Chapter 193: Garrison and State The two armies face each other
The book continues from the above, the last book said that although Chu Mofeng enjoyed a comfortable life for a period of time after his wedding, the Turks in the far north could not see others idle, taking advantage of the fat season of cattle and sheep in June, under the leadership of Jieli Khan, he once again led 100,000 iron horsemen to invade the south, and for a time the border passes were frequent.
In view of the fact that at this time in the Central Plains except for Yuan Junzhang and Liang Shidu, the Tang Dynasty only had one enemy, the Turks, so since the failure of Liu Heimin's second rebellion, the Tang Dynasty's defensive focus gradually shifted to the north.
Due to the invasion led by Jieli Khan, the original peace with the Western Turks was also forced to be suspended, which made the Western Turkic Tongye Hu Khan quite indignant. However, with the large mobilization of the front-line army, the command could not be unified, which gave Jieli Khan an opportunity to take advantage of the situation and attack hundreds of miles in succession.
As Jieli Khan continued to invade the border towns, Li Yuan had no choice but to send Li Shimin, the king of Qin, and Chu Mofeng, the Duke of Qi, to Puzhou to defend the town, but Puzhou was the third line of defense of the Tang Dynasty, not only did he have nothing to say in his spare time, but the command of the entire front line was not in Li Shimin's hands.
Looking at the Tang Dynasty soldiers on the front line who had turned into separate battles due to unclear orders, Li Shimin couldn't help but feel anxious, and as Jieli Khan advanced step by step, Li Yuan had no choice but to send the crown prince Li Jiancheng to Fengzhou to defend the town, and at the same time urgently transferred Li Shimin and Chu Mofeng, who were stationed in Puzhou, to Bingzhou.
There is a record in the 191st volume of the "Zizhi Tongjian": "In August, Dinghai, Jieli Khan sent an envoy to ask for peace and retreat. "Dinghai day, that is, the 26th, then before that, since the Renshen day (11th) and the state road march governor Zhang Jin was defeated in Taigu, Li Shimin and Chu Mofeng led the army to arrive in Bingzhou on the Wumao day (17th), until the 26th Jieli Khan retreated, during which the imperial court did not receive a war report.
At that time, under Chu Mofeng's vigorous rectification, the speed of news transmission was increasing day by day, and the post guards who delivered the news were also replaced by people with strong skills and superb equestrian skills, so there would definitely be no situation where the battle report could not be delivered.
However, on the day of Gengchen (19th), the Turkic army came to Lingwu City, and Li Daozong, the king of Rencheng, who was the governor of Lingzhou at the time, led the defenders in the city to resist desperately for several days, exhausting the grain and grass of the enemy army outside the city, and then led the army out of the city on the Jiashen Day (23rd) to meet the Turkic army that was sleepy and lacking horses, and finally defeated the invading enemy. Seeing that the raid on Lingzhou was unsuccessful, the Turkic army of Bingxu (25th) turned around and attacked Suizhou.
On the day of August Wumao, Li Shimin, the king of Qin, and Chu Mofeng, the duke of Qi, led the army to Luoyin County, although at this moment the governor of Bingzhou was still named by Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, but Chu Mofeng wrote to Li Yuan when he left Puzhou, asking Li Shimin to take over all matters in the state, so as to ensure the unity of government and decrees, and calmly dispatch.
After receiving Chu Mofeng's performance, Li Yuan quickly agreed, which also made Li Shimin and Chu Mofeng, who were about to go to Bingzhou, breathe a long sigh of relief.
Standing on the wall of Luoyin County at this moment, looking at the dense Turkic tents not far from the city, Chu Mofeng's brows gradually wrinkled together. Li Shimin, who was behind him, saw Chu Mofeng standing on the city wall and didn't move for a long time, so he hurriedly stepped forward and asked with concern: "What's the matter? Is there anything wrong with the Turkic soldiers on the other side?"
I saw Chu Mofeng stretch out his hand and point to a tall flag in the distance and said: "See, that flag has a leopard totem painted on it, and the soldiers on the opposite side are not those small groups of Eagle Division soldiers I have encountered before, but another --- Leopard Division that belongs to the Turks." ”
"I know that the Turkic tiger division, leopard division, and eagle division have their own division of labor, and the leopard division belongs to the main force, and it is basically these beasts who come to attack the border. Li Shimin nodded and asked with a puzzled face: "But so what? It's not the same fight." ”
"King Qin, what you think is a little simple, this is completely different. Chu Mofeng slowly shook his head and said: "The Leopard Division is different from the Eagle Division, the soldiers of the Eagle Division are mainly based on long-distance attacks and harassment with bows and arrows, and the Leopard Division is equipped with long and short weapons, which can be used in close combat and distant attacks, and their bow and arrow control is far stronger than that of my Tang Dynasty soldiers. ”
Looking up at the scorching sun in the sky, the sky in June gradually began to turn to the heat, and Li Shimin, who was covered in a whole body, was already sweating profusely, took off his helmet and wiped a handful of sweat, Li Shimin couldn't help but sigh and said: "At this moment, it is really not a good strategy to defend the city, but as you said, if we go out of the city and fight hard with each other, then it will be our Datang who will suffer the most damage." ”
Looking at Li Shimin's anxious face, Chu Mofeng did not speak, but walked back and forth on the head of the city, watching the movements of the Turks on the opposite side from time to time.
In the camp of the Turks, several Turkic commanders sat together, and on the fire in the middle of the tent, a tender and fat whole sheep was hanging upside down and was being roasted by charcoals, while several commanders were holding the wine jar and drinking wine, and from time to time bursts of laughter.
I saw one of the Turkic commanders put down the wine jar in his hand, wiped his lips without caring about the image, and said: "I said brothers, it is really wise for the great Khan to choose to come to the Central Plains to plunder, you look at the fertile soil under our feet, as well as those exquisite silks and utensils, these are what we lack the most. ”
"Hachire, don't take things too seriously, the Immortals teach us that whenever you pray that calamity does not come, calamity will always come quietly. Listening to Hachile's words, the other commander looked up at the whole sheep that was still roasting, and said with concern in his eyes: "According to the report of the son who went to investigate, the guards on the opposite side are His Royal Highness the King of Qin of the Tang State and the Duke of Qi. ”
"Qu Niren, don't you want to be angry with others to destroy your own prestige, okay?" Listening to Qu Niren's words, Hachile looked a little dissatisfied, raised his head and poured a sip of wine, and said with red eyes: "No matter what kind of king he is, I, Hachile, must take down the opposite city, and then peel off their skin and sew a war drum, and one day under the leadership of the great Khan to Chang'an, I will show this drum to the emperor of the Tang State." After saying that, he seemed to feel a sense of accomplishment and couldn't help laughing, and everyone present was also infected by Hachile's arrogance, and laughed out loud.
Then Hachile drew the knife from his waist, slammed it into the sizzling sheep, and said viciously, "Tomorrow at noon, we will begin the siege." ”
It was night, Chu Mofeng, who still hadn't figured out a way, sat quietly in his room, looking at the map in front of him in a daze, suddenly there was a knock on the door, Chu Mofeng, who came back to his senses, walked quickly to the door, opened the door and found that it was his own guard, Chu Mofeng said with a smile when he saw this: "Is there anything wrong with being so late?"
I saw that the guard saluted Chu Mofeng and said, "Grandpa Qiyuguo, the North City Gate sent someone to report, saying that there was an army outside the gate, saying that it was your subordinates, and asked the soldiers guarding the city to let them go." ”
Chu Mofeng was a little surprised when he heard this, and thought to himself, could it be Li Shimin or Li Yuan who had sent troops here again? Thinking of this, Chu Mofeng hurriedly walked out of the room, turned over and ran towards the north city gate.
Coming to the north city gate, Chu Mofeng quickly climbed the city wall, looked down by the firelight, and saw that the black pressure under the city could not see anything clearly, and in desperation, Chu Mofeng had no choice but to shout: "Everyone under the city said that it was the soldiers of the national duke, and now the national duke is here, please report the number." ”
Hearing a 'big handsome' from under the city, Chu Mofeng's always frowning brows suddenly relaxed, and he hurriedly ordered the soldiers guarding the city around him to open the city gate, and as the city gate slowly opened, he heard a heavy sound of horses' hooves, and then the gate slowly closed again.
Walking down the city wall, Chu Mofeng looked at the soldiers in front of him, and couldn't help laughing. Suddenly catching a glimpse of a heavy team behind the cavalry, Chu Mofeng hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Where did you come from?"
I saw that the first person saluted Chu Mofeng and said: "Grandpa Qiyuguo, the subordinates are from the capital, soon after you set off, the Ministry of War ordered us to send you a batch of ordnance and some fragmentary items quickly, saying that it can help you and His Royal Highness the King of Qin deal with the Turks. ”
Chu Mofeng walked to a carriage, lifted the rag straw mat covered on it and took a look, only to see bundles of long knives neatly stacked on the carriage, Chu Mofeng took out a handful and took a closer look, only to see that the knife was about five feet long, the blade was about three feet seven inches long, and the handle was about one foot three inches long.
Raised the long knife to an open space and made a comparison, Chu Mofeng roughly understood the use of this knife in his mind, threw the long knife on the carriage, Chu Mofeng came to another carriage, and saw that twenty small wooden boxes were neatly placed on the carriage, looking at the style of these wooden boxes, Chu Mofeng vaguely felt familiar, opened it casually, Chu Mofeng suddenly looked up to the sky and laughed: "You Turkic dogs deserve to be in the hands of the Tang Dynasty, wait for tomorrow." ”
Chu Mofeng ordered people to temporarily put the wooden box in the warehouse, distributed the long knife to some soldiers, and then went straight to Li Shimin's residence, in a rapid knock on the door, Li Shimin slowly opened the door, looked at Chu Mofeng with a smile on his face and said: "I said Grandpa, tomorrow the Turks will definitely attack the city, tonight may be the last one to sleep, aren't you sleepy?"
"What are you sleeping? Good news, hurry up and gather the generals to discuss the battle plan. Chu Mofeng glanced at him angrily and said, "I've figured out a way to deal with those Turkic cubs." ”
As soon as he heard that there was a way to deal with the Turks, Li Shimin fell asleep for a moment, and immediately put on his clothes and came to the council hall.
I saw Chu Mofeng take out a map and hang it aside, and said to the generals in front of him with a masked face: "Everyone, this time we are stationed in the state, but the Turks and wolves are ambitious to attack the city, in order to ensure the smooth operation tomorrow, now I will arrange the task." ”
Immediately, Chu Mofeng pointed to the map and said: "Tomorrow, when the Turks attack the city, Qin Qiong and Cheng Yanjin will lead the troops to be responsible for containing the left flank of the Turks, and there is no need to attack, as long as they can be delayed; ”
As soon as everyone heard this, there were people on the left and right, but no one attacked in the middle, and they all guessed that the grandfather of this country had a few meanings of playing the middle door wide open, and Cheng Yanjin, who couldn't hide it, hurriedly got up and asked: "This grandfather, what about the middle road? The most important thing in the middle road is that no one can go?"
As soon as the voice fell, I saw Chu Mofeng smile hideously and said: "As for the middle road, you can rest assured, my lord personally took the Tiance army to meet these Turkic cubs for a while." ”
Hearing that Chu Mofeng mentioned the Tiance Army, everyone was even more surprised, after all, the people in the Qin Wangfu knew that the Tiance Army had already gone to Yiwu, and the older generation of the Tiance Army had been disbanded a few years earlier.
Thinking of this, Cheng Biting Jin got up again and asked: "Grandpa Guo, your subordinates know that you have been worrying about how to fight this day, but troubles are troubles, don't talk nonsense, this day the army is still in Yiwu this time, how can you arrive at the battlefield tomorrow?"
Who knew that after listening to Cheng Biting Jin's words, Chu Mofeng said with a smile: "It's not a secret, before I gathered you, the Thousand Days Army had already arrived in Bingzhou, and now it has settled down and is preparing for tomorrow's war." ”
Hearing Chu Mofeng's words, everyone couldn't help but smile happily, but Chu Mofeng turned his head to Li Shimin and said, "In addition, the military department sent someone to send those twenty small wooden boxes, if it is a critical moment, I don't mind inviting these Turkic cubs to watch a human fireworks." ”
Li Shimin stood up when he heard this, laughed three times and said, "Okay, tomorrow we will have a good meeting with this group of treacherous Turkic dogs." ”
In the early morning of the second day, there was a busy scene in the city of Bingzhou, and the items that should be defended on the city wall were successively moved up the city wall in the orderly movement of the soldiers, and all the war horses had already eaten a full meal, ready to meet the upcoming battle in the best condition.
All the soldiers had breakfast, and under the leadership of their respective generals, they quickly entered the pre-war state, and the extermination flag of the Tiance Army was suddenly raised in the city, which made all the soldiers feel uplifted.
I saw Li Shimin, who was fully clothed, holding his own walking lance, standing in front of everyone and saying loudly: " Ladies and gentlemen, coincided with the Hu people's southern invasion, my Tang border pass wolf smoke everywhere, the border towns mourn all over the wilderness, now my Tang soldiers were ordered to garrison and state city, but the Hu people wolf ambition to attack the city, behind us is the hinterland of hundreds of miles of the Tang Dynasty, if the Hu people attack successfully, then our wives and children, old and young, will be trampled by the Hu people's iron hooves, and the home we fought for will eventually be destroyed in the war, here is the last line of defense of the Tang Dynasty, where my Tang Erlang will not retreat, and those who commit my Central Plains will be punished even if they are far away!"
Li Shimin's words instantly ignited the blood of the entire Bingzhou, and at noon, there was a restlessness in the Turkic camp tent, and then the whole team of Turkic Tiger Division soldiers slowly walked out of the camp and rushed towards Luoyin County in the strange sound of bull horns.
At this time, the city gate slowly opened, and Chu Mofeng, who was wearing armor, closed the covering on his head downward, holding a long Mo knife, and said to the Tiance army behind him: "Tiance army, charge with me!"
I only heard the thousand heavenly army say 'woo' in unison, and then in a rumbling sound of horses' hooves, they followed behind Chu Mofeng and rushed towards the Turkic soldiers not far ahead, and according to last night's arrangement, the rest of the generals also rushed towards the established place with their soldiers.
Hachile, who led the army to charge in the middle, couldn't help but laugh when he saw a group of cavalry rushing out of the opposite city: "This Tang people just have no brains, my Turkic sons have grown up on horseback since they were children, and they can't compete with us in cavalry ability, I just can't think about it, sons, eat this army and give the Tang people a dismount." ”
With Hachile's order, three thousand people were quickly divided from the tiger division, and rushed towards Chu Mofeng on the opposite side, seeing the division of troops on the opposite side, the corners of Chu Mofeng's mouth raised slightly, and he said coldly to the Tiance army behind him: "Heavenly bow, heavenly shield, indiscriminate coverage shooting, heavenly killing, heavenly spear, attack with Ben Shuai." ”
As soon as the words fell, the team of thousands of people quickly divided into two parts, the five hundred people in the front rushed forward in unison with Chu Mofeng, and the five hundred people in the back neatly raised the longbow in their hands and raised it diagonally towards the sky.
The first time he saw such an attack, he blinded the Turks on the opposite side in an instant, and Chu Mofeng would not give the enemy a chance to take advantage of it, so he waved the Mo knife in his hand and slashed at the oncoming Turkic soldiers.
Due to the length of the Mo sword, these Turkic soldiers were cut off their horses before they could reach Chu Mofeng, and the sharp blades slashed through the enemy's body, splashing a large area of blood, and Chu Mofeng's ghostly armor also caused a certain amount of psychological pressure on the Turks who had always believed in totems.
After two rounds of arrows, the 500 men in the rear changed into short crossbows and began to wander and shoot the lone Turkic soldiers.
And Chu Mofeng had already killed the rear of this group of Turkic soldiers with the second battalion of Heavenly Killing and Heavenly Spear at this moment, and after slashing a soldier with a Mo knife in his hand, Chu Mofeng suddenly found that he had returned to the void, and when he looked at it, he had already killed it, and then turned his horse's head and shouted: "Kill back with Ben Shuai." After speaking, he hung the Mo knife on the Desheng hook, pulled out the burning sky behind him and rushed forward.
On the other hand, Wei Chi Jingde and Duan Zhixuanbu, who were in charge of the right flank charge, were holding bows and arrows at the same time and shooting at the Turks. Rock-solid protection combined with an attack that overcomes all obstacles, and all the soldiers under the command of Tiance Mansion are equipped with full-body armor, although there is a difference in light and heavy armor, but it is much stronger than the Turks who lack iron and salt.
And the Turkic people's Ming Di, when the leather armor is the mainstay, is indeed said to be a big killing weapon, the Ming Di iron and decorated with animal bones, ivory, there are also buffalo horns as the Song tool, the arrow is mostly made of small jujube shape. Shooting on the heavy armor only left a mark, and there were also unlucky people who were shot in the face, and then fell off the horse with a scream.
Although there was an arrow in the robe, the Tang soldiers on the side would not be distracted to investigate, after all, this is on the battlefield, when life and death are at stake, every Tang soldier only thinks about killing the enemy.
At this time, Qin Qiong and Cheng Yanjin, who were in charge of containment on the left flank, saw the enemy rushing up, and hurriedly shouted loudly: "Vertical shield, vertical shield, in a defensive position, spearmen and Mo knife hands are ready." ”
At the sound of the order, some of the soldiers under his command began to erect one-man-high shields, and as the shields were erected, a steel wall appeared in front of the Turks in an instant, and the archers hidden in it had already begun to shoot arrows at the Turks through the narrow gaps between the shields.
The moment the shield was erected, subtle sparks flashed on the shield with bursts of popping sounds, and seeing the Turkic cavalry rushing closer and closer, Qin Qiong immediately shouted: "The enemy army is approaching, resist the shield!"
Immediately, I saw that the strong soldiers in the soldier were desperately resisting the shield, and the spearmen and Mo knife hands beside him were already ready, and the Turkic cavalry who were charging suddenly hit the shield, and the momentum of the attack was instantly stagnant, and at this time, Cheng Yanjin saw this and shouted: "Shoot." Then I saw spears like poisonous snakes spitting cores, quickly burrowing out of the gaps in the shields, and piercing the horses and cavalry in front of the shields.
Immediately, Cheng Yanjin shouted again: "Put away the gun and come out again." The soldier behind the shield quickly drew his spear and attacked again decisively, and the Turkic soldiers, who had reacted at this time, also began to use the lasso to attack the soldiers behind the shield.
A soldier armed with a spear was accidentally strangled by the neck of the lasso, and was dragged out, and then several long knives were swung, and the soldier was silent in an instant.
At this time, Qin Qiong rushed up with a long whip in his hand, first whipped away a Turkic soldier, and then shouted: "Withdraw the shield and put on the Mo knife." I saw that the shield blocking in front of the Turkic soldiers suddenly withdrew, and then the soldiers holding Mo knives rushed forward and slashed at the Turkic soldiers' horses' legs.
A Turkic cavalryman just drew his weapon and prepared to meet the enemy, who knew that the horse under the crotch suddenly neighed, and the whole person suddenly fell down, and then was pressed down by the crooked horse, and then a Tang soldier rushed forward, raised his spear and stabbed at him, the last scene in the eyes of the Turkic soldier was that his mount was like a huge cocoon at the moment, spraying blood and falling on his body and neighing in pain.
The use of the Mo sword and the big shield made the cavalry tactics that the Turks relied on for a living suddenly lose their former effect. And Li Shimin, who was standing on the top of the city watching the battle, couldn't help but smile with satisfaction when he saw this.
Li Shiyun, who was beside him, said with reverence: "His Royal Highness the King of Qin, this Duke of Qi is really a ghost, this kind of trick can be thought of by him, it seems that we can defeat this Turkic soldier." ”
Li Shimin nodded when he heard the words and said: "Yes, if we have more such ghosts in the Tang Dynasty, why worry about the Hu people invading the south." ”
A bloody battle began at noon and lasted until the beginning of the Shen Dynasty, until Hachil could not stand the rising number of casualties, and then Ming Jin withdrew his troops. The Turkic side retreated in a hurry, while the Tang side returned to the city in a huffy manner after cleaning up the battlefield in an orderly manner.
In this battle, the Tang Dynasty dispatched more than 20,000 soldiers, until Mingjin withdrew the troops, and less than 10,000 soldiers returned to the city, while the Turkic side took the two tiger divisions as the starters, and the situation was not as good as that of the Tang Dynasty.
That night, Chu Mofeng personally led some soldiers of the Tiance Army to sneak out of the city quietly under the cover of night, and after being busy on the battlefield, he quickly returned to the city......
As the saying goes, the way of the other is to give back to the other, and look at Chu Mofeng's second bloody battle against the Turks, and then look at Li Shimin's remnants of the army sticking to the city, I want to know what will happen next, and listen to the next decomposition......