Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 251 The Advantages of Fighting on Someone Else's Home
A master of the bow and arrow.

He controlled the bow, and he controlled the horse.

Those who can draw a bow and ride a horse can be called archers.

On the grasslands, anyone who can ride a horse and shoot arrows, from children as young as ten to old men in their sixties or seventies, is included.

Normally, when a battle begins, the elderly and children go first, circling around the enemy lines and launching harassing attacks.

This would deplete the Tang army's arrows and disrupt their formation, giving the able-bodied men a chance to recover and recharge.

There is no doubt that these elderly and infirm people will suffer a terrible blow.

And this is also the rule of survival on the grassland.

Tuli Khan dispatched thousands of elderly and weak men from the Khitan, Xi, Mohe, and other tribes to harass the vanguard of the Tang army.

This was purely a pretense, used to appease Jieli Khan's orders.

Something happened that left the Turks speechless.

When the old and weak rode horses and circled around, throwing arrows.

The Tang army, clad in iron armor and arranged in neat formations, clearly elite troops, launched only a simple counterattack before retreating.

Thousands of armored soldiers in formation were forced back by a group of old and weak people.

Even a blind man could see that the Tang army was retreating on its own initiative.

The result was that Tuli Khan only needed a few days to drive the Tang army back to the banks of the river with a group of old and weak cannon fodder.

He had assumed that the Tang army would take the opportunity to retreat to the other side of the river.

However, the Tang army occupied several high grounds and stationed troops there, showing no intention of retreating.

Tuli Khan, who had read Han Chinese military books, believed there was a deception involved.

But Khagan Jieli hurriedly led his army over and took over the battlefield.

If we don't take control of the battlefield soon, Tuli Khan will be praised to the skies.

Tuli Khan defeated the powerful Tang army all the way, driving them back from the foot of Yinshan Mountain to the banks of the Yellow River.

There are folk songs about Tuli Khan in various tribes, which have been sung about him being possessed by the wolf god.

If Tuli continues his campaign, Jieli Khan's position as Khan will truly be in jeopardy.

For the vast majority of nomadic tribes who were illiterate, they knew nothing of strategy or how to lure the enemy deep into their territory.

They only believe what they see and hear most directly.

Tuli Khan defeated the powerful Tang army; this is what they saw and heard.

The ability to fight is the most important indicator for assessing Khan's capabilities.

"Wow, that's a lot of sweat!"

When Tuli saw Khagan Jieli, he opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to tell him that the Tang army had actually suffered no losses and had retreated to this side on its own initiative, which must be a trap, and that he must be careful.

But the words just wouldn't come out.

The position of Great Khan should have been his.

Jieli Khan stole his throne.

Remind him to avoid failure, and then help him sit firmly in the sweating position.

Why!
"Well done," Khagan Jieli praised with a smile. "You repelled the Tang army, proving your martial prowess."

"We must continue to work hard."

Tuli, his eyes darting around, lowered his head.

"Yes~~~"

There is more than one smart person like Tuli.

Those who can see through it either don't say anything for various reasons.

The person who spoke out did not receive a positive response from Jieli.

As I said before, the external environment doesn't allow it.

Tens of thousands of Tang soldiers have already reached the foot of Yinshan Mountain.

What if we can't drive them away and they keep chasing us?
Could it be that the various units retreated and dispersed, leaving the Tang army to rampage and slaughter on the grasslands?
Tang Jun could afford to wait; his family had plenty of people busy farming and working.

The Turkic tribes could not afford to wait any longer.

If the war cannot be ended before autumn, they will not have time to fatten up their livestock, and what follows will be a winter filled with death.

This is the advantage of fighting on someone else's home turf.

The Tang army could hold out, but the Turks could not.

Jieli Khan believed that now that the Tang army had been forced to the banks of the river, all he needed to do was drive them back into the river to win the victory.

A tidal wave of Turks began to launch fierce attacks on Tang army camps everywhere.

Lifting the tent flap, Lin Dao, who had completed the raw silk acquisition in the Chongzhen era, walked out.

Looking at Cheng Zhijie, who was on duty outside, Lin Daoxiao asked, "Have the Turks arrived?"

"I come every day."

Cheng Zhijie nodded in agreement, "They can't break through the fortress; they're just coming to their deaths."

The Turks on horseback launched an uphill attack on the Tang army camp on the high ground.

The projectiles did little damage to the Tang army, whose soldiers were almost entirely in iron armor.

The attack on the camp was thwarted by various defensive structures.

The campaign was very large-scale, but apart from the casualty figures, there were no results.

Lin Dao looked up at the sky; the clouds were gradually thickening.

"Walk."

Lin Daoqian walked forward and called out, "Let's go take a look."

Arriving at the sentry post on the edge of the camp, we looked out.

As far as the eye can see, there are tents everywhere.

Further away, closer to the Yin Mountains, were herds of livestock.

Nomadic tribes operate on a system that involves the entire population.

Wherever they go, the entire tribe is together, and even when they go to war, the tribe's main camp will not stray too far.

Before long, a group of several hundred Turkic herdsmen rushed toward them, shouting.

They rode their horses around the camp, shooting arrows from their hands.

Others moved closer, throwing out lassos that snagged the antlers of the barricades outside the camp. A dozen horses then dragged the antlers away.

The herders cheered with joy.

At this moment, the Tang army inside the camp finally moved.

Powerful bows and crossbows flew out, instantly killing dozens of riders.

The remaining Turkic herders shouted and rode away.

The camp gates opened, and a group of Tang soldiers poured out.

They repaired the damaged antlers, killed the wounded herders, retrieved the arrows, threw the corpses into the trenches to bury them, led away the uninjured horses, and killed and dragged away the wounded horses to eat. In no time, everything outside was back to normal.

"I come here several times a day."

Cheng Yaojin explained to Lin Dao, who had been in seclusion for several days, "We can't break through, and we're reluctant to leave, so we're just stuck like this."

Cavalry excels in open field battles.

Attacking a camp was indeed quite difficult for the Turks, who lacked the ability to build large siege weapons.

Of course, the main reason for the stalemate was that the Tang army had no supply lines.

The Turks who ran to the other side of the river had almost searched all the way to Lingzhou, but they still couldn't find the Tang army's supply route.

Of course they couldn't find it, because the Tang army had no supply lines at all this time.

Their supplies all come from across time and space.

If it weren't for Lin Dao providing logistical support, the Tang army would never have been able to remain so stable.

The Tang army maximized its advantages and wore down the Turks.

Looking at the Turkic camp in the distance, Lin Dao fell into deep thought.

A moment later, he looked up and said, "The Turks are going to run away."

Cheng Yaojin was suddenly startled. "What?"

Lin Dao didn't explain to him; after leaving the sentry post, he went to find Li Erfeng.

Upon entering Li Erfeng's tent and listening to him issue military orders to the generals, Lin Dao also smiled.

Without a doubt, Li Erfeng also realized that the Turks were about to flee, and that they were preparing to take action.

Great minds think alike.

After issuing the military orders, Li Erfeng stepped forward with a warm smile and said, "Brother Zihou, you've come out of seclusion."

"Ah."

Lin Dao, who had made a fortune selling raw silk, was in a good mood and smiled, "Is it time to make a move?"

"Yes."

Li Erfeng gestured to the few scribes beside her, saying, "The Imperial Observatory says it will rain here in the next two days, which is a good time."

Attracting the main force of the Turks to the banks of the Yellow River was only the first step.

Next, they diverted water from the Yellow River to irrigate it.

When Lin Dao and Li Erfeng discussed this battle, they had already clearly defined the main objectives.

Occupying territory is not the point; even occupying Yinshan is useless.

The real objective was to inflict a devastating blow on the Turkic people's fighting force.

To put it bluntly, it meant eliminating the Turks as much as possible.

The more you kill, the better.

If we could wipe out 100,000 able-bodied men in one battle, the Turks in the east would immediately collapse.

It was virtually impossible to annihilate the Turkic forces on the vast grasslands.

The Turks had horses, and when they sensed something was wrong and fled, they ran very fast.

The Tang army's cavalry has rapidly increased in strength, but it still needs time to reach a considerable scale.

Therefore, Lin Dao and Li Erfeng devised a plan to lure the main force of the Turks to concentrate on the banks of the Yellow River, and then irrigate the area with the Yellow River water.

It would be best if it could work out, but it doesn't matter if it doesn't.

At worst, we can just crush the pursuers.

With drones for search and no logistical burden, it just takes more time and effort.

It now appears that the plan has a high probability of success.

As evening fell, Tang Jun, having finished his meal, began taking turns attending night school.

A light drizzle began to fall from the sky.

As time went by, the rain gradually intensified.

A hundred miles away, in an upstream section of the river, a group of Tang soldiers, having received the news, began digging into the riverbank.

In this section of the Yellow River, the river channel is not as exaggerated as in the lower reaches, forming a river above ground level.

Yet this area remains a notorious flood zone.

When the Mother River is calm, the wind and waves are still.

But once he gets angry, a single elbow strike is enough to turn the world upside down.

At this time, the Tang army deliberately provoked the Mother River, breaking through the riverbank in a high section of the riverbed.

The surging river water swept down and rushed downstream.

"Zihou".

Inside the tent, Li Erfeng was playing cards with Lin Dao.

Clearly, his mind wasn't on the game. "What do we do now that we've breached the river?"

"Three, four, five, six, seven~"

Lin Dao, who had just dealt five cards, casually replied, "The dry season for this section of the river is coming soon."

"Once the water level drops, we can just plug it up again."

"Want some?"

Li Jing, who was playing cards with Li Jing, was shaking with his hands.

There's no way around it; the stakes in card games are too high, with wins and losses in a single hand amounting to hundreds or even thousands of bolts of raw silk.

His salary is only a few dollars.
In other words, Li Erfeng guaranteed his wins and losses; otherwise, he would never dare to go on stage.

Four eggs.

Li Erfeng continued to ask, "Jieli, can he escape?"

“He is the Great Khan.” Lin Dao said to Wang, “If you sense the danger beforehand and run away immediately, you should be able to escape.”

“But the Turkic tribes couldn’t escape.”

"He has no followers, no cattle or sheep. What good is it if he runs away? There are plenty of people willing to take his head and offer it to you."

"Three of a kind with two, I won."

"Two fryings and four flips, one family has four hundred bolts of raw silk."

Lin Dao skillfully shuffled the cards, saying, "Again, again."

Li Erfeng looked completely calm and collected.

He is the emperor; a few hundred bolts of raw silk are nothing to him, he can afford to lose.

Only Li Jing was still trembling.

All he wanted to do at that moment was mount his horse and fight Jieli to the death; he really didn't want to play anymore.

His Majesty plays cards like he's going to war, charging ahead without considering anything else, throwing down whatever is the biggest!
How can we play like this?!
(End of this chapter)