Tibet

The sudden fire caused chaos in the food army. The more than two thousand cavalrymen who had just rushed out of the line of fire were even more panicked. They could not move forward or retreat.

At this moment, the Tang army's two thousand crossbowmen fired heavy arrows like a storm. The men and horses were hit by arrows and fell off their horses. The cavalry suffered heavy casualties. The remaining more than a thousand cavalry tried to break out to the west.

But at this time, the Tang army had already launched. Bai Xiaode led five thousand cavalry to attack, cutting off the cavalry's retreat. More than a thousand people had no way to go, so they dismounted and knelt down to surrender.

Gao Xianzhi nodded, "Tell General Bai that you can accept the surrender of the Great Food Army!"

Gao Xianzhi needed to escort these more than a thousand people to Chang'an as prisoners.

What's more, prisoners of war can also collect ransom from each other, so it would be a pity to kill them.

Li Ye was currently in ambush eight miles west of the battlefield, and he was also patiently waiting for the fighter plane to arrive.

Suddenly a soldier pointed forward and shouted: "General, there is a fire on the battlefield!"

Li Ye nodded, turned around and shouted: "Brothers, the meritorious service is right in front of you, come and fight with me!"

"Kill--"

Nine thousand cavalry shouted in unison and followed Li Ye towards the battlefield eight miles away.

At the same time, nine thousand crossbowmen who were ambushing on the other side of the Talos River appeared at the same time, raising their crossbows to shoot at the running ten thousand infantrymen.

The powerful crossbow arrows shot towards the food army on the other side like a storm.

Ten thousand infantrymen were attracted by the fire and smoke in front of them, but they did not expect that there was an army ambushing on the other side of the river a hundred steps away. The soldiers were caught off guard and fell to the ground with arrows, causing numerous casualties.

Immediately afterwards, the trebuchet threw over one hundred kilograms heavy stones. The big stones rolled in the crowd. The Dashi soldiers were smashed to bloody pulp and screamed. Every big stone would cause dozens of casualties. In one round, there were Six to seven hundred casualties.

Coupled with the 9,000-strong bow and crossbow formation, after three rounds of arrows were fired, and three rounds of trebuchets were fired, the 10,000 infantrymen had suffered casualties of more than 3,000.

The infantry fled to the west, avoiding the killing range of trebuchets and crossbows.

At this time, Abu Muslim could no longer care about the infantry being attacked by the ambush on the other side. His entire mind was attracted by the flames and thick smoke. Although the sky was filled with dust and he could not see the specific situation in front of him, the flames and thick smoke were very shocking. , thick smoke began to cover the sky, and he could clearly feel the burning flames. The situation was very bad. The Tang army had an ambush.

Abu Muslim was extremely uneasy and immediately ordered: "Stop the attack and the army will retreat ten miles!"

"Woo - Wu -" the rapid horn sounded, which was an order for the army to retreat.

The main force of the food army quickly turned around and retreated. The cavalry retreated quickly, and they all fled behind.

The 7,000 infantrymen had just escaped the attack of Tocharian crossbowmen and trebuchets on the other side, and their retreat was a little slower. They distanced themselves from the cavalry.

At this moment, Li Ye led nine thousand cavalry and suddenly came from the west, accurately inserting themselves into the gap between the enemy's cavalry and infantry.

Li Ye accurately judged the changes in the war situation,

When the fire started and an attack was launched from the other side, the battlefield would definitely be in chaos. With Abu Muslim's caution, he would definitely order the entire army to retreat. This was the best opportunity to cut off the attacking enemy's retreat path.

This fire cannot be burned in vain, and the results must be maximized.

Li Ye's nine thousand troops cut off the retreat of the Dashi Infantry Corps and the First Corps Cavalry.

At this time, the Tang army on the other side also stopped shooting. Cheng Qianli led the Beiting cavalry to fight along the river. The fire did not burn along the river, leaving a gap for Cheng Qianli's right-wing cavalry to break through and kill. The Ting cavalry attacked from the east, and Li Ye's nine thousand cavalry launched a fierce attack from the west.

In the chaos, thousands of cavalry and 7,000 infantry of the first legion of the Dashi Army completely collapsed, and were surrounded and annihilated by 20,000 Tang troops. They were killed until they cried for their fathers and mothers, and had no way to escape.

Abu Ziyad, who withdrew ten miles away in one breath, suddenly discovered that the infantry regiment and the cavalry of the first regiment had not followed in time. He was greatly worried, and immediately ran to Abu Muslim and said: "I would like to inform the governor, can you allow me to lead ten thousand people in a humble position?" The cavalry goes to support the retreat of the First Army and the Infantry Army!"

Abu Muslim hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "Okay!"

Ziad led 10,000 cavalry and galloped northward. Just after running a few miles, a rapid horn sound suddenly came from behind, which was the clarion call for retreat.

Ziad didn't know the reason and quickly stopped the 10,000 troops.

Within a moment, Abu Muslim's personal soldiers rushed over, raised their command arrows and shouted: "The governor ordered the general to withdraw immediately!"

Ziad was furious, pointed forward and said: "Our soldiers were surrounded and annihilated by the enemy, but we did nothing to save them?"

"This is a military order, please General Ziad to withdraw immediately!"

With no choice but to lead 10,000 cavalry, Ziad retreated to the formation. He was dissatisfied and stepped forward and said, "Why did the governor recall him to a humble position again?"

Abu Muslim said calmly: "The fact that they can't retreat means that there is an ambush by the Tang army. I'm afraid that if you go, you will fall into the ambush of the Tang army and you won't be able to come back!"

Ziad was filled with anger and finally couldn't bear it anymore. He said loudly: "If I am ambushed in my humble position, the governor can just lead his army to rescue me. Let's see how many troops they have to ambush me?"

Abu Muslim was furious and stared at Ziad sharply. Ziad could only lower his head and said, "I humbly obey the order!"

Abu Muslim stared at the thick smoke and fire in the distance and said coldly: "It is not appropriate to fight anymore today. We must retreat thirty miles!"

The Great Food Army slowly retreated, and the three thousand Sogdians who had originally built a pontoon bridge on the river also gave up on the half-built pontoon bridge and retreated with the army.

Soon, the pontoon bridge was also set on fire by the Tocharian coalition forces, and the bridge was in flames.

Abu Muslim squinted at the fire on the bridge and felt a little shaken. Of course he had also experienced kerosene in the war. When they attacked Damascus, the Umayyad army who defended the city threw hundreds of barrels of kerosene and burned them to death. More than two thousand people attended.

But that was a city defense battle. Now the Tang army actually used kerosene in field battles. How should I deal with this weapon?

The siege on the battlefield was also over. Gao Xianzhi sent out the main force to surround the remaining soldiers and infantry regiments of the Dashi First Army. At this time, there were only more than 3,000 people left in the Dashi Army.

Li Ye wanted to drive them all out, but Gao Xianzhi wanted to take prisoners. In the end, more than 3,000 people were given the opportunity to surrender. More than 3,000 people knelt down and surrendered.

This time the Tang army gained the greatest benefit from the Huoyou War, wiping out 20,000 enemy troops, which reduced the strength of the Dashi Army to 55,000. Among them were 20,000 Sogdian troops who did not have a strong will to fight.

After handing the prisoners of war to the care of the Tocharian coalition forces, Gao Xianzhi immediately ordered the army to march south to prepare for the second battle with the Food Army.

This is the shrewdness of Gao Xianzhi. The morale of the Dashi Army has been hit, and the situation is favorable to the Tang Army, so he will make a move.

As soon as Abu Muslim stabilized the army, he received news that the Tang army was chasing him and had appeared three miles away.

This news made Abu Muslim quite helpless. He also knew that he could no longer retreat. If he retreated further, his morale would be exhausted. If the Tang army came to pursue him, the entire army would be defeated.

At this time, there was no other choice but to bite the bullet and fight the Tang army.

He immediately ordered: "The army is arrayed and ready to fight to the death with the Tang army!"

Abu Muslim himself led 20,000 cavalry as the main force, Ziad led about 15,000 men, and General Aragorn led 20,000 Sogdian troops as the right wing. They were about three miles away from the Talus River, and the crossbows on the other side were unable to do anything to them. .

Gao Xianzhi also lined up three miles away. He still led 18,000 troops as the center army, Cheng Qianli led 10,000 Beiting cavalry as the right wing, and Li Ye led 9,000 cavalry as the left wing.

The two armies advanced at the same time. Both commanders knew that this battle was a decisive battle. Strategies could be improvised to catch the enemy off guard, but to truly defeat the enemy, they had to go head-to-head.

The armies of both sides were getting closer and closer, with only three hundred steps apart. Gao Xianzhi raised his sword and shouted, "For the dignity of the Tang Dynasty, the officers and soldiers of the Anxi Army, kill -"

"Follow me and kill—"

Li Ye waved his flag and shouted. He took the lead, followed closely by nine thousand cavalry, and tens of thousands of Tang Dynasty soldiers rushed towards the food army like a tide.

Abu Muslim also waved his sword and shouted: "God bless us, kill -"

"Kill--"

Fifty thousand Dashi also shouted and began to run. The two armies were running in the wilderness, dust was flying, getting closer and closer, and crashed into each other.