The Tibetan cavalry completely collapsed and fled, while the armored artillery vehicles of the Tang dynasty launched a fierce pursuit from behind, just like a pack of wolves hunting a gazelle.
The speed of the armored cannons was much faster than that of the Tufan cavalry. Moreover, they could fire the cannons as they chased after the Tufan cavalry. This sealed off the escape route of the Tufan cavalry and forced the frightened Tufan horses to turn back. Therefore, most of the Tufan cavalry were destined to not be able to escape.
The bombardment of the artillery and the crushing of the iron wheels made the brave Tibetan cavalry feel the fear of extinction. They were really helpless in this situation. There seemed to be no better way except to surrender.
However, at this time, the armored artillery vehicles were attacking with full force. Even if they wanted to surrender, they had no chance. The saber of the Tang dynasty had been swung, and the Tibetan cavalry could only stretch out their necks to be killed. This was fate, and the consequence of all this was caused by some ignorant Tibetan nobles who wantonly provoked the Tang Empire. This was the revenge of the Tang dynasty, and it was a judgment of justice.
Since ancient times, if a powerful country wanted to maintain its effective rule, it must have a machine of violence that deterred the world. At the same time, it must have the courage to use this machine of violence to teach the enemies who dared to invade a lesson, so as to maintain its rule and protect its people. When teaching the enemy a lesson, it must be ruthless. Otherwise, it would not be enough to deter the ambitious enemy.
In the future, after two cities were destroyed, the Wo Nation would honestly respect the people who defeated them. They were very dismissive of the Hua Xia's conciliation. They even refused to admit that they had violated the Hua Xia. They were like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water. This was mainly because the Hua Xia Empire was too weak to the Wo Nation, and weakness would never be exchanged for the slightest respect. The so-called conciliation would always be a sign of weakness in the eyes of others.
There was a famous saying that if one did not have the ability to kill the opponent at any time, then tolerance was weakness. Of course, even if one had such ability, but did not have the courage to use it, or was unwilling to take revenge on one's enemy because of kindness, it was also weakness.
Weakness always meant being bullied. This was the cruel law of nature. Survival of the fittest. People had seen wolves eating sheep, but they had never seen sheep eating wolves.
If the Tang Empire wanted to dominate the world, it had to be a wild wolf that dared to hunt, not a hypocritical gazelle. Only the strong could be respected, and the weak could only be slaughtered.
The continuous bombardment and suppression caused the Tibetan cavalry to suffer heavy losses. The mountains were littered with the corpses of the Tibetan soldiers. The corpses of the dead were piled up together with the dead horses, forming a very sorrowful scene.
In this battle, less than a third of the Tibetan cavalry managed to escape. The remaining troops were almost completely annihilated. In the end, only a few hundred soldiers were injured or captured. Moreover, most of them were lightly injured or uninjured. The heavily injured Tibetan soldiers were not worth capturing. They were all directly crushed to reduce their suffering.
"In less than an hour, more than half of the Tubo cavalry was annihilated. Our Tang Empire has armored artillery. Why should we worry about not being able to conquer the world?"
Li Yu poked his head out of the armored command vehicle and looked at the battlefield in the distance. As the imperial grandson of the Tang Empire, Li Yu was of course very proud that the Tang Empire's army had achieved such a glorious result.
"The Tubo army has gathered 300,000 soldiers in the Da Fei River, which is much more than the main army of the Tang Empire. However, as long as we are stationed near Stone Castle City, the 300,000 soldiers of the Tubo army will soon be cut off from supplies. In this way, they will be a group of lambs waiting to be slaughtered."
Ang Lee looked up at the direction of the Da Fei River and said confidently.
This battle had already proved that the Tibetan cavalry's flesh and blood were unable to withstand the Great Tang's armored cannons and chariots. Ten thousand cavalrymen had been utterly defeated. Even if three hundred thousand cavalrymen were to join the battle, they still wouldn't be able to achieve victory. Stone Castle City was the bridgehead for the Tibetans to invade Great Tang. Now, it had become their burial ground.
Of course, even if the Tubo cavalry was unable to resist the armored artillery of the Tang Empire, Ang Lee still had to arrange for the various troops to take turns to be on guard. He also had to replenish the ammunition of the armored artillery in preparation for the next round of attack from the Tubo army.
The hundreds of captive Tubo cavalry were all tied together with ropes and guarded by 20 Tang Empire soldiers. The Tubo soldiers who died on the battlefield were buried on the spot. The dead horses were collected first and then cooked. They were the best delicacies and could not be wasted.
Less than a third of the ten thousand Tibetan cavalry managed to escape. This third of the soldiers managed to describe the terror of the Tang army's armored cannons and caused the three hundred thousand Tibetan soldiers in the camp to be scared out of their wits. For a moment, the Tibetan camp was in a state of panic. Many cowardly soldiers were even prepared to run away in order to save their lives.
The Tubo general was also shocked. This was equivalent to telling him that Stone Castle City had been captured by the Tang Empire. Moreover, the elite troops of the Tang Empire had firmly controlled the passage near Stone Castle City. No matter how many soldiers and horses he had under his command, it was impossible for him to recapture Stone Castle City. As a result, the logistics of the 300,000 soldiers were lost.
In fact, after understanding the power of the Tang Empire, most of the Tubo aristocrats were unwilling to become enemies with the Tang Empire. However, a few aristocrats insisted on refusing to acknowledge the power of the Tang Empire for the sake of their own interests. They were bent on destroying the Tang Empire. The vile actions of these few aristocrats had kidnapped all the Tubo aristocrats and forced the Tubo aristocrats to unite against the revenge of the Tang Empire.
However, the Tubo aristocrats still underestimated the power of the Tang Empire. Most of the Tubo aristocrats had never been to the Tang Empire. They still lacked the most direct understanding of how advanced the Tang Empire was. They could not truly understand the real Tang Empire just by relying on the information of others. This ignorance obviously caused extremely serious consequences.
At this time, in the face of such a dangerous situation, the Tubo generals began to have different opinions. Some blamed some of the aristocrats for stirring up trouble and causing the Tubo army to be in a passive position. Some were extremely agitated and wanted to teach the Tang Empire a lesson and teach them a lesson. Some insisted on fighting to the end, and some wanted to negotiate with the Tang Empire. In short, all kinds of opinions filled the Tubo generals, causing the Tubo general to have a headache.
However, every nation had their own pride. Choosing to surrender when they still had the strength to fight was obviously not in line with the majority of the Tubo generals' wishes.
Through the descriptions of the Tubo soldiers who escaped back to the battlefield, the Tubo generals had a general understanding of the powerful combat power of the Tang Empire's armored artillery vehicles. They suddenly felt that even if they attacked with all their strength, they might not be able to defeat the armored artillery vehicles of the Tang Empire. In front of them were more than 100,000 soldiers and horses of the Tang Empire, whose strength was also not to be underestimated.
After repeated comparisons, the Tubo generals felt that it was more reliable to fight the Tang Empire's main army with all their strength. After all, they had the advantage in numbers. Moreover, the Tang Empire's main army was not equipped with terrifying armored artillery vehicles. They only needed to defeat the main army of the Tang Empire and then they could take advantage of the situation and directly enter the Tang Empire's capital, Chang 'an. Then, they could rob the supplies of the people of the Tang Empire along the way.
It had to be said that the Tubo generals' idea was quite good. Once this goal was achieved, Ang Lee's troops would be powerless. However, the Tubo generals obviously underestimated the strength of the Tang Empire's main army. The Hexi and Longyou troops under Wang Zhongsi's command were the elite troops of the Tang Empire. In addition, there were also 20,000 elites from the Shuo side. Wang Zhongsi had specially transferred them from the Shuo side to deal with the Tubo army. Even if the Tubo army had twice the number of troops, it was still impossible for them to defeat the main army of the Tang Empire. Moreover, the main army of the Tang Empire had been equipped with a small number of artillery units. The main artillery force in the capital should also have been reinforced. In this way, the Tubo army did not have much chance of winning the decisive battle against the main army of the Tang Empire. Since Wang Zhongsi was not willing to use the artillery unit easily, the Tubo generals might not know this yet. They might still think that the main army of the Tang Empire in front of them was a complete army of cold weapons. In this way, the Tubo army would definitely suffer a crushing defeat.
The Tubo generals staked everything on this one throw and prepared to fight the main army of the Tang Empire. They immediately made various preparations and were ready to attack the main army of the Tang Empire at any time.
There would definitely be a lot of signs when preparing for a battle. These signs were quickly discovered by the scouts of the Tang Empire and immediately reported to Wang Zhongsi. For this reason, Wang Zhongsi immediately began to prepare for battle and was ready to give the Tubo army a head-on blow.
"The Tubo army is getting bolder and bolder. They actually dared to take the initiative to provoke the Tang Empire. They think that they can defeat our army just by relying on their large number of troops.
It's just wishful thinking, "Wang Zhongsi said loudly as he looked at the topographic map in front of him. Just from the mobilization of the Tubo army, he could tell that the Tubo army was preparing to attack him.
"Commander, there's an important situation. We've caught a Tubo spy. According to him, an elite troop of our army has already captured Stone Castle City. The Tubo army sent 10,000 cavalry back as reinforcements and suffered heavy losses. Tubo's logistics have been cut off. That's why they're staking everything on this one throw and want to fight the main army of our army as soon as possible."
A subordinate walked into the tent with large strides and reported.
"Good, that's great. This commander understands."
Wang Zhongsi was overjoyed. The four artillery brigades that the imperial court sent as reinforcements had arrived a few days ago and brought with them an important piece of news. It was that the armored artillery unit led by Ang Lee had already set off and was preparing to sneak attack the Tubo army from the back. Now that there was news that Stone Castle City had been captured by the Tang Empire, it was enough to prove that the troop that had sneak attacked Stone Castle City was the elite troop led by Ang Lee.
"Commander, this elite troop must be the Iron Armored Artillery Troop that we saw before, right? Other than this troop, what other troop can beat the 10,000 cavalry of the Tubo army to such a state? Haha! "
"That's right. This elite troop is indeed the most elite armored artillery unit of the Tang Empire. Now, they've firmly controlled Stone Castle City and cut off the Tubo army's retreat. They're forcing the Tubo army to immediately fight the final battle with our army. As such, our army can't be in a hurry. Immediately pass down the order for the army to retreat 30 miles."
Wang Zhongsi's lips curled into a faint smile as he gave the order to retreat.
"Commander, you're wise. The more the Tubo army is in a hurry to fight the final battle with us, the more we can't be in a hurry. We'll retreat some distance first and let the Tubo army underestimate us. Then, we'll set up an ambush and deal a heavy blow to the Tubo army."
The general analyzed.
Wang Zhongsi nodded and said, "Let the army retreat first. I still need to think about how to deal a heavy blow to the main force of the Tubo army."
After the order was given, the main force of the Tang Empire army began to retreat slowly and gradually separated themselves from the Tubo army. When the Tubo soldiers found out about this, they immediately reported it to their superiors.
The Tubo generals were forced into a corner. When they saw the Tang Empire army retreating, they naturally thought that the Tang Empire army was afraid. Therefore, they pressed forward with all their troops and prepared to pursue the main force of the Tang Empire army.
Wang Zhongsi's main force of the Tang Empire army retreated continuously for more than 100 miles. In the end, he sent an elite cavalry of more than 10,000 men to fight the Tubo cavalry that was several times stronger than them. After fighting for a while, they retreated in defeat.
The Tubo cavalry was overjoyed that they won a great victory. They immediately pursued the main force of the Tang Empire army with all their strength. Unknowingly, they entered the encirclement set by the Tang Empire army. The four artillery brigades that were sent as reinforcements from the capital were deployed here. They adjusted all the cannons and aimed at the pursuing Tubo cavalry. A large number of infantry and cavalry were also prepared to attack at any time.
"Commander, there are only 100,000 Tubo cavalry that are chasing us. There are still 200,000 Tubo cavalry behind. Should we let these cavalry go and attack the main force behind them?"
"No need. These 100,000 cavalry are the main force of the Tubo army. As long as we deal a heavy blow to them, the main force of the Tubo army will disperse. Tell my general to fire the cannons immediately."
Wang Zhongsi looked at the Tubo cavalry that had entered the encirclement and decisively gave the order to fire the cannons.
"Boom, boom, boom …"
300 cannons roared at the same time and shot 300 shells into the Tubo cavalry, instantly causing a large number of casualties among the Tubo cavalry. Moreover, these shells were aimed separately. Some of them blocked both sides to prevent the Tubo cavalry from escaping. Some of them were aimed at the position where the Tubo cavalry was the most concentrated to kill more Tubo cavalry and cause a heavy blow to the Tubo army.
The sudden artillery attack caused the Tubo cavalry to panic. They had been confronting the main force of the Tang Empire army for many days and had fought several battles. However, they had never seen the main force of the Tang Empire army equipped with cannons. Now that they were suddenly attacked by cannons, they naturally covered their heads and ran away, crying for their parents.
The continuous artillery bombardment caused the 100,000 Tubo cavalry to suffer heavy losses. Most importantly, their formation was disrupted and their morale was greatly reduced. They had completely lost their combat organization and were like scattered sand.
"Stop the artillery bombardment. All troops, attack."
Wang Zhongsi seized the opportunity and ordered the artillery bombardment to stop. He also ordered the main force of the Tang Empire army to charge at the Tubo cavalry that had already disrupted their formation.
"Kill …"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
