Tibet

Dozens of Tang army generals watched Sun Xiaozhe's war horse and couldn't help but admire it. It was a bay-red horse with a whole body like charcoal without a single hair. It was majestic and tall, with long and powerful hooves and extremely strong leg muscles. , can be called the best among war horses.

This war horse is comparable to Li Ye's Dayuan horse. Since the enemy general was shot down by Li Ye, this war horse is naturally Li Ye's trophy.

Li Ye patted the war horse and said with a smile: "After the Northern Expedition, whoever has the highest accumulated military merit will be rewarded with this war horse!"

Pei Xiu and Nan Jiyun's eyes lit up at the same time. Pei Xiu captured Wuguan and was credited with a major achievement, while assisting Nan Jiyun in encircling and suppressing An Shouli's army was credited with a small merit.

Nan Jiyunzhi defeated An Shouli's army and captured An Shouli's head without losing a single soldier. He was recorded as a major meritorious service. He captured Yan Hanhai alive and was recorded as a minor meritorious service. The two of them tied for first place.

The capture of Lantian Pass was attributed to the general Guan Pei. He was credited once and he was ranked third, but basically it was not his turn. Everyone knew that either Pei Xiu or Nan Jiyun got the horse. , just the two of them.

Li Ye raised Sun Xiaozhe's iron spear again and said with a smile: "This spear weighs seventy-two kilograms and is made of extremely high-quality iron. It was originally the weapon of Luo Shixin, a famous general in the Tang Dynasty. Sun Xiaozhe defeated Chang'an." Later, I snatched it from the inner treasury, which is considered a rare treasure. The one with the second most merit can get this gun."

Everyone was eager to try and asked: "Your Highness, when will we send out troops?"

Li Ye smiled lightly and said: "Have a good sleep and we will send troops at the fourth watch tonight!"

Li Ye then called Ying Yanglang General Guan Pei and told him: "The enemy's warehouse camp is in the northeast corner. Fire kites cannot fly there. There is a fence separating the camp and the main camp. If you are fast, you may be able to save it. You can lead it." A thousand cavalry will attack quickly and must protect the enemy's camp for me."

"Please rest assured, Your Highness, I will definitely be able to keep Cangying in this humble position!"

In the Yan army's tent, Ashina Chengqing paced back and forth in the tent with a depressed expression.

There have always been rumors that Sun Xiaozhe was An Lushan's illegitimate son. Ashina Chengqing followed An Lushan for the longest time. He followed him during the Kaiyuan period. He knew the truth. The rumors were true. Sun Xiaozhe was An Lushan's illegitimate son. illegitimate child.

The emperor entrusted Sun Xiaozhe to him, but before the war started, Sun Xiaozhe was seriously injured. How could he explain to the emperor?

Although it is said that there will always be casualties in war, no one can bear it when it is really his son's turn.

Ashina Chengqing let out a long sigh. He had no choice but to tell the truth to the emperor. Li Ye's archery skills were so powerful that it chilled his heart. He was wearing heavy armor and was actually shot through. Although all the generals of the Yan army were All of them are excellent archers, but none of them can shoot through heavy armor. They are so powerful that I am afraid he is the only one in the world.

At this time, Lieutenant General Gao Xiuyan came into the tent and asked for instructions: "The soldiers are about to rest, what other orders does the Lieutenant have?"

Ashina Chengqing walked to the sand table and stared for a moment. He saw Li Ye's intention to move the camp. It was only eight miles away from him. The cavalry could kill them in a quarter of an hour. Even if their spies discovered that they were sending troops, they would wait for the spies to report the news. Come here, you can't assemble the army again, it's too late, the Tang army has already entered the camp.

What Li Ye wants is this time difference, which means that he will definitely attack his camp at night. The specific day is not clear, but it should be these days.

Thinking of this, Ashina Chengqing said to Gao Xiuyan: "Five thousand cavalry must be left on duty at night. In addition, all soldiers are ordered not to take off their armor. They must sleep neatly dressed for me. Their weapons are not allowed to leave their side, and the cavalry and horses are not allowed to leave their tents. ,that is all!"

Gao Xiuyan felt awe-inspiring and quickly bowed and said: "I humbly obey the order!"

Ashina Chengqing walked to the tent door with his hands behind his back, looked at the dark night, and said to himself: "Your Highness, King Lu, why don't we compete to see who predicts the enemy first?"

Nearly a hundred Yan Army spies were deployed around the Tang Army's camp. Of course, they were all two miles away and did not enter the Tang Army's patrol area, but under the bright moonlight, the spies could still keep an eye on every move of the Tang Army's camp.

Six miles southeast of the camp, the vicinity of Yingshou Rock became very quiet. The surrounding Yan Army patrol posts were all moved to the vicinity of the Tang Army camp. Yingshou Rock no longer had the value of a patrol post. It was still 30 kilometers away from the Yan Army camp. Two miles, no matter how powerful the long-range weapon is, it cannot be thrown within a distance of two miles.

After the third watch, two hundred black figures appeared on Yingshou Rock. They laid several soft ladders, and the soldiers slowly climbed down from the top. Each man carried a large grass-made fire kite on his back, which was almost as tall as a person. .

Immediately afterwards, catapults were hung down from above by ropes. A total of fifteen catapults were hung down. The maximum number could only be placed on the top of Yingshou Rock.

The craftsmen nervously fixed the catapult on the rock. They could only fix it slightly and still needed several soldiers to hold it down.

The catapult is a large slingshot with uprights on both sides. The catapult rope is made of beef tendons. There is a hook at the bottom of the fire kite. The fire kite is made of a wooden frame and the body is tied with straw. There are pull rods on both sides. Two soldiers hold it. Hold the lever and pull it backwards to shoot out the Fire Harrier bullets.

"Captain, the time has come!"

The timekeeper stared at the hourglass. The fourth hourglass was empty of sand, and it was time for the fourth watch.

The captain waved his hand to the top of the mountain and shouted: "Rocket launch!"

The soldiers on the top of the mountain shot four gunpowder arrows into the sky at the same time. The bright red light was particularly eye-catching in the sky.

Fifteen fire kites were launched at the same time, and a huge group of eagle shadows rose into the sky and flew towards the enemy camp two miles away.

At the same time, Li Ye saw the bright gunpowder arrows in the air and shouted sternly: "Let's go!"

The camp gate opened wide, and 20,000 cavalrymen rushed out, sweeping toward the enemy camp like a flash flood. Behind them were 20,000 infantry troops, running behind the cavalrymen.

Li Ye stood on the high platform. He could see clearly that under the moonlight, another batch of fire kites took off from Yingshou Rock and flew towards the enemy camp. This was the second batch.

The first batch of fire kites had already flown into the enemy's camp, transformed into firebirds, and lit up the tent. The enemy's camp suddenly burst into flames.

This Yan army did not live in leather tents, but in wool tents. The leather tents were all sent to Yuanzhou and Qingzhou. Only the wool tents were left in Chang'an City. The Chang'an army had no plans to use the big tents.

Hundreds of large tents were ignited, and the flames burned fiercely. The flames spread very quickly. The soldiers jumped up in shock and ran away from the tents one after another.

Ashina Chengqing also rushed out of the tent. He thought of everything, including that the Tang army would attack with fire, and made corresponding arrangements. Surrounded by thousands of his patrol sentries, the Tang army could not get close within two miles. How could the Tang army set fire two miles away?

"Lieutenant, here we go again!" the soldier shouted, pointing to the sky.

Ashina Chengqing looked up at the sky. Under the light of the fire, more than a dozen giant birds flew towards the camp. When they approached the camp, 'Boom! ’ The ground burned, and the black bird turned into a fire bird and flew into the camp.

"It turned out to be flying birds!"

Ashina Chengqing slapped his head in annoyance. The Tang army must have used gunpowder to cause it to burn so quickly.

"not good!"

Ashina Chengqing suddenly realized that the Tang army would definitely take advantage of the situation and rob them, and the army would definitely come to steal the camp.

He yelled: "Retreat to the county seat, everyone retreat to the county seat!"

Dozens of cavalrymen were running and shouting: "The commander-in-chief has ordered, retreat to the county seat quickly!"

Ashina Chengqing also ordered Gao Xiuyan, "General Gao will lead the cavalry on duty to fight. You must withstand the enemy's attack for me."

"Follow the order!"

Fortunately, the soldiers of the Yan army did not take off their armor, and their horses were tied in front of the tent. Most of the cavalry and infantry ran in the fire and rushed out of the camp. By this time, the fire had completely engulfed the tent, and there were still thousands of soldiers. Unable to escape, he was engulfed in fire.

The Tang army's 20,000 cavalry had already reached three miles away, and the ground was shaking. It was too late to regroup at this time.

More importantly, a fire caused the soldiers to panic and shake their morale. They could not withstand the powerful attack of the Tang army. If they were forced to fight, the result would be the destruction of the entire army.

Only by quickly retreating to Lantian County, which is more than ten miles away, can most of the soldiers be saved.

Gao Xiuyan led five thousand cavalry to face the Tang army and covered the retreat of the main force. Twenty thousand Tang troops rushed in like a flood and engulfed the five thousand cavalry.

Gao Xiuyan desperately commanded the cavalry to fight, but Kelan's cavalry only listened to Sun Xiaozhe's orders and did not obey Gao Xiuyan's command. At this time, the morale of the army was lost, and the cavalry was not interested in fighting. The five thousand cavalry only blocked it for a moment, and then they all turned around and fled.

20,000 Tang Army cavalry were behind to cover up the killing. Some of the Yan Army infantry were overtaken by Tang Army cavalry. The Tang Army cavalry were like chopping melons and vegetables. They killed the Yan Army soldiers and made them cry and wail all over the field.