The armistice and mutual trade treaty signed between the Tang Dynasty and the Tatars was destined to not last long.
The emperors and ministers of the Tang Dynasty knew this, and the Tatars were also well aware of this.
Because of the relationship between the Central Plains Dynasty and the northern grasslands, they have been in a state of mutual hostility for thousands of years!
When one of the parties is strong, it will inevitably launch a war, attack the weaker party, and beat the weaker party into submission. However, when both parties are evenly matched, they will maintain a fragile balance of confrontation with each other.
But it's rare for both parties to sit down and make friends calmly.
The war between the Tang Dynasty and the Tatars is bound to break out, and the timing of the outbreak will be either when the Tang Dynasty has completed the war and is preparing to launch an attack first, or when the Tatars have completely unified the grasslands and then moved south in a big way.
This was also the reason that both parties had relatively loose requirements for the contract. The Tang Dynasty did not dwell on some minor issues and agreed to trade with each other, even providing a batch of matchlock guns.
The Tatars also opened their mouths and promised to supply a large number of horses and even high-quality war horses.
In all this, the purpose of both parties is very simple, even consistent, that is to gain time!
Just when the Tatar mission and the imperial envoy sent by the Tang Dynasty left Jinling City, Li Xuan convened an imperial army meeting to discuss how to deal with the strategy of northern border security in the next five years.
At the imperial army meeting, Li Xuan repeatedly emphasized the importance of cavalry, asked the Army to maintain its emphasis on the development of cavalry, and put forward specific plans for the development of cavalry, requiring the Army to increase the total size of cavalry to 60,000 in the next five years.
Ride above!
Regarding the strategic requirement of 60,000 cavalry put forward by Li Xuan personally, although most of the army generals felt the pressure and difficulties in their hearts, no one dared to say that it was impossible to do it in front of Li Xuan, but they all insisted
I reluctantly agreed.
After all, 60,000 cavalry sounds like a lot, but it's not impossible as long as you work harder.
At present, the main body of cavalry in the Tang Army is mainly the divisional cavalry regiments in each infantry division and the cavalry battalions in the mixed regiments. In addition, the First Cavalry Brigade must be added.
As for the Guards Cavalry Regiment of the Guards, it does not belong directly to the Army and is not included in the statistics.
According to the existing establishment of the Tang Army, each mixed regiment has a cavalry battalion, but this cavalry battalion is much smaller than the previous cavalry establishment. To be more precise, it is actually an expanded cavalry team.
There are four cavalry platoons directly under the battalion, with approximately 250 cavalry.
Each infantry division should be assigned a light cavalry regiment, with approximately 680 cavalry.
The above-mentioned light cavalry are all equipped with cavalry swords, cavalry lances, and pistols.
Specifically, each cavalry regiment has four cavalry teams, and each team has three cavalry platoons. Each cavalry row has two officers, two messengers who serve as officers and guards, and fifty ordinary cavalry. The standard establishment is fifty-four.
ride.
Each team has a standard total of 150 ordinary cavalry, eight officers, and 12 messengers who also serve as officers and guards, with a total strength of 170.
In addition, each cavalry regiment also has a cavalry artillery team, equipped with four lightweight five-pound cannons specially developed for the cavalry, and then there are also auxiliary units such as baggage teams and groom teams.
Therefore, although there are only about 680 combat cavalry in each light cavalry regiment, with other auxiliary troops, the total strength can reach more than 800, and the horses attached are not more than 600, but almost the same.
Nearly a thousand horses.
But there is currently no such full-scale cavalry regiment in the Tang Dynasty!
Yes, not one!
Because the Tang Army lacked horses, although all divisional cavalry battalions were reorganized into cavalry regiments, the actual number of cavalry did not increase much. The number of cavalry regiments in relatively good condition was only over 500 in the north.
It is just a combat cavalry, while the cavalry regiments of other divisions generally only have more than 400 cavalry.
Strictly speaking, there are currently fifteen divisional cavalry regiments in the entire Tang Dynasty, and ten mixed regiments are large-scale cavalry regiments. However, in fact, the total number of combat cavalry is only about 10,000 cavalry, and the overall shortage is about 20%.
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Even if the approximately 3,000 cavalrymen of the First Cavalry Brigade are included, the total number of light cavalry in the entire army is only about 13,000!
However, the cavalry strength of the Guards is not weak. The Guards accepted a large number of horses captured during the Northern Expedition, allowing the Guards to directly form a new cavalry regiment. Therefore, the size of the Guards Cavalry Regiment was
The expansion has been quite dramatic, from the previous four light cavalry teams to twelve light cavalry teams, with the cavalry size reaching more than 2,000 cavalry.
The expansion in scale directly led to the establishment of the Second Cavalry Regiment of the Guards on the Guards side. Therefore, in the seventh year of Xuanping, the Guards now has two cavalry regiments, each with six light cavalry regiments.
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However, Li Xuan's request was made to the Army and had nothing to do with the Guards. It was not easy for the Army to expand the size of the cavalry to more than 60,000 people in just a few years.
Why did Li Xuan put forward the figure of 60,000 cavalry? It was because he made the request directly based on the size of the enemy's cavalry, that is, the Tatars and Oaras.
The enemies on the northern grasslands have tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of cavalry. According to the intelligence of the Military Intelligence Department, if there is a large-scale war with the Tatars, if our side takes the defensive, the Tatars will be limited by logistics.
Due to supply issues, the total number of cavalry that can be dispatched should be less than 100,000, and more likely, around 50,000 to 60,000.
But if our own side takes the initiative and goes deep into the grassland, the Tatars, who have no worries about logistical supplies, can even organize about 200,000 horsemen to block our own attack.
One is active attack, the other is northern defense, and the number of cavalry that the Tatars can mobilize is completely different.
Because of the former, they can only select a few cases to participate in the initiative to attack south. But in the case of the latter, Anda Khan can even recruit adult men from each tribe for defensive operations. For the nomadic tribes where all the people are soldiers, defensive operations are
Under such circumstances, it is extremely possible to bring in 200,000 cavalry.
If we want to take the initiative in the northern grasslands, launch a war, kill the Tatars, or even sweep all the way north and west, according to Li Xuan, 50,000 elite cavalry is the minimum number.
In the future, it is best to increase this number to 100,000 or even 200,000 or more!
After all, whether heading north to the grasslands or west to Central Asia, in the vast plains, deserts, Gobi Desert and other terrains, the main force will become cavalry, and the infantry will be reduced to auxiliary forces.
The cavalry opened up and expanded the territory in the front, and the infantry followed up, built cities on the spot, maintained supply lines, and finally went deep into the hinterland of the enemy's country, destroying their country, plundering their wealth, killing their young men, and taking away their wives and daughters!
To accomplish such a feat, the Tang Army must have an elite and large number of cavalry!
As for how the army can achieve this, Li Xuan will not worry about it for the time being. Anyway, the army throws out more than 20 million in military expenses every year. If these generals cannot do it, Li Xuan does not mind killing some of them and dismissing others.
, replace it with another group of generals.
Li Xuan set a goal for the Army. The Army was also in a difficult situation. Sixty thousand cavalry in five years was not an easy task.
What's more, there are currently no large-scale horse-producing areas in the Tang Dynasty, and expanding the cavalry requires a large number of war horses.
In the mutual trade with the Tatars, the number of war horses that can be purchased every year is fixed, only six thousand, not more, not less.
Fortunately, the places where the Tang Dynasty can obtain horses are not only the Tatars, Oara people and Turpan Khanate, but even the Yarkand Khanate, which is not currently bordering the actual control area of the Tang Dynasty.
A caravan was sent to secretly trade horses with the Tang Dynasty.
The northwest region is currently also an important channel for the Tang Dynasty to obtain horses!
In addition, the Tang Dynasty also began to promote horse breeding in the northern region. Not only did it officially establish horse farms to raise horses, but it also encouraged private people to raise horses. Of course, the Tang Dynasty would not force people to raise horses like other stupid dynasties.
Horse's.
The Tang Dynasty encouraged private people to raise horses through official procurement!
At present, the cost of obtaining horses from the northern grasslands and even the northwest region for the Tang Dynasty is very high. If this cost is directly transferred to domestic procurement, it will be enough to encourage some people in areas suitable for horse breeding to raise horses.
Li Xuan personally ordered the army to develop cavalry. Naturally, he was preparing for the war in advance!
But even if there is a war with the Tatars, it will take several years. Now, the military strategic focus of the Tang Dynasty is still in the southwest, even if it is in Liaodong, it cannot compare.
Some time ago, a battle report came from the Liaodong Peninsula. It was said that the Liaodong temporary regiment launched a landing, directly attacked the Jinzhou Acropolis, and finally captured the city. However, this incident only made Li Xuan take another look at the map of the Liaodong Peninsula.
, and then stopped paying attention.
In the near future, he will only pay attention to the war in Sichuan!
After the time entered May, all the Tang Army units fighting in Huguang had basically ended the war. The First Army, the Second Army, and the Fifth Army joined forces to sweep the Huguang area north of the Yangtze River, and successively captured Anlu Prefecture.
, the remaining areas of Jingzhou Prefecture, De'an Prefecture, Xiangyang Prefecture and other areas.
Subsequently, the Fifth Army continued to move north, then entered the Shaanxi area and entered Hanzhong Prefecture.
The First Army and the Second Army are stationed in the east of Badong and are making final preparations for entering Sichuan!
Even the 4th Infantry Division has good news. After many months of hard fighting, the 4th Infantry Division finally captured Dali in a new round of offensive launched this year, although it failed to completely annihilate King Mu.
department, but it also severely damaged the department.
King Mu's troops fled in embarrassment with thousands of remaining soldiers, and finally fled into the Burmese area. The Fourth Infantry Division submitted the report just to ask for instructions whether to continue to pursue them. If they continued to pursue them, they would enter Burmese territory!