They relied on the fact that they were all cavalry and could come and go freely. They only did one thing, which was to constantly attack the Tang Army's transportation and supply lines, or attack small-scale troops.
For more than a year, there have been almost no battles involving more than ten thousand people between the two sides, but battles involving hundreds of people or one or two thousand people have been very frequent. In such battles, the two sides are evenly matched.
Basically no one has much advantage.
Because the protagonists of this kind of battle are the cavalry of both sides, and the infantry basically has nothing to do.
As for the cavalry, although the strong charge of the Tang Army cavalry is very powerful, the Tatars are not stupid. After suffering a few losses, they will not play hedging with you at all to avoid large-scale cavalry charges. They just rely on
A rider with two horses or three horses has the advantage of maneuvering for sneak attacks, long-distance attacks, tracking and harassment, etc. Such battles are often small battles involving dozens or hundreds of people.
However, in this kind of small-scale battle, it is difficult to bring into play many of the advantages of the Tang Army's cavalry!
However, the Tang Army did not have no coping methods. The Tatars wanted to engage in small-scale cavalry battles. As a passive defensive party, the Tang Army needed to respond, so on the one hand, they used various camouflages to disguise the main force.
Become an ordinary grain transport team, attract the Tatars to attack, and then take the opportunity to fight back.
The army began to assign northwest horses and some Central Asian horses to cavalry units on a large scale to improve the performance of the war horses and gain the advantages of the war horses.
In this way, the cavalry of the two sides on the Hetao grassland battled, and a very interesting scene appeared. The Tatars are known as a nation on horseback, and all the people are cavalry, but the horses they ride, especially the war horses, are
The quality is actually not as good as the cavalry troops of the Tang Empire, a farming nation.
The horses used by the Tatars are naturally Mongolian horses. As for other horses, such as the war horses in Central Asia, they are in the minority. Whether they are riding horses or draft horses, Mongolian horses are the main ones.
But as for the horses of the Tang Army, after more than ten years of horse breeding, now northwest horses and Central Asian horses have gradually entered military service on a large scale.
Although the army needs too many horses, even if the Tang Empire tried its best to breed horses, it is impossible to complete all the changes in just a dozen years. Traditional Mongolian horses and even southwestern horses are not available in the army.
of horses.
But in the Ninth Army, which is stationed in the Hetao area all year round, because it fights with the Tatars all year round, the supply of various military supplies is given priority.
Needless to say, various weapons and ammunition, including war horses, this Ninth Army is also the first unit in the entire army to fully replace the northwest horses and Central Asian horses.
Today, the Ninth Army has two cavalry divisions, multiple independent cavalry regiments, and division-affiliated cavalry regiments, battalions, etc. The total number of cavalry is already more than 30,000.
Among these 30,000 cavalry, most of the cavalry units' main war horses have been replaced by northwest horses. Some of the heavy cavalry units are all Central Asian horses. And an independent cuirassier battalion directly under the Ninth Army, this
The battalion is equipped with Arabian thoroughbred horses.
In addition, the Army of the Tang Dynasty also began to follow the example of the Tatars and began to assign additional horses to some of the main cavalry units, that is, to implement the system of riding two horses or even three horses alone.
Ordinary elite light cavalry ride alone on two horses, while heavy cavalry all ride on three horses alone.
However, most of these auxiliary horses use Mongolian horses.
After all, those Central Asian horses and Arabian horses are actually precious things. Even if they are bred and bred by themselves, the cost is very high. Northwest horses are lower, but they are also more expensive than Mongolian horses.
Not to mention the breeding costs, even the daily feeding costs are much higher.
In order to reduce logistical pressure, the army still uses Mongolian horses that are easy to raise on a large scale, even in elite main forces such as the Ninth Army!
However, in the Ninth Army, Mongolian horses are currently basically only used as auxiliary war horses and service horses.
As for other troops, Mongolian horses are still the main horses. There is no way, the number of these self-bred horses is still relatively small, and it is impossible to meet the needs of the entire army.
Horse breeding in the Tang Empire started very early, but the actual large-scale breeding of northwest horses, Central Asian horses, and Arabian horses was only after the northwest region was occupied.
Therefore, strictly speaking, it was seven years after Xuanping that the Tang Empire began to introduce and cultivate the above three kinds of war horses on a large scale.
It’s been exactly ten years now!
In the past ten years, Datang's horse administration department had to select and breed horses, expand the horse herd, and at the same time supply horses for the military. This was not an easy task. After all, horses are not cannons, and it does not mean that the money is in place.
, the factory can start working continuously immediately.
Horses are animals, and it takes time from the time the mare is pregnant to the time the horse reaches adulthood!
But ten years later, the horse breeding work of the Tang Empire can be regarded as a huge achievement!
The military's horse administration is mainly based on many military-affiliated horse farms, such as Damaying Horse Farm, Jeju Horse Farm, Liaohe Tao Horse Farm, etc. They mainly carry out cross-breeding and breeding, and then breed various military horses.
In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture also has a horse administration agency. They are mainly in charge of the construction of private horse administration. Their horse breeding is mainly concentrated on southwest horses, Mongolian horses and some northwest horses. The horses they breed are mainly for domestic private use, especially
Domestic growing demand for horses for transportation.
Nowadays, the Tang Empire has generally abolished sedan chairs and used vehicles. Whether it is a two-wheeled carriage or a four-wheeled carriage, an ordinary carriage or a rail carriage, it has become the main road transportation in the empire.
And these carriages all need horses!
Although it is said that mules or even donkeys or oxen can be used instead in some places, this is a last resort.
In fact, due to the development of industry, the demand for horses among the people is greater than the demand for war horses by the military.
The price of horses among the people within the empire has more than doubled in ten years compared to the seven years of Xuanping. The price of an ordinary draft horse is more than 20 yuan, and can even reach 30 yuan in some areas.
.
This also greatly stimulates the enthusiasm of the people to raise horses. There is no need for official promotion. Many people in the private sector will raise horses by themselves. Even if they cannot afford to use them when they grow up, they can still sell them for money.
Because there are a large number of private horses, the military sometimes purchases some horses from the private sector for military use, but the number is relatively small. Military horses mainly rely on the supply of military horse farms.
The cavalry unit of the Ninth Army, which had a large number of northwest horses, Central Asian horses and Arabian horses, still had a certain advantage in war horses during the battle with the Tatar cavalry.
Otherwise, the Ninth Army of the Tang Army would not continue to engage in these small-scale battles with the Tatars. This is because although the Tatars have many cavalry and strong individual combat capabilities, the Tang Army is not afraid.
They have better horses and better equipment.
And more importantly, there are many of them!
This kind of small-scale battle is, to put it bluntly, a war of attrition, and no one is any better than anyone else!
Then the Ninth Army could afford it, but the Tatars couldn't afford it!
There is an entire empire supplying equipment and materials used in various battles, including horses, guns and ammunition, and there are a lot of strategic material warehouses in the back for whatever you want the Ninth Army to use.
Even a relatively precious material like a war horse has an entire empire behind it!
Even for soldiers, the Ninth Army can't afford it!
If one soldier of the Ninth Army dies, two more soldiers can be added to the Ninth Army at any time.
However, every time a Tatar dies, one is lost, and it will take at least twenty years to replenish the population.
Therefore, this small-scale war of attrition, which seems to have no advantage for the Tang Army, is very advantageous for the Tang Army, because in this way, they can drag the Tatars down.
If the Tatars accompany them and continue to consume, the Tang Army can consume the last drop of the Tatars' blood, and they may be able to stage a drama of "the last Tatar" in the future.
However, this kind of war of attrition changed in October of the 17th year of Xuanping. The Ninth Army sent an urgent report through Three Hundred Miles, saying that the Tatars had made some changes!
What's happening?
The Tatars ran away!
While the Ninth Army did not mobilize on a large scale to launch a strategic attack on the Tatar camps in the early stage, the Tatars began to evacuate the Hetao area, and then moved to the north of the Yellow River and south of the Yinshan Mountains on a large scale, and moved
The signs haven't stopped yet, but continue westward.
In addition, a group of Tatar cavalry with no less than 50,000 riders stationed troops south of Yinshan Mountain when the Tatar tribes migrated, or to be more precise, about 20 kilometers northwest of Dongsheng City.
However, this group of cavalry did not continue to march toward Dongsheng City, nor did it march toward the two newly built fortresses north of Dongsheng City. The Ninth Army speculated that these 50,000 Tatar cavalry were not intended to attack Dongsheng City.
They should be prepared for the Tang cavalry in Dongsheng City to attack their migrating tribe.
The Tatars were about to flee. This scene was almost incomprehensible to the commander of the Ninth Army.
You must know that in the past few years, although the Ninth Army and the Tatars have beaten their brains out, even the Ninth Army has built the Hetao defense line.
However, the Tatars still have not completely given up on the Hetao area. Basically, they stay in the Hetao area to graze their cattle every year, at most in parts of the area far away from the Hetao defense line.
As for the Ninth Army, they would basically send out cavalry troops to attack frequently, sometimes to attack their camps and then capture a large number of horses and livestock, and sometimes, just to set fire to the grass and let the Tatars in.
In autumn and winter there is not enough grass to survive the winter.
The Tatars attacked the Ninth Army's supply line, and the Ninth Army attacked their pastures. The fighting was lively.
But now, the Tatars suddenly and voluntarily withdraw from the Hetao area. What does this mean?
This means that the Tatars finally couldn't survive this war of attrition, they gave in and ran away!
As soon as it was discovered that the Tatars had withdrawn from Hetao and began to move westward,
The Ninth Army immediately flew to Jinling City.
After the report, the Ninth Army also asked Jinling for instructions on what to do next? Just sit back and watch them evacuate from the Hetao, or take the opportunity to kill a wave and eradicate the roots!