Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 121 Eating
Cavalry dominates the battlefield, but cavalrymen also fear encountering other cavalrymen the most, especially those attacking their waists.

At this moment, nearly a hundred Nanzhao cavalrymen, armed with spears, formed a wedge formation, preparing to launch an attack on the rather exhausted Huangtou army.

However, the first echelon of Nanzhao cavalry was charging forward and could not see their flanks at all, so they shouted boldly, bent down and held their spears, and crashed into the Yellow Head Army's formation.

The Yellow-Headed Army deployed four layers of spearmen on the outer perimeter, relying on the deer carts. Each side was densely packed with spearmen. However, due to the long hours of holding the spears, only the spearmen at the very front who could still hold their spears on the deer carts could lift them. The three behind them all had arms so sore that they could not lift them.

Therefore, the Nanzhao cavalry charged in at once.

These men were already armored, and then they used the force of their charging mounts to send the rows of yellow-haired soldiers flying.

Once a section collapsed, more and more Nanzhao and Tubo knights skillfully maneuvered their warhorses and poured in.

Little did they know what nightmare was unfolding for the ranks behind them.

Why are cavalry most afraid of being attacked from the side? Because warhorses cannot turn immediately while running, and how can a mounted cavalryman withstand an attack from the side and rear?

Therefore, if a cavalry force is attacked from the side by an equally strong cavalry force while it is galloping, all that awaits them is to scatter and eventually regroup elsewhere.

At this moment, Li Ting, who was at the forefront of the group, was armored and armed with a spear. He charged forward without hesitation. When he crashed into the rear of the Nanzhao cavalry, he used his spear to knock away a Tibetan cavalryman, then knocked away another one. Finally, he broke through the Nanzhao and Tibetan cavalry.

Behind him, the cavalry did much the same, each achieving some success before charging out unscathed.

At this moment, the Nanzhao and Tubo cavalry, who were preparing for a second assault, suffered a devastating blow.

They were only slightly more numerous than Li Ting and his men to begin with, but after just one round of attacks, there were hardly any riders left in the cavalry.

Some who fell from their horses and were lucky enough to survive were destined to die sooner or later. The Tang army's cavalry would not waste their energy assassinating these wounded soldiers who had fallen from their horses. But don't forget, these men were near the Yellow Head Formation. If the Nanzhao army's cavalry failed to break through the formation, these men would also be doomed.

The agonizing screams and cries reached the ears of the first wave of attackers who were trapped in the enemy lines. They turned around in surprise and saw that their friendly troops had been slaughtered.

Suddenly, the cavalrymen who were in the fray panicked. They were all seasoned veterans, and they knew all too well what would happen if they were trapped in the enemy lines and their retreat was cut off.
Meanwhile, the demoralized officers and soldiers of the Yellow-Headed Army suddenly saw their own cavalry charging from the side, slaughtering the enemy, and their morale was completely reversed.

At the same time, Cui Bao, the general in charge of setting up the formation, personally led the heavy infantry who had been resting in the rear, and charged forward with a roar.

They immediately hacked the immobile Nanzhao knights to pieces. The once invincible cavalrymen were pitifully reduced to chicken-like pieces under the axes of these heavily armored infantrymen.

The armor worn by the Nanzhao soldiers was completely unable to withstand the blows and slashes of these heavy troops. Amidst cries of agony and pleas for mercy, this entire Nanzhao cavalry force was wiped out in the battle.

The situation was thus reversed.

In the blink of an eye, the Nanzhao cavalry, who had just seized the opportunity, lost more than a hundred elite cavalrymen. These were brave warriors in the army, and their deaths would be devastating to their morale.

The remaining knights, many of whom were Tibetans who had come for profit, had long since abandoned any thought of making a fortune upon seeing how valiant the Tang army was. They spurred their horses and headed north, towards their hometowns.

As the Tibetans withdrew from the battlefield, the remaining hundred or so Nanzhao knights were completely incapable of surviving on the battlefield and could only return to the city in a state of panic and despair.

Behind them, thousands of Xichuan soldiers killed all the Nanzhao soldiers who were wailing on the ground, then impaled their heads on spear shafts and shouted loudly.

They were calling out the name "Li Taibao".

This battle was truly exhilarating!

Who says there are no men in Sichuan? Just look at today!
……

At this moment, Zhao Huai'an had already led the guards back to the Yakoupo position, which was about ten miles away.

Although Ke Ren has returned, it will probably be some time before Bao Yi wants to fight again.

If it weren't for the fact that Bao Yidu regularly carried heavy loads during training exercises, any other unit would have collapsed on the ground by now.

From the time they launched their attack at dawn until now, four hours have passed since they returned in the afternoon. During this time, Bao Yi has traveled back and forth for about ten miles, while also continuously attacking the mountain. It is already the limit that they have been able to return to the Yakoupo position.

As soon as Zhao Huai'an returned, he saw the infantry and cavalry fighting that had broken out in the valley.

When Zhao Huai'an first saw that the Yellow Head Army's formation was becoming increasingly unsustainable, he knew things were going to get bad, and he immediately prepared to lead his elite cavalry to provide support.

Zhao Huai'an knew very well that the Yellow-Headed Army, as the first to launch the offensive, could be defeated, but not catastrophically, otherwise the impact on morale would be devastating.

What constitutes a major defeat? It's when the infantry formation collapses and the cavalry chases and kills them like pigs and sheep! That would directly destroy the already dwindling morale of the Xichuan army.

The meeting held at the Fojinshan camp a couple of days ago still haunts Zhao Huai'an.

At this time, although the Western Sichuan army was surrounded on three sides in the valley, there were actually not many soldiers who were truly capable of fighting, dared to fight, and were willing to fight.

The situation is good now, so we can maintain the encirclement. But what will the generals of Xichuan think if the Yellow Head Army, which is known as the elite of the Xichuan army, is defeated in the first battle?
This wasn't Zhao Huai'an being overly worried. When he arrived, he had already seen the Meizhou soldiers on the neighboring mountain ridge glancing towards the mountain pass position from time to time, which was already a sign that their formation was unstable.

So even though Zhao Huai'an was exhausted, he was still prepared to lead Guo Congyun and the others in a charge.

But the situation took an unexpected turn. Before he could even see clearly, the Nanzhao cavalry were routed. Even from a great distance, he could see that the people raising their spears and cheering were none other than the Yellow Head Army.

At this moment, Zhao Huai'an finally felt relieved and laughed heartily at his generals:
"Go, make sure the brothers are full, and give me an extra bowl. I'm really hungry right now!"

Old Mo went down with the orders to prepare, and then Zhao Huai'an sat on a stool with curtains on both sides to block the mountain winds.

Not long after, Old Mo came running over with a plate on it, on which was a bowl of rice soaked in tea.

Zhao Huai'an was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized that Lao Mo had misheard his "full meal" as "rice porridge," and that it was also thanks to Lao Mo's thoughtfulness that he was able to get tea at this time.

He's been in the Tang Dynasty for so long, especially now that he's in Shu, how could he not drink tea?

It's worth noting that while tea drinking only became widespread in other places within the last hundred years or so, in the Shu region, tea drinking had been a common practice since the Former Han Dynasty.

However, Zhao Huai'an never liked the tea served at this time. It wasn't that the tea leaves were bad, but rather that the way it was prepared made him unable to bring himself to drink it.

The current way of drinking tea is to boil it, which means putting dried tea leaves in a small pot to simmer, then adding water and boiling it. Later, scallions, ginger, peppercorns, dates, and cinnamon are added. Some people also add mint, cheese, and lard.

When Zhao Huai'an saw this method of handling the situation, he immediately recognized it. It was just like when he was making fish soup. So, drinking tea was the same as drinking soup. How could Zhao Huai'an stand this?

But today was different. When Lao Mo brought out the bowl of tea-soaked rice with lard, mutton fat, and Sichuan peppercorns, Zhao Huai'an's mouth watered, and he finished the bowl in one go.

After finishing his meal, Zhao Huai'an shouted:
"Old Mo, give me another bowl."

Then Old Mo went downstairs with a big smile.

Zhao Huai'an smiled and shook his head; Old Mo really meant well.

This is a battlefield, where would you find supplies to make a high-fat tea-soaked rice? With just this little bit of food, Old Mo went through so much trouble.

But Lao Mo is getting old and his hearing isn't very good anymore. We still need to find him a good home. It's not right for him to stay in the army with me forever.

Over there, Zhao Huai'an ate another bowl of rice soaked in tea, watching all the generals eat under the curtain, and then he looked down at the battlefield in the valley below.

After everyone had finished eating, Zhao Huai'an smiled and said:

"I think today's battle will end like this. You should all take your officers and soldiers to rest early and get plenty of rest, because tomorrow it will be our turn to lead the Yangwu Army!"

The group of righteous men were unclear why they would make such a judgment, but they all stood up, bowed, and then left.

And then it really worked!

Not long after, the Nanzhao army, which had retreated from the battlefield and returned to the city, closed the city gates. Then, a cavalry and infantry force emerged from the mountains to the west, their banners bearing the words "Black Teeth" and "Eternal Prosperity." Meanwhile, the Yellow-Headed Army and the Yamen Garrison Army, having finished clearing the battlefield, arrived outside Hanyuan City and set up camp there.

Throughout the afternoon, teams kept emerging from the mountains on the east and west sides. In just half a day, flags were everywhere in half of the valley. These officials and soldiers seemed to have sprung up from the ground all at once.

By the time the sun began to set, both sides had deployed seven or eight thousand troops, completely filling the area outside Hanyuan City.

During this time, Zhao Huai'an kept watching from the mountain pass, but as he watched, his brows furrowed.

By this time, the eastern mountain ranges had ceased to be arrayed, which meant that Yang Qingfu had, apart from retaining a reserve force, deployed almost all of his troops into the valley.

The fatal thing is that at this moment, on the opposite western mountain ridge, the Nanzhao side is still sending troops down continuously. At this time, the entire western side of the valley is covered with the military flags of the Nanzhao army.

Just how many people did the Nanzhao army gather?

Zhao Huai'an grew increasingly uneasy. He summoned Ding Huaiyi, Wang Huan, Huo Yanchao, and several other clever and skilled horsemen, ordering them to go down into the valley and scout out exactly how many troops the Nanzhao army had deployed.

Didn't Gao Pian previously say that the Nanzhao army numbered only around 40,000? But now it seems the numbers are wrong!

……

While Zhao Huai'an was worrying, the officers and soldiers under his command were all distracted.

When we rushed back at noon, everyone was indeed exhausted, but after eating something and taking a short nap, we were full of energy again when we woke up.

At this moment, they sat cross-legged inside the wooden fence, and couldn't help but ask each other:
"It should be our turn to go into battle this afternoon!"

Because of this thought, even though the generals had just returned to let everyone rest, these warriors of Baoyidu still dared not slack off and remained in a state of combat readiness.

They wore cloth shoes that they usually couldn't bear to wear, and polished their weapons and armor until they gleamed. They drew their swords several times, and then put them back each time.

On one side of the wooden palisade, the officers and soldiers had all their spears, bows, crossbows, and arrows ready to be used as soon as the central army gave the order.

But even as they waited in vain, they never received the military order to launch an attack; by then, the sun had completely set.

The officials and soldiers of Baoyidu were filled with only one question:
"Is the first day of this decisive battle over already? When will it be our turn to go into battle?!"

……

Some people are delighted at the prospect of war, while others are anxious and uneasy.

At the Tazishan position, located directly north of the Hanyuan Valley, Yang Maoyan, the head of the Xichuan government, paced back and forth in his tent, restless and anxious.

Yang Maoyan is only thirty years old, which is the prime of a warrior's life. He has risen step by step to become one of the five chieftains of the government, and it can be said that he ranks among the top generals in the Xichuan government.

He was transferred from the Fojinshan camp to Tazishan by Yang Qingfu this afternoon.

Yang Qingfu's task for him was to keep a close watch on a river valley to his west, and to immediately report to the Fojinshan position if he discovered any large-scale enemy troop movements from there.

That was the only way for the Tubo (Tibetan) forces to travel south to the Hanyuan region. On that day, Zhao Huai'an fled north to Tongshan Pass, and he took this river valley route.

The reason for this change is that this morning, when the Huangtou Army was fighting against the Nanzhao cavalry, they discovered a large number of Tibetan knights.

When Li Ting delivered this intelligence to the main camp of Fujin Mountain, although Yang Qingfu felt that the possibility of the Tibetans participating in the war was unlikely, he still ordered Yang Maoyan to move to Tazi Mountain with five hundred soldiers just in case.

Located between the western river valley and the eastern Baixi Pass, Tazishan can be used to observe enemy movements and, in case of trouble, to support Ren Kezhi's Qiang army in the western mountains.

The mission wasn't difficult, as it didn't involve charging into battle. However, to Yang Maoyan's utter surprise, just now, an old friend had sneaked up from the valley on the west side, requesting to see him.

When Yang Maoyan heard that it was this person who was requesting an audience, he was terrified.

Because this person is his fatal weakness.

Long ago, when Yang Maoyan was still a squad leader, he was short of money, so he often partnered with merchants in the city to do business.

This person was one of his business partners back then, but he never expected that this person, who was ostensibly a Tang person, was actually a Nanzhao person. While helping him make money, he also set a trap for him. Unbeknownst to him, Yang Maoyan leaked important information to this person several times.

That alone was enough to kill Yang Maoyan several times over. He originally thought he was completely under Yang Maoyan's control, but after he was promoted to the rank of military commander, that person disappeared without a trace.

I've reappeared here, but I never expected it to be here.

Yang Maoyan knew he was in trouble without even seeing the man; this man must want him to do something, and he dared not meet him.

But he couldn't just not see it, partly because of past incriminating evidence, but more importantly, he had also witnessed the enemy continuously reinforcing their troops into the western valley that afternoon.

At this moment, he and Zhao Huai'an had the same thought: the strength of the Nanzhao army was very strange. Unless the Nanzhao king did not leave any reserves with him, the Nanzhao army should not have so many people at this time.

Therefore, Yang Maoyan keenly realized that the intelligence provided by his superiors seemed to have a major problem.

In addition, there was another matter that made Yang Maoyan think: he had only arrived at the Tazishan position in the afternoon, and this decision was made by Yang Qingfu on the spot.

What does this mean?
This means that, besides himself, one of the young masters around Yang Shuai was also selling intelligence to the Nanzhao army on the other side.

This immediately reminded Yang Maoyan of the Yan family's big broker that Yang Qingfu had killed two days ago.

This suggests that the Nanzhao army's infiltration of the various armies in Xichuan was considerable.

Even with all that, he still dared not meet this person, not for any other reason than that he understood Yang Qingfu's abilities and knew that behind them, Gao Pian had at least 30,000 main forces arrayed in the valley behind them.

It can be said that no matter how many Nanzhao troops are in the valley, the situation will immediately reverse as soon as Gao Pian leads his troops out.

That's why Yang Maoyan didn't dare to see the Nanzhao man, and even considered killing him directly. After all, the battlefield is dangerous, and it's normal to lose one's life.
But the ever-cautious Yang Maoyan managed to suppress his murderous intent; after all, he couldn't afford to take such a narrow path!
At this point, we can only take it one step at a time, and we don't know how the commander will fight this battle tomorrow.

Suddenly, Yang Maoyan thought of a possibility and froze on the spot.

What if the Nanzhao army wasn't looking for him alone? Or what if that Nanzhao person wasn't even looking for him at all? What would that mean?
At this moment, Yang Maoyan felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, and his whole body was chilled.

……

Later, when it was completely dark, the mountain behind the Buddha Mountain position was brightly lit.

Although Yang Qingfu had already deployed most of his troops to the valley below, there were still quite a few troops left in the main camp. At this moment, the soldiers of the various yamen in Xichuan were happily roasting meat and warming themselves around the campfire.

So, who won today's battle? Wasn't it their side again?

Is it alright to slaughter a sheep and eat meat to celebrate after winning a battle?

The soldiers didn't ask for much, nor did they ask the commander for any wine or water. They just wanted some meat to eat. What was there to be dissatisfied with?

Yang Qingfu didn't hesitate at this point. As soon as he heard the order, he immediately slaughtered more than a hundred sheep in the camp and stewed them for dinner.

In the darkness of the mountains, a bowl of mutton soup can warm you up.

While people outside were singing and eating meat, inside the central command tent, Yang Qingfu was eating a plate of vegetables and a bowl of rice, thinking about the day's events.

Suddenly, Yang Qingfu stood up abruptly, slammed the bowl upside down on the table, and shouted outside:

"Prepare a horse for me, and summon another squad of guards to accompany me to see the envoy!"

(End of this chapter)