Tibet

30,000 Tang troops appeared about 40 miles outside Jincheng, the capital of Silla. The capital was in chaos. The princes and nobles packed up their treasures and fled outside the city, but the city gates were closed. Prime Minister Jin Liangxiang was worried that the morale of the army would be affected, so he ordered that the city gates should not be opened and no one should be allowed to leave the city.

The city gates were crowded with people and cursed, but the city gates were still closed. Helplessly, the nobles had to go home and wait for news.

At this time, how to deal with the Tang army was also fiercely debated in the Silla court. Some demanded to defend the city and wait for reinforcements to arrive, while others believed that the city could not be defended and it was best to go out of the city for a decisive battle.

Finally, the three great ministers of Silla, Jin Liangxiang, Park Luozhu, and Xi Wanxiang, reached an agreement to send troops out of the city to fight. They were all very pragmatic. If the army was defeated, they would have a chance to surrender and save their family's lives, but if the city was breached by the Tang army and the Tang army entered the city, their families would suffer a catastrophe and there would be no chance to surrender.

30,000 Silla troops left the city from the South Gate and went to fight the Tang army, which was already 20 miles away.

30,000 Tang troops quickly deployed 30,000 troops to the peninsula through cross-sea transportation from Jeonra Island. This was not a long-distance deployment like Li Chengshi's army. This was just a matter of crossing a strait. The Tang army not only deployed 30,000 troops, but also 20,000 war horses.

Ma Lin personally led the 30,000 troops and marched all the way. When they were less than 20 miles away from Jincheng, the capital of Silla, Ma Lin suddenly received a report that the main force of the enemy, about 30,000 people, was found in front.

Ma Lin really didn't expect that the Silla army would actually go out of the city to fight. He was also prepared to use firearms to show his power and fight a beautiful siege.

But it was better to deliver it to the door. Ma Lin pondered for a moment, sent someone to find the deputy general Hao Tingyu, and said to him: "General, you can lead 10,000 cavalrymen to go around behind the enemy. When my signal arrow rises, you can attack the enemy from behind. Our army will win this battle."

"I obey your order!"

Hao Tingyu clasped his fists and saluted, and immediately led 10,000 cavalrymen to go around to the south.

Ma Lin ordered 20,000 troops to rest on the spot, and then raised the flag of 30,000 people to confuse the enemy.

An hour later, 30,000 Silla troops appeared seven miles away. The main general of the Silla army was Park Jeong-sun, who was born in the Seonggu Park family and was also the son-in-law of Prime Minister Kim Yang-sang. With these two top relationships, he replaced Kim Jeong-ji who was sent to the Tang Dynasty and became the commander of the Silla army.

Park Jeong-sun was about 35 or 36 years old. He had always served as a general of the palace guards. He only participated in the bloody massacre to suppress the Baekje uprising last year and had no actual combat experience.

However, the clan system of Silla is comparable to the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties in the Central Plains. The aristocratic hierarchy is strict. The commander of the army can only be the highest-level family of Shenggu. The selected commander must represent the interests of the three major Shenggu families at the same time. Therefore, Park Zhengshan, who is both the legitimate son of the Park family and the eldest son-in-law of the Kim family, and has been an official in the army for a long time, became the only candidate for the commander. His brother married the daughter of the Xi family, so the Xi family, one of the three major Shenggu, also supported Park Zhengshan to be the commander.

"Woo--" The horn of Silla sounded, and the main force of the Tang army was found in front.

A spy came back to report, "Commander-in-chief, many Tang soldiers hold double flags, so it looks like there are 30,000 troops, but in fact there are only 20,000 troops, 10,000 infantry, and 10,000 cavalry."

Park Jung-sun laughed at everyone and said, "I said that the Tang army came from Jeonra Island, which was a complete sneak attack. How could they have 30,000 troops to sneak attack Jincheng? 20,000 troops are already the limit."

He immediately ordered: "Order the troops to assemble and prepare for battle!"

The 30,000 Silla troops also assembled quickly, and the 30,000 troops were in a "pin" shape. Park Jung-sun led 10,000 infantry as the central army, and the other two 10,000 troops were on the two wings.

The Silla army was all infantry. Compared with the Japanese army, the Silla army was obviously more like the Central Plains army. The soldiers were mainly spearmen and swords and shields, and there were no cavalry. It was really that Silla was too small to support cavalry.

Of course, compared with the equipment of the Tang army, Silla was still far behind. The 30,000 troops led by Ma Lin were the elite of the Tang army. They were all tall and strong. The soldiers were generally over 1.8 meters tall, wearing iron armor, iron helmets, holding spears and swords, and carrying bows and arrows on their backs.

Not only were they well-equipped and strong, but the soldiers were also experienced in hundreds of battles and had strong combat experience and formation coordination.

The two sides were three miles apart. The Silla army took the lead in launching an attack. 30,000 Silla lined up and marched forward. "Woo--" the horn sounded in the mine field.

Ma Lin also ordered: "Infantry in front, cavalry in the back, march towards the enemy!"

The Tang army also lined up and marched forward. The two sides were getting closer and closer. When they were three hundred steps apart, Ma Lin ordered: "Infantry bow and arrow shooting!"

This was a traditional tactic of the Tang army. The infantry was temporarily changed to archers when marching. This required repeated training so that all soldiers knew how to execute military orders.

The red and yellow flags were waving, which was the tactical order for using bows and arrows during the march.

Ten thousand Tang army infantrymen stopped, half-crouched, put their spears on the ground, took off the longbows on their backs, and carefully pulled out the explosive arrows. All soldiers were strictly trained and could control the explosive arrows.

Park Zhengshan immediately shouted: "Sword and shield soldiers run and attack!"

Three thousand sword and shield soldiers in each of the three 10,000-man army ran, a total of 9,000 sword and shield soldiers were running, using their shields to block the Tang army's bows and arrows, and then killed into the Tang army's archers.

Ma Lin sneered, turned back and ordered: "Cavalry prepare to attack!"

Ten thousand cavalrymen were divided into two teams, on both sides of the Tang army archers, they were ready to charge.

The Silla army was getting closer and closer, only eighty steps away from the Tang army. The Tang army suddenly fired thousands of arrows, and 10,000 explosive arrows were shot at the enemy.

Looking at the arrows from the sky shooting like raindrops, the sword and shield soldiers raised their shields to meet them, but they never dreamed that the arrows used by the enemy were no longer traditional arrows.

The explosive arrows exploded immediately after hitting the shield, not only blowing the shield to pieces, but also breaking the hands behind. If the shield was too close to the face, even the head would be blown up. Even if the explosive arrows hit the ground and exploded, they would also break the enemy's legs. In an instant, there were explosions and screams. The Silla soldiers behind were shocked and stopped.

Before the smoke dissipated, the second round of 10,000 explosive arrows were shot again. These were the old version of explosive arrows, which exploded as soon as they touched the ground. In the explosion, more than half of the 9,000 sword and shield soldiers were wiped out, and the remaining less than 3,000 people were scared to death and turned around and fled.

Ma Lin was waiting for the enemy to escape, so he immediately ordered: "Blow the horn, and the cavalry will attack!"

"Woo--"

The low horn of the Tang army sounded, and 10,000 cavalrymen were divided into two groups and rushed out, just like two unstoppable spears, rushing towards the running enemy.

The explosive arrows were usually only fired in two rounds, and 10,000 infantrymen also carried bows and arrows, picked up spears, and shouted to kill the enemy.

The Silla soldiers were terrified, their legs trembling, and under the coercion of the generals behind them, they fought tremblingly.

The two sides fought together, and Ma Lin saw that the morale of the other side was low, so he immediately ordered: "Fire nine gunpowder arrows!"

Nine gunpowder arrows flew into the sky, and 10,000 Tang cavalry soon appeared. "Woo--" The horn sounded behind them, and the earth began to shake.

Ten thousand Tang cavalrymen came from behind in overwhelming numbers. Park Jung-sun, who was supervising the battle behind the army, looked back and saw the Tang cavalrymen coming from a mile away. He was so frightened that his heart almost stopped beating.

The 20,000 Tang troops in front of them were no match for them. If another 10,000 Tang troops came, they would be completely defeated.

More than 20,000 Silla soldiers were attacked from front and back by the Tang army. There was a great chaos. They could not withstand the pain of being attacked from front and back. The army finally collapsed. The 20,000 soldiers threw away their armor and fled for their lives.

Ma Lin issued a killing order. 20,000 cavalrymen chased the fleeing Silla soldiers, and 10,000 infantrymen followed to kill them, not letting anyone go.

The speed of the Tang cavalry's warhorses was far faster than the legs of the Silla soldiers. If they caught up, they would knock them to the ground with a knife, or pierce their backs with a spear, and then continue to chase. If they were lucky enough not to die, they could not escape the capture and killing of the Tang infantrymen behind them.

After the Tang army chased for more than ten miles, there were no more fleeing Silla soldiers. Even the main general Park Jeong-sun was stabbed off his horse by a young Tang general, and then another shot took his life.

An hour later, 30,000 Tang soldiers arrived at the city. Although there were still thousands of soldiers in the city, the Silla court completely collapsed and collectively decided to surrender.

The city gate opened, and King Hyegong Jin Qianyun hung a golden seal on his neck, followed by dozens of his concubines, followed by Prime Minister Jin Liangxiang, and then hundreds of court officials and nobles went out of the city to surrender.