A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 97 Even the Armored Cavalry Can't Stop the Black Armor Army

The men and horses were all in armor,

The warhorse was covered with six pieces of armor, which protected it tightly, leaving only its eyes and calves exposed.

The knights were all wearing bright armor and holding eight-foot-long lances.

These armored cavalry were made with great care by Xue Ju. During normal marches, the armor and horse armor were carried by pack horses, and the knights also had other mounts.
Each of these heavy cavalrymen was even equipped with two auxiliary soldiers.

During the first six days, they were still not touched despite the fierce fighting. The other soldiers only had porridge to eat every day, but these 800 heavy cavalry had meat to eat.

Gave an order,
The auxiliaries began to armour the horses and knights,
When eight hundred armored cavalrymen, both men and horses, were all in armor, their murderous aura surged into the sky.
Zhai Changsun also put on heavy armor and led 800 heavy cavalry to meet Pang Yu's 5,000 infantry and cavalry.

Eight hundred steel beasts are roaring,

The knights also have huge basin collars around their necks, which protect their necks firmly.

The helmet even covers the face for protection, with only two slits for the eyes.

When they began to charge,
Unstoppable.

General Pang Yu of the Right Wuhou led 5,000 troops to the battlefield to reinforce.

Suddenly the earth shook.

A group of armored cavalry suddenly rushed out from behind the light cavalry.

The light cavalry from Longyou spread out on both sides to make way for these heavily armed troops.

"Armored cavalry!" Pang Yu exclaimed.

No one thought that after fighting for so many days, the Longyou Army still had an armored cavalry hidden.

almost in an instant,

The heavily armored cavalry had already rushed to the front,
They did not run or ride or shoot, but simply charged straight ahead.
This is something that many light cavalry units dare not do.
They marched forward courageously,

Heavy cavalry will not only charge head-on, they will also attack from the side and rear, but generally they need infantry to attract and hold back the enemy's main infantry formation before creating opportunities for the heavy cavalry.

And now,
Zhai Changsun and his men hid behind the light cavalry, suddenly rushed out and charged head-on.

As soon as the flags and drums began to fly, armored cavalry suddenly arrived.
Pang Yu's 5,000 infantry and cavalry were in the midst of the rushing army.

Faced with the sudden attack of these 800 heavy cavalry, although they outnumbered him several times, they were crushed as soon as they came into contact.

The heavy cavalry continued to advance and no one could stop them.

Swords, spears, and arrows had no effect on the heavy cavalry, so they just fought their way out of the bloody situation.

Eight hundred cavalrymen led the way,
Behind them were light cavalry and infantry, who followed closely and cut off and annihilated the scattered Tang army.

Pang Yu led five thousand men and horses.

He was actually cut in half by Zhai Changsun's 800 cavalrymen.

Pang Yujun almost collapsed.

Fortunately, he was also experienced. He led dozens of brave cavalry and ignored the 800 heavy cavalry rushing over. He shouted and directly attacked the light cavalry and infantry behind Longyou.

The two armies quickly engaged in a melee.
At this time, the eight hundred heavy cavalry rushed to the other side, regrouped and prepared to turn around and charge again, but the two armies were already in a complete melee.

On top of the city,
Li Shimin was also frightened and broke out in a cold sweat.
Unexpectedly, on the seventh day, Zong Luohou still had such a trick up his sleeve, and he almost defeated Pang Yu.

"Order, all troops, follow me to attack."

Can't wait any longer,

Li Shimin immediately ran down the city wall, led the army in the city out of the north gate, circled the north of the plateau, and unexpectedly attacked Zong Luohou from behind.

He did not attack Zhai Changsun's troops.
Instead, he bit Zong Luohou, who was the main force.

Zong Luohou was fighting in front of the camp. When he heard the shouting behind him, his heart was shocked and his face turned pale. The thing he was most worried about had finally come.

In the past, he had been hoping that the main force of the Tang army would come out of the city for a decisive battle, but now he least wanted them to come out.

“Come with me!

Fight to your heart's content, kill, kill, kill!"

Zong Luohou's armor was soaked in blood, his eyes were red, and he led his personal soldiers to turn around and fight.

He could only fight to the death.

He vowed to defeat all enemies in his path.

But unfortunately,
He met his match.

His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin, the commander-in-chief of the three armies, did not command from behind. Just like in the Battle of Changwu, he led dozens of elite cavalry and rushed to the front.

Both the men and the horses were wearing black armor.

These are Li Shimin's most elite black-armored cavalry guards.

There are not many of them, but they are all elite veterans selected from hundreds of thousands.

Under the leadership of Li Shimin, they defeated Xue Rengao in Fufeng, chased him for 200 miles, and drove him all the way to Longshan.

He also fought back in the last battle of Changwu, turned the tide against the odds, and chased Xue Ju so hard that he fled from Binzhou to Jingzhou in one breath.

right now,

They attacked again, still moving forward courageously and invincibly.

The shouts shook the earth, like a landslide and a tsunami.

Zong Luohou roared and rushed forward. This man was indeed a fierce general under Xue Ju, but unfortunately his soldiers were already exhausted and hungry.
Although Zong Luohou has the courage of ten thousand men,
But his soldiers were unable to withstand the attack of the Black Armor Cavalry.
Longyou Army,
collapse,

When the last bit of will was destroyed, all the Longyou troops began to flee in a hurry.

On the other side, Zhai Changsun's troops, seeing the main force was defeated, also turned around and fled.

At this time, Zhai Changsun and his eight hundred heavy cavalry were unable to outrun the infantry and light cavalry, and were surrounded by Pang Yu's troops.

Although heavy cavalry is powerful, it cannot last long.

Nor can I fight alone.
Zhai Changsun looked towards Gaocheng City and the fluttering Tang flag on the battlefield.

They chose to surrender. Eight hundred invincible heavy cavalrymen stood there alone, they put down their lances and began to take off their armor.
Disarmament and surrender.

Liangshi Camp on the shallow plateau,

Liang Shi and Li Jing also led the remaining troops who had fought for seven days to break out.
After being suppressed and beaten for so many days, they now pursued and attacked relentlessly to vent the pent-up anger in their hearts.

Li Yi was on the west tower of Gaocheng City, watching the battle from afar.

It makes my blood boil.

Watching this historic battle from such a close distance,
It is indeed an unprecedented experience.

The Longyou army was defeated and completely collapsed, fleeing in all directions. The Tang army killed thousands of them in the shallow water plateau formation.

Li Shimin was not satisfied with this victory. He mobilized 2,000 elite cavalry and pursued them. The general officer Dou Gui grabbed Li Shimin's horse and said, "Your Highness, Xue Rengao is still holding the fortified city. Even though Luohou has been defeated, we cannot advance lightly. Please hold back and wait and see."

"You are totally wrong. Our army defeated the enemy in this battle, but we didn't kill many. If we don't pursue them, these defeated soldiers will be gathered in Zhecheng City again, and it will be difficult to attack again.

If Xue Rengao gathers his defeated troops and retreats to Longxi, it will be even more troublesome. We must seize the opportunity now and take Zhecheng City directly. Xue Rengao has no food or supplies at home, and he cannot gather his defeated troops outside. Once my follow-up troops arrive, he will have no choice but to surrender."

After saying that, Li Shimin asked Dou Gui and others to quickly clean up the battlefield, and then assemble the troops and rush to Zhecheng City. He took two thousand elite cavalry and rushed to the foot of Zhecheng City before Zong Luohou. He joined forces with Li Shuliang of Jingzhou to surround Xue Rengao in Zhecheng City and prevent the defeated soldiers from retreating into Zhecheng City.

Li Shimin led 2,000 cavalrymen and quickly arrived at the foot of Zhecheng City.

Xue Rengao in the city did not know the outcome of the Qianshuiyuan battlefield. He was shocked to see Li Shimin suddenly attacking. He still had more than 10,000 soldiers and horses under his command.
In a hurry, they gathered their troops and horses and went out of the city to fight.
Li Shimin was sweating profusely while running.
He rode out and came to the front of the two armies, shouting: "Today, at Qianshuiyuan, our army defeated the Longyou army, killed the leader Luohou, and Zhai Changsun surrendered with 800 armored cavalry."

"Xue Rengao, your troops have been completely annihilated.

If you don’t surrender now, when will you surrender? "

Xue Rengao had once been a defeated general under Li Shimin. When he saw Li Shimin leading two thousand cavalry to attack the city, he felt uneasy.

The Longyou soldiers under his command were even more panicked.

They were skeptical.

At this moment, Chang Da jumped out.

He was the former governor of Longzhou in the Tang Dynasty. He was previously kidnapped by the Qin army who pretended to surrender. He was taken before Xue Rengao, but he refused to surrender and cursed Xue Rengao and others. He was almost killed, but Hao Yuan saved him.

At this moment, Chang Da suddenly jumped out and shouted, "The bandit Xue has been defeated, why don't you surrender quickly!"

As he said this, he took the lead and ran towards the Tang army.
Among the more than 10,000 soldiers under Xue Rengao, few knew Chang Da's identity. Upon seeing this, some soldiers actually ran towards the Tang army and surrendered.

This stone stirs up a thousand waves,

Countless soldiers surrendered on the battlefield.

When Xue Rengao saw this, he wondered what the point of fighting was and quickly ordered his troops to retreat back to Zhecheng City.

Originally, if Xue Rengao had fought to the death at this time, he had more than 10,000 men under his command and still had a great chance of defeating Li Shimin. At worst, he could retreat to Longyou and make a comeback later.

But if he retreated back to the city now, he would just be waiting for death.

Soon, Liu Hongji in the nearby Jingzhou City received the news and arrived with 5,000 infantry and cavalry.

It was too late for Xue Rengao to retreat at this time, but there was still a glimmer of hope.

But he was still hiding in the city waiting for news about Rahu.
At midnight,

Zong Luohou did not come.

When Liang Shi, Pang Yu, Dou Gui, Chai Shao and other generals came, they surrounded the city of Zhecheng and made it impossible to get out.
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the soldiers from Longyou defending the city surrendered to the Tang army one after another.

Tianming,

Of the more than 10,000 defenders, most have surrendered.
Xue Rengao had no choice but to lead all the officials out of the city to surrender.

Li Shimin accepted the surrender of the Qin Emperor.
He also accepted the surrender of over 10,000 elite soldiers from Longyou, and incorporated them all into the Tang army.
In addition, there were more than 50,000 men and women in the city.

After taking Zhecheng City, Li Shimin blocked the retreat route of tens of thousands of Longyou troops who were still scattered outside.

The Tang army swept through the mountains and forests one after another, and soon the defeated soldiers from Longyou were found one after another.

The fierce general Zong Luohou was also found and captured.
The battle of Jingzhou finally achieved a perfect victory.

Dou Gui, Chai Shao, Liang Shi, Pang Yu and other generals took a short rest and then led their troops to march towards Longyou. Xue Ju died and Xue Rengao surrendered. General Zong Luohou and Prime Minister Zhai Changsun were either killed or captured. The main force was destroyed.

The entire Longyou was almost conquered by a single order.

Xue Ju's son-in-law, Zuo Pushe Zhong Juchou, who stayed behind, led Hezhou to submit a letter of surrender, and the other states also submitted to the Tang Dynasty.

Li Shimin held a celebration banquet in Jingzhou City.

Li Yi also received an invitation in Gaocheng City. Li Yi has been very busy these days.

Tens of thousands of defeated soldiers from Longyou were scattered throughout Jingzhou. The Tang army searched everywhere for them to surrender. Every day, some were captured, and some surrendered voluntarily.

Li Yi, a soldier in the camp, was also drafted to help register and interrogate the prisoners.

Li Shimin was very generous to these soldiers and generals from Longyou. As long as they surrendered, he accepted them. Zong Luohou, Zhai Changsun, Zhu Liang, Hao Yuan and other senior officers were not imprisoned. Li Shimin kept them by his side every day and treated them with great courtesy.

As for the Longyou Army, those forcibly conscripted men will be released home one after another after registration and examination.

And those elite cavalry and infantry were directly incorporated by Li Shimin.

Li Shimin had his own army, which was directly under his command. There were quite a few of them, tens of thousands of them. Li Shimin stuffed the elite troops of the Longyou Army into his own army.
Especially Zhai Changsun's 800 armored cavalry, all of them were directly incorporated into his own Black Armor Cavalry.

Li Yi keenly realized that Li Shimin was ambitious and that he had taken advantage of this great victory to annex the Xue Group.

From Xue Rengao's brothers to Zong Luohou, Zhai Changsun, Chu Liang, Chu Suiliang, and Hao Yuan, he accepted them all, especially at least 10,000 elite cavalrymen under his command.

These are more than 10,000 elite Longyou cavalry, including 800 armored cavalry.

Many of these high-ranking officials and generals of Xue Qin were also powerful families in the Longyou area. Li Shimin brought them under his command, which was actually equivalent to taking the Longyou area into his own hands.

He rode on his horse and took Heizi and the others to Jingzhou City.

On the way, Li Yi carefully thought about Li Shimin's series of actions after the war, and shook his head. He thought it was a bit too much, and his eating manners were a bit ugly.

Would Li Yuan agree?

Will Li Jiancheng agree?

(End of this chapter)