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More than two hours later, the sun was overhead. After the Zhou troops in the camp had rested and got up for lunch, Wang Xuanshu received information from the scout captain that the Tang army had begun to gather and line up five miles away, and it seemed that they were preparing to attack the camp.

"Let's eat quickly! After the two pillars of incense, they went out of the camp to line up to fight! The enemy should be on the offensive right away! Wang Xuanshu shouted and reprimanded.

Half an hour later, Wang Xuanshu commanded the army out of the camp to fight. The 20,000 Zhou troops lined up in a neat phalanx and set up a position outside the camp. Standing in the front row were naturally pikemen and shield men, followed by a large number of archers.

At the same time, the Zhou soldiers could already see that a thick black line was growing larger and closer in the distance. It was the 40,000 Tang Army commanded by Li Yuanji, and they were rushing towards the camp with neat steps.

The enemy army had 40,000 people, and Wang Xuanshu only had 20,000 troops, a difference of twice the number of troops, and this battle was quite difficult to fight.

Wang Xuanshu knew that now was the most difficult battle he faced. However, he also followed his father Wang Shichong to the south and north for many years, although the situation was unfavorable, he also knew that now anyone can panic, but he, the main general, cannot panic.

So, he laughed and said, "What are you afraid of? The soldiers will block, and the water will cover the earth! Our army's camp and ditch have been dug up, and the fortifications have been repaired, although I dare not say that it is impregnable, at least it is impossible for Li Yuanji to attack......"

After a pause, he said again: "Inform the quartermaster and ask them to push out those bead crossbows, trebuchets, and divine arm bows in the Tang army camp!" Now, too, it's time to use them. Let's go to the camp! I want to see what tricks the Tang Army has in mind! ”

In front of the camp of the original Tang Army, 40,000 Tang troops had already put on a posture and slowly marched forward. It seems that a tentative attack is intended.

Li Yuanji put on a traditional shock-type formation. There were 5,000 cavalry on each flank for cover, and 10,000 infantry in the middle. Of the 10,000 infantry, there were 5,000 heavy infantry and 25,000 light infantry.

Li Yuanji was also slightly surprised when he saw that the Zhou army dared to come out to meet the enemy, but when he saw the armor of these troops, he naturally recognized that it was Wang Shichong's original army, not Yuming's descendant army, and its combat effectiveness should be worse. Moreover, the enemy took the initiative to come out of the camp, which was exactly what he wanted, and Li Yuanji immediately ordered an attack: "These are the original Wang Shichong's Zheng army, not the regular Zhou army, everyone don't have to be afraid!" The whole army marches! ”

As a result, the cavalry on both flanks of the Tang army and the hoplites in the center howled and rushed towards the large camp of the Zhou army.

Wang Xuanshu saw Tang Jun's arrogant appearance, but he sneered, and he waved his big hand and said, "Let the trebuchet come to the front!" This time, we will ask Li Yuanji and Tang Jun to pay the price of blood, so that they know that our Zheng Jun is not a bad breed!! ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw dozens of catapults being pushed out by the soldiers along the gap between the Zhou army's formations. These are all ready-made siege equipment in the camp of the Tang army, and it seems that the Tang army does have the idea of attacking Luoyang.

After the trebuchet was pushed to the forefront, with Wang Xuanshu's order, the trebuchet men put a boulder the size of a grinding disc on the trebuchet's big spoon. Then drag the cowhide band and pull it down violently.

When he was about to get close to the ground, he suddenly let go.

"Pong! Disheveled! Disheveled! As the scoop of the trebuchet slammed into the door frame of the trebuchet, boulders flew into the air and smashed towards the swarming Tang cavalry.

A moment later, I saw puffs of smoke and dust rising from the cavalry phalanx of the Tang Army, and the sound of screams, broken bones, and neighing horses came and went.

The flat ground in front of the two armies was littered with the corpses of men and horses, as well as stumps and broken arms, and the living were often missing a leg or a hand, and those who were hit by boulders were immediately turned into meatloaf and died. Some Tang soldiers dodged in time and avoided the vital point, but they were hit in the shoulders and arms, and they were immediately covered in blood and let out bursts of screams. The scene was a mess, and the ground was stained red with blood, leaving the faces of the soldiers on both sides of the war look terrified.

The soldiers of the Tang Army did not expect that the Zhou army would use the trebuchet originally used for siege to conduct field battles, and they were shocked, but they couldn't help but feel a little timid in their hearts, after all, the terrible scene of their comrades-in-arms being smashed to the point of bursting their brains shocked their hearts.

"Warriors of the Tang Dynasty, don't be afraid! The trebuchets fired a boulder a long time apart, so we could rush ahead in the interval! As long as we engage the enemy head-on, I believe that with the broadsword in our hands, we can cut off all the heads of the Zhou army! Zhang Baode went into battle with an injury, which inspired the morale of the Tang army, after all, whether the battalion could be recaptured or not was related to his head.

The other officers of the Tang Army also boosted their morale and commanded the soldiers of the Tang Army to continue to rush forward. It didn't take long for the cavalry at the forefront to come within range of the Zhou archers.

"The enemy has come into range of the bow and arrow, and the archer releases the arrow!" Wang Xuanshu shouted loudly.

The Zhou army's phalanx of archers began to shoot dense arrows, and sharp arrows flew from the air like raindrops, and the Tang cavalry fell one by one.

However, these Tang cavalry were all foreign soldiers recruited from Xiliang and Longxi, and their loyalty to the Tang Dynasty was high, and their combat courage was far beyond that of ordinary soldiers. Although they fell in batches, they did not flinch, and still rushed to the front of the Zhou army's camp and began to fight with the spear and shield soldiers in the front row.

In particular, Zhang Baode, who rushed to the front and took the lead, even raised his spear to stab left and right, and many Zhou soldiers died under his gun. Because the Tang army had both cavalry and infantry, its combat effectiveness was not at all overwhelmed by the Zhou army, and its strength was more than double that of the Zhou army. The Zhou army, which was defending at the gate of the camp, gradually became a little defeated.

"Withdraw to the camp, use the ditch and fence as cover, and continue to shoot at the enemy!" Wang Xuanshu saw that the situation was not good, and immediately ordered.

As a result, the Zhou army began to push the trebuchet to retreat into the camp, but the Tang cavalry had already rushed close to the camp and began to take out short bows and shoot arrows to shoot back, and many broken Zhou spearmen were immediately shot to the ground.

However, the Tang army was not happy for long, and they soon found that after the Zhou army retreated, there were many obstacles such as ditches, deep pits, and stumbling horses left in front of the camp of the large camp.

"Infantry step forward! Fill the ditch with soil! Chop down those stumbling horses for this king! Li Yuanji immediately ordered.

As a result, the Don cavalry immediately spread out to the flanks, giving way to the middle passage to the light infantry located behind the central phalanx.

When they received the order, they rushed forward with a "whoosh, whoosh", and the five thousand heavy infantry began to take cover with their shields. The archers of the Tang army also began to shoot at the archers of the Zhou army.

By this time, the light infantry of the Tang army had already begun to fill in the ditch with mud and open the passage to the main camp.

It's just that because the archers of the Tang army are cavalry, they hold short bows in their hands, have a short range, and have low lethality, while the Zhou army uses long bows because they are all infantry, with long ranges and high lethality. In addition, they were all wearing Mingguang armor that was only equipped by the Eastern Capital Forbidden Army, and their defensive power was much stronger than that of the Tang Army. Therefore, in the confrontational shooting, the casualties of the Tang army were very heavy.

After the Tang infantry braved the enemy's arrow rain and paid heavy casualties, finally filled the ditch and cleared the stumbling horses, Li Yuanji ordered the Tang cavalry to continue the charge.

"Boom, boom, boom!" The Zhou army trebuchets in the camp were still firing boulders.

"Whoosh! Sou! Sou! The archers of the Zhou army still hid behind the fence and continued to fire arrows.

Although the cavalry of the Tang Army was brave, they still paid heavy casualties in the face of such a powerful attack, and when they finally rushed to the fence of their own camp, they found that they could not enter at all.

This is because they found that there was a barbed wire fence behind the fence, and if they could not cut it, they would not be able to attack it even if they all died here.

However, the Tang army was in a hurry to attack, and was not equipped with tools to cut the barbed wire, nor was there a ladder to climb, so it could only stare at the barbed wire.

Wang Xuanshu, Duan Da and others were greatly relieved in their hearts, and secretly thought that before the king of Zhou left, he drew a style map for them, saying that barbed wire could be set up behind the fence to prevent the enemy cavalry from rushing into the camp. They acted according to the orders of the king of Zhou, and it really worked wonders.

After Li Yuanji learned of this situation at the front, he decisively ordered Mingjin to withdraw his troops. If the attack is continued in this situation, it is not a battle, it is a soldier to die. Although he is tyrannical, he is not completely brainless. And now it's getting dark, and in the dark night, the soldiers can't see the situation clearly, and it's very risky to climb the barbed wire.

"Pass my orders! Cut off several passages from the Zhou army camp to the outside world. As the general expected, there are only 10,000 Zhou troops in the camp at most. Our army has more than 40,000 troops, and tonight we only need to surround them and prevent them from breaking through...... Fight again tomorrow! Li Yuanji ordered.

He was also secretly frightened, but he didn't expect that after Yuming attacked his camp, he didn't retreat, but chose to stick here. Now what he is most worried about is that if Li Shimin comes back and sees that the camp is still in the hands of the enemy, then his life will not be easy.

"It seems that tomorrow morning, we must launch a strong attack! It is estimated that the second brother will come back in two days. Li Yuanji thought secretly in his heart.

Immediately, he said to Zhang Baode: "Zhang Baode, you quickly take a group of soldiers to the woods next to you, cut down trees to make ladders and catapults, and early tomorrow morning, we will launch a strong attack, and attack the camp as a siege war, and we must recover the camp within a few days!" Otherwise, neither you nor I will escape punishment! ”

Zhang Baode naturally knew what was at stake, and Li Yuanji might fall out of favor in front of Li Yuan. But it's possible that I'll lose my head.

So, he hurriedly nodded yes, and then arranged for more than 20,000 soldiers to go to a forest five miles away. Cut down trees overnight to build siege machines.

Li Yuanji, on the other hand, ordered a large camp to be set up by a small river, and after arranging the sentries, he let the cavalry, which had suffered heavy casualties after fierce battles during the day, begin to rest. Recharge your batteries and wait for tomorrow's battle.

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