Chen Bing also considered the suggestions of Wei Ji and Yang Duanhe.
Objectively speaking, the suggestions of these two veterans still make sense.
The problem is that the Qin army suffered too much losses... Not only is the Silk Road blocked and unable to exchange for enough food, but a large amount of food must be transported for Li Yan's 30,000 troops to eat, and at least until next year. harvest.
How much food does 30,000 troops need to consume?
It sounded like a lot of more than 50,000 sheep from the Tuoba clan "exploitation", but if you really want to send these 30,000 troops as military rations... on average, each person is less than two, how many days can you eat?
If you want to transport food, it will be even more troublesome:
At this time, Hetao did not produce grain. The grain must be far away from Yanmen County or even further away. Then, a large circle around Hetao passed through Yunzhong, Jiuyuan, Wuyuan, and then to Xitao and cross Hexi, and then to Suzhou The total route is at least five or six thousand miles long.
This is almost impossible to complete unless the Hetao area does not develop and everyone is put into transportation.
In addition, there are arrows, equipment, horses and other supplies needed for the 30,000 people to fight.
Therefore, if the strategy of Yang Duanhe and Wei Ji was adopted, the troops garrison in Suzhou would inevitably be reduced.
But how much does this garrison need to be reduced?
Reduced to 10,000 or even less?
When the Yuezhi army and the Huns were dying, the Qin army not only did not increase its troops but instead wanted to withdraw its troops?
Doing this is to "make others angry and destroy one's own might", which is almost no different from giving up Suzhou.
Once you give up Suzhou at this time, it will not be so easy to come back in the future.
Therefore, it is not realistic to stick to it, and its difficulty and risk are actually no less than offense.
Thinking of this Shen Bing, I didn't think much about it:
"We actually have only two choices in this battle, either attack or withdraw our troops, and there is no saying that we will defend Suzhou and wait for another attack next year."
All the generals agreed to the claim that Shen Bing was.
If you consider the difficulty of supply, it is indeed the case.
Then Chen Bing said:
"I think our army should attack more, both attacking and withdrawing troops."
Yang Duanhe hurriedly said:
"But General, we only have 30,000 troops, but the enemy has more than 100,000."
"Especially the enemy has no worries about supply, but our army only allows victory but not defeat."
"Once the defeat of the war, the food and grass cannot keep up, the consequences will be unimaginable."
"I hope the general thinks twice!"
Chen Bing asked Yang Duanhe:
"How long can Suzhou grain and grass last?"
Yang Duanhe replied:
"Because of the previous trading of grain, grain and grass can last for two months!"
It would be very dangerous if it could only last for two months, because it would take one month for the army to return to Xitao from Suzhou.
If you choose to fight...
Yang Duanhe added:
"And if our army attacks Yuezhi, we can only attack from both east and north."
"The attack from the east will be blocked by Sanwei Mountain. It is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and it is not possible to make a month."
"The north is the Gobi without water and grass. Our army will be in danger of defending the Gobi when it enters the Gobi and is under the attack on both sides of the Yuezhi and the Huns..."
Chen Bing interrupted Yang Duanhe's words:
"We will attack Sanwei Mountain from the front."
Yang Duanhe wanted to say something, but was stopped by Shen Bing.
"That's it."
"Hetao will be handed over to General Yang, and Chen Bing personally led his troops to Suzhou to command."
Everyone was anxious, Wang Ben stood up and said:
"The general is not allowed. The journey to Suzhou is long and unpredictable. Wang Ben can just lead his troops there!"
Yang Duanhe also said:
"The Suzhou troops are subordinates of Hanoi soldiers. If they must attack, they should go there in person!"
Even Fusu stood up nervously:
"Hetao still needs the general to take charge of the overall situation. Fusu thinks that the general should not be careless!"
...
Shen Bing did not want to be like this hero or act rashly.
But the strategy he thought of to deal with Yuezhi was to be dangerous and not leaked.
In order to keep the secret to ensure the suddenness of the battle, Shen Bing must come to command in person and he is the only one who knows... Once the secret is leaked, not only will this battle be lost, but Li Yan's 30,000 people are likely to not be able to come back now.
Therefore, Shen Bing had to act carefully.
So Shen Bing bowed to Fusu and said:
"Please rest assured, young master, the soldiers will be responsible for their own determination."
"And even if the war is defeated, it will not be difficult for Shen soldiers to retreat unstoppably."
Seeing that Shen Bing was determined, Fusu could only sigh and nodded:
"The general must act carefully and must not let it go!"
After Chen Bing thanked him, he took Wang Ben to the west.
After rushing to the Western Tabernacle, Shen Bing didn't say much.
On the one hand, the cavalry led by Wei was ordered to stand by in Suzhou... The 5,000 cavalry and more than 10,000 herders who led the Western Regions to cast their way back at this time.
The supply of this team does not need to be worried about Shen Bing.
As mentioned before, they are nomadic peoples, and they carry cattle and sheep with them wherever they go. As long as there is water and grass, they will never starve to death.
Another advantage of Western cavalry is that the recruitment rate is very high.
Because the Qin army had many women and few men in war for many years, it would be great if one out of five people could serve in the military.
However, this is also related to the system of the Qin army taking turns to serve in the new service... After one person served in the military, his family still needed to have labor to farm.
The herdsmen in the Western Regions are different.
Two of the five of them served in the military... The family did not require labor, women also pounded rice, weaved cloth, and didn't plow the fields. They just needed to be able to milk and kill sheep.
Therefore, the people corresponding to the five thousand cavalry are only more than ten thousand, so the burden is much less.
Shen Bing ordered Wu to drive the flock of five thousand cavalry to Suzhou with the accompanying flock, while the people took a few flocks to continue back to Xitaka.
On the other hand, Shen Bing organized a reinforcement army in Xitaku.
This reinforcement army consists of three thousand Shenwu Army and one thousand mountain troops heading to Li family.
In fact, there are not three thousand Shenwu Army, because one thousand of them are the personal guards of Shenbing.
Shen Bing did not dare to bring more troops.
Due to insufficient supply, the force and time are proportional to the force: the more troops you bring, the shorter the time you have.
Then Chen Bing ordered 20,000 sheep and brought some food and set off.
Along the way, soldiers flocked to the sheep first.
But the marching speed was not fast. After advancing for 100 miles a day, he stopped and then camped for training.
What was trained was not cavalry warfare, but the two thousand Shenwu troops led by Wang Ben were mixed with the mountain troops heading to Liqing to march in the mountains.
Wang Ben was a little strange at first because he had no purpose in every training. He was to enter the mountain area for half an hour before returning the same route.
But then I thought about it and soon realized:
"The general is going to fight with Yuezhi, so he is afraid that he will use these two thousand Shenwu Army and one thousand Hongli Army as the strange army."
But Wang Ben then frowned:
"The Yuezhi has an army of 70,000, and the Huns have another one hundred thousand."
"How much effect can the Qin army play even if they take the three thousand strange troops around the mountain road and go around the side of the Yuezhi?"