Chapter 544: The moment between us is just like this moment
Eight hundred years ago, it was in Shangdang that the famous Battle of Changping broke out between Qin and Zhao. The old site of the main battlefield of Changping was not far from where the Han and Tang armies fought, only about a hundred miles away.

After the war between Qin and Zhao, Qin had almost no rivals on its way to unifying the world. With the last powerful country in the north being defeated, as long as the state machinery functioned normally, unifying the world was only a matter of time.

Coincidentally, the Qin army at that time came from Guanzhong, and the Zhao army was mainly composed of people from Hebei.

On the battlefield today, the Tang army naturally takes Guanzhong as its base. Even among Li Yuanhui's 80,000 troops, there are many generals and veterans from Guanzhong. The other 120,000 troops are simply Guanzhong government soldiers, while the Han army is mainly composed of people from Hebei, Yan and Zhao. It has to be said that they are surprisingly similar.

This war is also of vital importance to both countries.

At this time, Liu Xuanji led tens of thousands of elite troops from the central army and stationed them in the north of Xijian City and in the south of Fengtian. In fact, there were enough troops on the front line, and the problem could not be solved by simply sending more troops.

He was stationed in this position in order to wait for an opportunity to act. After learning that the Tang army had sent tens of thousands of people to the Huguan defense line, Liu Xuanji rejected the suggestion of returning to support Huguan. Instead, he ordered the soldiers to prepare a pontoon bridge. He wanted to cross the river at Fengtian to attack Li Yuanhui's headquarters.

This battle was inevitable after the two sides had been in a standoff for a long time and both began to seek a way out.

Everyone wants to win.

But victory is destined to be unshared.

Liu Xuanji had already sensed the danger to his side. Dongfang Di led 60,000 troops, but was unable to defeat the 20,000 Tang troops. Instead, they crossed the river and gained a foothold. Therefore, Liu Xuanji had no choice but to cross the river and attack Li Yuanhui's main camp. Only by defeating the Tang army's central army camp would the Han army have the only chance of victory.

Of course, this was a risky move, but he could not care less now. If the battle continued, it would be difficult for the Han army to win.

On the Xijian battlefield, a large number of soldiers suddenly retreated at the junction of Zhu Deyu and Duan Xiong's armies, leaving a gap.

Before the Han army generals gave the order to attack this place, the next moment Chang Yanheng led the cavalry out in a line and directly crushed the Han army's infantry formation, which was already in a very loose formation. The sudden attack of the Tang cavalry initially caused quite a commotion on the Han side, but Hulu Mingyue, who had been guarding the flank of the central army, smiled when he saw the Tang cavalry attack. He finally couldn't help it?

There was a huge gap between the troops of Fu Hongzhi, Kuai En and the troops of Xue Andu. After all, if you want to achieve the effect of a front pincer attack, it is naturally impossible for the two directions to advance at the same time. You can only exert force from two directions.

After Chang Yanheng defeated a Han army infantry formation, a large gap appeared in front of him, and he was directly facing the Han army's central main formation.

Hulu Mingyue looked at the central army at this time. After receiving the signal to dispatch troops, he led the 4,000 cavalrymen guarding the left side to meet the Tang cavalry.

Hulu Mingyue's troops were also the elite among the Han cavalry, and he himself was known for his bravery and skill in fighting. However, in all his battles with the Tang army, especially the battle with Luoyang Bafu, he lost more than he won, especially Chang Yanheng, who could be regarded as his victim.

He had fought against Chang Yanheng and his Zuowuwei Cavalry several times, but had never gained the upper hand. He was very surprised after he learned about the details of the Zuowuwei Cavalry.

Don't you have a few horses in Huainan? Why can't we northerners beat you southerners in cavalry warfare?

The reason for this is, of course, thanks to the fact that the Great Yan Dynasty opened many horse farms in the Huainan area, and fought many years of war with the Great Wei and various rebel armies in the Huainan area. This also led to the fact that the people in Huainan were tough and many of them could ride horses.

Even when Li Yuanhui was the governor of the three counties of Jianghuai, there was still a horse farm in Lujiang that could produce thousands of horses. This allowed him to establish a cavalry unit in the early stages and have a stable source of war horses. Although not much, it was enough to make up for the losses in previous battles.

The reason why the Jianghuai cavalry was able to rival the northern cavalry was also inseparable from Liu Xuanji's efforts in the early stages. After all, he was the first cavalry commander of the Jianghuai Army.

In addition, after so many years of fighting, all the tactics and techniques have been supplemented. As for the courage and bravery of an army, the people of Huainan, a place known for wars on all four sides, have never lacked it.

Hulu Mingyue could understand some things but not others. But no matter what, he was extremely excited to face Chang Yanheng, the great general of the Tang army, and vowed to fight hard to avenge himself and take back all the face from his past defeats.

The two cavalry units were running at high speed, with tens of thousands of horses' hooves trotting together, like thunder. The cavalry relied on the impact of their horses to collide with each other. When they crossed each other, blood mist flowers instantly bloomed. The wailing of horses, the screams of soldiers, the collision of armor and weapons, all merged into the most expensive and shocking ensemble in the world. Cavalry charging was a combat mode that neither side was willing to use, but at this moment, the most elite cavalry on both sides followed their commander without hesitation and embarked on the road of charge.

The smoke and dust raised by the cavalry charge rose straight into the sky, completely blocking the vision of the Han army's center, making it impossible to see the situation on the battlefield clearly.

Chang Yanheng led two thousand cavalrymen and engaged in a melee with four thousand Han cavalrymen. Behind the three hundred heavy cavalry led by Li Chengdao, there were more than four hundred light cavalrymen as wings. These light cavalrymen were led by Xi Junmai, who was also promoted to General of the Central Army not long ago. His task was also simple, to follow behind his own heavy cavalry, kill the defeated soldiers and expand the results of the battle.

The 300 cavalry led by Li Chengdao were all elite soldiers selected by Zhang Jian and Chang Yanheng, and Zhang Zixian, a member of the Zhang family, served as Li Chengdao's deputy.

Zhang Zixian is the youngest son of Zhang Gonglie and the brother of Zhang Zhen'e. He is only twenty years old and has just entered the officialdom. He is also Li Chengdao's uncle. He was arranged to follow Li Chengdao because of his extraordinary bravery, even not inferior to his brother Zhang Zhen'e.

The two men each held a long spear, and drove side by side, drawing a large arc with 300 cavalrymen, and successfully moved to the flank of the Han army formation. However, at this time, the Han army did not notice that a cavalry had come to their flank because of the noise and dust of the cavalry battle group. Even the dust had drifted to the front of the formation, but the degree was very low, and there was still some wind, so it was completely impossible to distinguish. Chang Yanheng also rushed out of the battle group several times, pretending to attack the main formation of the Han army to attract the attention of the Han army. Therefore, neither Hulu Mingyue nor Dongfang Di noticed the movement of the 700 Tang cavalrymen.

Afterwards, the heavy cavalry led by Li Chengdao launched a horizontal attack. The seven hundred cavalry were like arrows, the three hundred heavy cavalry were the spearheads, and the four hundred light cavalry were the white feathers, shooting straight at the flank of the Han army.

The Han army did not realize it until they were still hundreds of steps into the battle formation, but it was too late. There was no time to deploy chevaux de frise, spears and large shields on the flanks, or archers to prevent cavalry attacks.

Li Chengdao was the first to charge into the Han army formation, and Zhang Zixian and his personal guards followed closely behind him, creating a gap on the Han army's flank. The 400 light cavalry behind him covered them with arrows to clear the way for the heavy cavalry in the front, making the Han army formation as thin as possible.

Dongfang Di in the central army was horrified when he saw this situation, because he could see the black-armored Tang cavalry charging into the formation, and they were unstoppable, and they were very close to the central army where he was.

Dongfang Di is also a fierce general of the Han army. He followed Liu Xuanji in battles all the way. Now he is the leading general in the Northern Army. He has been assisting Liu Xuanji in commanding the armies for many years, but he is a little uneasy at this moment.

He couldn't move at this moment, because if he moved, the Han army would have to move. Whether retreating or shifting, any movement of the Han army's central army, as long as it was not a previous attack, would be interpreted as a successful surprise attack by the Tang army, and the morale of the Han army would definitely be affected.

Therefore, Dongfang Di did not move, but only stationed the flank troops. As for the cavalry on the right side, they could not play any role at this moment, because the Tang army had already killed the Han army, and the momentum was fierce, which directly caused chaos in the formation of the left army. Although the charging Tang cavalry suffered some casualties, they still maintained the momentum of the charge. Dongfang Di could see that there were two extremely brave Tang cavalry generals in front of them, who rushed into the Han army like a tiger into a flock of sheep. The cavalry behind them was also well-trained. It was like two tigers leading a group of wolves, causing the flock to flee in chaos.

Dongfang Di saw this situation, his face was as gloomy as water, and he could only order people to fetch horse spears to prepare for the enemy, but his own defeated soldiers were driven directly to the central army, and Dongfang Di immediately ordered anyone who dared to charge to be killed. But this order was obviously too late, and his personal troops had been dragged into the battle by his own defeated soldiers. Dongfang Di had only two choices, run, or fight to the death.

But even if he went forward to fight back against the Tang cavalry with the determination to die, his own defeated soldiers had been frightened and became the help of the Tang army. They all gathered into a mudslide and swept away the Han army that tried to resist. Dongfang Di successively sent several brave generals to resist the Tang cavalry, but without exception, they were all dispersed by the Tang cavalry.

Li Chengdao and Zhang Yixian rushed to the front, unstoppable, and killed several brave generals of the Han army. At this time, they were only a few hundred steps away from Dongfang Di. At this time, Dongfang Di, his son Dongfang Ning and Dongfang Xun, and his brother Dongfang Wu all ignored Dongfang Di's opinion and pulled his horse away. Because of the defeated troops, the central army began to loosen and could not form a formation. The Tang army focused on the Han army's central army flag and rushed and attacked fiercely, aiming to hit your heart.

The abnormality here finally attracted the attention of the various teams besieging the Tang army in front. They were extremely worried about this situation. If the central army was disrupted, what would be the point of fighting this battle?

At this time, Li Xiaoer and his cavalry had already broken through the Han army's center, and continued to focus on the opponent's commander's banner and chased after him.

Dongfang Di's son Dongfang Ning, holding a long spear, went straight for Li Chengdao, but was stabbed to death by Li Chengdao with the spear.

When Dongfang Di looked back and saw what was happening, he was terrified and after a scream, he stopped running away.

He turned around with his brothers Dongfang Wu and Dongfang Xun to avenge his son. Dongfang Wu and Dongfang Xun were intercepted by Zhang Zixian, while Dongfang Di stabbed Li Chengdao with his lance.

Li Chengdao looked at the opponent's horse lance stabbing at him, and he thrust his own horse lance into the ground while riding. He stepped forward empty-handed and then in a flash he used the method of seizing lances taught by Yuchi Jingde to snatch Dongfang Di's horse lance, placed it under his ribs, and then pulled it over.

You have to know that Dongfang Di is a general of the Han army, and he is famous for his bravery on the battlefield. But Li Chengdao is a young man who is not afraid of tigers. No matter how famous you are, I will take your spear and kill your heart!
(End of this chapter)