Tibet

This was the second war between the two sides. Although the Food Army suffered a disastrous defeat in the first war, Abu Muslim had learned a painful lesson from the last disastrous defeat. He believed that the root cause of the last disastrous defeat was underestimating the enemy.

His thinking was not wrong. If he led all 80,000 troops to fight for the first time instead of putting 30,000 troops in Baishui City, he would not necessarily lose.

So this time, Abu Muslim mobilized in full force, betting all his troops and his future on today's fierce battle.

The second lesson Abu Muslim learned was that there was no good way to fight against the Tang army's heavily armored Modao infantry. Their sharp swords killed nearly 10,000 people, accounting for 40% of all losses.

So today he specially prepared ways to deal with the heavy armored infantry. One is to throw spears, and the other is to throw heavy hammer infantry. Spear throwing is easy to understand. It is to throw short spears at the heavy armored infantry of the Tang Army, and use the strong impact and sharp spear tip to shoot. Wearing the heavy armor of the Tang Army, no one knows whether it has any effect. After all, there are no samples for testing.

The Heavy Hammer Army consisted of five thousand infantrymen. Each man held a long-handled copper hammer weighing 25 kilograms. If he hit the heavy armored infantry of the Tang Army with a heavy hammer, they would inevitably be seriously injured. This was more effective than swords, arrows and spears.

However, various situations on the battlefield are changing rapidly, and there are many factors that may lead to failure. For example, the Tocharian crossbow array that did not appear in the last fierce battle, large trebuchets, and the unimaginable fire zone are all big events. The food army faced it for the first time.

The Dashi army got closer and closer, stopping two miles away. No abnormalities on the ground could be seen from two miles away, and they would only be discovered a few hundred steps away.

Abu Muslim looked at the weather. It was as clear and cloudless as ever. He then looked at the army behind him. The black Khorasan army and the Sogdian army could not be seen at a glance. At this moment, Abu Muslim was full of excitement about today's battle. gained confidence.

Abu Muslim drew his sword and shouted loudly: "The first legion attacks!"

"Woo——"

A low horn sounded, and amidst the earth-shattering shouts, ten thousand cavalry took the lead in attacking. They launched vigorously, rushing toward the Tang army's formation two miles away like a tidal wave bursting from a dike.

Immediately afterwards, the Second Infantry Corps attacked. There were 5,000 heavy hammer troops among them, specifically to deal with the 2,000 heavy armored infantry of the Tang Army. Behind them, there were another 5,000 cavalry guards. In the first attack, the Dashi Army was dispatched. Twenty-five thousand elite troops.

Looking at the sudden attack of the large food cavalry, Gao Xianzhi showed a cruel sneer on his lips, and he slowly ordered: "Prepare the heavy crossbow troops, prepare the rockets!"

Of course, the first to attack are the two thousand heavy crossbow soldiers. Their range is up to 350 steps, but they can usually only fire two rounds, but if there is a fire attack, they can fire an additional round.

The soldiers who fired the rockets were the five hundred people who just smashed the clay pots. They were archers and could shoot five hundred rockets.

The red flag was raised, and two thousand heavy crossbow soldiers raised their crossbows at the same time. The thick heavy arrows were slightly tilted upward, and the arrow tips shone with metallic luster in the sun.

The enemy cavalry was getting closer and closer, already running 500 steps away. At this time, the nine thousand Tocharo crossbowmen ambushing on the other side still did not move. They were still waiting for the order. Their order was to fire up the fire and release arrows.

And eighteen large trebuchets began to rumble towards the river.

The large trebuchets of the Tang Army suddenly appeared on the other side, which immediately alarmed Abu Muslim. He saw more than ten trebuchets on the other side of the river in the distance. He frowned and turned around and ordered: "Order the Sogdian Army to quickly build a pontoon bridge and send Three thousand men went over to destroy the Tang army’s trebuchets!”

The soldier who delivered the order took the order arrow, turned around and ran to the Sogdian Army to convey the military order.

At this time, the First Legion entered the 350-step shooting range, and saw only dust in the sky. The dust stirred up by 10,000 war horses covered the sky and the sun, and the sky became dark.

Gao Xianzhi ordered coldly: "Fire the crossbow!"

The red flag was waved, and a rapid bang sounded, ‘Bang! Bang! Bang! ’

There was just a clicking sound, and two thousand heavy arrows rose into the sky, densely streaking across the sky, directed at the ten thousand cavalry who were galloping. The big food cavalry did not hide under the horse's belly like the Geluolu people did. It was the nomads who did it. They were the regular cavalry of the Abbasid Empire, no different from the Tang army. Like last time, they all raised their shields.

However, it is impossible for the cavalry of the Great Food Army to step into the same river twice. The Tang Army also learned the lesson. They replaced it with crossbows and heavy arrows. Although the number of crossbowmen in the Tang Army was less, there were nine thousand more fire-breathing soldiers. Luo Nujun.

‘Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! ’ There was a sound of breaking through the air, and the heavy arrow immediately shot through the shield and the cavalry’s armor.

The Dashi cavalry was caught off guard, and there was a sudden scream. The cavalry were hit by arrows and fell off their horses. The casualties were very heavy. Two thousand arrows killed 700 cavalry. The shooting ratio reached an astonishing three to one. Under normal circumstances, It's all five to one, or even bigger.

But the fall of 700 cavalrymen was insignificant to the 10,000 cavalrymen. Like the waves in the sea, it soon calmed down again. The tide of cavalrymen continued to run. The diffuse dust seriously hindered the sight, and even the ground could not be seen clearly. Condition.

The fire oil belt was fifty steps away from them, but no one noticed anything unusual on the ground. They shouted loudly to boost their morale.

There was another sound of piercing the sky, and the second round of two thousand heavy arrows fell from the sky. They were still 350 steps away. The first group of people to be attacked had already rushed to the front. This time, the three thousand people behind were attacked. Spear-throwing cavalry, they are the second group of cavalry, and the first group of cavalry is responsible for covering.

Abu Muslim also took into account the rapid firing of bows and crossbows by the Tang army, so he did not put the spear-throwing cavalry at the front, but in the second batch. The first batch of 3,000 cavalry were almost killed by arrows, and the second batch of spear-throwing cavalry was almost killed by arrows. The hand appeared just in time.

The spear throwers also held the same shield. The only difference was that the spear throwers did not have spears. Each of them held five short spears in his arms. One short spear weighed about ten kilograms and was about five feet long with a sharp front end. It is very similar to the javelin in later generations. In fact, the javelin sport originated from the training of spear-throwing soldiers in the Middle Ages.

The spear-throwing troops also raised their shields to resist the heavy arrows falling from the sky. The sky was filled with dust and their sight was not good. They did not see the first round of heavy arrows falling just now.

‘Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! ’ There was a loud sound in the air, and the heavy arrows shot through the shields, and also penetrated the leather armor and helmets of the cavalry. There was another scream, and countless cavalry fell off their horses. This time, more than 600 people were killed by the heavy arrows.

Of course, the arrows did not necessarily kill people on the spot, and most of them were wounded. However, once the cavalry were injured and fell off their horses during the group attack, they would definitely die and would be trampled to death by the huge group of horses running behind them.

At this time, the Dashi Cavalry had already rushed into the oil area. The horses stepped on the pottery fragments and hay on the ground. Many soldiers felt something was wrong. The ground was covered with wet black oil. I didn't know what it was, but none of the soldiers noticed it. Here's why.

Gao Xianzhi stared at the running cavalry coldly. When the more than two thousand cavalry at the front had rushed out of the kerosene area, he gave the order: "Fire rockets!"

Five hundred soldiers lit the rockets and fired arrows together. The burning rockets whizzed down from the sky, and the kerosene on the ground went 'Boom! The ground was ignited, and the fire spread extremely rapidly. In an instant, a fire oil belt that was five miles long from east to west and 250 steps wide from north to south burned rapidly. About three thousand soldiers were caught off guard and were instantly The fire engulfed them, including more than two thousand spear throwers.

This was their destined disaster. Abu Muslim considered putting them in the second batch to be safer, while Gao Xianzhi wanted to leave all the first batch of enemy cavalry to the heavy crossbowmen. He also considered burning the second batch of enemy cavalry. .

The fire engulfed more than 3,000 cavalrymen. There were screams and screams in the fire, and the horses neighed miserably.

A five-mile long fire belt appeared on the ground, with thick smoke billowing and flames soaring into the sky, with terrifying momentum.