The first thousand two hundred and three chapters do not go away
As Kang Changning's cavalry advanced eastward, and the main force of the Tatars followed suit, Deng Xide also breathed a sigh of relief!
Before, he was worried that these Tatars would remain unmoved, ignore Kang Changning's cavalry troops, and continue southward. In this case, the cavalry would run into his main infantry.
At that time, things would not be so easy to handle, because under the coercion of the cavalry, he definitely could not successfully lead his troops to continue northward and then penetrate directly into the old site of Dongsheng City.
He immediately ordered the troops to speed up their march. He wanted to reach the old site of Dongsheng City and insert a big nail there before the Tatars could react!
And there they waited for the Tatars to come and give them a bloody blow, so as to prevent an unexpected attack and kill a large number of the enemy's effective forces, thus achieving the strategic goal set by the Holy Emperor.
Deng Xide led the infantry all the way north. While marching, he did not forget to build some small forts. These small forts are called small forts, but they can also be bastions that can garrison hundreds of people.
These castles built with earth fortifications are very crude, and if they are not repaired later, they will probably collapse in a short time, but these shortcomings are nothing now.
Because what is needed now is speed, and at the same time, in the tactical positioning of the Ninth Army, these temporarily built fortresses can be said to be fortresses, let alone field defense fortifications.
Their role is to connect an entire long logistics transportation line in series to achieve early warning and defense functions.
And although these are extremely simple fortresses, their actual defense capabilities are not bad, because each fortress will have about 500 people staying behind, half of the main force and half of the reserve division, and equipped with artillery.
With 500 troops fully equipped with guns and artillery for defense, the Tatars probably couldn't capture them even if they gave them thousands of soldiers. If the Tatars were really willing to pay thousands of casualties to capture these fortresses, Deng Xide would even laugh!
One infantryman for ten cavalrymen, big profit!
If he really wants to fight like this, if he fights a few more similar battles, his ninth army will be able to consume all the young men of the Tatars!
But how many people did the Tang Empire have? How many people did the Tatars have?
To put it bluntly, even if the infantry of the Ninth Army was wiped out on the grassland, with the empire's abundant reserves of soldiers and ordnance, it would be able to immediately redeploy 40,000 to 50,000 troops and put them into the battlefield again!
Even rebuilding it won’t take more than a few months!
In terms of manpower consumption, if ten Tatars put together, they are no match for the Tang Empire!
A population of 150 million is not just for viewing. If it really needs to be mobilized, the empire can pull out an army of millions of people in minutes. Although that would bankrupt the entire empire's finances, but really
At a critical moment, who cares whether military spending is sufficient?
If you don’t have money to recruit volunteers, the worst case scenario is conscription. These days, there are so many young men who are willing to serve as soldiers without getting paid. Even if you don’t want to, you can still recruit men. No matter what type of regime, you don’t say you don’t want to be a soldier.
There are situations where the soldiers don't have to go.
Although the Tang Empire now implements a recruitment system, there are also some regulations related to compulsory soldiers, but they are temporarily limited to retired soldiers and militia units. In case of war, the military can recruit retired soldiers and militiamen to participate in the war at any time.
, refusal would be treason.
Although there is no forced recruitment for ordinary young men, if they really want to be recruited, it is just a matter of an imperial edict.
However, Li Xuan would not do this unless absolutely necessary!
With the huge population of the Tang Empire, even if it was to fight a large-scale war, it would not require forced recruitment. This was a last resort for countries with a small population. In the Datang Empire, there were only active soldiers, retired soldiers and militia.
The total number of soldiers is more than two million. During the war, a large number of volunteers will certainly be recruited, at least in the millions.
There is no country on earth today that can completely deplete the more than three million soldiers of the Tang Empire and force the Tang Empire to recruit ordinary young men.
This is why the Tang Empire has never been in a hurry to use a compulsory military system. It only uses a recruitment and mobilization system that combines volunteers, retired soldiers, and militia.
This can not only ensure the combat effectiveness of the troops, but also avoid over irritating the people.
The Tang Empire was not afraid of anyone when it came to consumption, especially population consumption, not even direct confrontation with the whole world!
The Tatars probably knew this and would not be so reckless as to attack these seemingly simple earthen fortresses, but in fact each one was a meat grinder.
Some of the core buildings of these earth fortresses are made of cement, and most of them are made from local materials, such as mud, stone, wood, etc. They are not large in size and the conditions are very simple.
Each fortress is fifteen kilometers apart and fifteen kilometers apart. This is also very particular.
First of all, this distance is comparable to the post stations in the mainland. It is the limit distance for a horse to gallop quickly. We can rely on these earthen fortresses to establish an effective post station communication system.
In addition, among these forts, there will also be some small forts with only a few people stationed there, which are used to light beacons to send messages.
At the same time, the distance of fifteen kilometers is exactly the distance that most of the heavy transport troops on foot can move every day. If the distance is slightly farther, the daylight time of the day will not be enough, and it will be too short and wasted.
If there is an emergency and nearby friendly troops march quickly on foot to support, fifteen kilometers is about three or four hours of marching time. It can be faster if there is a carriage on the way.
From the Great Wall defense line to Dongsheng City and even Fengzhou, the straight-line distance on the map is actually only more than a hundred kilometers. Taking into account issues such as road conditions and detours, the plan set by the Ninth Army is to start from Datong Prefecture.
, from east to west, build ten such earth fortresses along the way, all the way to Dongsheng City.
In fact, such a line of earthen forts, which was the outer defense line of the Ming army at that time, generally passed through Yulin Guard, Yunchuan Guard, and Dongsheng Guard, with a total length of more than 100 kilometers.
Even though this line of defense seems very short and inconspicuous in the vast grassland, this short span of more than 100 kilometers presents a situation like a sharp sword, directly inserted into the hinterland of the grassland and controlling
The connection between the eastern Hetao area and the Tumochuanchuan area.
If the Tang Empire had succeeded in building this line of defense, the situation in the entire northern direction would have repeated itself as in the early Ming Dynasty. The nomads on the grasslands would have felt as if a dagger had been inserted into their hearts, even if they were holding on forcibly.
Yes, but in the end it was unavoidable to flee north in a hurry.
Of course, it was not just the situation that existed in the early Ming Dynasty. In fact, for thousands of years, most of the wars between the Central Plains dynasties and the grassland nomads were fought around this small area.
In the small area of Fengzhou, there have been many wars between ancient and Jin Dynasties, and the outcome of most of the wars that develop here will directly affect the situation in the entire north.
If it weren't for the importance of this area, the civil and military ministers of the Tang Dynasty would not have been clamoring to regain the Hetao and rebuild border cities such as Yulin City, Fengzhou City and Dongsheng City.
If the above three places can be controlled, then if these three cities support each other, it will basically declare that they can completely control the eastern part of the Hetao and the Fengzhouchuan area, which is equivalent to pushing the entire north direction hundreds of kilometers northward.
, so that the Great Wall at the rear no longer has to bear huge pressure.
This is also the reason why almost all the Central Plains dynasties have wanted to control these areas throughout the ages. Of course, not many can do this. Even if they can do it for a while, it is difficult to maintain it for a long time.
But they all have the same characteristic, that is, the Central Plains dynasties that control the above-mentioned areas are often the Central Plains dynasties at their peak, the kind that can defeat the surrounding natives.
Only the Central Plains Dynasty at its peak had enough energy to maintain its military presence in the above-mentioned areas. If the situation worsened slightly, it would often be unsustainable.
Guarding the frontier is quite expensive!
Today's Tang Empire is just in the founding period, and its military strength is also at its peak. Naturally, it does not dare to fall behind, and is prepared to follow the example of its predecessors and go north to the grasslands to control the Hetao.
This is basically the old routine of the past thousands of years, and Anda Khan can use his toes to figure out what the Nanbarbarians in the south want to do.
But if you want to go north and control the Hetao, you have to ask him if Anda Khan agrees!
As early as when Anda Khan, the prodigal and coward of Zhengde Laoer, was defeated in Shandong and caused heavy losses to him, Anda Khan, he Anda Khan had been guarding against that lowly bandit emperor who wanted to go north that day.
In recent years, he has frequently launched wars, attacking the Chahar tribe and the Oara people, in order to seize more grazing land, more people, and hoard more power. What is this hoarded power used for?
, just to fight against the Tang Dynasty!
Now, the Tang Dynasty finally couldn't help but take action. Although it was a little unsure, Anda Khan knew that it was time to fight.
The preparations over the past six or seven years are just for today!
If you survive this wave, you can buy peace for at least five years or even longer, and give yourself more time to develop, so that you can completely annex the Chahar tribe and the Oara people, and finally swallow up the Tubo people as well.
If you wait until five or even ten years later to fight the Tang Dynasty, you may have a huge advantage, because at that time, so many years have passed since the founding of the country, and the Tang Dynasty will most likely have enjoyed peace for many years.
Like most Central Plains dynasties, they will slowly lose their enterprising spirit!
Decades later, the Tang Dynasty over there will be a pre-Ming Dynasty, allowing its own cavalry to go south and plunder!
If you can't resist this wave, there is no hope. You can only make the war longer, fight slowly, consume slowly, attack their logistics supply lines, make them unable to support, and finally retreat on their own initiative.
As for completely withdrawing from Fengzhou and withdrawing from the Loop!
Anda Khan has never thought of this possibility!
This is the foundation of his 30,000 right-wing households. If they lose this place, they will become homeless dogs. In the end, like those poor Wala people, they will run to the west to survive, be divided, annexed, and finally disappear from history completely.