Zhang Zhongwu's prediction was not wrong.

At this moment, in the desert, there is a cavalry of up to tens of thousands of people coming towards Zunhua and other places. And the number of this cavalry is constantly increasing in the process of advancing.

The cavalry that really belonged to Zhang Jiayou, who was stationed in Ningxia, was only 5,000 people. The others are basically cavalry of various tribes living in the desert.

They brought their own weapons and armor, and brought their own food and grass, and spontaneously joined in this conquest.

With the formal completion of Hetao City, it formed a complete military axis to dominate the desert with the three surrendered cities of the central, eastern and western regions, which also made the influence of the Tang army in the desert stronger day by day. The cavalry of the Right Guards began to appear in every part of the desert to assert the sovereignty of the Tang Dynasty.

The various tribes living in the desert had only two choices, either to submit to the Tang Dynasty and become citizens of the Tang Dynasty, or to migrate further north to avoid the military threat of the Tang Dynasty.

The second option was not a good one, because it meant harsher natural conditions and a more difficult life, and the better life of some of the tribesmen who had previously submitted to the Tang Dynasty also set a good example for them.

When you become a Tang Min, you can immediately get a fixed pasture, which is the life that the grassland herdsmen dream of.

Of course, it was the original rulers of the tribes who suffered. They no longer have the right to manipulate their people and monopolize all kinds of business transactions. Because Datang's policy is vertically applied to every ordinary herdsman. Each piece of grassland is specifically divided into the heads of each herdsman.

Pastures are no longer the property of the tribal nobles, and the herdsmen no longer pay taxes to them, and every tax season, the tax collectors of the Tang Dynasty will come here on horseback and with carriages to collect the taxes that the herdsmen should pay for the year.

It is not that there is no tribal nobles to resist, but as soon as the resistance appears, the powerful Tang army will appear in front of them with lightning speed, and Mount Tai will wipe out the resistance like a top. The only people who could fight with the tribal nobles were their pitiful descendants, and the ordinary herdsmen were no longer willing to fight for them.

Because the taxes collected by the imperial court were much less than those collected by their head, the patriarch.

What's more, the imperial court collected taxes, but spent a large part of them on local construction. For example, the imperial court established several settlements in the desert. These settlements have hospitals, schools, and all kinds of shops that trade in their homes. When people are sick, they can come to these settlements and get the best treatment for a small amount of money. Their children can enter the school here, not only does it not cost money, but the school also takes care of the food. The business shops here have everything from needles and threads to grain salt and tea, and the prices are fair.

For the clan leaders, it was very painful, they could not be beaten and could not be beaten, and they seemed to be superfluous people who stayed behind. In the past, the tribesmen could only follow them, because they were the only ones who had access to foreign trade, and the wealth they had accumulated could allow them to kill and seize the livelihood of their tribesmen, and they could only survive by unconditionally relying on them.

But now, the Tang court has ruthlessly destroyed all this.

Like destroying those clan forces on the land of the Central Plains, the Tang Dynasty is also ruthlessly attacking the tribal forces in the desert and on the grassland, so that their ruling forces can directly face every ordinary clansman.

The first step is almost complete.

The tribal leaders who dared to resist, the grave grass had grown taller than people. Most of the tribal leaders who did not dare to resist carried the wealth they had accumulated in their early years to Hetao City, to several major surrendered cities, or directly to live in big cities such as Zhenzhou, Yizhou and even Wuyi.

Now, the second step has begun.

Focusing on the settlements established earlier, the Tang people began to set up various management yamen. The scattered desert is slowly being gathered.

This sortie, for these people, is an opportunity to deeply integrate into the Tang Dynasty. The Yixing Society of the Tang Dynasty has begun to take root in these places, and in their propaganda, the people who take the initiative to join the expedition this time, and those who perform well will get the opportunity to directly enter the Tang Dynasty army and become a glorious Tang soldier. Once they become Datang soldiers, they will be exempted from taxes and other preferential policies before they retire. Of course, during this sortie, they will also receive corresponding generous salaries and rewards.

For the imperial court, it is not that they are sent to participate in the battle, whether there are or not, it does not affect the overall situation, they just want to use this opportunity to further strengthen the rule of these tribesmen, and further make these tribesmen have a sense of dependence on the Tang Dynasty, so that they will increasingly identify that they belong to this powerful empire.

This is also part of Li Ze's theory of the state.

Having been through the same window together, having prostitutes together, and carrying guns together, this kind of friendship is enough to make everyone integrate more deeply.

As a result, the force grew larger and larger on the way. The strong mobilization ability and command ability of Yixing Society have also been fully reflected. Although these tribesmen came from different tribes and different regions, they were quickly organized into orderly fighting units in the process of marching.

Of course, the Right Guards do not expect the team composed of these tribesmen to have the ability to fight a tough battle, in fact, some such troops can only perform some tasks in the corners, there is no problem in fighting a tailwind battle, a stalemate battle is enough, if it is a headwind war, then there is no need to count on it.

Fei Yu, the general of the right army of the Liao army, led 5,000 cavalry of the Liao army to meet the cavalry team of the right Wuwei in Longhua.

At this time, in Zunhua, Zhang Zhongwu's lonely attack had already begun.

For Tang Jun, there is no hurry at all now, Han Qi has planned a lot of battles of Zunhua, and is moving forward step by step according to his plan. Using the strong city wall, he first eliminated Zhang Zhongwu's living force and frustrated the morale of the Liao army, and then attacked with the whole army and took Zhang Zhongwu in one fell swoop.

Time is on their side.

Wenfu has already invaded Liaodong, tens of thousands of cavalry under the command of Yeluyuan and Liu Yan are sweeping all the way from the east, and the logistics supply of Zhang Zhongwu's department has been completely cut off, and now, he is surrounded by several sides.

The lack of grain and grass, the cold weather, and the strong city walls were all Zhang Zhongwu's mortal enemies. He had no other way out than to go forward without regard for the lives of his soldiers.

Of course, he can surrender, and he can be Zhang Zhongwu and Deng Jingshan, but I am afraid that he would rather die in battle than surrender.

Moreover, Han Qi never wanted them to surrender.

He would rather see these opponents who had fought with him almost all his life fall on the battlefield and draw a perfect end to the battle of this life.

Deng Jingshan personally led the charge in armor, and Zhang Zhongwu directly advanced his Chinese army banner to the trebuchet range of the city. In one day, his banner was destroyed three times by trebuchets in the city, but each time, the banner was re-erected, and even a little further.

The desperate fight of the main generals left the soldiers with no choice, and the deformed morale skyrocketed in front of Zunhua City, and wave after wave of fierce attacks were carried out endlessly. The violent humanoid wave hit the city wall of Zunhua, and the corpses were everywhere in the city.

Countless fierce fire bombs were thrown on the city by trebuchets, the fire from the beginning, never stopped, and the Tang army above the city also did not show any ammunition, one by one fierce fire bombs were thrown on the heads of the besieging soldiers, every explosion, will make a large number of Liao soldiers or die without a word, or wail into a fire man to flee around, and the fate of these fire men is basically made up by their companions or stabbed by a shot, completely relieving his pain.

The city wall was burned so much that after being hit by a stone bullet, there would be a large collapse, and the Liao army attacked the city again and again, but was driven down again and again.

From the beginning of the morning to the shroud of night, the battle never stopped, from the very beginning of the shouting and killing to the sky, to the last mechanical numb fighting, no human voice can be heard, echoing on the battlefield, only the collision of weapons, the sound of feather arrows breaking through the air, the roar of stone bullets.

Even the screams before dying were almost inaudible.

The city wall of Zunhua can no longer be called a city wall. Large sections of the land collapsed into pieces of ruins, and above the ruins, soldiers on both sides were still fighting to the death.

Until the sound of the golden gong of the collection of troops sounded among the Liao army.

"The decisive battle is tomorrow!" Han Qi and Xue Chong glanced at each other.

Today, whether it is them or Zhang Zhongwu, they have retained their strength and have not completely gone all out, because at this time, everyone knows it.

"General Li, tomorrow's battle will be handed over to you!" Han Qi smiled at Li Han, who had been watching all day, and said with a smile.

"Five thousand Mo sword guards, will smash everything that stands in our way." Li Han stood up and said with a humming voice.

For the warring sides, the midnight rest seemed to be fleeting. Before the sky was clear, the scouts of the Liao army saw that one after another Tang army poured out of the city and began to line up in front of Zunhua City.

The Don Army took the initiative.

The scouts galloped back to the camp.

In the camp of the Liao State, the Liao soldiers who had just finished breakfast were also sorting out their weapons.

With the sound of horns, the cavalry of the brigade, from the middle army, from the left battalion, from the right battalion, rushed towards the direction of Zunhua City.

Today will be the day of the decisive battle.

Today will be the day of destiny.

Zhang Zhongwu wore a helmet and armor, held a horse lance, stood at the front of the cavalry, behind the cavalry, Deng Jingshan held a banner, and countless infantry knocked on their shields and shouted in a low voice.