Facts have proved that General Su Dingfang's prediction was correct. Ten days after he said this, the latest battle report came from the front line. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu divided his troops into three routes. The left and right armies failed, and the central army led by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu himself faced the main force of the Xueyantuo.
The King of Wu led 15,000 elite soldiers, and the Xueyantuo had 30,000 cavalry. The two sides met near the Turkic royal court. As the saying goes, when enemies meet, they are particularly jealous of each other. Without any prelude, the armies of both sides launched a direct attack.
Although the Tang army was relatively small in number, the 12,000 border troops among them were fearless and brave. They also knew what the consequences would be if they encountered the enemy on the grassland. If you dare to show your back, you will be hunted down and killed by the enemy. No matter how many enemies are in front of you, you must rush forward. As long as we are brave, we will definitely be able to fight our way out.
As for the 3,000 imperial guards that the King of Wu brought from Chang'an City, they were not afraid at all. They guarded around the King of Wu and followed him into the center of the Xueyantuo army.
This battle can be said to be a bloody one. Both sides were main forces against main forces, and on an open grassland, there was no room for tricks. In the end, the Xueyantuo army could not hold on, and deserters appeared three hours after the war. What the army fears most is the appearance of deserters. When the first deserter appears, it will be like a domino effect, and it will soon implicate others.
Although the 3,000 reinforcements of Xueyantuo came from the left, the main Xueyantuo army had already begun to flee. No matter how the Xueyantuo Khan tried to stop them, he was ultimately unable to stop these deserters. Four hours after the battle began, the Xueyantuo army retreated northward.
However, at this moment, King Wu Li Ke no longer had the strength to pursue. Although we won the victory, we also suffered a lot of casualties, more than one-third of the total casualties. If we continue to pursue, it will be extremely disadvantageous to our soldiers. So after seeing the enemy fleeing, King Wu Li Ke symbolically chased for twenty miles and hurried back to rescue the wounded.
According to the court's letter, a total of 15,000 Xueyantuo troops were annihilated this time. However, we have to reduce some of the water in these news from the court. Li Xiang is also a person who often leads troops on the battlefield, so he naturally knows how much water is in this news. Even if some of the water is reduced, our victory is still brilliant, and at least 8,000 of their elite soldiers were killed.
When they heard Su Dingfang's analysis of this number, many young generals in the tent showed disdain on their faces. This was mainly because they had followed Li Xiang for a long time, and killing 8,000 enemies in a single battle was nothing to talk about.
Seeing how arrogant they were, Su Dingfang had to teach them a lesson. If they went to the battlefield with this kind of thinking, they would definitely suffer a great loss in the future.
"Don't look down on others like that. You fight differently from others. You start with artillery fire, followed by bows and arrows. By the time you step onto the battlefield, the enemy is already exhausted. But the soldiers led by the King of Wu don't have such equipment. They rely on their swords to win the battle. Moreover, the elite Xueyantuo are in no way comparable to the Goguryeo cavalry."
Li Xiang did not object to what Su Dingfang said. His men were indeed a little too arrogant. If they continued to be so arrogant, the safety of the Tang Dynasty in the future could not be placed on their shoulders.
"Didn't the court provide them with gunpowder?"
Li Xiang thought of another thing. He had already contributed the formula. Even if it was the least powerful black gunpowder, the court should have provided them with it.
"We've dispatched troops too hastily this time. The imperial court hasn't produced much gunpowder, and most of it has been supplied to Goguryeo. According to many court officials, now is not the right time to dispatch troops. We should accumulate enough for at least two months before we can do so. But Your Majesty..."
Su Dingfang didn't finish his words, but everyone understood what was going on. What the emperor thought in his heart was different from what we thought. We all had to listen to what the emperor wanted to do. If things accumulated for two months, the emperor was afraid that Li Xiang would make trouble. Maybe Li Xiang had already set out from Goguryeo with his men. You know, going through here would save time compared to Chang'an City.
Li Xiang looked at the time and saw that it was getting late, so he asked everyone to go back and rest. Those who needed to do night training should do it. We can't do much here, so we can only continue to wait for news from the front. Although Li Xiang had gunpowder in his military camp, he still had to watch the two southern countries. In addition, Goguryeo was still suppressing bandits, so Li Xiang couldn't take care of the grassland.
What's more, even if Li Xiang sent someone to deliver it, it is very likely that they would not use it. They want pure credit and must not have any factors related to Li Xiang mixed in.
After this great battle, both sides were recuperating, and the Tang army began to gather. Both the eastern and western armies sent out their own spies, but the grassland was too vast, and it was not easy to find the other side.
Although the King of Wu wanted to copy Li Xiang's fighting style on the Tuyuhun grassland and rush thousands of miles to attack the enemy's camp, he had no way of knowing the surrounding situation because he did not have a sounding balloon. It was time-consuming and laborious to rely on the spies in his hands to conduct detection. The most important thing was that the effect was not so good. If he was not careful, he might be discovered by the enemy. If the enemy gathered a large army, the King of Wu would most likely be surrounded. After all, this was already the heartland of Xueyantuo.
The war dragged on for more than a month. Everything on Li Xiang's side was progressing smoothly. The people who came from Chang'an City had settled down in various places, their houses had been built, and various public facilities had also been started. They were just waiting to sow seeds next month, and there would be a harvest in May next year.
But the King of Wu on the grassland did not have such a good life. They stayed on the grassland for more than a month, and during this month they were looking for people to fight. Xueyantuo Khan was not a fool. After the last defeat, he had realized that he could not fight the Tang army head-on. The gap in strength between the two sides was obvious. If they fought the Tang army head-on, they would not have a good result.
So this guy planned to drag it out. After all, they had adapted to life on the grasslands, and every grain of rice for the Tang army had to be transported from Chang'an. They could afford to wait...