Chapter 374: Nesting Dolls, Again and Again

White Salt Lake — at this time White Salt Lake was still an enormous saltwater lake.

Nearly twenty days after Zhang Zhao had occupied this place, the Dingnan Army of Xiazhou, under the command of Li Yiyin, finally arrived near White Salt Lake and faced off against Zhang Zhao.

This time Li Yiyin had summoned thirty thousand cavalry from the various Tangut tribes, more than seven thousand elite troops from the Pingxia tribe proper, several hundred of the famous Hengshan foot skirmishers, and six hundred linked cavalry personally controlled by his son Li Guangrui — nearly forty thousand men in all. Seen from Zhang Zhao's side, they stretched across the land as far as the eye could see.

Zhang Zhao's Guiyi Army, more than twenty thousand strong, formed its battle lines with its back to White Salt Lake — the formation just as strict and orderly, banners and pennants arrayed in rows.

Seen from Li Yiyin's position, the Guiyi Army's center consisted of several thousand heavy infantry, all wearing the cloth-faced iron armor that was a specialty of Hexi.

This was fine stuff — a single suit of this cloth-faced iron armor could be traded in Xiazhou for five able-bodied male slaves; if it was young women or boys of twelve or thirteen, at least ten, and even then there was basically no market supply.

"Fine armor! Fine horses! Fuck their mothers, these Hexi barbarian thieves are too damn rich, aren't they? Lads, if we win this battle and our Dingnan Army seizes these few thousand suits of iron armor, where under heaven could we not go?"

However, the Guiyi Army's iron armor did not frighten the poverty-stricken Tanguts of the Dingnan Army — instead it stirred up tremendous fighting spirit. If they could defeat the Guiyi Army, the Dingnan Army would be trading shotguns for cannons.

"The Tangut barbarian thieves have no more than two or three thousand suits of iron armor — how are they worthy to occupy this treasured land? Tell the lads: if we win this battle, each man takes five jin of this place's fine white salt home with him."

"Capture Li Yiyin, and every man gets herding slaves; any man without a wife, I myself will grab one for each of you!"

Zhang Zhao, watching the Tanguts of the Dingnan Army across from him, was also very excited.

If he could win this battle, then Lingzhou, Yanzhou, Xiazhou, and the other prefectures would answer to him. Once he occupied this place, not only would he never lack salt again, he would also hold all the horse-breeding lands of the entire northwest in his own hands.

At that point, he could go head-to-head with Shi Jingtang. If he couldn't win, he could still retreat; by cutting off the Central Plains' supply of warhorses, as long as the Khitan didn't cross the great desert, no one would be able to do anything to the Guiyi Army.

Amid the booming of war drums, a Tangut cavalry champion rode out before the two armies. His voice was extremely loud, and he was bellowing even from several hundred paces away.

"You barbarian thieves — why are you not in Hexi, and what are you doing here at our Dingnan Army's territory? Do you not know the laws of the state? How dare my hundred-thousand-strong army allow you to trespass on our borders?"

A fixed program — Zhang Zhao knew this was just a formality.

But after his last face-to-face parley with Li Congyan, Zhang Zhao had learned to be cautious. He did not go forward himself, but instead sent a Basmil guard from his side forward.

"You barbarian slaves — you dare speak of the laws of the state? Li Yichao refused to transfer his command, and Li Yiyin has sent troops without authorization to seize the state's salt lakes. The Prince of Han has raised a great army to punish the disloyal. If you withdraw to Xiazhou now, bind yourselves, and offer surrender, you may yet preserve your lives!"

So there was nothing to discuss. Hearing the shouted reply, Li Yiyin's face darkened. Originally he had not wanted to fight this battle with Zhang Zhao; he had even been thinking of sending someone to make contact around the time of Zhang Zhao's birthday this year.

Because from where Li Yiyin stood, the Guiyi Army and the Dingnan Army ought to be the same kind of thing! The two sides should have cooperated with each other, avoiding being swallowed up by the court.

But looking at it today, although the Guiyi Army did not have many troops, their armor and horses were excellent — they had clearly set their minds on swallowing up the Li family.

Even if they weren't going to swallow them up, Li Yiyin absolutely could not agree to the Guiyi Army seizing the salt lakes of Yanzhou. The Dingnan Army lived off those salt lakes.

The low moan of ox-horn trumpets sounded, and a clamor rose within the Dingnan Army. At least six or seven thousand cavalry rode out from the Dingnan Army's two wings.

They spread out wider and wider, and seen from afar they seemed to cover the whole land, as if they intended to completely surround the Guiyi Army's main formation.

In fact, that was exactly what they wanted to do. Both armies had more cavalry than infantry, and by spreading the cavalry out now, it would be convenient to attack from front, rear, left, and right.

As soon as the Dingnan Army's cavalry came out, the flag officer beside Zhang Zhao waved the signal flags.

Hucile led the Uyghur sworn followers' left camp, Chennianban led the Uyghur sworn followers' right camp, Zhebu Jiashi led the Youyi Army, and Huang Yang'er also led one battalion of cavalry from the Yingyang Garrison — in all, six thousand light cavalry spread out as well.

Once they went out, as the appetizer before the great battle, the fight between more than ten thousand light cavalry began.

Both sides spread out very wide, and their tactics were extremely similar — both used the common light-cavalry tactics of the northwest.

They basically operated in small units of one or two hundred men, constantly pulling back and forth in skirmishing dogfights. Arrows flew at the enemy like locusts, and occasionally they closed in and tangled together, slashing at each other with sabers.

However, this kind of light-cavalry fighting did not cause particularly high casualties — it could actually be considered a kind of probing.

Because the tasks light cavalry bore on the battlefield were more about screening and concealing the main army, and pursuit.

In light-cavalry fighting of this intensity, if one side quickly couldn't hold on, then this battle most likely wouldn't grow into a major engagement.

Because when both sides have a lot of cavalry, one side's cavalry being clearly inferior means that even if you win, you can't expand the victory, and if you lose, you can only wait to be entangled and annihilated.

So from the very start, light cavalry would be used to skirmish continuously and gauge the enemy's strength. Only when the light cavalry showed no clear disadvantage would elite troops be committed for the decisive battle.

Otherwise, you had to contract your forces, use the light cavalry to cover the main army's movement, and then withdraw into a city or into mountains and forests to continue the standoff, or look for another opportunity to break the enemy.

The Guiyi Army's light cavalry came from relatively complex origins — mainly Uyghurs, Tatars, and others that Zhang Zhao had recruited.

The Dingnan Army cavalry they faced were also from the less core tribes among the various Tangut groups; the two sides' fighting strength was about equal.

However, because the Tanguts had to deal with harassment from other directions year-round, and only five years ago had still collectively mobilized to raid the Later Tang army's rear lines, they even held a slight upper hand.

Seeing this, Li Yiyin finally relaxed. As long as the light cavalry wasn't devoured by the enemy, White Salt Lake was only a hundred or so li from Xiazhou — even if they couldn't win, they could still withdraw.

At this moment, the Guiyi Army's drums grew fierce. After the great drum beside the commander sounded, the drums of each garrison, camp, du, and squad began to beat as well, and Zhang Zhao's main heavy infantry began to don armor and march forward.

And before them, more than two thousand Tuanjie archers had already bypassed the Dingnan Army's iron-armored elite in the center, threading through the various formations to reach the Dingnan Army's two wings, carrying out harassing saturation fire.

At this time, the Guiyi Army's formation resembled a WiFi-signal fan shape. The commander Zhang Zhao was at the very rear, the cavalry was positioned at the waist, and directly in front was a large mass of elite heavy infantry.

The Dingnan Army's infantry also began to don armor and move forward at this time. Everyone advanced to the beat of the drums, doing their utmost to maintain the integrity of the formation.

The Tuanjie archers, mustered in units of one jiang — roughly a hundred men — wore no armor. Carrying their bows, they fired at the Dingnan Army's infantry from the spread-out left and right flanks.

Although the Tuanjie archers were not very numerous, and the draw weight of their bows was not very strong,

the Dingnan Army, after all, was not as extravagantly equipped as Zhang Zhao, who could produce six thousand suits of iron armor. In every Dingnan Army infantry square, the soldiers in the rear ranks had a very low rate of armor-wearing.

They could not withstand the continuous volleys of arrows. Their neat formations were immediately harassed badly by the Tuanjie archers darting about everywhere like rats.

Li Yiyin behind the formation could not hold back any longer. If this harassment continued, the damage wasn't high, but the blow to morale was too severe.

He immediately ordered two thousand unarmored Tangut archers to step out as well, to drive off the Guiyi Army's Tuanjie archers.

But as soon as the Dingnan Army's unarmored archers moved out, Li Cunhui, who had been waiting at the waist all along, immediately went into action.

More than a thousand armored cavalry of the Hanshan Du's right horse army, wearing leather armor with mail worn either underneath or over it, immediately charged out.

They were Zhang Zhao's elite horse troops. Although their warhorses had no armor, the men were armored, the horses were the finest folded-ear horses, their bows had great draw weight, and their arrows were the best as well.

The moment they charged out, the Tangut unarmored archers who had just been trying to scatter into small groups suffered terribly. Whether in protection, attack power, or mobility, they were completely outmatched — and scattering into small groups only made it easier to defeat them one by one.

Li Yiyin felt his head tighten at the sight and hurriedly ordered the Dingnan Army's light-armored cavalry to attack.

On this side, the moment Li Cunhui saw the Dingnan Army's light-armored cavalry attack, he immediately turned and began to retreat.

The Dingnan Army's light-armored cavalry, having come out of formation, was overjoyed and directly gave chase.

In armored cavalry combat, exposing your back is the greatest taboo. They thought Li Cunhui and his men were courting death, and so they pursued with unusual speed.

But before they could get close, the Guiyi Army's signal flags and the short drums commanding the cavalry sounded. Murong Xinzhang waved his hand, and the Hanshan Du's left horse army charged out through the formation.

They made a slight detour, cutting into the flank of the Dingnan Army's light cavalry, blocking them and immediately laying into them with cavalry lances.

The anxious Li Yiyin could only grit his teeth once more. The remaining thousand-odd light cavalry of the Dingnan Army charged out again, and at that moment, Li Cunhui's cavalry, which had pulled back, surged forward once more to intercept them.

The light cavalry of both sides kept nesting into each other like this, layer upon layer wrapping around the other side, constantly feeding in more men.

The militia archers and Tangut unarmored archers trapped inside were the unluckiest of all.

Because the closer one was to the center, the fiercer the fighting became. And they were infantry, without armor, able only to huddle together and desperately cling to life.

Before long, nearly half of the two thousand Tangut unarmored archers who had first taken the field had been killed or wounded. The Guiyi Army's two thousand militia archers had lost two or three hundred. The ground was everywhere covered with groaning, struggling wounded.

Cold sweat dripped in large drops from Li Yiyin's forehead. Only now did he understand how troublesome the Guiyi Army was.

The two light cavalry units of the Hanshan Capital were well equipped, their warhorses excellent, and their morale even higher. Most of the men had followed Zhang Zhao through campaigns north and south, and were rich in experience.

Murong Xinzhang and Li Cunhui were both incomparably brave. Gradually, the light cavalry that directly belonged to the Li family of Pingxia were beaten into a wretched, scattered rout.

Just as the cavalry of both sides were entangled with each other, the main heavy infantry of both armies soon marched into range.

The Wang family strongman was right beside Zhang Xiaobiao, the eldest son of the Zhang family's eldest brother. Zhang Xiaobiao followed the Wang family strongman forward, and the further they advanced, the tenser the atmosphere in the ranks became.

Suddenly, from up ahead came the sound of bowstrings vibrating like beans popping in a pan. The crossbowmen of both sides had begun exchanging fire.

The bolts of the large single crossbows and wooden single crossbows were relatively short, and the power of the crossbow strings was great, so they produced this very short, sharp sound that made one's scalp tingle just to hear.

Screams began to rise one after another. Zhang Xiaobiao looked ahead. In front of his own formation, those powerful crossbowmen who had looked as fearsome as bears and tigers when they mustered were now collapsing to the ground one after another with terrible cries.

Every fallen man had at least five or six bolts stuck in him. Many, as they fell, had blood spilling from the corners of their mouths — their internal organs had been injured by the tremendous force of the crossbow bolts.

The drumming did not stop, nor did the shouting of the fire chiefs in each row. Even as they exchanged fire, both sides were still slowly closing in, only at a much slower pace.

The wounded lying on the ground struggled and howled. They were dragged out of the formation by laborers pressed into service and by militia archers who had not been selected and could only do the dirty, exhausting work.

The blood covering the ground and the screams of agony in his ears put tremendous pressure on Zhang Xiaobiao, who was on a battlefield for the first time.

He suddenly realized that in a great battle of tens of thousands, individual valor seemed to be of little use.

In that instant, he actually found himself envying those wounded who had been dragged to the rear. At least for the moment, they were safe.

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