"Nonsense!"
Hou Junji waved his sleeve and said, "At a rough estimate, Du Qi has at least forty thousand soldiers on the battlefield. Du Qi only has the Four Provinces of the Western Regions. Do you really believe him when he says he has one hundred thousand soldiers? "
"Du Qi's words can't be trusted."
"Du Qi has already dispatched forty thousand soldiers, so he doesn't have many soldiers left. Although Du Qi still has some cavalry, we haven't mobilized our cavalry yet. We have enough elites to deal with him. "
Hou Junji's voice was somewhat hoarse as he continued, "Thus, in this battle, as long as you send all your infantry forward, we are certain to win."
Su Dingfang's face twitched.
He suddenly felt that Hou Junji really wasn't all that impressive. Hou Junji had actually predicted that Du Qi had less than one hundred thousand soldiers, but based on Su Dingfang's understanding … In this battle, Du Qi's military strength definitely exceeded 100,000 people, only more and not less.
Gao Shilian could see that Su Dingfang was hesitating. He was tied to Hou Junji, and if Hou Junji lost, he would lose as well. Thus, Gao Shilian ordered, "Governor Su, give the order to mobilize the soldiers."
Su Dingfang helplessly sighed.
One was the Jiedushi of the Anxi Protectorate while the other was a Duke of the court who had full authority over war matters.
As the governor, he had no say in this matter.
Su Dingfang helplessly ordered twenty thousand infantry to join the battle. Su Dingfang had sent twenty thousand infantry, but Hou Junji was not satisfied. "Governor Su, you brought thirty thousand elites. Now, you have left a few thousand infantry behind. What is your intention? "
Su Dingfang sternly said, "At all times, we have to have a backup plan. If the battle goes poorly, we need soldiers to bring up the rear. Thus, we have to leave behind five thousand infantry for this battle. As for the remaining five thousand cavalry, we can't move them. "
"Hmph, you're too cautious."
Hou Junji was very dissatisfied with Su Dingfang's answer, but he said no more. Hou Junji was like a gambler as he madly looked forward. Right now, another 20,000 infantrymen had been dispatched. In terms of military strength, the number of troops on both sides was about the same.
There wasn't much of a difference in military strength.
The two armies clashed.
Du Qi looked at the fighting army and ordered the drums to be beaten to encourage the soldiers. Accompanied by the rumbling of war drums, Du Qi's soldiers charged forward with all their might.
When Du Qi ordered the soldiers to beat the war drums, he gave another order. Killing one person would be rewarded one hundred coins, killing two people would be rewarded two hundred coins, killing three people would be rewarded four hundred coins and so on.
The more enemies they killed, the more rewards they would receive.
The order inspired the soldiers under Du Qi's command. Originally, the soldiers under Du Qi's command were already well paid. When they fought on the battlefield, whether it was for killing the enemy or for consolation, they were all paid extremely well. Now, Du Qi's reward was even more generous. When the order was passed down, all of the soldiers heard about it, and they all became excited and charged forward.
Shangguan Yi saw that the morale was high and nodded. This battle was no longer a problem.
Shangguan Yi said, "His Highness's order of commendation is extremely generous. But the more people you kill, the more rewards you receive. Once someone kills more than a hundred people, or even more, I'm afraid that the reward will be uncountable. "
Du Qi smiled and said, "Advisor, there are very few people who can kill more than one hundred people in a single battle. If we had such a fierce general, we would be overjoyed. The rest are ordinary soldiers. Killing two or three people, or even five or six people, is already the limit. Thus, while these rewards seem generous, they don't actually receive much. After all, there aren't that many people who receive the most money. "
Shangguan Yee didn't say anything else.
He was only responsible for making suggestions.
While the morale of the army under Du Qi's command was like a rainbow, even though the infantrymen under Su Dingfang had entered the battlefield, the imposing manner brought by this fresh force gradually approached nothing under the ferocious and courageous attacks of the soldiers under Du Qi's command.
As time passed, the Tang army was once more suppressed and began to slowly retreat. The Tang army's offensive formation was now in disarray, divided into various regions.
Hou Junji was watching the situation unfold, and seeing that his army was being suppressed once more infuriated him. Ever since he had begun his battle with Du Qi, he had never been able to gain the upper hand.
Hou Junji was unwilling to admit defeat like this. At this stage, if he retreated now, Hou Junji would find it very difficult to force him back with the strength he had left.
Retreating was tantamount to admitting defeat.
For the bloodthirsty Hou Junji, who was like a gambler, this was not an option.
Hou Junji immediately mobilized his ten thousand cavalry to cut in from the left and right flanks of the battlefield, heading straight for the entrance to Du Qi's camp and cutting off Du Qi's army. As long as he could cut off Du Qi's army, Hou Junji would still have a chance of victory.
Su Dingfang originally didn't plan on speaking, but now that things had come to this point, Su Dingfang reminded him, "General Hou, you're staking everything on this one throw of the dice by dispatching all the cavalry. Fighting with Du Qi in this situation is not advisable for us. I believe that it's not appropriate to send cavalry to fight. "
Hou Junji clenched his teeth and said, "Su Dingfang, this general is the commanding general. Listen to everything I say. If anything happens here, this general will take full responsibility. There's no need for you to try to persuade me otherwise. "
Gao Shilian also sensed that something was wrong. He dearly wanted to defeat Du Qi, but at this stage, he felt that he shouldn't send all his cavalry. "General Hou, please reconsider!"
Hou Junji said, "Regional Governor Gao, if you can't complete your mission, how will you have the face to report to His Majesty? How will you have the face to return to the Imperial Court? At that time, you'll definitely become a laughingstock. Moreover, if we lose this battle, we'll be the sinners of the Tang dynasty. Have you really decided that you want to cower now? "
Gao Shilian was speechless.
He naturally didn't want to become a laughingstock.
He naturally didn't want to return to the Imperial Court with his tail between his legs.
Hou Junji glared at Su Dingfang and then continued to give the order to attack. Hou Junji wanted to have Su Dingfang's cavalry join the battle as well, but the situation was unfavorable. Although Su Dingfang agreed, he only sent three thousand cavalry. Just like the infantry, Su Dingfang left nearly two thousand elite cavalry at his side in case of an emergency.
As more and more cavalry appeared on the flanks of the battlefield, Du Qi's infantry were immediately suppressed.
But suppression was suppression.
The morale of Du Qi's army was still as high as ever.
Their will to fight was exuberant.
The army continued to attack like a tide, crushing the infantry of the Tang army. Just a few moments after the Tang cavalry entered the battlefield, Xue Rengui also mobilized his cavalry.
Four thousand elite cavalry moved out from the left and right sides of the camp.
Although Du Qi's cavalry wasn't large in number, all the warhorses had been carefully selected. Every warhorse here had thin armor on their bodies to protect their vital parts.
Every cavalry was well-equipped.
And their horsemanship was exquisite.
These ten thousand cavalry had been selected from an army of more than one hundred thousand, and every one of them was extremely formidable. Their appearance caused the fighting on the battlefield to expand even further. Cavalry quickly clashed with each other.
When cavalry clashed, their strength was even greater.
This was because when cavalry charged, they could borrow the strength of their warhorses to swing their sabers, and their sabers would be extremely powerful. Du Qi's cavalry had the advantage of the sharpness of their sabers, and they were all very strong. After fighting for a while, they began to gain a slight advantage, though it wasn't very obvious.
The cavalry didn't have much of an advantage, but because Du Qi's cavalry was holding back the Tang dynasty cavalry, the infantry were getting stronger and stronger.
The Tang dynasty's infantry began to retreat.
They couldn't withstand the attacks of Du Qi's army.
Their decline was clear.
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.
