Chapter 771: Earning the City Gate
Chapter 771: Earning the City Gate
A thousand arrow bombs exploded in the dense group of cavalry. "Boom! Boom! Boom!" The explosions resounded throughout the grassland, and people and horses fell to the ground.
This was much more powerful than eight thousand crossbow arrows. One hundred thousand poisonous nails and countless shrapnel flew everywhere. Coupled with the impact force and strong sound of the explosion, the cavalry hiding in the horses' bellies became the first to bear the brunt.
Countless cavalrymen fell to the ground, their horses neighed miserably, and the five thousand most elite Xiliang cavalrymen were in chaos.
At this time, eight thousand crossbowmen began to shoot arrows like a rainstorm. Although the cavalry in the front avoided the arrow attack, they could not avoid the frontal shooting.
After two rounds of shooting and one round of explosion, only a few hundred of the five thousand most elite Qiang cavalry were left. They were so frightened that they turned around and fled, but they collided with the huge cavalry behind them.
At this time, the 10,000 ordinary cavalrymen behind also rushed within 300 steps.
This is Li Jing's tactic, which is more lethal.
The second round of arrows was shot out and once again fell into the dense crowd.
The Qiang cavalry finally reacted. The explosion was like the collapse of the Qilian Mountains to them. The cavalry shouted in fear, turned around and fled, and the battlefield was in chaos.
At this moment, Qu Tutong led 20,000 cavalrymen to attack from behind. It was like an explosion of thunder, and with the overwhelming cavalrymen coming from behind, Li Gui's army completely collapsed.
The 15,000 Han soldiers stationed at the back gate fled to both sides at the same time. In an instant, they were defeated. They threw away their weapons, helmets and armor, and fled desperately.
The Sui cavalry chased after them, shouting, "Those who surrender will not be killed! Those who surrender will not be killed!"
The soldiers could not escape the cavalry and fell to their knees with their hands raised.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Li Gui fled southward under the protection of hundreds of his personal soldiers. However, he forgot that they were in a huge canyon, which was two or three hundred miles long and dozens of miles wide. No matter how they fled, they could not escape the encirclement of the Sui army.
This battle lasted for two days, and most of the time was spent on encircling and suppressing the fleeing soldiers.
More than a thousand searching soldiers found Li Gui in a crevice in a valley. They found a large number of pine branches and burned them. Thick smoke billowed and rushed straight into the crevice. After a moment, the people inside could not bear it anymore and raised their hands to come out.
More than a hundred people were arrested, and the last one was Li Gui.
On the third day, there was no one left in the valley. The encirclement and suppression campaign ended and Li Gui's 30,000 troops were completely wiped out.
At this time, Xu Min had already occupied Wuwei County, and he rushed to Huining County with dozens of people.
Inside the temporary military yamen, Li Jing asked Xu Min to sit down. Li Jing smiled and said, "Before I left, the emperor told me to send someone to contact Xu Shijun if I wanted to attack Hexi. The emperor said Xu Shijun was an old friend of his and they would definitely join forces to seize Hexi. Sure enough, the emperor was right."
Xu Min bowed and said, "I am really touched that the emperor still remembers me. I have actually been thinking about how to take back Hexi all the time. I was just waiting for an opportunity. I pretended to reach a tacit understanding with Li Gui to let him put down his guard and march east. I borrowed 10,000 troops from Gaochang and 5,000 from Yiwu, plus my own 5,000. Then, 20,000 people marched eastward and took advantage of the emptiness of Hexi to recapture Zhangye County and Wuwei County. General Li can lead his troops to Wuwei for rest!"
Li Jing smiled and shook his head, saying, "I still have to recapture Jincheng County, and then Luo Shixin's army will arrive. Our two armies will cooperate to wipe out Xue's father and son."
After a pause, Li Jing smiled and said, "We will completely wipe out Li Gui's army this time. I will hand over all the surrendered troops to you. Your Majesty will make a formal appointment soon. If nothing unexpected happens, the general will serve as the governor of Hexi and guard against the Turkic army coming from the direction of Juyan Sea!"
Xu Min was overjoyed. He came here to ask for troops. He had to return the borrowed troops to various countries, and he didn't have many troops left.
"Excuse me, General Li, how many surrendered soldiers are there?"
"We didn't kill any Han troops, and no one escaped. They are basically intact, about 15,000 people. There are about 8,000 Qiang troops left. The other 7,000 were killed by us. I will give them all to you. In addition, I will give you 500 firearms soldiers and some firearms. They are very effective against the enemy's Turkic cavalry. It will deter them and be more effective when defending the city." "Thank you, General!"
Li Jing and Xu Min immediately made a handover, handing over all the surrendered soldiers except Li Gui to Xu Min, and sent 5,000 cavalry to help escort the surrendered soldiers back to Wuwei County. After these soldiers were reorganized, they soon became the Hexi Army of the Sui Army again.
A few days later, the five thousand cavalry returned, and Li Jing and Qu Tutong led an army of 50,000 to attack Jincheng County.
The Sui army learned how to cross the Yellow River from the Hexi army. They did not cross the river directly from Jincheng County, but built a large floating bridge with rafts 50 miles west of Jincheng County. The Yellow River here was not wide, and it was different from the lower reaches. They could pass smoothly by building a floating bridge. The key was to avoid an ambush on the other side. It would be troublesome to kill one of the people who were halfway across the river.
To avoid this situation, the main thing is to send scouts to explore the other side first to ensure that there are no problems before starting to build a pontoon bridge.
There are also some tricks to crossing the bridge. The crossbow troops cross first and quickly build a large crossbow formation on the south bank, followed by the infantry, and finally the cavalry.
It took the 50,000-strong army one day and one night to cross the Yellow River and begin marching towards Jincheng County.
Jincheng County is a majestic city with tall and strong walls, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Li Gui had never been able to capture it before. If Li Yi had not surrendered the city, the entire situation in Longyou would not have changed drastically.
Because of his meritorious service in surrendering the city, and the fact that he is Li Gui's cousin, Li Yi has now become the governor of Jincheng County, in charge of an army of 20,000.
In the middle of the night, an army of more than a thousand men drove tens of thousands of sheep to the city. The leading general shouted, "We are the Hexi Army. We are here to reward the three armies under the order of the King of Liang. Please open the city gates!"
Someone immediately reported to Li Yi, who rushed to the top of the city wall, peered out for a moment, and asked loudly, "Do you have a written order?"
"Have!"
The general took out the command arrow and the gold medal and put them into a small basket. The rope was pulled up. Li Yi asked Sima to identify them. Sima took a look and said, "No problem, they are the prince's gold medal and military token!"
Li Yi immediately ordered: "Open the city gate!"
The west gate slowly opened and the drawbridge was lowered. The generals outside the city ordered the sheep to be driven in. In a short time, tens of thousands of sheep poured into the city, and the soldiers on the city walls ran down to catch the sheep.
At this time, the army ambushing in the distance quickly rushed towards the west city.
A general led a thousand soldiers into the city. This general was Su Dingfang. He shouted, "Attack!"
He pierced Li Yi's throat with a spear, and his thousand soldiers attacked together. The remaining hundred or so defenders at the city gate were caught off guard and dozens of them were chopped down in an instant. The rest of the soldiers were so scared that they turned around and fled.
Su Dingfang led his army to quickly occupy the west gate and then lit torches. Twenty thousand cavalrymen led by Qu Tutong a mile away rushed into the city like lightning, and the 30,000 troops behind them also followed into the city.
The 20,000 defenders in the city were originally Tang Wang's army and were not willing to work for Li Gui. When the Sui army arrived at the military camp, the 20,000 troops surrendered without hesitation.
Although Jincheng County also has Didao County, there is no garrison in Didao County. If Jincheng County is captured, Jincheng County will also be captured.
Li Jing was not in a hurry to attack, but waited patiently for the arrival of Luo Shixin's army.
(End of this chapter)