe we have two more options." Drepung Nasheng in the crowd whispered.

"What's the solution? Say it. Dazan Gampo walked up to Drepung Nasheng and glared at him viciously.

"The first way is to follow the original plan, immediately move westward and fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Sui army, anyway, their morale is not high."

"We don't have enough food, we can't afford to drag it out at all, and now we have to fight and fight, and we have to fight if we don't. Aren't you talking nonsense? "Datsen Gampsha was angry,

"Prince, please listen to me."

"You say!"

Drepung Nasheng glanced at Dazan Gampo and said with a wry smile: "The most powerful thing about the Central Plains army is their formation composed of spearmen, sword and shield soldiers, archers and crossbowmen, etc., and this formation cannot give full play to the powerful impact advantage of the cavalry. ”

"Last night, I saw the frightened horses burned by the fire with a fierce momentum, with the momentum of destroying everything, trampling on people and camps, and the ability to rush into battle is really beyond human control. We still have more than a thousand cows here......" Drepung Nasheng said his way of breaking the formation.

"Fire Bull Charge?"

"General Drepung has a good idea."

Before Drepung Nasheng could finish speaking, a cheer suddenly rang out.

Lu Dongzan and Dazan Gampo and other generals who came from Jishi Pass were ecstatic, they had seen the Sui army's military formation outside Jishi Pass, and they were deeply apprehensive about the Sui army's multi-arm battle formation.

"The Fire Bull Charge Formation has appeared many times in the history of the Central Plains Dynasty's wars, and every time the Fire Bull Charge Formation will achieve a brilliant victory, we must be able to do the same." Lu Dongzan knew a lot of allusions to the Central Plains, and once he was reminded, he also thought of the Central Plains 'Fire Bull Array' that used livestock in the war, and he said excitedly: "General Drepung's method is wonderful; What's your second option? ”

Drepung Nasheng hurriedly said: "The second way is to defend instead of attack!" ”

"Defending instead of attacking?" Lu Dong asked puzzledly, "Be specific." ”

"The plateau climate is complex, morning and evening are different, this climate is extremely harmful to the Sui people, and it is a chasm that is more difficult to cross than natural hazards such as Guanshan Fortress, and they can't afford to delay it in time. We can set up a camp in front of the Sui army camp to confront them and drag them until winter, during which we avoid the real and take the opportunity to attack the weakest link of the other side. This style of play is time-consuming, but it is more stable. ”

"Our army is already in a dilemma of lack of food, and we lost a lot of grain and grass last night, if we confront the Sui army, people eat horses and chew down, and our grain and grass will last less than ten days." Lu Dongzan stared at Drepung Nasheng and asked, "Since Drepung proposed this solution, there must be a solution to the problem of grain and grass?" ”

Drepung Nasheng said: "I mean to divide the army into two, one to confront the Sui army on the north bank of the Yellow River, and contain it; The first was stationed on the south bank of the Yellow River to guard the domestic grain and be responsible for the smooth flow of grain routes. ”

"This is not the right law! Or use the fire ox to charge into battle...... "Dazan Gampo is a face-saving person, he wants to boost morale with a dignified victory, compared to the defense instead of attacking, directly from the front to break the enemy can stimulate morale, and the Tubo soldiers who are good at cavalry warfare and are not good at setting up camps cannot hold out, and they are very unprofessional.

This is also the voice of most generals.

Lu Dongzan also said: "Our task is to recapture Doma Valley before the Sui army reinforcements arrive, otherwise, our army will be passive everywhere, and with the cunning of the Sui army, I am afraid that last night's incident will still be staged, so it is better to defend than to attack." ”

He pondered for a moment and waved his hand sharply, "Let's go and prepare, the whole army will set off in half an hour." ”

"The last will obey."

The generals were waiting to be arranged according to the order, and a soldier suddenly flew to report, "Prince, General Geer, the Sui army is coming to fight." ”

"What?" Everyone was surprised, this news was too sudden and unexpected, and the Sui army actually took the initiative to attack?

Lu Dongzan asked loudly, "Where did the Sui army come from?" Is the main force of the Sui army coming? ”

"It's not the main force of the Sui army, there are only about two thousand people, they are from the north, it should be the army last night." The soldier hurriedly said.

"Two thousand people dare to come?"

If the Sui army came to attack on a large scale, the generals would have to take it seriously, but only 2,000 people were obviously not in everyone's attention.

"General Geer, please give me a chance to make meritorious atonements." Nong Zhunbao gritted his teeth and asked for his life. Thinking of being tossed by the Sui army for a night yesterday and being burned down the camp, new hatred and old hatred suddenly poured into his heart together, at this moment, his tiredness was swept away, his mind was clearer than any moment, and his physical strength was more abundant than any moment.

Lu Dongzan nodded: "I'll give you 5,000 soldiers, and you must destroy this Sui army." ”

"Yes." Nong Zhunbao took the order and went to lead the troops,

Lu Dongzan said to the generals again: "Let's go down and prepare." ”

"Yes."

。。。。。。

"Boom~"

Nong Zhun Bao ordered 5,000 soldiers and horses, and drove towards the north, looking at the Sui army in front of him, his eyes revealed a touch of murderous intent, he wanted to wash away the shame of last night with a victory.

"Warriors, the enemy that has brought us shame is at the front, only two thousand...... Warriors, we are not in the habit of saving hatred and shame for tomorrow, what do you say? ”

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

The howls of 5,000 Tibetan soldiers like wolves rang out......

"Take out your bows and arrows, let the enemy know that we are the best marksmen in the world, and make them tremble under the arrows......"

Nong Zhun Bao raised his short bow high and led his soldiers to rush forward first.

In front of the Tubo army, the Sui army was already ready, and the main general in charge of commanding this battle had been replaced by Ma Hua.

Compared with Wang Xiongdan, who participated in foreign warfare for the first time, Ma Hua, who had fought the Khitan, Xi, and Eastern and Western Turks, was undoubtedly more proficient in cavalry warfare, and he knew how to exchange the minimum casualties for the maximum results.

At this time, seeing the black and oppressive Tubo army sweeping from the south, Ma Hua ordered: "Shoot!" ”

"Woo! Woo! Woo! The horn sounded, two thousand arrows were suddenly launched, forming a black arrow cloud, roaring towards the Tubo cavalry, in an instant, the Tubo cavalry turned over on their backs, and then the second row of crossbow arrows of the Sui army had been shot again, and the Tubo soldiers screamed and fell to the ground in the charge, and the third row of arrow clouds followed by the roar, the dense crossbow arrows were like a storm, shooting through the shields and leather armor of the Tubo, and the Tubo cavalry rolled from the horses to the ground, and were trampled into flesh by the dense war horses.

Since the Qin Dynasty, the strong crossbow has been superior to the ordinary bow and arrow, and with the development of technology, the role of the crossbow arrow in war has become more and more obvious. Li Ling of the Han Dynasty relied on the big yellow crossbow to defeat 100,000 Xiongnu with 5,000 Han army foot soldiers, and even made a record of tens of thousands of kills and wounds. The development of the Great Sui Dynasty, thanks to Yang Tong's emphasis on craftsmen, all kinds of more powerful, longer range, and more carrying of new crossbows are showing a blowout development.

There were only three consecutive shots, and the first row of soldiers in Tibet was bathed in blood, and mourning was everywhere. The Tubo soldiers who were rushing to kill were in chaos.

"The whole army continues to move forward and speed up!" Nong Zhunbao was distressed, and his hatred was a little heavier.

He knew that if his soldiers turned around or stopped, they would only become the target of the Sui army, and under the impact of the whole army, if the order to evacuate or disperse was given, even the best riders in Tibet would not be able to stop as soon as they said it, and could only cause the front army and the rear to collide with each other. The best way is to do nothing, directly lead troops to shorten the distance between each other, and go to fight a white-knuckle battle with the Sui army, and directly wipe out the advantage of crossbow arrows.

However, when he gave the order, he immediately found that the Sui army on the opposite side had run away.

That's right, the Sui army did run away.

They adopted the tactics of three-stage shooting, first the whole army was released together, and then divided into three, the first row of arrows, without looking at the Tubo army, in the first time a line like a line to the left and right, roundabout to run to the rear, as the rear army; After that, the second row of the first row ran to the back in the same way as before, so that the third row became the first row......

Such crossbow arrows continued to rain down like rain, and only four rounds took away more than a thousand of their combat strength, and at this time, falling from their horses meant being trampled to death, that is, more than a thousand soldiers died so much that they could no longer die.

Nong Zhunbao's whole person was not good, and he was almost stupid: the Sui army actually adopted the same tactics as them, and the difference between attack and reception made him feel the urge to vomit blood.

As an expert in cavalry archery, Nong Zhunbao could of course see that the Sui army had put a lot of effort into this aspect, and when it came to the speed of cavalry and the flexibility of turning, it was even more powerful than them, and what was even worse was that the range of the Sui army's crossbow arrows was about twice as high as their short bow of only fifty paces. And this difference in range of fifty paces caused them to die more than a thousand people without firing a single arrow.

"Well done, see no, in fact, it's so simple to deal with the nomadic cavalry, I'd rather put one less arrow, don't let them catch up, and then take advantage of the gap in range to constantly hunt and kill the other party's soldiers......" Ma Hua controlled the distance between the two sides, and used this rogue tactic to the extreme, while commanding the Xuanjia Army to use the advantage of range to consume the strength of Nong Zhun Bao, and at the same time easily taught Wang Xiongdan and Cheng Chumo experience.

"You know what? In fact, it is better to shoot horses at this time, the target of the war horse is large, easy to aim, and the war horse will jump up when it is hit hard, and throw the soldiers off the horse. Under the cavalry charging at full speed, falling off the horse is equivalent to death, and death is so dead that there are no corpses left......"

The eye-opening Cheng Chumo smiled on the side: "However, this method of warfare has little effect on our army. ”

Ma Hua and Wang Xiongdan couldn't help but smile when they heard this.

The short bow of the Tubo army has a short range and weak power, for the Sui army wearing strong armor and wearing a long-brimmed helmet, the damage is indeed not large, the key is that the Sui army's crossbow arrows have a long range, and the enemy can cause casualties from a hundred paces away, when the Sui army rushed to the enemy's range, the first platoon soldiers wearing only leather armor have been hit by the rainstorm of crossbow arrows and collapsed.

"Alright."

Seeing that the distance had been narrowed by the enemy army who had been charged to the death, Ma Hua shook the reins of his horse and shouted: "The whole army retreats!" ”

The horn sounded, and the Sui army roared towards the north in a neat formation.

"The Sui army ran out of arrows, and the whole army pursued." It was only at this time that the Tubo army, which was blinded by a crossbow arrow, reacted, and in the roar of the nong-zhun baozhen, who narrowly escaped with his life, the blood of the Tubo soldiers was ignited, and a pair of eyes gradually became hot, like a beast that wanted to choose people and devour, and pursued them furiously.

So in this low hill undulating and grassy wilderness, the two cavalry staged a frantic chase and escape.

Nong Zhun Bao chased after him for a while, but he saw that the Sui army had superb riding skills and abundant horsepower, and they couldn't catch up with it until the opponent's horsepower was exhausted. So he divided the army into two, one continued to pursue, and the other went around the flank, preparing to outflank the Sui army.

Because the Sui army got up early, it was far away from the Tubo army, even if it was the last row of cavalry in the team, the Tubo cavalry at the forefront was more than 70 paces, far exceeding the range of the Tubo bow and arrow by 20 steps, and the Tubo did not have a stable body of the high bridge saddle, bilateral stirrups, if you want to release the arrows, you can only slow down the speed of the horse, and between a slow and a slow, further shorten the distance between the two sides, the Tubo army who knows this well knows this reason except for a few people who rely on their superior arm strength and good riding skills do not shoot indiscriminately, most of the Tubo cavalry just chase with their heads and can't do anything.

The Sui army, which was like cheating, did not have so many concerns, they could let go of their hands to load crossbow arrows on the way to gallop, and they could also look back and aim and release arrows, and from time to time they looked back at the enemy's war horse when an arrow hit the enemy's horse, constantly consuming the enemy's vitality in the pursuit.

The Sui army's teasing approach undoubtedly angered the Tubo army, and even Nong Zhunbao, who was trying to keep calm, couldn't stand it; He knew that this was an isolated Sui army, and that there was no place to hide soldiers in the open field, so he simply chased desperately with horses, vowing to annihilate this hateful Sui army here.

And this is also the wish of the Sui army led by Ma Hua, Wang Xiongdan, and Cheng Chumo, just because they prepared a very good cemetery for Tubo.

"The destination is almost here, everyone prepare." Ma Hua was originally in the lead, but at this moment, he slowed down his horse's speed and turned his head to order the soldiers who followed closely behind.

Without saying a word, the soldiers each pulled out a small red flag from the flag pot behind their backs, twisted and waved it vigorously. Immediately, generals at all levels drew flags in response, and at the same time reminded the soldiers on the left and right to get ready. In less than a cup of tea, all the soldiers of the Sui Army were ready to launch with all their might.

In fact, the use of horns to give orders was the most convenient means, but in order to avoid the vigilance of the Tibetan army, it was necessary to use a relatively slow banner to issue orders.

"Boom!"

Iron hooves slammed into the ground, and the Sui soldiers rushed up a low hill, and when the last horse disappeared for a moment, a tidal wave of Tibetan cavalry rushed in.

And the fatal blow came suddenly at this moment.

"Boom, boom, boom......"

The arrows are like a rainstorm, and the whistling is like weeping; The blood flowers of the Tubo soldiers bloomed, and a group of people turned on their backs.

The Tubo soldiers were furious, thinking that the Sui army's arrows were exhausted, so everyone rushed to catch up with the hill with a dense lineup, but the other party poured in a rain of arrows that was even more than the original, and in an instant, nearly 500 people fell from their horses with arrows, and all of them were trampled to death by the war horses.

Just as they attacked the hill and wanted to "return" with a violent rain of arrows, the scene in front of them made the Tubo army dumbfounded.

Nong Zhunbao was so hateful that he almost gritted his teeth, the Sui army was so treacherous that they actually rushed into a Gobi desert.

"Collect all your bows and draw your swords, rush in for me, and hack these abominable shamelessness to death!" Nong Zhunbao was the first to pull out his long knife, and the prancing horse was laid off, and a series of swords were unsheathed behind him.

But by the time they roared and rushed into the Gobi Desert, the Sui army had already fled far away, leaving only the Tubo army scolding like thunder. Soon, though, their roars turned into shouts of excitement. It was only because another group of cavalry was approaching quickly that they successfully intercepted the Sui army's way.

Before the arrival of the Tibetan soldiers, Ma Hua led the soldiers to turn to the east and run towards a hill as high as a hundred feet.

Nong Zhunbao was overjoyed, and laughed and said: "There are stones and sharp stones in front of them, they are already cornered, and the whole army is pressed and slaughtered by the Sui army!" ”

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

The roar of the Tubo soldiers, who had been hoisted out of the sky, shook the sky, and the hooves of the two armies sounded like thunder, and they continued to chase towards the Sui army.

This hill is a stone mountain, the mountain is very gentle, but the mountain road is gravel, and the damage to the horse's hooves is very serious, so the Tubo soldiers are overjoyed to see the Sui soldiers riding their horses uphill, and they are all overjoyed, just wait for a while to see the joke.

However, the scene they expected of the Sui cavalry falling from their horses due to broken hooves did not appear, except for a few horses' hooves stepping into the cracks of the rocks and breaking their hooves, the main army was unharmed.

It wasn't until the Sui army galloped halfway up the mountain, and then stopped and turned to release arrows, and the continuous arrows shot down more than 100 Tubo soldiers, and the Tubo soldiers woke up from their shock and fought back angrily.

At this time, they found a very pitiful and sad reality: because the Sui soldiers occupied a convenient location, they invisibly increased the power of their bows and arrows, and condescendingly released their arrows, so that the range of crossbow arrows was enough to extend to more than 120 steps, while their own bows and arrows could not even reach 50 steps after attacking back.

The only way to do this is to rush up and shoot closely, or fight with a hand-to-hand fight.

But Nong Zhun Bao's headache was that they couldn't attack on foot, otherwise they would be cleaned up by the Sui army above. So I can only charge on my horse and quickly close the distance. But such a messy stone hill, as long as the war horse steps on it, the hooves will be wasted... However, no matter how distressed the war horse is, I also know that the most important thing at the moment is to annihilate this Sui army, otherwise they will harass the army endlessly.

It is self-evident which is more important and which is more important.

Nong Zhun Bao immediately made a decision and ordered: "All the soldiers of the army, rush up for me, their horses can't support it for long, it's a big deal to fight with them on foot, we have a lot of people, we can still win." ”

"Kill."

"Kill."

Under the strict orders of the peasants and the quasi-security, the Tibetan soldiers beat horses and climbed the mountain. However, after more than an hour of pursuit, they ran away to the Gobi Desert, and the horseshoes of the Tibetan war horses without horseshoes were very seriously worn, and now they forcibly climbed the rocky hills full of gravel and sharp edges and corners. No matter how careful the Tubo soldiers were, the seriously worn hooves of the horses could not withstand the sharp gravel piercing and cutting, and from time to time the war horses could be seen kneeling down suddenly, and the long hills were covered with patches of blood.

Every steppe cavalryman is a horse lover, especially his own mount as a companion. Seeing that the beloved horse was so wasted, some Tibetan soldiers wept incessantly, ignoring the strict orders of Nong Zhun Bao, and dismounted and marched forward one after another.

The Sui army continued to ride and retreat to the top of the mountain, and they retreated and shot, so that the two armies always maintained a distance of more than 70 paces, and harvested the lives of the Tibetan soldiers with powerful crossbow arrows.

When all the Tibetan troops went up the mountain, Ma Hua saw that he had few arrows, and knew that the arrows were exhausted and the time was ripe for attack, so he immediately ordered: "The whole army will attack and kill." ”

"Kill."

Wang Xiongdan shouted loudly and led the soldiers to kill them from the mountain.

Nong Zhunbao was only guarding against the Sui army's crossbow arrows, and he couldn't imagine that the opponent's war horse could continue to gallop after leaving the chaotic stone mountain.

When the Sui army was killed from the bottom of the mountain, the Tubo army, which had lost its war horse and walked up the mountain, collapsed, and countless soldiers turned around and went down the mountain.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Nong Zhun Bao turned his horse and fled, but he could not run more than twenty paces, and the horse's hooves accidentally got stuck in the gap between the stones, and the horse stumbled in front of the horse, and threw him on his back on the sharp rocks, and his head hit a large rock fiercely, and it was torn apart like a watermelon.

Seeing that the Lord was going to die in such a strange way, the Tibetan soldiers fled desperately, but they had already become foot soldiers, and were chased and killed by the Sui army from behind, and the five thousand before the army were dispatched, and less than four hundred were lucky enough to escape. In this pursuit and escape battle, the Sui army achieved a brilliant victory without losing a single person.