Chapter 55: The Decisive Battle (3)
The flanks of the cavalry of the National Army were exposed to the coalition troops, and a continuous stream of crossbow arrows came at them, and people constantly fell from their horses. The coalition cavalry tried to get closer, but the Nationalist cavalry always pulled away.
The allied cavalry shot out the crossbow arrows in their hands, and they habitually put away the crossbow arrows, but they didn't expect the opponent's crossbow arrows to shoot endlessly like rain, and many people were shot off their horses before they could react.
People kept falling off their horses, and the cavalry of the opposing side seemed endless. The coalition cavalry desperately tried to get up, but the cavalry of the Nationalist Army just wouldn't make contact with you. There were fewer and fewer coalition cavalry on horseback.
Suddenly, the rain of arrows stopped, and Li Tang rushed up with the cavalry. The coalition cavalry also rushed forward with spears in hand. A strong man held a spear and pointed directly at Li Tang, eager to stab Li Tang off the horse with a spear. The two got closer and closer, the strong man stabbed with a spear, Li Tang dodged the spear on the side, and when the two of them made a mistake, the saber in his hand just crossed the strong man's body with the speed of the horse, and the strong man felt a pain on his side, so he fell off the horse and didn't know anything.
Li Tang didn't look back, and continued to rush forward. Countless coalition cavalry rushed over and dismounted again. The cavalry on both sides collided together, the speed was too fast, and the two sides didn't have time to react at all, but they just waved the swords and guns in their hands, the sound of the impact of the war horses, the friction of the swords and guns, and the screams of frequent death filled the world. The two teams were so mixed that they could barely tell each other apart.
Li Tang's eyes suddenly had no enemy, he had already come out of the formation, without hesitation Li Jie pulled out the horse's head, and killed back, five thousand cavalry after a few rounds of crossbow arrows, there were not too many people, and after several impacts from Li Tang, he finally crossed, and the remnants of the cavalry ran back to the formation without looking back.
Li Tang once again led the cavalry to start an attack on the infantry on both sides, the crossbow arrows had been used up, the cavalry lined up in a column and swept over the infantry side, the hand knife in his hand was gently swung out, no matter whether he cut it or not, it would never stop, little by little it was like peeling the skin, and the infantry was almost powerless to fight back under such a blow.
The three towns of Heshuo are already good at cavalry, good at attacking, but insufficient in defense. The number of bed crossbows was relatively small, and this time the brother brought a dozen, but it still caused casualties to the national army. Some soldiers died when they were pierced by huge bolts, while others were strung together by a single bolt. Li Jie pondered for a long time after seeing it, and ordered, "The firearms battalion ballista will come forward, and the opponent's crossbow arrows will be eliminated and then withdrawn!" ”
After receiving the order, Cheng Moyu ordered dozens of ballistas to be prepared. The Nationalist army's ballistae no longer relied on the elastic force of the bowstring to fire ammunition, but fully utilized the power of the machine, and its range was much greater than that of the coalition bed crossbow.
At the sound of the order, the shells that had already been aimed flew out with a "bang" and rushed towards their respective targets. Wang Jingchong and the others watched as dozens of things landed around the bed crossbow. "Boom, boom, boom" continuous explosions sounded, and more than a dozen bed crossbows were shrouded in smoke and dust, and nothing could be seen. When the smoke cleared, a terrible picture was unfolded in front of everyone, more than a dozen bed crossbows were blown to pieces, there were human limbs and broken arms everywhere, and some soldiers were not injured at all, but they were dead with blood spitting from their mouths.
50,000 allied soldiers desperately attacked forward, but in the face of dense spear tips, each brave man was finally defeated, and countless soldiers lost their lives here.
A strong man nearly two meters tall, holding two short maces, rushed to the front. Facing the spear array lined up on the wall, the kid laughed wildly and said, "Guts rats, see that grandpa has broken your bird formation." ”
With a wild roar, he rushed forward, and in the face of the spears that pierced him, he struck several spears aside with a stroke of his right hand, and several pikemen fell to the ground. A few more spears pierced him, he opened a few spears with a stroke of his left hand, and when a few people fell to the ground, he took a step forward, and was about to attack the pikemen in front of him, but the pikemen in front of him also took a step forward, and several spears also pierced over. He flipped his wolf tooth grip and pulled the spear away, and before he could do so, the mace in his other hand was raised, and several spears came from the side. He turned around to avoid the figure and before he could stand still, there were several spears coming in front of him, and he couldn't avoid it, and he watched several spears pierce his body, and the severe pain made him cry out loudly, and then he fell to the ground and died unwillingly.
Tens of thousands of giant archers are proud to do it, and when they train, they can't feel the huge power of the longbow at all, but now in this real battlefield, it is not only the enemy who is shocked, but also themselves, at this time they are full of confidence, they know that the giant bow in their hands is the strongest bow and arrow in this era, and they are determined to defeat all enemies.
Countless coalition soldiers howled, and their blood-red eyes pounced on the dense spears, but just as they approached, a row of snowy spears pierced out like poisonous snakes, mercilessly piercing the enemy on the opposite side, and in a wailing and screaming, the row of spears retracted again, and then another batch of spears like a wall of lightning stabbed out, and once again harvested the lives of a group of coalition soldiers, so continuously, like an iron wall, blocking the enemy who kept rushing up like a tide.
A violent explosion suddenly sounded behind the coalition soldiers, and clouds of black smoke rushed into the sky, and the soldiers panicked! I have never seen such a scene, tens of thousands of people are in chaos at once, many people turn around and flee, and the coalition army collapses!
Seeing this, Li Jie ordered the whole army to attack! Rows of pikemen and shield soldiers pressed forward firmly, spears piercing and reaping the lives of the coalition forces. In order to flee for their lives, countless coalition soldiers desperately slashed the people in front of them with knives. Countless people are killing each other, and countless giant arrows are falling. The cavalry on both sides continued to peel off the skin layer by layer.
When the pikemen stabbed the spear out and threw it into the air, he found that the battle was over, with huge arrows everywhere and dead bodies everywhere, and the coalition army had been completely defeated. Only a few escaped. The large battalion of the coalition forces was closed. The soldiers stood nervously inside the railing, their weapons clenched tightly in their hands.
"Clean up the battlefield!" At the sound of an order, the soldiers of the Nationalist Army began to clean up the battlefield, weapons and armor were collected, and the dead bodies were buried in a centralized manner.
When it was almost dark, the results were counted. More than 68,000 coalition troops were killed and more than 3,800 were captured. More than 3,600 people were killed and more than 4,200 wounded. Among them, Li Tang's cavalry suffered the heaviest losses, with nearly 2,000 killed and almost no wounded. Seeing that nearly half of the people were missing, Li Tang cried distressedly, the seven-foot man cried like a tearful man, Cheng Moyu stepped forward to hug him and didn't say anything.
Looking at the nearly 10,000 casualties, Li Jie was also distressed. He didn't say anything and went straight to the wounded camp, there were too many wounded soldiers, the medical camp couldn't be busy at all, and Manniang was so busy that she couldn't care about wiping it with sweat. Many soldiers also ran to help.
More than 4,000 wounded prisoners saw another shocking scene, a group of brightly dressed people walked into the wounded camp, checked the wounded, fed the wounded, everyone was busy, and one of them was even operating on the wounded.
A soldier grabbed a medical soldier and quietly asked, "What is the identity of these people, and how did they run to the wounded soldiers?" The medical guard looked at it and said, "These people are all His Royal Highness's subordinates, and the one who performed the operation was His Royal Highness!" "The captives are shocked! Looking at Li Jie's gaze was very complicated.
Li Jie finished the operation, turned around and came to the prisoner camp encircled next to him. When I walked up to a wounded soldier, I saw that he was only wounded in the arm, but he only bandaged it indiscriminately, and the wound was still oozing blood. Looking at the rest of the people as well, Li Jie was furious, "Come on!" ”
A paramedic ran over and said, "Your Highness! Why haven't the wounded been treated? The medic bowed his head, "Your Highness, they are captives!" Li Jie shouted again, "Bold, although they are prisoners, they are also my people of the Tang Dynasty, today's battle should not have happened, they only came here because of the selfish desires of some people." This king will not allow the people of the Tang Dynasty to be treated unfairly. Immediate treatment! ”
Li Jie's words shocked the captives again, and thousands of people knelt on the ground with tears in their eyes but did not speak. Li Jiezhong held up one person and said, "You don't have to be like this! He didn't say anything, turned around and led people away.
When it got dark, the soldiers had just eaten, and an order came down, and the whole army pulled out the camp and retreated twenty miles, everyone was puzzled, Li Jie explained, "Today, the coalition forces suffered heavy casualties, and they must be a little shaken, and I retreated to give them a hope, thinking that our army is also suffering heavy casualties." Everyone suddenly came to their senses and turned to clean up.
In the large camp of the coalition army, Wang Jingchong led the army back to the camp. One by one, they have lost tens of thousands of horses and horses, and the other party suddenly showed a killer weapon, which suddenly made the coalition soldiers lose their courage.
Many people made small calculations, but they still wanted to wait and see what was going on and see the others, and there was no sound in the whole tent. In the end, Wang Jingchong broke the silence, waved his hand and said, "Let's go and rest first!" The four gates are closed, and no one is allowed to leave the camp! ”
There was no word all night, and the sky was bright:. The sentry standing on top of the barracks suddenly noticed that the opponent's camp, which could be seen faintly in the distance, was gone. The sentry reported the situation. In the tent, Wang Jingchong convened everyone to discuss the matter, and after telling everyone about the matter, Wang Jingchong asked, "Why did the other party suddenly withdraw the army, what is the intention!" Everyone looked at each other and didn't speak, Wang Jingchong was impatient and said, "Don't you have an idea?" ”
One of them arched his hand and said, "Commander, it's better to send a scout to investigate and then make a plan!" Wang Jingchong nodded and immediately sent scouts. The scout cautiously approached and found that the Nationalist camp was gone. After carefully searching fifteen miles forward, he was about to return, but suddenly found a group of national army scouts, and when the other party saw them, he hurriedly turned around, and then ran away, and searched forward, and a large battalion appeared in front of him in the distance, and many soldiers were nervously on guard.