Datang Demon Sealing Record: True Demon Tribulation

026, water and fire are ruthless

Six thousand Tobo heavy cavalry galloped down from the highlands in the southwest, waving banners like heavenly soldiers falling from the clouds.

The Tobo cavalry was shorter than cavalry, but the armor of its men and horses had excellent defense.

Large-scale corps operations cannot be won by relying on morale alone, but are all about hard power.

In order to crack the advantage of the Tubo army in armor defense, Guo Xin suggested the method of fire attack.

The arrows are lit on fire, and a small bamboo tube is tied to each arrow shaft, the barrel is filled with fire oil, sealed with wax pills, and the arrows are shot at the opponent, the wax pills are broken, the fire oil splashes on the body, and the flame sticks to the body and is more vigorous. It greatly increases the lethality of bows and arrows.

In addition, it was supplemented by "oil bombs" to increase the fire.

The so-called oil bomb is made of the urine bubble of pigs and sheep, the urine bubble is full of holes the thickness of chopsticks, which is stuffed with cotton, and then soaked in fire oil, launched with a stone thrower, and after smashing into the people and horses, the fire oil splashes everywhere, which can cause a wide range of fire attacks.

This time, because Chi Xiao, the king of Khotan, led his army to meet the enemy head-on, Guo Xin secretly ambushed and waited for an opportunity.

The mentality of 5,500 people against 6,000 people, and against 8,000 people, is still obviously different, plus Guo Xin's beautiful annihilation battle just now, the king of Khotan and these people are all like wolves, screaming. After being bullied by the Tobo people for more than a year, this time I can finally raise my eyebrows.

According to Guo Xin's suggestion, the king of Khotan divided the 5,000 cavalry into six phalanxes, four in the front and two in the back, forming two zigzag arrays that attack and defend each other, or fight a defensive battle.

Seeing the banner of the king of Khotan, the Tubo army under the fury spread out its formation and quickly pressed over.

The Tubo army was compact, and it was difficult to change the formation in a state of rapid diving, and they had no resistance to the fire attack formation that Guo Xin had carefully prepared for them.

Hundreds of oil bombs bounced and flew in the Tobo army, and the viscous oil splashed on people's faces, bodies, and hips.

This was followed by a dense stream of crossbow bolts, which rained down with a rain of fire.

Those arrows could not pierce the enemy, but they could hang on their armor, and immediately the flames of vengeance would be poured on everyone.

The formation of the Turkish army was all chaotic, and the frightened war horses rushed indiscriminately, and the heavily armored soldiers and iron-clad war horses squeezed wildly, slammed wildly, and made a terrible metal crashing sound.

The team in front was in chaos, the team behind couldn't stop the offensive, and crashed into it again, and in less than a stick of incense, the Turkish army was already in disarray.

wanted to retreat, but it was too late, Guo Xin led people to cut off the retreat, and constantly pursued and killed the Tubo army in the rear that was not affected by the fire attack.

By the time the flames were extinguished, there were barely less than 3,000 combat-capable Turkish troops left, but most of these people had also lost their horses or spears, and their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced.

When the king of Khotan saw that the time was ripe, he ordered the horn of the charge to be blown, and a large army of men and horses rushed over, like a flood rushing through a wheat field.

Victory.

Wei Chixiao was very happy, and on the same day he ordered the messenger to deliver the news to the governors of the various prefectures under his jurisdiction, and allowed a banquet to celebrate this victory that had not been used for a long time.

It will take at least a month for the new Tubo army to come down from the Great Snow Mountain.

The alliance was not completed, the ears and eyes were arrested, and the undercover agents of the Holy Fire Sect in Shule were wiped out on a large scale, and it is expected that in the future, Dashiguo will not dare to act rashly.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Guo Xin bid farewell to the governor of Bisha and Chi Xiao, the king of Khotan, and continued to embark on the journey of patrolling the border.

Guo Xin led his army to Shule for five days, stayed for two days, and then turned back to the northeast, and after seven days arrived at Qiuzi City, where the four towns of Anxi were located.

The envoy of Anxi Festival and the protector of Su Dingyuan were very pleased with Guo Xin's arrival.

Guo Xin cooperated with Wei Chi Xiao, and the news of the defeat of the Tubo army in Khotan City had already spread, injecting a strong vitality and self-confidence into the Western Regions, which had been infested by Tubo and Dashi for a long time. This is one of them.

On the other hand, he also has his own plans.

Su Dingyuan is very old, he has long passed the year of the sixtieth year, he has been guarding the Western Regions for the past two years, his heart is haggard, his hair is like snow, life and death are not enough to worry about, and the border affairs are big.

He has long been interested in writing to Chang'an, please send a new suitable person, so as not to delay the national affairs because of his old age.

However, the counterinsurgency is tight, and a good time has not been found.

Now, seeing Guo Xin and other young heroes from Chang'an, Su Dingyuan feels that there are successors, and he is even more relieved and happy.

Su Dingyuan intended to keep Guo Xin so that he could replace him and guard the Western Regions for the Tang Dynasty, so he did not hesitate to praise at the banquet, and even personally wrote a commendation order and promulgated the towns in the Western Regions, thinking that Guo Xin would strike while the iron was hot and establish prestige.

Therefore, when Guo Xin was in a hurry to leave and rushed to Shule and Khotan, Su Dingyuan strongly supported it, and the old man was secretly happy in his heart, you kid won more battles in the Western Regions, and when the time comes, you can't leave if you want to, and King Shule and King Khotan still have to kneel down and beg you to stay?

Su Dingyuan sent his own messenger to contact the governors of Shule, Khotan, Yanqi and other places, and everyone jointly signed a letter, asking Chang'an to surrender his favor and keep Guo Xin in the Western Regions to guard Anxi.

Of course, such correspondence is very long, ranging from three months to half a year. Such a wait is long and varied.

Su Dingyuan still needs to deal with it carefully, not only Tubo and Dashi, but even the Turkic Department in the north is also ready to move, and has to be guarded against.

According to the report of the secret agent, there was an archmage named Moro Tanzhao from within the Turkic Ministry, who was full of strange skills, and often bewitched the people and the leaders of the Turkic Ministry, hating the Tang Dynasty and intending to invade the Tang Realm.

The Western Regions are vast, and the wind and sand are dangerous. When Guo Xin led the team to resist Khotan again, more than a month had passed since he left.

A small group of men and horses, like crazy, rushed from the direction of Khotan, and it seemed that they were rushing to Shule City.

These people did not raise their banners, and they were dressed as civilians, but they looked at the posture of riding horses, which only veterans of the battlefield would have.

Worried that it was the enemy's spies, Guo Xin hurriedly sent a team of men and horses to outflank him.

Unexpectedly, the other party also turned the horse's head and galloped towards Guo Xin's side. They saw the banner of **.

It should be the ** of Khotan.

It's bad, it's not good. Guo Xin was secretly shocked.

When the group approached and asked for clarification, it was indeed the Tubo army that had sent troops to attack.

It turned out that the Tubo general Barisa, who was stationed in Dabolu, was deeply furious when he received the news that all the 8,000 elite cavalry of the former army had been defeated.

Especially after hearing that a new Tang general named Guo Xin came to Khotan, he turned the tide of the battle with only 500 soldiers and horses, and he was even more violent.

Bariza grabbed the scout by the collar, and the flames in his eyes almost burned the soul of the other party.

Who is Guo Xin? I've never heard of it, and he brought 500 soldiers and horses?

Bariza simply did not believe that this was true.

However, there is no need for a small scout to lie. None of the former generals deserted, and all of them were killed in battle, and there was no need to boast about a certain Tang general for them.

The fact can only be that there is really a person named Guo Xin, who brought 500 people, and because of his proper command and good use of the art of war, he annihilated his 8,000 elites.

The Great Bolu was the only way to penetrate deep into the territory of Tobo on the Western Front, and its position was very dangerous, with 30,000 cavalry and 50,000 infantry stationed here all year round to resist attacks from Tochar, Persia, Dashi and other countries.

Bazhsa was not satisfied with the success of defending the city, and had already had the intention of capturing Khotan and Shule, and often sent small forces to invade.

A little-known Guo Xin only brought 500 cavalry in a vain attempt to block his expansion plan? This is absolutely not allowed.

Barisa did not dare to act with great fanfare, fearing that Tocharian and Dashi would take the opportunity to attack, so he ordered 10,000 elite cavalry as the main force, and 3,000 infantry were responsible for escorting grain and grass baggage, hid the flag tent, and quietly killed in the direction of Khotan.

Khotan is a small city, with 13,000 people, enough to completely lock it down.

Wei Chixiao sent messengers to break through several times, but they were unsuccessful.

The people who met Guo Xin were self-volunteering dead soldiers, who took advantage of the opportunity of the Tubo siege in the daytime to change into each other's clothes and armor and blend into the corpses of the Tubo army.

The Tobo people revered celestial burial, in which a Bon high priest presided over a complete ritual before the body was cut into small pieces and pecked by the eagles.

Especially for the corpses of warriors who died in battle, the ceremony is more solemn and cannot be neglected.

The Tubo people would collect the corpses every evening, transport them to the rear for proper preservation, and ask the priest to preside over the celestial burial ceremony the next morning.

Several messengers got up from the pile of corpses in the middle of the night, braved the cold wind and walked more than ten miles to find the people of Khotan in the oasis, borrowed horses and went to Shule to ask for rescue.

At this time, the Turkish army had besieged Khotan for seven days and seven nights.

"General Guo, think of a way, General Wei Chi can't hold out for long, this offensive is too fierce, if they don't take down Khotan City, they won't stop. A messenger pleaded with a sad face.

Of course Guo Xin understood what he meant, but there were only 500 people on his side, which was really a drop in the bucket.

As for the Shule City side, it is necessary to guard against attacks from Dashi at any time, and most of the troops are deployed at the border passes.

Even if you go to ask for help, it is difficult to send too many soldiers and horses over.

Khotan cannot afford to lose, and now it can only take one step at a time.

Guo Xin instructed several messengers to continue to move forward to Shule for help, and how many people can come will count as many people. He led the troops to the rescue quickly.

Khotanese is located on the bank of a tributary of the Jade River, and the two tributaries and the main river channel form a "Y" shape, and Khotanese is located in the middle of the Y-shape.

Both tributaries are glacial meltwater, and the terrain is much higher than the city of Khotan, and the water volume is large during the day, and the flow rate is rapid.

The day after Guo Xin repelled the Tubo army, he personally inspected the geographical features of Khotan, and now the only thing that can be used is the water potential of the Jade River.

Guo Xin divided the men and horses into two teams, each of which came to the upper reaches of the two tributaries of the Jade River. Overnight, they dug a trench more than one person high, and built a dam on top of the trench that was more than one person high. The night is cold and the frozen soil is also easy to make.

Once the ditches and dikes were ready, the channels were dug and water was filled. At the same time, a large number of earth and rocks and large trees connected to the canopy were prepared.

The next day, when the sun rose and the Toba army attacked the city again, the river swelled and the water stored in the embankment soared.

Guo Xin also ordered the soldiers to tie the big trees prepared in advance with ropes one by one, connect them into a huge fence, throw them into the water, and then throw in a large amount of earth and stones.

The water from the two tributaries was quickly intercepted and flowed into the dikes.

By midday, the water was getting heavier, and the permafrost that had been used to build the dam began to melt slowly.

Eventually, the embankment turned into a puddle of mud, and the flood poured out of the sky, rolling down on Khotan and the Tubo army outside the city.