Chapter 500 Heavy Snow Full of Bows and Swords
Li Er led the army and marched quickly all the way, reaching Gaoping in just over ten days.

Qinzhou Governor and Duke Huaiguo Dou Gui also led more than 10,000 troops from the right side of Long to Gaoping to join forces with Li Er.

Dou Gui was Li Er's uncle and Empress Dou Taimu's brother. After receiving the military order, he quickly assembled all the troops in the right side of Long that could be assembled, and then rushed to the rescue without delay.

At this time, Gaoping gathered more than 26,000 Weifu troops brought by Li Er, more than 3,000 Xiazhou border troops, more than 10,000 Qinzhou border troops, and more than 3,000 Yongzhou troops. A total of more than 40,000. Most of them were cavalry.

Before launching the war to destroy Wei, Li Sanlang took into account that the Western Wei had few cavalry and that Jingzhou was rich in water, so there was not much use for cavalry. Therefore, most of the cavalry in Guanzhong remained in Chang'an to guard against the invasion of the Turks. If the Tang Dynasty could rely on cavalry to quickly counterattack,

In Gaoping City, Dou Gui got off his horse, exhausted after a long journey, and then met his nephew Li Er in the prefect's mansion.

At this time, after more than ten days of marching, Li Er looked much more energetic than when he was in Chang'an.

Seeing Dou Gui, he was very surprised and said, "Second uncle is here? You have worked hard along the way."

Dou Gui smiled when he saw Li Er and said, "Erlang, are you feeling better? You look much better now than when you were in Chang'an last year."

Li Er smiled and said, "Second uncle is thoughtful."

Dou Gui did not mention the matters of abdication, and neither did Li Er. After the uncle and nephew chatted for a few words, they went into the conference room together.

At this time, the hall was heated by a floor heater, and it was as warm as spring. Almost all the famous generals who stayed in Guanzhong and the northwestern border of the Tang Dynasty gathered here.

And these people have one thing in common: they are almost all Li Er’s old subordinates.

Except for Zhao Da, these people had different backgrounds, some were from the Former Yan border army, some were from the Wagang old army, and some were from the Guanlong family, but they all had fought with Li Er. Or they were real relatives like Dou Gui and Chai Rong.

Li Er walked to the main seat and sat down, then looked at everyone and said: "Scouts reported that the Turkic army of more than 100,000 and the Han army of more than 10,000 cavalry have headed straight for Gaoping. Our army has 40,000 elite troops in Gaoping. Some people advised me to close the border and defend myself. The Turkic cavalry can't stand a long battle. If they can't capture Gaoping, they will retreat. At that time, we will surely win a great victory by attacking them. This strategy is not wrong, but now that the Tang Dynasty is deploying troops on all sides, if we continue to waste time with the Turks here, people's hearts will be unsettled. Therefore, this battle must be fought quickly, and we must win quickly, cut the Gordian knot, and defeat the Turkic and Han armies in one fell swoop!"

Li Er set the tone right from the start, and the core of the situation can be summed up in one sentence: stop defending and fight the opponent.

This was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but rather was well thought out.

As he said, now that more than 100,000 Turks are coming to kill them, the reason why the Qiang and Hu in Longyou and the honest Tuyuhun who were beaten in the northwest have not moved yet is that they are waiting to see how the Tang Dynasty will react.

If the Tang Dynasty insisted on defending Gaoping, the Qiang, Hu and Tuyuhun in Longyou would definitely think that the Tang Dynasty was short of manpower and would definitely take the opportunity to cause trouble.

The northwest would be in chaos, and the situation in Guanzhong would be even more difficult to predict.

Therefore, the Turks must be dealt with quickly in order to calm the situation and reassure people.

After hearing the determination of the crown prince Li Er, all the generals of the Tang army expressed their willingness to serve as the vanguard.

On the other side, in the snow, Jili Khan looked at the Liupan Mountain not far away under the wolf-head banner and said with a smile: "After crossing these mountains, we can go straight to Guanzhong. My brother was unable to enter Chang'an, so maybe we will have the same luck this time."

Yang Kan echoed, "The Khan will surely achieve his wish."

"Then I'll take advantage of General Yang's good words."

Jili Khan was named Ashina Duobi, the son of Qimin Khan Ashina Rangan, and the younger brother of Shibi Khan Ashina Tujishi and Chuluohe Khan.

After Shibi Khan died of illness, Choluohe Khan succeeded to the throne, but he also died of illness not long after.

Jili became the Great Khan, and Shibi Khan's son became the Deputy Khan, namely Tuli Khan.

Jili Khan had great respect for Yang Kan for many reasons.

One reason is that Yang Kan’s father, Yang Su, once led his army to defeat the Turkic army in its heyday in a cavalry battle.

The Turkic army suffered heavy casualties in that battle, so they were extremely wary of Yang Su, a famous general from the Central Plains.

Although dynasties in the Central Plains have changed, Yang Kan, as the son of Yang Su and an extremely brave man, is naturally respected by the Turks.

The second is that Yang Kan led more than 10,000 elite cavalrymen of the Northern Han Dynasty, who traveled thousands of miles along the Yellow River and fought their way here. In the battle to capture Xiazhou, the combat effectiveness of the Northern Han army amazed the Turks.

After all, it was still strong enough. After Li Er learned that the Turkic army was coming, he immediately ordered all the troops to go out and form a battle array.

The 40,000-strong army was lined up in a row from left to right.

Chai Rong was appointed to lead the left army of more than 10,000 troops, Zhao Da was appointed to lead the right army of more than 10,000 troops, and Li Er was appointed to command the central army.

The army relied on the steep Liupan Mountain to the west, stretching for ten miles. The troops were well-organized, with fluttering flags, which was intimidating.

After the Turkic scouts discovered that the Tang army was arrayed against the mountain, the distance between the two sides was actually less than 20 miles. When Jili Khan heard that the Tang army was arrayed outside the city, he immediately exclaimed "Impossible" and "Absolutely Impossible".

Didn’t the main force of the Tang army go to attack the Western Wei?
So Jili Khan and Yang Kan went to the front of the battlefield to watch it in person. Sure enough, the Tang army's flags stood like a forest, and the momentum was majestic.

Ji Li retreated before the battle, especially when he heard the scouts report that the Tang army's central force had discovered the prince's banner, which made him even more frightened.

Jilihe Khan had been defeated several times by the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty before, and each time he had to flee in embarrassment.

Now seeing that the enemy's formation was so terrifying, he naturally threw all his ambitions behind him and turned his horse around and left.

Even Yang Kan didn't have time to persuade him.

Seeing that the Turkic army began to retreat, Yang Kan naturally could not lead his more than 10,000 people to fight, so he could only retreat as well.

When Li Er heard that the enemy had retreated, he immediately led his troops to attack. Now they are right in front of us, how can you let them escape?

Dou Gui hurried over to stop them and said, "Erlang, the Turkic army has more than 100,000 soldiers. As the crown prince, how can you take the risk yourself?"

Li Er said: "Uncle, there is no need to say more. The fighting opportunity is fleeting."

After saying this, he ordered his men to pull Dou Gui away, and then personally led the cavalry to pursue him.

When the left and right armies saw the central army move, they naturally did not hesitate and launched a pursuit with their entire armies.

When the Turks saw the Tang army pursuing them, they became even more frightened and rushed to escape.

Moreover, the Turkic army was large in number, and when Jili Khan turned his horse around and left, the rear troops were still moving forward.

The front army retreated, and the rear army advanced, and immediately the situation became chaotic.

At this time, the Black Armor Army led by Li Er had arrived. Zhai Changsun and Qiu Xinggong each led dozens of cavalry into the battle, and they were unstoppable. Li Er led a large group of armored cavalry from behind to attack, and the Turkic army, which was already in some chaos, became even more chaotic.

Tianshui prefect and Zhenxi general Xue Renmei, Zuowei general Zhai Sixun, Zuoxiaowei Zhonglang general Qin Bogui, Zuoxiaowei Zhonglang general Qin Zhongyu and Zuolingjunwei general Yuwen Xiao were all world-famous cavalry generals. At this time, they each led their elite cavalry teams into the Turkic formation and fought hard.

Li Er almost rushed to the front line, firing several arrows and killing several enemies.

Then the Eastern Palace Guards Gao Daoyan and Zhang Jin protected him in the middle. Gao Daoyan was the younger brother of Crown Princess Gao, and Zhang Jin was Li Er's confidant who had followed him for many years. Both of them were aware of the Crown Prince's physical condition, so they did not dare to take it lightly.

But at this moment, Li Er felt a fire burning in his chest, as if there was a voice telling him to move forward, forward.

Although Li Er no longer tried to go forward and kill the enemy personally, he continued to use flags, drums, and whistling arrows to send orders, pointing out the direction of attack for the following army.

When the more than 40,000 Tang army soldiers saw that the prince's banner was always in the front, they fought even more bravely to be the first.

The Turkic army was in a state of rout, almost all of them were fleeing, and countless of them surrendered.

While shouting that they would not be killed if they knelt down, the Tang army quickly charged forward and continuously expanded their victory.

The snow in the sky was getting heavier and heavier.

Jili Khan, who was running forward, noticed that his horse's legs were stuck in the snow and his speed was getting slower and slower. He finally realized that a disaster was about to happen.

(End of this chapter)