The north wind rose suddenly, and the Xianbei army attacking the south gate went against the wind, so from the head of Heisha City, you could only hear the wind music and the noise of people there, and the sound melody was quite a bit of the Western Regions, rendering this grassland as if it had changed places.

After a while, a Turk at the head of the city shouted something, and then there was a tooth-aching sound of wood rubbing, and with a loud "bang", a fireball was thrown into the air. The flaming fireball fell to the ground and flashed in the wind and dust, like a long rod stabbing into a hornet's nest, and a large crowd of people and horses galloped up from hundreds of paces away. The ballistae and catapults in the city all opened up, and the flaming arrows of black smoke flew into the air, as if a volcano in Black Sand City had suddenly erupted. Many knights were unfortunately hit by ballista fireballs, rolled off their horses in black smoke, and some rolled on the ground screaming without dying.

But this casualty was not enough to make the Xianbei front army retreat, and the cavalry charged quickly, and in the blink of an eye they rushed to the city, and the two armies fired at each other with bows and arrows. The city walls were lit on fire, and the Turkic defenders were able to ignite them with arrows wrapped in tarpaulins and attack with rockets, while the cavalry troops who rushed over were inconvenient to light the fire and could only shoot on horseback, and the two kinds of arrows were actually not much different in such places above and below the Black Sand City, but the rockets were more dazzling and easy to notice, and they were actually a psychological tactic: they looked like all rockets flying down from the city.

After a little fighting, the Xianbei cavalry did not take any advantage. I saw that the dense infantry shooting on the head of the city was like raindrops, causing a large number of casualties to the soldiers under the city; The cavalry of the Xianbei people was not as dense as the infantry, and the cavalry shooting was even more sparse, and it was a great loss to attack from the back.

Many horses galloped under the city walls, and the shouts of people on their backs resounded in the sky, and many people on their horses had been hit by arrows and fallen off their horses, and only the horses were still running with the group. The Turkic defenders used bows and arrows to kill nearby enemies, and in turn fired ballistas and threw fireballs and stones into the distance, threatening the depth of the Xianbei people.

The siege battle had just begun, and the Xianbei army was in an extremely disadvantageous situation before it really began to siege the city. But the attack continued, and it was not very easy to temporarily change the order after the battle on the battlefield, and Murong Xuan's army was in the rear, and it seemed that he did not order to retreat.

At this time, the infantry of the Xianbei front army preparing to attack the city had advanced to the bottom of the city, so they began to climb with ladders from all over the place, and the cavalry ran back and forth nearby to cover. The fortifications of Heisha City were short and dilapidated compared with the important towns of the Tang Dynasty, but Xianbei was suppressed by fire during the siege of the city, and the losses were very heavy, but the people who climbed half of the ladder were splashed with fire oil and fell with many arrows on their bodies, and they died so much that they could not die anymore. Countless corpses were soon placed horizontally and vertically under the wall.

Seeing this, Tosi at the head of the city laughed, and was so happy that he almost danced with his hands and feet, and shouted loudly: "The Xianbei dogs under the city are about to be defeated, order the cavalry on the left and right flanks to go out and force the other two groups of enemy soldiers into battle!" ”

Li Shizhi: "If the former hadn't been for the Khan's timely order to retreat the cavalry to preserve their strength, there would be no fighters at all." ”

Because Tosi was in a good mood, he also praised him: "It's still Li Gongzi's good construction." ”

Xiao Khan's words and Li Shizhi's eagerly expression, the faces of the surrounding Turkic ministers were a little unhappy, as if the credit was all due to him Li Shizhi. Tun Desire, who didn't speak, observed everyone's expressions at this time, and said in his heart: Li Shizhi is resourceful, but he is a little too fond of expressions in temperament.

The cavalry on the left and right flanks of the Turks was next to the city, and the command center was condescending at the head of the city, which made them give orders to increase their speed, and after a while, the cavalry that was huddled behind the side of the city was dispatched. The endurance of the northern horses was indeed good, and the Turkic cavalry was running vividly at this time, without the slightest weakness. They tried to strike left and right in the middle, but the Xianbei front three arranged in a zigzag shape would not allow them to succeed.

At this time, the left and right divisions of the Xianbei Front Army saw the Turkic cavalry dispatching, and they advanced without waiting for orders to resist them. The cavalry fought again, and the situation was different: at the beginning of the war, the three Turkic divisions fought against the Xianbei three divisions, and the Turkic cavalry of 10,000 was divided into three parts, and there were only more than 3,000 people; And now that the Turkic cavalry has been integrated, there are four or five thousand people on the left and right, and the Black Sand City serves as the position in the middle, so that their cavalry has no numerical disadvantage when facing each other.

The Xianbei army's troops attacking the city in the middle were defeated, and when they did not receive the order to retreat, they were already overwhelmed, and there were signs of defeat. Murong Xuan still did not order a retreat, but let another unit near the Chinese army move forward to support, intending to use the left and right flank cavalry to protect the middle road, and use the rear reserve as a support to seize Heisha.

The changes on the battlefield did not always go as expected, and at this time, the Xianbei left cavalry was weak, and the war horses were still in conflict but were scattered by the Turkic ponies, and there was a danger of collapse in the face of rising casualties.

One of the ministers admonished Murong Xuan: "If the left flank collapses and the Turkic cavalry attacks the center from the flank, the situation will be dangerous. ”

Murong Xuan immediately ordered: "The Chinese army is transferred, and those who retreat will be punished with death!" ”

Murong Xuanzhong's army was brightly armored, it was an elite heavy cavalry with the function of a royal guard, and under his personal leadership, it turned to the west to press the left flank. When the heavy iron cavalry in horse armor charged, it was as sharp as a chariot, and many of the Turkic soldiers retreated and were compressed back to the vicinity of the city wall.

Unexpectedly, it was reported that the right flank was defeated and was rushed back by the Turkic cavalry. At this time, Murong Xuan's heavy cavalry battalion was still in Xicheng, and the maneuver was slow, and it was probably too late to move to Dongcheng in time, so he had to order: "Order the front of the middle road to stop attacking the city and retreat back to avoid being attacked from both sides; The rear of the middle reinforces the right flank and holds the position. ”

Before Murong Xuan's order was fully conveyed, the military situation changed rapidly. When the rear army in the middle received the order to turn to the right flank, but the front army of the siege had not yet received the news, and as soon as the soldiers and horses behind the formation moved, the cavalry covering the siege ran backwards, and there was a precursor to collapse. At this moment, the cavalry on the right flank was routed before reinforcements could arrive, and the large group of cavalry turned around and ran, and many were carried back. Arrows flew in the air, and the sound of the wind and the screams made it even more terrifying.

The light cavalry ran fast, and the Xianbei cavalry on the right flank was not severely damaged; But the Turkic cavalry did not chase far away, but turned around and flanked the road. After the Xianbei siege force was defeated and retreated, Tosi personally led the archers of the infantry army defending the city to order the city gate to be opened. About 10,000 people from the two middle lanes of the Xianbei people retreated in the face of attacks from both sides, and the people behind crossed the river as fast as they ran, which was a big defeat.

Seeing this, someone in Murong Xuanzhong's army hurriedly persuaded: "The formation is in chaos, let's quickly retreat the whole army and make plans." ”

"There are few Turks, it is impossible to encircle and eat us, and there is no need to panic if you lose for a while." Another said.

Murong Xuan was very angry, so he led the heavy cavalry to charge towards the middle of the south gate, and the Turkic bows and arrows did little damage to the well-armed royal heavy cavalry. However, Murong Xuan's men and horses were quickly blocked by the seemingly chaotic infantry and horses, and the left flank collapsed almost instantly after they switched to attack, either dead or wounded or fled. Murong Xuan's army of 30,000 turned out to be an unfavorable situation at this time, and he was besieged and killed and suffered a lot of losses. Seeing that there was no way to win, he had to sigh and lead his men to retreat. At that time, the Turkic light cavalry on the left flank made a detour to the south, intending to encircle this heavy cavalry and swallow it.

There was another scuffle, and after a while, a Tuyuhun minister who crossed the river gathered some horsemen and turned around and killed them, and Murong Xuanbu took advantage of the situation to launch a fierce attack, crushing the group of Turkic horsemen behind him and escaping away.

The Turkic cavalry then joined forces, leaving behind the defenders who had left the city, and crossed the river to the south to pursue them. At this time, Murong Xuan's five subordinates were in chaos, and coordination and dispatch became almost impossible, and they were defeated all the way, and there were many dead.

The sergeants who had lost their horses could not find their mounts for a while, and they could not run and hide, and they could only wait to be killed in this foreign land, and once they were caught up by the Turkic horse caravan, they were cut to a bloody pulp.

Murong Xuan's army was chased and killed for more than ten miles, only because the Turks slowed down because of nightfall, the horses were easy to mess up when they couldn't see the road at night, and the pressure on the Tuyuhun army eased slightly. The army guarded the Khan King Murong Xuan, occupied a hill, gathered the remnants of the near left to stand in position, and sent scouts to look for the remnants of the defeated generals to convey the news.

In the early morning of the next day, the Tuyuhun battalion made a rough count, and half of the dead and missing plus the seriously wounded were gone, and most of the grain and grass were also lost in the defeat, and the morale was depressed and the combat effectiveness was greatly damaged. But seeing that the Khan looked depressed, the ministers persuaded one after another: "Victory and defeat are commonplace, and our army has traveled far and far from the mountains and roads and is not familiar with the place, so the Khan does not need to worry too much." ”

Murong Xuan sighed heavily: "This battle is not the war of our Xianbei people, and the failure to make meritorious service is nothing more than a nominal punishment from the imperial court, I just sigh that the warriors who have followed me for thousands of miles have abandoned their corpses far away, and even the bones cannot be buried in their hometown, which is quite heart-wrenching." ”

The minister said: "Another day, the heavenly soldiers of the Shangguo (Tang Dynasty) will capture Heisha City, and we will search for the bones of the soldiers and transport them back to Tuyuhun to calm the soul." ”

Others also persuaded one after another: "At this time, our army cannot continue to fight, and we should retreat to the boundary of the three cities of the Tang Dynasty as soon as possible to repair and avoid unnecessary losses." ”

Murong Xuan thought so, so he had to retreat south unwillingly with the feelings of defeat. When the ministers mentioned the imperial court, they also sounded a wake-up call to Murong Xuan, if he did not have a backer, he would probably turn into an internal contradiction when he lost a foreign war with his own foundation, and it was also possible that the Khan position would not be guaranteed.

Of course, he doesn't have to worry about this problem now, his sister is still in Tuyuhun King City, she is Xue Chongxun's concubine, who dares to touch her? Unless those unscrupulous rebels really have the ability to resist the iron cavalry of the Tang Dynasty.

In the cool breeze of the early morning, the steppe was calm again, and there was no trace of the Turkic soldiers and horses for the time being, and the land seemed to be very quiet as if nothing had happened, but there was a faint unpleasant blood in the wind. G