Chapter 126: The Killing Begins
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Sun Xiaozhe was in a very bad mood during this time.
The wounds he sustained during the attack on the camp by the Tang army were almost healed, and he was able to fight on horseback as before, but his physical recovery did not bring him any good luck. The last time the Tang army attacked the camp, after more than 10,000 soldiers were buried in the fire due to the fire in the camp, Sun Xiaozhe was recalled to Luoyang by An Lushan, reprimanded, and almost had his head cut off. Fortunately, his mother helped to intercede in front of An Lushan, and he was spared under the heavy pillow wind, and still continued to lead the army, but he still had palpitations.
Tian Qianzhen, who was pushed out by him as a scapegoat, was not punished because of the power of the crown prince An Qingxu, and also returned to serve in the army as his deputy. However, since this incident, there is no longer the previous "harmonious" relationship between the two, and there are often fights. Because of the support of the crown prince An Qingxu, Tian Qianzhen was not very afraid of Sun Xiaozhe. Next, Yin Ziqi's department joined in, Yin Ziqi and Tian Qianzhen were close friends, and the two deputies were both coaches who looked down on them, and often joined forces to embarrass Sun Xiaozhe, which gave Sun Xiaozhe a headache.
What made him even more troublesome was that after the Chinese New Year, there had been an elite detachment of the Tang Army near the big camp in activities, and the scout cavalry he sent out often went without returning, and disappeared after being dispatched. In a month or so, he had lost nearly 1,000 scouts, all of whom had been killed en masse, even in a detachment of more than 30 scouts, and very few escaped alive. And the few sergeants who were lucky enough to escape back reported the situation to him. The elite detachment of the Tang Army appeared quietly every time, and they were intercepted and killed by the other party before they had time to respond.
For this reason, Sun Xiaozhe sent nearly 10,000 men to search, hoping to encircle and suppress the elite detachments of the Tang Army operating near their camp. But nothing was found, and no trace was found. It's just that the scout cavalry he sent later was still attacked and killed by the opponent, and even a few times the elite detachments of the Tang Army sneaked near the big camp, attacked and killed all the rangers patrolling near the big camp, and calmly retreated.
It is impossible to send a large army to encircle and suppress it, but the opponent comes with a cold attack from time to time. This caused the whole army to fall into a panic, and the scouts and scouts did not dare to go out of the camp to patrol and spy on intelligence, for fear that there would be no return. It was solved by the elusive elite detachment of the Tang Army, and the scouts who went out only dared to patrol a few miles near the big camp. Of course, such a situation is extremely bad, and Sun Xiaozhe is ready to lead the whole army to retreat.
However, his request was not agreed to by An Lushan, who still ordered him to continue to carry out the order to attack Shaanxi County.
Sun Xiaozhe was helpless. I had to obey the order. Prepare to lead the army to attack Shaanxi County when the weather warms up. Fortunately, there is news that the commander of the Tang army has been recalled to Chang'an by the emperor and is likely to be relieved of his military position, and it is impossible for the Tang army to launch a large-scale attack during this time.
When the elite detachment of the Tang army continued to intercept and kill the scouts sent by his side, Sun Xiaozhe once thought that the Tang army was preparing to attack immediately, and the actions of the elite detachment were to cooperate with the attack of the Tang army. At one time, the security status of the whole army was raised to the highest level. But more than a month has passed, but there has been no movement of the Tang army. The news from the few scouts who were fortunate enough to sneak near Shaanxi County said that the Tang army was only holding on to Shaanxi County.
After receiving the news that was finally transmitted, Sun Xiaozhe understood one thing, that is, because the Tang army had left Shaanxi County because the commander Yang Xi had left Shaanxi County, he was afraid that his men and horses would take the opportunity to attack, so they sent an elite detachment to attack and harass. Knowing this, Sun Xiaozhe was a little less worried, and also thought of taking the initiative to attack, changing from passive to active. These days, he has also been preparing to continue the campaign.
It's just that Tian Qianzhen and Yin Ziqi's non-cooperation made his preparations not go well. In fact, taking the initiative to attack Shaanxi County is not what Sun Xiaozhe wants to do the most, what he expects is to retreat to Luoyang.
He had already learned the combat power of the Tang army, which made him have a deep fear, and he believed that even if he could lead the army to the city of Shaanxi County, he would never be able to capture the fortified city, and maybe he would suffer a great defeat. Retreat to the vicinity of Luoyang, wait for the arrival of the Tang army, and then take the opportunity to counterattack, then there may still be a chance to win. It's just that An Lushan didn't agree, and he had no choice but to implement it.
Today, he also convened the generals to discuss the follow-up action arrangements. This time it was okay, Tian Qianzhen and Yin Ziqi, the two deputies, did not sing against him, listened to his arrangement, and prepared to lead the front army and the rear army respectively.
After discussing the follow-up arrangements, Sun Xiaozhe also ordered the generals to disperse.
The days of spring are always very short, the sun is about to set, and it is time for dinner, and the battalions also begin to cook dinner, and for a time, the whole camp is full of smoke. I have been very busy these days, and Sun Xiaozhe wants to have a good dinner, drink some wine, and rest early.
Little did anyone know that disaster would strike before dinner was ready.
A large-scale sneak attack by the Don army began.
When he felt the earth tremble unusually, Sun Xiaozhe shouted "Oops" and immediately rushed out of the camp to check on the situation.
Just as he rushed out of the camp, the earth trembled very violently, and earth-shattering shouts of killing came from far and near.
Without any warning, without any precautions, the Tang army rushed over at this time, and the blow to its own side would be fatal. Sun Xiaozhe has rich combat experience, and he can judge from the amplitude of the trembling of the earth and the shouts of killing that at least tens of thousands of Tang troops have attacked the camp. This time the surprise attack of the Tang army was not a small-scale elite detachment attacking the camp, but a large-scale attack. Sun Xiaozhe's heart almost sank to the bottom of the water, but he also reacted immediately, ordered his guards to pass his orders, prepared to resist, and at the same time sent someone to pass his orders to Yin Ziqi of the rear army, preparing to counterattack.
The panicked guards immediately went to convey his orders.
Sun Xiaozhe also immediately got on his horse, drew his sword, and shouted to the hundreds of guards around him and the thousands of men and horses gathered near his big tent: "Hurry up and gather the men and horses, follow Ben Shuai, kill!"
When he was in the north, Sun Xiaozhe followed An Lushan and experienced countless battles, he was still very brave in battle, and he had almost no experience of escaping, and this time it was the same, a sense of mission made him first think of leading the army to arrive, not to escape.
Sun Xiaozhe's bravery also infected the guards and sergeants around him, and hundreds of guards and thousands of sergeants followed him and rushed in the direction of the Tang army's killing-
"Kill!" Wang Sili, who led his men and horses to successfully storm the rebel camp and almost encountered resistance, was already close to fanaticism. In fact, there is no need for an order from a general like Wang Sili now, and the Tang army, which rushed into the rebel camp at the highest speed, under the leadership of their respective generals, all rushed towards the depths of the camp with all their might.
Successfully entering the camp is only the first step to achieve a great victory, and the next step is to continue to rush and kill in order to achieve the final victory.
The Tang army, which was killed in a skirmish line, rode into the camp from several directions, and the fiery sunset reflected the swords in the hands of the soldiers, flashing with a crimson color. The crimson color swung into a bloody forest of knives, quickly plunging into the depths of the rebel camp.
With the ruthless shouting of killing, the war knives in the hands of the Tang soldiers have been swung towards these former "companions" in the camp, the rebel sergeants who were formerly the Tang Dynasty soldiers, countless rebel sergeants were cut down to the ground before they had time to escape, and they were killed or seriously injured, and the severed arms and stumps were soon everywhere, and some of the rebel sergeants who had no time to escape, or those who were injured and fell to the ground, were continuously trampled by the galloping war horses and became a pile of meat paste. The Tang army that rushed to kill did not stop at all, and continued to rush to the depths of the camp.
Some of the improvised grenades carried by the sergeants were ignited and thrown on the heads of the fleeing rebels, or thrown into the tents, and in the loud noise, many rebel sergeants were killed or injured, and some tents were completely torn off, and then caught fire, and the rising fireworks could be seen everywhere in the camp. However, there were not many sergeants who threw grenades, because to ignite and throw them out, it was far less convenient than wielding a war horse to slash and kill, and the explosion of the grenade was not dense, and it was basically covered by the earth-shattering shouts and hooves.
In less than a quarter of an hour, more than 10,000 of the 50,000 people in the front army led by Wang Sili had already rushed into the rebel camp, and the follow-up men and horses were still rushing to kill quickly. The officers and men of the Tang Army who rushed into the camp immediately rushed directly into the camp under the leadership of the independent officers, and did not love to fight. The rebels did not put up large-scale resistance, and they did not encounter much resistance when they were on the frontal assault, and even if the rebel sergeants came forward to intercept them, they were quickly cut down to the ground, or scattered by the horses coming at high speed, and some unlucky people were trampled to death by the horses.
According to the information inquired in advance, the front army of the rebel army was led by Tian Qianzhen, with a total of 50,000 people, the Chinese army was led by Sun Xiaozhe himself, with a total of 80,000 people, and the rear army was Yin Ziqi's men, which was almost 50,000 people. Seeing his own men and horses slaughtering into the enemy's front camp, Wang Sili knew that it was no longer a problem to eliminate Tian Qianzhen's men and horses, and he wanted to lead his troops to kill the camp of the Chinese army.
The men and horses led by several of his generals did not attack the camp of the former army, but directly killed the rebel Chinese army, and Wang Sili's own thousands of men and horses also went to the camp of the Chinese army.
And just when Wang Sili's troops were wantonly rushing and killing in the rebel camp, the Chinese soldiers and horses led by Yang Xi had already followed and arrived.
LΓΌ Chongben's 10,000 horses joined the attack on the rebels' front army camp, Pang Zhong and Liu Guangting led 40,000 horses to directly attack Sun Xiaozhe's Chinese army, and Gao Shi led 15,000 men to directly enter the rebel rear army camp.
Yang Xi himself led 5,000 men and horses to gallop to a hillside near the rebel camp to observe the situation and make arrangements on the spot. At the same time, he also sent a message to Li Jue's personal order of the rear army, ordering the rear army to speed up its march.
In Yang Xi's binoculars, he saw that the rebel camp was full of Tang cavalry rushing back and forth.
The rebels' large camp stretched for miles, and wolf smoke rose everywhere. A slaughter destined to be very bloody, unfolded in this land where spring grass has sprouted when night began to fall. (To be continued......)