The two sides of the Gaiqu River on the border between Baili and Nangqian present a strange strategic situation.
Dunyue Duoji's frontline troops were surrounded and annihilated, and the frontline supplies were exhausted. Reinforcement troops from all over the place gathered in Longdawei's hometown and deployed defenses at Kangzhu and Qamdo on the west bank of the Jinsha River, but they still did not raise troops to retaliate.
Liu Chengzong's army was overwhelmingly powerful, but it did not move forward. Only a small number of Tangqi crossed the river bank to explore the terrain.
Prayer flags were hunting, and eagles were circling in the valley. The heavily armed warriors from both sides occupied the mountains and faced each other along the majestic snow-capped mountains and rapidly flowing river valleys, while maintaining a strange peace.
Because the highland barley is ripe.
Dunyue Duoji's army was busy harvesting food to supply the front line, while Liu Chengzong's army was busy collecting intelligence... They needed to know where the food was.
From the Jinsha River to Zhaqu, from the Dege territory to Qamdo, the Baili Army stationed tens of thousands of troops on a four-hundred-mile defense line and more than a dozen easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack mountain passes.
In comparison, the Lion Army has no line of defense. They focus on stationing troops in Danba and the Jinsha River, trying to find flaws in the enemy's defenses and win the war in a simpler way. However, until now, the officers of the Lion Army are still at a loss.
Li Bei couldn't sit still until he went out with the army.
He could see that the generals of the Lion Army had fought against the best armies in the world many times and won victories. These veterans who crawled out from the dead were extremely capable of directly commanding battles on the battlefield, and they were all good at killing people. But when it comes to war, they are a group of laymen.
Li Bei didn't want to say anything at first. He was a reduced general, and many generals in the army disliked him.
On the other hand, he could not understand the strategic intentions of Liu Chengzong, Cao Yao, Zhang Tianlin and others.
It wasn't until he heard it many times that he finally understood - the strategy of these people was to attack the land controlled by King Baili inch by inch.
The centripetal force of this army is very strong, and each general has different tactical choices.
Cao Yao advocated using artillery to destroy all forts, Wang Wenxiu advocated massing heavy troops to lure the enemy into a decisive battle, and Zhang Tianlin advocated mobilizing cavalry to penetrate the rear and attack the grain road.
Generally speaking, the purpose is the same, to completely destroy King Baili's defense line.
The generals argued fiercely for their own opinions. Li Bei sat behind and said: "Commander, go around."
Liu Chengzong was quietly listening to the debate among the generals. Each had its own advantages and disadvantages. The decision of which tactic to choose was in his hands.
Suddenly hearing Li Bei's words, he did not react: "Huh? What did General Li say?"
"I said, we can go around it."
Zhang Tianlin was at a disadvantage in the argument, mainly because of his low official position. Cao Yao and Wang Wenxiu were both battalion generals, and General Qian of the infantry and artillery battalions did not speak and listened to their battalion generals.
Only Yang Yao, the general of Ma Ying, stayed in Haibei. As the representative of the Ma Bing generals, he must win the opportunity to fight for the brothers of Ma Ying.
Suddenly hearing Li Bei's words, he glared and said: "General Li, the cavalry team has already explored with Tangqi. Those mountain passes are easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is difficult to go around any place. There is a fortress behind you, which you can't go around.
”
"Keep going around, and in the end we are trapped in a tight siege!"
Li Bei shook his head and ignored Zhang Tianlin at all. He was not considering the problem at the same level, which made him lose the desire to express it again.
Oddly enough, the more this happened, the more disgusted he became towards the court.
If it weren't for these deserters and old thieves to have enough to eat, if it wasn't for the officers and soldiers to have enough to eat, how could they have lost!
But Liu Chengzong was looking forward to it. This was the first time Li Bei spoke in a general discussion. He said: "General Zhang, don't worry, let General Li finish what he said...General Li, tell me what you think, I want to hear it."
”
For a long time, the Lion Army has had the thought of despising traditional generals, civil servants, and even culture.
Their generals are all veterans who came from humble beginnings. The ones with the highest official positions are Yang Yao, who was born in the cavalry department, and Wang Wenxiu, who was born in the infantry department.
Cao Yao, who was a general, was not qualified to manage a team; Liu Chengzu, who became a commander, was not qualified to manage a team.
As for the more generals, most of them had no military positions in the past, but under the leadership of Liu Chengzong, they defeated the generals and generals one after another.
To them, traditional generals are nothing more than wine sacks and rice bags.
‘You said he knew more and you were stronger than him, so why did he lose?’
To them, Ming officers were too conservative.
In any dynasty, the military's thinking is the most conservative. For example, it is very slow to implement a new weapon. From the Jiajing period, bird guns were promoted, and now there are still three-eyed guns in Jiubian.
Just like Liu Chengzong still can't believe in blunderbuss.
Because the battlefield is a place of life and death, there is no opportunity for trial and error. People trust the familiar weapons, familiar tactics, and familiar systems more.
But the generals of the Lion Army are different. They have been in a certain death situation for a long time, and they must use whatever they get. To put it bluntly, no one alive now is dead.
People believe in their own wisdom and strength and benefit from it, further deepening this understanding.
Liu Chengzong was caught between these two types of people. He was different from others. Others' 100-year-old career was the end of their career. If it had been earlier than 20 or 30 years, there had been no drought and no decline in national power, managing a team or being a general manager would have been just the starting point for him. He believed in these new generals who were forced to become progressive forces, and he also believed that traditional generals must have their own strengths.
Li Bei pursed his lips and looked serious as he looked at him for a long time. Then he sighed and explained to everyone: "Bypassing the defense line is not for the purpose of bypassing the defense line."
"We are not familiar with the terrain. They are holding the difficult-to-attack mountain passes. There are forts behind the defense line, and there are forts behind the forts. The Lion Army is good at marching and cannons, and is overall stronger than the enemy, but the enemy has the advantage of the location."
"Can our food and grass be replenished? How many ammunition and horses do we have? How many soldiers' lives can we overcome step by step?"
Li Bei paused. Cao Yao was opening his mouth to defend himself when Liu Chengzong, who was sitting at the top, glared at him and tilted his head to the side, waiting for Li Bei to finish speaking.
Liu Chengzong knew what Cao Yao wanted to say even if he didn't listen. It was nothing more than plundering noble estates and he could always get food.
Li Bei looked around the generals in the hall and sighed deeply: "Anyone can win a battle with ample supplies of food and grass. Can our generals still win even if they run out of ammunition and food?"
Cao Yao and others were confused by the question.
After thinking about it, Cao Yao found that Li Bei was right. Since the rebellion with Liu Chengzong, he had hardly fought in a battle where he had run out of ammunition and food. Even hunger was a distant memory.
Wang Wenxiu sat on the side with his head lowered and picking his nails. He had been beaten. He and Yang Yao had been beaten. They were beaten so hard by the officers and soldiers that they could not find a way to escape. Otherwise, there would be no need to defect to Liu Chengzong.
Zhang Tianlin was silent when asked. Ever since he left the army, he had been living a carefree life. Although he had to eat a lot before taking over the throne of King Zhuangzi of Qin, he did not fight with the army when he was hungry.
Luo Rucai simply looked at each other and Li Laojiao, and the two of them covered their mouths to prevent themselves from laughing.
So why do you still need to fight when you run out of ammunition and food? Luo Caocao's troops are ruthless people who have been stationed for a whole winter without food and are fighting against themselves.
The generals laughed angrily at first, then fell into deep thought, and finally looked at Liu Chengzong one by one.
The reason why all of them are running out of ammunition and food is all because of Liu Chengzong.
Li Bei shook his head, feeling embarrassed to ask this question.
He never thought in his life that he would ask a group of generals who were born as thieves if they could fight after they ran out of ammunition and food.
At first glance, this situation seems to be the preserve of thieves. In fact, officers and soldiers always fight bravely when they are out of ammunition and food, and then lose the war.
In fact, in the final analysis, Li Bei was still dissatisfied. Maybe he didn't even realize it. He was dissatisfied not only for himself, but also for Cao Wenzhao and others.
It's more about resentment towards the imperial court.
"We have a lot of gunpowder, but it is not enough to blast through one fort after another. We have a lot of soldiers and horses, but it is not enough to bear the consumption of besieging the fort again and again."
Liu Chengzong nodded slowly. On the night when he couldn't sleep well, Fan Sanlang, who was on duty in the hall, was preparing gunpowder.
The cannon soldiers on the night watch consume gunpowder every night, load their guns at night, and knock out the gunpowder the next morning. Therefore, the guards are no longer willing to use granular gunpowder for the night watch, and use the gunpowder raw materials found in Nangqian to make their own.
However, this amount of raw materials can meet daily consumption, but once a war breaks out, it will not be replenished at all.
The same problem also occurred with grain, so Liu Chengzong was not in a hurry to attack. He hoped to create a good grain harvesting environment for Baili's nobles.
He asked: "Then General Li said that going around is not just for the sake of going around. What do you mean?"
"General, our army is more elite than theirs, and our generals are more united than their nobles, so every order of the General can be well executed."
Li Bei praised the generals of the Lion Army, and then said: "The defense line in front of them is now well-defended. Their army is composed of nobles and conscripted soldiers. Each of these people has his own territory, each has his own subordinates, and each has his own
thoughts."
Li Bei entered the state as he spoke. He stood up and walked around to the side. After signaling to Liu Chengzong for permission, he picked up a wooden whip, pointed at the back of the defense line on the map and said: "If you want these people to hold on to the fortress and maintain the defense line, there must be a fortress in the rear to support it."
, Tangqi should look for the location of these forts."
"If it goes as I expected, the rear fortress should be able to transport food, arrows, gunpowder and supplies to the surrounding areas. We are in enemy territory, and this is the front line where Baili and Nangqian faced off in the past. The enemy has a great advantage in transporting food and grass here.
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Li Bei raised his hand and drew a line along the Jinsha River: "If they mobilize properly and bypass the defense line to attack the Dege area, their troops will definitely be mobilized, and the grain roads here will be useless. The environment in which they transport grain and grass will be the same as ours."
Similar, this is one of them."
"Secondly, quickly bypassing the defense line will panic the enemy. If King Baili is not on the front line, his army will be scattered and become a scattered army. Even if the Dunyue Dorje people are on the front line and mobilized properly, each of them will
The nobles' march will also be fast and slow. If they don't have any gaps, we will create gaps."
All the generals listened with interest, and Cao Yao asked: "What should Nang Qian do? Don't give up?"
"The war in Nangqian started from last year to this year. The nobles within a radius of 200 miles in the southeast were uprooted, and the local grain and grass were collected. The land has become white. What is the use of them taking the opportunity to attack Nangqian?"
Li Bei's face was full of doubts: "The Lion Army is good at marching and fighting in the field, how can it guard the white ground and tie its own hands and feet?"
A few words awakened the dreamer, and Liu Chengzong and others suddenly realized... They were trapped by this land. In the past, they wanted the territory but no territory. Now they value the territory too much, so once they have laid down a piece of territory, they feel that they must keep it. p>
"I understand!" Liu Chengzong applauded with joy: "Just like in northern Shaanxi, leave them behind, beat those who come first, then those who come later, and finally those who can't be beaten,"
With Li Bei's help, Tang Qi of the Lion Army had a direction for investigation.
Tang Bing is not a secret spy. This force was set up for the Mongols in Monan. There is almost no need to hide their whereabouts. It is specially used to cover the battlefield. Therefore, sending them to detect intelligence is almost an open investigation.
Teams of Tang soldiers climbed over snow-capped mountains and walked through river valleys under the nose of the enemy. There were only five people in each pond and entered the enemy's controlled area. This is what they did. Even if they encountered the enemy, they would not be afraid or fight. p>
If there are many enemies, retreat one by one in other directions. If there are few enemies, just fight on horseback. Even the best-equipped Duokang cavalry is afraid of their three-eyed muskets.
However, the strength and location of both sides were basically transparent. Liu Chengzong's control area in the southeast of Nangqian was even more transparent to Baili's army. They could not tell whether a herdsman or hunter belonging to Baili or Nangqian belonged to Baili or Nangqian. The four-hundred-mile-long border is impossible to defend.
Both sides even had a mentality of deliberately letting their opponents see it. Bai Lijun hoped to make the opponent retreat in spite of difficulties, while Liu Chengzong hoped to show off his power and make his opponent surrender.
Tang Bing brought back the information much faster than Liu Chengzong imagined.
Dunyue Duoji's army deployed three layers of defense in an inverted triangle shape.
The slave army was recruited at the front, guarding each mountain pass with a small number of elite soldiers. They were building a camp at the mountain pass. Some soldiers saw groups of people on the road sending fur blankets to the camp.
It seems that King Bailey has made preparations for the winter defense of these mountain passes.
The Tang soldiers advanced against the troops sent by the common people to send Wula, and rushed thirty to fifty miles to the rear. Based on what they saw and heard, noble official villages and manors formed a second line of defense on the map.
The eight Guanzhai manors occupying the main transportation routes are the only way to transport grain and grass. Each one is built like a small fortress, and a large number of elite soldiers are stationed in them.
The minor nobles also stayed there to play and sing every night, and at the same time, Ula was assigned to let the common people deliver supplies to the front line.
Going further south is King Bai Li's last fulcrum on the front line. Regarding this fulcrum, Liu Chengzong could not even dream of what it was.
The last fulcrum of Dunyue Duoji's defense line was actually the Central Plains Dynasty's station for entering Tibet.
From the Dege territory to Qamdo, there are four post cities along the way that were built in the Yuan Dynasty and rebuilt in the early Ming Dynasty. They were the rear food routes for King Baili Dunyue Duoji. He relied on these post cities to transport supplies to the front line, supplemented by various nobles.
The manor formed a huge grain road to maintain the confrontation.
Looking at the important places marked on the map, Liu Chengzong smiled, "Good station."