With the arrival of the two rebel cavalry units, the previously eerie and peaceful scene on the Jiapigou battlefield was instantly shattered.
More than 15,000 imperial guards, under the command of their commander Zhao Zilong, turned their spears and aimed their spears directly at the oncoming rebel cavalry.
The vast battlefield of Jiapigou outside Juyongguan Pass was an ideal place for both armies' cavalry to accelerate their charge.
Facing a rebel cavalry force several times their size, the Tang Dynasty's light and heavy cavalry formation, composed of the Xuanjia Army and the Iron Pagoda Army, showed no fear. Under the guidance of their commander Zhao Zilong, they spurred their horses and charged to meet the enemy.
Clad in silver armor and helmet, and wielding the Dragon Gallant Silver Spear, Zhao Zilong took the lead, becoming the spearhead of the Tang cavalry's wedge formation.
With a deafening roar, Zhao Zilong, clad in silver armor and riding a white horse, charged into the enemy ranks like a silver lightning bolt.
boom--
After a violent collision, the imperial guards cavalry and the Youyun rebel cavalry finally clashed.
In an instant, Zhao Zilong's Dragon Gallant Silver Spear pierced through the armor of a rebel cavalryman, knocking him off his horse.
That's not all!
Every time Zhao Zilong thrust his spear, it was accompanied by the force of thunder. Wherever the spear tip passed, no rebel cavalryman, whether general or soldier, could withstand it, and they were all cut down from their horses.
Zhao Zilong charged into the enemy ranks alone on horseback, as if he were in an empty field.
The Dragon Gallant Silver Spear seemed to come alive in his hands, sometimes thrusting, sometimes sweeping, every strike was incredibly precise, and every swing was accompanied by the end of a life.
Whether it was the cavalry of the Youyun rebels or the soldiers of the Turkic iron cavalry, when faced with Zhao Zilong, who moved like a ghost through their own cavalry formation, they could only watch helplessly as he reaped the lives of their soldiers. Horror and despair were written on the faces of every rebel cavalryman who approached Zhao Zilong.
Zhao Zilong's valiant performance on the battlefield was witnessed by Emperor Zhaowu, Chen Huai'an, who was watching the battle from the city wall of Juyong Pass.
Looking at Zhao Zilong, who was destined to be the focus of everyone's attention on the battlefield, Chen Huai'an couldn't help but think of a deceased person—the last martial arts champion and top three martial arts master of the Great Xin Dynasty.
Chen Huai'an clearly remembered that Wu Sanjia was also skilled in using a Dragon Gallant Silver Spear.
Back then, outside Zhuozhou City, Wu Sanjia also displayed a remarkable spear technique.
However, once the true owner of the Dragon Gallant Silver Spear appeared, Wu Sanjia's amazing performance on the battlefield seemed to pale in comparison.
In this world, there is probably no one else who can wield the Dragon Gallant Silver Spear with the same ease and mastery as Zhao Zilong, achieving perfect harmony between man and spear!
Under Zhao Zilong's leadership, the Imperial Guards, outnumbered and outgunned, fought with increasing ferocity and gained the upper hand on the battlefield.
Zhao Zilong's performance was naturally noticed by the two rebel cavalry commanders, Dong Tianbao and Batel, and even more so by Liu Ziyu, the rebel commander watching from afar.
When Liu Ziyu vaguely realized that the imperial army, led by that silver-armored general, was about to defeat the Wuzhou cavalry and the Turkic iron cavalry, he finally couldn't resist riding into battle himself to meet the silver-armored young general who commanded the imperial guards at the front line!
Liu Ziyu immediately ordered, "Men, prepare the horses! This general will personally lead the troops into battle!"
"Deputy General Li, pass down the order: the entire central army is to attack! We must not allow the Imperial Guards to gain momentum. We must suppress their morale before the cavalry is routed!"
"General, you mustn't—"
Lieutenant Li Meng immediately stepped forward to advise, "General, the central army should not move rashly, lest the court still has an ambush. Emperor Zhaowu, Chen Huai'an, has not yet shown himself!"
"General, please reconsider!"
"ambush?"
snort--
Upon hearing this, Liu Ziyu snorted coldly and grinned maliciously, saying, "Deputy General Li, the battle has progressed to this point, where would there be any ambushes left?"
"Emperor Zhaowu Chen Huai'an didn't dare to personally ride into battle from the very beginning. Do you really expect him to dare to come out of Juyong Pass when our tens of thousands of cavalry ambushes have all come out?"
As he spoke, Liu Ziyu waved his hand and said, "Furthermore, how many traitors from our army who have defected from Youzhou could be hiding in this small Juyong Pass?"
"Our army, consisting of two cavalry units and the central army, numbers a total of 100,000 men."
"I refuse to believe this nonsense. How could Chen Huai'an possibly hide 100,000 troops in this small Juyong Pass?"
Having said that, Liu Ziyu ignored his deputy Li Meng, mounted the warhorse that his personal guard commander had just brought in his place, drew his ring-pommel sword from his waist, and shouted, "Left and Right Guards, heed my command!"
"Follow me to the battlefield and annihilate the enemy!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
The next moment, Liu Ziyu spurred his horse and charged out without hesitation, heading straight for the battlefield of Jiapigou.
Closely following behind were his three thousand elite guards, all mounted on warhorses and clad in fine armor, riding closely behind their commander Liu Ziyu, brandishing their swords, spears, and halberds as they charged into the battlefield.
With things having come to this point, even the commander-in-chief had personally charged into the battlefield, so Li Meng, the rebel deputy commander, no longer insisted on his position.
With a single command, he shouted, "Messenger, issue the order: the central army is to attack!"
"The central army is about to attack!"
Thump, thump, thump!
Woohoo—
As the war drums beat and horns blared in the central army of the Youyun rebels, the last 50,000 Youyun rebels poured out and joined the battle at Jiapigou.
In an instant, the battlefield outside Juyong Pass, Jiapigou, was filled with the figures of the Youyun rebels. The banners of the "Anti-Rebel Army" were raised high and fluttered in the wind, and the shouts of soldiers charging into battle echoed through the sky.
Such unusual activity naturally attracted the attention of the soldiers of Youyun Prefecture, who had already ordered their troops to lay down their weapons and surrender to the Imperial Guards at the core battlefield of Jiapigou.
The soldiers all looked at their commander with fear and confusion, awaiting his final decision.
Clearly, the lower-ranking soldiers and generals of Gui, Shun, and Tan prefectures did not want to simply surrender and wait for their deaths.
As long as their commander gives the order, they still have time to regroup and charge into battle.
Even some generals who were already inclined to follow General Liu Ziyu in raising troops to rebel began to have their minds stirred and become restless after seeing the "reinforcements" covering the mountains and plains.
If the soldiers of Youyun and the three prefectures who were at the heart of the Jiapigou battlefield were to take up their weapons again and regroup to join the battle, they could coordinate with the reinforcements from the inside and outside, and launch a pincer attack from both sides, and surely wipe out the more than 10,000 imperial guards on the battlefield.
Even Yang Ke, the commander of Shunzhou, and Lei Li, the commander of Tanzhou, two of the three rebel commanders, began to waver in their originally firm resolve to surrender.
It wasn't that they truly wanted to follow Liu Ziyu down a dark path, but rather that they knew that if the Imperial Guards were defeated, General Liu Ziyu would surely settle scores with them, and either way, they would face certain death.
In the end, Zhao Xiaofei, the commander of Guizhou who had remained calm and composed throughout, grabbed Yang Ke and Lei Li by the arms on either side, shook his head firmly at them, and said, "Generals, you must not act rashly!"
Seeing this, Yang Ke, the outspoken commander of Shunzhou, said emotionally, "General Zhao, are we just going to stand here and do nothing?"
"yes!"
Tanzhou's commander, Lei Li, echoed, "Right now, General Liu Ziyu and the reinforcements and ambush troops from Youyun and other prefectures have all been deployed to the battlefield, their strength being ten times that of the Imperial Guard."
"If the Imperial Guards win this battle, we might at least be able to leave with a complete corpse."
"But, but if Liu Ziyu wins, he will definitely eliminate us on the spot and behead us!"
"You can't move it!!!"
Zhao Xiaofei's tone was unusually resolute. His eyes were fixed on Yang Ke and Lei Li as he said, word by word, "Generals, since we have decided to surrender to the imperial court for the sake of our soldiers and their families..."
"Then we must strictly follow the orders given by Zhao Zilong, the commander of the Imperial Guard, before his departure. Even if a steel blade falls to our own necks, we must never pick up the weapon we have laid down again."
"At worst, I'll sacrifice myself for a cause, and I'll be a hero again in eighteen years!"
Eh—
Zhao Xiaofei's words caused Yang Ke and Lei Li, the two rebel commanders, to sigh repeatedly. In the end, they had no choice but to follow Zhao Xiaofei's example and refuse to order their soldiers to pick up their weapons and regroup for battle. They simply stood there and watched as the Imperial Guard and the Youyun Anti-Rebel Army fought fiercely on the vast battlefield of Jiapigou.
At the same time.
Originally, Zhao Zilong was engaged in a fierce battle with the rebel Wuzhou Iron Cavalry and Turkic Iron Cavalry on the battlefield. He was in the midst of the battle when Liu Ziyu led the last of the rebel ambush troops out in full force. He was the first to discover the rebels' unusual movements.
Facing the rebel army that swept across the mountains and plains towards the Jiapigou battlefield, which was almost ten times the total strength of the Imperial Guards, Zhao Zilong's heroic face showed no fear, and even a hint of excitement.
With a sweeping motion of his Dragon Gallant Silver Spear, Zhao Zilong instantly felled seven or eight rebel cavalrymen. Then, he raised the spear tip and pointed it with imposing force, shouting, "Ironclad Cavalry soldiers, heed my command—"
"Follow me on horseback and charge forward, to seize the enemy commander's banner!"
"Kill them!"
Immediately, Zhao Zilong took the lead, leading the two thousand Iron Pagoda soldiers who had gathered around him, and once again formed a wedge-shaped charge formation, cutting a bloody path through the heavy encirclement of the rebel cavalry, heading straight for the rebel commander Liu Ziyu.
On the other side, Liu Ziyu, the rebel general who was personally charging forward with his Cold Moon Longsword, naturally also noticed that the brave silver-armored general in the imperial guard cavalry was leading a part of the Tang Iron Pagoda heavy cavalry straight toward him.
Instead of avoiding them, Liu Ziyu commanded his two thousand-plus Yuhou soldiers to charge towards Zhao Zilong and the Great Tang Iron Pagoda.
Clang, clang, clang!
The two cavalry units galloped across the battlefield, accelerating and accelerating again, pushing their warhorses to their limits. The distance of several thousand paces between the two armies was covered in an instant under the full speed of the horses.
The two generals, Liu Ziyu and Zhao Zilong, could almost clearly see the ferocious expressions on each other's faces.
The next moment, the two raised their weapons at the same time, and they clashed without any suspense.
Clang, clang, clang—
The Dragon Gallant Silver Spear in the hands of Zhao Zilong, the commander of the Imperial Guard, clashed fiercely with the Cold Moon Longsword in the hands of Liu Ziyu, the commander of the rebel army. Sparks flew and a series of clanging metallic sounds rang out.
As soon as the two exchanged blows, Liu Ziyu immediately felt the formidable strength of Zhao Zilong's martial prowess. Even among the generals of the entire Tang Dynasty, he was a rare talent.
The key point is that he had never heard of such a silver-armored general among the military generals of the Tang Dynasty before.
After the first exchange, Liu Ziyu, who had turned his horse around again, couldn't help but ask, "General, may I ask your name?"
"I am Zhao Zilong of Changshan!"
As he spoke, Zhao Zilong spurred his horse and turned back to face the rebel general Liu Ziyu once more: "Take this!"
Clang, clang, clang!
Zhao Zilong's Dragon Gallant Silver Spear, like a dragon emerging from the sea, thrusts and sweeps at Liu Ziyu, leaving the latter struggling to defend and unable to retaliate.
"General, be careful—"
At this moment, Liu Ziyu's deputy general Dong Tianbao rode up and attempted to ambush Zhao Zilong from the side and rear with a horse spear, but failed.
"General Liu, this Han army commander is truly troublesome. I, the Khan, will lend you a hand!"
Almost simultaneously, the newly appointed Great Khan of the Turks, Batel, also rode over and, together with Liu Ziyu and Dong Tianbao, surrounded Zhao Zilong in a triangular formation.
They disregarded all martial ethics and directly ganged up on Zhao Zilong.
Despite being surrounded and attacked by three men, Zhao Zilong on horseback remained calm and composed, handling the situation with ease. With his long spear in hand, he exuded an aura of invincibility.
On the battlefield of Jiapigou, 100,000 Youyun rebel troops came out of their ambush, while in the core area of the battlefield, 20,000 to 30,000 rebel soldiers who had laid down their weapons stood watching.
Looking out from the walls of Juyongguan, the Imperial Guard cavalry, numbering only 15,000, were surrounded by a rebel army ten times their size and were forced to retreat and defend against the rebels' repeated attacks.
All of this was observed by Emperor Zhaowu, Chen Huai'an, who was watching the battle from the top of the Juyongguan city wall with a monocular telescope.
"Xiao Po—"
Chen Huai'an shouted sharply, "Prepare the horses! I am going to personally go out of the pass to deal with the rebel general Liu Ziyu!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
Xiao Po, the commander of the Golden Guard and Marquis of Loyalty and Righteousness, immediately accepted the order and left.
Chen Huai'an issued another order: "Messenger, convey my decree: all 100,000 troops inside Juyong Pass are to leave the pass and fight, and must annihilate the Youyun rebels at Jiapigou!"
"All troops, attack!"
The next moment, on the narrow walls of Juyong Pass, the Tang Dynasty's army, tasked with suppressing the rebellion, finally sounded the horn for a full-scale attack.
Amidst the deafening, exhilarating sounds of war drums and horns, the tightly closed gates of Juyongguan slowly opened, and a tall, golden figure rode out against the direction of the sunlight, galloping towards the battlefield of Jiapigou.
Following closely behind was the imperial army of 100,000 men who had been lying in ambush inside Juyong Pass. They poured out of Juyong Pass like a flood and surged onto the vast battlefield of Jiapigou.
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