Poor Family Chapter 958

  Chapter 958 The Battle to Destroy the Nation (12)

  Unable to discuss with the people, Li Zhizong ordered to continue going south, and the army marched southward in a mighty manner. After walking about eighty miles, Lingzhou City was already seen from a distance. Li Zhizong immediately ordered the army to be stationed on the spot.

All the tribal armies brought their own camel transport teams, carrying all kinds of military supplies, and they all gave orders, and everyone set up camp one after another. Soon, large tents appeared in the wilderness like mushrooms after the rain. The armies are almost all in their own formations, and there is no uniform standard for camping. Some have fences, some have surrounded them with spears, some have dug trenches to bury antlers, and some have nothing at all.

  The army under Li Zhizong's direct control is only 5,000 people, and he also needs to set up a central camp. After thinking for a long time, Li Zhizong finally decided to set up the central camp between the Tuoba tribe and the Xifeng tribe.

  That night, Li Zhizong was writing a letter to the emperor Li Ganshun in the big tent. At this time, a soldier reported outside the door, "Qi Reporting is Commander, and there are Song Army envoys outside to send a letter to the emperor!"

  Li Zhizong quickly stopped writing and asked, "Where is the person?"

   "It's the book of arrows shot, and the person has already left."

   "Where is that letter?"

The soldiers walked into the big tent and presented a letter to Li Zhizong. Li Zhizong quickly opened the letter and read it for a while. It was a letter written by Li Yanqing himself, and there was a translation in Xixia below. .

   Li Zhizong hurriedly asked General Li Duo to come in. Li Duo is also a member of the Tuoba tribe. His full name is Tuoba Liduo. He has participated in many battles against the Song army and its Jin soldiers, and has rich combat experience.

   "The handsome looking for a humble job?" Li Duo asked with a salute.

  Li Zhizong handed him the letter of war, "Li Yanqing sent it just now, take a look!"

  Li Duo took the gauntlet and read it again, and said with a smile: "Is this Li Yanqing trying to test our truth?"

   "Is that war or no war?"

   "Of course it's war. We also want to know the details of the Song Army."

   "But. Do you think it would be better to send that army?"

  Li Duo hesitated for a moment, he is from the Tuoba Department, of course he doesn't want to let the Tuoba Department go, "This task should be handed over to the Fine Seal Department!"

  Li Zhizong also felt it was inappropriate. This arrangement would make the Ministry of Sealing dissatisfied. He thought for a while and said: "Then hang up! Let's see which department volunteers."

   Li Zhizong then ordered the letter of war to be passed on to all the tribes. Not long after, Tuoba Wei walked in, bowed and said, "You are handsome, challenge tomorrow, let us Tuoba tribe try!"

   Li Zhizong was overjoyed, as expected of a young man, he was really competitive.

   "Okay, I'll lead the generals to cheer you on!"

  Generally speaking, a big battle cannot be won or lost in one battle. It is often divided into countless small battles, such as Li Yanqing's proposal to the Xixia Army is one of them.

   This is a bit like a swordsman's duel. The two sides specify the location and the number of participants. Generally speaking, they will not go back on their promises and deliberately falsify. It is meaningless to cheat, and it will not achieve the purpose of the duel.

   The main purpose of a battle is to test the strength of the opponent. The opponent wants to achieve this goal. Of course, it is not ruled out that some troops want to show weakness and deliberately send out weak troops. However, the consequences of doing so are more serious, and it will affect the morale of the main army.

  So this needs to be weighed by the general, but generally speaking, it is to win, and both sides send relatively powerful troops.

  Li Yanqing sent the Longxiang Army, but he personally led 10,000 troops to fight. For this reason, he specially dispatched 3,000 heavy armored infantry.

   But Li Yanqing's real purpose is to test the effect of the firecrackers in actual combat. This army is composed of 5,000 cavalry, 1,000 crossbow troops, 1,000 fireblazers, and 3,000 heavy armored infantry.

The sky emits thousands of rays of light, and the east wind blows fiercely. Li Yanqing stands at the forefront of the army. We can see that he is tall and majestic, with the crimson helmet fringe fluttering in the wind under the gleaming golden helmet, and the corners of his mouth are stretched into a straight line. , the face as cold and hard as granite is full of determination and fearlessness.

"Woo—" The loud and high-pitched horn echoed in the wilderness. This was the order of the Song army to set off. Other horns also sounded in response, and the rumbling drum rang, one after another, one after another, until it hit people's hearts, inspiring people to move forward , Let the morale of the soldiers be high.

   "March, march to the Xixia people!"

He shouted loudly, and the war horse jumped out. Behind him, the battle flag of the Jingzhao Army was covered in the wind. Groups of soldiers of the Song Dynasty rose up and drove straight to the battlefield twenty miles away. The horse galloped, its white mane fluttering, and the cavalry on both sides roared forward like turbulent waves rushing to the coast.

  The weather is fine today, with a few wisps of light clouds floating in the sky, the wind is turning into a westerly wind, and the wind speed is increasing.

   Ten thousand Xixia troops stood quietly on a broad hill. On the highest point of the hill, the Xixia general Tuoba Wei, who was riding high on his horse, stared into the distance.

  Suddenly, he saw a wriggling black line about five miles away, slowly approaching this side, and it became more and more clear. The banners were like clouds, and the armor was cold and bright, 'Five thousand cavalry! He had at most five thousand cavalry. ' In Tuobawei's heart was a sense of pride, he would definitely win this battle.

  The Song army stopped three miles away, and a thousand crossbowmen quickly took their positions, and behind the crossbowmen were a thousand firecrackers.

The integrated phalanx of 3,000 heavy armored infantry is located in the middle, standing in two rows, like two thick iron walls. Behind the team are 5,000 light cavalry, holding long spears, saddle hips and horizontal knives. The imminent murderous aura is lowering its head and roaring, ready to fight at any time.

The two armies are confronting each other, and both sides are accumulating strength and waiting to go. This Xixia cavalry of 10,000 people is the chain armor army of the Tuoba tribe, and it is also the most elite army of the Tuoba tribe that has been maintained for nearly a hundred years. It won't come out easily.

  This time Xixia was facing life and death, and the great chief Tuoba Wanli handed over this century-old chain armor army to his son Tuobawei.

  The strength of this army lies in the armor. They are not equipped with iron plate armor like the iron kite army, but most of them wear chain mail.

In addition, the Xixia sword casting technology is also relatively high, so the main equipment of this army is long swords and spears, but this army also has weaknesses, that is, it is not very flexible, and it is weak when riding and shooting on horseback. They mainly rely on powerful impact Fight fierce battles to defeat the enemy forces.

The cavalry of the Song Army is different. They are well-equipped. Crossbows, armor and spears are the three magic weapons of the Song Army, especially the Northwest Army of the Song Dynasty. They are brave and good at fighting, tall and powerful, and equipped with sharp firearms. main force.

  A gust of wind blew across the empty battlefield, and the flying dust stained the sky into smoky gray, but the two armies still did not move. Tuoba Wei, the general of Xixia, was waiting, waiting for the Song Army cavalry to go out first to weaken the power of the Song Army's crossbow arrows.

Li Yanqing, the leader of the Song army, was also waiting, waiting with unchanging patience. The Xixia army went out first, and then used crossbows and firecrackers to weaken the enemy's vital strength. The two generals seemed to be competing for patience, to see who could wait until the end .

Time passed bit by bit, moment by moment, and half an hour passed. Li Yanqing's pupils had formed a straight line, but his rock-hard face showed no expression at all. His expression was stern, and there was no order. Don't even move.

Tuoba Wei finally wavered a little, he seemed to faintly heard Xifeng Bieye's sneer, he seemed to be laughing at his lack of courage, youth is his strength, he can be brave and fearless, but youth is also his weakness, lack of depth, in the end Still can't hold back.

  Finally, he raised his saber slowly, and three words popped out from his tight lips: 'Attack! '

  The Xixia Army, which had superior cavalry, finally attacked first, 'Boom! The beeping of the skin drum was shocking, and the cavalry of the Xixia Army with a row of 200 people slowly started to form a square formation of 50 rows, filled with murderous aura, every soldier's eyes were dead gray, Holding a shield in his left hand and a spear in his right, he urged the horse to drive towards the Song army step by step, faster and faster, with the long sword held high, shining coldly in the sun.

  At this time, the rapid drums sounded, and the cavalry began to run at an increasing speed. The team also began to disperse, turning into a huge square formation, but it was not completely scattered.

  This cavalry team fights with a battalion of 200 people, so no matter how fast the speed is, the formation will not be chaotic. Only in this way, after entering the enemy's formation, the cavalry can fight as a group.

This is also the speed that Li Yanqing expects. The opponent maintains formation, which happens to be their live target. Li Yanqing silently calculates the range of the firecracker. Shout out: "Ready to shoot!"

  The command of the commander was immediately responded, a thousand guns were lifted up, and the soldiers half-kneeled on the ground, aiming at the rushing enemy cavalry.

   At the same time, a thousand crossbowmen also raised their crossbows, waiting for the order to shoot.

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end