Xu Youchang and Huo Liya rushed back to the city guard mansion in Metasequoia City all the way, and saw Li Jiangyao talking with Samore and Yudra in the inner hall, while Xie Tanzhi, Situ Wushou, Du Jian, Ma Mu and others sat next to them and listened carefully.

Seeing the two of them coming, Li Jiangyao beckoned: "Just wait for the two of you." Now that there are new changes in the enemy's situation, we must hurry up and prepare for a fierce battle at any time! ”

Hearing this, Nanhua County Lord Huo Liya not only did not have the slightest fear, but smiled slightly excitedly: "It's been ready for a long time." Well, are you going to be real with them this time? ”

After greeting everyone present one by one, Xu Youchang said to Li Jiangyao: "The frontal enemy of our First Army has indeed accelerated the speed of its march in the past few days, and it is not as grinding and chirping as it was a few days ago. ”

Li Jiangyao bowed slightly, and then explained: "The Intelligence Department has received news that the Turkic Durham organized a team of overseers, and in the name of slow action, cut off the head of the king of the Qule Kingdom and kill the chickens and monkeys. Therefore, at present, the enemy forces on all three sides have changed their previous slow approach and are rapidly pressing towards us. ”

"King Qule? Is it the guy who just succeeded to the throne the year before last? Horia was puzzled: "I have had a few encounters with him, he is a very funny and lovely person, how could he be cut down by the Turks?" ”

Seeing that she asked about this, Yudra patiently told the two of them the whole story, and Xu Youchang and Huo Liya couldn't help frowning when they heard it.

After Yudra finished speaking, Li Jiangyao continued to analyze: "From this point of view, the Turks are really in a hurry this time. Regardless of the adverse reactions that their actions will cause within the enemy, what we must do now is to start attacking proactively according to the second set of plans previously agreed. ”

Xu Youchang nodded: "What the adults said is right. At present, the enemy army is adopting the method of advancing in three directions, in order to force us to divide our forces and block the attack, and fall into the dilemma of taking care of one and losing the other. As for us, we should concentrate our strength and clench our fists, no matter whether he is divided into three ways or five ways, I will only go all the way and break them one by one! ”

Ma Mu also said: "My lord, during the period of the enemy's delay, we have moved all the people of the three cities of Daban, Pai and Ikoru, as well as the nearby towns to the rear, and the action of clearing the field is basically completed, and we can completely start dealing with them. ”

"So, which one do we choose first?" Du Jian, commander-in-chief of the Second Army, was most concerned about this issue.

Li Jiangyao and Xie Tanzhi glanced at each other, and replied with a smile: "I have discussed it with Lao Xie, and we both think that we should hit the enemy's right flank first, the Shule army. ”

Xie Tanzhi further explained: "The reason why my lord and I chose them is because Shule has never fought with our army before and is not familiar with our strength. However, through the intelligence of Father Samol and Yudra, we have a deeper understanding of the Shule army. At present, their internal arrogance and contempt for the enemy are the most serious among the three armies, and their actions are the most impatient. So, the adults decided that if they wanted to eat, they would eat them first! ”

Li Jiang smiled sheepishly: "There is another key problem, that is, Gelhan and Alikjiang are very aware of my combat style, so our plan may not be good for them." ”

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The Right Route Army of the Western Frontier Alliance, led by Tani, the prince of Shule State, had a total strength of 70,000 troops. The vast majority of them were heavily armored cavalry, from Shule and its many vassal states.

Because their territory is far away from Metasequoia City, and there is also a sphere of influence between Chechi and Loulan. Therefore, for this crusade, the king of Shule, Tajik, was not particularly attentive, and he sent his son to command the conquest war, indicating that this was just to give the Turks and the Alikjiang a face.

At the beginning, Tani, the prince of Shule, followed his father's explanation, and did not intend to be a bird, but according to the verbal agreement reached between Shule and Li Jiangyao, he responded to the matter and walked around the army.

However, when Durham's 1,000-gold warband arrived at the Right with the head of King Souler, Thani changed his mind.

Tani thought to himself, just look at the situation in front of him, anyway, there are Turks staring at him behind him, and he can't shirk it if he wants to, sooner or later he still has to fight against Li Jiangyao's Zhenjiang army with real swords and guns, so it is better to be happy and set foot in Metasequoia City as soon as possible, so that his sons and daughters can take the opportunity to make a windfall.

Therefore, under the urging of the Turkic warlords, the Right Route Army gave full play to the advantages of high mobility of the cavalry and began to advance at full speed, and it did not take long to successfully break through the territory of the Zhenjiang Metasequoia Army and attack the city in a big way. After only five or six days, the Right Army occupied three towns in succession, and the advance of the troops reached the city of Payi.

The Marquis of Durham was very pleased with this result, praised the heroic performance of the Shule army, and specifically asked the Central and Left Army to follow the example of Tani and speed up the attack.

Inspired by the Turkic vice-marshal, Tani was even more hardworking. He kept urging his subordinates not to be nostalgic for the little spoils of war in the small villages and towns, and to seize the time to continue to advance forward, and strive to seize the important town of the Zhenjiang Army as soon as possible.

However, just when everything was going very well, Li Jiangyao came with his Zhenjiang Metasequoia Legion.

-

Li Jiangyao personally went into battle this time, commanding the Third Army of the Metasequoia Legion, and blocking Tani's 70,000 troops head-on. The battlefield of the blockade was chosen in the valley of the Veran River, twenty miles away from the city of Pay.

The soldiers and horses of the two sides set up a huge formation outside the valley of the Veran River, and the tips of the needles were fighting together like wheat.

Looking down from the sky, the Shule cavalry wearing purple robes and holding purple flags was overwhelming, both in number and momentum, completely suppressing the Zhenjiang army on the opposite side. The dense stingers and long knives reflected the dazzling sunlight and caused an indescribable chill.

As expected, the Western Xinjiang Right Route Army, which had an absolute advantage, took the lead in launching a fierce attack. Countless light cavalry roared and galloped, sending rounds of arrows into the camp of the Zhenjiang army, while the heavy cavalry on both flanks charged bravely, frantically testing the strength of the Metasequoia line.

At this time, the two people took out their skills to press the bottom of the box, and you fought back and forth for three hours, flickering casualties. After a fierce contest and confrontation, the Third Army of Zhenjiang, which was composed of infantry and cavalry, gradually showed its inferiority in combat power. The Metasequoia soldiers slowly could not resist the fierce attack of the Shule cavalry, and began to retreat continuously.

Although Tani is young, he can be regarded as a general with rich combat experience in Shule country, and he is keenly aware that Li Jiangyao on the opposite side has reached the limit, and if he continues to fight, he will inevitably collapse, so Tani seized the opportunity and did not hesitate to invest in the reserves, hoping to crush the defense line of the Zhenjiang army in one fell swoop.

Sure enough, the sudden addition of the new force suddenly boosted the morale of the soldiers and horses in the western Xinjiang, and the metasequoia side was even more difficult, and in the blink of an eye, the front line collapsed one after another, and a large number of soldiers retreated one after another, and fled backwards.

Seeing that the enemy was defeated, how could Tani let go of this rare opportunity to completely annihilate the Third Army of Metasequoia and capture the leader Li Jiangyao alive? He hurriedly gave the order for the cavalry to let go of their horses' hooves and pursue them quickly.

At this time, the deputy general beside him reminded him that Li Jiangyao and the direction of their escape was the Weilan River Valley not far away, where the terrain was dangerous, so don't fall into the ambush of the other party.

Who knew that Tani waved his hand indifferently: "The remnants of the Holy Tang are only about tens of thousands, and they also need to divide troops to guard Metasequoia City and Daban City, where is the spare strength to fight my ambush?" Besides, most of the 70,000 main forces of the Right Route Army were cavalry, and if Li Jiangyao wanted to use the infantry to seal the retreat of the river valley, it would be a fool's dream. Don't talk nonsense, if you let the enemy rout and flee back to the city of Pai, and defend it with danger, you will only pay a greater price to annihilate them when the time comes! Give me the order and pursue it quickly! ”

In this way, the right crusade army of the Western Frontier Alliance, under the urging of Tani, clung to the Zhenjiang army, and all of them poured into the Weilan River Valley.

As the adjutant general and others said, the terrain of the Veran valley is very precarious. The valley is flanked by towering cliffs, more than a dozen feet high, and between the two mountains, a tributary of the Manas River used to pass slowly, but later due to climate change, the river gradually dried up, and now the craggy riverbed has been exposed. At the same time, the vegetation in the valley was sparse due to the lack of water, and the terrain was rugged, which was very unfavorable for cavalry galloping.

There are even many sections that require cavalry to dismount and climb on foot to pass.

Tani led the army into the valley and pursued the Third Army closely, feeling unsteady the further he went. However, the Right Route Army was already in the middle of the valley at this time, and if it turned back now, it would be really unwilling.

Tani secretly calculated in his heart: as long as he held on a little longer, the whole army and horses could smoothly break out of the valley of the Veran River and reach the flat terrain, and the rout of the Third Army of Zhenjiang was not far ahead. As long as he returns to the plains, Li Jiangyao's infantry will definitely not be able to outrun the four legs of the Shule cavalry!

In this way, he was completely sure that he would kill the Zhenjiang army before they fled back to Pai City!

With such a rare fighter, I'm afraid there will never be a second time. And as long as he bravely rushes forward and seizes this rare opportunity, he may become famous in this battle. When that time comes, Shule's limelight will definitely overshadow Loulan and become the real overlord in the Western Xinjiang Alliance!

Thinking of this, Tani no longer hesitated, and continued to wield his sword, encouraging his subordinates to urge their horses forward and speed up the pursuit.

But at this time, the scout in charge of exploring the road in front suddenly ran over in a panic, and reported with a pale face: "Your Highness, at the mouth of the valley ahead, a city wall has appeared!" ”

Tani was a little confused, glaring at the scout in disbelief, "What did you just say?" What happened there? ”

"A wall, a strong wall!"

The scout replied in the affirmative.