Chapter 761: Fight for Yanchuan

Chapter 761: Fight for Yanchuan

Chapter 761: Fight for Yanchuan
The leader of the Turkic army was Ashina Gai, a young Turkic noble who was only twenty years old. Like a newborn calf that is not afraid of a tiger, Ashina Gai looked down on the Han cavalry from the bottom of his heart.

He drew his sword and shouted, "Our horses are far superior to theirs, our soldiers are far more courageous, and our riding skills are far superior to theirs. So what do we have to worry about? Raise your spears and kill all the invaders!"

"Kill the enemy!" Three thousand Turkic cavalrymen shouted, completely forgetting who the invaders were.

Ashina Gai swung his sword, "Attack!"

"Woo——"

The horn sounded, and three thousand cavalrymen set off, charging towards the Sui cavalry in an overwhelming manner.

This was the first time that the Sui cavalry in Jiangnan had confronted the Turkic army since its establishment. Frankly speaking, their war horses were indeed not as strong and powerful as the enemy's horses. The Turkish horses had extremely strong balance and could turn quickly without falling.

The riding skills of the Sui cavalry were indeed not as good as those of the other side. The Turkic cavalry rode sheep when they were children and rode horses when they grew up, and almost lived on horseback. The average training time of the Sui cavalry was only three to five years, so their riding skills were definitely not as good as those of the other side.

In the past, the Sui Dynasty cavalry relied on sophisticated equipment to defeat the enemy in their northern expeditions, but now the equipment of the Turks has also improved, especially the 50,000 professional cavalry, whose equipment is no worse than that of the Sui army.

This is the confidence of the Turkic cavalry. They believe that they can easily defeat the Sui army in the south.

However, they did not know that the Sui army was already equipped with firearms, especially arrow mines. When an arrow mine exploded, hundreds of poisoned iron nails flew everywhere, which was equivalent to hundreds of arrows shot within two meters. It was a completely crushing existence. What's more, the infantry could lie down to avoid the explosion of the iron fire mine, but how could you ask the cavalry to lie down?

The cavalry rushed towards the Sui army from two miles away like a surging tide, with yellow dust rolling and an astonishing momentum.

The Turkic cavalry was getting closer and closer, and they were already five hundred steps away. Su Dingfang shouted, "Prepare the arrows and torpedoes!"

Five hundred cavalrymen aimed their crossbows at the surging Turkic cavalry.

Each cavalryman drew out an improved tinder stick, which had just been developed. Tinder sticks were made of mugwort, cotton wool, saltpeter and other materials, and placed in a wooden tube with a small hole. They burned extremely slowly. A tinder stick could burn slowly for a month when lacking oxygen. Open the lid and blow gently, and the tinder will burn. Saltpeter is an oxide, which releases oxygen when it burns, resulting in better combustion and less likely to go out.

The open flame of a tinder stick can burn for a quarter of an hour, and you can replace it with another one when the tinder stick is used up.

At this time, the cavalry had already rushed to 300 steps away, and Su Dingfang shouted: "Shoot!"

Five hundred arrow mines were ignited and fired one after another. They whizzed towards the enemy, with a range of up to three hundred and fifty steps, and fell right into the enemy group.

A series of arrow bombs exploded in the cavalry group, and poisonous nails and iron pieces flew everywhere, blowing the Turkic cavalry to the ground. Countless horses and cavalry were hit by the poisonous nails. During the high-speed running, the toxins flowed rapidly with the blood and would attack the heart within a hundred steps.

Before the Turkic soldiers could react, a second wave of arrows and torpedoes came, also landing in the dense group of cavalry. The cavalry fell one after another, screaming in fear.

The biggest characteristic of nomadic cavalry is that they charge fast and run fast. Once they encounter a strong attack, they will immediately turn around and flee. They will never put themselves in danger.

Thousands of Turkic cavalry turned around and fled in both directions.

Su Dingfang raised his gun and shouted, "Kill!"

"Woo——"

The Sui army also sounded its horn, and five thousand cavalrymen set out to chase and kill the Turkic cavalry.

The Turkic cavalry kept falling down while running. It was because the poison in their horses or humans had taken effect. After running two miles, only half of the 3,000 cavalry were left.

The fallen Turkic cavalry would be stabbed to death by the Sui cavalry without hesitation. Emperor Xiao Xia issued a killing order in advance, requiring no prisoners to be taken when fighting against the grassland nomadic cavalry, and all would be killed.

The Turkic cavalry fled very quickly, and after chasing them for twenty miles, the enemy had already fled far away.

Su Dingfang pulled the reins and ordered, "Clean up the battlefield!"

The Sui army soldiers began to clean up the battlefield. At this time, the howling of wolves was heard in the distance. A large number of hungry wolves rushed over and bit the horses on the ground.

The Sui soldiers saw that the situation was not good, so they had to take away the Turks' horse bags, leaving the bodies to the wolves. "General, look at this!"

The soldiers took out bags of salt from the horse bags. Su Dingfang was stunned. Where did the Turks get so much salt? He dipped a little salt and put it in his mouth. The salt grains were coarse, but not bitter.

Su Dingfang felt something was wrong. Could it be that the Turks had also solved the problem of the bitter taste of salt?
He immediately ordered the cavalry to search along the salt lake. Soon, they saw several large tents. The people in the tents discovered the Sui cavalry and fled in panic.

"Catch them alive!"

How could these people outrun the cavalry? More than 20 people were soon surrounded by the cavalry. They were so scared that they knelt on the ground and kowtowed for mercy. Su Dingfang unexpectedly discovered that they were all Han people.

"Where do you come from?"

"We are from Lingwu County, and we are salt workers in Liangshidu!"

Su Dingfang frowned, "There should be a lot of salt workers! Why are there only you guys?"

"Because war was about to break out, the salt workers all withdrew and we were responsible for staying behind."

Su Dingfang ordered his men to bring up the chief salt worker. He took out the Turkic salt and asked, "Where is this salt made?"

"Reporting to the General, it's over there!"

The old salt worker pointed ahead and said, "General, you will see it if you come closer."

Su Dingfang took out his clairvoyance and looked around, and sure enough, there were a large number of salt-boiling facilities several miles away.

Su Dingfang frowned, "Isn't it said that the salt in the salt pond here is bitter and astringent?"

The old salt worker smiled bitterly and said, "This salt pond is indeed bitter, but there are differences in bitterness. The brine on the northwest coast is slightly better and not as bitter. As long as you boil the salt, dissolve it, filter it, and boil it again, repeat this four or five times, the bitterness will gradually disappear."

"Why didn't the government do this before?"

"General, you don't know that we were short of fuel before. We couldn't even cook the salt once, let alone cook it four or five times. Now we have enough fuel. We just need to cook it a few more times and filter it a few more times, and the bitter taste will disappear."

"Why is there enough fuel now?" Su Dingfang was really confused.

"Reporting to the general, we are now using coal to boil salt."

Su Dingfang then realized that Shuofang had also started using coal.

Su Dingfang realized the seriousness of the problem. Once the salt lake could be used to boil non-bitter salt, it would have great strategic value to the Turks. No wonder they stationed 3,000 troops here. The Turks would certainly not lose Yanchuan County and would definitely send a large army to fight for it.

“How many Turkic cavalry are stationed here?”

"About 3,000 people!"

"Where is the camp?"

The old salt worker pointed to the northwest and said, "Walk about 20 miles to that direction and you will see a marsh over there."

Su Dingfang immediately led the cavalry to the northwest. Sure enough, there was a large shallow lake and marshland twenty miles away, with lush grass and clear water. There was a military camp on the shore with hundreds of tents and tens of thousands of sheep in the camp, but it was an empty camp and no Turkic cavalry was seen.

Su Dingfang immediately occupied the camp. He sent a team of cavalry to report to Li Jing and ask for reinforcements. They must occupy Yanchuan County.

(End of this chapter)