The sky over Shule was cloudy, and the Tang army had advanced to thirty miles away from Shule City, the north wind was blowing strongly, the land was vast, and a big war between the Tang Empire and the Great Food Empire was about to break out.

In the palace, the dispute over the tactics of the Great Food Army has also continued for a whole day, and Muryali has persuaded Agush again and again to give up the idea of going out of the city to fight with the Tang army, it is already dusk, but Agush still stubbornly insists on his ideas, which makes Muryali extremely frustrated, until this moment, Murali finally has a trace of regret for killing Aros, if he does not die, he will never command the battle so dogmatically.

"Your Highness, I also admit that the advantage of the Great Food Army is in the cavalry battle, in the grassland, in the desert, that is where the Great Food Army exerts its advantages, I do not deny it, but at this time and that time, in the past, our forces were always superior, and we were able to maximize the mobility of the cavalry, and we could still have a large number of fresh troops at the last moment, but not now, our army is inferior to the Tang Army, at this time we should hold the city and wait for reinforcements to arrive, then it is the time for a cavalry duel with the Tang Army, The 30,000 reinforcements of Samad Jian and Tocharian should arrive at Pantuoling, we only need to wait for another five days, and the reinforcements will come, Your Highness, think twice! ”

"But I can't wait a day."

Agush's expression was still as cold as a statue, and the pride and stubbornness of the Abbasid family were vividly displayed in him at this moment, he was not moved at all, and snorted coldly: "I think you are frightened by the Tang army, you keep saying that the defeat of the Tubo army is because the Tang army has the so-called heavenly thunder, and you still believe that the defeat of the Tubo people is caused by the death of their Zampu and the chaos of the army, not a heavenly thunder." The advantage of our Great Food Army is that the horses are excellent and the cavalry is sharp, but you give up these two advantages, but you want to fight some city offensive and defensive battle with the Tang Army. Will you defend the city? Don't you know that the advantage of the Tang army lies in their strength in various siege equipment? You don't know anything about the Tang Army, and you were frightened by their chaotic pursuit in Jiashi City. ”

"Your Highness, I'm not afraid. The Tang army stood still thirty miles away, hoping that we would go out to fight a decisive battle, and if they wanted to attack the city, would they still give us a chance? "At last, the lion-like man fell to his knees and tearfully persuaded the prince to change his mind." The prince has never fought with the Byzantines, I don't know how powerful their Greek fire is, and the advanced weapons will change the tide of the war! We fought with the Tubo people for more than a year before we barely defeated them, but the Tang army annihilated the Tubo army in just one battle, Your Highness, this is the gap, we can't help but face the reality! ”

"Useless bastard! Coward! "Agush was finally angry. He drew his sword and pointed it at him, shouting, "We must go to battle tomorrow morning." Otherwise, I will kill you for escaping from battle. ”

Moyali's lips moved, and he finally lowered his head, succumbing to Agush's icy sword.

In the vast wilderness ten miles east of Shule, the two large armies pointed at each other, and the Great Food Army finally abandoned Shule City to face the battle, and the Great Food Army was well organized, mainly mobile and flexible cavalry. The main weapons were throwing spears and short spears. Skilled in desert warfare, but not good at bows, swords, spears, and siege equipment.

Tactically, in order to make up for the lack of weapons and equipment. The formation of the battle formation borrowed from the strengths of the Byzantine and Persian armies, and was divided into several components along the front and depth, namely the avant-garde, center, right flank, left flank and rear guard, the two flanks were covered by cavalry, usually with strong reserves, and when fighting, the main light cavalry was used to exhaust the enemy by continuous sorties. When victory is in sight, quickly throw the main forces into battle.

At this moment, the 50,000 Great Food Army fully embodies the combat characteristics of the Great Cannibal, the battle line is very long, divided into five legions, the avant-garde 10,000 people are infantry regiments, and the left and right wings are each supplemented by two 10,000 cavalry corps, this triangular formation is like an eagle soaring in the sky, in the front army of 30,000 people, the infantry and the left wing cavalry are local armies, and the source of troops comes from Tocharian and Kang, Shi and other vassal countries, while the right wing cavalry is the Persian Sassanid Honzong army, which is obviously different from the other two armies in terms of equipment.

Two miles away, there are 20,000 rearguard legions, all cavalry, they are also the army of Benzong, the source of troops from Jerusalem and Damascus and other places, this is the main force of the Great Food Army to defeat the Tibetans in Tocharo, is the elite of the Great Food Army, led by Prince Agush himself.

At this moment, Agush was on his horse, his eyes indifferently staring at the Tang army in the distance, his proud and contoured face showed his noble blood, and his heart longed for a battle with the Tang army in order to wash away the shame of his capture.

It was the dignity of the Abbasid family that made him refuse to return to Baghdad after being released by the Tang army, and insisted on seizing military power to fight with the Tang army, the commander of the Tang army was of the same age as him, and his identity was equally noble, such an opponent made Agush's heart burn with an inexplicable excitement, in his opinion, this was no longer a simple contest between the two armies, but also a duel between him and Zhang Huan.

Although Agush was a romantic idealist, he also knew his biggest weakness of insufficient troops, so he ordered the armies of various countries to come to support him, especially the Tocharian army, but it was too late in time, and the Tang army came to the city, either taking the advice of Muryali and defending the city for reinforcements, or fighting with the Tang army.

Agush resolutely decided on the latter, the Arab cavalry must not be shrunk in a shell like turtles, they fought in a wide area between heaven and earth, and even if they were defeated, they could retreat to the city and wait for reinforcements.

"Attack!" With a swing of his sword, he gave the order to attack.

The low and distant voice of the bullhorn echoed in the heavens and the earth, and the front army of the Great Food Army was launched, the first to bear the brunt was 10,000 infantry, they were dressed in leather armor, holding a huge shield in one hand and a short spear in the other, forming three phalanxes to attack the Tang army's position, and the light cavalry on the left flank also launched, preparing to attack the Tang army from the flank.

Three miles away, the Tang army also deployed 40,000 troops to meet the battle, with banners covering the sky and the sun, in front of which were 10,000 crossbow troops, 5,000 archers and crossbowmen, and 10,000 cavalry on each wing, and behind the crossbow army were 5,000 dragon spearmen and 5,000 Mo sword troops.

After these 40,000 troops, about two miles away, the Tang army deployed another 25,000 troops, including 5,000 tiger hoplites, 5,000 Modao troops and 10,000 Xuanjia elite cavalry, and the other 5,000 heavy armored cavalry were the Iron Guards to protect the commander.

Then there is the camp of the Tang army, which was built overnight, there is a trench dug in front of the camp, the huge wooden fence surrounds the camp tightly, the high sentry post is erected, and the thunderbolt and siege equipment of the Tang army are in the camp.

Zhang Huan stood on a wooden platform surrounded by five thousand iron guards, he coldly observed the movements of the Great Food Army, from the other side's array and morale, the combat power of this army is similar to that of the Tubo Army, but their cavalry is obviously stronger than the Tubo people, which is thanks to the excellent Great Food War Horse, which also makes Zhang Huan moved, if a batch of large food stallions can be captured in this battle and grazed in the Hexi Corridor, it will greatly improve the combat power of the Tang cavalry, which will play an immeasurable role in dealing with the invasion of nomads for the Han people in the future.

At this time, several cavalry scouts rushed from the front to report, "Report to the governor, the enemy army has sent a total of 50,000 troops to meet us!" ”

"Fifty thousand?" Zhang Huan sneered and said to himself: "Don't the big cannibals want the city?" ”

He turned around and asked Lu Yang, a veteran who was watching the battle with him, "General Lu, how does Shule City compare to Qiuzi City?" ”

"Tell the governor, Shule City is not as large as Qiuzi City, but its walls are tall and strong, second only to Broken Leaf among all the military towns in Anxi."

Lu Yang came all the way from Qiuzi to Zhang Huan to the west, but he didn't make an inch, he has always been very uneasy in his heart, and now Zhang Huan asked about Shule, how could he not understand what this meant? Then he bowed and said, "The last general is willing to lead an army around Shule and take the city for the governor." ”

Zhang Huan pondered for a moment and said to him: "Okay! The old general made a hard trip, led 5,000 cavalry to see Shule City, and the momentum might as well be bigger, and if possible, he would take it directly. ”

"Yes!" Lu Yang bowed and bowed, and went in good spirits.

Zhang Huan kept staring at the disappearance of his majestic back, and then turned back to look north, and couldn't help but flash a trace of worry in his eyes, Lu Yang just mentioned that Broken Leaf City is the strongest city in Anxi, and he doesn't know if Guan Ying can take Broken Leaf City this time? It's been twenty days, and there's not even a bit of news.

At this time, a low horn sound faintly sounded in the distance, pulling Zhang Huan's thoughts back to the battlefield, which was the signal of the Great Food Army's attack, and he immediately ordered: "Beat the drum to fight!" ”

The rumbling drums of war were beaten, the dark clouds closed, the wind blew through the wilderness, and the prelude to the great battle finally began slowly.

10,000 lightly armored infantry shouted slogans in a low voice, while marching forward, as if a huge black curtain spread on the ground, they walked vigorously, strong, and like undulating waves, to the Tang army fearlessly to meet the battle, the left wing cavalry corps is like an open wing, following the rhythmic advance of the infantry, they are not in a hurry to rush ahead, waiting for the infantry to suppress the Tang army's bow and crossbow, and then impact the Tang army's flank.

"Forge the Blade Array!" Wang Siyu, a former army general, decisively gave the order.

The formation of the 10,000 Tang Army's bow and crossbow battalion changed, with the archers in front and the crossbowmen in the back, arranged into more than a dozen columns of bows and crossbows, the arrows were wound, and they aimed at each other coldly, and the 20,000 cavalry also pressed left and right to protect the safety of the crossbowmen.

Five hundred paces, four hundred paces, the enemy army has already entered the range of crossbow arrows.

The apricot yellow order flag was waved, and the captain of the crossbow army roared: "Release the arrow!" ”

The Tang army struck first, and the crossbow arrows were fired first, only to see ten thousand arrows fired at once, covering the sky and the sun