Chapter 376: The Storm of Jianghuai (III)

The east sky just revealed a hint of morning light, and the sky was dim and the smoke-green mist covered the boundless saline-alkali land. There was a sparse willow forest less than twenty miles away from Yancheng County. It was very rare to grow such a willow forest on the saline-alkali land, so they stood alone in the morning light, and there was no green around them.

There is a simple military camp stationed next to the willow forest. It is said that it is simple because the military camp has no wooden fences, no lookout posts, and no deep-dig trenches, as well as fortifications such as deer antlers and trenches. Nearly a thousand tents are mounted in a row, which looks a little messy. It can be seen that this is because the army heading south is exhausted and hastily stationed, which also means that they will leave here soon.

With the cover of the morning mist, an army appeared three miles south of the military camp, about 20,000 people. They tiptoed towards the military camp next to the Liulin as if they were thieves. Li Shidao held an iron spear in his hand and immediately stared at the military camp in the distance with a cold look in a hill. The fog was swept by him, and he could only see a few black spots faintly.

At this time, a scout rushed over and dismounted to report: "Report to General Qi, his subordinates have been observing the military camp, and there has been no movement yet."

"How far are you from the military camp?" Li Shidao suddenly asked in surprise: "Hasn't you discovered by the enemy's patrol?"

"The enemy's patrol only patrols within two miles, and their subordinates did not enter their patrol area. Moreover, when the enemy set up camp, they also saw with their own eyes that they were very tired and had to set up the camp tent and rest."

Li Shidao suddenly felt uneasy in his heart. Even if he was stationed in such a hasty way, he would not do this. The other party was the famous Anxi Army! How could it be so careless to defeat Tubo and Dashi troops? What is the difference between this and the thief who occupy the mountain and become the king? Is that so?

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Li Shidao thought of the most terrible consequences, and he immediately whispered: "The back team turns into a front army, and you can retreat quickly!"

But it was too late when he realized that soldiers had already started to clamor on the south and west sides. An officer came to report in panic: "General, something is not good, and there are enemies in the south and west sides."

Li Shidao was shocked and immediately turned around to visit. Sure enough, a black line appeared on the horizons to the south and west. At this moment, the earth began to shake slightly, and a faint sound of thunder came from the sky.

"Bastard!" Li Shidao was furious. He shot his hand and stabbed the panic scout in front of him, shouting loudly: "The army is ready to break through from the south!"

With his big iron spear swing, hundreds of personal soldiers guarded him and rushed to the south.

Ten thousand horses galloped, and three huge black cavalry formations closed towards Li Shidao Army from north, south and west at the same time. The three gold-edged black-bottomed banners were embroidered with huge white "Li" characters, fluttering in the wind among the cavalry formations.

This is a cavalry that can be called the most elite of the Tang Dynasty. The cavalry on the horse were all wearing black bright light armor, holding a long spear in one hand and a round shield in the other hand. Under the helmet were pairs of cold and cruel eyes, staring at the chaotic enemy troops ahead with murderous intent. They were not fast, but the formation was neat, just like a black iron stream, catching the Li Shidao army with a destructive aura.

The fear of being trapped was already permeated in Li Shidao's army. It was better to meet. When 30,000 Longyou cavalry arrived, they saw that it was an army like a heavenly soldier and general. Black was even more serious about the breath of death. Without resistance, they were already scared. The morale of Li Shidao's army was depressed, and no one was willing to fight to the death. Li Shidao cursed loudly, and after killing dozens of people in succession, barely stabilized the lineup of some troops. But at this moment, a trumpet-shaped gap suddenly appeared in the southwest corner. Li Shidao's army fled in small groups first, and then triggered a large-scale escape. Twenty thousand soldiers rushed to the gap. The queue that Li Shidao had just rectified collapsed in the face of a glimmer of vitality. The soldiers trampled on each other, and the crying and wailing sounded.

In the northern cavalry formation, Zhang Huan stared at Li Shidao's army rushing southwest, and the enemy's formation was in chaos. He slowly unsheathed with the sword in his hand, and the sword drew a sharp light to the enemy. The word "Kill!"

Suddenly, the drum sound was loud, and the sound of the storm-like cracking stone echoed between the sky and the earth. Thirty thousand soldiers shouted "Long live!" Like a thunder sounded, the cavalry formation suddenly accelerated, "Kill!" The long spear danced, and the black formation was like a rushing tide, arousing dozens of feet high murderous aura. One after another, one wave after another overturned the enemy, tore it apart, the blood mist rose, the body was separated, and the heads rolled to the ground. Professional soldiers never showed any mercy. Whether the other party was a barbarian or a Tang army, their mission was to massacre and faithfully execute the commander's order. Even if the other party had collapsed, even if the other party begged for mercy, they would kill them all without receiving the order to stop the killing, and would not leave a living mouth.

The gap in the southwest only highlighted a few hundred people and closed, leaving Li Shidaojun with black, boundless black, with the breath of death and pungent blood in the black, the vitality disappeared, and the door to hell was opened to them.

When the first blood-red sun shone on this white saline-alkali land, the battlefield had become quiet. The war was over. The land was full of dead soldiers. The bloody smell in the air was still slow to dissipate. The willow trees were filled with crows coming from smelling the fishy smell and shouted rattle. In this battle, 12,000 people were killed and 8,000 people surrendered. There were very few people who escaped by chance. The total number of deaths and injuries of the Longyou Army was less than 200. This was no longer a battle, but a one-sided massacre.

Groups of dejected prisoners sat on a clearing ground in the north, with their eyes full of horror. In the distance, three black square formations had merged into one, standing two miles away, quietly waiting for the next order. On the battlefield, hundreds of soldiers were searching the bodies and looking for Li Shidao's whereabouts. At this time, a prisoner was brought up by two soldiers and said to Li Guozhen, the general of the Central Army who was ordered to find Li Shidao: "General, this person knows Li Shidao's whereabouts."

Li Guozhen's eyes immediately turned to the prisoner of war, "If you can take us to find it, you will be rewarded with ten coins!"

"I, I dare not ask for rewards, I just ask the general to spare my life." The prisoner of war pointed to the small Tuqiu in the distance and said, "I saw that he was caught in an arrow there."

As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of people ran towards the small Tumo, where the soldiers died the most. The Longyou Army also killed dozens of people here. Soon, a shout came from the Tumo, "Finished! It's here."

Li Guozhen rushed over and saw the soldiers moving away a hundred bodies and found a middle-aged man wearing a golden helmet at the bottom. He was penetrated by an arrow and died of a big iron spear in his hand. He stared at the sky with his eyes open. Someone recognized him. This person was Li Shidao.

A soldier chopped off his head with a knife and presented it to Li Guozhen with both hands. Li Guozhen hung the head on the saddle bridge, then turned his horse's head and galloped towards the cavalry formation. After a moment, Li Guozhen came to Zhang Huan, saluted a military salute, and presented the head with him, "Governor, my subordinates have found Li Shidao, come and hand in order!"

Zhang Huan used his sword to pick the head and looked in front of him for a moment. He smiled coldly and said, "Shidao Li, you should die in Luoyang, but you will live to this day."

After saying that, he immediately ordered: "Leave two thousand people to recover, and the rest of the army marched towards Linhuai County!"

The black torrent quickly turned around and rushed towards Linhuai County under the purple-red morning glow.

In Guangling Chu Mansion, a black man, led by the Chu Mansion guards, hurriedly walked through a moon gate and towards Chu Xingshui's study.

At this time, there were three people in Chu Xingshui's study. Except for Chu Xingshui, the other two were the main members of the Chu family. One was Chu Xingyun, the younger brother of Chu Xingyun. He was about fifty years old and looked handsome. His eyebrows were quite similar to Zhang Huan's mother Chu Wanlan. He was responsible for the daily affairs of the Chu family. When Chu Xingshui was in Chang'an, he had the final say in the tribe. He is currently the second person in the Chu family.

Another person is roughly the same age, but his appearance is very different from the Chu Xingshui brothers, who are beautiful and handsome. He has a wide face, purple face, lion nose and leopard eyes, and tall and burly figure. His name is Chu Jinglei. Although he is also a member of the Chu family, he is actually the adopted son adopted by Chu Xingshui's father Chu Tan. He is skilled in martial arts and brave in character. He killed Helan Jingming in the past and seized 30,000 Huaixi Army. For decades, he has been deeply trusted by Chu Tan and Chu Xingshui father and son. He has a high status in the Chu family. No one dares to treat him as an outsider. He currently controls the Chu family's naval army and has been stationed on the Yangtze River. He rushed back from Jinling overnight last night.

Chu Xingshui's fatigue comes from news from Yancheng. According to reports from the soldiers who fled back, Zhang Huan personally led 30,000 cavalry to defeat Li Shidao's troops in Yancheng. Li Shidao himself was also killed in the army, but what made him even more frightened was that Li Shidao's army was willing to surrender, but Zhang Huan still refused to take back the massacre order. Most of the soldiers were massacred and killed. This was obviously for him to see.

From this battle, Chu Xingshui saw the cruelty of his nephew. Even if the Chu family was his uncle, he would never show mercy. Chu Xingshui felt sad. This time, he probably underestimated Zhang Huan's determination to destroy the aristocratic family.
Chapter completed!