About five kilometers outside Hami City, the barracks one after another make the place lose the atmosphere of the desert. This is the frontline base camp of the Western Expeditionary Army.
At this time, the 4th Infantry Division, the 31st Infantry Division, an infantry division, and an artillery brigade were stationed. It was also the headquarters of the Western Expeditionary Army, with General Lu Yu personally in charge.
On the left and right sides of the base camp, there are two other troops, the 23rd Infantry Division, the 24th Infantry Division, and two cavalry corps stationed respectively.
Generally speaking, the main force of the Western Expeditionary Army's four infantry divisions, two cavalry corps, and one artillery brigade surrounded the north, south, and east sides of Hami City, leaving only the west side.
The standard strategy of surrounding three and defeating one was adopted.
At the same time, there were two infantry divisions, an armed train regiment, and two independent cavalry regiments in the rear as the main force controlling the railway line.
Since the expedition, the Western Expeditionary Army has adopted a steady and steady strategy, no matter how the Tatars on the opposite side move, it has always been a steadfast strategy of building the railway.
And this tactic paid off for them today. They successfully crossed hundreds of kilometers of Gobi Desert and desert no-man's land, and then successfully arrived outside Hami City.
Even though the railway line is still fifty or sixty kilometers away from Hami City, this distance will no longer be a big problem. In order to ensure that the subsequent railway can be successfully built to Hami City, Lu Yuzhi mobilized the main force to station troops under Hami City in advance.
, directly blocked the city of Hami, and indirectly protected the construction team in the rear to continue building the railway.
On the eighth day of October, Army General Lu Yuzhi convened a meeting with senior generals on the front line, but no combat orders were issued.
During the meeting, Lu Yuzhi looked relaxed, and his words showed no hint of the tense atmosphere of an impending war. Instead, he was in a mood to chat about daily life with his subordinates.
This made Ying Yikang and others feel a little obedient. Ying Yikang thought that when he came to the meeting today, he would receive combat orders. Unexpectedly, Lu Yuzhi continued to ask the troops to station their troops stationary. As long as the Tatars did not come out or escape,
Then leave the Tatars alone in the city.
This tactical choice is understandable and agreeable to Ying Yikang, but what he cares about is not these, but Lu Yuzhi's attitude.
At the meeting, Lu Yuzhi's relaxed demeanor was as if he was on an outing, without any nervousness at all.
After the meeting, Ying Yikang and Dong Qiankun, the commander of the 14th Division, walked out together.
Dong Qiankun looked at Ying Yikang's expression and said proactively: "Relax!"
Ying Yikang didn't know why and looked up at Dong Qiankun with doubt.
Dong Qiankun said: "This Western Expedition is not a month or two months, nor is it even a year or two. Our army has been planning for the Western Expedition for many years. This time it will not last three to five years, and the entire campaign will not be completed."
We will not give up if we have the Western Regions and even Central Asia in our pocket!"
"So, these days are going to be long, you have to learn to adjust your mentality!"
Dong Qiankun's nonsense words made Ying Yikang still confused at first, but he soon showed an awkward smile: "Brother Dong is teaching me that I am the one who has not stabilized my mentality!"
Hearing this, Dong Qiankun smiled: "That's good!"
Dong Qiankun saw Ying Yikang's serious expression at the meeting. As someone who had been there before, he could tell at a glance why Ying Yikang was acting like this. He just felt that a war was coming.
But in fact, this state of high tension is undesirable.
This is especially true for a senior general, because this high level of tension can easily be passed on to his subordinates, eventually causing a tense mentality throughout the army.
And if the bow string is too tight, it is a good thing in the short term, but it is not a good thing in the long term.
So after the meeting was over, I casually gave Ying Yikang a few words of advice, and Ying Yikang was also a smart man. He understood it as soon as he heard it and didn't stupidly ask why.
This made Dong Qiankun glance at Ying Yikang. Although this man was young, he was really awakened, not only in terms of commanding troops, but also in terms of mentality.
He knew that this was Ying Yikang's first time as a division commander, but in the past few months, Ying Yikang had served as the commander of the 31st Infantry Division, and basically there had been no mistakes.
This is rare. The first time I take on the important task of being a division commander is to go to the front line to fight. Even if I have served as an auxiliary mission in the rear, it is not that easy to command a division properly.
This man's military talent is quite outstanding.
It is still necessary to make friends with such people, because you never know when this person will get ahead of you.
Nowadays, every army general knows that Ying Yikang is highly valued by many big bosses in the army, even the Emperor Sheng.
Ying Yikang is not only the leader of the younger generation of generals, but also the successor of those army bosses.
This can be seen from Ying Yikang's resume. After graduating from the martial arts school, every position he held was no ordinary position. He fought overseas, led troops on the northwest front, and held multiple positions in the Privy Council.
From the Operations Department to the Staff Department, he even once held concurrent positions in the National Logistics Department, Ordnance Department, Artillery Director, and Cavalry Director.
How could a normal military officer experience so many important positions in a short period of time, and also part-time...
To put it bluntly, these were all to train him. Even the position of division commander of the 31st Infantry Division in this Western Expedition was strictly speaking a transitional position for him.
In the history of the Tang Army, few people had been treated like him.
Ying Yikang also came to his senses at this time and realized that his mentality in the past few days was somewhat inappropriate. After he calmed down, he continued to talk to Dong Qiankun, but the conversation was not about military affairs, but trivial matters.
During the conversation, Ying Yikang was also very happy after learning that Dong Qiankun also liked calligraphy and painting and could write well, because he himself was also very interested in calligraphy, and his calligraphy was quite good.
Ying Yikang's calligraphy has always been very good. It's not just calligraphy. In fact, he has dabbled in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and they are all good. His poetry and articles are also first-rate.
In fact, the generals and officers of the Tang Dynasty were basically good at poetry, writing, music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and were both civil and military.
Because when the martial arts school recruits students, they all recruit students from various preparatory schools and the Royal Youth Military Academy, and the students who can attend these schools have a considerable level of cultural courses.
Basically, students who can get into Wu Xuetang or Hai Xuetang will have no problem at all if they go to the Imperial College and Jinling University, two top universities.
Basically, the top young bachelors in the Tang Dynasty went to four schools: Army Martial Arts Academy, Navy Sea Academy, Guozijian University, and Jinling Minister.
If Ying Yikang had not applied for the martial arts school, he would have been admitted to the Imperial College and ranked among the best. If he subsequently entered politics, he would probably do well.
After the two sides exchanged calligraphy, Ying Yikang personally sent Dong Qiankun back to the camp. Dong Qiankun came from the railway construction site more than fifty kilometers away for the meeting, and he naturally had to go back after the meeting.
After sending Dong Qiankun away, Ying Yikang also returned to the headquarters of the 31st Infantry Division, and then passed on Lu Yuzhi's instructions.
What instructions!
Eat well and sleep well!
Originally there were things like monitoring enemy troops, but that was all the business of the reconnaissance and cavalry troops and had nothing to do with infantry generals like Ying Yikang.
All these infantry can do now is eat well, sleep well, and then wait for the siege to begin, or for the Tatars to fight out on their own.
But will the Tatars come out?
The answer is the only one: no!
Wulihan had long seen the strength gap between the two sides. The Tang army outside the city was tens of thousands strong, but his own troops were only thirty or forty thousand. It was barely possible to defend the city, but to take the initiative to attack would be to seek death.
.
But even if it is a battle to defend the city, Wulihan is actually not prepared to defend it!
Because it is impossible to hold on!
The Tang Dynasty's railway had already been built under Hami City. With this railway, the Tang Dynasty could continuously transport heavy artillery and artillery shells up, and then bombard Hami City.
Numerous siege battles in the past have proven that so-called fortified cities are vulnerable to heavy artillery.
When the Tatars attacked a large number of countries in Central Asia and marched into Europe, they destroyed countless cities.
How were they broken?
Naturally, instead of relying on cavalry to climb the city wall on horseback and brandishing their sabers, they directly pulled out countless artillery pieces for bombardment.
This is how Moscow was captured, and this is how Kiev was captured.
The Tatars themselves used artillery extensively in sieges and were quite aware of the power of artillery.
In addition, they also knew that the Tang army was widely equipped with grenades.
The grenades at this stage are more lethal to the defender.
Many obstacles meant that simply defending the city was not feasible, so Wulihan never considered relying solely on the city to defend it from the beginning.
He initially hoped to cut off their supply lines by sending cavalry to attack their railways.
But within a few months, there was no success, and more than 2,000 people were killed or injured.
The casualties were nothing. The key thing was that they failed to build their railway and built it all the way to the city of Hami, and transported the artillery and shells to the city.
This city cannot be defended!
Therefore, when it was discovered that the main force of the Tang Dynasty had arrived at Hami City a few days ago, Wulihan had actually begun to make arrangements for a side retreat.
However, it is not so easy for an army of tens of thousands to retreat, especially when the opponent has tens of thousands of cavalry.
With this retreat, it is estimated that the opponent's cavalry will be able to catch up, but then they will be even more passive. After all, only half of our troops are cavalry, and the rest are infantry and artillery. They cannot move fast.
However, Wulihan was also a strong general, decisive and resolute. Three days later, the troops in Hami City took the initiative to leave the city to fight, and at the same time, the cavalry troops also left the city.
Immediately afterwards, the two sides formed a formation outside the city and fought.
However, it didn't take long for the infantry and artillery of the Tang Dynasty Jin Army, which was composed of young men recruited from the conquered ethnic groups, to discover that Wulihan himself had led the cavalry and ran away!
He didn't escape with the infantry and artillery at all, he just asked them to contain the Tang Army.
When Lu Yuzhi learned of this situation, he frowned.
He had calculated everything, but he failed to calculate that in Ulihan, he did not treat the more than 20,000 foreign infantry and artillery troops as his own, abandoned them directly, and then ran away with the Tatar cavalry!