Chapter 639: Shangdang Battle (I)

Perhaps because of the arrival of Tang reinforcements, the Yan army began to retreat east overnight. In the night, Li Qing'an and dozens of generals stared at the enemy's mobilization on the walls of Fuchengguan. The lights on the whistle towers were extinguished one after another, and the other side returned to darkness. At this time, a carrier pigeon flew from the other side, and the scout from the other side sent the news.

"General, latest information!"

A school captain handed a pigeon letter to Li Qing'an. The two personal soldiers hurriedly raised the torch. Li Qing'an opened the pigeon letter and looked at it, and said to everyone: "This is the news from the scouts of Liangmazhai. Li Huaixian's army has retreated to Liangmazhai first."

Li Siye frowned and said, "I heard that An Qingxu has arrived in the opponent's army. This should be An Qingxu who replaced Li Guiren's main general. Only he can coordinate Li Huaixian to withdraw his troops at the same time."

"Are you worried that they will start to cooperate sincerely again?" Li Qingan asked with a smile.

Li Siye nodded, "I am indeed a little worried. An Lushan should have also realized the conflict between Li Huaixian and Li Guiren, so An Qingxu was the main general. With An Qingxu in the middle and reconciling, the conflict between the two Lis is likely to be eliminated."

Li Qingan smiled and shook his head, "It's useless for An Qingxu to come. At most, they just reconcile on the surface, withdrawing troops and marching may be fine, but once it involves the vital interests of both sides, such as fierce fighting, their conflicts will be revealed. This is not only a conflict between them, but also the interests of both sides. Their interests are irreconcilable. I firmly believe that."

"Maybe! The general considers the problem differently than us, and may be able to see through it."

Li Qingan smiled and said, "Tomorrow morning, let's go and see Li Guiren's camping, and we should have more gains."

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As the sky gradually became brighter, and news came from scouts on the other side that all the soldiers of the Yan army retreated through Liangmazhai and headed towards Shangdang. Liangmazhai was about 80 miles east of Qinshui. The terrain was dangerous and both offensive and defensive. The Yan army's withdrawal from Liangmazhai meant that they had indeed retreated to Luzhou. Li Qing'an immediately ordered the Northern Tang army to cross the river.

Within two hours, the engineering battalion of the Northern Tang Army built two floating bridges on the Qinshui River, and the army began to cross the river quickly. Li Qing'an ordered the general Li Fei Yuanli to be the vanguard and lead 10,000 cavalrymen to lead him to take down Liangmazhai within half a day. Li Fei Yuanli immediately took the order and led 10,000 cavalrymen to gallop towards Liangmazhai.

Li Qing'an and Li Siye came to Li Guiren's camp. Li Guiren seemed to realize that Li Qing'an would come to check his camp. He cleaned up before leaving without any valuable information, but this is what shows Li Guiren's careful side.

Seeing that Li Qing'an's personal soldiers were measuring the distance between the sentry towers, Li Siye couldn't help but walk up and smiled: "This is the details of the general that determine success or failure."

Li Qingan also walked up and smiled, "Although Li Guiren thought he had wiped out all the traces, removed the stove, and filled the well, I could still get a lot of useful information from this sentry tower."

Li Siye said curiously: "I only heard about it in detail."

Li Qingan smiled, walked up to ask his personal soldiers and said, "How many seats have you measured?"

"Report to the general, we have measured five."

"Enough, give me the measurement results."

A personal lieutenant handed a measurement board to Li Qing'an. The measurement board was square, with more than a dozen pages of paper on it, and a standard table was drawn on it. This was one of the measurement tables designed by Li Qing'an himself. It was specially designed for the measurement of enemy sentry towers, as well as dozens of tables, including camps, grain warehouses, sheep and horse pens, etc. After the special measurement team was completed, it was handed over to the staff camp for analysis and summary, and finally obtained various accurate information.

This method has not been promoted in Anxi, and it was only implemented after he entered the Central Plains, so it was also the first time Li Siye saw it.

Li Qingan looked at the data and smiled at Li Siye: "As I guessed, the spacing between each two towers is 100 steps, without any deviation. Although the tower has been removed and does not know the height, we can still find some clues."

Li Qing'an walked to a sentry tower. The floating soil on the surface of the sentry tower had been cleaned up, revealing four pile holes with black holes. He pointed to the pile holes and smiled at Li Siye: "These pile holes can also reveal many secrets. First, the four piles are all eight feet apart, which is very accurate. Moreover, the five sentry towers are the same, and the hole depth is the same. My personal soldiers have measured it. Each hole depth is 12 feet apart, and the twenty pile holes of the five sentry towers are the same. Although there is a difference of one or two inches, you don't need to consider it. What does this mean? Did General Li think of it?"

Li Siye pondered for a moment and said, "There is no need for Li Guiren to deliberately measure the depth of the hole. It can explain one thing: all his bottom piles are the same length, and there are scales on the piles, so it is so accurate."

Li Siye was also frightened by his own inference. He exclaimed: "Does this Li Guiren even have a prescribed standard? This is incredible."

Li Qing'an shook his head and said, "It is from these details that I can infer Li Guiren's combat style. This person follows the rules and regulations in the battle, and everything will be done according to the planned plan. He is even a bit rigid and not good at sending surprise troops. The advantage is that his army is well-trained and will be a strong enemy when the two armies confront each other. The south side of the camp should be the garrison of Cai Xide's army, which is obviously much messy. He does not pay attention to rules in all aspects and is very casual. He even did not burn some information when he evacuated, which is in sharp contrast with Li Guiren's army. This shows that the military appearance of Cai Xide's army is the weakest brigade among the three armies. We need to observe its distribution of troops. If possible, we might as well eat Cai Xide's army first."

Li Siye was so pleased to surrender. In his opinion, Li Guiren had wiped out all the traces and would not gain anything. However, he did not expect that Li Qingan could infer so much useful information from the details of a sentry tower, which was reasonable and very persuasive. He couldn't help but sigh: "As long as you are with the general, you will gain every time, and you will be taught by humble vocation."

At this time, a team of scout cavalry rushed from afar and rushed to Li Qing'an. They dismounted one after another, and half-kneeled to Li Qing'an and said, "Report to the general, there is the latest information!"

"speak!"

"We found that there was a Yan army stationed in Changzi County, 200 miles southeast, with about 5,000 people."

After thinking about it, Li Qing'anluo understood that Changzi County was located between Changping Pass and Shangdang, but it was not on the road that was necessary. This must be because the other party had discovered that Li Guangbi's army had arrived at Changping Pass, so he stationed troops in Changzi County. If Li Guangbi's army participated in the battle for Shangdang, then this Changzi County garrison would inevitably pose a serious threat to Li Guangbi's rear army supplies.

Li Siye also realized the danger of this army, so he folded his fists and volunteered: "General, let Bei Zhi remove the Yan Army of Changzi County!"

"Okay, let's try fighting a war first and explore the reality of the enemy!"

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Changzi County is located about forty miles southwest of Shangdang, on the north bank of Zhuozhang River. The terrain here is high in the west and low in the east, gradually moving from hilly areas to plain areas. The county town of Changzi County is not large, with about two thousand civilians in the city. When Li Guiren's army massacred the people of Shangdang County, tens of thousands of people in Changzi County were basically gone. When Li Guiren's general Ashina led 10,000 cavalry to Changzi County, the county town had become an empty city, leaving only more than 70 elderly people who would rather die than leave their hometown.

Currently, the Yan army stationed in Changzi County has a total of 5,300 people, basically all of them Khitans, led by the Khitan noble Yelu Chongguang. As Li Qing'an inferred, the reason why Li Guiren stationed 5,000 troops in Changzi County was to target Li Guangbi's army.

Like other counties in Hedong, Changzi County has been quiet and without war for a hundred years, and the county has become very old after being disrepaired. The county walls cannot defend against the attacks of the army and only play a role of decoration.

Since Changzi County is very close to Shangdang, Li Siye's attack can be called a sneak attack. Late at night, eight thousand cavalrymen ran in the hilly canyons. Gradually, the terrain began to flatten. There was a bright river ahead, which was the Zhuo Zhang River. After running for a day and a night, the cavalry had already passed Fajiu Mountain and was only twenty miles away from Changzi County. The Northern Tang cavalry gradually slowed down.

They stopped in a large forest of dense woods, and while they were waiting for news of the scouts, Li Siye stood under a big tree and stared at the East with his eyes focused.

Although this was just a small battle, it was Li Siye's first battle to quell the An Lushan rebellion, and it was of great significance to him. Li Siye had already breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. He wanted to use a real battle to prove his strength.

"Here you come!"

Wei Boyu, the deputy general beside him, saw that under the moonlight, several cavalrymen were rushing towards this side. After a moment, several scouts rushed to the dense forest, and a team was turning over and dismounting to report to Li Siye: "Report to the general, about 5,000 enemy troops were divided into two, half were stationed in the camp outside the northern city, and the other half were stationed in the city. At present, they had no movement and did not find us."

"How is the defense of the county town?"

"Report to the general, the city wall of the county is two zhang high and very dilapidated. It has a moat, but the moat in Dongcheng is only one zhang wide. Moreover, the Dongcheng Gate is under renovation and there is no suspension bridge, so you can directly knock the city gate."

"Okay! Go and investigate again."

With a command from Li Siye, several cavalrymen turned their horses and continued to go east.

At this time, Li Siye convened a brief meeting, and dozens of officers above the lieutenant gathered beside him. Li Siye said to everyone in a deep voice: "Today is our first direct battle with the Yan army. We fight with more and less, and victory is inevitable. The key is what kind of victory. According to the general's order, Li Guiren's army did not accept surrender, so I asked to annihilate the enemy and repay the merits with the heads. Time is one hour. After one hour, whether all the enemy troops are annihilated or not, we must return. Those who violate the order will be killed!"

Everyone bowed and bowed and said, "Abide by the order!"

Li Siye waved his hand and said, "Okay, let's go now, don't stop, use the thunder to smash the camp outside the city first!"

The eight thousand cavalry set out in groups, running towards Changzi County along the Zhuozhang River.

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The military camp outside the northern city of Changzi County was very quiet. It was less than 4 o'clock in the morning. It was the most sleeping moment for the soldiers. The entire camp was dark and silent. Only a few large lanterns were lit in front of the gate of the military camp, shaking in the night with the wind. More than a dozen sentrymen patrolled back and forth. Although the location of Changzi County was slightly off and was a relatively safe area, the garrison still did not dare to be careless. Eight sentry towers were erected around the camp, including the patrol sentry in the county, with very tight defenses.

It was very windy at night, and the strong wind made a harsh whistling sound in the night sky. Suddenly, a sentry on the sentry seemed to hear something and shouted loudly. Just as the sentry was shouting, the beacon tower on the top of the city suddenly ignited a raging fire, and the flames rushed straight to the night sky.

"Do!Do!Do!"

The sharp bell rang on the four west huts at the same time. The sentry discovered the enemy situation almost at the same time. At this time, the ground under his feet began to tremble slightly, and the sound of horse hooves like thunder came from the distance. The entire camp was alarmed. Two thousand five hundred Khitan soldiers shouted and rushed out of the camp tent. Many were naked, holding spears in their hands.

Eight thousand cavalrymen were as fast as thunder, sweeping towards the enemy camp with a scattered momentum. Hundreds of Khitan crossbowmen had just rushed to the front of the camp gate, and the Tang army had already rushed a hundred steps away. The overwhelming arrows shot into the camp gate. Hundreds of Khitan crossbowmen were caught off guard and were shot to the ground. The remaining hundreds of people turned around and fled when they saw that the situation was not good.

The Tang cavalry had rushed to thirty steps away and quickly spread out to both sides of the camp. Hundreds of ropes were siege towards the fence and put them on the fence. The cavalry pulled each other hard. Amid the shouts, the camp fence fell down with a loud bang, and a hole dozens of feet wide appeared on both sides of the north and south.

Eight thousand cavalrymen jumped across the trenches and rushed into the Khitan camp like a surging tide. Li Siye raised his sword and shouted loudly, "Kill! No one left."

The Northern Tang army roared, slashed with swords and spears, and the heads rolled down, blood flowed into a river. The cavalry group flatted the camp tents, opened bows and shot arrows, and the running Khitans screamed and fell to the ground when they were shot in the back. Then the heads of the Tang cavalry that chased them were chopped off and fled away.

The sheep and horse pen in the camp was first occupied by the Tang army, leaving the Khitans without horses to ride and could only run and escape on their legs. The Tang soldiers were extremely brave and chased the Khitan soldiers running barefoot from all directions.

At this moment, the Tang cavalry showed no mercy. Each of them became the embodiment of the god of death. Many Khitan soldiers knelt on the ground and raised their hands to surrender, but the war horses jumped over their heads, and the cold light slashed them, chopping them off the heads of the Khitans who were kneeling on the ground and begging for mercy.

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To be continued...