Shen Bing did not expect that the Huns would still garrison Gu Shi.
In his imagination, as soon as Loulan's artillery fired, the Xiongnu should have known that city walls like Gu Shi and Loulan were like paper that could be broken by a poke to the Qin army, so they should give up on their own initiative.
The reconnaissance work was completed by Yan, who brought people to report:
"The Huns deployed an army of 50,000 in the Gushi area, divided into five areas: Gushi, Jiaohe, Qitai, Tuyu, and Saar."
"Among them, there may be 30,000 troops in Gushi City."
Yan's tribe was originally located to the east of Nagushi, so the topography and place names of this area are very treasured.
Wang Ben couldn't help but frowned when he saw this:
"My aunt alone has an army of 50,000, and it is said that there are Huns on the flanks."
"I'm afraid it's King Youxian and all his troops who have come out."
A trace of worry flashed in Li Yan's eyes, and he raised his hands to Shen Bing and said:
"General, my subordinates think that we should delay our attack on our master."
"Our army's new expedition to Loulan consumes a lot of supplies, while the Xiongnu are waiting for work in our army, and their strength is several times that of our army."
"If we attack rashly..."
What Li Yan said makes sense.
The main consumption of supplies was artillery shells. Sixty percent of the artillery shells were consumed when attacking Loulan City. Although the "explosive bombs" were not used much, they were not in large quantities. In addition, some of them were given to Zhang Yu to intimidate Loulan. , so there were only more than a hundred hairs left.
These artillery shells may be slightly insufficient for attacking Gushi, because Gushi is not a small town like Loulan, and the Xiongnu troops must be several times larger. At least, the original number must be prepared to have the confidence to go to war.
In fact, solid iron bullets are not the key point. Loulan State can smelt bronzes. If it is not possible, it is not a big problem to replace them with solid bronze bullets.
But the matching medicine packs were a big problem... The Western Regions lacked the raw materials for making gunpowder, especially saltpeter, so the medicine packs could not be replenished.
On the other hand, supplies and reinforcements coming from Shazhou are already on the way, and they will arrive in Loulan in about ten days. It might be a good idea to wait a few days.
But Shen Bing shook his head and said:
"I don't think our troops can get supplies."
Wang Ben nodded in agreement:
"If the Xiongnu intends to garrison Gushi, they will definitely attack my reinforcements and cut off my supplies!"
It's obvious that the Huns are not stupid.
If the Xiongnu did not expect that the Qin army would take the southern route to avoid its attack before, now that Loulan was lost, they knew that the Qin army's supply line was to the south.
It would be okay if the Xiongnu had no plan to garrison Gushi. If they wanted to garrison Gushi, they would definitely try to attack the Qin army's supply line to weaken its combat effectiveness.
This is also true. The first step of King Xunxun of Youxian was to organize a team of Luo and cavalry to go deep into the desert.
This suggestion was opposed by his subordinates because the cost of cavalry going deep into the desert was too high, and the Huns cavalry who were accustomed to fighting on the grasslands might not be able to adapt.
Grassland and desert are two different things... In the grassland, you can graze anywhere, and the war horses can graze as soon as they rest, so there is basically no need to worry about supplies. However, in the desert, you have to consider the issues of drinking water and fodder at all times.
Xun Hao said this to his subordinates:
"Our cavalry has always been good at mobile warfare, so we shouldn't stick to our uncle's side."
"Otherwise, if the Qin army is allowed to successfully obtain reinforcements and supplies, it will only be a matter of time before our army falls."
What Xun Hao said is right.
The Qin army was not short of troops. If the Yuezhi's 50,000 cavalry troops were added, the Qin army would have numbered 100,000.
The problem for the Qin army was that it was difficult to cross the desert that separated Shazhou and Loulan for 1,500 miles. This was also the weakness of the Qin army.
If the Xiongnu did not take advantage of this weakness and attack, the Qin army's strength in Loulan would gradually strengthen, and eventually the Xiongnu would have to retreat to the grassland.
Therefore, either we don’t fight, or if we want to fight, we must go deep into the desert to cut off its supplies, even if we pay the price.
After being analyzed in this way, the subordinates had nothing to say.
So the Xiongnu immediately organized a team of ten thousand people. They collected a large number of camels to bring supplies and captured Gu Shi who was familiar with the terrain as their guide, and marched thousands of miles south to attack the Qin army's supply line.
This action by the Xiongnu did cause losses, but it could also cause losses to the Qin army, and the Qin army's losses were likely to be much greater.
Although Shen Bing and others had not received the news at this time, it was not difficult to guess the Xiongnu's move.
Li Yan was shocked when he heard this and said:
"In this case, we should go to the rescue immediately!"
Wang Ben asked back:
"How to respond?"
"The vast desert is full of sand mountains, and we don't even know where our supplies are."
"If we send troops rashly, not only will we not be able to find reinforcements, we may also be trapped in a tight siege."
Wang Ben is right.
In this respect, deserts are somewhat similar to grasslands, and can even be said to be even better than grasslands.
Because the terrain of the grassland is relatively flat, it is possible to spot supply teams in the distance as far as the eye can see.
However, the "Kumtag" desert is mainly composed of sand mountains. In such terrain, sometimes the target cannot be found on the opposite side, and it is not easy to "receive" it.
At this point, everyone ran out of ideas.
Without supplies and reinforcements, wouldn't it be necessary to fight the Huns' nearly 100,000-strong army with only 10,000 men?
If there were enough gunpowder and "explosive bombs", it might be possible to fight. After all, artillery was too scary in this era, especially the unusually powerful "explosive bombs".
But now the Qin army is in a dilemma.
Shen Bing looked at the Xiongnu troop deployment map made by Yan and asked:
"Why are the Xiongnu forces so dispersed?"
"Doesn't this arrangement require us to defeat each one?"
Wang Ben replied:
"The Xiongnu laid it out like this, probably just to raise horses instead of garrisoning them."
Yan nodded and explained:
"It's exactly what the captain said."
"The place where the Huns are stationed is actually my uncle."
"However, the space and water and grass in Gushi City were limited, so the Xiongnu had to disperse their troops outside the city."
Shen Bing said "oh" when he heard this.
This should be said to be a characteristic of the Western Regions.
Most areas in the Western Regions have a dry climate and little rainfall, so where there is water there are oases, and outside there are deserts that are unsuitable for survival.
As time went by, people gathered in oases to live, which naturally formed oasis agriculture.
Wherever there is an oasis, people will name it.
These oases are usually small in area. For example, Loulan is an oasis that can only accommodate more than 10,000 people, and the water source is even drying up.
Gushi City must also be an oasis.
If there are more than 20,000 people in Gushi, then Gushi City should be able to accommodate about 30,000 people... This is exactly the number of Xiongnu troops stationed in Gushi.
Therefore, when the Huns had more troops, they could only disperse to small oases outside the city to survive.
This in itself is not a problem, because if the Qin army attacks Gu Shi, these scattered Huns can form their own army to harass the Qin army outside the city or even surround the Qin army.
Shen Bing's heart moved and he asked:
"Which oasis outside the city is the largest?"
He pointed to the point furthest away from his uncle and said:
"It's Jiaohe."
"This is the place where two rivers meet, so it's called Jiaohe."