With the current national strength of the Tang Dynasty, it was far from being able to raise an army of more than 10,000 people.
Xingquan Prefecture and Liping Prefecture have a combined population of only four to five million, and both of them are barren lower prefectures. Although the area is not small and the population is large, there are basically no economic pillar industries. Even the most popular
Basic agriculture is also very scarce.
Food is barely self-sufficient. If there is a slight natural disaster, famine will basically occur.
As for the Tang Dynasty, which raised tens of thousands of soldiers, food was only of secondary importance. After all, if they were plundered a little more fiercely, they could barely eat enough.
However, the various strategic materials needed by the new army of the Tang Dynasty to maintain the war are not so easy to solve. Whether it is iron, copper, saltpeter, sulfur, or even the cloth for making military uniforms and quilts, they cannot be satisfied by themselves and can only rely on
outsourcing.
Even if the entire Xingquan Mansion and Liping Mansion were looted, it would not be able to sustain the war needs of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty!
At present, the Tang Dynasty's army mainly relies on war to support war. Many seizures obtained through war, including prisoners, cold weapons, bowl-mouth cannons, gunpowder, horses, grain and grass, etc., are used to maintain continued expansion.
and fight.
Most of the cold weapons used by the new army of the Tang Dynasty were actually captured from the Ming army. In fact, there were not many self-made cold weapons. They were mainly concentrated on some relatively good quality command knives for officers and waist knives for sword and shield soldiers.
Iron armor, bows, arrows, shields, etc. were all captured from the Ming army.
And now, the new army of the Tang Dynasty even uses a large number of cannons captured from the Ming army for their artillery!
Today, there are two types of artillery units in the New Army of the Tang Dynasty. One is the battalion artillery unit that directly belongs to the infantry regiment, and the other is the artillery battalion directly under the Privy Council. Naturally, the heavy artillery used by the artillery battalion cannot be captured, and only self-made ones can be used.
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However, the battalion artillery team affiliated to the infantry regiment can use the bowl-mouth cannon captured from the Ming Army, because the artillery in the battalion artillery team is also equipped with a 150-pound shotgun according to the standard, but the artillery under the Ministry of Industry
The output of artillery workshops was limited and could not meet the artillery needs of the rapidly expanding New Army of the Tang Dynasty. The battalion artillery teams in many infantry regiments were unable to obtain sufficient amounts of 150 kilograms of battalion artillery, and could only use those captured from the Ming Army.
Bowl mouth cannon.
Although the caliber and power of the bowl-mouth cannons captured from the Ming Army are smaller, you can still barely use them if you choose some bowl-mouth cannons weighing about 100 kilograms!
How can I put it, it’s better than nothing, isn’t it?
On the other hand, the handguns of the Ming army, well, the fireguns held by individual soldiers, basically could not meet the combat needs of the new army of the Tang Dynasty, and they were basically treated as scraps and recast.
Such a Tang dynasty was destined to maintain war through constant external expansion and expansion. However, once it was dragged down by the Ming army and engaged in a war of attrition, no matter how powerful the new Tang army was, it would not be able to sustain much.
What a long battle.
After all, this Ming army has the entire Ming Dynasty behind them. If they are trapped by them, they can crush the Tang Dynasty even with their lives!
Not to mention being dragged into a war of attrition, the Tang Dynasty would be unable to obtain a large amount of war materials and population through expansion, and would become increasingly poor as the war continued.
So when Hao Bainian said that he was worried that the Ming army would defend Liping Mansion and even avoid a decisive battle with his own side, Li Xuan became a little worried.
A war of attrition is not advisable!
In this case, the war over Liping City must be more cautious. If possible, it is best to keep the main force of the Ming army out of Liping City and strive for a strategic decisive battle in the wild. It is best to fight with
A battle similar to the Battle of the Bronze Drum Acropolis.
Just when Li Xuan and Hao Bainian were worried that the Ming Army might engage in a war of attrition with them, in fact, someone on the Ming Army side of the West Road did have such an idea.
A few days after the end of the Battle of Tonggu Acropolis, Zhu Zhihai from the Ming Army on the West Route finally learned that the Ming Army on the North Route suffered a disastrous defeat at the Tonggu Acropolis. The army of more than 20,000 people was completely defeated in less than a day.
It collapsed, leaving only more than 3,000 people fleeing north in panic.
After learning the news, Zhu Zhihai's first reaction was not to be furious, but to think deeply. Then he became anxious again and everyone began to discuss the military situation. The main subject of the discussion was not how to fight, but the reality of the pseudo-Tang traitor army.
Discuss what the puppet Tang rebel army relied on to defeat more than 20,000 Ming troops from the North Road after defeating Song Zhiwen's army of more than 10,000 people.
He had defeated an army of more than 30,000 people twice. If anyone dared to say that this was luck or coincidence, Zhu Zhihai immediately ordered his head to be chopped off.
Since the puppet Tang thief army was able to defeat the official army many times one after another, and there were tens of thousands of official soldiers, you tell me it was coincidence or luck?
Then if I chop you with a knife, you can only blame yourself for being unlucky?
These puppet Tang rebels were so arrogant, they must have something to rely on, and this support gave them the confidence to win consecutive battles, fight against the official army, and even take the initiative to attack the official army.
If you want to successfully wipe out these pseudo-Tang traitor armies, you must know what these pseudo-Tang traitor armies rely on? Only then can you know the corresponding restraint methods.
As long as corresponding methods of restraint can be found, annihilating the puppet Tang rebels will be within reach, and it will be easy, just like the many rebellions suppressed by the imperial court every year.
During the discussion, most of the people agreed that the main reason why the Puppet Tang thief army was able to win consecutive battles was that the Puppet Tang thief army's firearms were too sharp.
Artillery, muskets, explosive shells, etc. are all powerful weapons on the battlefield. Only the puppet Tang rebels who possess these powerful weapons can be so arrogant.
In addition, they also unanimously believed that whether it was the previous Xingquan Prefecture soldiers or the Beilu Ming Army, whether it was Su Jiakang or Song Zhiwen, or the subsequent Guizhou Fenshou Dao, Zuo Shenzheng Long, they all made a mistake:
underestimate the enemy!
Su Jiakang's underestimation of the enemy at the time was, to be honest, excusable, because at that time the Puppet Tang thief army had just emerged, and the outside world did not know enough about this Puppet Tang thief army. It was normal for them to be treated as ordinary bandits.
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But Su Jiakang only underestimated the enemy at first, and later he defended Zhengtai County.
However, the subsequent underestimation of Song Zhiwen and Long Shenzheng was unforgivable. Faced with the puppet Tang bandit army that had swept through Zhengtai County, Song Zhiwen was defeated in the first Battle of Lanjiang, and the Second Battle of Lanjiang unexpectedly
Still, they underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, which ultimately led to heavy losses, and directly caused the subsequent Lanjiang Cairn to be in vain, and the puppet Tang rebel army crossed the Lanjiang Cairn, thus sweeping through Xingquan, Liping and Ping prefectures.
Master Long was no exception. Faced with a puppet Tang rebel army that had defeated tens of thousands of official troops, he went south and had a fight with the puppet Tang rebel army under the Tonggu Guard City without waiting for the arrival of the main friendly forces on the west route.
The decisive battle ended well. More than 20,000 people were defeated by more than 10,000 puppet Tang traitor troops. Those who were defeated could not be defeated again.
Naturally, everyone present thought that they could not be as stupid as Song Zhiwen and Master Long, and would do such a stupid thing as underestimating the enemy and rushing in.
But there is a saying that drunk people always shout that they are not drunk; mentally ill people always say that they are not sick. How can it be that I am sick? It is obviously you who are sick. The whole world
Everyone is sick except me!
Therefore, everyone present despised Song Zhiwen and the others, but they had no idea that they continued to march eastward to suppress the puppet Tang rebel army even though they knew clearly that the Ming army in the north was defeated. This was actually a kind of underestimation of the enemy.
Behavior.
If they are cautious enough, they will stop and then continue to accumulate troops, gathering an army of 70, 80,000 or even more than 100,000 before continuing to advance eastward. That would be foolproof.
Now that they are marching eastward with more than 30,000 people, do they think they will perform better than the more than 20,000 people of the Ming Army in the North?
But we can't blame them. It's normal to be in the mountains and not know how high the mountains are, and to be in the forest and not know how big the forest is. There are always only a few people who can push through the clouds and mist in the deep mountains and old forests and see the truth of the matter clearly.
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And obviously, these people are just a group among the majority, not a minority.
So they thought they were very cautious, but they still headed towards Liping Mansion, and even planned to go to Xingquan Mansion.
Of course, they also made a lot of preparations. After they learned from many channels that the Puppet Tang rebel army had sharp firearms, they also spent a lot of thought and prepared a lot of corresponding measures.
For example, prepare a large and thick shield that can block bullets, for example, temporarily hang a piece of iron on the armor of some heavily armored soldiers, especially add a goggles on the chest.
These measures are basically similar to what Song Zhiwen did originally. After all, this is the first reaction of ordinary troops when they encounter troops with sharp firearms.
If there are corresponding weapons, then naturally use corresponding weapons. If not, then you have to take some defensive measures.
Such as shields, shield vehicles and the like.
Strictly speaking, these things actually have some uses. At least they can block bullets at long distances, but they are actually useless at medium and short ranges within fifty or sixty meters.
If you use a shield thickened with iron sheets, can it still have high defensive capabilities compared to steel armor several millimeters thick?
The bullets fired by the 14mm muskets of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty can penetrate steel armor of a few millimeters, let alone these thin iron sheets.
Unless you are really shameless and go to the battlefield with a big, thick piece of iron!
But if you really take it, then don't fight anymore, because such a heavy thing can tire you to death before you step onto the battlefield and take bullets.
The Ming Army on the West Route, who thought they had taken adequate precautions and were extremely cautious, arrived not far from Liping City with smooth sailing. At this time, it had actually been two days since the Ming Army captured Liping City!
These two days were not only enough time for the main force of the Ming Army to arrive not far from Lipingfu City, but also for the Third Infantry Regiment, the forward force of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty, to arrive at Lipingfu City!