Chapter 16 Mare Strategy 666
Because of the poems of Li Bai and Du Fu, everyone in the Tang Dynasty knew about them for a while. The Uighurs flatly rejected An Lushan, the rebel, and wanted to send 100,000 troops to the Tang Dynasty.
Li Heng was overjoyed when he knew about it. Although he knew that the 100,000 was probably a fictitious number, since it was called 100,000, there must be 30,000 or 50,000 of them.
Moreover, the nomadic peoples of the grasslands are better at cavalry combat. They are all strong and can be considered elite soldiers.
Therefore, when the Uighur prince Yehu led his envoys to Lingwu to meet Li Heng, the Uighur entourage was warmly welcomed and entertained by the Tang people.
From palace maids, servants to ministers, including the emperor in front of them, everyone was very friendly to them and had smiles on their faces.
At this time, Prince Yehu, who was meeting the emperor in the palace, scratched his head, very confused.
Although I don’t understand what’s going on, I still have to say what I need to say.
Prince Yehu quickly said proudly that they had rejected An Lushan and decided to help the Tang Dynasty, and led 4,000 cavalrymen over.
What Prince Yehu meant was: See, are you touched by my brother’s loyalty?
Can't you give us some more benefits?
However, after listening to this, Li Heng blurted out subconsciously:
“Only four thousand?!
What about the other 100,000 troops?"
"What 100,000 troops?"
What do you mean only four thousand? Four thousand is the wealth of his grassland tribe.
What's wrong with this Tang Dynasty emperor? He complains that they don't have enough help?
However, the ministers next to him had a similar reaction to Li Heng at this time. They all asked him whether these 4,000 were the vanguard troops and whether the other 100,000 troops would be brought later.
Prince Yehu: Huh?
Prince Yehu, who was confused, finally understood what was going on and was immediately dissatisfied:
"What 100,000 troops? Where did the Uighurs get 100,000 troops?
Who is spreading the rumor?"
“But everyone in the world is saying this!
Our Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai learned about this and, along with other scholars, composed poems and music for you Huihe people. Now, you can hear them singing in the streets of Xijing."
Prince Yehu was shocked after hearing this.
Seeing that he didn't believe it, Li Heng immediately asked the actors to perform several poems by Du Fu and Li Bai on the spot.
Now, after more than a hundred years of integration, the nobles of the grassland tribes will also learn the Tang Dynasty culture.
After listening to these majestic Uighur poems, the entire envoy team was confused and dizzy.
The level of the Immortal Poet praising others in his lyrics is certainly unique. Just listening to it, one feels the majestic momentum and wishes one could immediately lead an army of 100,000 to the battlefield to serve the Tang Dynasty.
No, wait, why would the Huihe people give it away for free? How many people are there on their grassland?
Don’t you Tang Dynasty have no army?
After all, this is all an internal conflict within the Tang Dynasty. They came here for money, food and women.
Ye Hu drank a glass of wine to calm himself down. Just as he was about to speak, Li Mi, who had assumed the responsibility of Prime Minister, immediately stood up and said:
“Poems like this will surely be recorded in history books in the future.
The achievements and righteousness of the Huihe and Yehu princes will surely be sung by everyone and passed down through the ages!"
Even the grassland tribes could not withstand such praise.
Prince Yehu felt as if he was floating on the clouds.
It seems really difficult to ask the Tang Dynasty emperor for gold, silver and treasures directly?
So Ye Hu gritted his teeth and said:
"Eight thousand cavalry plus two thousand infantry! My Huihe people don't have as many as you do, but this is all we have!"
Indeed, this should be the wealth of the Uighurs.
Li Heng nodded, praised the Uighurs, and promised that he would definitely reward the Uighur tribe when he returned to Chang'an.
However, the people of the grassland did not buy his empty promises, and Prince Yehu was not stupid.
Especially since they had sent out a full 8,000 troops, Prince Yehu's heart was bleeding. Even if Li Bai's poems were praised, he quickly put forward his own conditions:
"These gold and silver treasures are far from enough. I, the Huihe tribe, can send troops, but I will only allow my Huihe tribe to plunder Chang'an after I capture it!
I, the Huihe people, can send troops, but the conditions are here. If His Majesty the Emperor does not agree, we will leave now!"
…
Li Shimin, the former chief of the Asian villages and the Khan of Heaven, had no idea at this time that the Uighurs dared to ask for such a high price, and he had no idea that his good grandson Li Heng actually agreed to it!
At this time, he was leading Yan Zhenqing and the newly recruited soldiers, lying in ambush in a dense woods outside Taiyuan City.
Originally, the new soldier had not received much training and he did not intend to start fighting right away.
But before entering the city, Li Shimin rode forward to investigate and happened to run into the enemy commander Shi Siming, who was challenging the cavalry sent by Li Guangbi in Taiyuan City.
It is not uncommon in war for one side to send out troops and horses to curse the enemy after being unable to capture the city for a long time, trying to get the other side to send troops.
Li Shimin did not attack rashly, but instead observed the situation of the Tang army.
He had heard before that Li Guangbi had defeated a larger force with a smaller one several times while defending Taiyuan, and he must have been a fierce general.
Therefore, Li Shimin did not take the initiative to expose himself, but instead lay in ambush outside and wait for the opportunity.
Sure enough, he saw Li Guangbi sent people to open the city gate, but no soldiers came out. Instead, hundreds of horses were sent out?
What is the purpose of this?
Li Shimin was confused. When he saw the soldiers leading all the young foals away from the mares, hundreds of mares suddenly neighed.
Li Shimin immediately understood and exclaimed in his heart how wonderful it was.
"What's going on? Why are you treating the foal like this? Poor Mama!"
[I don't know what you're doing, but holy fathers, that's enough. This is ancient times, people can't even survive, and you're not sympathizing with the horses first?]
[Wait, the opponent's horse seems to be moving? Holy shit, this is out of control!]
It turned out that many of Shi Siming's cavalrymen on the opposite side used uncastrated stallions.
These horses were fiery and difficult to tame, and when they heard the neighing of hundreds of mares, the stallions couldn't help themselves.
No matter how the cavalrymen scolded and roared, or even whipped the horses with swords, the stallions, controlled by their animal instincts, all became horny, kicking and jumping, and galloping towards their beloved mares at all costs.
Horses are actually very lethal.
Not to mention deliberately throwing someone off the ground, even a strong kick with its hind legs would at least cause a person to have a broken bone, or even die directly.
Now, with over a thousand stallions in heat at the same time, it's simply a horror story!
Many cavalrymen were killed or injured by their horses, and many unlucky ones fell down and were trampled dozens of times by the horses. The cavalry unit was in chaos.
At this moment, Li Guangbi sent infantrymen armed with Modao and spears to attack the enemy cavalry.
[So this is the importance of using castrated horses!
The Tang Dynasty army also had colts, but compared to An Lushan, who had been stationed in northern Yan and the grasslands, the number of male horses was much smaller.
[Anyway, after this battle, the ancients would probably learn a lesson and castrate all the war horses, hahaha!
Because of Li Guangbi, all the war horses lost their testicles, so tragic!
Li Guangbi was truly remarkable. Every time he met Shi Siming, Shi Siming always had an absolute numerical advantage and thought he had it all figured out. However, Shi Siming was ultimately defeated each time.
[Hahaha, this is a horoscope specifically designed to counter Shi Siming. Li Guangbi should change his name to Shi Siming, a professional bug character.]
[Oh, of course, except for the time when Li Heng stabbed him in the back, Li Guangbi could have been outnumbered.]
When Li Shimin saw this, he gritted his teeth again and gave Li Heng, his great-grandson, a severe punishment.
Then, seeing that the opportunity was right, he immediately led his cavalry to charge.
Li Guangbi sent out mostly infantry, but at this time Li Shimin's 1,000 heavily armored cavalry made up for the disadvantage of the infantry's poor charging ability.
He quickly outflanked the cavalry's rear, cutting off the enemy's retreat and causing further chaos.
At the same time, Li Shimin ordered the new recruits in the rear to set fire to the jungle, causing billowing smoke and dust, making it difficult for the enemy to tell the exact number of reinforcements.
Sure enough, Shi Siming immediately panicked. Even though he led an army of 70,000, he felt insecure and quickly defended and withdrew his troops.
Taking advantage of the gaps in the enemy's formation, Li Shimin was the first to ride his horse into the enemy's infantry, tearing a hole in the infantry's defensive formation.
Yan Zhenqing, who was following behind, had just killed a rebel when he looked up again to see that his own prince Li Shimin had rushed into the enemy's infantry formation of tens of thousands of people and was almost out of reach.
Yan Zhenqing's eyes went dark, and he almost couldn't breathe. He quickly spurred his horse to chase after him:
"Your Highness! Your Highness, wait for me, Your Highness!"
There was already chaos on the field, and Yan Zhenqing was more interested in literature, so fighting on the battlefield was not his strong point. The more anxious he was, the more he couldn't catch up with Li Shimin.
So all they could do was watch their commander run further and further away from the enemy battle group like a wild horse that had broken free from its reins...
"General Lee, General Lee! Your Highness is trapped among the enemy infantry!"
Save my life!
Oh my God, please help him!
Yan Zhenqing was extremely anxious, but fortunately at this time, Li Guangbi also heard Yan Zhenqing's urgent call.
Even Li Bai, who was guarding the city wall, immediately came down from the tower when he heard the name of His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan, and rushed into the enemy army with a sword in hand.
"Your Highness the Prince of Yan! I will be here soon!"
Li Guangbi was also surprised. He had heard before about Li Shimin's glorious victory in defending Chang'an with a smaller force and was very impressed.
But at the time, he had thought that people like His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan would command the rear of the army. Who would have thought that Li Shimin would bravely charge into the enemy's main force?!
Li Guangbi quickly rode his horse and caught up with a sword in hand, covering Li Shimin as he led the cavalry in charging in and out of the army, and he forcibly broke through the enemy's infantry formation twice.
Then Li Shimin seized the opportunity and shot down the battle flag next to Shi Siming with an arrow.
[Oh, I get it! This is called attacking the enemy crystal!]
Our Er Feng's fighting style is truly hard to describe. No wonder he told others not to imitate him!
You said Er Feng was lucky to win with fewer players this time, but if he can do it every time, it can't all be attributed to luck, right?
[Yeah, after watching Erfeng's fighting style, I think it's simple. If Erfeng can do it, I can do it too!
Then Erfeng's cousin Li Daoxuan followed his example and ended up killing himself.
Is this equivalent to the difference between a genius and a poor student when solving problems? 】
[Er Feng is awesome! This is the God of War's ultimate talent!]
While Tianmu was discussing this, Shi Siming's side had already suffered a great defeat, and Shi Siming led the remaining troops in a rout and escape.
Of the 70,000 troops that originally came out to provoke, more than 10,000 were captured by Li Shimin's side, and all the horses were returned to Taiyuan.
This great victory was a great relief. After returning to the city, Li Guangbi and others finally paid a proper visit to Li Shimin.
Li Guangbi laughed heartily and praised sincerely:
"I have only heard that His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan is a master of military strategy, but seeing is believing!
Your Highness's bravery in killing the enemy on the battlefield is somewhat similar to that of Emperor Taizong of Qin."
[Hahaha, you are flattering the horse's hoof!
It's fine if you say that Li Shimin's style is like Li Shimin, but what do you mean by slightly similar?
Are you saying that the current Li Shimin is only slightly comparable to his past self, just a little? Is that a compliment or an insult?]
Li Shimin: ………
Li Shimin's expression froze for a moment, but soon he nodded happily as if nothing had happened.
Everyone was very happy after returning from this battle with a great victory.
Soon, Jiedushi Li Guangbi, Taiyuan Yin Wang Chengye and others served wine to welcome Prince Yan. After drinking the wine, Li Bai's eyes were shining, and he looked at Li Shimin with starry eyes.
He didn't know what Emperor Taizong would have looked like when he was here, but seeing His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan sitting here made him feel that all the other people and generals seemed to be lost in the crowd.
Even if a saint were here, he would be overshadowed by Li Shimin's brilliance.
After all, it was wartime, and the alcohol content of the wine was not high. After three rounds of drinks, Li Shimin was chatting warmly with everyone when suddenly, Li Bai, who was slightly intoxicated, came up and said:
"Your Highness, I am an untalented person. I just saw Your Highness killing the enemy on the battlefield and got drunk.
I present to you the eleven songs of "Yan Wang Po Zhen Ge."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
