The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 279: Battle of Wild Boar Ridge (Part )
On July 17, on the south bank of the Wuding River, a large group of the Holy Army was gathering into formation and crossing the river in large numbers.

In the sight of the enemy troops on the opposite bank, after the morning breeze blew away the mist, the muddy riverbed that had been trampled into a mess was exposed under the feet of the huge crowds of soldiers.

Countless soldiers in purple, black, red, and white stood in a neat row, biting into vinegar cakes for breakfast while putting on armor and hanging arrows. Equipment for building the pontoon bridge and civilian workers and craftsmen emerged from among them.

Behind them, there were rows of steel swords and spears. Soldiers from Cangzhou, Weizhou, Chengde, Bianzhou, Turks, Uighurs, and Tibetans were all wearing armor and marching into battle. They surrounded a mound of earth and looked up at the tall figure of Emperor Li.

The generals and officers were crowded together, just waiting for orders.

After a while, the man waved his hand, and hundreds of drums on the mound began to rumble.

My soldiers, forward.

Dozens of flag officers translated clear flag instructions to the mound.

Immediately, a sharp shout came from the riverbank: "Hey, guys! Forward!"

The soldiers responded in a chaotic manner: "Soldiers, forward!"

"Defeat Li Hongdao and capture Tongwan City!"

"Kill his father! Rob his mother!"

The noise of drums could be heard clearly.

The horse under Zhe Ping Luofu's crotch shook its head, causing his body to rise and fall.

"My Miyao..." Zhe Pingluofu also took a breath of cold air and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Shouldn't we wade into this muddy water? The subordinates behind him gradually became noisy and their positions were shaken.

Soon, the other side began to seize the beach and build a bridge.

"Sir, let's run!" The little man was very anxious.

"Don't panic, wait and see." Zhe Pingluofu observed. He saw a large group of cavalrymen marching up and down the Wild Boar Ridge River Bay, stepping on the beach in batches and in an orderly manner like dumplings, poking the water again and again with their horse spears, and dropping sandbags one after another.

"There are not enough sandbags! Take down the bodies!" Zhu Jin, the inspector in charge of roads and bridges, shouted.

Then, a group of civilians and bald villains carried, backed, and dragged the enemies killed in previous battles to the preset ferry and threw their pre-disemboweled corpses into the river.

The bodies gradually gathered together and sank.

Soon, the Wild Boar Ridge River Bay was filled with sandbags, weeds, boats, bamboo rafts, and the corpses of people and horses. The black hair and blood were torn into strands by the river current, rippling and flowing on the waves.

"Crack, crack, crack!" The first floating bridge spread quickly.

The shirtless soldiers, with swords in their mouths and boards on their shoulders, stumbled on the river surface and laid the planks quickly.

Zhe Ping Luo Fu's right eyelid kept twitching, and many of his subordinates began to panic.

"Throw the body into the river."

"It's terrible! The Tang people are so barbaric!"

"They are starting to cross the river! What should we do?" someone screamed.

"Kill, kill, kill!" The angry roar rushed straight to the north bank of the Wuding River.

Zhe Pingluo Fu's heart was pounding. The fingers of his subordinates holding their weapons turned white. Many mouths were muttering: "The enemy... is... powerful... and overwhelming!"

The spiritual thieves are fine, as steady as old dogs.

But the barbarians like Shu Cang, Shui Ni, and Girlfriend Sha, who had disheveled hair and dirty faces, all turned pale.

A hundred years ago, the two sides fought frequently and became desensitized to the battle. Although they were often defeated as soon as they met, they still had the courage to fight hand-to-hand.

But now, the new generation has not seen such a grand scene for a long time.

During the Five Dynasties, when Kang Fu was appointed to Lingwu, he saw thousands of Tibetans passing through Qinggangling and led his guards to kill them. The Tibetans turned around and ran away. You can imagine how useless they were. At this moment, Zhe Ping Luofu also wanted to turn around and run, but he looked at Li Hongdao's expressionless bearded face and held back.

"Keep your people under control. If we see the enemy collapse, we will kill you first!" Li Hongdao glanced at the leaders of various tribes and sneered.

He reined in his horse, stepped out of the line, looked around, and pointed at Emperor Li standing on a mound on the opposite bank: "Last time, we were stopped halfway across the river and couldn't defeat him. We should have thanked him for not going to him. How dare he come to our door! The military governors and soldiers are so cowardly that they would fight the emperor if they could! Those who only expect the court to grant them favors don't deserve freedom and rights at all!"

Li Hongdao shook his cape and drew his bow like a full moon. All his distracting thoughts and fierceness burst out with this arrow: "Kill him and enter Chang'an! Once we enter Chang'an City, everyone will be a general and rape the imperial concubine! If things don't go well, we will all be on the run! Pass on my order and meet the enemy!"

The crowd suddenly became agitated. What else could these little killers say when Li Hongdao was like this? Since everyone had come here, they already knew what they were here for. The soldiers shouted, "Kill him and enter Chang'an!"

Before he finished speaking, a large group of light cavalry had already waded through the shallows and landed in the field to the southwest.

They galloped and gathered in loose formations, covering the sky and the earth, with billowing dust.

"Swish, swish, swish..." Arrows were fired at random, flying across the sky like locusts and swooping down towards them. There was no pause at all, and the fight started as soon as they came forward.

It seems that their mission is to cover the army crossing the river.

After a wave of arrows was shot, the general of the Wansui Fan Army, Cui Jiahu, kicked his horse's belly and scolded: "You are the frontier troops, a glorious army for a hundred years, but you don't think about guarding the border and defending the country, but instead collude with foreign races to rebel. Don't you know the punishment of sack the city!"

"We are going to wash Chang'an City!" Li Hongdao grabbed the horn from the officer beside him and threw it to Han Xun: "You set up the battle formation!"

After saying that, he drew his spear and rushed out first. Behind him, two thousand Shuofang army knights and three to four thousand Fan tribe cavalry shouted and urged their horses to catch up, rushing straight towards the Cui Jiahu brigade gathered not far away.

"Switch in someone who can fight!" The leader, Li Hongdao, glared at Cui Jiahu and said, "Your words stink like a hair awl. Bring in Zhenwu!"

"Fuck your mother!" Cui Jiahu was furious. He was unwilling to embarrass himself in front of others, so he stepped forward and shouted in front of the two armies ready to fight: "Whether it is true or not, you come and try it!"

"I'll do it!" Deputy Guo Meng flew out with his axe. Li Hongdao was about to fight when he heard a loud shout from the side. He looked closely and saw that it was Zhou Huaiguang, the chief of the army. Li Hongdao laughed and raised his spear and ordered, "Cheer for him!"

It was not like in movies and TV dramas where both parties had to ask where the opponent came from. Guo Meng just swung his axe and started chopping.

Zhou Huaiguang wielded his spear to fight. He had served as a commando in the Battle of Longwei Pond and was very skilled in martial arts. He seemed relaxed and carefree after fighting with Guo Meng for several rounds. But after a while, he began to feel exhausted. Every time he chopped with his axe, the force transmitted from the spear made Zhou Huaiguang's palm numb.

Seeing that Guo Meng's breathing remained the same, Zhou Huaiguang immediately felt like retreating.

"Who are you?"

"The commander of the Imperial Guards, Huayin Guo Meng!" As they passed by, Guo Meng chopped him off. Zhou Huaiguang raised his spear to stop him, but his hands lost strength and the spear was split in two. The army behind him saw this and cursed, "You bastard!"

Seeing that Zhou Huaiguang's weapons were defeated, Li Hongdao hurried to rescue him. Seeing this, Wang Yanzhang, Liu Zhijun, Shui Wusheng, Zhang Xian, Yang Gui, Hao Zuo, Ashina Luoxue and other generals who were traveling with Cui Jiahu also led their men to charge forward. The two cavalry forces collided violently like a major car accident on the highway.

As soon as they made contact, dozens of riders fell off their horses and were crushed into powder in the mud by countless pairs of hooves.

"Kill!" Wang Yanzhang roared, holding the iron spear in his hand, and directly skewered a string of candied haws.

The five foreign cavalrymen who were only wearing leather armor or even no armor were completely chilled by him. They were pressed against each other back to back, and the one in front almost came face to face with Wang Yanzhang.

"Swish!" The iron rod shook and five corpses flew out.

Rumble... Amid the thunderous sound of horse hooves, in the blink of an eye, the two cone formations completed a collision and exchanged positions.

The number of Cuijia guards was reduced by 30%.

The number of spirit thieves reduced by half, or even more. In the open space in the middle of the battlefield, the bodies of the cavalrymen and horses of both sides were lying on the ground. Some were piled up in layers, and some turned into mud. All kinds of deaths were present, and flags and armor were scattered all over the ground. The mounts that lost their owners were either hesitant and alone on the battlefield, nudging the corpses with their noses, or running away from the battlefield at a thunderous speed.

Li Hongdao, with disheveled hair, glanced around viciously. Just as he was about to engage in the second round of fighting, he heard a burst of noise behind him. He turned around and suddenly became furious.

Shu Cang ran away!
His daughter Meng Le also took advantage of his absence and led her troops to flee for their lives.

Well, despite all his precautions, these cowards still managed to escape!

"You barbarians! You are not worthy of being a partner!" Li Hongdao cursed and shot with his bow. How could he be stopped? The barbarians were simply mentally retarded when they got angry. Seeing Shu Cang and Nu Nu Meng Le running away, Shui Ni, Nu Yu Sha, and Ni Zhong tribes could no longer hold back and started to fall into chaos.

“Hahahaha!” Cui Jiahu couldn’t help but be overjoyed: “You want to enter Chang’an with this kind of person? I’ll never let you enter!”

"Soldiers, charge and capture this thief!" Cui Jiahu took the lead, gritting his teeth.

"Kill, don't spare any!" Guo Meng swung his spear and charged into the enemy formation. Rumble, rumble, rumble... Thousands of enemy cavalry raised their blood-red lances and charged forward again.

Seeing that things were going badly, Li Hongdao didn't look back and almost ran into his own soldiers as he fled towards the infantry formation!
Seeing Li Hongdao running away first, the Shuofang cavalry cursed and scattered. The barbarians who didn't have time to escape were in a mess. Some followed him, while others wanted to surrender but didn't dare to get off their horses. They shouted at the Cui army that rushed over: "I surrender! I surrender!"

"Kill!" All the horse lances were raised forward in unison.

The sounds of swords and guns hitting flesh and screams continued. The defeated soldiers, regardless of whether they were Han or barbarians, were knocked off their horses like wheat being cut once they were caught up.

Blood splattered everywhere, and the grass became a river of blood.

"Ah!" The heavily armored spirit thief knight was hit on the head by Wang Yanzhang's iron rod and died on the spot.

"Bang!" Another sweeping blow with incredible force, a row of barbarians were knocked down in the waist.

In a short while, except for the two thousand or so who escaped, the remaining four thousand cavalry were all wiped out.

At this time, Cui Jiahu shouted and gathered his subordinates. They fed the horses, ate dry food and drank water, checked the casualties and dragged them to the rear, and re-formed the formation, staring at the dark formation of spirit thieves with a covetous eye.

"Where is the saint?" He looked around.

At this moment, Cui Jiahu, whose hair had long been disheveled, looked completely bloody. His hair was dripping with blood, his bright red face was covered with pieces of flesh, and the whites of his eyes were also stained scarlet by the splattered blood. He looked like a demon crawling out of a pool of blood.

"It's still there!" Zhang Xian raised his spear and pointed at the pile of earth.

Cui Jiahu rubbed his eyes and saw that in the middle of the Wild Boar Ridge River Bay, infantry and cavalry from all over the mountains waded across the Wuding River, stepped onto the river beach, and climbed up the earthen embankment... and on this side of the river beach, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses had gathered, with shields and spears standing in rows. In the distance, Li Zan and Sima Kanwu's 20,000 troops were also slowly approaching.

“Hahahaha…” Cui Jiahu Ma Liao paused and laughed loudly towards the sky.

Complete the king's affairs and win fame in life and after death!
My father was old. He ran around everywhere in his later years, but he didn't accomplish anything and died in depression.

The eldest brother in Shuzhong has not yet accomplished anything. The Cui family and the holy Tang dynasty still need to rely on us to revive!

"I see that you are a loyal minister." He turned his head and glanced at Wang Yanzhang with a cold smile.

Wang Yanzhang returned a polite smile.

Do you have the final say?

Cui Jiahu shook his hair and said contemptuously: "One word from our Cui family for you is worth ten years of hard study!"

That's it.

You guys can fight for fame and fortune, but I just want the Queen to be safe!

I don't want to be a general or a prime minister, I just want to protect you in Chang'an and Changle in this troubled times.

Saint, you must treat her well!

"Everyone take a rest!" Cui Jiahu pointed to the spiritual bandit formation and said, "I am fine and can still ride a horse and kill. I will stay here to watch these evil bastards and protect the army from crossing the river. When the army arrives, we will capture Li Hongdao to prevent him from gathering and getting in the way! This time, we will completely defeat these bastards!"
*********
There were countless kinds of feelings gnawing at Li Hongdao's heart.

The sound of killing passed by my ears, and all kinds of emotions merged into just one thought in the end.

Defeated, defeated!
Although only the cavalry was defeated and most of the barbarians fled, the situation is not desperate yet. But if we want to win, we don’t know how much luck we will need!
You know, this time he started his fight based on the principle of a lion fighting a rabbit, but from the tug of war at Wuding River to the withdrawal of Li Zan's camp, he hit a wall without exception.

At this moment, seeing the main force of the punitive army approaching and being watched by Cui Jiahu and two thousand heavy cavalry in the northeast, Li Hongdao was extremely anxious as he dared not go to the river to fight.

He looked up at the soldiers with resentment, wishing he could ride into the battle alone and fight!

But reason told him that it was useless to act on impulse.

The Dog Emperor is not a useless Nest Army that can be easily controlled.

"Everyone says he has had too many women and suffers from kidney deficiency...but I think he looks very energetic!" Staring at the pile of earth, Li Hongdao punched the ground hard.

Dog-footed me, really dog-footed...

Don't let me enter Chang'an, otherwise I will personally force you to drink poisoned wine, and then have fun with all your beautiful wives and concubines to vent my anger.

After venting his curse, Li Hongdao stood up and said, "Go and urge Gao Zongyi, Tuoba Liufeng and the others. Why haven't they arrived yet? How far is Tongwan City from here? If they delay any longer, they can fight on their own and defend the isolated city. It doesn't matter if we give up Lingwu. With the sword in our hands and the road under our feet, we can go anywhere..."

"promise."

This battle is really hard to fight, let’s try again…

At noon, the main force of the saints gathered more and more on the north bank of Wuding River, and it was estimated that most of them had arrived. Under the protection of tens of thousands of cavalrymen on both wings, they began to rest, eat, and deploy troops in an orderly manner to prepare for the attack. Almost all the spies of the two thieves of Lingxia were also driven back. The surface of Wuding River was splashed by the horses' hooves, and the royal army was gathering. The man on the mound was also gone, and was escorted across the river by the palace army.

People were shouting and horses were neighing on both sides of the river. Except for the occasional harsh scolding, the voices of Li Hongdao's team were almost completely drowned out!

Around 2:00 p.m., the sage finally saw Gao Zongyi, Ma Kuo, Liang Sheng, Tuoba Liufeng, Renfu, Ye Lidao, Wu Yi Xinchang, Luo Ni Guangzhen, Ji Jia Pingzhong, Mie Wei Baobao and others leading a mob of more than 100,000 people to arrive.

It's quite slow to arrive at this point.

The speed of movement in battle is highly related to the quality and training level of the army. If the troops are not well trained, they will become very chaotic after walking for a while and have to stop to reorganize themselves, and they will not be able to move fast at all.

"Their clothes are disheveled, their formations are uneven, their weapons and armors are varied, and the percentage of armored personnel... is less than 30%." On a new mound, the saint stood on the chariot and looked at the enemy formation, sneering, "It makes me laugh. They dare to come with this level. Who gave them the courage? Spirit thieves?"

"Your Majesty, do not underestimate the enemy." Zhao Jia reminded: "The Tanguts eat raw meat and drink blood, and they are full of yin and yang. Women can also fight in the battlefield. In the past, when we were fighting against Huang Chao, the Tuoba tribe fought several battles in the field. Although they did not win, it also shows that they still have courage, otherwise how dare they rebel this time."

"I didn't underestimate the enemy. I made an objective assessment." The saint said calmly, "You have courage now, but you haven't seen the world. You think it's just a conflict among your own tribes. When the fighting starts, thousands of lives will be lost in one fell swoop. If you can remain calm, that's courage."

After saying that, he turned around and tested the wind with his face. It was neither strong nor weak, not strong enough to blow up a lot of smoke and dust in the northwest and darken some areas. But looking at the sky, the sun was overcast and dark clouds were brewing in half of the sky, so the probability of the wind getting stronger was very high.

At the end of the hour of Wei, both armies had finished forming their battle arrays.

As drum beats rang out in all directions, the army did not move, and the backbone troops of the two armies responsible for lining up and stabbing each other began to move towards each other.

The closer the distance, the more solemn the atmosphere became. Both sides gradually became very quiet and tense.

When they walked about 200 steps, both armies stopped at the same time, taking a short rest and regrouping. The rebels didn't know, but the saints had full armor, and with a full set of main and secondary equipment, it was very physically demanding to walk.

Taking advantage of this gap, Gao Zongyi led a group of officers and soldiers out on horseback to launch a routine scolding attack, hoping to break the saint's defense and make him lose his mind.

"Li Ye!" Gao Zongyi shouted at the expeditionary army, "Have you not learned a lesson from the four towns going to the capital, Zhu Wen's invasion of the palace, and Li Keyong's invasion of the palace? I will capture you today and choose a group of Tangut beauties for you to marry. You can live in Saibei City and watch the snow until you are old. In ancient times, there has never been a Han emperor who was captured by his subjects or the enemy country, right? Well, Qingyi's wine drinking party is one of them. Haha, let you join in!"

After that, the rebels laughed loudly: "Capture the saint alive! Qing Yi serves wine!"

It was not known whether the saint had broken the defense or not, but many of the soldiers were furious. Dozens of generals and a large group of soldiers immediately requested to start a war immediately to teach this bastard a lesson.

Xiao Xiu drew his sword and attacked Gao Zongyi and the others, saying, "Xia thieves! When Emperor Taizong accepted the Dangxiang, your ancestors were only governors. Our ancestors granted Sigong the title of Duke of Xia, the Imperial Seal of Guanbei, and the surname Li. In terms of high status, what a favor this is! And we also have the Dingnan Army, which has been established for a hundred years. How has the court wronged you? Instead of repaying our loyalty, you have joined forces to cause chaos and conspire to kill the emperor."

"If such shameless, heartless and vicious beasts are not punished by the extermination of their species and the massacre of the whole city, where is the kingly way! Where is justice!"

Gao Zongyi just sneered and said, "We will not rebel, we will not submit to the tyrant. Li Ye is a brat who dares to break the ancestral rules and kills people like flies. How can there be such an emperor? He is also lustful and lets the palace maids walk around the palace without clothes. Such debauchery is so debauched that even Jie and Zhou would be amazed."

One thing after another, no one expected that Xia Zei would rant so violently in front of the enemy.

The generals around Emperor Li all blushed immediately.

Zhao Jia's face turned red on the spot, and he cursed Gao Zongyi in his heart as a coward with no sense of confidentiality. Even if it was the truth, he couldn't - couldn't say it in public!
"Stop your dirty talk!" Zhu Jin interrupted, "What kind of monarch is the Saint? Don't we ministers know? Don't you think you can make up something out of nothing! The Saint is a clean-minded person who never indulges in women. Several prime ministers of the current dynasty can testify to this."

"Shoot! Shoot!" an officer shouted anxiously.

What will happen if I continue to talk to these thieves?

Do you want to make the saint faint from anger?

"If you shoot, I will shoot too!" Arrows were fired from this side, and Gao Zongyi also drew his bow and shouted, "You tyrant, take my arrow!"

The battle at Wild Boar Ridge became increasingly intense.

(End of this chapter)