Han Qian indeed considered that more cavalry were needed to pursue and defeat the enemy, so as to maximize the results of this battle.
Luoyang | The navy entered the Fen River and destroyed the Pujin Ferry Bridge over the Yu River, blocking the enemy's escape route to Luliang Mountain to the north and Guanzhong to the west. However, if the enemy was defeated, they could still escape to the northeast to Taiyue Mountain.
The southern foothills, or along the river valley on the east bank of Fen River and the western foothills of Taiyue Mountain, fled to Huo County in the north.
The valley in the lower reaches of Fenshui River is relatively open, but as you go north into Huo County in the north of Jinzhou, the two mountain ranges of Luliang Mountain and Taiyue Mountain press towards Fenshui River from the left and right, and the terrain becomes narrower, more dangerous and steeper.
The dangerous terrain in Huo County also divides the Taiyuan Basin in the upper reaches of Fenshui River and the valley in the lower reaches into two relatively independent and closed geographical units. Only the Fenshui River with fast flow and dangerous beaches is connected in the middle.
At present, the city in the northern part of Jinzhou, as well as the valley passes formed by the intersection of Taiyue Mountain, Wangwu Mountain, and the southwest section of Taihang Mountain, are currently under the control of the Mongolian army.
It is very likely that the Mongolian army will collect and defeat the troops in these fortresses before trying to counterattack, especially since the Mongolian army gathers the scattered cavalry very quickly. This is a factor that Han Qian has to consider.
Due to the narrow canyon north of Yuanqu, in order to ensure that the main troops and horses could deploy on the north slope of Wangwu Mountain in time in the early stage, almost all the heavy armored infantry moved into the scheduled starting combat positions. There were not even many horses inside and outside Yuanqu City.
Military horse.
A full set of heavy armored infantry weighs more than sixty or seventy kilograms when put together. They can march twenty to thirty miles on foot in a short period of time to conduct a surprise attack. The strongest infantry brigade generals can barely hold on, but if they want to
From the south of Jiangxian County to the territory of Huoxian County, it was too difficult to pursue and defeat the enemy in an open valley with a depth of more than 200 miles.
This is mainly because plans do not change quickly.
When Han Qian or the Military Intelligence Staff Office initially drafted a combat plan, they needed to comprehensively consider various factors. The prediction of the war situation cannot only think about the good side, but requires multiple trade-offs, and then use the existing military resources.
Make reasonable arrangements in the garrison directions on all sides.
In the early stage, we mainly hope to repel the enemy forces in the Fenshui River Valley and successfully capture the cities of Jiangxian, Quwo, Wenxi and Anyi. Even if we capture even one of the cities and gain a foothold in the Fenshui River Valley, we can defeat the Mongols.
The army gained strategic advantage.
No one had ever expected that such a beautiful battle of annihilation would be fought this winter.
Considering that the battle of Zhiguanxing may be delayed until the end of the year, a cavalry force must be left in western Henan to prevent the Dongliang Army from gathering cavalry to advance westward after the Yingshui River freezes.
Even so, except during the summer and autumn, the General Staff Office invested as much resources as possible to promote the cavalry of Shen Peng's unit. After autumn, Zhao Wuji was also asked to deploy Shen Peng and Li Xiu's troops in Changge and other places on the northwest line of Henan.
, so that it can be mobilized quickly when necessary.
It was not until noon the day before yesterday that Han Qian was expected to take advantage of the heavy fog to severely damage the Mongolian army. Han Qian flew a pigeon to send the order, and Li Xiu and Shen Peng led their troops to Yuanqu as quickly as possible to participate in the follow-up pursuit.
Of course, Han Qian thought that Li Xiu and the others would not be able to reach Yuanqu until two days at the earliest, and they would be able to use that time to carry out the finishing operations on the battlefield, and to replace the main cavalry force that was responsible for the main roundabout operations in the early stage, and to be responsible for the subsequent vigilance.
Han Qian did not expect that Li Xiu and Shen Peng would abandon the absolutely safe inside line and instead ride three horses at once - it was only in the past two years that they had the luxury of giving the cavalry troops such a high-standard configuration - from the Dongliang Army and The Mengzhou Army galloped wildly in the area controlled by the Mengzhou Army, covering a distance of three hundred miles in two nights and one day, and arrived at Yuanqu in time.
A large number of abandoned troops and horses were abandoned directly on the side of the road. Outside the east gate of Yuanqu, exhausted generals sat down on the frost-covered dry grass in the early morning.
There was no time to go to the city to rest. In order to save time, they did not even set up a tent. The generals sat on the ground and ate the steamed buns in the broth prepared in advance.
There were also many generals who were lying crooked, wrapped in blankets on the grass, snoring and falling asleep, but even after falling asleep, they still held the reins of their horses tightly in their hands.
"..." Han Qian asked someone to take the horse away and signaled to the generals who were awake on the left and right not to disturb them and not to get up to salute, so as not to disturb the soldiers who were already asleep on the spot. He, Zhao Ting'er, Xi Rong, Feng Liao, and Gu Qian , Qin Wen and others carefully walked into the city from the middle.
Yin Peng rushed back to Yuanqu City in advance, and his troops suffered heavy casualties in the early battle. Later, Su Lie and others who were responsible for staying in Yuanqu City were working with Li Xiu, Shen Peng, and Li Yan and other generals who had grown up in the past few years. , introducing the situation of yesterday’s battle.
Han Qian walked into the government office hall and motioned to Yin Peng and the others to continue talking. He sat aside with Zhao Ting'er, Feng Liao, Gu Qian, Qin Wen and others, and did not interfere with their discussion of military affairs.
"..." Yin Peng continued to introduce to Li Xiu, Shen Peng and the others, "Yesterday we fought in the fog, and a large number of defeated troops fled eastward. However, after nightfall yesterday, the stars and moon were in the sky, and the defeated troops continued to gather in Anyi and other places. It can be seen that We found that Wusu Dashi had fled to Yicheng, and did not want to see the defeated troops west of Jiangxian County being surrounded by us, so we sent someone to order them to find a gap between Jiangxian County and Quwo to break out and go north. Cao Ba, Zhao Ci, The four cavalry units of Lu Ze and Zhu Zhen fought for a day and a night. They were out of men and horses. They fought with the enemy cavalry for half a day and suffered heavy casualties. They are currently retreating to Quwo and Jiangxian cities to rest and recuperate. If the enemy decides to start from Breaking through Quwo and Jiangxian to the north, considering that Usu Dashi also gathered more than 10,000 cavalry in Yicheng, we will most likely lose a considerable part of the results..."
In the battle of Zhiguanxing, they could be said to have secured victory, but the key to how successful they were in the end and whether they could truly severely damage the Mongolian army's effective strength was the subsequent pursuit and rout.
In fact, throughout history, even if the Central Plains dynasty could repeatedly defeat the invading Huru, the cavalry did not have the advantage, so it was difficult to successfully fight a battle of annihilation, and it was difficult to inflict heavy damage on the invading enemy. Soon after the Hulu cavalry collapsed, They can gather again, causing long-term instability on the border.
Although they had rushed to Jiangxian County and Quwo at night to send thousands of military horses, which enabled some elite infantry to have the ability to pursue long distances, they simply used horse infantry formations to pursue and defeat the enemy. When they encountered a large group of enemy cavalry, , but you need to dismount and form a formation to have the combat effectiveness to withstand the impact of enemy cavalry, and it will appear quite passive.
In yesterday's battle, there were only 12,000 cavalry troops in total. They were tasked with covering the flanks and assaulting enemy camps before noon, and in the afternoon were tasked with cutting and intercepting the enemy's rout. They suffered heavy casualties. The number of people who are still fighting is as high as War horses, less than half.
Even though the Mongolian army had suffered heavy losses, and its cavalry troops suffered casualties several times their own, as long as half of their cavalry had the ability to continue fighting, the absolute number of their cavalry would still far exceed theirs.
In this case, the Mongolian army could easily take advantage of its cavalry to delay their pursuing troops in the open areas north of Quwo and Jiangxian County, so that more defeated troops could find openings to flee north.
Now for the generals of the Liang Army, asking one more Mongolian army to escape is equivalent to losing a piece of fat in their mouths, which is very painful, but they must ensure that they eat more results, and they must also maintain the Be vigilant enough not to make mistakes at the last critical moment and avoid headaches.
Li Xiu and Shen Peng arrived so quickly with more than 5,000 cavalry, and after resting for a long time, they could enter the Fenshui Valley in the north to join the battle. This would actually greatly enhance their ability to pursue and defeat the enemy.
Yin Peng, Su Lie, even Feng Liao, Gu Qian, Qin Wen and others were very excited. They had never thought that Li Xiu, Shen Peng and the others would dare to borrow a road directly from the enemy's territory to shorten the time for reinforcements to arrive.
"The enemy will not dare to defend Yicheng. If they abandon Yicheng, there are two ways to escape. They can escape all the way north to Huoxian County, and all the way east through the Meihe Ancient Road and Qinshui River Valley to escape into Zezhou. These two places are also They are all places that the Mongolian army must defend,"
After Li Xiu received the order letter, he had his own predictions about the development of the war in Fenshui Valley. He also had his own considerations on how he and Shen Peng would participate in the war. At this time, he looked at Han Qian and said,
"In Jiangxian County, intercepting the enemy at night between Quwo and Quwo may not guarantee the greatest results. Please allow me and General Shen to lead our troops to seize Meihe and Qinshui and block the enemy's escape route eastward." !”
Han Qian looked at the map laid out on the long desk.
Huo County is one hundred and fifty miles north of Yicheng, close to Taiyuan Prefecture, the heart of the Mengwu Nanyuan. Maybe Wusu Dashi's reinforcements from Taiyuan Prefecture have entered Huo County, and they rashly sent troops before the situation was ascertained. It would undoubtedly be too risky to attack Huo County from afar.
However, the Meihe and Qinshui River Valleys east of Huo County are located at the southern foot of Taiyue Mountain. They are the key pass connecting Hejin and Zezhou. The most famous battle between Qin and Zhao Changping in history, this area was the main passage for Qin soldiers to enter.
Before the war, almost all of Zezhou's soldiers and horses were transferred to Jinzhou and Puzhou to participate in the war.
At this time, Wusu Dashi was in a hurry and found it difficult to recruit more reinforcements from Zezhou into the Meihe and Qinshui areas to strengthen the defense of key passes.
Meihe was only sixty or seventy miles away from Yicheng. At the same time, they sent cavalry and horse infantry to fight directly against the north slope of Wangwu Mountain, which was only eighty or ninety miles away.
Li Xiu, Shen Peng and others rushed over. In order to be faster, even if they could not carry weapons, it would be difficult to storm the fortress. However, as long as they successfully blocked the passage into the Meihe and Qinshui River Valleys, they could intercept the defeated troops and prevent them from leaving. If you advance, you will be able to complete the set combat objectives.
At this time, there may be no way to prevent some of the Mongol cavalry from escaping north along the Fenshui River Valley to Huoxian County, but the enemy's infantry who run on two feet cannot escape from Meihe and Qinshui east into Zezhou. They had to walk an extra seventy or eighty miles to escape into Huo County, which would cost them their lives.
This arrangement meant that they could not only seize the key point between Taiyue Mountain and Wangwu Mountain to the east of Zezhou, but also intercept as many enemy infantry as possible and capture or annihilate them.
The determination to capture the lower reaches of the Fen River and annihilate 30,000 to 40,000 enemy troops is obviously different from capturing the lower reaches of the Fen River and annihilate 70 to 80,000 enemy troops.
"It's not too late for the soldiers to rest in Yuanqu for another two or three hours before setting off. You go find Wen Bo and see if he agrees with this battle plan," Han Qian said. "I will now hand over the command of the forward troops and horses to him. You also must be under his control.”
"Your Majesty, Su Lie requested to go with General Li and General Shen to see Commander Wen," Su Lie said.
The wounded soldiers stayed in Yuanqu to recuperate. There were still 3,000 soldiers under his command. He mounted his army horse directly from Yuanqu City and rushed to the southern foot of Taiyue Mountain. He formed a formation in a dangerous position to intercept the defeated enemy and snipe enemy reinforcements coming from the east. , played a greater role than the cavalry; Su Lie did not want to miss the final climax of the battle...
"Okay, you go to see Wen Bo together, and I will sit in charge of Yuanqu for you!" Han Qian said with a smile.