readx; When Said's 40,000 troops arrived at the Pench River, he saw a desperate scene, the river was in flames, and the pontoon bridge made of small boats had been sunk into a sea of flames, and the fire had not only destroyed the only way to cross the river, but also the last hope of Saeed. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

"It's over, Tocharian is completely finished!" Looking at the raging flames, Said let out a final lament.

Like a clever chess player, Lee seized the fleeting opportunity to decisively burn down the pontoon bridge and split the Tocharian army of 100,000 into two.

At this time, Li Guangbi's army of 25,000 was quietly arrayed in a vast grassland, and his baggage team was two miles away, escorted by 2,000 camel cavalry of the Gesar Khanate.

The structure of the 25,000 Tang Army is not complicated, 3,000 archers, 3,000 crossbowmen, 8,000 infantry, 9,000 light cavalry, and another 2,000 scouts, of which the crossbowmen are in the front, the archers are behind, then the infantry, and finally the cavalry, and the 2,000 scouts are strange soldiers, used to assault the enemy's weakest point, generally speaking, there should also be a garrison army to protect the commander and fix the position, but Li Guangbi did not garrison the army this time, he himself led the cavalry, and the soldiers charged into battle together.

The wind blew a burst of flying sand and stones, the banner of the Tang army crackled, Li Guangbi took the lead, his eyes gradually narrowed under the illumination of the setting sun, he had seen the shadow of the Tocharian army, and after waiting for a long time, this moment finally came, he slowly pulled out his war knife, and the war knife reflected a bleeding light under the illumination of the setting sun.

The time gradually reached dusk, but the murderous ** did not weaken with the approaching nightfall, on the contrary, the fire of revenge burned in the chests of Qu Zhaomu, the king of the Yue Clan, and Ah Lan, the king of the Wang Ting Kingdom.

The two of them roared and roared, commanding the army to move forward quickly, "Our army is twice as large as the Tang army, why be afraid? ”

The army was mighty, like a black ocean, undulating on the grassland, and the spears were like boundless forests, full of death in the light of the setting sun.

The two armies were getting closer and closer, separated by only three miles, when the Tocharian army stopped, and in the meadow in front of them were hundreds of spears, each with a human head hanging from it, which looked particularly hideous in the setting sun.

When Qu Zhaomu and Ah Lan saw these hundreds of heads, they suddenly looked up to the sky and mourned, beating their chests and crying, these hundreds of heads were the wives and concubines of the two of them, their parents and brothers, they were all killed by the Tang army, and the heads were given to them on the battlefield.

In their grief, hatred clouded their sanity, and they had only one wish at the moment: kill! Kill the Tang army that invaded Tocharian and avenge their loved ones.

"Kill!"

Qu Zhaomu shouted angrily, "Kill the Tang Army!" Leave not a single one. ”

The Tocharian army launched a fierce attack, they roared with a mountain of momentum, like a tsunami erupted, horses galloped, infantry galloped, wielding spears and swords, overwhelming the Tang camp.

Compared with the passion of the Tocharian army, the Tang army was as calm as a mountain, motionless, and the eyes of each soldier revealed a cruel look, flashing with a cold light like a beast.

Li Guangbi's face was as resolute as if it were carved out of granite stone, and he could not see any expression, and when the Tocharian army rushed to a mile away, he coldly gave the order.

"Crossbowmen ready!"

Three thousand crossbow shooters and three thousand archers marched twenty paces forward, forming six rows of 1,000 men each, two paces apart.

The crossbow shooters in the first row half-knelt down, pulled the string of arrows with their knees and arms, adjusted the lookout, the oblique angle was upward, the index finger buckled the hanging knife, the breath was gradually held, and the eyes narrowed into a line, one hundred and fifty paces, which was the distance of their first blow.

Whether it is the Turks or the Tibetans, or the Khitans, the Hui and even the Turgish Shi and the Great Cannibals, all the enemy troops who fought with the Tang Army when talking about the Tang Army, the most feared is the Tang Army's bow and crossbow, this long-range strike weapon can ruthlessly shoot through their leather armor and wooden shields, so that they will suffer heavy casualties before the battle, and seriously hit the sharpness of their attack, the Tang Army's bow and crossbow have always been their nightmare.

Therefore, the enemies of the Tang army will do everything possible to avoid the bows and arrows of the Tang army, and they will either charge forward with heavy armor, or launch the first round of attacks with cavalry proficient cavalry, or even take the initiative to attack at all.

Li Guangbi also thought of this possibility, so the hundreds of nobleman's heads became the spark that ignited the monstrous anger of the Tocharians, and he succeeded, and when he saw the Tocharian army overwhelmingly slaughtering, the corners of his mouth finally showed a smug smile.

The spectacular momentum of the Tocharian army began to fade as they approached the Tang army, and the cold arrows of the Tang army's bow and crossbow army were shrouded in a breath of death, which made them feel a chill, and many of them thought that night was approaching, and it was time to collect their troops and return to the camp.

Distractions made their charge halt at first, but the great habit made it impossible for them to turn back, and they were already wrapped in their arms, and ran towards the arrow of death, getting closer and closer, and the infantry who rushed to the front screamed in fear.

Two hundred paces, a low and dense drum beat sounded in the Tang army's camp, which was a reminder to the Tang army to do a final inspection.

One hundred and fifty paces, the drumming of the Tang army suddenly disappeared, 'Click! The sound of the striking strings rang out, and a thousand bolts burst through the air, forming a dense black dot in the air, and shooting at the Tocharian soldiers with great speed. The queue of Tocharian soldiers was too dense to aim, a thousand arrows instantly shot into the dense crowd, stirring up a blood flower, their leather armor could not resist the strong crossbow arrows of the Tang army, the arrows pierced their bodies, and there were screams one after another in the ranks, the horses screamed and fell to the ground, and the cavalry immediately rolled down to the ground, and before they could stand up, they were overturned by the men and horses behind, rolling on the ground and wailing, and finally being trampled mercilessly to death.

The death of a thousand people in a sea of 60,000 is like a splash that breaks and disappears into the ocean.

Immediately after the second and third rounds of arrows roared, the Tocharian soldiers fell down in pieces like weeds, and then a new beginning, in just a few dozen steps, the Tang army fired 6,000 crossbow arrows, killing and wounding more than 4,000 people, the number of deaths increased dramatically so that the Tocharian army finally slowed down, the breath of death reached the end, and their steps to the forward impact began to hesitate, there was no longer the sharpness and courage at the beginning, and the overwhelming momentum began to turn into a turbid surge.

However, the nightmare has just begun, they have entered the range of the archers, a hundred steps, three thousand archers released arrows together, the arrows in the air suddenly doubled, the arrows in the air covered the sky, as if the night came in advance, and it seemed that the black-robed god of death laughed mercilessly in the air, the great lethality of the Tang army's bow and crossbow army was finally reflected at this moment, only to see a large number of Tocharian soldiers fall to the ground with arrows, their leather armor is useless, unable to stop the strong force of the arrows penetrating, their shields are shot through, They face only one ending, death!

The life of the Tocharians was so despicable at this moment, like a large field of weeds that could not be cut down, and the cold arrows had no mercy.

Arrows rained down like raindrops, piercing their chests and skulls, and the dead were bleeding like rivers of blood, and wounded horses galloped on the battlefield, their long manes fluttering in the sun, like ghosts from hell.

The Tang army was still motionless, like a majestic mountain, from beginning to end, their formation did not change, Li Guangbi looked coldly at the Tocharian army that began to be chaotic, he knew that he had overestimated this army, in fact, even if they came to 100,000 troops, he would be able to defeat them.

"Keep firing the arrows! Cavalry preparation. ”

The Tocharian army was still fifty paces away from the Tang camp, but there were already tens of thousands of dead and wounded, at this time, the king of the royal kingdom, Ah Lan, led a group of cavalry from behind, and he finally saw a terrifying scene, the corpses were piled up, the ground was stained red with blood, the soldiers were frightened and desperate, and began to show signs of rout.

At this moment, a thousand crossbow arrows roared, straight at Ah Lan and his guards, they couldn't dodge, they were shot by a dense number of arrows, they all screamed and fell off their horses, whether they were nobles or slaves, in the face of death, they were all equal, King Ah Lan was shot through the head by an arrow, screamed and turned over and fell off his horse and died.

The death of Ah Lan became the last straw that crushed the Tocharian army, under the blow of the Tang army's fierce arrow array, the Tocharian army finally collapsed, they turned around and fled, like a big wave ebbing tide, at this time, Li Guangbi saw that the opportunity was coming, he raised his sword and shouted: "The cavalry of the Tang Empire, your opportunity to make meritorious service has come, kill!" ”

"Kill!"

The drums beat like thunder, the cavalry of the Tang army urged the horses, and more than 10,000 cavalry swept towards the defeated Tocharian army, they marched forward bravely and were invincible, the Tocharian army was wailing, fear enveloped them, they scrambled for their lives, they fell to the ground one after another, and angry horse hooves galloped past them.

"Resist! Resist! ”

Qu Zhaomu shouted, but no matter how much he shouted, it had no effect, his army was demoralized, and there was no longer any will to resist, they only wanted to escape, and the natural fear of the Tang army finally collapsed this army.

And at this moment, from the northwest corner suddenly appeared a Tang cavalry, this is the six thousand cavalry led by He Lou Yurun arrived, they launched a fierce attack on the defeated Tocharian from the side, under the attack of the two Tang armies, the Tocharian army was finally unable to return to the sky, the field was full of Tocharian routs, they scattered and fled, but could not escape the pursuit of the Tang cavalry, or were killed, or kneeling and begging for mercy, until it was dark, the Tang army chased out more than 30 miles, and the 60,000 Tocharian army was finally annihilated, Qu Zhaomu also died in the chaos.

The Battle of the Penchi River also became Li Guangbi's famous battle, he annihilated the 60,000 Tocharian coalition army with 30,000 Tang troops, beheaded more than 20,000 people, and captured nearly 40,000 people, while the Tang army suffered only more than 300 casualties.

The battle of the Penchi River made the resistance of the Tocharian countries completely disappear, and the Gumo State took the lead in surrendering to the Tang Dynasty, followed by the Gao vassal State, the Wang Ting State and the Yue State also surrendered to Li Guangbi successively, and the 40,000 horses led by Said, after the fiasco of the Penchi River, the army was seriously divided, and the general of the Yue State Luo Xian led 20,000 troops back to China to surrender to the Tang Army, and was appointed by Li Guangbi as the new king of the Yue State, and the king of the Great Khanate, Duogu, also led 10,000 [***] troops to retreat to the capital Huolu City, unwilling to retreat with Said to Khorasan, The withdrawal of the Great Khanate completely divided the coalition forces, and overnight, numerous deserters were numerous, and in the end Saeed crossed the Amu Darya River with only 3,000 troops and returned to Khorasan.

On August 20, Li Guangbi led his army to arrive at the Kunxu Kingdom on the Amu Darya River, and the king of the Kunxu Kingdom surrendered to the Tang army in Kaecheng, so far, except for the southernmost Persian State did not surrender, the entire territory of Tocharian surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, and the Tocharian campaign came to an end temporarily.

At this time, Li Qing'an's attack on Sindh kicked off at the same time, and in late August, Li Qing'an led 20,000 troops from the Middle Route to arrive at Gandara, which is today's Islamabad.

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(To be continued)