Riding on the red-crowned crane, Lu Hanyang, who began to hurry, did not know that on the grassland thousands of miles away, the Tang army had already entered.

Li Jing led a large army all the way to the grassland, which was the earliest war between them and the alien races in the northern grassland. In the past, it was autumn and winter, but now it is just the turn of spring and summer.

This gave the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty better conditions for fighting, after all, the Tang people were not as hardy as the grassland people. In winter, the grassland drips into ice, so that the Tang soldiers have no way to preserve the strongest combat effectiveness.

But this time, after they entered the grassland, they found that all this was a conspiracy, an illusion made by these people on the grassland.

It is true that there has been civil strife on the grassland, but it is not at all like what Xue Yantuo's distress letter said. What Turks and Hui joined forces to destroy Xue Yantuo or something together is all fake.

This is a secret conspiracy between three alien races on this grassland, they made such a gesture, and confronted each other, making the Tang Dynasty believe that all this is true, and the Turks and Hui really fell out with Xue Yantuo.

But the real situation is that the three clans are united, and the decision on the khanate on the grassland is left to this battle with the Tang army. The current Khan of the Turks, Doro Khan, is a member of the Luo Branch, the leader of the Hui Hui is Tumidu, and Xue Yan Tuoyi is the candidate.

And their decision project is the war between the three clans and the Tang Dynasty in this time, when that side kills more Tang Dynasty troops, that side is the first steppe khan.

I don't know where they got their confidence, these people actually dared to calculate against the Tang Dynasty, and they made them successful. The Tang Dynasty really believes it, and it is not to blame that the monarchs and ministers of the Tang Dynasty fell into the trap, but they were willing to pay for it.

That's right, these three alien races on the grassland really made a bloody investment, and they really launched a large-scale battle in order to convince Datang that they were really to the point of not dying.

Xue Yantuo sent 50,000 men against a coalition of 20,000 Turks and 20,000 Uighurs. The killing was a river of blood, and no less than 10,000 people died directly. In this case, Datang believed that the three alien races on the grassland were really immortal.

As a result, when the Tang army entered the grassland, it was faced with a combined army of the three clans, which numbered nearly 200,000. Compared with the army that Jieli went south the year before, it was not far behind.

And how many troops did Datang enter the grassland this time? Although it is said that there are 150,000 troops on the Fifth Route Army, and the number of people recruited has reached 200,000, it is counted as more than 300,000 people.

However, the recruited people did not go to the battlefield, they were responsible for the escort of grain and grass, and it was not all 200,000 at once, but a part of the people on one road, and another section of the road was transported by changing people.

It is the conscription of the Tang Dynasty, and adult males need to serve for twenty days a year, all of which are in the local area, such as transporting grain, and when the military rations are about to arrive in this place, they will mobilize the people of this place, and then be responsible for transporting the distance under the jurisdiction of this area.

Not all the people followed the grain and grass together, and it was the auxiliary soldiers who escorted the grain and grass all the way to the battlefield, and these people were counted among the 150,000 troops that the Tang Dynasty went out.

Moreover, the Tang Dynasty divided its troops into five routes, and two large armies went to Liang and the puppet Sui to attack the city under the responsibility of Cheng Yanjin and Wei Chigong. The remaining three-way army entered the grassland, which was originally suitable for Xue Yantuo to converge, but now it has become a separate face for the three grassland tribes.

"I didn't expect that all the civil and military forces in the court were deceived by this grassland barbarian!" Li Jing looked at the map in the big tent of the Chinese army, and his face was solemn at this time.

This time, the number of troops in the Tang Dynasty is not dominant, and the types of troops are not dominant, the Tang Dynasty only has 50,000 cavalry, and the Turkic Xue Yantuo and they are all cavalry, so such a battle cannot be fought head-on at all.

"Boss, what's next? We have now gone deep into the grassland, and I am afraid that the back road will be cut off by the grassland people. Li Ji said.

Fortunately, they were going to enter the steppe for a hundred miles and then divide their forces to raid, and they had not yet separated, otherwise the situation would have been worse.

"We only have less than 100,000 people, and the cavalry is only 50,000, and the enemy on the opposite side has 200,000, all of them are cavalry, and there is no way to fight in this open grassland area! Only retreat! Li Jing's face was as solemn as water.

"Retreat? Wouldn't it be ...... to retreat without a fight like this," Wei Xiaojie said, seemingly a little unwilling.

"We must retreat, if we don't retreat, I'm afraid we won't even have a chance to retreat!" Li Jing said.

"But I'm afraid it's too late for us to retreat now!" Li Ji said.

"That's right, it's too late!" Li Jing's face also changed, and then he said dejectedly. The art of war is subtle, but in fact, it is just to attack the enemy's shortcomings with one's own strengths. It is very easy to promote strengths and avoid weaknesses in the hands of Li Jing and Li Ji.

But under this condition, they can't think of any way at all, because this is a grassland with a smooth road, and their tactics of war are difficult to implement, and the three tribes of the grassland have somehow completely let go of the same group, and there is no chance for them to take advantage of it.

Li Jing and the others sent an envoy to go, but they were sent back by the other party with a head, which let Li Jing and Li Ji know that there was no chance to separate them.

"Then we can only fight to the death, and we can only learn from the practice of breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat!" A heaviness flashed in Li Jing's eyes, and then he said categorically.

"That's right, that's all there is to it! The brave wins, and as long as each of our soldiers kills two, they can kill all the steppe troops. Li Ji also said.

Of course, this is just talk, who can guarantee that they will be able to kill an enemy on the battlefield? On a real battlefield with cold weapons, it is always a few people who kill the enemy.

Especially when fighting the steppe people, they began to shoot arrows from a distance, and many of them died without having a chance to contact the enemy.

Especially now that you are facing each other head-to-head on a smooth grassland, let alone a one-to-two, it is already very good to be able to exchange for a one-to-one battle loss.

But now there is no other choice, the infantry of the Tang Dynasty makes it impossible for them to outrun the cavalry of the steppe people, so they can't run, otherwise they will only weaken their own strength and let the steppe people take advantage of the victory to pursue.

If you don't run, you can only fight hard, because without the city wall, the two sides will fight face-to-face, and there will only be a white-knuckle battle. This kind of battle is very unfavorable for the Tang army.

"It would be nice if the immortal chief was here, what is 200,000 grassland people, it's just a food delivery." Wei Xiaojie said.

"After the immortal chief came out, he fell behind the army in five days, and now I don't know where to set it up, don't think so much, as a general at this time, you must not be discouraged!" Li Jing said, and then stood straight.