Tibet

Guo Ziyi led the army and was walking slowly on the grassland in the east of Songmo Prefecture. The grassland here is vast, without trees and hills. You can see dozens of miles away at a glance, and it is not easy to be ambushed.

But Guo Ziyi was still very cautious and sent a large number of scouts to explore and patrol within 50 miles of the army.

That morning, a scout reported, "The main force of the Khitan army was found 50 miles ahead, about 80,000 to 90,000 troops!"

Guo Ziyi stroked his beard and nodded. This number was consistent with the number Ren Tianling told him before. If there was no external support, the total strength of the Khitan army would not exceed 100,000.

Xi Wanli smiled at Guo Ziyi and said, "Marshal, the other side really wants to concentrate its forces to defeat them one by one!"

Guo Ziyi smiled faintly and said, "Yelü Salad really knows the fact but not the reason. Don't I know that it is easy to be defeated one by one if the troops are divided northward?"

Any tactics have advantages and disadvantages. Guo Ziyi divided his troops northward just to let the other side concentrate its forces to deal with him.

‘Concentrate forces and defeat them one by one’, it sounds good, but if you concentrate your forces, what will happen to your base?

Yelu Salad only thought of quickly defeating one of the Tang army, and then turning around to defeat the other, but are others so easily defeated?

But it is indeed easy for the other side to concentrate their forces and defeat them one by one. Yelu Salad is not a fool. He made this decision after weighing it over and over again, and it is the most favorable plan for Khitan.

So the key here lies in strength and knowing yourself and the enemy.

Guo Ziyi fought with the Khitan army in Youzhou and Liucheng, and wiped out 70,000 Khitan troops. He understood the strength of the Khitan army, and he knew his own strength even better. Even without the blessing of firearms, they could still defeat the other side. Now with more powerful firearms, the combat effectiveness of his army is far more than just 60,000 people.

Guo Ziyi immediately ordered: "Quickly notify General Nan Jiyun and order his army to advance westwards and cut off the retreat of the Khitan army!"

After a pause, he ordered again: "Order General Ma Lin to lead the army to accelerate northwards and take down the Khitan's lair!"

The two teams of soldiers who reported the news galloped away on horseback, and Guo Ziyi immediately ordered again: "Order the army to assemble immediately!"

"Woo--"

The horn of the Tang army's assembly sounded, and the 60,000 troops began to quickly gather towards the central army where Guo Ziyi was.

Guo Ziyi made a full plan before deployment. When he deployed the troops on the eastern line, he specially shortened the distance between the central line and the eastern line. In fact, Nan Jiyun's 50,000 eastern line troops were only about 100 miles away from the central line, and they could arrive in less than a day.

The reason why Guo Ziyi brought 30,000 infantry was because he brought the best!

He brought all 8,000 heavy armored infantry of the Tang Dynasty.

After the battle to annihilate the Japanese army, the imperial court's reinforcements arrived again, sending 3,000 heavy crossbows and 30,000 arrow mines. Together with the 2,000 heavy crossbows that the Tang army had before, the number of heavy crossbows reached 5,000, which just formed a 10,000 heavy crossbow army, with two people in a group, and each group had six arrow mines.

Among the remaining 12,000 people, 10,000 infantrymen were in the central army spear formation, and 2,000 soldiers were responsible for 30,000 camels.

In fact, the 30,000 infantrymen were all marching on horseback, and they only dismounted and fought on foot when fighting.

Two hours later, 90,000 Khitan troops also appeared on the grassland ten miles away in the north.

Yelu Salad personally led 90,000 troops to the south, of course, intending to defeat the main force of the central line of the Tang army in the shortest time, and then turn around to fight the other two lines of the Tang army.

Yelu Salad also made full considerations. He placed the battlefield in Songmo Prefecture, more than 300 miles away from his old nest, just to buy himself time.

The two armies slowly approached each other, and stopped when they were three miles apart, facing each other from a distance.

Yelu Salad squinted his eyes and looked at the other side. The other side had half cavalry and half infantry, about 30,000 each, which was about the same as his own. The Khitan army had about 50,000 cavalry and 40,000 infantry.

In the front was a row of more than 2,000 battle flags, flying. Behind the battle flags were 8,000 archers, half squatting on the ground, holding bows and arrows, and behind them were spearmen.

Yelu Salad sneered. Could this kind of bow infantry withstand the impact of his cavalry?

"General Cimutai!"

"I am here!"

A general in his thirties immediately stepped forward to salute. His name was Yelu Cimutai, and he was also Yelu Salad's youngest brother, the Khitan 10,000-man commander.

Yelu Salad said slowly: "You can lead 30,000 cavalry to attack the Tang army formation, and then the army will support you!"

"I obey your order!"

The essence of the Khitan people's fighting is the same as that of the nomadic cavalry. There are not so many military tactics. It is to rely on the number of people and the cavalry to break the opponent's formation.

The key is that Yelu Salad wants to fight quickly and defeat the Tang army in a two-hour battle. After the defeated army is almost killed, he will quickly turn around to fight another Tang army. His home nest is empty, and he is also afraid!

"Woo-woo-"

The sound of grassland horns sounded continuously, which is a precursor to the attack.

The Khitan is not good at using tactics and strategies, but the Tang army is good at it.

Guo Ziyi is particularly good at deception, including strategic deception and tactical deception.

The 8,000 soldiers in the front are not archers, but 8,000 heavy armored infantry. Their Mo Dao is placed on the ground, half squatting on the ground, but holding bows and arrows in their hands.

But their armor was special, and they placed their swords on the ground, fearing that they would be seen by the enemy. Guo Ziyi sent another 2,000 soldiers holding battle flags to stand in the front, blocking the heavy armored infantry behind them.

There were also 10,000 heavy crossbow soldiers holding large yellow crossbows, also hidden among the spearmen.

Guo Ziyi had fought with nomadic cavalry for many years and was very familiar with their attack modes. Generally, there were three modes. The first was a small-scale attack, sending 10,000 troops to attack, which was more of a tentative attack.

The second mode was a medium-strength attack, sending 30% of the cavalry to attack, breaking through the opponent's first layer of defense, and then the rest of the army would attack.

The third mode was a full-scale attack, with all the troops pressing forward. This situation often occurred when the opponent's strength exceeded their own, and they could concentrate their forces to attack the opponent's central army.

At present, the Khitan army had more troops than the Tang army, and they would not choose the third mode, but would only choose between the first and second modes.

If the Tang army seemed too strong, the enemy would often adopt the first mode, using a small number of troops to break the Tang army's long-range strike advantage.

Later, heavy troops would be sent to press forward, which was obviously not good for the Tang army.

Guo Ziyi seized the opponent's eagerness to defeat the Tang army, and used this way of showing weakness to lure the enemy to launch a large-scale cavalry attack. Once the Khitan cavalry attacked, it would be difficult to withdraw.

Guo Ziyi's strategy of luring troops was indeed successful. Yelu Salad only saw 8,000 archers of the Tang army, and the Mo Dao on the ground was blocked by the flag-bearing soldiers in front.

At this time, the earth began to tremble, and 30,000 Khitan cavalry launched, overwhelming the Tang army's formation.

Guo Ziyi shouted sternly: "Heavy infantry, prepare! Standing flag soldiers and spear soldiers retreat!"

Two thousand flag soldiers retreated quickly. They took over the longbows in the hands of the heavy infantry, and each of them carried four bows on their backs and retreated to the rear.

Eight thousand Mo Dao soldiers picked up the Mo Dao on the ground. Suddenly, a cold light flashed.

Last time they bullied the Japanese soldiers because they were short and small, so they used the battle formation to deal with them. Now it's no use. Facing the impact of tens of thousands of Khitan cavalry, they must use the most powerful wall formation.

Yelu Salad's heart sank suddenly. How did the opponent's bows and arrows become long swords? It was a Mo Dao. He felt a little bitter in his heart. He fell into a trap.

But it was impossible to withdraw the army. This was the characteristic of the nomadic cavalry. Once they attacked, it was very difficult to withdraw. This was not a few dozen cavalrymen who could just rein in their horses and turn around.

This was an army of 30,000. Thousands of troops were galloping on the battlefield at the same time. It was like thousands of cars were galloping on the highway at the same time, very close to each other. If hundreds of cars suddenly stopped in the middle, it would inevitably cause a serious chain of car accidents.

The army had to stop from the end, the last row stopped first, and then from the back to the front, row by row, which required years of running-in training for tens of thousands of cavalry.

This kind of tacit understanding was not even possible for the Tang cavalry, let alone the Khitan army that was temporarily assembled by various tribes?

Once forced to stop, it would not only cause heavy casualties, but also cause chaos, giving the enemy cavalry an opportunity to take advantage.

Guo Ziyi was well aware of this, so he dared to quickly restore the formal deployment after the enemy's army launched.

Ten thousand spearmen retreated, leaving a gap two hundred steps wide. Ten thousand heavy crossbowmen rushed out of the spearmen and quickly took their positions. Large crossbows were placed on the soldiers' shoulders, and five thousand arrows were pointed at the thirty thousand cavalrymen who were coming in an overwhelming manner.