Eight hundred and sixtieth chapters on the eve of the decisive battle
As the Tang Dynasty won one victory after another, Li Xuan's prestige within the Tang Dynasty became higher and higher, and it had reached the level of deification.
Even though Li Xuan was not the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty was the late emperor Li Erbi, but people who have a little knowledge of the history of the Tang Dynasty, even if they see the history through the Tang Dynasty
This is a version that some officials have embellished, but it is still undeniable that it was Li Xuan who brought the Tang Dynasty from a small-scale bandit hiding in the ravine to the point where it now occupies half of China.
To put it bluntly, Li Xuan's role accounted for most of the Tang Dynasty's success today.
Without Li Xuan, the Tang Dynasty would never have been what it is today!
Li Xuan, who brought the Tang Dynasty to today, has a high prestige that is beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
Even Hao Bainian, who was famous as the first general of the Tang Dynasty, was obedient and did not dare to say a big word in front of Li Xuan, let alone the new generation of middle and high-level generals who had only risen in the middle and late stages.
And one very important thing is that in the Tang Dynasty today, most of the mid-level and senior generals came from the Royal Academy. There are only a handful of veteran generals who came from bandits in the early years, including Wang Shanxu, Chen Tufu,
Cai Erhu, the three others, and the rest are some who were surrendered by the former Ming Dynasty. For example, Zeng Ziwen was a surrendered general by the Ming army, as was the cavalry general Cao Mingda.
But these people are no longer the mainstream in today's Tang Dynasty.
Today, Hao Bainian, Li Chunjing, Fang Xitong, Wang Chaohong, Chen Keqiao, Lei Wan and others are the core generals of the Tang Army, and they all have the same characteristic, that is, they all came from the Imperial Academy.
disciple of the emperor.
There are even more major generals and brigadier generals, and even more senior officers.
A large number of Imperial Academy students occupy high positions, which is also the main support for Li Xuan to control the army. Without these Imperial Academy students, it would be much more difficult for Li Xuan to control the huge army and navy of the Tang Dynasty.
The young colonel Li Xuan held hands with was undoubtedly a student of the Imperial Academy, and a relatively late student. The relationship between these later Imperial Academy students and Li Xuan was more complicated.
On the one hand, it is the relationship between monarch and minister, and on the other hand, it is the relationship between teacher and student. When he saw that this person was missing one hand, but still wearing a military uniform and fighting on the front line, Li Xuan naturally would not show any sign of it and hold it in person.
She held his hand and said, "Thank you for your hard work, my dear."
This simple sentence also contains a trace of Li Xuan's guilt!
As a superior, Li Xuan has learned to look down on life and death over the years. In his opinion, the casualties of frontline soldiers are just numbers on paper. In the battle of Jiangbei last year, the Third Army suffered nearly 100 casualties.
Eight thousand people died in battle, which means more than five thousand were killed.
In the Battle of Anqing, the Second Army also suffered no fewer than 3,000 casualties.
At the same time, small and medium-sized battles occasionally broke out on other fronts, with thousands of cumulative casualties.
If all are counted, the total number of casualties in the Tang Army last winter had reached more than 10,000!
But in Li Xuan's opinion, these more than 10,000 people are just numbers on paper. If there are casualties, new soldiers will be added.
But now, seeing with his own eyes that the Royal Academy students he taught were injured on the battlefield, and were forced to have their limbs amputated, leaving only one hand. At this moment, Li Xuan also felt a little guilty.
But this trace of guilt only lasted for a brief second!
To lead the Tang Dynasty to unify China and lead China to rise, there would inevitably be a lot of sacrifices in the process, and Li Xuan was mentally prepared for this.
The simple interview outside the city ended quickly, and then Li Xuan entered the city with the support of many courtiers and moved into the temporary palace.
It is said to be a palace, but in fact it was just the residence of a wealthy businessman before. The conditions are naturally not comparable to the royal residence in Jinling City. However, Li Xuan came to fight, not to enjoy, so he did not care about it.
What dissatisfaction.
On the day he entered the city, Li Xuan hosted a banquet for the ministers as usual. However, during the war, it was naturally not a serious crime to drink, so both Li Xuan and the ministers only tasted it briefly.
The next day, Li Xuan held a strategic meeting before the imperial court, which was attended not only by army generals and navy generals, but also by civil servants from the cabinet.
The meeting did not talk about strategic direction or anything like that. It was mainly a mobilization meeting to unify thinking and boost morale.
Later, Li Xuan, dressed in military uniform, personally inspected various units of the Third Army. During the inspection, Li Xuan was more pleased that although the Third Army had been fighting north for more than half a month, the morale of the soldiers was still relatively high.
The continuous fighting for more than half a month did not bring any trouble to the Third Army.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that the Ming Army took the initiative to shrink and the Third Army did not fight a large-scale battle in the past half month.
The previous march north was more of a battle than an armed march.
However, the next trip north was different. According to the information reported by the reconnaissance cavalry, combined with the various intelligence passed back by the Military Intelligence Department, it was shown that Emperor Zhengde was already personally in charge of Anping Town, and that the Shandong Ming Army and even some of the troops originally in Henan
The Ming army has all gathered here, and the total strength will not be less than 100,000.
In addition, the main force of the Tatar cavalry has arrived in full force and appears in Fan County, southwest of Anping Town.
Eighty thousand Ming troops and fifty thousand Tatar cavalry have already set up their posture in this area. If the Tang Army continues to move north, it will meet them. By then, a large-scale decisive battle will inevitably break out!
The Tang Army currently marching into Shandong has most of the main force of the Third Army, about 50,000 people. In addition, Li Xuan also led the Guards of 15,000 people, two divisions of the Fourth Army, and artillery and other 30,000 people.
In addition, if you include the thousands of officers and soldiers of the Navy's Canal Fleet, the total strength is just over 100,000.
To put it simply, the military strength comparison between the Tang and Ming armies was one to one, setting the smallest strength comparison between the two sides in any large-scale decisive battle.
But there is a huge variable here, that is, there are still 100,000 troops, but the Ming army has tens of thousands of cavalry!
In addition, another very important point is that there are 50,000 Tatar cavalry nearby!
The Tatar cavalry is more elite than the Ming army cavalry. When it comes to mounted archery, the Tatars are masters of mounted archery. They have grown up on horseback since they were young. It goes without saying that they are skilled in equestrian skills.
And his archery skills are also quite good.
In addition, the Tatar cavalry also has a great tactical advantage, that is, their cavalry all rides alone with two or even three horses. Their mobility, especially the ability to run long distances, far exceeds that of the Ming army's cavalry.
Not to mention the cavalry of the Tang Dynasty.
The cavalry of the Tang Dynasty was extremely short of horses. They always rode alone. They would never ride a horse unless they were charging into battle. Even when marching, the cavalry would even carry their luggage on their backs for the sake of preservation.
The physical fitness of the war horse.
The focus of this battle is to deal with the cavalry of the Ming Army and the Tatars. After all, the total number of cavalry on the opposite side exceeds 60,000. If this one is not good, no matter how many guns and artillery we have, it will cause big trouble.
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In order to fight against the cavalry on the opposite side, many generals and staff officers of the Tang Army were not idle, thinking hard and coming up with many strategic ideas.
But many strategic concepts are ultimately inseparable from how to deal with the enemy's cavalry, especially how to deal with the enemy's cavalry charge!
If the enemy has such a huge cavalry advantage, they will definitely rely heavily on cavalry in combat. Now, the Tang Army is trying to figure out how to use infantry against cavalry.
It is certain to form a frontal formation against the cavalry, but you have to be particular about how to form the formation. The four-corner square formation is necessary, but the four-corner square formation is only an infantry battalion-level tactic. If you put it in an array of 100,000 people,
How to arrange troops and formations is a considerable knowledge.
In addition, the cavalry is not stupid. It is impossible for them to directly attack the Tang Dynasty's well-defended infantry phalanx. They will attack from behind!
After all, the cavalry had an absolute advantage in mobility. They could fight when they wanted and leave when they wanted. The Tang Army had no choice at all.
In this case, Army Lieutenant General Lei Wan, the chief of operations who accompanied Li Xuan to the north, pointedly pointed out that although the enemy's cavalry was a great threat, their infantry was their weakness.
The enemy's cavalry can come and go on their own, but their infantry cannot. They only need to quickly go north to Anping Town and entangle the 100,000 infantrymen of the pseudo-Ming Dynasty.
Do you think their cavalry should leave or not?
Let's go, the Tang Army swallowed up these 100,000 infantrymen in one bite!
If the enemy's cavalry cannot move away, then if you want to change the disadvantage of their infantry, you must take the initiative, and finally force the enemy's cavalry to engage in a large-scale decisive battle with your own infantry!
Facing a large-scale charge by the enemy's cavalry, there will definitely be casualties, and there will definitely be no less, but even if it is a one-to-one exchange, the Tang Army will still make a profit.
Although the infantry of the Tang Dynasty Army consumes a lot of money, to be honest, today's infantry is just a cheap consumable. What is more expensive is the cost of maintaining the troops in combat, not the infantry itself.
With 50,000 infantry casualties and casualties, the Privy Council Training Department could immediately add 10,000 trained recruits, and 50,000 soldiers could be sent in within a few months.
The Army Recruitment Department of the Cabinet is now recruiting troops in the rear every day. Now that the Tang Dynasty occupies so many places and has a large population and resources, recruiting troops is no longer a problem. The problem is how many troops can be raised.
Because the gap in the army is not large, the Ministry of War is now recruiting soldiers. It has begun to limit the number of soldiers by raising requirements. It is no longer like in previous years. As long as the young and strong recruits are of moderate quality, they can successfully serve as soldiers and share the fields.
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But the cavalry on the opposite side suffered 50,000 casualties? Let alone a few months, they would not be able to recover in a few years!
As long as they can defeat tens of thousands of their cavalry, even if they pay a heavy price, the staff in the combat department think it is a good deal. Of course, this kind of thing must not be said to the ordinary officers and soldiers in the army.
Yes, because no one wants to become cannon fodder and then be consumed.
But just because the superiors don’t say so, doesn’t mean they don’t do it!
So after determining the main battle plan, Li Xuan personally led the army to continue northward along the canal, aiming directly at Anping Town!