Yelu Bei thought for a moment and reminded, “Father, have you forgotten that when my younger sister got married, you gave her several thousand cavalry as a dowry? They must have learned the Khitan’s tactics from these people.”

This?

In an instant, Yelu Abaoji was paralyzed. He had originally sent several thousand cavalrymen in order to strengthen the power of the court so that they could compete with Li Siyuan of Hedong.

Who would have thought that Li Siyuan would surrender so quickly? The Tang army took Hedong without bloodshed and also learned the Khitan cavalry’s tactics.

“Don’t worry, they only have 20,000 cavalrymen, but we have 500,000. Even if we send him 100,000, he is no match for us. A mere 120,000 is nothing.”

“The infantry from the Central Plains scattered as soon as they charged. They are a complete mob and not worth mentioning. I accept this declaration of war.” Yelu Abaoji slammed the declaration of war on the table and made a decision.

……

“Your Majesty, are we really going to have a decisive battle with the Khitans so soon? If they avoid fighting, it will be very difficult for us to win.” Li Wentong showed a trace of embarrassment on his face.

Su Ming explained, “The Khitans’ actions are different from before. After a long period of harassment in Youzhou, the border defense is useless. Youzhou has no strategic location to defend, and other states and counties are also unable to resist the Khitan army.”

“Although they have divided their forces, they are not far from each other. It is unrealistic to defeat them one by one. Yelu Abaoji is a proud and arrogant hero. If he dares not to fight us even though he has an advantage in military strength, then he is unworthy of being the leader of Khitan.”

“Besides, he also wanted to complete the task in one battle and eliminate all the imperial army at once, so as to avoid the difficulty of attacking the city later. No matter how good the equipment is, the defenders will always have the advantage of terrain.”

“Although there are 500,000 troops, there are many cities in the Central Plains. If we attack them one after another, no matter how many troops we have, we won’t be able to withstand the attrition.”

When Yelu Abaoji led his troops south, he was defeated by Li Cunxu in a battle, and due to weather reasons, he had to retreat back to the grassland.

This time he learned from previous lessons and chose to attack in the summer, and his troops were not dispersed. They could advance step by step and slowly erode the enemy, but this was not possible in the Central Plains.

The eyes of the whole world are focused on this war. One hundred thousand soldiers are a lot, but every war will result in heavy losses. Su Ming has invested a lot of money to train this imperial army and let them practice in the Central Plains, not to fight against the southern vassal states.

The Imperial Guards cannot afford to be attrited and have limited numbers, so they must fight to the death.

The first battle is the final battle, that’s it.

Both sides wanted to end the war quickly to avoid any complications, so they both chose a decisive battle.

Chapter 296: The Mo Dao Formation Shows Its Power

As the declaration of decisive battle was issued, Yelu Abaoji recalled the troops he had sent out. Except for the troops besieging Youzhou, all the troops were with him, and tens of thousands of spies were sent out every day to investigate the situation in various places.

Correspondingly, the Bad Guys’ intelligence network was also frantically spying on the Khitans. Every day, the Bad Guys’ secret agents had their identities revealed and were hunted down by the Khitans.

Before the war began, the intelligence systems of both sides began a life-and-death contest. One side was the grassland cavalry, and the other side was the Central Plains scouts. The scouts were the eyes of the army.

When the two sides meet, it will be a life-and-death fight with no room for negotiation.

After several days, a lot of scouts on both sides died before the war even started. But in general, although there were not many scouts in the Central Plains, their armor rate was far better than that of the Khitan elite cavalry, and they traveled in teams of dozens of people to take care of each other.

There are many Khitans, their military camps cover a large area, and there are many directions to explore. With tens of thousands of spies scattered around, there is nothing left facing the Central Plains. Generally speaking, the Central Plains scouts still have a slight advantage.

“Father, the cavalry of the Central Plains people may be more powerful than we imagined. Our scouts have suffered a great loss recently.” A rare serious look appeared on Yelu Bei’s face.

“It doesn’t matter. The decisive battle is about to begin. Those 20,000 cavalry can’t hide. A little bit of fighting doesn’t matter. The most important thing is that we win this battle.”

“This war concerns the fate of both countries. I don’t need to explain what this means. You are my sons. If you shrink back and drag down the whole army, I will be the first to sacrifice you!”

……

The sky is high and the air is clear. It is a cloudy day and the sun is not very big, which relieves the hot summer atmosphere.

On a wide plain, the two armies were two miles apart. Looking around, all you could see was a sea of ​​black heads, blocking out the sky and the sun, which was terrifying.

The atmosphere was so solemn and murderous, as if the air was filled with the smell of blood.

On the high platform, Yelu Abaoji sat on the throne with his great banner behind him, fluttering in the wind. At this moment, there was no one around him except his personal soldiers.

The eldest son, Yelu Bei, and the second son, Yelu Deguang, both commanded a large army and were not waiting by his side. The two could be said to be the best talents of the next generation of Khitan.

Yelu Bei was the crown prince he appointed, and his second son, Yelu Deguang, had made outstanding military achievements, conquered many countries and made many great contributions to the Khitan. Both of them were his right-hand men.

This time, he believed that Khitan could win.

At the same time, in the Tang army formation, Su Ming was wearing a dragon robe, and the emperor’s dragon flag was in the center.

He stared at the Khitan army formation in front of him with a serious look, “General Li, I’ll leave this to you. You must defend the front line at all costs. We cannot lose this battle!”

“Wei Chen understands.”

The encouragement that the emperor personally led the army to the army was obvious, and the morale of the soldiers was high. But conversely, if something unexpected happened to the great banner and the emperor’s dragon flag during the decisive battle, the blow to morale would be unimaginable.

This is also the important reason why the war quickly becomes one-sided after the generals are killed and the flags are captured on the battlefield.

After giving the order, Su Ming arranged for a substitute to stay here, while he changed into a silver-white armor, put on a mask and joined the Shen Ce Army.

Five thousand Shen Ce troops were prepared in the rear army to prevent the Khitans from cutting off their retreat.

On the other side, the five thousand Black Armor Army were sharpening their swords, ready to charge at any time. Many of these people were the talents selected from the martial arts examination.

They were gifted and had immense strength. Su Ming taught them horizontal martial arts and personally infused their strength into them, allowing them to improve rapidly in martial arts. On the battlefield, they could defeat a hundred enemies alone when wearing heavy armor.

The spearhead of an army is certainly important, but it is not enough if he is the only powerful one. No matter how fast he charges, it will be in vain if the people around him cannot keep up.

……

“Strange, why can’t I find Yuan Tiangang’s aura?” Not far from Yelu Abaoji, a man dressed in shamanistic clothes and wearing a bronze mask said to himself.

She is Duo Kuohuo. She calculated that Khitan was going to lose this battle, and also discovered that Yuan Tiangang was going to intervene in the war personally. People like them are like nuclear weapons and will not intervene easily.

Since Yuan Tiangang has taken action, she cannot sit idly by. Otherwise, if Yuan Tiangang kills the general and seizes the flag, won’t the Khitan be defeated?

She could tolerate the Khitan losing in battle, but she could not allow an outsider to interfere.

At that time, the Turkic people were in decline and had no chance of rising again, so she chose the Khitan people. It was under her training that the Khitan people gradually grew to where they are today.

In this process, she also gained a lot of benefits, which can be said to be a situation where everyone prospers together and suffers together.

So the main reason she came today was to restrict Yuan Tiangang.

She won’t ask about anything else.

……

“kill”

On the high platform, Yelu Abaoji drew his sword and gave an order in a deep voice. Then, drums beat, horns sounded, and the music of war began to play.

The cavalry in front charged quickly, with thousands of horses galloping and the ground beneath their feet shaking.

At the same time, Li Wentong on the high platform also issued the order to attack. Rows of war drums beat like thunder, deafening.

The soldiers held the rifles in their hands nervously, and subconsciously advanced according to the movements they had practiced before. Following military orders had become a part of their instinct.

“Boom, boom, boom!”

Invisible sound waves rang out on the battlefield, war horses galloped wildly, and heavily armored infantry advanced slowly with shields raised.

Soon, at the moment of the collision between the two sides, thousands of ten-foot-long sabers were swung out with sharp blades, slashing directly at the charging war horses.

Blood splattered, the war horses wailed and stopped advancing, and the Khitan cavalry on them were stabbed down by spears before they could react.

“This is?”

On the high platform, Yelu Abaoji saw this scene, his pupils shrank, and he was shocked. Heavy armored infantry, this kind of thing had not appeared in the Central Plains for a long time.

The Modao formation consumes too much money, and few countries in the world can afford it. Unfortunately, the Tang Dynasty is one of them.

After a year of overtime work, these Mo Dao and heavy armor were finally produced, recreating the Mo Dao formation of the past.

Yelu Abaoji was very surprised to see the elite cavalrymen in front of the formation being chopped down by the Modao continuously, but he was not panicked, as a small loss was nothing.

Soon, the Khitan generals on the front line issued orders, splitting the cavalry and attacking the infantry formation from both sides.

However, a series of chariots had already been prepared on both sides of the infantry formation. These chariots were covered with iron sheets, and the cavalry could not break through at all for a while.

Of course, if the infantry formation was a tortoise shell, it would not have become a powerful weapon for the Central Plains dynasty to deal with cavalry. Although the Modao formation was composed of heavily armored soldiers, there have always been many other ways to deal with cavalry.

This is true for heavy weapons such as maces and axes.

For a while, the two sides engaged in a war of attrition!