Chapter 171: The Battle to Destroy the Liao

Chapter 171: The Battle to Destroy the Liao

Chapter 171: The Battle to Destroy the Liao
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The earth-shaking sound of war drums resounded throughout Caojiaba, and the main force of the 26,000 Sui army slowly approached.

Three miles apart, the two armies formed their battle formations. This was the first time in more than 20 years since the founding of the Sui Dynasty that domestic rebels and the Sui army had confronted each other.

The Liao soldiers were even more powerful. The 80,000-strong army stretched for more than ten miles with no end in sight, but their flags were disorganized, their uniforms were mottled, and their weapons were also a mess. There were all kinds of weapons, many of which could not even be called weapons, such as hoes, rakes, wooden sticks, etc., and only a very small number of people wore leather armor. Most of them wore linen clothes of various colors, mainly gray.

In contrast, the Sui army had neat ranks, including cavalry, spearmen, archers, sword and shield soldiers. All the flags of the troops were the same, and all the soldiers wore the same armor. Although there were only 26,000 people, they were arranged in an orderly manner, which made them look even more murderous.
At this moment, the horn on the opposite side kept blowing, "Woo-woo-woo"

The continuous sound of horns echoed in the basin, and the Liao soldiers were about to attack.

At this time, the Liao King swung his sword and shouted: "Attack!"

"Woo——"

As a low horn sounded, 60,000 Liao soldiers rushed towards the Sui army like ten thousand wolves. There were still 20,000 stationed troops who were responsible for protecting the Liao King.

Wei Xuan coldly watched the enemy attacking him. He had prepared three plans to deal with today's battle. As expected, the enemy attacked on all fronts. He already had a plan to deal with it. He immediately ordered: "The cavalry on the left and right wings attack!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Xiao Xia waved his spear and shouted: "Kill!"

He led three thousand cavalrymen and rushed out like a flood breaking through a dam, or like a stabbing spear, attacking the left wing of the Liao soldiers.

At the same time, 3,000 cavalrymen on the left wing of the Sui army also rushed out of the team, led by General Liu Jian, and charged towards the enemy soldiers.

In this way, Xiao Xia's 2,000 infantrymen and the 2,000 infantrymen on the left wing returned to the main force of the central army, increasing the strength of the central army from 16,000 to 20,000, enough to deal with the attack of 60,000 enemy troops.

The 6,000 cavalrymen were going to deal with the 20,000 stationed Liao soldiers. As long as they were defeated, the army in front would also be defeated. Wei Xuan knew the Liao soldiers very well. They were just a bunch of rabble whose morale would easily collapse.

Wei Xuan then shouted, "Crossbowmen, step out!"

The Sui army deployed as many as 6,000 crossbowmen, which was also designed to target the Liao soldiers. The Liao soldiers were poorly equipped and had almost no defense capabilities. One arrow was enough to kill a Liao soldier. By preparing 6,000 crossbowmen, they could at least annihilate more than 10,000 people.

Six thousand crossbowmen were deployed into three rows, with two thousand men in each row, and a killing range of two hundred and fifty steps. The crossbowmen knelt on one knee, raised their crossbows at a forty-five degree angle toward the sky, waiting for the order to fire.

The first to bear the brunt of the collision with the main force of the enemy were the six thousand Sui cavalry. Xiao Xia led three thousand cavalry and quickly killed in front of the Liao soldiers. Xiao Xia roared and swung his long spear. A bloody cold light flashed, and seven or eight Liao soldiers' heads were chopped off. He swung his long spear left and right, and the Liao soldiers in front fell like weeds. The three thousand cavalry behind followed the main general and killed into the enemy crowd. Like cutting through waves, the area of ​​​​the Sui army's attack expanded rapidly.

But the Liao army had 60,000 soldiers, which was too many. Even killing a few thousand of them would not make much sense. After Xiao Xia had killed his way through, he led 3,000 cavalrymen and continued to gallop towards the 20,000 stationed troops.

At the same time, General Liu Jian led 3,000 cavalrymen on the left wing to kill the enemy and attack the garrison troops from the left.
"Fire arrows!"

At Wei Xuan's command, a gong sounded, and the first row of two thousand crossbow arrows soared into the air, like a flock of startled birds, and flew rapidly towards the enemy crowd. The crossbow arrows were so fast that before the Liao soldiers could react, the arrows shot into the running crowd like raindrops, and the soldiers fell to the ground screaming.

Before the Liao soldiers who were not hit by arrows had time to rejoice, the second row of 2,000 arrows shot into the crowd again, and again a large number of soldiers screamed and fell to the ground. The Liao soldiers were too dense and there was nowhere to hide. Almost every crossbow arrow could knock down a Liao soldier.

At this time, the third row of two thousand crossbow arrows once again shot into the dense crowd.
Although the total number of arrows in this round of shooting will not change, the number of casualties will increase. A very important reason for this is that if six thousand crossbowmen shoot arrows together, it is very likely that a Liao soldier will be hit by three arrows at the same time, but in fact one arrow is enough, and the extra two arrows are a waste.

But if you shoot in sections, you can greatly reduce the number of people being hit by several arrows at the same time, thereby increasing the number of people killed or injured.

The first round of 6,000 arrows killed more than 3,000 Liao soldiers, but the second round began soon after. The Liao soldiers had no cavalry and were all infantry charges, allowing the 6,000 Sui army archers to shoot a total of 18,000 arrows in three rounds.

After just three rounds of arrows, the enemy had already reached fifty steps away, but more than ten thousand people had been shot dead. The morale of the Liao soldiers began to decline, and the speed of their running also began to slow down. Wei Xuan shouted loudly: "Bowmen retreat, spearmen prepare to fight!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The war drums sounded, the command flags waved, six thousand crossbowmen quickly retreated, and fourteen thousand spear soldiers lined up forward. The crossbowmen immediately transformed into sword and shield soldiers, guarding both sides of the spear soldiers.

The Liao soldiers crashed into the Sui army's formation. Sharp spears pierced the bodies of countless Liao soldiers, and there were desperate screams everywhere.

At the same time, two cavalry units were attacking the garrison troops of the Liao soldiers from the left and right. The 20,000 garrison troops were the direct troops of the Liao King, and most of them had leather armor. The direct troops did not refer to elite soldiers, but the army of the Liao King's own tribe. Their combat effectiveness was no different from that of other Liao soldiers.

However, they received special care from King Liao, and more than half of the soldiers wore leather armor, which invisibly improved the soldiers' protection and also improved the army's combat effectiveness in disguise.

The Liao soldiers had no experience in dealing with cavalry and fought almost on their own. The 6,000 cavalry were divided into teams of 100 men and moved in and out of the Liao soldiers, cutting the 20,000 Liao soldiers into pieces and causing chaos among them.

The cavalrymen ruthlessly slaughtered the chaotic Liao soldiers from all directions.

But no matter whether it was Xiao Xia or Liu Jian, their targets were the same: King Liao.

The Liao King was closely guarded by a thousand soldiers. Xiao Xia had great killing power and gradually approached the Liao King.

At this time, Kun Yun, the most powerful general under the throne of King Liao, came towards Xiao Xia wielding a long-handled hammer. He roared and swung the hammer to smash Xiao Xia's head hard. Xiao Xia dodged the hammer sideways, and the two horses crossed. Xiao Xia pulled out a steel whip and whipped him hard on the back.

"Snap!" With a crisp sound, the iron scales on his back were shattered, Kun Yun screamed, and a mouthful of blood spurted out.

Xiao Xia put away the steel whip and chopped with the spear from the side. Kun Yun wanted to raise the hammer again, but it was too late. A cold light flashed, and then "puff!" The spear blade cut off his neck. Blood spurted out, and a huge head flew out.

Xiao Xia's cavalrymen grabbed the head, and Xiao Xia turned his horse around and charged towards the Liao King again. The Liao King Mengman was horrified. Seeing that the enemy was coming at him fiercely and bravely, he was frightened and urged his horse to flee. Hundreds of guards surrounded him and fled to the south.

Xiao Xia sneered, took out his bow and arrow, drew the bow and shot an arrow, the arrow was as fast as lightning, "Puff!" The arrow hit the back of the Liao King's neck, the bloody arrow tip came out of his throat, and the Liao King Meng Man's body tilted and fell off his horse.

Xiao Xia shouted and led twenty of his trusted cavalrymen to chase after them. The trusted soldiers of King Liao were all infantrymen. Seeing the enemy approaching them, they had no choice but to abandon King Liao's body and flee for their lives.

Xiao Xia swung his spear and cut off the Liao King's neck. He ordered the soldiers to pick up the Liao King's head with spears and run and shout, "The Liao King is dead! The Liao King is dead!"

Xiao Xia discovered a characteristic of the Liao soldiers during the Battle of Neijiang: they were very emotional and easily incited, but also easily demoralized. Especially once their leader died, the morale of the army would quickly collapse.

Sure enough, when the head of King Liao was flying on the battlefield, the Sui cavalry cheered like thunder, and more than 10,000 garrison troops collapsed. They had no desire to fight and fled south for their lives, abandoning their weapons and armor.

With six thousand cavalrymen chasing after them, they had no way of escaping and were all killed in less than five miles.

The news of the collapse of the garrison and the killing of the Liao King also spread to the tens of thousands of Liao soldiers who were fighting. A mood of despair began to spread, the morale of the army collapsed rapidly, and thousands of troops on the right wing took the lead in fleeing.

It was these thousands of people's rush to escape that instantly triggered an avalanche of tens of thousands of Liao soldiers. Tens of thousands of Liao soldiers scrambled to escape. Wei Xuan shouted, "The entire army will chase and kill them. Those who surrender will be spared, and those who resist will be killed without mercy!"

The main force of the Sui army was attacking from behind, and countless Liao soldiers knelt down and surrendered. These were the smarter Liao soldiers, who knew that there was a Sui cavalry in front of them, so they killed even more fiercely.

Six thousand cavalrymen charged back and cut off the retreat route of the Liao soldiers. Tens of thousands of Liao soldiers had no way to retreat and all knelt down in surrender.

In this battle, all 80,000 Liao soldiers were wiped out.

(End of this chapter)