The wind and sand were all over the sky, and the strong wind on the steppe in May swept the sand and dust of the southern desert, overwhelmingly hitting the faces and bodies of the people, and the resistance of the wind and sand and the hesitation in their hearts made the march of the Qarluqs very slow.

He didn't want to fight this battle, but he had to fight, the decisive march of the Tang army gave him no choice, and the small number of the Tang army made him have a glimmer of hope in his heart, if he could defeat the Tang army, maybe he would have a bargaining chip with the Tang army.

"Speed up and order the divisions to prepare for battle."

The assassination of Montenegro issued an order to prepare for battle, the Qarlu people lifted their spirits, accelerated their speed and drove south, the Gehui coalition army was divided into two, the Hui in the east, and the Qarlu in the west, the two armies were neck and neck, 30,000 horses and horses were mighty, like a huge carpet, covering the grassland.

At this time, a few war horses came running in the distance, and immediately it was a vigorous Tang army scout, several cavalry stopped a mile away, one of them urged the horse to gallop, until it was two hundred steps away from the Hui army, and began to gallop horizontally, he opened his bow and arrows, and shot a long arrow with a letter far away to the Hui army, and shouted: "My family envoy has a letter to General Ashina." ”

When he had finished shouting, he turned his horse and galloped back, joined the others, turned his horse's head and galloped south.

A Hui soldier ran up and picked up the letter, which was clearly written in Turkic, "General Ashina personally opened." ”

The Hui soldiers presented the letter to the chief Ashina, Ashina opened the letter suspiciously, and couldn't help but be startled, the letter was actually written by Li Qing'an, the chief general of the Tang army, only to see that the letter read: 'Half a moon before the palace governor Pei Luo Dagan was ordered by the Hui Khan, sent my camp, and I discussed the division of Qarluq, I have agreed, why Hui Hui and treacherous, and Ge Lulu to unite with the Tang army to fight, if you plot the overall situation, but the battlefield is reversed, and I attack Hui Hui, in order to realize the Hui Hui unification of the Turkic wish, the stakes are very high, I hope the general thinks twice, I am willing to retreat ten miles, to show sincerity. ’

Ashina's heart was in a mess, he knew that Pei Luoda went to the Tang camp, but he didn't know if there was an agreement, if it was really as the commander of the Tang Army said, an agreement was reached, then wouldn't it be a bad thing for him to fight with Ge Lulu together, but if no agreement was reached, the Tang Army officially revised the book to ask, which made him puzzled.

"Chief, the Qarluqs are coming."

One of his subordinates shouted, only to see more than a hundred cavalry escorting the assassination of Montenegro galloping towards this side, Ashina was taken aback and hurriedly put away the letter.

The assassination of the Black Mountain was as heavy as water, and he ran to the front and asked: "General Ashina, I heard that the commander of the Tang Army sent a letter, what did the letter say?" ”

"Oops!"

A thought flashed through Ashina's mind like a flash of lightning, "He's been tricked." ”

He hurriedly explained: "It's nothing, the Tang army commander is talking nonsense. ”

"Really?" The assassin Black Mountain glanced at him and said coldly, "Then can you show me the letter?" ”

If you don't give the other party a letter, the situation will be worse, Ashina had no choice but to take out the letter and hand it to the assassination of Montenegro, he explained again and again: "This is the Tang army commander wants to provoke the relationship between you and my army, you must not believe it." ”

"Has Peroda been to the Tang camp?"

"This ..... I don't know very well, the Tang people are cunning, it's not a day or two. ”

The assassination of Montenegro has already understood in his heart, if Pei Luo Dagan has not been to the Tang camp, how can Li Qingan know that Hui Khan is in the palace? He was furious in his heart, but his face was silent and said: "This may indeed be provoked by the Tang Army, we must not be fooled." ”

As soon as the words fell, a spy rushed to report: "Back to the Great Chief, the Tang Army has withdrawn to the south." ”

The assassination of Montenegro could no longer hold back the anger in his heart, and he snorted heavily, and said, "General Ashina, how do you explain this?" ”

Ashina was sweating profusely, and said hurriedly: "This is exactly the provocation of the Tang Army, let you and my two armies start infighting, and the chief of Montenegro must not believe it." ”

Assassinating Montenegro sneered, "Whether it's true or not, you'll know when you fight." ”

After speaking, he turned his horse's head and galloped towards his army, Ashina looked at his back, gritted his teeth and said: "If you don't know each other, Lao Tzu Suo will really join forces with the Tang army." ”

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When Li Qing'an still had six miles of land left in the enemy's army, he ordered the troops to retreat ten miles, although the risk was very high, but this was nothing compared to the benefits he might get.

The Tang army pressed the position and slowly retreated, only two miles away, the alarm bell on the command tower rang, which indicated that the enemy army was five miles away, Li Qingan immediately ordered to stop retreating, and the armies were ready to fight.

The crossbowmen pressed down on their feet, and a hundred bed crossbows creaked apart, and the bed crossbows were wound by two oxen with a twisted shaft, and the strings were tied with iron pockets of twenty arrows, and twenty arrows were shot at a time, and they were powerful; The cavalry raised his spear, reined in the horse's hooves and kicked back and forth on the horse's horse, and the three thousand Shatuo people unsheathed their swords, and he put on the helmets, leather armor and horizontal knives uniformly configured by the Tang Army, which was even more murderous.

In the center of the phalanx, 1,000 spearmen temporarily converted into archers, enclosed in three concentric circles, under the cover of the baggage carts and spearmen, a radial striking surface was formed, which was the cooperation between the spearmen and the archers.

Li Qing'an and three hundred personal soldiers were also in concentric circles, five small throwing machines appeared in the circle, and the personal soldiers took out two black-skinned iron boxes, which were his trump card weapons gunpowder, but Li Qingan did not really want to use it in this battle, he wanted to see the strength of the Beiting Army with his own eyes.

At this time, he had already seen that a black line appeared at the end of the grassland, and the Gehui coalition army finally came, and he couldn't help but sneer, what kind of effect his letter would bring, his heart was full of expectations.

"Beat the drums!"

Huge Leather Drum 'Boom!' Boom! The ground sounded, this is the drum that invigorates the military prestige, this is the drum that raises morale, Li Qingan rode out, raised his knife and shouted: "The athletes of the Beiting Army, the time has come for us to make meritorious contributions, let us use the knife to prove that Datang is the master of Beiting, kill Hu alone, reward one acre of land, and ten yuan for money." ”

His high-pitched voice fluttered in the wind and flew into the ears of every soldier, the morale of the Tang Army was greatly boosted, and the ** who killed the enemy was boiling in his heart.

The Qarlu and Hui cavalry accelerated sharply three miles away, the sound of horses' hooves beating the ground intensively, like a muffled thunder roaring, shouting and shouting, 30,000 cavalry were overwhelmingly killed, there was no formation, still the Hui were in the east, and Qarlu was in the west, and the distinction was clear.

Five hundred steps away, the Tang army's bed crossbow took the lead, a hundred bed crossbows were fired at the same time, two thousand long arrows roared towards the camp of the Qarlu army, the power was great, the Qarlu people who ran in the front of the group turned on their horses, screams were everywhere, the long arrows shot through the body of the cavalry, the war horse neighed and fell, was shot to the ground, tripped, and instantly Gelulu had four or five hundred people fall off the horse, and then the second round of bed crossbows shot again, this time the distance was closer, the power was greater, a crossbow arrow actually shot through the bodies of two cavalrymen, flesh and blood flying, screaming again and again.

A series of three rounds of bed crossbows, the Qarlu people reduced more than 2,000 people, the spirit was a setback, the momentum of the attack was not as fast as just now, at this time the Gehui coalition army had rushed to two hundred steps away, excited screams, hideous faces were clearly visible, the bed ballista retreated to the two backs, the crossbowmen stepped forward, three thousand crossbows brushed the ground flat, and a cold arrow aimed at the overwhelming enemy army, a touch of imminence.

Li Qing'an stared at the Hu soldiers rushing like a turbulent wave, his expression was as calm as ever, but his eyes flashed with an imperceptible smugness, he saw that the Qarluq and the Hui did not press the whole army, and about 8,000 Qarluq people in the northwest did not move, and the Hui people in the northeast also had thousands of people who did not attack, and they only invested more than half of their troops.

This is a little different from the tactics of the Turkic army pressing the whole army at every turn, and winning the upper hand with the stormy impact of the cavalry, Li Qing'an knew that it was not that they invented any new tactics, but that his own letter worked, and the Qarlu and Uighur no longer trusted each other, to be precise, it was not his letter that worked, but the ambition of the Uighurs was exposed.

"Beat the drums, the crossbowmen fire!"

Li Qing'an gave an order, the golden drum was loud, and the fierce drum urged the Tang army to launch, and the three thousand crossbowmen were arranged in nine rows, and the three rows were shot, 'Gong! With a bang, a thousand arrows burst out of the air, weaving a web of arrows, and shot at the Qarluqs and Uighurs with great speed, and in an instant, the rain of arrows turned into a small black dot and flew into the cavalry of the Qarluqs and Uighurs.

Like a torrential rain hitting dead leaves, the dense Hu cavalry was suddenly shot down in a large area, shot through the head, fell off their horses in the gallop, and the screams of the arrows resounded.

The vast majority of the Qarluq people wore rough leather armor made of cowhide, no helmets, shields were only wooden, their shields and leather armor could not resist the strong arrows of the Tang army, the only thing they relied on was skillful horsemanship, and they dodged the crossbow arrows fired by the Tang army left and right, but their team was too dense, even if they couldn't hit people, it was difficult for the horses to avoid the rain of arrows, and almost half of them were crushed when the horses fell.

The Tang army's arrows rained one after another, and the three thousand crossbow troops coordinated like flowing water, and in a short distance of one hundred and fifty paces, the Tang army shot six rounds and eighteen thousand arrows.

The Han people's bows and crossbows have always been the first weapon against the nomads, under the 18,000 arrows, the Gehui coalition army lost nearly half, the ground was full of wounded war horses and Hu corpses, the war horses galloped, trampling many people to death, when they rushed to fifty paces away, there were less than 8,000 people left.

The drums beat again, like a beast crawling beside the crossbow arrows, they have the bloody barbarism of the nomads, and the advanced equipment of the Tang army, so that they are like a tiger with wings, they are like a long-accumulated flood to break the embankment, with an unstoppable momentum to sweep towards the Gehui coalition army.

'Boom! There was a loud bang on the ground, two huge waves of people collided, human heads rolled to the ground, flesh and blood flew sideways, stumps and broken arms could be seen everywhere, and the tragic battle began.

The Tang army constantly changed the drums and command flags of the command, the black order flags waved, the crossbow army quickly retreated, they retreated to the back of the infantry battalion, turned over their horses, opened their bows and arrows, and in the blink of an eye, they turned into archers again, and in the sound of passionate drums, they galloped forward in a wild goose and shot the enemy from both flanks.

Li Qing'an coldly watched the movements of the two Hu soldiers who were delayed, and when he saw that the supporting cavalry of Qarlu had no intention of attacking for the time being, he immediately ordered: "The main cavalry is killed!" ”

The red order flag waved, the rumbling giant drum sounded, and the cavalry commander Li Fei Yuanli shouted, "Kill!" ”

The 7,000 Tang troops rushed like a great river, surging, spears waving, horizontal knives flashing, they were like a huge iron fist, fiercely hitting the Hu cavalry whose morale had declined, and instantly rushed the Qarlu cavalry and the Hui cavalry to pieces.

The Tang army's sophisticated equipment and well-trained were vividly displayed at this time, 7,000 Tang cavalry with 500 people as a battalion, 100 people as a brigade, 50 people as a team, and 10 people as a group, they fought together and cooperated with each other, when one person used a horizontal knife to engage the enemy in close combat, there would immediately be spears stabbed from the left and right, stabbing the enemy to death, and then changing the target.

In contrast, the Qarlu cavalry basically went their own way, they did not cooperate, and fought with the Tang army by brute force, but in front of the impregnable Tang army, their brute force was resolved by the neat formation of the Tang army, so although the number of the two armies was almost the same, there was always a situation where the Qarluqs were one-to-many, and the Tang army archers attacked on both sides, killing the dead corpses of the Qarluqs, and the blood flowed like a river.

"Envoy, did you find it, the Hui people don't seem to be trying their best."

Adjutant General Han Zhi suddenly discovered the clue, in the fierce battle of the three armies, the Hui cavalry was obviously preserving their strength, they hid behind the Qarluqs, when the Tang army surrounded them, they retreated as soon as they fought, and they would never fight to the death with the Tang army.

Li Qing'an had already found out, and he smiled faintly and said, "This battle will definitely end with the withdrawal of the Hui people. ”

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On the other side of the battlefield, the assassination of Luo Duo was like thunder, he couldn't figure out how his father actually invested only half of the troops, originally the number was superior, but in this way, the strength of the two armies was equal, but the Tang army's bows and arrows were half wiped out, and the equipment far exceeded that of the Qarluqs, how could they win.

He was so anxious that he shouted: "Father, kill the whole army!" Otherwise, we will be defeated. ”

He looked at Ashina in the distance from time to time, and had agreed to invest the whole army of Qarlulu and Hui to invest, but Ashina only threw in 4,000 troops, leaving a hand, and he hoped that the Hui people would really help him and put the army into the battlefield, so that his reinforcements could also be added, but the Hui people were always unmoved.

At this time, a war horse galloped over, this is the soldier who went to ask for war from Hui Hui returned, and the assassin Montenegro hurriedly asked: "How is it, is Hui Hui Ken and I sending troops at the same time?" ”

"Chief, Ashina said that they have done their best, and if the battle situation is unfavorable, they will withdraw their troops."

"What!"

The assassination of Montenegro was black for a while, and he almost fell off his horse, several soldiers hurriedly supported him, and the assassination of Montenegro looked blankly at the battlefield ahead, his heart was already chaotic to the extreme, if he threw these 10,000 people into it again, the Hui people would not attack from behind, but if they did not throw in reinforcements, the front army would collapse.

At this moment, the sound of the horn of the retreat suddenly came from the Hui army, and the low sound of the horn echoed in the wind.

The Uighur army on the battlefield immediately turned its horse and retreated to the northeast, and as the Uighur army fled from the battlefield, the remaining Qarluqs could no longer support it and fled one after another, and in an instant, the Qarluq army collapsed.

The Qarluq people scattered and fled like wild ghosts, and the Tang army was like a broken bamboo, covering and killing in the back, plotting to assassinate Montenegro, seeing that the situation was not good, turned the horse's head and fled to the northwest, while the Hui people fled to the northeast.

At this time, there was a fierce sound of golden drums from the command tower, and the red flag of the attack pointed to the Hui army, and the cavalry commander Li Fei Yuanli waved a big sword and shouted: "Kill all the Hui people!" ”

The cavalry of the Tang army actually let go of the Qarluqs, concentrated their forces to kill the Hui people, the Hui people were defeated, the Tang army pursued and killed for more than 30 miles, and the blood of the Hui people was flowed into a river, and the dead bodies were thrown all over the place, Ashina ran desperately to escape for his life, and he finally retreated to the north of Jinshan with the remnants of less than 1,000 people.

The Tang army reorganized the army, continued for two days and then advanced to Xuanchi, and on the afternoon of the fourth day, the Tang army was less than fifty miles away from Xuanchi.

"Shichiro, why did you let the Qarluq people go?" Li Fei Shouyu asked puzzled.

Li Qing'an smiled and asked him rhetorically: "In your eyes, are the Qarluq people wolves or dogs?" ”

Li Fei Shouyu smiled, "I used to think how powerful the Qarlu people were, but today I know that they are really far inferior to the Tubo people, and they are vulnerable, and they can only be regarded as a soil dog." ”

"In that case, wouldn't it be nice to leave this earth dog for us to show the north gate? In this way, we can confidently march west to break leaves. ”

Han Zhi next to him also smiled, "This time, the Hui people are stealing chickens and eating a handful of rice, and the Qarlu people will not believe them anymore." ”

Li Qing'an also smiled: "Gelulu people are not stupid, follow the Tang Dynasty as a junior brother, and follow the Hui as a slave, which is more important, they should know in their hearts." ”

At this time, a group of scouts came from a distance, clasped their fists at Li Qing'an, and saluted: "General, the chief of Qarluq plotted to assassinate Montenegro and more than 200 nobles are five miles ahead, and they want to ask the general for their guilt!" ”

"He's very quick!"

Li Qingan snorted lightly, turned around and ordered: "The army is camped on the spot!" ”

The Tang army began to set up camp, and a quarter of an hour later, a group of men and horses came from a distance, men and women, all shirtless, and it was the chief of Qarlulu who plotted to assassinate Montenegro, and brought his wife, children, and ministers and elders to plead guilty to the Tang army.

They knelt down in front of the Tang Army barracks and said in unison: "The slaves of the border wilderness beg for sin to the Celestial Empire!" ”

Li Qing'an walked out of the camp with a group of civil and military officials, plotted to assassinate Black Mountain, knelt and climbed a few steps, prostrate at Li Qing'an's feet, and begged: "The slave is not able to do his best, and he has offended the military authority of the Celestial Empire, and the slave is willing to die to beg the Celestial Empire to forgive Ge Lulu." ”

"There is no need for the chief to die, but Qarlu must pay a certain price for his contempt for the Celestial Empire and his reckless sword soldiers."

"We are willing to sacrifice 300,000 sheep and 30,000 horses, and give up the Jinshan pasture."

Li Qingan shook his head and said, "Other than these are not enough!" ”

Assassinating Montenegro hurriedly said: "Please open Chrysostom, as long as we can get it, we will definitely offer it." ”

"Beiting will build five castles south of Yibohai to Duotanling, but we are short of manpower, and I ask Qarlu to send 30,000 people to help us build the city."

Plotting to assassinate Montenegro sighed secretly, the Tang Dynasty built a military city south of the Duotan Mountains, which meant that the actual control line of Gelulu would move north, and there was no hope of getting involved in broken leaves again.

But he had no choice but to promise: "Qarlu obeys!" ”

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(To be continued)