On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 478 The merits and demerits balance each other (4000)

Thousands of horses are galloping, sending up yellow sand all over the sky.

The cavalry of both sides clashed, and the fight broke out in an instant, with the sound of weapons clashing and the screams of soldiers.

In front of the tent, the soldiers passed by the Tiele knights, leaving only the fallen knights wailing in the field.

Su Dingfang turned the horse's head, raised his spear and shouted:

"Death for the king, today!"

The cavalry who survived the first wave of charges all shouted in agreement, and amid the shouts, the Eastern Sui cavalry launched a second wave of attacks.

Su Dingfang galloped ahead, switching from cantering to sprinting, like a sharp arrow leaving the string, violently clearing the way ahead, vowing to break through all obstacles in front of him.

After the second wave of cavalry charged, all the Eastern Sui cavalry shouted:

"General Su is mighty!"

Su Ding was as calm as water, and he ordered:

"The whole army gave up their long weapons and replaced them with sabers."

Having said that, he first discarded the horse-stem that he regarded as a treasure and pulled out the saber from his waist.

The cavalrymen of the Eastern Sui Dynasty acted in accordance with the order, throwing away their long weapons and instead using sabers to kill the enemy.

The troops in front of the tent were all wearing strong armor and carrying long and short weapons with them. The war horses were carrying such a heavy weight that they were close to exhaustion after launching two waves of charges.

You can't expect them to sprint back and forth tirelessly.

Su Dingfang ordered his men to switch to short weapons, in order to prepare the cavalry hedging and turn it into a close-quarters fight.

Although it is an inch long and an inch strong, with so many cavalry and soldiers fighting together, everyone is crowded into a small area, and there is no space for you to freely wield horses, spears and other long weapons.

Compared with horses, spears, and sabers, they are obviously more suitable for large-scale cavalry melee combat.

When the cavalry from both sides met for the third time, a fierce fight began.

The blood on his face covered Su Dingfang's childish face. He was like a murderous god, mercilessly slashing at every enemy in front of him, mercilessly harvesting the lives of Tiele Knights.

"Who can kill him for me!"

Ashina Duoji pointed at Su Dingfang and shouted.

A Turkic cavalry commander appeared out of nowhere and replied loudly:

"I kill thieves for the prince!"

Su Dingfang did not understand Turkic language, but he kept some words in his mind, such as khan, prince, etc., in order to prevent big fish from slipping away from his eyes in the future.

Therefore, he could not understand what the person who was coming to kill him was saying, but he clearly heard the word "prince".

Su Dingfang roughly guessed the identity of the person who called out first. He remembered the direction of the previous voice in his mind, ordered his cavalry to step forward to protect him, and then sheathed his sword.

Su Dingfang took off the long bow from his back, stood on his horse, stretched his bow, and shot the running general off his horse with one arrow.

Amidst the cheers of the soldiers, Su Dingfang threw away his long bow. He didn't even want to waste time in retracting the bow. After pulling out his saber again, he shouted:

"Capture the thief first. Capture the king first. The enemy chief is in front. All officers and men, follow me to kill the thief!"

Having said that, he once again urged his war horses to kill in the direction of Ashina Duoji.

When the cavalrymen of the Eastern Sui Dynasty who were fighting fiercely with the enemy heard Su Dingfang's shouts, they also abandoned the enemy and followed him towards Ashina Duoji.

Ashina Duoji's face turned pale. He never expected that his position would be revealed twice when he called out twice.

The cavalry of the Eastern Sui Dynasty were approaching. Even though there were Tiele knights chasing behind them, their goal was extremely determined.

This time, Shishu Huxi no longer allowed Ashina Duoji to be willful and forced the opponent to mount on horseback, hoping that Ashina Duoji would temporarily avoid the edge.

Su Dingfang, who was not far away, saw that Ashina was about to run away and quickly touched his shoulder, but there was nothing on his shoulder. Only then did Su Dingfang remember that he had thrown away the long bow.

"Bring me the bow!"

While galloping, Su Dingfang roared at the riders on the left and right.

Immediately, a knight took off the long bow from his back and handed it to Su Dingfang.

Su Dingfang immediately nocked an arrow, drew the long bow as high as the full moon, and pointed the arrow point directly at Ashina Duoji's back.

Shi Shu Hu Xi turned his head and saw this scene, his eyes were split with shock, and he shouted:

"Prince, be careful!"

However, it was too late, the arrow whizzed away from the string and nailed Ashina Duoji hard in the back of the heart.

Ashina Duoji let out a scream and fell off his horse.

As Ashina Duji fell off his horse, there was a moment of silence on the battlefield, and then shouts broke out.

"The prince has fallen!"

"The prince was shot by the Sui people!"

"The prince is dead, everyone run away!"

Turkic words kept coming and going in his ears, and the word 'prince' was particularly clear. A smile appeared on the corner of Su Dingfang's mouth, and he shouted:

"The murderer! Jizhou Su Dingfang!"

In the flash of lightning, the situation was reversed. The general was hit by an arrow and fell from his horse. Life or death was unknown. The Tiele people no longer had the will to fight. The psychological shadow that the Sui army had brought to them once again came to their hearts.

The reason why they came under the command of Qimin Khan was that Yang Su defeated the Western Turks Datou Khan. The Tiele tribe was afraid, so they turned their backs on Datou Khan and attached themselves to the Sui Dynasty. They were sent to Qimin Khan.

under his command.

Even though Tiele knights still had the numerical advantage at this time, they did not dare to fight anymore. At first, the five thousand soldiers who followed Ashina Duji to challenge Su Dingfang were defeated, and soon it spread to Tiele who besieged Yuchi Jingde.

Riding on foot.

Watching these Tiele people running around, Su Dingfang and Yuchi Jingde were no longer able to pursue them.

Just when they were lamenting that they could not prevent the Tiele people from disintegrating, the Tiele cavalry fled back in a panic.

Su Dingfang and Yuchi Jingde were greatly surprised until they saw countless Eastern Sui cavalry coming from all directions.

It turned out that after Cui Che gathered the 500 cavalrymen who were left by Su Dingfang to guard the prisoners, women and children, and listened to the report, he already felt something was wrong.

Facing 2,500 elite cavalrymen who were serving the army in front of the tent, Ashina Duoji wanted to take the rear. He would not send a small force of only 1,000 people in any case. With these people alone, how could they stop the pursuers?

soldiers.

Cui Che could not rest assured that something was going wrong, so he left five thousand Khitan soldiers with silver saddles behind to guard supplies and guard the prisoners together with the five hundred cavalry.

At the same time, the war horses of these left-behind soldiers were recruited to replace the horses, and were handed over to the remaining 5,000 troops serving in front of the tent, 5,000 Boling cavalry, 5,000 silver saddles, Khitan Zhi, one man and four horses, and they went into battle lightly with him to chase Su Dingfang and Yuchi Jing.

Germany.

When Cui Che rushed to the battlefield, the battle was coming to an end. All he could do was to send out all his cavalry to drive away the defeated troops in all directions.

The battle between Su Dingfang and Yuchi Jingde's 4,500 troops in front of the tent and Ashina Duoji's 18,000 Tiele cavalry in the desert finally came to an end.

Cui Che came to the center of the battlefield and looked at the corpses scattered all over the ground. He was in a daze. Among those sleeping here were Turks, Tiele people, and some of the elite members of the military service in front of the tent who he regarded as treasures.

Su Dingfang and Yuchi Jingde knelt in front of Cui Che to plead guilty.

Although they won the battle, the two men underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, falling into an ambush by the other party, causing heavy losses to their troops, and how could they dare to take credit again.

Cui Che was not in a hurry to punish them. When Wei Zheng hurried over, he couldn't wait to ask:

"What was the result?"

Wei Zheng's face looked mixed, and he answered truthfully:

"This battle was a great victory. More than 3,000 people were beheaded and more than 6,000 people were captured."

As for the nearly 10,000 Tiele people who disappeared, they naturally disappeared in the vast desert.

Cui Che didn't care about the number of captures, he said calmly:

"Talk about the losses."

When Su Dingfang and Yuchi Jingde heard this, their hearts were in their throats.

Wei Zheng sighed:

"We lost 1,500 soldiers."

Cui Che's face darkened, and Su Dingfang and Yuchi Jingde didn't even dare to raise their heads.

The prisoners were captured by reinforcements, which means that the two of them killed 3,000 enemies with 1,500 casualties.

It seemed that the battle was fought well, but the 1,500 people lost belonged to the troops in front of the tent, who were the most elite cavalry under Cui Che.

Facing this group of Tiele people who had already been psychologically affected by Cui Che, they actually suffered a loss ratio of 1:2, which made the two of them extremely ashamed.

Cui Che remained silent. Wei Zheng gave Cui Che another wooden box and said:

"The head in the box is the son of Qimin, Ashina Duji."

Hearing this, Cui Che finally dispelled the clouds in his heart.

He took the wooden box and opened it to see that it was a strange head.

Cui Che had never seen Ashina Duji, so he asked Wei Zheng:

"Have you confirmed the authenticity?"

Wei Zheng replied:

"Many prisoners have been identified for identification, and the head in the box is indeed that of Ashina Doji."

Ashina Duoji's name is very unfamiliar to later generations, but his khan number is very loud, that is, Shibi Khan.

Including Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, as well as the Central Plains separatist forces Xue Ju, Dou Jiande, Wang Shichong, Liu Wuzhou, Liang Shidu, Li Gui, Gao Kaidao and others, even though they claimed to be emperors, they all professed their vassalage to Shibi Khan.

The title of Khan.

At its peak, as a grassland power, it had nearly a million elite soldiers. Historical records say: 'The Rong and Di were so powerful that they had never been seen in ancient times.'

With such great strength, he failed to take control of the Central Plains. This person's intelligence is not superior.

The reason why he was able to revive the Turks and subjugate the heroes of the Central Plains was that he came into a good period. When he was in charge of the East Turks, it was the time when Yang Guang was struggling domestically.

But in any case, Cui Che's mood improved slightly after receiving Ashina Duji's head. He put down the wooden box and faced Su Dingfang, Yuchi Jingde said:

"Everyone, get up."

The two looked at each other and quickly stood up as instructed. Cui Che continued:

"What I'm angry about is not that you two lost troops and generals. The battle was so dangerous, so how could there be so few casualties?

"But you two underestimated the enemy and rushed forward. Could it be that you forgot what I told you before we set off!

"I have repeatedly warned you two not to get entangled with the enemy, just delay the opponent's march.

"Ashna Duoji left a small group of old and weak people in the rear. Could it be that we can't go around it? The army will arrive soon, and they will be able to disperse these rear troops and ensure your retreat.

"In the final analysis, you two were greedy for merit and had to kill the people behind the palace, so you were ambushed by the Turks!"

Su Dingfang and Yuchi Jingde did not dare to refute. In fact, what Cui Che said was correct. They were indeed greedy for credit. They followed him in, but they did not have as much credit as killing the enemy.

The two apologized again, Cui Che waved his hands and said:

"Thankfully we won the battle today, otherwise I would not have spared you two lightly."

After hearing these words, Su Dingfang and Yuchi Jingde felt a little at ease and hurriedly thanked them.

Cui Che shook his head and said:

"Su Dingfang, you made a great contribution by killing the Turkic prince with one arrow in the chaos, turning the tide of the war. I should have rewarded you heavily.

"But as a general, you disobeyed orders, underestimated the enemy's carelessness, and almost caused the death of the soldiers under your command. Now the merits and demerits are equal, and there is no reward or punishment. Are you convinced?"

What Su Dingfang was most worried about was that Cui Che had transferred him out of the tent to serve the army. Now he was disobeying orders, greedy for merit, and getting a reward without punishment. It was already a fluke. How could he dare to protest:

"I will be extremely grateful to you for being forgiven by your Majesty. How can I be dissatisfied?"

Cui Che then looked at Yuchi Jingde and said in a deep voice:

"Yuchi Jingde, I am very pleased that you turned around and rushed into the encirclement to rescue the people, regardless of life and death. I am very pleased about this.

"You have lived up to the appreciation of me and Mr. Su Guogong (Mai Tiezhang).

"But as a deputy general, you couldn't persuade Su Dingfang to fulfill your duties as a deputy general. Instead, you worked with him to underestimate the enemy, causing the army to be ambushed. Do you agree?"

Yuchi Jingde felt ashamed and said:

"You will eventually be convicted."

Cui Che then said:

"I thought that you delayed the enemy's main force, fought bravely, and contributed a lot to today's victory. Now the merits and demerits are equal to each other, and there is no reward or punishment. Are you convinced?"

Yuchi Jingde paused and said:

"I will finally be convinced."

Cui Che dealt with the two of them, then turned to Wei Zheng and said:

"The merits of the two of them can be deducted, but the rest of the soldiers are not guilty and they were just following orders.

"The merits of the soldiers cannot be buried. You can keep statistics of their military exploits. When you return to court in the future, you can ask for rewards for the soldiers.

"The pensions for soldiers killed and disabled in battle cannot be shortchanged."

Wei Zheng bowed and said:

"I accept my order."

Then he left with Su Dingfang and Yuchi Jingde to count the soldiers' military exploits.

After walking a short distance, Wei Zheng whispered to the two of them:

"The two generals are complaining that the king is unfair in rewards and punishments."

Su Dingfang and Yuchi Jingde shook their heads and waved their hands, saying:

"The two of us have disobeyed the king's instructions. Now the king is merciful and allows us to offset our merits and demerits. Why should we be dissatisfied?"

Seeing that their attitudes did not seem to be hypocritical, Wei Zheng smiled and said:

"The two generals have really annoyed the king this time. If it had been anyone else, I'm afraid they would have been abandoned long ago.

"But the king continues to stay in front of the tent to serve the army, which shows the king's love for the two generals.

"There is no need for the two generals to be discouraged. There will be many opportunities for meritorious service in the future. Moreover, according to the king's temperament, when he returns to Jinyang, he will definitely find an excuse to reward the two generals."

Su Dingfang and Yuchi Jingde looked at each other after hearing this, their eyes filled with unconcealable joy.

However, Wei Zheng added:

"But the two generals still have to remember what happened today. If it happens again, I'm afraid they will have to leave the army, bury their heads in papers, and become county magistrates."

Both of them looked miserable. Isn't it embarrassing for them to let their hands, which are used to holding knives, bows and arrows, pick up pens?

After comforting and beating the two of them for Cui Che, Wei Zheng then started to do business with Su Dingfang and Yuchi Jingde, asking the two to report their merits to the soldiers under their command.

While the army was resting, Cui Che continued to send out sentries to the north to search for the whereabouts of the women and children of the Qimin tribe.

No more today

(End of chapter)