Chapter 451: Another General Lost

The Tang cavalry charged directly into the battle formation, which was somewhat unexpected by the Yan army's commander Dongfang Di.

In his opinion, Li Yuanhui should not be so impatient. At this time, his main camp and the right army still had tens of thousands of people connected end to end. No matter how elite the Tang cavalry was, could they directly charge at me?

On the other hand, before attacking the main camp of the Yan army, Li Yuanhui ordered Zhao Er, Shi Yanchao and Han Duo to lead 6,000 infantry and cavalry to support Murong Sanzang's troops.

At this time, the battlefield situation on the front line of the two armies' infantry was tragic. The corpses of both sides piled up like piles and the blood was all over the ground. Murong Sanzang led dozens of bodyguards to climb on the corpses and fired intensively, killing a large number of Yan soldiers in the front row continuously, creating a gap in the Yan army's formation.

Afterwards, the Tang army launched a massive assault and rushed forward into the Yan army. However, they still failed to shake the entire Yan army formation.

But after 6,000 reinforcements from Zhao Da's former subordinates joined the battlefield, the situation began to reverse.

At present, Zhao Da has followed Li Er to Chang'an to take up his post, but his old elite subordinates are extremely brave, which fully demonstrates Zhao Da's ability to command the army.

Zhang Qiong, who was originally a trusted governor of Zhao Da, was from Chenliu, Yanzhou. He joined Zhao Da's camp as early as when Zhao Da was appointed governor of Yanzhou as the Left General. He was tall and strong, with a broad back and strong waist. He was wearing double armor and holding a long-handled sword. With one sword, he cut a Yan army soldier into two pieces including his armor. Afterwards, he became even more murderous and crushed anyone who stood in his way, like a demon god descending to the earth.

The fresh troops that followed were all elite soldiers who had fought with Zhao Da for many years. Their joining made the Yan army gradually unable to hold on, and its formation retreated step by step.

Seeing this, Han Gui, the Grand Chamberlain of the Northern Yan, the Grand Master of the Imperial Court, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Twelve Armies, swung his sword and killed several fleeing soldiers in succession. In order to save the situation, he even led his personal troops to the front.

At this time, the Tang army in the front was only a dozen steps away from Han Gui. Han Gui led his troops to counterattack, trying to regain the initiative on the battlefield.

The front of the Tang army fought a bloody battle with Han Gui's troops, attacking in turns, each time with new forces. After several times, Han Gui's personal troops gradually could not hold on.

Han Gui's brother Han Lou was shot in the face by an arrow and was killed by Tang soldiers. The lieutenant Han Cheng, his cousin, killed several Tang soldiers and was stabbed through the thigh by a spear. He then fell to the ground and was smashed in the head by the Tang soldiers with an iron bone.
Even the elite personal guards could not withstand the attrition in such a brutal battle and were almost wiped out. The personal guards around them were either dead or disabled, with only a few left.

Han Gui wore a black helmet, a dungaree to protect his face and neck, and a black iron armor. He held a long sword in his hand, and his eight-foot-tall body stood like a god. Although the Tang army did not know Han Gui's identity, they knew from his armor that they had caught a big fish, so they surrounded him. Han Gui knew that he would die today, so he led the few remaining soldiers to fight against the Tang army.

After killing and wounding six Tang soldiers in succession, he was outnumbered because his personal guards were killed. The Tang soldiers rushed over and stabbed him. The spear pierced his chest, and Han Gui held the spear with both hands. He was still breathing, and still glared at the Tang soldiers in front of him.

Until he was beheaded with a single blow.

The moment Han Gui was killed in battle and the commander's banner fell, it meant that the team had lost any chance of turning defeat into victory. The morale of the Tang army was greatly boosted, and the offensive became more and more fierce. The Yan army was defeated and fled to the north. The Tang army took advantage of the situation to pursue and kill them.

There were quite a number of veterans in the Yan army, who had fought for many years with Liu Xuanji, Han Gui and others and were very experienced. These veterans knew that on the battlefield, once the city was in a state of collapse and escape, they would be more likely to be killed by the enemy, but in this case, there was no chance of turning defeat into victory. The only options before them were to escape, which might give them a glimmer of hope, or to stay where they were and be killed by the Tang army.

The reason why Han Gui's vanguard did not wait for the vanguard was that the cavalry led by Li Yuanhui himself intercepted the Yan army's cavalry that was trying to rescue them head-on.

Dongfang Di realized belatedly that the Tang army's attack on his main camp meant that he could not mobilize infantry from his main camp to support the front army, because as long as his main camp was mobilized at this time, there would be a defensive vacuum, and the cavalry rushing from the opposite side would take advantage of it.

Therefore, for the safety of his own camp, Dongfang Di could only watch the Tang army continuously attack the front of the Yan army, while the cavalry of the Tang army was entangled with the cavalry he sent to support Han Gui.

Seeing this, Dongfang Di hesitated again.

But Su Dingbian, who was in the central army, said: "The Tang army has no reserve troops now. Even if a small group of cavalry is left, it cannot change the overall situation. If we don't attack with all our strength now, then the Tang army will defeat the front of our army, and our main formation will be dispersed by our own people. What are you still hesitating about? If we go all out now, are we waiting for the defeated soldiers to come?" Su Dingbian's words finally made Dongfang Di wake up, and he immediately ordered the entire army to advance.

At this time, Li Yuanhui was leading his troops to fight with the Yan cavalry. Seeing the enemy cavalry pressing forward on all fronts, he immediately ordered his messenger to notify the 1,000 Beiwei troops left as a backup to attack the junction between the Yan army's main camp and the right army, preventing them from taking care of each other.

After receiving the military order, Luo Shixiang glanced at the banner of King Qi in the center of the battlefield, and then resolutely led the last reserve troops into the battlefield.

This final blow caused the battlefield to completely get out of control and fall into chaos.

On the battlefield of the left army, Hulu Mingyue led 6,000 cavalrymen and the 4,000 cavalrymen of the Tang army were also involved in a fierce battle. Only the main force led by Murong Sanzang and the old forces of Zhao Da formed a one-sided advantage over the Yan army and continued to expand the results of the battle. However, as the Tang army continued to advance, the Yan army's defeated soldiers and the cavalry battle group of the central army were entangled together, and more than 20,000 people from the Yan army's main camp also entered the battlefield as a fresh force. This stopped the decline.

However, the right army, which Dongfang Di had placed his hopes on, had its formation broken up by the Beiwei army and was unable to provide any combat power.

As the commander-in-chief, Li Yuanhui personally led only dozens of cavalrymen into the enemy formation, braving the arrows and stones, and continuously shot and killed dozens of Yan soldiers with bows. The elite troops on his left and right were all fierce generals and warriors, and each of them was able to fight ten people at once. The guards on his side were Yuchi Jingde, who held a long spear, and Duan Wuda, who held a long-handled bone whip. Anyone who dared to approach would be killed by the two.

They broke out from the enemy camp again. The morale of the Tang army was boosted and they all fought forward bravely. The Yan army was beaten back step by step. However, the governor Su Dingbian led his elite troops to join the regiment to stop the attack with all their strength, which prevented the Yan army from collapsing.

On the other side, Chen Zhen, the commander of the right wing army, led 20,000 men to attack the Yan army camp in the direction of the river bridge. After being beaten by Li Yuanhui, Liu Yuanqing became ruthless and personally led his troops to attack the Yan army camp, but Fu Hongzhi's troops left behind by the Yan army were also not to be trifled with. In order to fight for a piece of land, both sides often had to pay a huge price.

The war also fell into a stalemate.

Chen Zhen wanted to break through from another direction, but was blocked by the reserve troops led by Yang Kan. The frontal battle was fierce and both battlefields fell into a stalemate.

The two armies fought until dusk, when they were exhausted and withdrew from the battlefield.

The Tang army was undoubtedly the victorious side today. It defeated more than 10,000 Yan army troops in the front, beheaded thousands of them, and killed Han Gui, one of the twelve generals of the Yan army in battle.

Including Lou Daiwen before, the Yan army has lost two high-level generals, both of whom were the backbone of Northern Yan and were well-known brave generals.

After returning to Jinyong City, Li Yuanhui saw Chen Zhen's military report and immediately wrote a letter to commend Liu Yuanqing for his hard work in the battle today.

It's almost like giving a slap in the face and then a date.

Then he praised everyone and said, "Today's victory is thanks to everyone's concerted efforts. Although I won today, the Yan army has not retreated yet and still has the strength to fight. We must not take it lightly. Each camp must be careful and guard at night."

Everyone responded in unison.

"promise."

After everyone had left, Li Yuanhui sighed. The Tang army had won, but they had also suffered heavy losses. If they continued to fight like this, the elite troops they had accumulated over the years would be exhausted.

But the Yan army is almost done, right? The Yan army in Luoyang can't even dream of conquering it now. The New Year has passed, what are they waiting for?
If we don't leave now, we will miss the farming season.

(End of this chapter)