The marching sequence of the Qin army was as follows:
Wang Ben and Li Jian led the Western Region Cavalry and the Yueshi Cavalry respectively to advance towards Longcheng from the north and the south.
Followed closely by the Hanoi Army and Pu Lei Army led by Shen Bing.
The reason for this arrangement is that the Western Region and Yuezhi armies are both cavalry armies. Their advantage is their fast maneuverability. Of course, they cannot advance at a speed of fifty miles per day together with the Hanoi army.
As for the Pu Lei Army, although it is a cavalry army, Shen Bing only uses it as a cover and reserve force for the infantry.
The difficulty of the march lies in the first half of the march, which is the more than a thousand miles from Gushi to the grassland in the Gobi Desert.
During this period, the marchers had to consider not only the food and water for the soldiers, but also the fodder and water for the horses and the cattle and sheep they carried.
Fortunately, the Gobi Desert is a semi-desert, and from time to time you will encounter some semi-dry and semi-green weeds. Moreover, the cattle and sheep accompanying the Qin Army are all cattle and sheep with strong vitality and drought tolerance. Whenever you encounter some weeds on the road, You can stop where there is grass for cattle and sheep to graze.
But as a result, the place where the Qin army passed by became barren of grass, just like locusts flying over.
As the grassland becomes more numerous as you go east, the pressure of marching gradually decreases.
After entering the grassland, it can be said that there is almost no logistical pressure... because the Qin army can feed on grazing cattle and sheep like the Huns.
Xunxun, the king of Youxian, soon discovered the marching sequence of the Qin army.
Xun Hao looked at the map in the direction of the Qin army's march, and his expression changed on the spot:
"The Qin army is going to take Longcheng directly, but the Western Regions have completely betrayed us!"
It’s no wonder that Xun Hao said this. Few people from the Central Plains have been to the grassland, and even if they have been to the grassland, they are confused and don’t know where they are.
But the nomads in the Western Regions are different. Because of the harsh environment, herdsmen often enter grassland areas to graze. After traveling a lot, they naturally become familiar with the grassland terrain.
So Xunxu's first thought was that the people from the Western Regions had sold the Xiongnu, so that the Qin army could take Longcheng directly as soon as the war started.
The subordinate suggested:
"King Youxian, we only have 10,000 troops in Dragon City, so we should go to reinforce them as soon as possible."
Xun Hao was silent for a while and then said:
"reinforce?"
"Dragon City is made up of fences and low stone walls. If we reinforce Dragon City, how can we defend it?"
What Xun Hao said is right.
Although Dragon City was a strategic location for the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu never thought that it would fall.
This is partly because Dragon City has never had a threat from the Central Plains, so there is no need to build a strong wall.
As mentioned before, nomads are neither good at attacking nor defending cities.
If the attacking party is a nomadic people such as Donghu who are not good at attacking cities, then the Xiongnu defending the city can easily defend the city without making the wall much stronger.
On the other hand, nomadic people rarely attack cities. They mostly seize fertile pastures. Therefore, these wars mostly occur outside the city rather than attacking or defending the city.
Therefore, although Longcheng is a strategic location, it is just a piece of land randomly surrounded by stone masonry and fences. For the Qin Army, the Central Plains army, it is almost a village-level defense, which is almost the same as not having it.
If the Xiongnu army went to Dragon City for reinforcements, they would fight face to face with the Qin army. How could they, who were good at mobile warfare, get away with it?
The subordinates couldn't help but said anxiously:
"But King Youxian, can't we just let him capture Dragon City?"
"There are more than 100,000 herdsmen and a large number of cattle and sheep there. If they were taken away by the Qin army..."
The first thing the Huns thought of was people, cattle and sheep, and they hardly considered the importance of their strategic location.
Xun Yu thought for a while and replied:
"In this case, we can only use offense as defense."
The subordinate asked:
“How to use offense as defense?”
Xunxu pointed at the Western Region cavalry on the northern flank of the Qin army and said:
"The cavalry of the Western Regions was formed by an alliance of thirty-six countries. Its organization and command must be extremely chaotic."
"And the Western Regions have always been timid and cowardly. If my army encircles them... these 30,000 Western Regions troops will probably be wiped out!"
No wonder Xun Yu thinks so.
Among the three armies of the Qin Army, if they want to attack, the main force of the Qin Army, which should be at the end, that is, the Pu Lei Army and the Qin Army, which are a mixture of infantry and cavalry, are the most suitable.
If the morale of the cavalry in the Western Regions is insufficient or the various countries are patchwork, then the same is true for Pu Lei's army.
The problem is that Xun Hao has been frightened by Shen Bing. The thought of attacking the Qin army makes his head hurt and he has no confidence at all.
In addition, the Qin army's infantry had arrows, "shaking thunder" and "artillery"... Xunxun felt that it was better not to provoke them.
Then the only ones left are the Western Region Cavalry and the Yueshi Cavalry.
The Yuezhi cavalry Xun Hao knew about it. He had fought with them when they attacked the Hexi Corridor before, and he knew that the Yuezhi cavalry still had some abilities.
What's more, the Xiongnu are in the north. If they want to attack the Yueshi, they have to cross the Qin army's defense line. If they are not careful, they will be trapped in a tight siege.
So the only choice was the Western Region Cavalry.
This was somewhat beyond Shen Bing's expectation.
Because Shen Bing always thought that cavalry was the nemesis of infantry, especially on open grasslands.
Therefore, Shen Bing thought that the first thing the Xiongnu should attack was the main force of the Qin army in the rear.
But when I think about it, I think it's right. The Xiongnu have fought against the main force of the Qin army several times but failed to gain any favor. This time it is time to choose the newly formed Western Region cavalry.
Princess Wuyou was a little worried after hearing this situation:
"General, I heard that the Huns have an army of one hundred thousand."
"If we attack the Western Region Cavalry with all our strength, I'm afraid..."
Shen Bing replied:
"Princess, don't worry, with Wang Ben leading the army, he will not easily let the Xiongnu surround the Western Region Army!"
This was the troublesome aspect of fighting in ancient times, especially the gap between cavalry and infantry...the infantry could march fifty miles a day, but the cavalry could march one hundred and fifty miles a day because of their harness, which meant that they only marched in one day. It's a hundred miles away.
In the past few days, the distance between the Western Region Cavalry and the main force of the Qin Army in the rear has been more than 500 miles.
As a result, Shen Bing could no longer command the cavalry in front in a timely manner, and could only rely on the commanders of the two armies to make their own decisions. All they could do was report intelligence and decisions to Shen Bing in batches.
Sure enough, a few hours later, another message came from Wang Ben:
"Our army has got rid of the Huns and is evacuating."
Wang Ben didn’t say much else.
It's really not advisable to say too much in the intelligence, because it can easily be intercepted by Hun rangers and the plan leaked.
But Shen Bing immediately realized what Wang Ben was planning as soon as he read the intelligence.
Wang Ben led the Xiongnu cavalry southward, on the one hand to join the Yuezhi cavalry in the south, and on the other hand to wait for the main force of the Qin army.
If the Xiongnu did not pursue them, they would be fine. If they followed Wang Ben to the south, they would be surrounded by the Qin army on three sides.
Shen Bing didn't think much, and immediately told Li Yan to continue marching as planned and left two thousand cavalry to support him, while he led the Pu Lei army to reinforce Wang Ben.
If Xun Hao does not avoid it, there will be a cavalry battle ahead.