northernbook Chapter 210: Catch the ducks and put them on the shelves
Chapter 210: Catch the ducks and put them on the shelves
"Aren't you planning to use the small cannon?" Guo Xin asked.
Li Chengqian explained: "The small steel cannon is too powerful, I am afraid it will scare these Tibetans, and then they will not dare to retreat to Gumo Prefecture, which will be difficult to deal with!
Some things are better done step by step. The purpose of this encounter is not to kill the enemy, but to chase the Tibetans away."
Guo Xin didn't say anything more. Although he had seen the power of flintlock rifles and small cannons before, he didn't know how to use these firearms against the enemy.
Now is the time to learn since we have a ready-made goal.
After all, Li Chengqian and his men will return to the Zhenguan period in three days, and he must be familiar with the habits of these firearms.
Besides, with the Tang Dynasty God of War in command, to be honest, he has no say here.
Or maybe everyone is speechless...
As the Tubo vassal coalition forces gradually approached, scouts from both sides finally engaged in battle.
Although the Tibetans were also good at riding and shooting, they were much weaker than the grassland peoples in the northern desert.
Not to mention comparing with the Tang Dynasty soldiers equipped with powerful composite bows.
As soon as the scouts from both sides came into contact, several of them were killed in an instant by the Tang Dynasty soldiers using compound bows.
The Tang soldiers won the scout battle with zero casualties.
But that doesn't change anything.
Although several Tibetan scouts were killed, a few still escaped back to their headquarters and brought back the news that the Tang army had already formed up.
The two sides were less than two miles apart at this time, and they could clearly see the number of the other side.
The number of the Tubo vassal coalition forces was around two thousand, all of them cavalry.
Li Chengqian's side had less than a thousand people.
This made the Tibetan generals feel that they had the advantage.
But the sudden appearance of the Tang army also made them feel uneasy.
Is the Tang Dynasty going to re-establish its control over the Western Regions?
But the Hexi Corridor is still in the hands of the Tibetans. So which direction did this Tang army come from?
The grassland controlled by the Uighurs in the north?
impossible.
Although the Uighurs had good relations with the Tang Dynasty, it was impossible for them to allow an army of a thousand people to appear on their territory.
The key point is that Tubo and Huihe have a good relationship, and Huihe will never offend them for the sake of the Tang Dynasty.
So where did this Tang Dynasty army come from?
If the Tubo generals can't figure it out, then they can try it themselves. Capture some prisoners and ask them, and then they will find out.
They directly formed a charge formation, a very simple swarm charge formation.
This is the tactic that the Tibetans are best at and also the most practical tactic.
Tubo's attack and rule in the Western Regions was to directly conquer the numerous city-states and small countries in the Western Regions by relying on numerical superiority and brutal massacres.
The swarm charge formation is the most practical and fastest!
Moreover, the Western Regions are all small countries, and a country that can mobilize a thousand troops is considered a regional power.
Most small countries have less than a thousand people.
A small town, or even a village, could produce a king who would dare to send envoys to pretend to be a country and pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty.
After the Tang Dynasty's power weakened in the Western Regions, their tribute objects shifted to the Arab Empire in the west and the Tibetan Empire in the south.
It doesn't matter who you mix with, as long as you can keep your own country.
This is also the reason why these vassal soldiers appeared in the Tubo army.
Nearly two thousand Tibetan coalition forces launched a charge!
They really charged forward in a swarm, screaming loudly.
They urged their horses to move at full speed, trying to reach the range of their bows and arrows as quickly as possible, but...
Boom boom boom~~
With a burst of dense gunfire, dozens of Tibetan cavalrymen who were at the forefront fell down instantly, and then...
Boom boom boom~~
Dozens more fell.
Boom boom boom~~
After five rounds of shooting, the firepower of the Tang army finally paused slightly.
this.....
The Tibetan generals in the rear were dumbfounded.
so horrible!
Before they could reach the enemy, they heard a few loud noises and a cloud of white smoke. Hundreds of people on their side fell down for no reason!
What kind of weapon is this? The power of thunder?
The charging Tibetan cavalry were frightened. They looked up at the sky, thinking that it was a thunderbolt sent down by the gods as punishment.
But the sky above was clear and cloudless, so where did the thunder punishment come from? ?
How is this fight going?
Damn it, saving your life is the most important thing, retreat~~
On the other side, Guo Xin was shocked as he watched the flintlock rifles that killed more than three hundred Tibetans with just five rounds of shooting.
Flintlock...
This magical firearm is a weapon that can change the situation on the battlefield and change the inherent laws of cold weapon warfare.
The cavalry is useless in the face of such powerful firepower.
If he had 10,000 such flintlock troops, he was confident that he could easily defeat an enemy force that was five times his size.
Not to mention the unused small steel cannons...
What happened during the Zhenguan period? Why is there no record of this kind of firearm in history books?
The Tibetan coalition forces on the opposite side wanted to retreat, but their horses had already sped up, and they were charging in a huge mass, so it was not possible for them to retreat so easily.
It was impossible to turn around, so they could only flee in both directions.
At this moment, the Tang cavalry moved.
When the five hundred flintlock infantrymen saw that the Tibetans were trying to escape, they quickly put away their guns under the command of Li Jing, mounted their horses, took out their compound bows, and joined the pursuit.
Li Chengqian patted Guo Xin who was still in a daze and said, "Old General, let's follow!"
"Oh oh oh..."
As a result, the two sides began a long pursuit.
He tried desperately to escape, and the last thing he did was to give the horse under him a pair of wings.
While chasing, he shot arrows from time to time to spur the opponent forward.
One chasing and the other fleeing, the two armies were rapidly approaching Gumo Prefecture.
But Li Chengqian didn't pursue too closely, mainly because he was afraid that Guo Xin couldn't hold on.
Moreover, the Tibetan coalition forces in front could not sustain a long period of rapid march, so they had to be given adequate breathing time.
The two sides ran and stopped like this, and after shooting and killing about five hundred fallen Tubo coalition soldiers along the way, Li Chengqian and others finally saw the city of Gumozhou at the end of their sight.
By this time, it was already evening.
In the setting sun, some merchant caravans heading to Gumo Prefecture, including the Uighur envoys in Gumo Prefecture, all saw two armies chasing and fleeing in the distance.
"The Tibetan cavalry were being hunted down. When did such a force appear in the Western Regions?"
"Look, are the people chasing the Tibetans wearing Mingguang armor?"
Everyone rubbed their eyes and looked carefully.
But the distance is too far and most people can't see clearly.
But they clearly saw the Tibetans fleeing in panic.
As the overlord of the Western Regions today, apart from the legendary Tang Dynasty, which other country has the ability to chase and kill the Tibetan cavalry? !
"It's really the Tang Dynasty's Ming Guang Armor. The Tang Dynasty has returned to the Western Regions. The reinforcements from Qiuci City are here!!"
A Han survivor shouted excitedly...