Tibet

The two armies were getting closer and closer. When they were three miles apart, they stopped. The two armies stretched for nearly ten miles, with flags flying and murderous aura.

Li Na's main force was 30,000 cavalry, almost all of whom were Donghu people. Most of them were Goguryeo and Xi people. They had participated in the Anshi Rebellion and were veterans brought from Youzhou by Li Zhengyi's predecessor Hou Xiyi. They were very sharp and good at fighting.

Another 20,000 troops were Goguryeo troops brought from Silla last year, and another 30,000 were recruited local troops.

The two armies confronted each other from a distance, and in terms of terrain, the Ziqing army had a slight advantage. The terrain was undulating, and they were on a slightly higher ground. This terrain was conducive to cavalry attacks.

Li Na was wearing iron armor, holding a long spear, squinting at the Tang army formation. Deputy General Wu Yuanji whispered: "Marshal, the Tang army has no archers!"

Li Na nodded, really no, he couldn't understand why Guo Ziyi didn't deploy archers, but he didn't think about it anymore, raised his spear and shouted: "Cavalry charge, break the main force of the Tang army!"

Thirty thousand cavalry suddenly launched, charging down from a high place like a torrent, the war horses galloping, the momentum was earth-shaking.

Thirty thousand cavalrymen were all wearing armor, holding spears, with ferocious and terrifying looks, shouting and urging horses to gallop.

Guo Ziyi coldly ordered: "Heavy infantry out, firearms camp ready!"

"Woo——"

The horn of the Tang army blew, and the 30,000 Tang army in the middle retreated dozens of steps like a receding tide, revealing 6,000 heavy infantry.

They lined up in three rows, half squatting on the ground, with the tail of the Mo Dao against the ground, looking at the enemy coldly.

Li Na was shocked. It turned out that the Tang army had heavy-armored infantry. No wonder their infantry dared to fight against the cavalry. However, the cavalry rushed out like water that had been poured out, and it was impossible to take it back.

Li Na's murderous intent burst out in his heart, and he shouted: "Beat the drum of victory!"

"Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!"

The fierce war drum sounded, which was the drum that inspired the 30,000 cavalry to destroy everything and kill everything.

Guo Ziyi was as calm as Mount Tai, and ordered: "The cavalry attacked from both sides!"

Lai Zhen led the cavalry on both sides to attack. The 20,000 Tang cavalry did not fight against the opponent's cavalry, but outflanked and killed the opponent's infantry from both sides.

Both sides used cavalry to deal with infantry. It depends on whose infantry is stronger. In theory, the Ziqing army has a slight advantage because it has more people, but it is not necessarily the case. The Tang army has strong heavy-armored infantry that specializes in dealing with cavalry, and there is also a more mysterious firearms camp.

The cavalry killed to 150 steps away from the Tang army's main formation. Thirty small catapults were ready, and thirty small iron fire bombs were loaded into the throwing bag.

Small iron fire bombs weigh about ten pounds, and look like small watermelons. They can be thrown 120 steps away. If it is gunpowder, it is not powerful enough, and this small iron fire bomb cannot explode, but dynamite can.

The overwhelming cavalry has rushed to a hundred steps away, and the commander shouted: "Fire!"

Thirty iron fire bombs soared into the air, hissing with green smoke, and directly smashed into the cavalry group. In just a moment, a series of violent explosions rang out in the cavalry group.

The cavalry was blown to pieces, and corpses were scattered all over the ground. Many people were blown into the air, and a large number of iron pieces burst in all directions. A large number of cavalry were hit and fell to the ground, and the smoke was filled for a while.

Li Na's face turned pale with fear. The thing he feared most happened. The Tang army actually used siege firearms on the battlefield, but at this time he had no choice but to pray that the cavalry would quickly kill into the Tang army.

Thirty iron fire bombs killed and injured more than 2,000 people, but for 30,000 cavalry, the casualties of more than 2,000 people were really insignificant, especially for the cavalry behind them, who only heard the thunderous sound, but did not know what happened.

The cavalry's attack was only slightly stagnant, and then immediately returned to normal.

At this time, 600 firearms crossbowmen were ready. They were in groups of two, one passing arrows and the other loading crossbows. Three hundred explosive arrows were aimed at the cavalry eighty steps away.

"Ka! Ka!"

A series of crossbow machine sounds rang out, and two hundred explosive arrows were shot out, "Bang! Boom! Boom!" The crossbow arrows were shot horizontally, and the three hundred arrows exploded almost at the same time, immediately blowing the enemy cavalry's limbs flying, and directly blowing thousands of people and horses into pieces.

The cavalry behind them valued their companions who disintegrated and split in an instant, their bones shattered, and their flesh and internal organs flew everywhere. They were frightened and tried their best to rein in their horses, but were immediately knocked over by the cavalry behind them, and the horses' hooves trampled the soldiers who fell to the ground to death.

However, the killing range of 300 explosive arrows was not large, with only 700 to 800 casualties, but the effect it produced was extraordinary. First, tens of thousands of Tang soldiers witnessed the power of Tang army firearms, which was of great benefit to boosting morale.

Secondly, it hit the morale of the enemy, especially the cavalry running in front. If their morale and murderous aura could not rise, there would never be such a crushing effect, and the impact of the cavalry would be greatly reduced.

The Ziqing Army no longer had the initial murderous aura. The thousands of cavalry running in front were almost pushed up by the cavalry behind. They screamed in fear when facing the 6,000 cold and shining Mo Dao.

"Boom!"

The cavalry rushed into the Mo Dao formation, but what greeted them was an extremely cruel and bloody killing. More than 2,000 people were pierced by Mo Dao, and a wall of flesh and blood was formed in front of the Mo Dao soldiers in an instant.

Xu Zongran, the chief general of the Mo Dao Army, roared, "Kill——"

Six thousand Mo Dao soldiers stood up, forming an extremely solid iron wall of swords, blocking the impact of nearly 30,000 cavalry.

Six thousand Modao soldiers stepped on corpses and flesh, moving forward step by step. Wherever they passed, cavalrymen fell down one after another, blood and flesh flew everywhere, corpses and heads were cut off like weeds, and only the cavalrymen's dying howls and screams were heard.

It was not only the heavy armored infantry who were ruthlessly killed, but also a thousand spear throwers. They were well-trained, each carrying five fine steel short spears. Every time the short spears were thrown, the short spears would pierce the cavalry, and they never missed. Sometimes only seven or eight hundred people were stabbed in a round, because two short spears pierced one person at the same time.

Small catapults also continuously threw iron fire bombs into the black crowd, and they kept exploding in the crowd. Every time they exploded, people and horses within a few feet would fall down.

But the only ones who remained silent were the six hundred firearms battalion crossbowmen. The explosive arrows could easily injure their companions by mistake, so they did not fire again.

Seeing the low morale, Li Na was very anxious and personally led 3,000 cavalry to charge forward. He adjusted the deployment and led 8,000 cavalry to bypass the heavy armored infantry and kill the spear army and sword and shield army in the rear.

After the Ziqing army changed its tactics, it gradually improved. The 50,000 troops concentrated their superior forces to fight against the 20,000 Tang cavalry. The two sides were evenly matched.

Although the 30,000 Ziqing cavalry suffered heavy casualties, there were still more than 20,000 people with strong combat effectiveness. After adjusting the tactics, they no longer crowded into a group, but dispersed, fighting fiercely with the Tang army in teams of 1,000. The Tang army's iron fire thunder had to stop attacking, and the casualties of the Ziqing army were significantly reduced.

The 6,000 heavy armored infantry were also divided into six teams, 1,000 in a team. The soldiers fought back to back with the enemy cavalry, but the Ziqing cavalry did not dare to fight them hand to hand, but retreated at the first touch. Although the heavy armored infantry was powerful, the lethality was much less than before.

Li Na's combat intention was very clear. He used the high-speed running of the cavalry to contain the Tang army infantry, and first concentrated 50,000 troops to surround and annihilate 20,000 Tang army cavalry.

The battle situation between the two sides gradually stabilized. At this time, Guo Ziyi ordered: "Blow the reinforcement horn!"

"Woo--"

The reinforcement horn of the Tang army sounded, and the low horn sound echoed in the wilderness.

"Woo--"

In response to the horn from a distance, a long black line appeared ten miles away, and Xi Wanli's 30,000 elite cavalry arrived.