The night shrouds the sky, and the bright moonlight shines on the Qingshui River, a smaller river that originates in the Taihang Mountains, flows through Gongcheng County and Xinxiang County, and finally flows into the Yongji Canal.

This is the upper reaches of the Qingshui River, the second step of the transition of the Taihang Mountains to the south, although the two banks of the Qingshui River are no longer steep high mountains, but also the mountains are undulating, the hills are continuous, this area is sparsely populated, there is not much farmland, and a large area of forest will cover the mountains and hills.

In the moonlight, a huge army crossed the Qinghe River and continued to march westward, this army is Dou Jiande's main army, about 45,000 people, he did not pour out of his pocket, but left 5,000 troops to guard Gongcheng County, Dou Jiande was also afraid that Yang Yuanqing would attack Gongcheng County by surprise, cutting off his retreat.

Crossing the Qingshui River means that they have arrived at a position parallel to Huojia County, Dou Jiande looked at the sky, it was close to two watches, he quickly estimated in his heart, and then walked twenty miles south, and he could reach the back of Huojia County before dawn.

Dou Jiande was a little nervous in his heart, but he was very looking forward to it, he was nervous because he was worried about whether he could grasp this opportunity, he also knew that Yang Yuanqing was a powerful character, very good at grasping the fighter, if this sneak attack was seen through by him, it was likely that he would suffer from it.

But he is very hopeful in his heart, if he grasps this opportunity, then Yang Yuanqing will be forced into a desperate situation, if Yang Yuanqing can be killed or captured alive, it means that Hedong will change masters, and it also means that his Hebei will eliminate a big threat, and the temptation of huge interests makes Dou Jiande willing to take risks.

"Report to the prince, the scout said that there is no abnormality ahead." An officer reported to him.

Dou Jiande nodded and ordered: "Speed up, go south for another twenty miles!" ”

The army marched at full speed in the moonlight, the team was neat and orderly, the soldiers were dressed in two-gear armor and Mingguang armor, holding long contradictory cards, walking vigorously, and full of energy, this army was composed of 20,000 cavalry and 25,000 infantry, it was Dou Jiande's elite army, many soldiers were veterans who followed him in the sixth year of the great cause, experienced in a hundred battles, and it could be seen from the quiet of the march that they were by no means Liu Wuzhou's rabble.

The team marched along the edge of the forest, flanked by large dense forests, undulating hills and mountains, and scouts explored the front, occasionally sending news back to the Chinese army that nothing had happened along the way.

At the third watch, the team began to turn south, and walked more than ten miles into the plain, which is already the west of Huojia County, at this time, Dou Jiande got the news that Yang Yuanqing personally led an army of more than 20,000 people to kill Xinxiang County in the afternoon.

Dou Jiande was overjoyed by this news, and he once again ordered to speed up and strive to arrive in Huojia County at the fifth watch.

More than 45,000 men marched rapidly through the vast fields, and in the distance they could occasionally see villages and patches of woods, and they quickly left behind a small river that was a foot wide.

Crises usually come when they are unprepared, and about three miles southeast of Dou Jiande's army, a black army is ready, and Yang Yuanqing has led 30,000 cavalry to wait here for three hours, waiting for the prey to come to the door.

Just as Dou Jiande would bring his most elite soldiers with him, Yang Yuanqing also brought his most elite soldiers with him, these 30,000 cavalry were the veterans he brought from Fengzhou, and they were also elite cavalrymen who had experienced a hundred battles and were loyal to him.

Yang Yuanqing's 30,000 cavalry hid behind a vast wood, so that Dou Jiande's army did not find their existence, but Dou Jiande's army did not follow a straight line, but a curve, getting closer and closer to the Sui army, from the initial distance of three miles has gradually shortened to two miles apart, under the moonlight, Yang Yuanqing's eyes were cold, Ran Shuo was murderous, he had already seen a black line moving rapidly in the distance.

Yang Yuanqing slowly pulled out the battle knife, looked up at the bright crescent moon again, his eyes narrowed, fighting in the moonlight, this is his favorite way of fighting, but Dou Jiande may not like it, the corner of his mouth showed a cruel smile, and the war knife drew an arc in the moonlight, slashing straight ahead.

"Kill!"

The horn whimpered, the low sound of the horn resounded through the field, and the 30,000 cavalry mobilized, erupting in an earth-shattering cry, venting the courage that had been accumulated for a long time.

Thousands of horses galloped, overwhelming, like a tsunami setting off huge waves, and the sound of heavy horses' hooves was like a muffled thunder on the flat ground, making the earth tremble, and roaring towards Dou Jiande's army swept away.

Dou Jiande's army found an ambush when the horn sounded, and the team was suddenly in chaos, they are now a marching team, stretched for four or five miles, it is not easy to quickly form a combat formation, Dou Jiande was so shocked that his scalp exploded, and he suddenly remembered a piece of information that he had forgotten, Yang Yuanqing's cavalry defeated Li Shuliang at night, that is to say, Yang Yuanqing's army was good at night combat, but he was marching and attacking at night.

Dou Jiande slapped his head in annoyance, hating himself for ignoring this fatal information, but now it is too late to hate, he must immediately organize a formation battle, Dou Jiande shouted to his subordinate Gao Xianya: "General Gao, you quickly lead 5,000 cavalry to drag the enemy army and buy me time!" ”

"Yes!"

Gao Xianya also sounded a continuous horn, which was the order for the cavalry on the left flank to attack, and the five thousand cavalry immediately followed him to meet the Sui army a mile away.

Dou Jiande's army was rapidly concentrating on the formation, the archers were several miles away, and the formation was too late, so he had to deploy 10,000 cavalry in front, and he could only rely on cavalry to resist the impact of the Sui army, giving him time to restore the infantry combat formation.

The 30,000 cavalry of the Sui army rushed closer and closer, and finally collided with Dou Jiande's 5,000 cavalry, the 5,000 cavalry was like a big stone in the river, they could not block the impact of the Sui army six times their size, and they were swallowed up by the huge Sui cavalry in a moment, and the 20,000 Sui cavalry continued to rush forward around the enemy's flanks, and once again fought with the 10,000 enemy cavalry who intercepted them.

Niu Jinda led 5,000 cavalry to the north to kill, and there was the rear army of Dou Jiande's marching team, commanded by the general Fan Yuan, composed of 5,000 crossbowmen and 5,000 sword and shield soldiers.

The rear army is four miles away from the Chinese army, can not get the support of the Chinese cavalry, so has to hastily line up, five thousand crossbowmen Zhang crossbow arrows to the whistling Sui cavalry shooting, a large number of arrows rise into the air, arrows are like dense rain, a hundred steps away, the Sui cavalry raised their shields to meet each other, in the dense rain of arrows, there are still hundreds of people who were shot down the horses and pounced, the cavalry rolled and fell to the ground, and the screams continued.

The arrow only shot out one round, the Sui army rushed to the point of five thousand crossbows army turned around and fled in panic, the Sui cavalry rushed into the crossbow group like a storm, Niu Jinda roared, brandished the three-pointed Tuotian fork to pick up a general, the iron fork flew left and right, the dead body rolled on the tip of his fork, and the Sui cavalry launched a bloody killing in the crossbow group.

This is an asymmetrical one-sided killing, the crossbowmen are like sheep without the protection of the cavalry, without the protection of the shepherds and hounds, they can only let the wolves wantonly devour the cavalry, surround and kill, regardless of the crossbowmen's wails and begs for mercy, they will not show mercy, and the crossbowmen will lose their souls, crying and fleeing in all directions.

Seeing that the crossbow army could not be withdrawn, Fan Yuan, the commander of the rear army, was so anxious that he shouted, "The sword and shield soldiers should go up!" ”

The morale of the five thousand sword and shield soldiers is low, they are not used to fighting at night, their eyesight is insufficient, the galloping of the war horses makes their heads dizzy for a while, and their body reaction speed and strength are difficult to withstand the high-intensity war, and the tragic killing of the crossbow army has made them tremble, but under the urging of the generals, they have to face the battle hard, and they will be greeted by the ruthless killing of nearly five thousand cavalry.

The tragic battle is especially in the Chinese army, in the cavalry melee, Luo Shixin waved the big iron spear, extremely brave, he fought the horse and the horse, the two arms have the strength of a thousand catties, a big iron spear danced out of nowhere, the one who blocked him died, the one who stopped him died, invincible, killed the enemy corpses all over the field, and the blood stained the field red.

At this time, the horn sounded again in Dou Jiande's army, and 10,000 spear infantry came from the flank, Dou Jiande's army was his elite main force after all, although they were ambushed by the Sui army and were in chaos, but they did not abandon their armor and fled, but quickly assembled and lined up at the fastest speed.

The two blockades of 5,000 cavalry and 10,000 cavalry finally worked, and they bought valuable time for Dou Jiande's infantry, and the infantry began to line up to respond, relieving the cavalry of the enormous pressure.

The 30,000 cavalry of the Sui army was divided into four armies, the front army of 10,000 was led by Luo Shixin, the middle army of 10,000 was led by Yang Yuanqing himself, and the right wing of 5,000 cavalry was led by Niu Jinda, and the left wing of 5,000 cavalry was led by Cui Pojun.

From the comparison of the number of troops, Yang Yuanqing's army is at a disadvantage, Dou Jiande's army has 45,000 people, while his army is only 30,000, but in terms of army strength, Yang Yuanqing's army has the upper hand, he is 30,000 cavalry, while the other party only has 20,000 cavalry and 25,000 infantry, and more importantly, the Sui army has rich experience in night battles, and it is an ambush to attack the other party.

The Sui army was prepared and prepared, while Dou Jiande's army was in a hurry to respond to the battle and could not give full play to its best combat effectiveness.

Yang Yuanqing himself did not enter the battle, he was the commander, he had to command from the overall situation, if he participated in the war, the entire Sui army would lose its soul, and could only fight separately, and could not cooperate with the contact, he was guarded by 3,000 cavalry, standing near the forest in the east to command.

At this time, Yang Yuanqing received a report from the peripheral scouts and found that there was no cavalry escort on the south side of the enemy's command center, which was a loophole in Dou Jiande's army.

Yang Yuanqing immediately ordered: "Order the left flank of Cui Pojun to attack the south side of the command center!" ”

In the sound of war drums, Cui Pojun led thousands of cavalry to cross the obstacle of a wall of pikemen and soldiers, and killed to the south side of Dou Jiande's personal guard, where there should be 3,000 cavalry guards, but Xu Yinzhi, the commander of 3,000 cavalry, was picked and killed by Luo Shixin, and the cavalry team was scattered, and a huge defensive gap appeared.

The sudden killing of the Fu cavalry caused Dou Jiande's personal guards to be in chaos, and they could not resist the fierce impact of the Sui cavalry, and the captain of the personal soldiers was so anxious that he shouted: "Lord Wang, quickly retreat north!" ”

Dou Jiande felt a wail in his heart, he knew that as soon as he withdrew, his soldiers would collapse, but if he didn't retreat, he couldn't do it, the Sui cavalry had already killed seventy paces away, and arrows were shooting at them like a dense rain.

At this time, his advisor Song Zhengben screamed, and a stray arrow shot him in the left shoulder, Dou Jiande's eyes widened in shock, and he yelled: "What's wrong with Mr." ”

Song Zhengben shouted with difficulty: "Lord Wang, it is important to save your life, withdraw quickly!" ”

Dou Jiande's heart was full of pain, he looked at the eastern sky, it had turned white, the sky was already light, his army had held out until almost dawn, but it fell short in the end.

Dou Jiande gritted his teeth and shouted, "Withdraw!" ”

Dou Jiande's army was defeated to the north, and after a fierce battle in the middle of the night, Yang Yuanqing's army finally won this decisive battle, and he immediately ordered the army to pursue.

The Sui army pursued and killed all the way, killing the dead bodies of Dou Jiande's army everywhere, and countless people surrendered on their knees, and Hao Jiande led thousands of remnants to flee back to Gongcheng County.

In this battle, Yang Yuanqing fought against Dou Jiande's 45,000 main force with 30,000 main cavalry, and finally defeated the other party with the advantage of ambush and night battle, killing 25,000 enemies, capturing more than 10,000 people, capturing countless war horses and military assets, and finally fled back to Gongcheng County Dou Jiande's remnant army of less than 7,000 people.

However, Yang Yuanqing's 30,000 main force also paid the price of nearly 8,000 casualties, which was the heaviest casualties since Yang Yuanqing's Eastern Expedition.

……