As their warhorses neighed, the Goguryeon cavalry fell to the ground one after another, before being devoured by the iron hooves of the warhorses behind them. Their own cavalry was in vain, unable to catch up to the enemy, and their originally dense Arrow Formation was already on the verge of collapse.
The one-sided massacre, the helpless retaliation, and the sight of their comrades being struck by ballista bolts one after another before being drowned by the iron hooves. They didn't know if the ballista bolts would hit them in the next moment, but all of this gave the Goguryeon cavalrymen a huge mental pressure, so much so that they were on the verge of collapsing.
The heavy blow made Gao Huizhen's eyes turn as red as a rabbit's. She roared repeatedly, feeling that she had finally gotten a chance to take revenge and wash away her previous humiliation, only to be thrown into the abyss again. Her voice was filled with unwillingness, grievance, and anger.
What was a complete defeat? So this was a complete defeat! The enemy did not even suffer any injuries, but their side suffered heavy casualties, and more and more people died.
Gao Huizhen couldn't be blamed. Li Zhi's Dragon Cavalry Corps was one of the best in the Tang Empire. Putting aside the commanding, Li Zhi couldn't be modest in terms of combat power.
Goguryeo relied on numbers, but wasn't that the most powerful thing on the battlefield? Otherwise, what was the point of fighting? Everyone could just report their own troops and directly admit defeat.
Of course, one had to have the strength to do so. Obviously, the Dragon Cavalry Army was such an elite force. Since ancient times, there had rarely been such excellent equipment. This was all piled up by Li Zhi with money. During this period, how many people had put in their blood, sweat, and tears?
On the other hand, the power of an ordinary army was composed of three parts: attack power, defense, and mobility. If the three parts could not reach a certain balance, the overall power would be greatly restricted.
For example, during the Sui Dynasty, the heavy cavalry that the imperial court had carefully built was actually defeated by the peasant army's light cavalry on a vast battlefield using their mobility advantage. Of course, they were too light and their attack power could not keep up. Li Zhi solved this problem very easily.
The Akhaltejin horses were able to maintain a high mobility even under heavy loads. The armor on the dragon cavalry provided a defense comparable to that of heavy cavalry. The horizontal blades, lances, javelins, and crossbows formed a powerful attack. The young and hard-trained soldiers provided the most basic strength. It would be unreasonable if they were not powerful.
Although Gao Huizhen had a certain level of military talent, she had never seen such powerful combat techniques and magnificent cavalry archers.
In other words, this was simply the perfect combination of light cavalry and heavy cavalry. Even though Li Zhi had more than a thousand years of experience, he had been busy for several years.
Although Goguryeo was located in the north, there weren't many cavalrymen in combat, and the type of soldier they had was also very limited. This was because raising a cavalry was simply too expensive. Even with Li Zhi's immense wealth, he could only equip 30,000 units at most. This was already his limit, and if he exceeded this number, his combat strength would drop.
Yet, Goguryeo actually had 150,000 cavalrymen. How did they raise them?
Goguryeo's equipment and technology were accumulated bit by bit by plundering the craftsmen of the Central Plains and the Central Plains people who had migrated to Liaodong due to the war. This explained why Gao Hui was so heartbroken.
Their equipment and combat awareness were not good to begin with, and they lacked the corresponding tactics. Their combat strength was greatly reduced. They could bully those who were poorly equipped and did not know their stuff, but now that they had encountered the tough Dragon Riders, they were instantly suppressed to the point where they could not breathe.
In the past, they could win consecutive battles and never lose, but that was because the soldiers, Shiwei, and Rouran were weak to begin with. Just like the national football team, they liked to bully countries like Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.
Now, when Gao Huizhen faced Li Zhi's compound cavalry for the first time, he lacked combat experience and was completely blank. If he still followed the original method, he would be in a tragic situation.
It was true that the Dragon Riders were bullying the Goguryeon cavalry. Even if Gao Huizhen had rich commanding experience, he was helpless against the invincible cavalry archers of the cold weapons era.
The "Parthia Archery Technique" was a high-grade product that surpassed the era. Moreover, the crossbows of these cavalry archers had been specially modified. The powerful crossbows and armor piercing abilities, as well as the triangular grooves on the arrowheads, even the original Mongolian archers would drool.
Seeing the cavalrymen who had been built up bit by bit with a lot of money and hoped to conquer the Central Plains fall one by one, Gao Huizhen was burning with anxiety, but she was helpless. Seeing that the provocation was ineffective, Gao Huizhen gritted her teeth and shouted,""Retreat!"
The morale of the Goguryeons, which had suffered consecutive blows, was already at its lowest point.
This was especially true for the Goguryeon light cavalry at the very front. They had originally been prepared to make a contribution, but they had never expected that their skills, which they had always been proud of, would be as easy as crushing dry weeds in front of the enemy. Their training on horseback was useless, yet they were unable to get close to the enemy. Coupled with the continuous pressure from the rain of arrows, the Goguryeons felt that they could no longer take it. This was not the way to bully others. Not only were their bodies collapsing, but their minds were also collapsing.
As soon as Gao Huizhen gave the order to retreat, the Goguryeon soldiers turned their horses around and fled.
Seeing that the Goguryeons were beginning to retreat, Lee Zhi was overjoyed and shouted,"Mao Taizu told me that I should use my remaining courage to chase after the enemy and not to learn from the overlord. Brothers, follow me and destroy this bastard. Charge!"
Although the retreating Dragon Riders didn't know who Mao Taizu was, they understood what Li Zhi meant. They turned their horses around and surrounded him. They were still firing long-range crossbows, but they were still out of the range of the Goguryeon cavalry.
The army was defeated like a landslide. Just the number of people trampled to death by their own cavalry had reached a shocking number. Under the pursuit of the dragon cavalry, they were defeated.
And so, a strange scene appeared. On the flat plains of Liaodong, the Dragon Cavalry, which numbered less than 9,000, were actually chasing away 30,000 Goguryeon cavalry. Only a person with a very imaginative brain could imagine such a comical scene.
However, the Dragon Riders 'crossbows weren't like John Woo's bullets. They would never run out.
Li Zhi calculated that the crossbow arrows of the cavalry archers were almost exhausted, so he stopped chasing.
"Dragon Cavalry, let's withdraw our troops.”Li Zhi's tone was extremely arrogant, the kind that deserved a beating. However, this time, the Dragon Riders had once again obtained an unprecedented victory at a very small price. Their morale was high. At this moment, such an arrogant voice reached the ears of the Dragon Riders, and it was extremely pleasant to hear. All of them laughed arrogantly.
Jiang Ke and the other generals admired Li Zhi to the core, but they did not know that Li Zhi admired the great gods who created the Parthian archery technique.
This group of cavalry archers had been training with their lives on the line for months. Some of the soldiers had been selected from the Yulin Royal Guards at the request of Li Zhi's old man. Now that they had tried it in a real battle, they had indeed shown their brilliance.
"Hahaha, I'm Li Zhi. Who am I afraid of? Hahaha!"
Seeing Li Zhi laughing maniacally, the Dragon Cavalry raised their weapons high and cheered loudly.
The lovely dividing line.
At this moment, when he returned to the City Lord's Mansion, Gaesomun listened to Gao Huizhen's apology with an ashen face. He had never thought that one of his biggest secret weapons, the cavalry that he had invested the most money into, would actually suffer such a heavy loss.
If they were surrounded by enemies that were several times larger, it would be fine if they were defeated in a bitter battle, but they were easily shot to death from a distance when they even touched the enemy's body. It was simply a crushing defeat.
Although they had a noble reason to rebel and kill their master, in the eyes of outsiders, they had no reason to do so. Now that they had suffered repeated defeats, their morale was extremely low. The generals were also dejected and did not dare to look at Quangesomun in the eye. The City Lord's Estate was silent for a moment.
Gaesomun looked at Gao Huizhen, who had her head lowered and remained silent. He wished he could chop off Gao Huizhen's head with his sword. However, he knew that this was not Gao Huizhen's fault. In that situation, he had to calm down and think carefully. Unless he surrounded the Dragon Cavalry Army, there was nothing he could do.
Moreover, as the northern governor, Gao Huizhen had too many things to rely on him for. Thus, he could only appease her and not punish her.
Gaesomun suppressed the frustration and anger in his heart. His eagle-like eyes were calm. After a long time, he said,"General Gao, you don't have to blame yourself. The situation is unpredictable, and victory and defeat are unpredictable. No one expected that the dragon cavalry actually had such archery skills. However, our army has just been defeated. How should we face the enemy next?”
"Thank you, Viceroy, for forgiving me for my sins," Gao Huizhen said gratefully as she knelt down. In my opinion, the dragon cavalry is fast and sharp. Unless we use the sea holly we raise to understand their movements, then the infantry and cavalry will move out in full force and the divine soldiers will descend from the sky to surround them from all sides.”
Gaesomun's eyes lit up. He knew that this was the best solution. He nodded."Thank you for your trouble, General Gao."
Gao Huizhen felt ashamed and retreated. At this moment, a soldier came to report,""Marshal, Mister Mu is waiting outside the tent.”
Quangai Suwen's heart skipped a beat." Hurry, hurry up and send Mister Mu to the account to hand over the order. The rest of the generals will disperse and rest."”
After receiving the order, the generals dispersed. A middle-aged scholar dressed in Confucian robes entered the tent and bowed."Viceroy, this Mu has just arrived today and heard that our army was defeated. I wonder if Viceroy has any good plans.”
Quangesomun dismissed his generals and smiled bitterly at the middle-aged scholar."Mister Mu, our army has been defeated by the Dragon Cavalry Army in the past few days, and our morale is low. I wonder if Mister can relieve my worries?”
"General Gao led 30,000 strong troops, but they were defeated so easily?" Mr. Mu muttered. If I can't even defeat General Gao, how can I win?”
Quangai Sumen could hear the hidden meaning in his words and revealed a troubled expression. He knew that Mr. Mu and Gao Huizhen did not get along, but he could only say,"General Gao is very good at leading troops and has a lot of insight. However, compared to Sir, he was still a far cry.
"Viceroy, do you know what's the most important thing right now?”The mysterious Mister Mu restrained his expression at this moment and spoke in a respectful manner.
Gaesomun was an ambitious man, so he quickly asked respectfully,"Please enlighten me, sir."
Mr. Mu took a deep breath and said solemnly,""Although the Dragon Cavalry Army has won many victories, it is only a problem. Li Jing, who is full of ambition at the rear, is the real problem.
Li Jing had already set his sights on the last military town in Liaodong, Anshi City. As long as he took it down, the Tang expeditionary army could sweep the Liaodong Peninsula, cross the Yalu River, and take over Chaoyang.
The Viceroy was being held back by the Dragon Knights, but he didn't know that Li Jing had already led the expeditionary army to surround An City in the middle of this month.”As Mr. Mu said this, he glanced at the hawk-like Gaesomun and sighed in his heart.
Speaking of which, among all the Goguryeon strongholds in Liaodong, An City's situation was the most unique. Strictly speaking, it was now in a semi-independent state.
At the beginning, after the coup d'état and the monopolization of power, the defenders and city lords of various places in Koryo were afraid of his power and had no choice but to submit to him. Only the city lord of An City did not support the new regime of Quang Gaesomun.
Naturally, Quangesomun was furious and sent troops to attack several times.
However, due to the strong defense of An City, coupled with the bravery of the city lord and his good command, the government troops were repeatedly repelled. Quangaesomun had no choice but to give up and let An City become an independent kingdom.
But at this moment, just as Mr. Mu had said, Quangaesomun could no longer ignore An City.
Because the other important towns in Liaodong had fallen, only An City could stop the Tang army. Although there were Jian 'an, Houhuang, Yincheng, Wugu, and other cities in the south, the defense of these places was relatively weak and could not withstand a single attack from the Tang army. It was impossible for him to have more than 400,000 soldiers rush forward. That would be the path to death. He had to get used to it, and that would take time. In other words, once An City fell, the Tang army could easily cross the Yalu River, approach Liaodong City, and directly attack Peking.
Therefore, Quangesomun came to his senses and decided to protect An City at all costs.
"An City is a tough nut to crack. It's not something that other cities can compare to. There are 70,000 soldiers inside, so it won't be easy to take it down.
In the beginning, Li Jing had planned to bypass An City and take down Jian An City in the south. However, with the news of the Dragon Cavalry's victory, the strategy changed.
I can roughly guess his reason. Jian 'an City was in the south, and An City was in the north. The supply transfer station of the Tang army was in Baiyan City. If they bypassed An City to attack Jian' an City, the rear transportation line would be easily cut off by the garrison of An City. On the contrary, if they took down An City first, Jian An City would be within their grasp.。
If the Commander-in-Chief had only sent Gao Yanshou's rescue troops to rush into An City, General Gao could only have three options.”At this point, Mr. Mu waved the feather fan in his hand and stopped. Pfft.
"Please enlighten me." Although he didn't like Mr. Mu's pretentious manner, he had no choice but to stand up and cupped his hands, pretending to be polite.
Satisfied with Quangesomun's attitude, Mr. Mu smiled and said,""Actually, it's nothing. First, lead the army forward and form a corner with the garrison of An City. Occupy the dangerous terrain and send cavalry to rob our cattle and horses. Once our attack is thwarted and our retreat is blocked by the swamp, we will be in trouble.
Second, rescue the soldiers and civilians of An City and then retreat.
Third, overestimate yourself and decide victory on the battlefield with us. This is the worst plan. With General Gao Yanshou's character, the Viceroy would definitely come up with the worst plan. It would be easy for Li Jing to capture him alive.”
Quangai Suwen had a deep understanding of Gao Yanshou. He was a steady person, but he lacked strategy. Hearing this, he agreed.
This time, Mr. Mu was straightforward and directly told him the next plan."That Li Jing accompanied Li Shi Min to wipe out the warlords internally and subdue the Rong Di externally. He is a true commander. Now that he has brought the entire country here, we are no match for him. The only way now is to strengthen the walls and clear the fields, avoid the sharp edge, and be prepared for a protracted war. Then, we will send out surprise soldiers to cut off the supply line of the Tang army. Once the Tang army runs out of food, they will not be able to fight and have no way to return. Our army will be able to win a complete victory instead of fighting with the Tang army at Liaodong City.”
"Not even an army of 400,000?”Changing the entire strategy was not something that could be done with just a few words. This required countless manpower and resources. At the same time, it required a huge amount of manpower and resources.
" No." Mr. Mu's words were simple and clear, but firm.
Quangaesomun fell silent. All these years, he had believed Mr. Mu's words without a doubt. The facts of the past had also proved that Mr. Mu's words were correct.
"I understand. Mr. Mu, you've come from afar. You should go and rest first.”
Mr. Mu frowned. He knew that Quangesomun was hesitating, but as smart as he was, he knew that he couldn't rush him. Disbanding more than 400,000 people and fighting a protracted war would be too much pressure and opposition. It would be a waste of energy, and it would also be a huge blow to Quangesomun's prestige.
Mister Mu sighed inwardly. It was too difficult to scheme against a behemoth like the Great Tang. He bowed and silently retreated.
The lovely dividing line.
Little Demon Dream Whisper: Little Li is too bad. Everyone, drown him with your recommendation votes. Also, don't make a fuss when you're a bookworm or a member of the Tang Brothers. Little Demon is now on the recommendation list, the hit list, and the public new book list. Little Demon bows here to thank everyone for their support. Brothers of the Tang Brothers, I love you for ten thousand years.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。