Chapter 719: The Han Army at Yanran

Duosage went to sleep very late, and before bed he drank a large horn of wine.

From this alone one could see that Duosage was not as capable a schemer as he imagined himself to be, and that the strength of the Northern Zubu people was still somewhat weak.

It was only a matter of whether or not to give the Wugu Mountain pastureland, yet it had become a bone stuck in Duosage's throat — impossible to pull out, impossible to swallow.

Still, Duosage ought to thank Hulubashi. Just as the Merkit cavalry reacted quickly, so too did the Dilie tribe riders under Duosage's command.

Because three thousand Merkit cavalry were camped just north of the city, they naturally had to be on guard.

So the first instant Duosage was shaken awake from bed by his trusted followers, he asked whether the Merkit had broken in, and his heart was not particularly flustered, because he had already made preparations.

"Where is Boyegusi? Have his cavalry assemble and scatter that cavalry for me!"

Now considerably more awake, Duosage saw from high ground the several hundred riders led by Li Cunhui charging toward his great tent, and immediately made the "correct" decision.

Boyegusi was not the unfavored eldest son Bayegusi, but his favorite third son, twenty years old this year, with the valor to withstand ten thousand men.

Among the fifteen hundred riders under his command were seventy or eighty sets of iron armor and five or six hundred sets of rawhide armor, all using heavy arrows with refined-iron heads and stiff bows — one of the most important pillars of the Dilie tribe's military strength.

In Duosage's view, sending fifteen hundred elite cavalry against six or seven hundred Merkit cavalry was a sure thing — one charge and he would break them apart.

And once this main force was scattered, the remaining cavalry that had entered the city would be easy to deal with — just shut the gate and beat the dog.

Thinking of this, Duosage actually felt somewhat relieved. At last there was no more need to agonize. If he directly swallowed up Hulubashi, who had delivered himself to his door, then everything would be settled.

Boyegusi had long been ready. Hearing his father Duosage's shout, he immediately ordered the city gate opened and charged out with more than a thousand riders, shouting and yelling.

Li Cunhui chuckled. He felt his luck was truly too good. This Woluoduo city had been the Anbei Protectorate of the former Great Tang, so the city had been built according to the layout of the Han lands.

That is to say, the place where Duosage's great tent stood was actually the inner city of the original Anbei Protectorate, and at this moment it still retained a basically intact city wall.

This was something Li Cunhui had far from expected. He had been about to call his officers and men together to gather gunpowder and blast open the city gate, but before he could give the order, the enemy actually opened the gate themselves and swaggered out.

"Hahaha! Heaven's mandate is with our Great Zhou!" Li Cunhui laughed wildly. The enemy had come seeking death of their own accord — if this was not Heaven's mandate, what was it?

On the city wall, Duosage watched his cavalry ride into the distance, a faint smile still on his face, but suddenly his expression changed, turning to terror.

"Wrong! Wrong! These are not Merkit!" Duosage stared at the great fire reddening the sky in the distance and at the "Merkit cavalry" still setting fires everywhere.

"These are not Merkit. They do not have that much fire oil for starting fires. These are... these are Zhou men or Khitan come!"

At the last moment, Duosage, like that old herdsman at the city gate, finally recalled the battle more than thirty years ago when the Khitan had raided Woluoduo city. It was in that battle that Duosage had lost his father.

"Sound the retreat! Quickly, sound the retreat! Tell Boyegusi and the others to come back!"

Unfortunately, he had discovered it too late!

Laughing wildly, Li Cunhui charged at the very front. He put on his iron helmet properly, as if he had returned to those years ago when his adoptive father the Emperor had led him and Murong Xinzhang in a charge.

Now it was his turn — Li Sanlang, leading the next generation of young men in the charge.

Any city built during the Great Tang's prosperity had one characteristic: it was big!

The Anbei Protectorate was of course no exception. After the Zubu cavalry roared out from the inner city, there was an extremely broad, perfectly straight avenue modeled on the Vermilion Bird Avenue — truly the finest possible place for a cavalry duel.

"Enemy cavalry at one hundred paces! One volley of horn crossbows!" the standard-bearer beside Li Cunhui bellowed.

Almost at the same instant, the front-rank riders slowed their horses, the riders behind quickened a step, and five ranks of riders directly became ten ranks.

After these ten ranks finished shooting, the riders behind would thread up through the gaps between them to fire the next volley, then the whole formation would split to both sides, opening shooting space for the riders behind.

Do not underestimate this tactic. At a distance of one hundred paces, to coordinate so smoothly with such tacit understanding, with men and horses unruffled, was something only battle-hardened elites could achieve — and even battle-hardened elites needed long-term training together to reach that level.

The sound of triggers rang out, and dense crossbow bolts shot forth. The great mass of Dilie tribe cavalry rolling up dust on the opposite side were struck as if by lightning from the void, toppling to the ground one after another. The arrogant shouting and yelling vanished, replaced by shrill screams and panicked cries.

At this moment, the elite Right Yulin Guard Yingji Company cavalry under Li Cunhui had already shifted their formation from a line charge into a {}-shaped dense arrow-volley formation.

There was no need for commands at all. The young men of the Yingji Company slowly urged their horses forward, their stiff bows firing in succession.

Zhao Jingangnu and Fan Changgong in particular — both renowned as divine archers, and further spurred on by Li Cunhui — displayed two hundred percent of their combat strength.

In an instant, Zhao Jingangnu fired five times with each hand, ten shots and nine hits.

Fan Changgong fired four times with each hand — two fewer shots, but eight shots and eight hits.

The others, such as Li Zun and Li Wanshan, were slightly inferior to those two, but all were famous marksmen as well. This volume of fire — how could ordinary cavalry withstand it?

To say nothing of the Northern Zubu cavalry, who were little more than armed herdsmen — even the Liao dynasty's elite Pishi Army, no! Even if the Guaizi Ma of the later Jurchen Jin dynasty's early period had come, they could not have held out.

The ferocity of this strike was far more violent than the horn-crossbow volley that had just broken the Northern Zubu cavalry's charging momentum.

Although the more than one thousand Northern Zubu cavalry who had sallied out were numerous, not a single rider could continue the charge. In an instant more than a hundred riders fell, and the rest were terrified out of their wits.

A few of the bolder ones still wanted to charge forward. Most of the terrified ones were frantically wheeling their horses around. Some who wanted to rescue their kin actually dismounted against orders.

In contrast, the young men of the Yingji Company, while firing rapidly, were still slowly urging their horses forward.

At last they reached a point about fifty paces away. Li Cunhui let out a tiger's roar, and the curly-haired blue-gray horse beneath him shot out like an arrow loosed from the string. The other riders roared loudly too, and their warhorses suddenly accelerated.

This was the killing move of the Hexi light cavalry. The Hexi heavenly horses and dragon horses beneath them could suddenly accelerate, catching the enemy completely off guard.

In the eyes of the Northern Zubu cavalry, this was as terrifying as teleportation.

Because those fearsome horse archers had clearly been fifty or sixty paces away just a moment ago, and the next second they had charged right before their eyes.

Without any suspense, the Northern Zubu cavalry completely collapsed on the spot!

Li Cunhui was still charging at the very front, because there was a tall, brawny man there who not only could keep shooting in succession — after shooting down one of the Yingji Company's young men, he actually wanted to charge up with a cavalry lance.

Good — I, Li Laosan, fight exactly the elite!

Li Cunhui shook off the others and charged straight at this brawny man. The two of them, one holding a lance, the other brandishing a long spear, were on the verge of colliding.

At precisely that moment, with extremely fast hand speed — the opponent did not even see his movement clearly — Li Cunhui pulled a small bronze hammer from his waist.

"Thud!" The spinning bronze hammer, boosted by the warhorse's speed, smashed directly into the Zubu brawny man's chest.

The brawny man felt as if struck by lightning. With a "wah," his chest and belly went tight and suffocated, his throat turned sweet, and a mouthful of fresh blood sprayed out. Then a long spear smashed hard into his head, nearly twisting his entire neck out of shape.

Even in death, Boyegusi never understood how that Tang general, who was clearly brandishing the long spear with both hands, had suddenly produced a bronze hammer.

"My son! My son!" Duosage saw it all clearly from the city wall. This was his most beloved son, the successor he had personally designated!

For the first time, Duosage felt heart-rending pain, and for the first time he understood that raising the banner and wanting to be lord of the steppe alliance might very well come at an enormous price.

But his misfortune was not yet over, because even on such a chaotic battlefield, Duosage's cry was quite conspicuous.

Li Zun took out his ancestral bronze-bodied, iron-backed bow, nocked an arrow he had polished himself, gritted his teeth, and suddenly spurred his horse forward out of the chaos.

The glory of the moment had been stolen entirely by Fan Changgong and Zhao Jingangnu.

Fan Changgong especially — that fellow had originally been his underling! Now he had actually climbed above him. Li Zun was so ashamed his face burned red. This was truly unbearable!

Many Zubu people spotted Li Zun. For someone so unafraid of death, anyone with a clear head couldn't resist taking a shot at him.

An arrow lodged in Li Zun's waist, the head sinking halfway in, scraping his waist and belly until blood streamed freely.

Another blade thrust at his left side. Li Zun made a token block with the small round shield on his arm, then his skin was sliced open — a searing, burning pain.

But none of this could stop his hunger for merit. In his eyes there was only that old wretch on the wall, wailing and not even fully dressed. This had to be Duosage, the great chieftain of the Northern Zubu.

Duosage also saw Li Zun charging in like a meteor, heedless of death, and sobered up at once. His guards flanked him to get him off the wall, shielding him with round shields as they went.

But just as Duosage's figure was about to vanish, just as the round shields were about to cover him, Li Zun let out a strange cry and loosed his one-dan-four bronze-backed iron-bellied bow with all his might.

"Whizz— thunk!" A strange sound unlike any ordinary bow rang out.

Just at the instant Duosage was about to reach safety, a great force in the empty air slammed him forward a long stride. Then the fine-steel arrowhead pierced through his left lung and burst out of his chest.

The so-called great chieftain who had dreamed of commanding the steppe stared at his chest in disbelief. He twitched several times, then drew a sharp breath — only to find his body could no longer take in a wisp of air.

Bloody froth erupted from his mouth, and he crumpled softly to the ground.

Li Zun let out a strange cry — like the Flying General reborn!

This was Li Zun's true specialty. He could not shoot with both hands, but he could draw a bow of one dan four or even stronger. Though he could only loose it once or twice, that was enough.

The Northern Zubu cavalry around him were terrified by Li Zun. From a distance of nearly two hundred paces, this Tang general had shot dead their chieftain on the wall from below the city.

With the battle at this point, it entered the time of pursuit.

The Northern Zubu had first seen Boyegusi, famed as a match for ten thousand, cut down in a single exchange.

Then they had seen a Tang champion shoot dead their heavily guarded chieftain Duosage from two hundred paces out. Instantly they were stricken with terror and collapsed into utter rout.

Li Cunhui seized the moment and ordered his men to charge hard into the inner city. Then they cut down the great banner and grand standard that symbolized the Northern Zubu, and raised high a gleaming silver-white Three Stars banner that symbolized the Great Zhou.

Wang Shenqi in the northwest and Zhang Zhaojie in the northeast, seeing the silver-white Three Stars banner rise, burst into cheers. Over a thousand elite cavalry directly sealed off the road north, preventing the Northern Zubu from leaving the city by the north. A small portion were killed outright; the majority could only wail and flee southward.

However, the three Northern Zubu tribes were a powerful force on the steppe. In Woluduo City alone there were twenty to thirty thousand herders, and no few were scattered in other places.

If the people here carried word out, and the Northern Zubu outside united and came back to fight, it would be trouble.

The armed herders of the steppe were not strong fighters, but nearly every man could mount and fight, and naturally they had no shortage of warhorses. They were also locals — just thinking about getting tangled up with them was troublesome.

They absolutely could not be allowed to recover their wits. That was the one thing Li Cunhui was certain of.

So as soon as he had Woluduo City under control, he left only two or three hundred cavalry to hold it, and everyone else immediately pressed on in pursuit of the Northern Zubu herders fleeing in panic.

And the Northern Zubu were unlucky indeed. Li Cunhui and the others rode out of the city and pursued for one or two hundred li. The Northern Zubu herders had barely escaped to Halashang, another great city controlled by the three Northern Zubu tribes, and organized over seven thousand cavalry, preparing to fight Li Cunhui's two thousand cavalry once more —

when another variable arrived: Yang Jiye and Pan Mei, who had gathered two thousand retinue cavalry from the Yedugu tribe.

It was pure coincidence. The Northern Zubu cavalry had just launched their charge when Yang Jiye and his men struck their camp from behind, then attacked from front and rear.

The Northern Zubu were routed again. The core Kereyid tribe's cavalry were nearly wiped out. Three of Duosage's six sons were killed outright. In total more than three thousand were slain in battle, and they were utterly shattered.

Of the once-vast Kereyid tribe, only three or four thousand mounted herders abandoned their wives, children, and elders, and fled further west into the territory of the eight Dilie tribes.

And just as Li Cunhui won his great victory, Huang Yingda's force, using Western Zubu cavalry as guides and auxiliaries, also achieved brilliant results.

With so many local guides leading the way, Huang Yingda first personally led the main army in a direct raid on the main camps of the Dalimi tribe north of Mount Yanran, capturing over ten thousand cattle and horses and more than a hundred thousand sheep.

However, this time they did not capture the Dalimi chieftain or the tribe's warriors. From the captives they learned that these fellows had gone out to catch wild horses. So Huang Yingda again led his army to lie in wait along the Dalimi tribe's return route.

Sure enough, upon learning their home had been sacked, the Dalimi chieftain hurried back with six thousand cavalry conscripted from all quarters, and was blocked by Huang Yingda at a place called Yellow Grass River and Little River Bend.

Huang Yingda ordered Qu Yanqing to lead the Left Yulin Wind-Fire Assault Cavalry Battalion out to attack, and a single clash scattered the Dalimi cavalry.

Then Cao Bin and Lu Sanlang, along with Lu Sanlang's adopted son Lu Ketu, attacked from both flanks. The Dalimi cavalry, caught utterly off guard, fell into chaos. Over a thousand riders were killed, and the rest were almost all taken captive.

At this point, the first phase of Sage Zhang's campaign beyond the frontier was essentially complete. If one wished to carve a stone on Mount Yanran now, it would not be out of the question.

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