On the ninth day of October in the second year of Dashun, the Tielin, Tianzhu, and Tianxiong armies arrived in Tongzhou with more than 20,000 infantry and cavalry troops, and the Wuwei army arrived at Tongguan.
Before that, 3,000 cavalrymen from Tielin Army, 1,000 cavalrymen from Tianzhu Army, 2,000 cavalrymen from Wuwei Army, a total of 6,000 cavalry arrived at Shihao Village one after another.
Shao Shude asked people to calculate the food and grass.
This is 54,000 horses, which consumes more than 140,000 hu of grain a month.
Including the Huazhou soldiers, the total number of the army is about 40,000, and it consumes more than 30,000 husks of food a month.
Adding up the foot and horse, it is 180,000 dendrobium.
At present, more than 8,000 carts, plus more than 10,000 camels, and thousands of pack horses have been mobilized, which is enough to transport two months' worth of food in one trip.
But this does not include the consumption of masters and draft animals.
150,000 people were mobilized successively, most of them were transporting, loading and unloading materials between Guanzhong and Huazhou, and about 50,000 people were transported to the front line.
This cost is mainly borne by the counties in Tonghua Prefecture and the eastern half of Jingzhao Prefecture. The imperial court must have strong opinions and has not dared to send anyone to question it yet, but as time goes by, it will definitely become unsettled.
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It is still necessary to build up Weibei, Huazhou and other places, otherwise the long-distance transportation of grain and grass will consume too much and cannot support annual campaigns.
In recent times, villages in Henan Prefecture have been repeatedly destroyed, and more than 7,000 households and nearly 40,000 people have been captured. These people should be arranged to Weibei and Huazhou towns as soon as possible. There should be some open space in the local area, which can be opened up in the autumn and winter.
, try to plant a crop of grain next year.
"Commander, the current situation is that our army has Ge Congzhou in the south, and his people have set up a stronghold in Xiaoshan. According to the prisoners tortured, the strength of the troops should be between 5,000 and 10,000, mostly infantry, and there may be more than a thousand cavalry.
, or two thousand. On this road, we are currently holding still, or waiting for our main force to advance eastward, and then move northward to occupy Xiashi County, which has complex terrain and numerous dangerous passes, and cut off our food routes." In the Shihaozhai camp, Chen Cheng was carefully
analyze.
"Why did he lead so many infantry to Kip Shek?" An Xiuxiu stood aside and couldn't help but ask: "My cavalry is always watching, how can he get away?"
"In the fifth year of Yixi of Jin Dynasty, Liu Yu made a northern expedition to Nanyan. Ninety-nine of his troops were infantry. Facing Nanyan, which had a large number of cavalry, the Jin army had 4,000 chariots divided into two wings. They moved slowly on a square track. The chariots were covered with curtains, and the charioteers were
He holds the spear and uses light cavalry as a wandering army. The military orders are solemn and the troops are in order." Chen Cheng has a well-thought-out approach.
To put it simply, Liu Yu knew that Nanyan was dominated by cavalry and his troops were dominated by infantry. Facing the harassment of cavalry, it would be difficult to move forward on the open plains.
So they built four thousand vehicles and divided them on both wings of the army to prevent the cavalry from attacking. They also brought an extremely sufficient supply of food, grass and equipment. The closer they got to the capital of Nanyan, the more Nanyan became more and more impatient, and finally decided to take the initiative to attack Liu Yu's army.
The whole army was defeated.
If the cavalry takes the initiative to attack the infantry phalanx, it will naturally not reap the rewards.
"In the 13th year of Yixi, Liu Yu went to the Northern Expedition to the Later Qin Dynasty, and the Northern Wei Dynasty sent cavalry to assist the Later Qin Dynasty. Yu's general Ding Hao commanded 700 soldiers and hundreds of chariots, crossed the north bank, and crossed the water for more than a hundred steps to Que Yue Formation...
Wei General Sun Songshuai assisted him with 30,000 horsemen. He attacked the camp on all sides with weak weapons and could not control the crossbows. At that time, he used a large hammer to cut off more than a thousand pieces of wood, but he cut off a tree that was three to four feet long and used a hammer to hammer it, making a hole in it.
There are three or four people. The Wei soldiers are unable to resist them. They are suddenly defeated and the dead are piled up."
Liu Yu's infantry set up a half-moon-shaped formation on the north bank of the Yellow River, surrounded by chariots. They used hundreds of powerful crossbows to shoot from a distance and infantry for close combat. With 2,700 infantry, they faced a fierce attack by the Northern Wei's 30,000 cavalry and were defeated.
He beheaded countless people.
"The Jin horse marched to Xiliang in a long march and crossed Wenshui in the west. There were tens of thousands of soldiers with the ability to take advantage of the dangers to contain the advance, or to set up ambushes to intercept the rear. Long followed the eight formations to build a box car, and the ground was wide to form an antler car camp.
, if the road is narrow, then the wooden house is placed on the cart, and when fighting forward, the bow and arrow will fall down in response to the string."
Ma Long used a side carriage and 3,500 sergeants. He used infantry bows and powerful crossbows as his main weapons. He carried enough food, grass, and arrows and traveled more than a thousand miles. The whole army was surrounded by Hu cavalry and lost contact with the imperial court. They fought and marched.
, finally destroying the function of the Bald Tree, forced landing in Xianbei and others.
These cases are basically inseparable from "cars".
Using vehicles as a barrier, bows and crossbows as the main output weapons, and infantry for close combat, supplemented by elite infantry, it is necessary to save the enemy when attacking, forcing the cavalry to actively attack the infantry to seek death.
The key point here is that the psychological quality of the infantry must be good. They must be well-trained infantry who have been fighting for many years and cannot be a ragtag group. Otherwise, when faced with the overwhelming influx of cavalry, if you panic, your position will be messed up.
For example, Zongze in the Northern Song Dynasty and the chariot camp in the late Ming Dynasty were attacked and defeated by the enemy. There are many reasons. One is that there are only chariots without formations, and the second is that the infantry is too poor to fight.
But the chariot camp has practical significance, otherwise the Ming army would not be popular. It relied on this when going out to the fortress to defeat the Mongols. It even played a great role in dealing with Hou Jin, who had to adjust the "Wuzhen Chao"
Ha" to assist in the attack.
In the Qing Dynasty, Zuo Zongtang relied on chariot formations to deal with the Nian Army's 30,000 elite cavalry.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the output weapon of the vehicle array was cannon, but the idea was actually the same.
"According to what you say, if Ge Congzhou has 10,000 elite soldiers, and this chariot is not difficult to build, he will take several months of food and grass and head to Xia Shi County, and my cavalry can only watch." An Xiuxiu said angrily.
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"General An, our Shuofang army consists mostly of infantry." Chen Cheng said helplessly.
Although An Xiuxiu commanded four thousand infantry and cavalry, he was born as a cavalry commander, and he was particularly intolerant of the fact that infantrymen could move freely under the eyes of cavalry.
"Ge Congzhou may not understand this." He said angrily.
"This..." Chen Cheng didn't know what to say.
You don't need to read military books, just read history books to know. Liu Yu was the founding emperor after all, and Ma Long was also a famous minister, and they were both named in history books.
"Okay." Shao Shude stopped An Xiuxiu's chatter and said: "The car formation is equivalent to a moving city wall, which protects the infantry, but gives up the initiative on the battlefield. Unless he attacks what I must save,
I had to face the battle head-on. Moreover, during the war, a sergeant needs nine bushels of corn and ten thousand infantry per month. If he carries half a year's food and grass, he will need two thousand vehicles. The vehicle also requires draft animals and consumes food and grass. Using a vehicle
Formation requires the general's ability to be busy but not chaotic. To do this, you must be a veteran general in the army."
"Ge Congzhou set up a stronghold in the mountains to the south of me. When my infantry group arrived, he pulled it out." Shao Shude said: "Deputy Ambassador Chen, continue."
"The cities of Mianchi, Xin'an, Luoyang and other cities are guarded by the infantry of the Bian Army. The walls are strong and the fields are clear. It seems that they no longer dare to attack." Chen Cheng said: "In the south of Chen, Xu, Cai and other states, sergeants are gathering one after another, either heading north to Luoyang or going to Luoyang.
Join Ge Congzhou in the mountains, or stay still and wait for the opportunity." Chen Cheng said: "There is another place that you may have overlooked, the north bank of the river."
Everyone looked at the map.
The battle between the Xia Army and the Bian Army is currently limited to the south of the river, but what about Hebei across the river? More than half of the ten counties in Heyang are in Hebei. The main forces of Li Keyong and Zhu Quanzhong faced off and fought in Hebei.
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"Will the Bian army send a partial force to the north bank of the river, passing through Jiangzhou, to attack our grain road in a roundabout way?" Chen Cheng said: "There are many fords along the river, and the general's seven thousand cavalry will be defeated.
, can you handle it?"
The grain road is now the most vulnerable link of Shuofang's army.
After hunting for so many days, we only got 200,000 hu of dendrobium, which was enough for one month.
If you keep fighting, you should still gain something, but it will probably gradually decrease.
Attacking the two major post roads from Hebei in a roundabout way, the initiative has indeed returned to the Bian Army, because they can choose the crossing point, and you don't know where they will attack from. There are less than 7,000 cavalry guarding the grain road.
Turning passivity into initiative is a move that a general must learn.
"Wuwei's army is leaving Tongguan. Tell them not to come over and defend Guozhou first. Fengxiang's army is guarding Shaanzhou. I will patrol the river bank with two thousand cavalry. If there are bandits crossing, they will light the beacon to send a message." Shao Shude.
ordered.
Lu Siye immediately began to write the ultimatum.
Shao Shude didn't know if Ge Congzhou would pull this trick, but he had to guard against it.
This is more uncomfortable, just like the Shuofang Army's cavalry advantage in front of him, which forced him to defend passively. It doesn't even take more than two or three thousand men to send a partial division to the north bank of the river, but it forces you to use five times as much.
Ten times the strength of defense.
"Transfer all the silver guns back, replenish the horses as soon as possible, repair the horseshoes, nail the horseshoes, collect supplies, then cross the river and go north, bypass the enemy's cities and fortresses, and search carefully." Shao Shude continued to order.
The Silver Spear City was currently operating in the northeastern border of Henan Prefecture, collecting grain everywhere and burning bridges, but they had not yet dared to enter Zhengzhou where Zhu Quanzhong was located.
In fact, it was quite boring for them to attack behind enemy lines. Shao Shude did not allow them to do tricks commonly used by the Mongols, such as destroying farmland canals, poisoning wells, killing people, setting fire to houses, spreading plague, etc. This caused a certain amount of trouble for the Bian army and made the local area
There was some panic, but the overall situation could not be shaken.
If you don't sweep away Zhengzhou and Huazhou, the Bian army's supplies will not be cut off.
"Send another envoy to the Jin army." Shao Shude gave final instructions: "Can his tens of thousands of miscellaneous soldiers be able to withstand Zhu Quanzhong? Our army, seize the time to plunder the population, and capture as many as we can."
"As ordered." Everyone responded one after another.