In the evening of that day, Wulihan led his army to the nameless lake and set up camp about four kilometers away in front of the First Cavalry Army's formation.
Not only were camps set up in the east, but tens of thousands of people were also deployed to set up camps in the north. As for the lake in the south, only a few hundred people were deployed to monitor the west side in a symbolic manner.
This is a typical siege tactic.
Deliberately opening a gap to shake the enemy's will to resist resolutely, and this gap generally only seems to be a way out, but in fact it is still an idea.
Because that's the west. If your First Cavalry Corps goes west, and Ulihan continues to catch up behind you, that's a sure thing.
Moreover, surrounding three Jueyi can also concentrate more troops in a certain main attack direction.
Wulihan and other cavalry generals from the Tatar Kingdom began to study the position of the unknown lake opposite in the evening, and then stayed up all night to fight.
In the end, there was no good solution after arguing over it.
These people are all professional cavalry generals and are not very good at infantry and artillery combat. But even if they are not good at it, they know that the defense system of the Southern Tang Barbarians on the opposite side of the nameless lake is very complete.
The rivers in front and behind slow down our offensive line. Once our offensive troops approach the river, even if the river itself cannot stop the soldiers from continuing to cross the river, it will definitely slow down their speed. At that time, people can shoot unscrupulously from a high position.
If that happens, the casualties will be huge!
Some people said that instead of engaging in infantry combat with them, we should first send some troops to fill up the creek, and then charge directly with cavalry to kill them.
But as soon as he said this, he was rejected.
It is easy to fill up a section of the river, but if you want to fill up a section of the river that is enough for tens of thousands of cavalry to charge, the amount of work will be huge. Once the river is filled up enough, you will probably be dead.
Filling the river would expose you to enemy fire.
As for digging trenches and slowly advancing and then filling in the river, this is a feasible approach, but it would take too long.
The barbarians of the Southern Tang Dynasty were not idiots. Could it be that the barbarians of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the east would just watch the First Cavalry Army fall into a tight siege and then be annihilated?
Won't they send reinforcements?
Who would have guessed that their reinforcements are already on the road by now, and at the speed of the cavalry, they can arrive in four to five days.
Therefore, there was not much time left for them. It was impossible to slowly dig trenches and fill the river at the minimum cost, and then carry out any charge.
They must work within a short period of time and strive to resolve the battle within two or three days!
Filling the river and then directly charging with cavalry will not work.
The most practical way is to dismount and fight on foot, rush over directly under the cover of your own cavalry and artillery, and rely on your strength to rush forward and kill the enemy.
The question is, can we survive this kind of defense system?
Even Wulihan doesn’t know!
Sitting on his horse and looking through the telescope at the low mountain in front of him, Wulihan felt depressed for a while.
These barbarians of the Southern Tang Dynasty were really shameless. The elite cavalry actually engaged in foot combat, and now he was forced to dismount and fight on foot.
The elite cavalry of both sides, totaling 60,000 to 70,000, were actually forced to engage in dismounted combat in this poor place. And the most important thing is that the horses of both sides were still in good condition.
If this matter were told, I'm afraid it would make outsiders laugh out loud.
But there was no way, the barbarian of the Southern Tang Dynasty actually chose to do this, and Wulihan had no choice but to fight against him.
Otherwise, we can only give up this piece of fat and retreat.
He spent so long, mobilized troops, and assembled more than 40,000 main cavalry to besiege the First Cavalry Army of the Southern Tang Barbarians. You asked him not to fight and just gave up.
He is not willing to give in!
That night, both parties were silent all night!
They are all prepared silently!
The First Cavalry Corps continued to dig more and more defensive fortifications overnight, especially breastworks and anti-gun trenches.
Ulihan's 40,000 cavalrymen also prepared numerous weapons for attacking fortresses, such as temporarily dismantling carriages and the like to serve as bulletproof boards, searching nearby forests to cut down wood, etc.
This night seemed peaceful, but it was definitely not peaceful.
After a night passed, when the sun rose, both sides still did not move. When it was near noon, the Tatars began to move.
They pushed various equipment built overnight, especially rafts and planks for crossing the river and building bridges, bulletproof cars, etc.
They marched slowly in formation, not very fast. Half an hour later, they advanced about two kilometers and were still about two kilometers away from the eastern front line.
There is still about 2,200 meters away from the artillery position deployed by the First Cavalry Corps on the hilltop.
At this time, in the artillery position of the First Cavalry Corps, several officers were observing with telescopes, stopping from time to time to write and draw in small notebooks spread on the empty ammunition boxes.
"Attention, the enemy is about to enter the effective range!"
"Sixth direction to the right, the enemy cavalry forward is 2,100 meters away!"
"Eighth direction to the right, enemy artillery unit, two thousand meters away!"
"Third direction to the left, an enemy infantry unit, 2,400 meters away!"
The First Cavalry Corps has already divided the battlefield in detail in advance. They use a grid method, which is conducive to the deployment of troops and generals, and more importantly, it can facilitate artillery bombardment.
If you want artillery to bombard somewhere, just ask them to bombard that square without using too troublesome descriptions.
The artillery units of these grids for bombarding various elements have also been calculated in advance and can be taken out at any time and used after adjustment.
Ten minutes later, the gunnery staff walked up to Lieutenant General Dai Yaxin and said, "Sir, the enemy's cavalry, artillery, and dismounted cavalry have already entered the range of our rifled guns!"
This artillery staff officer actually requested the order for the artillery attack.
But Dai Yaxin said: "Take it easy, haven't they just come in? Let them walk a little longer!"
"This is the first time we have used these rifled cannons. We have to give those Tatars a surprise!"
Dai Yaxin's plan is very simple. Anyway, the two or three thousand people they came over first are not many. It is impossible to directly rush across the distance of nearly two thousand meters and then break through their defensive positions, so let them come over first and wait for more of them.
After people enter.
Then fire the artillery. After they are bombarded, even if they retreat, they will not be able to retreat for a while. Only then can the front-loading guns extend the artillery fire to gain the greatest results.
He wanted to give the Tatars a hard blow in the first battle to make them afraid and hesitant.
Otherwise, if they get really aggressive and tens of thousands of people rush at them, it's hard to say whether they can be stopped.
After all, the position he deployed was just an ordinary field defense position, not a bastion fortress defense system.
If it is a bastion defense system, with the current level of weapons and equipment of the Tatars, it would be easy for Datang to defend with several times the force, or even with seven, eight or even ten times the force to attack.
But the field defense system will naturally be greatly compromised.
Dai Yaxin was under pressure to defend against an attack with twice as many troops.
Diaxin gave the order to let the Tatars come over first and not to rush the bombardment.
He wanted to take him by surprise so that the Tatar general Ulihan on the opposite side would remember the power of rifled artillery for the rest of his life.
The artillery commanders could only watch helplessly as the Tatars crossed two thousand meters, then one thousand five hundred meters, then one thousand meters, and finally stopped about 800 meters away from the artillery position.
The distance of 800 meters is exactly the effective range of the Tang Army's old nine-pound artillery and 115mm smoothbore cannon.
Although the effective range of the Tatars' own artillery is not that far, they also know the effective range of Datang's nine-pound artillery.
In recent decades, artillery has become one of the most important weapons in various military units. The technology of artillery has also been gradually improved, and its performance has naturally been gradually improved.
The 115mm smoothbore cannon currently equipped by the Tang Army is the old nine-pound field cannon. Its effective range can basically reach 800, and it can even achieve a certain accuracy at a bombardment distance of more than 1,000 meters.
Effective hit.
As for the 14-pound heavy artillery with more calibers, the effective range can even reach more than 1,500 meters.
Of course, this effective range is limited to army artillery or naval shore defense artillery. Naval guns are not included in this list. The factors that affect the effective range of naval guns are the artillery itself. The launch platform, sighting and fire control are more important.
Therefore, currently, the effective range of artillery of the same specifications deployed on warships is far less than that deployed on coastal defense batteries.
Datang's current coastal defense batteries can use 200mm front-mounted rifled guns to directly block waters several kilometers wide, but on warships, such naval guns generally fire within a thousand meters.
However, the artillerymen of the Tang Army generally did not fire from a thousand meters away. Although they could hit at this distance, the hit rate was very low, which wasted shells and barrel life.
But now they are equipped with a 100mm front-loaded rifled gun that is different. The effective range is two thousand meters!
As for shooting beyond two thousand meters, it doesn't mean that you can't hit it. You can still hit it, but the hit rate will drop significantly, and it is still a waste of shells.
At this time, the Tatars thought they were at a safe distance, but they did not know that they had already entered the effective range of the 100mm front-loaded rifled cannon of the First Cavalry Corps of the Tang Dynasty.
The reason why Dai Yaxin did not order to fire was simply to give them a hard blow.
Seeing that their forward stopped eight hundred meters away, but there were more troops approaching from the rear, so Dai Yaxin continued to suppress them and did not allow the artillery to fire.
Eight hundred meters, in previous battles, this was a safe distance, so the Tatars also stopped at this distance, then waited for more troops to arrive, and began to adjust their formation, and prepared to bring their own cavalry with the army.
The cannon was also pushed out.
Dai Yaxin, on the other hand, watched coldly, watching them prepare 800 meters away.
By the time most of their troops were within the effective range of two thousand meters, there were almost tens of thousands of people within a distance of fifteen hundred meters.
What's more important is that the Tatars seem to have already pushed the artillery out, preparing to launch the artillery attack first.
At this time, Lieutenant General Dai Yaxin waved his hand: "Fire!"