Chapter 481: The Battle of Nine Curves (Part 2)

At this time, many Tang soldiers saw the beacon before dawn. They stood up one after another and looked at the beacon in surprise. Many soldiers were puzzled by Li Sheng's failure to go to the rocks and ridges, but now they understood Li Sheng's foresight.

The well-trained Anxi Army was reflected at this moment. When the enemy situation appeared, the soldiers of Anxi Army woke up their companions from their sleep. They were silent and quick. They packed up quickly and quickly lined up in a queue to set off at any time. In contrast, most of the other five thousand Tuyuhun Army were still asleep. The awakened soldiers just looked around blankly, and saw that no one called them, and continued to fall asleep again.

Li Sheng couldn't help but secretly amaze the Anxi Army's well-trained training, and there was still a certain gap between the Longyou soldiers and the Longyou soldiers. At this time, Deng Shan, the rank-in-arms of the Anxi Army, stepped forward and said, "General Li, we have finished the assembly and can set off at any time."

Li Sheng pondered for a moment, and then ordered: "The Left Guard and the Central Guard followed me to the Yellow River, and the rest of the troops were on standby!"

The army was divided into three guards on the left, center and right, with three thousand guards on one guard. Under Li Sheng's order, six thousand Tang troops set off immediately, and boarded their horses and rushed towards the bank of the Yellow River ten miles away.

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Feiyundu is an important part of crossing the Yellow River. Therefore, in addition to two beacon towers, there is also a scout camp with nearly 100 scouts. As early as when the Tubo army was still twenty miles away from the Yellow River, it was discovered by the Tang army scouts and immediately notified the beacon tower with the unique snow pigeons of the plateau.

The beacon tower on Gaogang on the other side of the river lit the beacon smoke that called the police. Just half an hour after the beacon smoke was lit, the 6,000 Tang troops from the two guards of the left central center arrived about two miles away from the Yellow River. At this time, the Tubo army had not yet arrived at the Yellow River and was still ten miles away.

Li Sheng had already obtained the scout's pigeon letter. The main force of the Tubo army was located in the middle of Feiyundu. The two sides of the Yellow River were densely covered with jungles, which was very conducive to concealment. However, Li Sheng's eyes turned to the Cyclops Island in the middle of the river. The island was also covered with willow forests, and the tree crowns were extremely lush. It was a natural hidden place. He pondered for a moment and immediately turned around and said, "The first and second crossbow camps were immediately on the island and prepared to ambush the Tubo army across the river!"

Li Sheng attaches great importance to morale when fighting. Morale is not only against the Tang army, but also against the Tubo army. It is also not good for Ma Chongying to cross the river. He may not attack rashly, and will wait for the other 20,000 troops to join and then launch a new attack. This gives him time to collect the wheat.

Although Li Sheng had a good idea, he ignored one thing. He did not communicate with his generals of Anxi. Li Sheng was less than thirty years old and was once an unknown general. In fact, it was not important to be young, and it was not important to have a lower position. There were many young generals in Anxi, and there were precedents in commanding senior officers. When Li Qing'an participated in the attack on Xiao Bolu, he was just a lieutenant, and he had led senior officers above General Lang.

Therefore, Li Sheng's lower official position is not a fundamental problem. The key is that he is not a general of the Anxi Army. The Anxi Army has strong combat effectiveness and strict military discipline. If the order is subordinate, he will be in action and stop. This is their advantage. However, the Anxi Army also has an unfavorable side. The main manifestation is that the Anxi Army is relatively xenophobic. Any officer who is not from the Anxi system wants to control this army unless the person is very good, it will be difficult to control this army.

Li Sheng deployed troops and marched, and the Anxi Army obeyed these arrangements according to military discipline, but when it came to real war, some Anxi generals had ideas.

As soon as Li Sheng's order was issued, General Deng Shan stepped forward and bowed: "General Li, although the ambush on the island is good, if the Tubo people attacked with fire, it may be detrimental to the soldiers on the island. Please think twice."

It is normal for subordinates to persuade him, but Deng Shan is extraordinary. He is a veteran who has followed Li Qing'an for many years. He has participated in the Battle of Xiaobolu and the Battle of Shibao City with Li Qing'an. He is very prestigious among these 20,000 troops and is also the General Zhongwu of the Central Army. It can be said that before Li Sheng took over these 20,000 troops, he was the chief general. Now his persuasion means that he opposes Li Sheng's combat plan, but he acts more implicitly and uses a tactful tone to dissuade him.

Only then did Li Sheng realize that he had ignored the opinions of the Anxi Army and was able to communicate effectively with his subordinates was one of the important abilities of the generals. He smiled and said, "General Deng didn't know that although the island was densely forested, Tubo would not use fire attack. This island was the springboard for their attack. If fire attack was used, the Tubo army would not be able to use this island. Secondly, the Tubo army was not good at fire attack. This was limited by the climate of the plateau. Moreover, I also considered the danger of the Tang army on the island, so I only sent a small number of Tang army crossbow soldiers to ambush the island with the purpose of attacking the morale of the Tubo people. I don't know if General Deng can understand this?"

Deng Shan thought for a while and said, "Our Anxi Army all carried small trenchers. Twenty kilograms of stones can be thrown 200 steps away. I think it is enough to block the Tubo army on the shore, so why risk going to the island?"

Li Sheng also knew in his heart that he could not use tough orders to the Anxi Army, otherwise it would arouse disgust among the soldiers. This would be detrimental to the future Jiuqu Defense War. He could only convince them as much as possible, especially Deng Shan has a high prestige in the Anxi Army. If he could support himself, it would play an important role in whether the future battle can be smooth. Thinking of this, Li Sheng whispered in Deng Shan's ear, "The general doesn't know anything. I went to the island to investigate ten days ago..."

Although Deng Shan was still a little skeptical, Li Sheng's boldness and excitement were quite in line with his appetite. He smiled and nodded, "Okay! I agree with General Li's plan to fight, please order General Li."

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When fighting against the Tang army, Dazhalugong liked the enemy to call him Ma Chongying. He advocated strategy when fighting, especially the Han people's strategy made him fascinated. He named himself Ma Chongying, which means he was competing with the Han people.

This time, Ma Chongying made a mistake in attacking Jiuqu. The spies he sent several times received the same information. There were only 15,000 Tuyuhun troops stationed in the Jiuqu area. Ma Chongying knew the Tuyuhun people better than anyone else. At that time, he had nearly 100,000 Tuyuhun troops under his command. The biggest feature of the Tuyuhun army was that they were not brave enough in combat, or timid. They were not as brave as the Tubo army, nor were they as well-trained as the Tang army. They were backward in equipment and had low morale. Once 20% of the casualties occurred, they would often collapse.

It was precisely because of his understanding of the Tuyuhun people that Ma Chongying divided his troops to attack Jiuqu and Dafeichuan. However, it was not until he recovered Wuhai that he received the latest information that an Anxi army of 60,000 had already entered Longyou, and 20,000 of them entered the Jiuqu area to garrison.

In other words, what he faced was not the vulnerable Tuyuhun army, but the elite Anxi Tang army. Although he realized that it would be difficult to occupy Jiuqu with 30,000 Tubo troops, Ma Chongying still decided to test the reality of the Tang army first.

He sent his general Lun Siddhazang to lead his army of 3,000 to disguise as 10,000 people to cross the river in the south, trying to attract the main force of the Tang army to the Shanshikan. This is his usual trick, with more victory than defeat. If the Anxi Army is not familiar with him, he may fall into his trap and allow his main force to cross the river calmly.

Ma Chongying also sent a large number of spies to investigate the situation on the Yellow River. He had received information that about five or six thousand Tang troops appeared on the other side of the Yellow River. In addition, about a thousand Tang troops boarded the Cyclops Island, obviously trying to ambush him. He couldn't help but sneer. Can more than a thousand Tang troops stop him from occupying the Cyclops Island?

He immediately waved his sword and ordered viciously: "The whole army will speed up, and when you reach the shore, you will immediately cross the river and seize the Cyclops Island!"

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Ten thousand Tang troops were divided into two groups, and nine thousand were hiding twenty miles away. Li Sheng led 6,000 Tang troops to appear on the bank of the Yellow River. Another thousand Tang troops carried crossbow arrows and other military supplies to raft the sheepskin rafts on the island.

At this time, Ma Chongying's Tubo army was several miles away, and the spies he sent had already seen through the deployment of the Tang army one by one.

Soon, the vast Tubo army arrived at the bank of the Yellow River. Ma Chongying had ordered it first. The Tubo army blew up the sheepskin or cowhide bags, tied dozens of skin bags into a huge raft, and tied them with thick cowhide. One raft could carry dozens of people to a hundred people. In a moment, more than thirty skin rafts had already been put into the water. Three thousand Tubo army vanished on the raft and paddled towards the Cymbique Island in the river.

The Yellow River in Feiyundu is about five miles wide, with gentle water and flat land on both sides, which can reach the Jiuqu hinterland directly. It is very suitable for large army to cross the river, but long-term paddling consumes physical strength, and when encountering military defense, there is little room for maneuver. In this way, the Cyclone Island in the middle of the river is an excellent transit place. If the Cyclone Island can be occupied, it will be nearly half of the crossing of the river.

At this time, the Tang army's two battalions of 1,000 troops had taken over the first to occupy the Cyclops Island. They were deployed on the two-mile-long island and were ready according to Li Sheng's deployment. Now they were hidden in the dense willow forest. Pingduan Army Crossbow looked at dozens of small black dots on the river and drifted towards this side.

The west bank of the Yellow River is about two miles away from the Cymbique Island. Tubo soldiers are bare-bodied and rowing hard under the dazzling sunlight. Six or seven Tubo soldiers stand at the front of each raft, holding up special iron shields. Behind them are more than twenty Tubo soldiers lit their bows and arrows, preparing to fight against the Tang army.

More than thirty rafts were getting closer and closer to the Cyclone Island, and there were still three hundred steps away from the island. The drum sounds on the raft were ringing, and the drum sounds of the rafts were motivated by the sound of the paddlers. The Tubo army shouted in unison. They shaved their hair and painted their faces, with extremely ferocious faces. The raft suddenly accelerated and became closer to the Cyclone Island, two hundred and fifty steps, two hundred and fifty steps.

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One hundred and fifty steps are the effective killing distance of the Tang army's crossbow arrows. At this time, a sound of clappers sounded on the island, and thousands of Tang army crossbow soldiers fired at the same time. The arrows were like locusts, and a thousand crossbow arrows shot rapidly towards the raft on the river surface.

The six rafts that were walking in the front were first attacked, and the dense rain of arrows was jingling on the shield. Although the Tubo army raised its shield to defend, the Tang army's crossbow arrows were powerful, and thin and sharp crossbow arrows passed through the gap and shot through the chain mail of Tubo soldiers. Soldiers kept screaming and falling into the water.

In particular, the paddlers had no cover on both sides and were naked, and the casualties were particularly serious. Many paddlers were shot to death. The paddlers were spinning in the river and it was difficult to continue moving forward. The paddlers were also shot through by arrows and began to leak air. One paddler was seen with a serious air leakage and could not bear the weight of Tubo soldiers. With a 'Crash!', dozens of Tubo soldiers fell into the water and struggled desperately in the water. They were wearing heavy chain mail and could not float, so they soon sank directly to the bottom of the river.

The Tang army's crossbow arrows were round after round, with dense arrows. Seven rafts had already capsized, and four rafts had no paddles and no more motivation to move forward. They drifted downstream along the river. Despite this, fifteen rafts rushed into the first hundred steps. The drums were like thunder, the shouts were shaking the sky, and the paddles were struggling to get closer and closer to Cyclops Island.

On the other side of the river, Li Sheng stared at the Tubo army's attack on the Swordsman Island with expressionless face. There were only one thousand troops on the Swordsman Island and it was difficult to deploy large island defense weapons. Falling was inevitable. Judging from the current situation, the first batch of Tubo army was about to rush to the island, and his eyes looked at the other side of the river five miles away. Today, the weather was beautiful, and the wind was strong on the river surface, which blew away the fog. The visibility was very good, and the situation on the other side could be clearly seen.

On the other side of the river, more rafts appeared, with more than a hundred black spots. It was obvious that Ma Chongying did not do his best. He only used 30% of the army, and Li Sheng couldn't help but feel a little regretful.

On the river surface, fifteen rafts were shot overturned three more, and twelve rafts had already been in the fifty steps. They were about to reach the shore. The other six rafts behind had also entered within a hundred steps. The vicious faces of Tubo soldiers were clearly visible, and their arrows were also shot towards the island. Some soldiers waved their swords, their eyes widened, and roared hysterically like wild animals.

At this time, the Tang army on the island began to retreat. Their original intention was not to steal the island. Seeing that the Tubo soldiers were about to land, they abandoned the island one after another, carried the injured soldiers and boarded the raft from the other side. A soldier had already boarded the raft, but remembered something, turned around and ran back to the dense forest, cut off the flagpole with a knife, untied the battle flag of the Anxi Army, bent down, and ran towards the riverside with the battle flag. The Tubo army's arrows whizzed over his head and rushed to the riverside. He jumped onto the last raft, and more than a dozen Tang soldiers immediately tried their best to paddle to their shore.

The Tang army soldiers were extremely efficient. They had all evacuated when the Tubo army vanguard was still twenty steps away from the island. They did not wear heavy armor, and the rafts were light and blocky. Twenty rafts quickly drove away from the Cyclops Island.

The Tubo army's victory shouts sounded on the Cyclops Island, and their battle flags fluttered on the island, as if they had won the battle.

A sarcastic sneer appeared in Li Sheng's eyes. His eyes were still staring at nearly a hundred large rafts. They quickly slashed on the river surface. Without the interception of the Tang army, these rafts all entered a hundred steps away from the island. Together with the Tubo soldiers on the island, there were as many as ten thousand people. The time for them to cry was about to come.

On the other side, Ma Chongying saw his army occupying the Cyclops Island as planned, and a smile appeared on his face. Seizing the Cyclops Island means that they were half of the victory. There is a tract of more than ten miles long on the other side that is conducive to landing. Even if the Tang army has a catapult, it is difficult to stop them from landing flexibly. He immediately turned around and said, "Beat the drum and tell the warriors, prepare to attack the other side immediately!"

The huge sound of skin drums rumbled on the shore, which was an order to urge the Tubo army to attack.

The forests on Cyclops Island are dense, and large leather rafts are difficult to pass through the island. Therefore, after the Tubo soldiers landed, one or two people would be left on each leather raft. They paddled the leather rafts across Cyclops Island and went around the other side of the island. Cyclops Island is long and densely covered with reefs on the north side, which is difficult to land. The south side is easy to get on the island, so the leather rafts can only bypass Cyclops from the south. Li Sheng personally went to the island to investigate ten days ago. He found that the entire island was covered with a kind of big-headed willow tree with a huge crown and loose wood. This material is not good for building a house, but it is the best fuel.

Li Sheng had a bold plan in his mind. If the Tubo army really crossed the river from Feiyun, he could use this island as a battlefield.

Just as more than a hundred rafts lined up and bypassed the southern end of the island, several Tang army water ghosts hiding on the island quietly got into the water. They were wearing only a pair of shorts, biting a sharp knife in their mouths, and quickly dived into the water and swam silently under the Tubo army's raft.

At the same time, on the north side of the island, two other water ghosts quietly climbed ashore. They took out a bag of oil paper from a stone cave and quickly opened it. It was all about the fire-induced objects inside.

It is obvious that the Tang army was preparing to attack with fire. The island was covered with willow forests and was extremely flammable. Moreover, when a thousand Tang army came to the island, they brought a lot of tinder oil and coated many branches on the island with tinder oil.

Nearly 10,000 Tubo soldiers were crowded on the east side of Cymbique Island, waiting anxiously for the raft to come, but no matter how they waited, no raft came. Many soldiers were shouting and scolding in anxiety, but they didn't know that most of the raft had sunk, and the sharp sharp knife was the most terrifying natural enemy of the raft.

At this moment, a raging fire suddenly ignited on the south side of Cymbique Island, and the flames soared into the sky. These dry willow forests were covered with tiny oil, and burned at a glance. With the wind, the fire spread rapidly and instantly spread to the entire island. The red flames on the island flew, and the terrible tongues of flames spit out from the woods, swallowing the entire island. More than 10,000 Tubo troops were trapped on the island and had no way to escape. They were so scared that they shouted and trampled on each other. Some of them threw themselves into the Yellow River. More people were instinctively running back to the dense forest, trying to find a raft for escape from the other side, but the other side had long been engulfed by the fire, and the way was blocked by the fire. Thousands of people were trapped in the fire. Under the scorching fire, they let out the final cry of despair.

On both sides of the Yellow River, all the soldiers were stunned. No one expected that the war would turn into such a tragic result. Li Sheng breathed a lightly tone without any slight pride in his eyes. His fire attack plan finally succeeded.
Chapter completed!