As the most important part of the Hetao strategy, the construction of the Hetao defense line is also the focus of the Ninth Army and even the Army.
The Hetao defense line starts from Youwei County under the jurisdiction of Datong Prefecture, passes through the former Mingyu Linwei site, Zhenluwei old site, Chi'er Mountain, Yunnei, Junzijin, and finally reaches Dongsheng City.
The overall direction is not a straight line. Although the overall direction is west, it is first to the northwest, then slightly to the southwest, and then slightly to the northwest. The first half is generally along the Hun River, and the middle part is straight into the Yellow River. After reaching the Yellow River, it is
Follow the Yellow River to Dongsheng City.
Along such a line, the Tang Army has built fourteen cities of different sizes in the past few months. The most important city among them is naturally the westernmost city of Dongsheng.
Next are the two more important cities, Yulin City and Zhenlu City.
These three cities are basically heavily garrisoned. Needless to say, Dongsheng City is relatively large in scale, while Yulin City and Zhenlu City are also relatively important. Although time is limited and the scale of the rebuilt city is not large, the garrison is not
There are few, basically maintaining a garrison of more than 3,000 people.
These cities are located in dangerous locations and are important strongholds in the Hetao defense line. Naturally, the Army of the Tang Dynasty also strictly guarded and defended them. If the Tatars were sure of defeating them, they would have done so before. However, they also knew how to forcefully attack such heavy troops.
It is very difficult to garrison cities, so when they cut off supply lines, they often choose cities that are geographically important but not heavily guarded.
Unfortunately, South Limburg belongs to such a city.
Nanlin Fort is located just to the west of Yulin City and to the east of Zhenlu City, between the two cities. Although the terrain is not very dangerous, a canyon area was specially chosen when building the city.
As long as we can capture this place, it will be enough to cut off the connection between Yulin and Zhenlu City. Cutting off the connection between the two cities is not important. What is important is that the entire supply line can be completely cut off.
To cut off the supply line, it is not necessary to conquer important cities such as Yulin City or Zhenlu City. The Hetao defense line, which is more than 100 kilometers long, can be cut off at any point to cut off the defense line in the middle.
The Army of the Tang Dynasty was also aware of this problem, so it also opened other supply lines, especially the most important Yellow River supply line, to supply troops deep into the grasslands.
However, the Yellow River will freeze in winter, so they are destined to not be able to rely too much on river transportation, so they plan to open supply lines from other places. However, in some places, mountain roads go south, and it is difficult to carry out large-scale supplies through land transportation, especially the current large-scale supply of the Tang Army.
The four-wheeled carriages used have relatively high requirements on road conditions.
Therefore, the flat land supply line from Youwei County to Yulin City, then to Zhenlu City and then to Dongsheng City is still an inaccessible supply line.
Otherwise, the two sides would not have been fighting over this supply line for several months.
If the big city cannot be defeated, the Tatars choose to attack the small town. Logically speaking, among the fourteen cities, except Dongsheng City, Yulin City, and Zhenlu City, which are big cities, the other eleven cities are similar. Most of them are similar.
They all choose to build in strategic locations with certain defensive capabilities, and the scales are similar.
But South Limburg was very unlucky. Every time the Tatars wanted to cut off the supply line on a large scale, they would attack this city. Naturally, they didn't know that the first time they attacked here was purely a coincidence.
As for choosing this place for the second time or even the fourth time in a row, it is because I have come here to attack many times and I am very familiar with the nearby terrain. I even have a good understanding of the internal structure and facilities of Nan Lincheng. It is risky to fight and you have to grasp the big risks.
.
If we were in another place and this person was unfamiliar with the place, who knows whether he might have been ambushed before he could hit him.
In military operations, when the benefits are similar, priority is naturally given to those with greater control and less risk.
South Limburg is the priority target of the Tatars most of the time. Every time the Tatars come to attack, they are very interested. The troops that come are as few as five or six thousand and as many as tens of thousands. As for less than five or six thousand troops,
, the Tatars also knew that they could not defeat them, so they never sent so few troops.
Faced with heavy attacks from the Tatars every time, it's a wonder that South Limburg was able to hold on.
It was conquered and then counterattacked, and then it was conquered and counterattacked again. This happened three times. It is normal for such repeated battles to result in heavy casualties on both sides.
The superiors are paying more and more attention to this place and continue to increase troops here. So far, the garrison in Nanlinbao has 1,500 people. Among the 14 cities outside Shaiwai, it can be regarded as the second largest permanent garrison.
Dongsheng City, Yulin City, and Zhenlu City are the three cities.
Moreover, they also had nine artillery pieces to assist them, and a lot of grenades and so on. Their defensive power was stronger than in the previous three defensive operations.
According to Pan Deyue's own estimation, with the 1,500 troops under his command, plus nine artillery pieces and a large number of grenades, he can resist the attack of 10,000 Tatars for at least half a day and a half during defensive operations.
Yue's was better at fighting, and could even block the attack of 15,000 people.
Ten days and a half are enough for friendly forces to come to the rescue!
With an army of 1,500 troops, nine artillery pieces, and numerous grenades to help, Pan Deyue felt that he could avoid the unfortunate fate of his predecessors, but what he didn't expect was that the Tatars really competed with Nan Limburg.
came, and more troops came than ever before!
Damn it, the Tatar cavalry that came this time numbered around 30,000, and by visual inspection they were almost 40,000. They were so majestic that they almost blocked the world.
This force is more than the Tatars who came the previous three times combined!
If he could hold on to this, Pan Deyue thought it would be like hell!
His predecessor was unlucky enough, but he didn't expect to be even more unlucky!
At this moment, Pan Deyue regretted a little. If he had known it, he would have postponed this position, even if he would rather not be promoted.
But my head was a little hot. When I heard that I was going to be promoted to major, and also served as the commander of a city, my real power was greater than that of ordinary infantry battalion major commanders, and I had more soldiers at hand. As for the risks involved, I had already known them.
He was forgotten about it.
He also didn't want to think about the fact that Nan Lincheng garrisoned 1,500 troops and nine artillery pieces. Such troops were half of a standard reinforced battalion. If they were placed in some specific places, they could be called regiments. Their commanders were usually
A lieutenant colonel or even a colonel.
How could Mao, a newly promoted major, be the commander of the 1,500-man garrison in South Limburg?
Because no one competes with him...
Joining the army, you are loyal to the emperor and die for the empire, that is what you should do, but the ghost place in South Limburg is really evil, and it is not a particularly important place, but the Tatars always choose to use heavy troops every time
Most of the soldiers who came to attack and perform tasks here, whether they were ordinary soldiers, officers, or even top commanders, did not end well. They did not even have much chance of being injured. Many of them were killed by the Tatars after the city was broken.
Therefore, many school-level officers who know the inside story are reluctant to serve in South Limburg. They would rather escort supplies in the wilderness and confront the Tatar cavalry than go to South Limburg to be besieged and then wait.
die.
But Pan Deyue, who had just risen from the rank of lieutenant, didn't know it. By the time he knew it, it was already too late. He had already agreed and had the appointment letter in his hand.
At this time, even if he knew the inside story of the matter, there was nothing he could do. The military law was as strong as a mountain. He took over as the commander of South Limburg. Dare you not go? A military court was launched immediately.
Due to the separation of military and political affairs, the military now handles matters of violation of laws and disciplines on its own within the military, so military courts have also been set up. Soldiers who have gone to military courts in recent years have basically had no good endings. Some have been sentenced to confiscate their homes and exterminate their clans.
many.
Naturally, Pan Deyue didn't want to go through a military court, so he tried his best to persuade his superiors to send more reinforcements, gathering 1,500 men and strengthened artillery.
However, it is not the same!
Pan Deyue's more than a thousand troops, faced with the attack of nearly 40,000 troops under the personal command of Ada Khan, were defeated in less than a day!
There was no way. Although there were fortress defenses and artillery to assist, and Pan Deyue also carefully arranged various defensive tactics, Anda Khan did not play any tactics with Pan Deyue at all. With a wave of his hand, 40,000 people rushed to the city on horseback, and then
So I started to climb the wall to climb the city. The wall of this earthen city was only a few meters high. Anyone could jump up the city wall with just a few jumps.
What a slap in the face!
More than 40,000 people rushed up like a tide, and the more than a thousand soldiers guarding the city couldn't stop them even if they had three heads and six arms!
When the city fell, Pan Deyue wanted to imitate the second and third Nan Limbao commanders and committed suicide on the spot with a knife.
The two previous exes died like this!
When the whole army is wiped out, how can the supreme commander have the dignity to escape and survive? Even if he escapes, he will inevitably have to go to a military court in the end!
reason?
All your subordinates died in the battle, but you, the top commander, escaped and came back. If you were not shot, how could those soldiers who died fighting for their country be convinced? How could the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty who were still alive be convinced?
But he was persuaded by his subordinates!
This is not to say that Pan Deyue was afraid of death and did not dare to commit suicide, but this time they were defeated a bit quickly. It was said that it was only one day, but the Tatars spent most of the day preparing to attack the city, and the actual siege took half an hour.
Less than.
Therefore, there were not many casualties among the soldiers defending the city. Most of them retreated from the city wall to the north side.
What if Pan Deyue gave up the idea of ​​committing suicide, and then led his men back to the warehouse in the inner city, preparing to defend it to the death!
This was built after he took over South Limburg. It used a large amount of cement and was so strong that even an ordinary nine-pound cannon could not collapse it.
The original armory was built too close to the outside and had already been destroyed by the war. Therefore, the armory was rebuilt to store ammunition and food. A small well was also dug, which can be regarded as South Limburg.
It is the strongest fortress in the world.
It's a pity that this warehouse is not big. It was originally designed to only accommodate a hundred people fighting at most. Now the remaining more than 700 people are hiding inside, and their troops cannot be deployed.
But in this way, because the place is small, it is easier to defend, and due to terrain restrictions, it is impossible for these Tatars to launch an attack with too many troops. They can only send people in from the entrance, and the entrance is small.
Dozens of people from the sex sect had to block the entrance when they came in.
After the Tatars failed to attack several times and killed and wounded hundreds of people, they simply left a thousand people to garrison the entrance and left it alone. Since the warehouse had no way in or out, the remaining few hundred people couldn't survive the storm.
How can Ada Khan waste his troops in this shabby warehouse now?
He is still waiting for the main force of the Tang Dynasty to arrive!
He wants to fight to the death with the barbarians of the Southern Tang Dynasty here!
Yes, these huge Tumo River and Hetao still belong to the Tatars!