Hou Junji was killed in front of everyone. Everyone in the Tang army had witnessed Du Qi's brutality. He had directly beheaded Hou Junji. Because of this, the entire Tang army was enraged and viewed Du Qi with hostility.
But in the depths of their hearts, they felt a sliver of reverence for Du Qi. It wasn't that they hadn't seen how formidable Du Qi was. It was precisely because they had seen how formidable Du Qi's army was that they felt a sliver of reverence.
When Li Shimin returned to the camp, he looked at Li Jing and said, "Duke Wei, send the order to battle. We will accompany them to the end in this battle. Let's see who can't hold on first. "
Li Jing immediately gave the order to attack.
The soldiers in the army had already been deployed, so Li Jing gave the order for the army to move out.
The first to charge out was Liu Hongji.
He led the army as the vanguard. This wave of Tang dynasty soldiers numbered thirty thousand. On the vast plains outside the city, the sun shone down on the earth. Under the golden sunlight, the black mass of the army swarmed out.
Li Shimin looked at the army charging out, a hint of anticipation in his eyes. Du Qi's gunpowder and grenades were truly formidable, but there were certain conditions to using these weapons. When the two armies engaged in hand-to-hand combat, gunpowder and other weapons were useless, and landmines were also useless.
It depended on the strength of the soldiers.
Li Shimin had complete confidence in the soldiers under his command, so he believed that this battle could turn the situation around.
On the other side, Du Qi had returned to the army formation. Li Shimin's army was charging out, and they were getting closer and closer to his soldiers. Du Qi handed the command of the army to Xue Rengui. All he needed to do was sit in the center of the army and keep an eye on the situation.
Xue Rengui had been prepared. After taking command of the army, he immediately gave the order to get into formation. Battle cries rang out from all directions on the battlefield. The Tang army was getting closer and closer to them.
But Xue Rengui had yet to give the order to attack.
He was still in no hurry.
Xue Rengui was very familiar with commanding and dispatching a battle. Moreover, he had his own overall plan. When the Tang Army was less than 40 steps away from Xia Xia's formation, Xue Rengui's eyes flashed and he ordered his soldiers to immediately throw out grenades. Grenades were thrown out one after another. Hundreds of grenades flew through the air and landed in the crowd of Tang soldiers who were charging forward.
Boom! Boom!
An explosion sounded.
The continuous explosions caused the soil on the ground to splatter, and corpses to fly into the air.
With this wave of bombardment, the momentum of the charging Tang army was immediately hindered. Their high fighting spirit was like a snake that had its weak spot pinched and was immediately controlled. After this wave of explosions, the distance between them was less than twenty steps.
The Tang army was affected by the explosion, and the formation of the soldiers charging at the front was temporarily in chaos. Xue Rengui no longer hesitated and decisively gave the order to attack. With a command, the vast number of soldiers charged out to meet them.
The moment they entered the battle, the soldiers were like wolves and tigers.
As the Tang army had just been hit by a wave of grenades, the charging Tang soldiers were still in a daze and were still in shock. Suddenly meeting Xia Xia's soldiers, they were caught off guard.
As the two sides clashed, the formation of the Tang army at the front was at a disadvantage.
This was Xue Rengui's plan.
He knew that on the current battlefield, it was impossible to use grenades to defeat the enemy. This was because in a situation where both sides were fighting, grenades were not of much use and could not be put to use. However, the existence of the grenade could have an unexpected effect.
A wave of grenades would disrupt the rhythm and pace of the Tang army, disrupt the formation of the vanguard, and weaken the momentum of the enemy. Then, Xia Xia's soldiers would be able to gain the upper hand when they charged up.
This was the arrangement of the details.
When the two sides started to fight, an overwhelming number of soldiers gathered, and the battlefield had already become a hand-to-hand battle.
The soldiers of both sides continued to fight.
The Tang army was initially affected, but as more soldiers joined in, the situation was slightly reversed. However, Xia Xia's soldiers were already in a frenzy. Especially when they had the upper hand at the beginning, the soldiers were even more motivated. Therefore, although the battle on the entire battlefield could not be decided for the time being, Xia Xia's side had a slight advantage.
The slaughter continued. Corpses fell one after another, and shouts rang out one after another. The battle lasted from morning to noon, and finally, in the evening, there was still no winner and no rest.
On the battlefield, corpses were piled up into mountains.
Countless people were killed.
Countless people were still killing.
Seeing this scene, Du Qi's eyes flashed with a hint of pity, but it was immediately replaced by determination. Du Qi rarely encountered such a large-scale battle. Most of the time, he won with a surprise move. When he fought with the Turks and attacked the countries of the Western Region, he did not have such a direct battle. However, when facing the Tang dynasty, the plan had been agreed upon, and such a battle was the only way.
This was war.
It was a battle for survival.
If Du Qi lost this battle, Xia Xia would be seriously injured, and it was hard to say if he could even survive. Therefore, under the current circumstances, Du Qi had no choice but to fight.
Xue Rengui was commanding the battle, but he was also beside Du Qi. Seeing that the battle was still going on, Xue Rengui said, "Your Majesty, it's evening now. Should we call a truce?"
"No!"
Du Qi shook his head and said, "There's no need."
Shangguan Yee, who was also standing to the side, said, "We have no other choice in this battle. And in the current battle, our 30,000 soldiers are gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Tang army is beginning to show signs of retreat. It's obviously not worth retreating at this time. "
"At the beginning, we carefully planned and used the grenades to gain an advantage, and then expanded the advantage bit by bit. If we retreat now, all our previous efforts will be in vain. And now that the battle has begun, if we retreat, it's equivalent to admitting defeat. "
Shangguan Yi said, "No matter what, we can't be the first to retreat."
Lai Ji added, "And there's still no movement in the city. We have to lure the snake out of its hole. We can't retreat now. "
"Report!"
At this moment, a soldier rushed out.
The soldier came to Du Qi's side and reported, "Your Majesty, Captain Wang, who is in charge of defense in the city, said that someone in the city went straight to the city defense, intending to take control of the city gate. At present, these people have all been killed. "
"Good!"
Du Qi's face showed a smile.
This was good news.
Guazhou City was a former border county of the Tang dynasty. Although it was governed by Su Dingfang, Du Qi believed that Li Shimin's spies and forces were there. Now that this wave of forces was destroyed, it cut off one of Li Shimin's forces.
Du Qi waved his hand to dismiss the soldier, and his eyes fell on the battlefield again. At this time, the battlefield was constantly expanding. Du Qi had even retreated a considerable distance to the nearby hillside. Only in this way could he clearly judge the situation of the battle and make immediate responses.
Su Dingfang reminded, "Your Majesty, the Tang army is at a disadvantage in the battle of infantry. I think the Tang army will definitely send out more forces, maybe cavalry from the two wings. "
Du Qi said, "If Li Shimin wants to fight, I will accompany him to the end. He has cavalry, I also have cavalry. Although Li Shimin has the Black Armor Elite Cavalry, our cavalry is not weak either. "
Li Shimin's Black Armor Elite Cavalry were all elites and extremely powerful.
Du Qi's cavalry was not weak either.
Du Qi looked at the Tang army camp, where Li Shimin was. He had already looked at Li Jing and said, "Duke Wei, Du Qi's forces have the advantage, we have to increase our forces."
"No rush!"
Li Jing shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, our forces here are equal to Du Qi's, and we have the advantage in the battlefield. The reason is simple, we still have Duan Zhixuan's eighty thousand elites. So now that we are fighting a war of attrition with Du Qi, the more we deplete their forces, the more advantage we have. So we are not in a hurry to send out troops. "
Li Shimin pondered, it was true.
Even if the ratio of attrition was 1: 1, or even if he had more attrition, in the end, Du Qi's forces would only be left with a little over ten thousand men. Once Duan Zhixuan's forces arrived, it would be a piece of cake for him to win this battle.
Li Shimin said, "Duke Wei is right, you have full command."
"Yes!"
Li Jing replied solemnly.
Speaking of this battle, Li Jing did not have a better idea, so the only thing he could do now was to fight a tough battle and see who could last until the end.
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