Li Shimin's slightly haggard eyes widened as he stared at the camp. The current Xia Xia's camp had turned into a land of fire under the continuous explosions.
The gunpowder exploded, flames rose everywhere, smoke and dust curled up, followed by endless screams. Although the explosion suppressed everything, Li Shimin seemed to hear the screams of his own soldiers coming from the camp. Li Shimin did not see the specific scene of the explosion in the camp, but he seemed to see the corpses of the Tang soldiers falling to the ground.
Li Shimin felt like his heart was being cut by a knife.
"Your Majesty, let's retreat."
Fang Xuanling sighed in his heart.
His worry had indeed become a reality. Du Qi indeed had a backup plan, using the explosion to counterattack. Under the explosion of gunpowder, the Tang soldiers in the camp had nowhere to escape, and everything depended on luck. If they were lucky, they might be able to escape the explosion.
Wei Zheng also said, "Your Majesty, let's retreat."
The rest of the people suggested retreat. At present, Li Shimin did not have many soldiers around him. Even if there were still the Black Armor Elite Cavalry, Li Shimin's Black Armor Elite Cavalry and other forces were far from enough. Once Du Qi's army came out, Li Shimin's forces would not be enough.
No matter how unwilling Li Shimin was to retreat, he had no choice but to order, "Pass down the order, retreat!"
After the order was given, the sound of retreating rang out.
Li Shimin immediately led the army to retreat. But when Li Shimin retreated, he looked back at the camp filled with smoke and dust. As the explosions continued to ring out, gradually, the sound of explosions began to dissipate, and the camp gradually calmed down. When Li Shimin saw the situation in the camp, he was even more heartbroken.
After this wave of explosions, there would not be many left of an army of more than 100,000 soldiers. His forces were gone again.
Sigh …
Li Shimin sighed in his heart, finally turned back, shook the reins, and quickly retreated.
More than 10,000 people turned around and retreated, but after walking less than 500 steps forward, Li Shimin's ears suddenly twitched, and he hurriedly said, "The ground ahead is shaking, and it's very strong. It's Du Qi's elephant soldiers. Damn it, we arranged sentries to scout the surrounding situation, why are there still elephant soldiers lying in ambush? Pass down the order, break out at full speed and kill our way out. "
At this moment, Li Shimin quickly gave the order.
Once the path was blocked by the elephant soldiers, even if Li Shimin could escape, the army under his command would definitely be greatly affected. This was something that Li Shimin absolutely did not wish to see. The army sped up again and quickly broke through the encirclement. Even though night had fallen and it was no longer convenient to travel, Li Shimin had no other choice.
When Li Shimin's army began to retreat, at the location of the main tent in the camp.
Du Qi saw that the smoke and dust had dispersed and the explosions had stopped, so he said, "Beat the drums, send the order to counterattack. Li Shimin's army has been arrogant for such a long time. Now that the offense and defense have reversed, it's time for us to kill them. Today is the day to kill the enemy and gain merit. "
Dong! Dong!!! "
The sound of war drums resounded.
The majestic sound of the war drums reverberated in the air, constantly ringing out. Along with the sound of the war drums, the retreating Xia Xia's army suddenly burst into shouts that soared into the sky. The black mass of the army had already charged out. They went back in the direction they came from and killed the Tang soldiers who were lucky enough to survive the explosion.
The army counterattacked. Du Qi also led the troops around him and began to head in the direction of the main gate of the camp.
Because of the explosions along the way, there were many potholes in the camp. After all, a lot of gunpowder had been placed in the camp before. These gunpowder were actually pits dug in the ground, then trenches were dug out, and then fuses were connected to all the gunpowder. In this way, only by igniting the fuses could all the gunpowder be detonated.
The army killed the Tang soldiers who were lucky enough to escape along the way. Soon, they killed their way out of the camp and pursued in the direction that Li Shimin's army had retreated. The army continued to rush forward. Du Qi led the army to chase for about three-quarters of an hour. Then, they heard battle cries coming from the front. Du Qi immediately gave the order to advance at full speed.
The army rushed forward for less than 300 steps before they encountered the Tang army and the elephant soldiers who were fighting.
In addition, there was also a group of Xia Xia's infantry.
Most of the Tang army was stopped.
As the army led by Du Qi entered the battlefield, the Tang army that was still fighting directly collapsed and could no longer resist. After the army surrounded them, the surrendered Tang soldiers were detained, and those who stubbornly resisted were directly killed.
Zuo Xianfeng and Du Qi met up. Zuo Xianfeng reported, "Your Majesty, I failed in my duty and was unable to stop Li Shimin. Under the protection of the Black Armor Elite Cavalry, he has already retreated first. "
Du Qi said, "Li Shimin's Black Armor Elite Cavalry are not weak. It will be very difficult to take him down. Moreover, the main point this time is to destroy Li Shimin's army. Now that we have achieved our goal in this battle, let Li Shimin escape. "
Zuo Xianfeng's troops were the elephant soldiers. It was impossible for them to scatter and chase, and it was not convenient for them to chase. It was normal for Li Shimin to escape. Moreover, Du Qi's cavalry had all shrunk in the army. If the elephant soldiers were lying in ambush in the distance, they would have to arrange countless warhorses and cavalry outside. It was very likely that they would not be able to hide the news. In the end, only the elephant soldiers were outside. Otherwise, with the cavalry, it would be easy to stop Li Shimin.
Du Qi directly ordered, "Retreat!"
"Yes!"
Zuo Xianfeng passed down the order.
The army escorted the surrendered Tang soldiers and retreated.
On the other side, Li Shimin rushed out under the protection of the Black Armor Elite Cavalry. However, Li Shimin's troops had suffered a lot of losses. He led the army to continue retreating. After retreating for more than ten miles, he stopped to rest when he saw that there were no more pursuers behind him. After a round of counting, Li Shimin heard the battle report and was completely stunned.
His Black Armor Elite Cavalry was only left with about two thousand elites. The ordinary Tang soldiers who followed the retreat were only left with about three thousand people. However, there were even more people who were caught in the rear, or had fled.
Li Shimin had brought more than a hundred thousand troops for this battle.
They were strong and strong.
But now, they had suffered a lot of losses. Less than ten percent of the army was left. There was only a small amount of strength left. Li Shimin wanted to cry but had no tears. He looked back in the direction of Du Qi's camp, his emotions fluctuating. His breathing was unstable, and his chest kept rising and falling. He could not suppress his churning blood and spat out a mouthful of blood.
When Li Shimin vomited blood, Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling, and the others were very nervous and hurriedly asked with concern.
Li Shimin waved his hand to indicate that he was fine. He said, "I'm just not reconciled. I thought we would win this battle. And our soldiers have already killed their way into the camp. Who would have thought that it was actually Du Qi's doing. He purposely let our soldiers enter and then used gunpowder to blow up our people. Du Qi, this kid, is really scheming and incomparably ruthless. "
Wei Zheng said, "Your Majesty, what we are facing now is not only Du Qi's continuous attack, but also the domestic situation. If we have more troops, we may have a chance to stabilize the country. But now we can't recruit troops locally, and our troops are few and far between. It's even more difficult to stabilize the domestic situation now. I don't know what to do. "
As soon as these words came out, everyone was speechless.
The domestic situation was already a mess, and there was no way to control the situation. The whole Tang dynasty, including Li Shimin himself, had pinned all their hopes on defeating Du Qi. As long as Du Qi was defeated, there would be hope for everything and the domestic situation could be gradually adjusted. At present, the domestic situation was not under control, and all the soldiers were killed here. It was extremely difficult to win now.
Li Shimin's heart was bleeding.
Yes!
How should he deal with the domestic situation?
At this moment, Li Shimin was in a terrible fix and did not know how to deal with it. Li Shimin took a deep breath and looked at Fang Xuanling, hoping that Fang Xuanling could come up with a plan to solve the current dilemma and even turn the tables.
Fang Xuanling smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, I don't know how to reverse the situation for a while. In the current situation, the Great Tang was already on the verge of collapse. The situation is too difficult. "
"Retreat to Anrong Pass first and then consider the follow-up."
Li Shimin saw that Fang Xuanling could not make up his mind, so he no longer delayed and directly ordered the retreat.
After the order was issued, everyone set off.
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