The front was too long, and even the communication between the several armies they were advancing north was not timely.
It was late the next day that Zhong Jianzhong learned that there were soldiers and horses going south to support the entire front, and they all avoided the main force of the imperial court and disappeared without a trace on Hebei Road.
From the time of the expedition to the present, we have advanced nearly a hundred miles in recent months... Zhong Jianzhong knows how big the gap of a hundred miles is.
The several armies and scouts on our side are all fine cavalry. Even if they are released for fifty miles, due to the number of reasons, it is impossible to accurately detect the traces of the Bei Liao cavalry... The mobility advantage of the cavalry is fully reflected at this time.
In fact, what happens even if traces are discovered? When the army moves forward, another investigation is needed...
"The reports from the four coaches all requested a retreat..."
Zhang Dun looked at the report from the front line and felt really speechless.
He is not a pure civil servant who has never experienced war, and the tone in which he said these words was full of approval.
Four armies, 200,000 soldiers, advanced hundreds of miles, and beheaded less than 5,000... This indicates that there has been no real battle so far.
If this continues, the 200,000-strong army of the Imperial Dynasty can even go directly north to Zhongjing Road in Northern Liao to participate in the civil war in Northern Liao.
Naturally, this 200,000-strong army will be completely surrounded by Northern Liao.
It is not normal to advance forward without destroying the opponent.
"After all, we have already captured three states, so withdrawing our troops like this is equivalent to wasting all our previous efforts!"
Wang Anshi felt it was a pity, a pity.
Of the sixteen states of Yanyun, four states were taken back in the early stage, and now there are three states, which is nearly half of the total.
However, he also knew that a recovery that did not eliminate the enemy's effective strength would be false.
Unexpectedly, the official system of saving people and losing land, and saving people and land, was also used so well in the Northern Liao Dynasty.
"According to reports from the front line, there are signs of truce again in the North Liao and Zhongjing Roads, and the number of cavalry going south for reinforcements has been increasing day by day in the past few days."
"From the border between China and North Korea to the northernmost point where the army arrived, there was a gap of nearly a hundred miles. These gaps were ruled by the Northern Liao Dynasty for a hundred years. How can even the Han people despise them?"
"The imperial court and the army on the expedition have no way of knowing whether the Han people in this hundred-mile gap are Han troops...~"
"Once there is a change, the 200,000 soldiers of the Fourth Army will probably be deeply surrounded by the enemy. By then, what kind of chaos will Hebei Province be..."
The imperial dynasty had millions of soldiers, and nearly 60% of them were freed from the northwest, Hedong and Hebei provinces.
If it weren't for the war that overturned the country, Hebei Province's military strength would have been at its limit.
Who would have thought it would be like this?
"Report... urgent report from Hebei Province..."
Since the beginning of the war, the imperial court has opened an express channel from Hebei Road to Bianliang.
It is a faster delivery method than the early Red Ling Express.
"Reporting to all the elders, Tang County reported that a Northern Liao scout was found fifty miles north of Tang County..."
really……
The cabinet once again gathered in front of the sand table.
For the cavalry, there is a gap of hundreds of miles, and there are passages everywhere.
The land of Hebei has been ruled by the Northern Liao for hundreds of years, and in the early years, the Northern Liao often raided the grass valleys and harassed the border between the Kingdom and North Korea. For the Northern Liao, they were more familiar with the terrain than the Kingdom.
"Retreat! Otherwise, we may be surrounded by 200,000 soldiers."
"Is it possible that the civil strife in Bei Liao has subsided? If the civil strife continues, Bei Liao will not be able to send out enough troops to encircle and suppress twenty armies."
"It's better to believe that something exists than to believe something doesn't exist. It's better to be safe!"
"Beiliao still thinks too much. With the firearms and equipment of an army of 200,000, even if they are trapped in a tight siege, they can still fight back!"
"The morale of the military after being trapped in a tight siege is unpredictable. Although the military strength of the country has improved, military morale is still the most fundamental factor in the battle. It cannot be ignored..."
The cabinet discussed around the sand table.
"Please withdraw..."
Wang Anshi felt very frustrated. This time the government let the cabinet take the lead in the war, so it ended in an anticlimactic manner?
He was really unwilling, but he also didn't dare to test an army of 200,000 people.
"Can we increase the number of troops?"
"There are no mobile reinforcements. Either the garrison in Bianliang or the garrison in the south are mobilized."
"The garrison in Bianliang is already at a minimum, and it will take at least a month to mobilize the southern army to go north, from the deployment to the reinforcement of Hebei Road."
After much discussion, it finally seemed that withdrawing the troops was the most appropriate course of action.
There is no other way, we still have to request an order to withdraw.
"Officials and veterans are thinking, if there is the best time to go north to fight, how should the court solve the current tactics of Northern Liao?"
That's it this time, the edict has been issued.
Although the cabinet asked for an order to allow all armies to withdraw, the official order was to allow all armies to do whatever they wanted...
Although the cabinet had doubts, the fact that the cabinet unanimously decided to go to war could not be regarded as meritorious service, so it no longer had the confidence to refute the officials.
As for the government's decision to act expediently, Zhang Dun, Wang Shao and other cabinet ministers with war experience agreed and approved it.
However, Wang Anshi couldn't understand. If the Guochao and Bei Liao went to full-scale war in the future, and Bei Liao still used such tactics, how should the Guo Chao respond?
Millions of soldiers cannot form a chariot formation and advance as a whole.
"Prince, ministers, do you think Bei Liao is afraid of Song Dynasty?"
"Officials, this is impossible. Although the military strength of the country has improved, and there was a great victory in the Battle of Hedong, it is not sufficient to conclude that Northern Liao is afraid of us, the Song Dynasty."
There should be a consensus on this point, the consensus of the entire court.
In fact, fundamentally speaking, it was the imperial court that was no longer afraid of the Northern Liao Dynasty.
"I remember mentioning in the records left in the martial arts hall that when the combat power cannot support a large army, guerrilla warfare broken into parts is the most effective."
"For example, our first southern expedition against the Annan Army, for example, the tactics we used in our earliest Wanyishan exercise. They were all used when there was a huge disparity in combat power."
"The reason why the current situation on the Hebei Road front shows that Bei Liao believes that it cannot compete with the combat power of the Kuomintang and North Korea in terms of confrontation on the Hebei Road front. This is one of them."
"Secondly, Bei Liao used such tactics with the intention of bluffing, making the country worry about the army being encircled and withdrawing."
"All this means only one thing: the civil strife in Beiliao is in full swing."
"As for the final battle between the Guo Dynasty and the Northern Liao Dynasty... at that time, the Northern Liao Dynasty had no intention of avoiding the Song Dynasty's military front."
"On the other hand, the country needs to invest at least 100,000 cavalry, small tanks that can carry troops faster than the cavalry, and smooth and strong transportation lines."
"The tacit coordination of infantry, chariots, and cavalry between the country and the dynasty is the most critical element."
The timing of war does not only refer to the enemy, but also to the preparedness of one's own side.
It's still a little late to plan. The problem is, some things can't be done early.
The annihilation of Xixia, the recruitment of Fanqi, training, the instillation of loyalty ideas, the use of firearms by Fanqi, etc. cannot be completed in a short period of time.