The first thousand five hundred and eighty-third chapters fight
When Army General Lu Yuzhi arrived at Jiayuguan, Wulihan was not idle in Hami City hundreds of kilometers away. He was directing his generals to deploy the defense of Hami City, and at the same time dispatched cavalry troops to closely monitor the surrounding areas.
Especially the movements of the Tang army near Jiayuguan area.
Ulihan was also a veteran among the Tatars, and he had never participated in any Western Expeditions. He had always stayed on the Eastern Front.
For many years, he has led the Tatar troops to garrison in the Hami area. The more than 30,000 troops under his command are the first line of defense to stop the Tang army from advancing westward.
Wulihan had fought against the Tang Army for many years and was very familiar with the Tang Army. He also made some targeted tactical arrangements. For example, the reason why the Western Regions did not suffer too much losses in recent years was mainly because he took evasive measures.
The enemy's sharp measures.
In the area close to Jiayuguan, that is, close to the area controlled by the Tang Dynasty, only a small number of reconnaissance and cavalry troops are maintained on weekdays. Even tribal grazing is no longer used. Instead, the method of clearing the wall is adopted, which creates width.
It reached an uninhabited area of one to two hundred kilometers.
But hundreds of kilometers later, he built a city in the Hami area, and this was the first fortress-like city defense building built by the Tatars. The Tatars had been fighting with the Tang army for many years, so they should learn something.
I have learned this a long time ago, and the bastion is no exception.
This also led to the fact that for so many years, although the Tang Army came out to fight every year, at most some small and medium-sized wars broke out, and large-scale battles never broke out. At the same time, the Tang Army was limited by long supply lines and was unable to mobilize large-scale troops.
The troops ran to Hami to attack the city.
The small and medium-sized cavalry troops sent did not dare to risk attacking Hami, where tens of thousands of people were garrisoned. They might even be eaten by the Tatars.
After such annual small and medium-sized battles lasted for several months, the Tang army would often take the initiative to retreat to Jiayuguan due to logistical problems. In this way, the huge territory returned to the hands of the Tatars.
After repeating this for more than ten years, even though the Tang Empire was extremely powerful and had no powerful armed forces, the Tatars still controlled the Western Regions.
Therefore, Ulihan also rose through the ranks, and now he is the commander of the Tatar Fourth Army, with the rank of lieutenant general.
As for why Ulihan was given the title of Commander of the Fourth Army and the rank of Lieutenant General, it is naturally because of the consequences of the Tatars learning from the Tang Dynasty.
Just as during the Unification War, the Ming army learned from the Tang army to build a new army, copying everything from tactics to weapons to other details, the Tatars also continued to pay attention and learn from the Tang Dynasty.
After all, humans are very smart creatures and will learn from the strong. Although the Tatars are aliens, they are also human beings.
Furthermore, in the past few decades, the Tatars have had a strong leader, and that is Anda Khan.
Anda Khan was able to unify the grasslands, and also invaded Eastern Europe and captured Kiev to serve as the capital. Naturally, he was not a pedantic person. He had already begun to study the various systems of the Tang Dynasty.
After the capital was established in Kiev, this kind of learning reached a high level. In the Jin Kingdom established by Ananda Khan in Eastern Europe, many political systems were basically learned from the political system of the Tang Empire. Ministries were established, the Hanlin Academy was established, and nine grades were determined.
Official system.
However, the Tatars still have some special policies of their own. For example, on the issue of aliens, Anda Khan's policies are obviously not as tough as those of the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty has enough people, and they want land rather than people.
Even in the Tang Dynasty, many people actually objected to that idea, and the Tatars were obviously much more moderate. They often took the initiative to accept the people of the conquered areas in order to make use of the population resources of the conquered areas.
Soldiering, farming, herding, working, etc.
Otherwise, how do you think the Tatar army with a total number of nearly 300,000 people came from? The total population of the Tatar people is only a million, and it is impossible to build such a large army even if all the people are soldiers.
Half of these 300,000 people were actually recruited from the young men of the nations they conquered, especially the infantry and artillery. The ordinary soldiers were all foreigners.
Only the cavalry, most of them were Tatars.
Anda Khan took the lead in learning, and most Tatars also knew to learn from the strong. This mentality completely exploded after the defeat in the Battle of Hetao and the forced migration westward.
In order to learn how to make guns and cannons, the Tatars dared to sneak into the northwest region and kidnap the craftsmen.
Among many systems, the military system is the focus of their study, among which the large number of artillery troops established is the most obvious example.
At the same time, they also imitated the Tang Army and established an organization similar to the army, division, brigade, regiment, battalion and team.
There was no way, since they wanted to learn how to build a gun and artillery unit, they couldn't do it without learning from the Tang Dynasty's organization.
Because the use of new weapons requires preparation and use together, so that relevant tactics can be implemented.
At first, they still used traditional names such as front, rear, left and right armies, ten thousand households, and thousands of households, but they simply copied them completely. After learning from the Tang Dynasty, they began to use numerical designations, plus divisions, brigade regiments, etc., and later added
Military rank system.
It can be said that the Tatars are actually the second army in the world to establish a complete modern army and military rank system, which is more thorough than the Ming army.
In the army of the former Ming Dynasty, Zhang Yue's supervisor was used as an example. Although he also learned the organization and tactics of the Tang army, it still had certain limitations. There were no military ranks, only traditional grades. There was no way. He was a civilian leader. You give him
These generals have the same military rank, but the generals themselves do not agree to it.
They are just civil servants, if you give them a military rank and treat them as generals, believe it or not, they will rebel in an instant.
At that time, when Zhang Yue was in charge of supervision, all the officers had civilian titles.
However, many years later, the Tatars copied even more thoroughly. They copied the entire military system of the Tang Dynasty, including the organization and military ranks, without even changing the names.
Even the education they provide internally is not Mongolian education, but Chinese education
This may sound ridiculous, but it’s actually quite normal!
Because it is normal to learn from the strong.
In the 20th century, there were still people in China who said they wanted to abolish Chinese characters and convert them into Roman alphabet. In the final analysis, this was still a kind of learning caused by lack of confidence.
What a strong person is like, you must also become like that.
Therefore, in the Tatar army now, the generals are also army commanders, division commanders, brigade commanders, regimental commanders, etc.
Wulihan, lieutenant general of the Kingdom of Jin in the Tang Dynasty and commander of the Fourth Army, had been stationed in the Western Regions for many years. He did not dare to know the Tang army in Jiayuguan well, but he was still very familiar with it. When he learned that a large number of Tang troops had appeared in Jiayuguan.
At first, he just thought it was a routine military operation by the Tang Army every year.
Those Tang troops would go out once a year, and each time the movement seemed to be quite loud, but most of the time it was actually an armed parade, and it was an armed parade in a no-man's land. In Wulihan's view, it was so damn idle.
My balls hurt.
But within a few days, he smelled danger from all the intelligence gathered.
This time, the Tang army in Jiayuguan was not normal!
There are too many troops hoarded inside. According to the spies' reports, the number of troops at Jiayuguan is at least 100,000, and there are also a large number of infantry and artillery troops inside.
If it was just an armed parade, the Tang Army usually dispatched cavalry as the main force, with infantry and artillery units just following behind to maintain the supply line. But now, the number of infantry and artillery units is too many.
Wulihan, who smelled the danger, quickly sent many troops to investigate the Jiayuguan area, and also tried to send spies to sneak into Jiayuguan to find out the news.
Although there was no detailed information yet, Wulihan was no longer prepared to wait. He quickly ordered the troops to shrink, especially the infantry and artillery units composed of foreign soldiers, to withdraw to Hami City, and at the same time dispatched more reconnaissance units.
Mounted troops collect information.
He also sent a messenger to report the situation to Turpan in the rear, saying that the Tang army in the direction of Jiayuguan had made some changes, and hoped that Turpan would prepare early.
But he did not ask for reinforcements to be sent to Turpan because it was not necessary.
If there are too few, it will be of no use, and if there are too many, Hami will not be able to support them. Supply in the Western Regions is difficult, not only for the Tang Dynasty, but also for the Tatars.
If they were just nomadic as before, herding sheep and fighting at the same time, then there would be nothing to worry about. But the key thing is that they are sticking to a certain place now.
If reinforcements are not sent, their ammunition and food can allow them to hold on for half a year or even longer. But with the arrival of a large number of reinforcements, they may only be able to hold on for a month or two. Moreover, the city of Hami is actually not that big, so more troops will be deployed.
No.
Therefore, Wulihan did not apply for reinforcements, and it would be useless anyway.
What's more, he also knew that it was impossible for the rear to send reinforcements to him, and they might even order him to withdraw from Hami.
Because one of the major strategies of the Tatars to deal with the Tang Dynasty was to take the initiative to strategically retreat, stretch the supply lines of the Tang Dynasty, and at the same time send cavalry troops to harass the supply lines of the Tang Dynasty. After a long time, the Tatars did not need to send the main force to fight, and the Tang people themselves
I couldn't stand it and went back.
The several hundred kilometers from Hami to Jiayuguan can be abandoned. When necessary, Hami can also be abandoned. The Tatars dare to push it all the way to Turpan in one go.
If the Tang Dynasty still pursues them, they can continue to retreat to Central Asia.
The Tatars didn't believe that the Tang Dynasty could keep chasing them!
If they really dare to pursue them, the Tatars will not be afraid. When the time comes, they will use their cavalry advantage to attack their supply lines. The Tatars will be confident that they will starve the pursuing Tang army to death in the Western Regions.
Therefore, although he found that the Tang people in the Jiayuguan area were unusual, Wulihan still faced it calmly!
The worst case scenario would be to lead the soldiers and civilians all the way to the west.
But it won't be long before the Tang Dynasty retreats, and he will be able to regain a large amount of the Western Regions without spending a single soldier.
But Wulihan still didn’t know that this time the Tang Army marched into Hami and other Western Regions, but they had no intention of retreating!
In order to solve the supply problem, Datang even planned to build a simple military railway!
In front of the railway, the supply problem that has plagued Datang for more than ten years will no longer be a problem!
But it doesn’t matter whether you know or not. Anyway, Wulihan’s response measures are the same, that is, don’t fight if you can, and run if you can!
As for whether the Tang Dynasty pursues him or not, that is their business.