When the cavalry regiments composed of various cavalry units under the Ninth Army of the Tang Dynasty Army fought on the grassland, the Northern War was officially launched.
However, although troops have been officially dispatched, due to the vastness of the grassland and the fact that the two sides are currently fighting cavalry with very high mobility, although small-scale battles have begun to break out, large-scale battles will not happen for a while unless something unexpected happens.
I really can't fight.
Because unless both sides choose to fight unanimously, otherwise, if either side chooses to maneuver to avoid the fight, it will be difficult to start a fight.
Therefore, although four or five days have passed since they went north to the grasslands, Kang Changning's cavalry regiment is still wandering leisurely on the grasslands, occasionally raiding the Tatar tribes that are too late to evacuate. Most of the time, they are still marching, and
Their marching route was also somewhat erratic.
Because Kang Changning didn't set any specific destination for himself, as long as he could keep the Tatars away from the old site of Dongsheng City, that would be fine.
So one moment he wanted to run to Yulin Wei District, and the next moment he went straight north to Fengzhou, but halfway through, he suddenly turned around again, which made Anda Khan very troublesome even if he wanted to intercept him.
This also made Anda Khan regretful. If he had known better, he would have prepared for war in advance. In that case, he could concentrate more troops, instead of only having more than 40,000 cavalry like now.
Although these more than 40,000 cavalry are already quite large, they are still unable to outflank and surround the Southern Barbarians.
But if he can gather hundreds of thousands of cavalry, Ananda Khan will have many more tactics to choose from. At that time, he can divide his troops to outflank them in multiple ways. No matter how many southern barbarians run, they will be blocked in the end.
It's a pity that the problem of insufficient troops will not change because of his regret!
When Kang Changning took An Dahan in circles on the grassland, Deng Xide also led the army to leave the Great Wall. The infantry marching speed was naturally not fast, but because it was marching on a flat grassland terrain, it would not be too slow.
Once the march is started, it is possible to march twenty or thirty kilometers in one day.
It's a pity that Deng Xide's infantry was not strictly for fighting, but to cover the engineering troops and civilians building the city. Therefore, those who could not leave on their own had to keep the same speed as the civilians and a large amount of baggage. Otherwise, those
Civil servants and baggage troops will become easy targets for the Tatars.
Even though the main force of the Tatar cavalry was attracted by Kang Changning, Anda Khan was not stupid. He sent a small number of cavalry to continuously monitor the direction of the Great Wall. Therefore, when the main force of Deng Xide's infantry went north, Anda Khan would not be able to do anything in a few days.
Khan will also get the news.
After Anda Khan knows the news, he will definitely take countermeasures. If his side is not fully prepared, the Tatars do not need to send many troops. Just a few thousand cavalry can come to contain it, and they can cause damage to his main infantry force.
Great trouble.
Therefore, Deng Xide was very cautious and marched only fifteen kilometers on the first day. After arriving at the place, the army set up camp, while the engineers and civilians built the city on the spot.
They need to build an earthen fortress in a short time!
It has to be said that 3,000 professional engineers and more than 10,000 civilians, plus the infantry unit, also sent more than 20,000 people to help. With these 30,000 to 40,000 people working together, the construction speed was quite fast.
They used cement directly in some key parts, while most of the building structures were made from local materials, such as soil and stone.
It only took three days to build a bastion defense that looked ugly, but could actually garrison nearly a thousand people and deploy artillery.
Yes, this earthen fortress is more of a field fortification than a castle. It is very simple. Apart from the necessary fortifications, there is basically nothing else. As for the farming that many border towns and cities have
Nothing like that was done.
This is a very pure wilderness fortification!
After the construction was completed, Deng Xide left nearly a thousand men to garrison here, and then continued to advance with his troops.
His route forward is very clear, that is, go straight to the old site of Dongsheng City.
Each time, he only advanced one step and then stopped to build the castle.
When Deng Xide built two castles in succession and was preparing to build the third one, Anda Khan finally discovered the conspiracy of the Tang Army.
Damn it, they didn't come to us for a decisive battle at all, they came to build a castle and rebuild the Hetao defense line!
At first, Anda Khan thought that these southern barbarians would march northward in large numbers, just like the armies of the Central Plains Dynasty in ancient times. They would go northward to find the Tatars, then fight a decisive battle and drive them out of the grassland through military strikes.
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But now it seems that these southern barbarians have no such intention at all. The cavalry they sent is not to fight, but to attract their own attention, so as to cover their infantry in building cities and establishing defense lines.
If they were allowed to build all the way to Dongsheng City like this, no matter how vast the Fengzhou River and the Hetao were, there would probably be no way for them Tatars to survive!
"Don't worry about them, let's go south immediately to intercept their main infantry!" Ada Khan is also a decisive person. After realizing something was wrong, he immediately gave up chasing the Tang Army cavalry in front and chose to go south.
Intercept Deng Xide's infantry troops.
Anda Khan's cavalry came and left quickly. In just one night, Kang Changning discovered that the Tatars following them had gone to nowhere.
And the most important thing is that he doesn’t even know where these Tatars have gone!
He also ran out of the reconnaissance cavalry to monitor the Tatars behind him, but it has to be said that most of the reconnaissance cavalry he sent out were not easy to please in front of the Tatars.
There is no way, even though the Tang cavalry now has advantages in many aspects, it is still inferior to the Tatars in terms of individual combat capabilities and small-scale combat.
This is why Lu Yuzhi, the cavalry director of the Tang Army, repeatedly advised the cavalry generals to avoid small-scale battles as much as possible when fighting the Tatars, especially cavalry battles with less than a hundred people.
Because the Tatars have been on horses since they were young, and are skilled in bow and horse. They usually also have good martial arts, and are very good at fighting alone and small-scale battles.
As for the cavalry of the Tang Dynasty, many of them were children of farmers. They had never even touched a horse before joining the army. In just a few years of joining the army, they had to learn equestrian skills and fight immediately.
Because the training and combat of the cavalry in the Tang Dynasty focused more on unity and coordinated operations, and did not encourage and advocate the heroism of the cavalry. Their signature tactic was the wall charge.
When cavalry fights, discipline is strictly enforced. If your equestrian skills are average and your swordsmanship is average, and you are so good, don't rely on your own horsemanship and swordsmanship to win the battle. Instead, rely on the abilities of your comrades.
This also leads to a problem, that is, if one's own small-scale cavalry unit encounters an equal number of Tatar cavalry, the one who loses is often the Tang cavalry.
But if the fighting strength of both sides increased to 500 or more, the Tang cavalry would have a great chance of winning.
If there is a battle between 10,000 Tang cavalry and 10,000 Tatar cavalry, Lu Yuzhi can guarantee that his own cavalry can completely defeat the Tatar cavalry!
To put it simply, the Tang cavalry's combat had certain requirements on troop strength. Small-scale cavalry combat simply could not bring out the unique advantages of the Tang cavalry.
This situation was alleviated to a certain extent after the Tang cavalry was equipped with Suifa pistols on a large scale.
However, it is only a relief, and it does not say that it fundamentally solves the problem!
To completely solve this problem, you need to have a large number of cavalrymen who have been professionally trained since childhood, have lived on horseback for more than ten years, and have strong personal martial arts skills.
It is a pity that there are not many such cavalry troops in the Tang Dynasty. On the contrary, almost most of the Tatars have such cavalry.
Sometimes, Li Xuan also thought, or he could simply follow the example of the Qian Ming Dynasty and recruit the Chahar Tribe and Duoyan Sanwei and other tribes and let them be used for his own purposes.
But it was just a thought, but Li Xuan didn't really do it. These tribes are too independent. If you want to force them to be dismantled and integrated, and they are completely integrated, they won't do it. Moreover, in this way, you will lose
These tribes who lost their independence and nomadic characteristics and became farmers were of little use to the Tang Dynasty.
But if it is not integrated, then this is a time bomb, and we may have to engage in various efforts to win over.
The Tang Empire never attracted foreigners!
Therefore, Li Xuan would rather train a group of peasant children to become cavalry than directly recruit tribes such as the Chahar tribe and let them be used for his own purposes.
At most, you can just give them some support and let them contain Anda Khan. Once Anda Khan is solved, you still have to deal with them.
In the entire East Asia region, Li Xuan would not allow other independent forces that could even be enemies of the Tang Dynasty to exist.
In the past, there was no real threat to the Li family of Goryeo. Not only were they killed by Li Xuan, but now the Fuso Archipelago was also tortured by the Tang Dynasty. There were wars for years, and the wars became more and more intense. The wars not only caused a large number of
Soldiers were killed and injured, which resulted in a large reduction in food production and a large number of civilian casualties.
According to an observation report by the Osumi Prefecture authorities in Ryukyu Prefecture, the total population of Fuso has decreased by at least ten percent in the past ten years.
Moreover, due to war, reduced food production, and declining population, these three points have caused the entire Fuso Islands to fall into a vicious cycle, causing the population to become smaller and smaller.
Osumi Prefecture authorities have judged that if the war in the Fuso area continues, the total population of the Fuso Islands may decrease by more than 20% within five years.
Ten years from now, it is estimated that half of the population will be gone!
The Osumi County authorities were very proud to say in their report that they did not waste a single soldier, and achieved what even the Yuan Dynasty could not do simply by selling ordnance!
And in the process, they also made a lot of money!
They even suggested that those arms dealers be given a few titles. The actions of these arms dealers were as important as the landing of a hundred thousand troops on the Fuso Islands!
For such meritorious subjects, even if they are not given a title, it is still okay to issue a few commendation documents!
Faced with such a proposal, Li Xuan naturally agreed!
Therefore, many maritime merchants engaged in Oriental trade today have received the title of patriotic merchant!