Chapter 970 Yi Di Beasts
After Mugan Khan led his troops to flee the battlefield, the Turks' defeat became increasingly irreversible.
At this time, the fighting on the battlefield was still very fierce, but the entire battlefield was not unified. These Turkic soldiers not only fought on their own, but in some places even killed each other.
Various chaotic orders were heard endlessly, and the chiefs scattered on the battlefield were all scrambling to issue orders, trying to recruit more soldiers for their own use, but the result was backfired.
Not only did the Turkic sergeants who were wandering and fighting on the battlefield show no tendency to regroup, but even the soldiers who were originally ordered by these powerful chiefs, after seeing the supplies scattered across the battlefield and the wandering cattle and sheep, They all left the team one after another, scrambling to pick up and grab.
On the other hand, the officers and soldiers of the Western Wei Dynasty, before the military order to stop fighting was issued, still maintained the offensive of rushing in formation. And this organized fighting mode is undoubtedly the existence of overwhelming combat power when facing the Turks' stragglers.
As the Turkic army was defeated, Li Tai also withdrew from the front-line combat sequence. At this time, the battlefield was in chaos. The focus was no longer on leading the charge into the battle for the general, but on fighting in this chaos. Making effective coordination instructions during the war can make the entire battle develop in a direction more beneficial to one's side.
Since ancient times, the development of any force has been easy to annex but difficult to unite. The performance of the Turks on the battlefield at this time also perfectly reflected this.
Due to the multiple divisions of troops and different duties, there are only a few thousand Western Wei soldiers on the battlefield now, including Yang Zhong, who had taken the lead in attacking the center of the Turkic camp. However, there are still tens of thousands of active Turkic soldiers on the battlefield, but they are completely suppressed by these thousands of elite soldiers of the Western Wei Dynasty. There are very few who can actually carry out effective counterattacks.
These tens of thousands of Turkic soldiers were unfamiliar with each other and lacked tacit understanding. Although there were many soldiers, they were completely unable to coordinate operations and cooperate in various tactics. On the contrary, from the powerful chiefs to the individual soldiers, they were all full of Their own ideas, but in this way, instead of being able to help each other, they will actually drag each other down.
In fact, for such a large army with a large number of soldiers, the real crisis from the opponent is not very big. The ability of one's own organization and coordination is the real factor that truly affects the performance of combat effectiveness.
The reason why Li Tai dared to lead his troops north to attack the Turks was because he believed that the current organizational strength and cohesion of the Turks could not keep up with the development of his own forces. Once it encounters a truly high-intensity blow, its internal organization will inevitably develop cracks or even collapse.
It is true that the rise of the Turks in history was somewhat unstoppable, but it is undeniable that the rise of the Turks also occurred without strong external intervention.
Once the Central Plains dynasty completed its integration and returned its attention to Mobei beyond the Great Wall, even though the Turks were already a powerful steppe empire at that time, they were still struggling to cope with various diplomatic means and continuous military attacks. , it is difficult to maintain its internal unity and strong form.
However, even though the Turkic command system and military organization on the battlefield had been destroyed at this time, the fighting continued for a long time, and small groups of fighting still spread all over the battlefield.
The fighting will of these Turkic soldiers is still very tenacious. They are either father and son, or brothers. They are still collecting materials scattered on the battlefield as much as possible, and trying to escape from the battlefield while fighting. Their tenacious and aggressive characteristics are undoubtedly revealed, but due to the breakdown of order, those who prevent them from escaping smoothly from the battlefield are often other Turkic soldiers who have the same temperament and purpose as them.
In the second half of the battle, the soldiers of the Western Wei Dynasty gradually moved to the periphery of the battlefield and began to focus on intercepting and killing the Turkic soldiers who were trying to escape. However, the fighting in the Turkic camp was still very fierce. When these Turks started killing each other, It was also a deadly move.
When they saw that there was no hope of escape, and after running and fighting for a long time and their physical strength was exhausted, the Turkic soldiers began to abandon their weapons and surrender.
Compared with their fierce attitude in the previous battle, these Turks appeared particularly submissive after choosing to surrender. They cut the bowstrings with the knives they carried, and the remaining arrows on their bodies also inserted the arrow clusters downwards deeply into the soil. Then he threw the weapon far away, and finally he crawled to the ground with his limbs clinging to the ground, trying his best to show his harmlessness and submissiveness.
"Hu is cruel and aggressive by nature, but he is also afraid of strength and death. Once he is unable to win, he will inevitably become discouraged and beg for his life."
Yu Wengui rode his horse to Li Tai and pointed at the Turkic soldiers who were lying on the ground asking for surrender. Seeing that Li Tai was still frowning and saying nothing, he started talking about the cruel methods of these grassland Hu tribes in dealing with enemies who pretended to surrender. It was a brutal massacre. In some tribes, whenever one member of the tribe fled, all other members of the tribe, men, women, old and young, would be massacred.
Because of these cruel methods, the Hu people in the grassland are often aggressive by nature. Even if the situation is unfavorable, they will be stubborn and will not surrender easily. However, if they put down their weapons and surrender, it means that they have completely lost their stubbornness.
What this contrast reflects is that Hu people are afraid of force but not moral. They are accustomed to using force to solve problems and achieve their goals, but once their force does not work, they will turn to extreme groveling.
Li Tai had never fought with the Hu tribes on the grassland before, so he had some reservations in his heart. However, when the soldiers began to clean up the battlefield, the respectful performance of the Turkic soldiers made him feel that he had opened his eyes.
Originally, these Hu soldiers had been fighting each other for supplies and livestock, but when the Wei soldiers ordered them to collect all the supplies on the battlefield and put them in fixed positions, these Hu soldiers obeyed and even took the initiative to hand over the items they had collected.
Some Hu soldiers were whipped and punished for not executing the orders properly, and were even beheaded on the spot, but the Hu soldiers around them all bowed their heads in silence. Even the relatives of these Hu soldiers were indifferent to this, and perhaps they would show sadness, but there was no resentment.
After seeing these scenes, Li Tai couldn't help but sigh that the local environment really nurtures the local people.
Barbarians and beasts, sometimes it is not really derogatory but a simple statement. A person's living environment and way of making a living are different, so the ethics and behavior patterns he accepts will be different, and it is difficult to understand across ethnic groups and backgrounds.
But it should be said that the nature of these Turks provides a lot of convenience for cleaning the battlefield. The entire Turkic camp stretches for more than ten miles, and due to the escape of people, horses and livestock, the scope of the battlefield has expanded more than doubled. It is very difficult for a group of Western Wei soldiers to quickly clean up the battlefield, and the soldiers are exhausted after a fierce battle.
But with the participation of those Turkic surrendered soldiers, cleaning the battlefield has become much more efficient. In addition to the scattered supplies on the battlefield being quickly collected and gathered, the Turkic surrendered soldiers are also working hard to help drive and capture the escaped cattle and horses.
These surrendered soldiers will also kneel down and ask for permission to use lassoes to capture cattle and horses scattered around the battlefield. Even if they had harnessed their war horses and ridden on them, it was only to capture livestock farther away. Even if there were no Wei soldiers nearby and they had already run a long distance, they would still drive the cattle and horses back to the camp and would not flee without permission.
Li Tai was also a veteran and had won many battles, but he had to admit that the Turkic prisoners of war were the most obedient and the most worry-free. They would work hard to complete the tasks assigned to them and try their best to show their obedience and harmlessness. When the tasks were completed, they would spontaneously gather together, but they would never whisper to each other to engage in any conspiracy.
Seeing these captives behave like this, Li Tai also vaguely understood why the Turks were able to rise and grow so quickly. Because the cost of annexing the grassland tribes is much smaller than that of the Central Plains. As long as the tribes themselves accumulate and develop to a certain extent and can win one or two battles, then the tribal forces will grow like a snowball.
It is no wonder that in history, even though the Sui and Tang dynasties won a certain stage of victory in the war against the Turks, they would often continue to raise tigers to cause trouble, because these Turkic prisoners of war were so useful.
Thanks to the effectiveness of these Turkic surrendered soldiers, the battlefield was quickly cleaned up. When Li Tai arrived at the Turkic Khan's tent where Yang Zhong and others were stationed, he was very pleased to see the exhausted appearance of Yang Zhong's soldiers after the bloody battle. He stepped forward and said in a deep voice: "Thank you for your hard work!"
Yang Zhong was already exhausted at this time, but he still walked forward with the help of his personal soldiers and bowed: "I was ordered to come here, and fortunately I have fulfilled the mission. It's a pity that the enemy is numerous and we are few, and we failed to capture Mugan Khan alive, causing him to flee with his troops..."
"There are others who will continue to pursue merit in this matter. Lord Anlu and others have fought so hard to this point, and have made great contributions!"
Li Tai hurriedly helped Yang Zhong up, and asked the soldiers who fought here to take off their armor and rest in the tent, and then asked Yuwen Gui and other generals to check the personnel and the harvest.
Thanks to Yang Zhong and others' attack in the center of the Turkic camp, the internal chaos of the Turkic camp was caused, and the main force led by Li Tai was able to break it from the outside so smoothly and then control the entire battle situation.
Although the biggest target, Mugan Khan, escaped from the battlefield, many Turkic dignitaries were still captured in this battle, including Yehu, Teqin, Dagan, Meilu and other powerful chieftains of various levels, numbering hundreds.
At this time, Mugan Khan had just led his troops out of Gaoque Fort and continued to flee northward along the gap in the mountain.