Although Lan Yu was arrogant, he had the demeanor of a great general.
When he saw the Arab Empire's ambush troops surging towards the battlefield of Talas from all directions, his handsome face remained unchanged, showing no fear.
Lan Yu threw his head back and laughed wildly, "Hahaha, you barbarian tribes think you can make this general surrender? What a joke!"
"Left and Right Guards, listen to my command!"
"Your subordinate is here!"
"Follow me to slay the enemy commander and seize his banner!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
Even at this point, Lan Yu still did not consider breaking out and retreating as soon as possible. Instead, he reorganized his troops and continued to attack the enemy, showing the true colors of a great general.
Under Lan Yu's command, his left and right guards (personal soldiers) once again formed a wedge formation with Lan Yu as the single arrowhead, wielding their spears and swords, and launched a charge against the enemy's main general, Turhong.
In an instant, shouts of battle filled the air.
"You don't know what's good for you!"
Turhun grinned maliciously, pointed his broadsword forward, and roared, "Warriors of the Abbasid Caliphate, follow me and slay the enemy general!"
"Whoever kills the enemy's commander-in-chief, Lan Yu, will be rewarded with a thousand pieces of gold!"
The two commanders led their personal guards into the heart of the battle, charging into the fray. The soldiers, their eyes already bloodshot, sat on their horses, repeating the primitive actions of thrusting and slashing.
You slash me with your sword, I stab you with my sword, until the other is cut down from his horse, or is cut down from his horse, until death do us part.
On the outskirts of Talas, 500,000 Arab soldiers, who had been lying in ambush from all directions, charged toward the center of the battlefield, roaring and charging forward.
With the 500,000-strong Arab Empire army joining the battle, the disparity in troop strength between the two sides had reached a terrifying 20 to 1, and the numerical disadvantage of the Tang cavalry was being magnified.
Under repeated attacks from an enemy force dozens of times their size, the formation of the 30,000 Anxi cavalry under the command of Lan Yu, the Marquis of Anxi of the Tang Dynasty, was constantly being divided and eroded by the enemy, becoming smaller and smaller.
"General, the enemy's numbers are simply too great. If we continue fighting like this, our army will eventually be exhausted and defeated!"
"General, prepare to break out!"
Gradually, as the Tang cavalry's defensive lines continued to shrink, Tan Li and Luo Quan, the two deputy generals of the Anxi Protectorate (Northern Prefecture), also led their respective left and right guards towards General Lan Yu. Eventually, the main generals of the army joined forces.
"General, you lead the troops to break through the encirclement, I will stay behind to cover the rear!"
As they spoke, Changxin Marquis Zuo Liangcai, who was already covered in blood from the fighting, led his last remaining cavalry unit and charged to Lan Yu's side.
Zuo Liangcai, who was supposed to succeed Lan Yu as the deputy military governor of the Anxi Protectorate (Northern Prefecture) on this trip to the Western Regions, took the initiative to stay behind to cover Lan Yu's retreat, which meant he was prepared to disregard his own life and death.
After this battle, Zuo Liang finally realized the gap between himself and Lan Yu.
He asked himself honestly, if he, Zuo Liangcai, were to fight against an enemy force dozens of times larger than himself with such inferior troops, he would probably have been completely annihilated by the enemy long ago.
However, General Lan Yu, with a mere 30,000 Tang cavalrymen, was still able to maintain the morale of his troops and prevent them from collapsing when facing a fierce attack from hundreds of thousands of Arab cavalrymen.
He even led his left and right guards to charge into the enemy's central camp, forcing the enemy's commander to personally lead his horse into battle.
If enemy reinforcements hadn't suddenly appeared, it would have been hard to say who would have won.
Based on this alone, Zuo Liangcai clearly realized the gap between himself and Lan Yu.
In order for the Tang Dynasty to regain control of the Silk Road in the Western Regions, Zuo Liangcai was willing to stay behind to cover Lan Yu's retreat, leaving behind this fierce general for the Tang Dynasty and the vanguard for the counterattack against the Arab Empire.
"Lord Changxin, I appreciate your kindness, but—"
Lan Yu, mounted on horseback, slew a charging Persian cavalryman with a single stroke before replying, "Since I began following His Majesty in conquering the world, I have never before allowed my comrades to cover my retreat and die for me."
"Even if a general of the Great Tang Dynasty is about to die on the battlefield, he must die on the way to the charge!"
With that, Lan Yu shouted sharply, "All soldiers of the Great Tang, listen to my command—"
"Your subordinate is here!"
"Follow me in one more charge, slay the enemy commander, and seize his banner!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
Having said that, Lan Yu, brandishing his ring-pommel sword and raising his arms in a shout, charged out first, his target being Turhong, the Abbasid Caliphate's Grand General of the Eastern Expedition.
Immediately afterward, Vice Generals Tan Li and Luo Quan also followed General Lan Yu's lead and charged forward on horseback without hesitation, having already disregarded their own lives.
Seeing this, Marquis Changxin, Zuo Liangcai, also let out a long roar, then spurred his horse to follow in Lan Yu's footsteps, and pointed his blade at the enemy's commander, Turhong.
In an instant, these four seasoned Tang generals gathered their personal guards and formed an invincible force, directly attacking the enemy commander, Turhong.
At the same time, hundreds of thousands of Arab troops on the periphery launched their final encirclement and annihilation attack on the 30,000 Tang cavalry.
The sounds of fighting, wailing, the mournful neighing of warhorses, and the piercing cries of falcons circling low overhead mingled and echoed across the Talas wilderness.
Boom!
The next moment, a bolt of lightning ripped through the sky. The thick, dark clouds, finally unable to withstand the accumulated rain, unleashed a torrential downpour that poured down on the long-parched Talas Gobi Desert from afar.
The long-awaited downpour relentlessly pounded the soldiers on both sides of the battlefield, washing away the blood-stained brown sand and revealing its original color. Streams of dark red water converged and flowed into the distance.
By this point in the fierce battle, most of the 30,000 Tang cavalry had perished. The remaining 2,000 to 3,000 Anxi cavalry, led by General Lan Yu and several other valiant Tang generals, continued to fight fiercely against the powerful enemy from beyond the borders. In their final moments, they still upheld their vow to protect every inch of the Tang Dynasty's land.
Hahaha!
On horseback, Lan Yu roared to the sky, wiped his face from the rain, and said with a bitter smile, "Today's defeat at Talas is not because I, Lan Yu, am not brave enough, nor because the soldiers of the Great Tang Anxi Iron Cavalry are not brave enough!"
"Heaven intends to destroy me, Lan Yu; I have no choice but to perish."
"But I, Lan Yu, will never admit defeat, and I will never surrender!"
"With Huo Qubing, the Champion General of the Tang Dynasty, here, who dares to be insolent?"
Suddenly, as Lan Yu roared to the sky, she seemed to faintly hear someone shouting loudly outside the battlefield.
Subsequently, the other Tang generals also listened attentively.
"With Huo Qubing, the Champion General of the Tang Dynasty, here, who dares to be insolent?"
"With Huo Qubing, the Champion General of the Tang Dynasty, here, who dares to be insolent?"
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