Li Shimin wanted to send the Black Armor Elite Cavalry into the battlefield because the artillery bombardment had stopped. After all, the two sides were in a chaotic battle. If they continued to bombard, it would be an indiscriminate attack and would hurt their own people. Therefore, the Black Armor Elite Cavalry had a reason to intervene.
However, there was another problem. If Du Qi sent the elephant soldiers into the battle again, even if the Black Armor Elite Cavalry was fierce, it would be difficult for the Black Armor Elite Cavalry to resist the elephant soldiers.
This was Li Shimin's concern.
Retreat!
Li Shimin was unwilling.
Attack!
But there was a difficulty.
Li Shimin was in a dilemma.
Li Shimin was not an indecisive person. He thought about it and immediately made a decision. He ordered, "Send the order to send 4,000 ordinary cavalry into the battlefield. 2,000 on the right wing and 2,000 on the left wing to stop Xia Xia's soldiers. "
"Yes!"
The messenger quickly passed down the order.
Along with the sound of hooves, there were warhorses charging out at high speed. The rumbling sound of hooves trampling on the ground made the Long Cypress Slope tremble under the night sky.
"Kill!"
The cavalry of the Tang army shouted.
The battle cries were endless.
This batch of Tang troops galloped near the wide Long Cypress Slope and then attacked from the two flanks. There were few elephant soldiers where the Tang cavalry was, because now the elephant soldiers had fallen into the crowd. Although the elephant soldiers were fighting, it was impossible for them to suddenly stop the cavalry of the Tang Dynasty. After all, they could not free themselves.
In the blink of an eye, the cavalry had already entered the battlefield and began to fight.
The cavalry sprinted and killed into Xia Xia's soldiers.
Although the cavalry was fierce, Xia Xia's soldiers resisted with all their might, especially with the help of the elephant soldiers. Therefore, even if the 4,000 cavalry were powerful, the Tang army's offensive could not suppress Xia Xia's soldiers.
The two sides kept fighting.
This battle went on from night to night. It continued until the first light of dawn appeared on the horizon. Battle cries could be heard as countless soldiers fought on the battlefield.
The 4,000 cavalry of the Tang army were all trapped.
Xia Xia's soldiers were as immovable as mountains.
The battle on the battlefield was still undecided.
When Li Shimin saw this scene, his eyes were a little red. After all, he had endured an entire night and his eyes were bloodshot. Li Shimin even had dark circles under his eyes, and he was very tired.
Li Shimin was no longer young.
He was not a young man in his early twenties.
Li Shimin yawned. Looking at the stalemate situation, he sighed. In this battle, from the day before until now, he had invested no less than sixty to seventy thousand men, but he had not been able to kill his way up Changbai Slope. Furthermore, countless of his soldiers had been killed or injured. As far as the eye could see, the slope was covered in corpses while fresh blood flowed down. It was even to the extent that the blood gathered down from the mountain to form a river of blood at the foot of the slope, and it was suffused with a nauseating smell of blood. Especially now that the weather was hot and the corpses were strewn all over the place, the smell was even stronger.
Yu Shinan also saw that the fighting was still going on, but it was obvious that the soldiers were exhausted. He advised, "Your Majesty, Du Qi's army is still defending the city impeccably. In fact, Du Qi didn't even send a lot of troops to fight. If we want to take down Changbai Slope in one go, it will be extremely difficult. I suggest that we retreat immediately and rest for a while before attacking. "
The other generals all gave their own suggestions.
If they could directly take down Changbai Slope, then it was okay to fight energetically. The problem was that it was impossible to take down Changbai Slope, so it was better to retreat first.
Li Shimin was silent for a moment before he nodded, "Send the order, retreat!"
After the order was given, the sound of the gong resounded throughout the battlefield. One by one, the Tang soldiers stopped fighting and quickly left the battlefield. Apart from them, the few remaining cavalry also left the battlefield and retreated.
The Tang army retreated like the tide.
The surviving Xia Xia soldiers all heaved a sigh of relief, but then they all cheered.
They had won!
They had defended Changbai Slope.
Li Shimin was leading the army to retreat when he heard the cheers from the Changbai Slope. He turned around to take a look and left without looking back.
In the first battle at Changbai Slope, he had lost.
He had not taken down Changbai Slope.
Next time, Du Qi would not be so lucky.
Du Qi was still on the mountain. He did not go to rest for the time being. Although Shangguan Yi and the others persuaded Du Qi to rest, Du Qi just stayed on the mountain.
Du Qi was the ruler of a country.
He could not easily participate in the battle.
It was impossible for him to be like a general and lead his men by example. But Du Qi could be with the soldiers. He did not participate in the battle, but just sat on the mountain. He believed that he could give the soldiers strength.
Because Du Qi was there, the people were at ease.
No one would panic.
No one would retreat.
Du Qi waited for Xue Rengui to send people to count the losses and deal with the corpses on the battlefield. All the corpses on the Changbai Slope had to be dealt with. If they were left where they were, once the weather became hot, the corpses would quickly smell and even cause an epidemic. So they had to deal with all the corpses.
Just this matter alone, even though many soldiers were mobilized to participate, it still took half the morning.
All the corpses were incinerated.
Even the blood at the foot of the mountain was all buried to avoid causing an epidemic.
All the results of the battle were also counted.
Xue Rengui came in front of Du Qi and saluted, "Your Majesty!"
Du Qi nodded and said, "How was the battle?"
Xue Rengui said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, we have suffered great losses in this battle. More than 14,000 soldiers have died in the battle. However, we have killed more than 58,600 Tang soldiers. With the geographical advantage of Changbai Slope, with the help of our mortars, gunpowder, grenades, and so on, although we lost a lot, we also gained a lot. "
"It's a victory."
"All the gains of the soldiers and the soldiers who died in the battle have been recorded."
"All the heavily injured soldiers are receiving treatment. The lightly injured soldiers will be treated later. After all, the lightly injured soldiers will not be in danger. We have to let the heavily injured soldiers be treated first before we treat the lightly injured."
Xue Rengui continued, "But the elephant soldiers last night, although the giant elephants were very strong and stood on the mountain like a small mountain, they still lost 500 giant elephants. The other 500 giant elephants were injured to varying degrees. "
Du Qi nodded and said, "No matter what, this victory is a good start. We were up against more than 200,000 Tang soldiers. To be able to annihilate nearly 60,000 of them in one battle and cause them to suffer so many losses is already very good. "
Xue Rengui nodded.
He was a little excited.
Because the battle last night was indeed very fruitful.
Du Qi changed the topic and said, "Go gather all the remaining soldiers and gather them on this slope. I have something to say. "
"Yes!"
Xue Rengui immediately went to pass down the order.
The remaining 50,000 soldiers, as well as all the elephant soldiers, all got into formation and stood on Changbai Slope.
All eyes were on Du Qi.
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