The first thousand two hundred and six chapters of the trap
The advantage of cavalry over infantry is definitely not that individual soldiers have higher combat effectiveness, or that they can charge into battle, but rather that they have mobility.
This kind of mobility is also why Anda Khan dared to lead 40,000 cavalry to intercept Deng Xide's army of 60,000, and he was not afraid of more than 15,000 cavalry behind him!
Because he can leave at any time as long as he wants, and Deng Xide's infantry troops are absolutely unable to pursue them and are unlikely to be trapped in a flanking attack.
At the same time, this mobility also brings him another strategic advantage, that is, he only needs to stay five kilometers away to create a huge deterrent force on Deng Xide's troops, forcing them to be unable to move!
Although Deng Xide was not afraid of them, he still had to use two infantry divisions as the core, plus two reserve divisions to station defenses on the periphery, constructing an entire prototype defense line to protect the baggage, engineers, and civilians in the inner periphery.
wait.
This kind of stalemate is what Anda Khan wants to see!
The main force restrained them, and then divided his troops to attack the food road. After the food road was completely cut off, these infantrymen were an extremely delicious delicacy that he could devour at any time.
Deng Xide had long expected Anda Khan's strategy and had taken precautions against it.
This kind of large-scale battle involving tens of thousands of people was something the Tang Empire had been preparing for for many years, and all kinds of situations had been taken into consideration.
Among the many issues to be considered, how to protect the safety of logistics transportation has become the top priority.
Based on its own experience, the characteristics of the numerous Anda Khan cavalry, the flat grassland terrain and many other characteristics, the Tang Army adopted a multi-pronged approach:
The first is to build forts along the way, every fifteen kilometers or so. The main ones are simple earthen forts, with medium and large forts as the core. There are also various WeChat forts along the way, and there are only a few people stationed in the smoke forts.
The second is centralized transportation and heavy escort. This refers to the escort system carried out by the Navy. In order to ensure the safety of merchant ships and avoid pirate attacks, the Navy often adopts a centralized escort system. They will gather many merchant ships that are going to the Southeast Asian region.
Get up and form a large-scale merchant fleet, and the navy will directly dispatch a squadron to escort along the way. Although the operation is troublesome and not free for the merchant ships, the safety is very high, at least so far.
The large merchant fleet of the Tang Dynasty has not been attacked yet.
Because many or even a dozen merchant ships are gathered together, which is an extremely powerful force in itself, and they are also escorted by many professional warships of the navy. Not to mention those pirates, even if the Portuguese navy wants to attack, they will
You have to consider it carefully.
Later, this trick was learned by the Spanish. Their global trade also used a large number of merchant ships to go to sea together, escorted by battleships and even battleships. No one dared to provoke them along the way, even the Portuguese could only watch.
Watch them swagger across the Indian Ocean and return to Europe.
Today, the Army also refers to the Navy's centralized escort system, concentrating a large number of transportation troops, transporting a large amount of materials at one time, and then directly dispatching heavy troops to escort.
Although using a large number of troops to escort will affect the combat effectiveness of the frontline troops to a certain extent, it is nothing compared to the security of the logistics line.
Third, a large number of four-wheeled carriages were used.
The Tang Army had already begun to use four-wheeled carriages during the Northern Expedition, and they used them more during the Liaodong Campaign. At the same time, some of the four-wheeled carriage technologies were also widely used in other aspects, such as artillery. At present, the Datang Army
The movement of artillery basically relied on horses to pull it, and the most critical thing here was the artillery carriage. This artillery carriage was actually a variant of a four-wheeled carriage.
However, although four-wheeled carriages are easy to use, the cost is still relatively high, and they also require a large number of horses, and the Tang Dynasty is short of horses.
Therefore, during the Unification War, although the Tang Army used thousands of various four-wheeled carriages as transportation force, the main force was still various two-wheeled carriages and wheelbarrows.
After the Unification War, the Army obtained a large number of Mongolian horses. Although the Army did not like to use Mongolian horses to equip cavalry units, as service horses, Mongolian horses were still very good. At the same time, the domestic southwest horses were also used to the extreme.
Therefore, the army began to install a large number of various types of four-wheeled carriages. Together with the human-powered wheelbarrows, the four-wheeled carriages have become the main means of transportation of the Tang Army.
As for the two-wheeled carriages, although they are still in service, they are only equipped in some areas in the south. In the northern plain terrain, the military has basically completely replaced them with four-wheeled carriages.
On the plain terrain of the north, the advantages of these four-wheeled carriages are really great. Their biggest advantage is their large cargo capacity. The heavy-duty four-wheeled carriages installed by the army can carry an astonishing 1.2 tons of cargo.
, and even if it is fully loaded with 1.2 tons of cargo, its speed is still very fast when the road is good.
This also means that although the number of horses required by heavy-duty carriages is relatively large, the cargo capacity is also large. Taken together, the transportation cost is smaller than that of two-wheeled carriages. Using the same number of horses, using four-wheeled carriages,
It can transport more goods faster than a two-wheeled carriage.
In addition, another great advantage of tall heavy-duty four-wheeled carriages is that the tall body has good defensive capabilities. When facing an enemy attack, just connect these carriages end to end, and they can instantly transform into a small outdoor carriage.
fortress.
Soldiers hiding inside can easily resist attacks by several times or even more enemies.
It has to be said that the development and application of four-wheeled carriages greatly improved the logistics and transportation of the entire Datang Army.
Fortresses along the way, centralized escorts, and four-wheeled carriages, these three magic weapons gave the Tang Army the confidence to dare to go out of the Great Wall and risk their lives against the Tatars. Because of this, they could basically ensure that they could maintain their position without a large number of cavalry.
Operation of supply lines.
As long as the logistics line is continuous, the Tang Army will have nothing to fear!
A mere Tatar is nothing!
Deng Xide was so confident in his logistics line that he did not even send anyone to tell Kang Changning to let his cavalry cover the supply line, because in the strategic plan of the Ninth Army, there was no plan for the cavalry corps to cover the supply line. The cavalry corps,
They can move around on their own to find fighters. As for the logistics line issues, the infantry can solve them on their own.
Otherwise, the maintenance of the logistics line will require cavalry, and this battle will not be fought. It will be impossible to win if it is restricted everywhere.
Deng Xide is full of confidence, and Anda Khan is also full of confidence!
Going directly to a camp with tens of thousands of people would not be something he would do unless it was absolutely necessary, but attacking a grain road was very simple.
He sent a cavalry force of five thousand men and quickly went south to cut off the supply line. He believed that he would receive good news in a short time, and then waited for the southern barbarians in front of him to collapse due to the lack of supplies.
At that time, it’s time to reap the results!
Anda Khan was confident and patient, so he was not in a hurry and just hung around outside.
At this time, Kang Changning's cavalry regiment finally rushed back, but he was also in no hurry to join the main infantry force. The main infantry force had 50,000 to 60,000 people. If he wanted to defend, An Dahan's cavalry simply couldn't.
If you break through it, it will definitely be safe for a while.
He has his own mission, which is to find opportunities to destroy the Tatar cavalry!
As a result, a rather embarrassing scene appeared on the grassland. Deng Xide's infantry defended tightly, covering the engineers and militia to continue building the city. Three days later, after the city building was completed, they ignored the eagerly watching Tatars from the outside and continued to slow down.
March forward slowly.
The two sides are several kilometers apart. No matter how fast the cavalry is, it will take time to rush up. What's more, more than 10,000 of our own cavalry are also watching covetously from the outside, waiting for the Tatars to stupidly rush up to attack our infantry troops, and then
They might as well rush up and stab the Tatars.
Such a march was not fast, and even the Tatars sent small-scale troops to attack, causing their own army to occasionally suffer some losses. However, Deng Xide did not care about the casualties of dozens or hundreds of people. In this strategic situation,
The battle was nothing, he didn't even blink.
Anda Khan looked at the situation in front of him, but he was not in a hurry!
Because he is waiting!
Wait for the day when the partial division cuts off the food road, and wait for the arrival of more tribal cavalry!
Now, the total number of troops under his command is only 40,000, and he has also sent 5,000 cavalry to intercept the grain road. He only has 35,000 cavalry on hand. This amount of troops is definitely not enough. He is waiting for more tribal troops to arrive.
.
The grasslands under his rule are so wide and there are many tribes. After the troops of many tribes arrive one after another, the total number of cavalry on hand can exceed one hundred thousand or more.
At the beginning of the year, he fought a battle with the Oara people, and the number of troops dispatched reached 150,000 cavalry!
Although time is a little tight now, if he is given another half month, he will be able to gather at least 100,000 cavalry. Then he will have to see what these southern barbarians in front of him can do.
Anda Khan waited patiently, monitoring Deng Xide's main infantry force and Kang Changning's cavalry regiment from a long distance, but had no idea of launching a large-scale attack.
Deng Xide was naturally happy to see this scene, because one day later, he ran out for more than ten kilometers and then started building the fourth castle.
If he builds a few more buildings, he can fight all the way to the old site of Dongsheng City.
As for the safety of the several earth fortresses behind him, he was not worried. There were only less than a thousand troops stationed there. If those Tatars were really ruthless, it would be inevitable to attack them.
But if the Tatars want to defeat them, it is impossible without killing thousands of people!
The Tatars exchanged one thousand people for several thousand, which was a huge profit, and even if they were captured, Deng Xide could send troops to counterattack and then garrison them. If he came here a few more times, he probably wouldn't have to go to Dongsheng City.
The Tatars can be wiped out on the road.
Anda Khan indeed had no intention of attacking those seemingly simple earthen fortresses. He just sent more than two thousand people to try to attack the third earthen fortress, and gave up decisively after killing and injuring hundreds of people.
.
These earthen fortresses were clearly traps, traps to lure them to attack. If they were to fight through them one by one, all of them Tatars would be dead.