The process of the Battle of the City was introduced in my last book, and some new readers may not know it, so I will introduce it in a free single chapter.

Let's look at how the Central Plains cavalry and the steppe cavalry fought, and what was the situation when the enemy army retreated, after reading it, you may be able to understand the last few chapters.

In 928, the Yiwu army made the royal capital rebel and bribed the Khitan to go south.

The Khitan marshal Vulture led 10,000 horsemen to rescue the royal capital.

Later, the Tang Army Du Yanqiu led the army to meet the Yiwu Army and the Khitan Coalition Army in Jiashan.

Wang Yanqiu supervised the troops to attack with short troops, and ordered: "Those who dare to look back will die!" ”

So he defeated the royal capital and the bald army, captured thousands of people, and pursued from Quyang to the city of Dingzhou, Kexi Guancheng. Wang Du and others were defeated and fled all the way, abandoning their armor for more than 60 miles, and did not dare to go out of the city to fight again.

The Khitan also sent Qi Tiyin (name forgot) to lead 7,000 cavalry to rescue the royal capital.

On the occasion of heavy rain, Wang Yanqiu (i.e., Du Yanqiu) personally led his troops to meet the attack on July 19 and defeated the Khitan army in the north of the Tang River. Taking advantage of the victory, he chased him to the city, defeated it again, beheaded 2,000 ranks, and captured 1,000 war horses.

On the 21st, the Later Tang army pursued to Yizhou again, but the Tiyin Department did not dare to fight again, and was blocked by the surging river on the way to escape, and was killed by the Later Tang Army, with heavy casualties.

Tiyin led the remnants to return to the north, and was invited by Zhao Dejun, the envoy of Lu Longjiedu, to attack, and hundreds of Tiyin and his subordinates were captured alive and taken to Beijing. The remaining Khitan troops scattered into the village and were killed by the villagers. In the end, only a few dozen people fled back to the Khitan territory.

In this battle, Du Yanqiu killed more than 17,000 Khitan horsemen before and after, and captured the Khitan marshal Bald, Hemiao, and Xingra.

Cutting the bald, the Khitan "humbly resigned and sent envoys to hire China, because they wanted to return to Hemiao, Xun Ra, etc."

The Khitan was honest and sent an envoy to the Central Plains to give generous gifts, with humble words, begging Du Yanqiu to return Hemiao and Xinra.

The process is actually similar to the battle against the Huns in this book, the Central Plains cavalry won more with less, defeated the Khitan cavalry head-on, and then chased the dead to the north.

Seven years before that, there was a more heart-wrenching battle than this, that is, the Battle of Dingzhou-

In 921, Chengde Ya made Zhang Wenli a rebellion and killed Wang Rong.

At that time, Li Cunmiao was drinking and listening to music, and after knowing this, he was very sad. Wang Rong was his vassal after all, and he was suddenly killed,

Definitely not happy.

"King Zhao and I are allied with each other, divided like gold and stone, why do you lose to others, overturn the sect and worship it, wronged!" These are Li Cunqiao's exact words.

At this time, Zhang Wenli sent an envoy to the effect that Wang Rong had taken refuge in you before, and I would kill him now, but I would also take refuge in you, and Chengdezhen would continue to be a vassal.

For Li Cunqing, this is actually the best outcome. Because the war with Houliang was very fierce and extremely costly, it was impossible to see when it would end.

The left and right civil and military also persuaded him, thinking that now that there are many events, it is time to pinch his nose and admit it.

Li Cunmiao was helpless and agreed.

However, in August, he still decided to courting Zhang Wenli. At this time, Zhang Wenli died of illness and was succeeded by his son Zhang Chujin.

In September, the general Shi Jianjiao led the army to the outside of Zhenzhou, and the Zhao soldiers went out of the city to fight, and the two sides fought under the city, and Shi Jianjiao died in the middle of the arrow. Li Cunmiao had no choice but to conquer in person, and Chengde lured the Khitan to the south to resist Hedong.

At this time, the Liang general Dai Siyuan led an army to attack Weizhou, and the situation was in crisis. The royal capital of Yiding is in a hurry again, and the Khitan has captured more than ten cities in Youzhou, including Zhuozhou.

In a hurry, Li Cunqiao only had 5,000 cavalry, so he personally led it to Dingzhou to rescue the royal capital.

In the first month of the second year (922), more than 10,000 Khitan forwards rode to Xincheng, saw Li Cunmiao's 5,000 horsemen, and "retreated in horror". Li Cunqiao's soldiers were divided into two routes, "chasing for dozens of miles, and won the son of Abaoji." The Shisha River is thin in ice, the bridges are narrow, the enemy fights and tramples through, and there are many people who are drowned. ”

Most of the more than 10,000 Khitan cavalry were reimbursed, and Abaoji's son became a prisoner, which was the Battle of Dingzhou New City.

Ten days later, a second battle broke out between the two sides in Wangdu.

Li Cunmiao still has 5,000 cavalry, a few more infantry, less than 10,000. How much is the Khitan, it was originally 100,000 horses, and after removing the pioneers for reimbursement, there are still 90,000 horses.

Li Cunmiao's army was surrounded, and he took the lead, galloping and charging four times, but failed to break the siege. However, the Khitans were also choked enough and retreated. At the critical moment, Li Sizhao led 300 cavalry to arrive, rushed in from the weak point of the encirclement, and rescued Li Cunqiao. Li Cunmiao insisted on not retreating, ordered a counterattack, and the morale of the army was greatly boosted, and the Khitan was defeated and collapsed.

Later Tang Fang's record: "The enemy was defeated, thousands of prisoners were captured, and they pursued to Yizhou, and won the felt fur, the curtain, and the sheep and horses were invincible." When the age and the north arrived, the snow was flat five feet, the enemy lacked food, the men and horses were killed on the road, and the emperor pursued to Youzhou with victory. ”

"Khitan National Chronicles": The king of Jin tends to look at the capital, is surrounded by the Khitan, fights hard, enters and exits the number four, and is incomprehensible. Li Sizhao led 300 horsemen to attack it, and the king of Jin began to draw that because of the column attack, Taizu was defeated, and then went north to Yizhou. There will be heavy snowfall, a few feet of flat ground, the dead belong to each other, and Taizu is home.

After this battle, Li Cunqiao received the news: the Liang army attacked Desheng Beicheng, Fu Cunxian couldn't hold on, so he quickly went south to rescue, and the two battles of Dingzhou ended.

Abaoji suffered the most painful defeat in his life, he rode into the Central Plains in the invincible iron in the Northeast, bullied more and less, and was beaten like this dog, which he didn't expect.

Not many people died on the spot, and less than 20,000 horsemen died in the two major battles. But the way back was too miserable, the snow was five feet deep, the cattle and sheep were robbed by the Jin army, there was no food, and the system was scattered, the personnel were scattered, frozen to death, starved to death, and the lone Khitan soldiers who were killed by the people of Youzhou were far more than 20,000, and the 100,000 horsemen finally went back about 20,000.

To be honest, the quality of the steppe cavalry is like that, and when it comes to the orthodox Central Plains cavalry, there is no advantage.

Abaoji's founding elite soldiers directly made Li Cunqiao smashed.

Even in the Northern Song Dynasty, Li Jilong's Jingsai cavalry still repeatedly defeated the Khitan cavalry.

But what is incredible is that the infantry of the Song army defeated the mixed infantry of Youzhou, Bohai, Xiren and Khitan of the Khitan......

In fact, in a word, as long as the steppe cavalry dares to hedge against you head-on, if the number is about the same, it is just brainless and reckless, and they can't fight hand-to-hand.

When the difference in numbers is too large, say it separately.

When the terrain is unfavorable, it is also said (such as hilly and gently sloping terrain).

Then the question arises again, why do the steppe cavalry know that their hand-to-hand combat ability is relatively weak?

Because a lot of times it's not what you want to do.

Just like Du Yanqiu's time, there are allies on the side. You go around in circles with people, chase after you, run out for more than a dozen miles or even dozens of miles, and a dozen or even dozens of miles will take you for several days, and people will think you have escaped.

Another point is that not all terrain is suitable for archery at a distance.

On the occasion of Du Yanqiu, the Khitans encountered the river and finished the calf.

If the number is not much different, and the speed of the people is not much slower than Ling, it is completely possible to divide the troops in several directions and press you in the direction of the river, the city, and the forest.

In addition, in this book, the Xiongnu were actually defeated by Tuoba Xianbei several times in the early stage, and they were all cavalry duels that failed, resulting in overall failure.

After the Huns were washed by Xianbei once, they had to be washed out a second and third time, and they didn't have a long memory at all, why? Are they stupid?

It can probably be considered from many aspects: morale, terrain, character of the main general, and the situation.

In the end, Li Cunqiao won the Khitan three times, and the two introduced in this chapter are actually related to morale.

Morale is something that the authorities attach great importance to, but bystanders often ignore.

Husband war, courage also.