"General Bian, why aren't you closing the net now?" Soham's vanguard was already fighting with Dugu Yuming's troops, and behind them, there were a steady stream of Mandan soldiers coming up. Looking at Bian Zhongxing
Still standing in the queue calmly, Tianyi couldn't help but ask curiously.
Bian Zhongxing bowed and said: "Back to my mistress, there are not many enemy soldiers crossing the river now. If we close the net now, we can only cause more than 10,000 casualties to the opponent. The opponent's remaining strength is still huge. Besides, we
The soldiers are all newly formed, and what they need most is the training of blood and fire. Only in this way can they mature faster."
Tianyi smiled slightly: "General Bian, you don't need to call me like this. Since the general is my eldest brother's life and death friend, he is naturally Tianyi's brother. In such private situations, the general can just call me by my name."
Bian Zhongxing was secretly moved, but he still said calmly: "I don't dare. Since I am the mistress, I should enjoy the respect my subordinates deserve."
Tianyi said indifferently: "General, is he looking down on God's will? I am not married to the lord yet, so naturally I am not the mistress. The general is a good and upright man on the battlefield. Why is he so formal?"
Bian Zhongxing hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded. But he was secretly sighing in his heart. Although Haotian has many talents, his greatest happiness is probably to have a fiancée like Tianyi. With the help of Tianyi, Haotian can do anything.
Nothing requires too much thought.
On the south bank of the ferry, the two armies finally fought together. At this critical moment of life and death, the Hetao soldiers finally let go of their fear and fought with each other without hesitation. Although Soham's heavy armored cavalry
He was brave, but facing the defensive position set up by Bian Zhongxing himself, there was still not much progress. On the contrary, Dugu Yuming's dragon-thorn spear continued to cause huge damage to the opponent.
Seeing that Soham's army was deadlocked near the ferry, Yelu Chixian's face became increasingly ugly. As soon as the command flag was displayed, the two Mandan troops, which had been prepared for a long time, set off in an orderly manner.
South Bank. And fighting alongside them was a force of ten thousand men under Hekimur.
A smile finally appeared on Bian Zhongxing's pale face, and he knew that the other party would definitely send reinforcements. He raised his remaining right hand, and Bian Zhongxing just said one word lightly: "Let go!"
The soldiers standing next to the trebuchet were obviously impatient. Seeing the brothers in front of them fighting bloody battles while they were doing nothing, they were inevitably a little anxious. After hearing Bian Zhongxing's faint order, all the people
His spirit was suddenly shaken, and then with the creaking sound of the trebuchet, countless wooden barrels flew out, and then smashed into pieces on the ice of the river.
"What is that?" on the north bank of the ferry, Yeluchi asked in a different tone, while Hengshi Hassan and Hekimul also shook their heads. They obviously didn't know what conspiracy the other party was playing.
Just because Yelu Chixian and others didn't know what it was, it didn't mean that the two captains of ten thousand men, Koyare and Ye Bixin, who were reinforced by the Mandan, didn't know it. Their team had just reached the middle of the river, and countless wooden
The barrel had already fallen from the sky, and after it hit the ice, some strange black greasy liquid flowed out of the barrel. Smelling the familiar smell, Koyale's face suddenly changed, and Ye
Bixin's face is also extremely pale. Huoyou!
"Retreat, retreat, quickly!" Koyare shouted loudly, but the soldiers around him obviously didn't understand what was going on, and they froze in place for a while at a loss.
"That's kerosene! Retreat quickly. If you don't retreat, it will be too late." Ye Bixin also shouted loudly. As soon as he said this, the veterans around him came back to their senses, and turned around regardless of their formation.
They ran towards the north bank. Having been in the military for a long time, they were no strangers to kerosene. Kerosene is a specialty of the Northwest Second Road of the Qingfeng Empire. It is also produced in Jizhou and Shizhou in Hetao. Its biggest feature is that it is easy to
It can burn, and it can still burn on the water. In the past, the people on the Northwest Second Road liked to use this kind of thing to light lamps. When they were fighting and attacking camps, they also liked to use kerosene instead of tung oil to set fires.
Now, Koyare finally understood why the other party laid such a layer of flammable materials on the river. It was true that they used fire attacks, but they did not want to use these straw branches for fire attacks, but hoped to use these straw branches to attack with fire.
These things stop the kerosene from flowing around, so that the kerosene can exert its maximum attack power.
Although less than half of the 30,000-man army had set foot on the river, under this undisciplined retreat, the river was still in chaos. But before they could take a few steps, countless rockets had already dropped from the sky.
With a loud bang, the entire river ice suddenly burst into flames. Except for some clever soldiers, tens of thousands of soldiers were trapped in the fire.
"Brothers, their support has been cut off, kill them!" Dugu Yuming took the opportunity to roar. Seeing this scene, the morale of Soham's 20,000 troops suddenly dropped, while the soldiers in Hetao cheered up and relied on their strength.
Advantage, the opponent's 20,000 soldiers were immediately surrounded.
There is now a sea of fire under the river, and countless miserable screams are constantly coming from it. These screams are naturally very comfortable to the ears of the soldiers in Hetao. And in Yelvchixian and Hekimul
It sounded like both of them were extremely distressed. They knew the power of kerosene. Once it got on it, it was difficult to get rid of it, and it could still burn even on the water. There were more than 10,000 soldiers on the river and those on the south bank.
It seems that the 20,000 cavalrymen will not be spared.
There are also smart people among the Mandan soldiers. Seeing the fire all over the sky, with no way to escape, they did not hesitate to use the weapons in their hands to continuously hit the ice under their feet, and then quickly removed all their clothes.
They took off their armor and got into the water. But what they forgot was that the water temperature was extremely cold now. After a while, all the soldiers soaked in the water were frozen. Faced with such a situation, although Yelu Chixian felt distressed,
But he had no choice but to withdraw. Without enough troops and complete logistics, facing an army that had been prepared for a long time and was not a pustule, Yelu Chixian knew that he would have no chance to set foot on the land of Hetao this winter.
.
"Tell those Mandan soldiers that they have no way to retreat and ask them to surrender immediately." Haotian said lightly. From a personal emotional point of view, what he naturally hopes is to annihilate all 20,000 cavalry, but from a rational point of view,
He even hoped to use these cavalry in exchange for the people who were plundered in Hebei Province.
Dugu Yuming faithfully implemented his orders, but these soldiers were worthy of being the most elite army in Mandan. Even though they were surrounded and knew they would die, they still refused to surrender. In this regard, Haotian just lamented, and then
He waved his hand and asked Dugu to try his best to meet the other party's requirements.
Looking at this scene, there was a sudden change in Luo Xiang's eyes. No one knew what this gloomy old man was thinking.
"My lord, they are ready to kill the general with blood." Looking at Haotian who was silent, Xuanji stepped forward to remind him.
"Well, now that you're ready, let's go." Haotian nodded and said.
Luo Xiang suddenly interrupted and said: "My lord, if the army is going on an expedition, let your subordinates go and see it off on your lord's behalf."
Haotian was slightly surprised, but he didn't say anything. He just nodded: "That's good, then Mr. Lao will be here."
Not far from the ferry, Luo Xiang saw 80,000 cavalry and Feng Jing, one of the generals who were preparing to go. Since they were attacking thousands of miles away, all the 80,000 cavalry were dressed as light cavalry. Even Feng Jing,
I just wore a soft leather wallet over the fur.
"Mr. Luo, I wonder what brought you here? Could it be that the master has a new order?" Seeing Luo Xiang coming from a distance, Feng Jing couldn't help but asked curiously. They have always respected Luo Xiang.
Luo Xiang shook his head: "My lord asked me to see you off. Has the blood letter been engraved?"
Feng Jing said with a smile: "Xue Sha is checking the supplies we carry with us over there, while Xin Ke is sharpening his battle ax on the other side. I think his ax is sharp enough, but I didn't know he was still there.
What to grind."
Luo Xiang nodded nonchalantly, took a few steps slowly, and then said: "Fengjing, what do you think is the most important factor that determines the outcome of the war and the prosperity of the country?"
Feng Jing looked stunned for a moment, and then he said after a long while: "You are ignorant, sir, please give me some advice."
Luo Xiang looked at Feng Jing with a smile, and after a long time he said: "It's a human being. Do you know why the three Northeastern countries massacred the local people after occupying the Sixteenth State of Youyun, and plundered the people and returned them to their country as slaves?"
Fengjing nodded: "I understand. Although the three Northeastern countries all have tens of millions of people, they are still far behind our Chinese state. Even in the land of Youyun Sixteenth State, there are no less than 30 million people."
Although they temporarily ruled this place, they did not have enough population to occupy and rule this place, so they simply slaughtered all the people here and then immigrated from the country. As for plundering the strong ones and returning them to the country, they should be used as coolies."
Luo Xiang nodded, but then shook his head: "You can think of this level, which is already very good, but there are some deeper reasons that you haven't understood yet. Population is the most fundamental factor in creating wealth. The reason why they
They chose to massacre because they were not sure of permanently ruling this place. You will understand other reasons later. As for their plundering and returning to the country, it was to fill their vacant labor force."
Feng Jing raised his eyebrows: "Sir, can you make it more clear?"
Luo Xiang asked back: "Fengjing, you have been in the military for a long time. Let me ask you, under normal circumstances, what is the ratio of soldiers to population in a country?"
Feng Jing pondered for a moment and then said: "Generally speaking, there is one soldier for every three to four nomads. Therefore, the three tribes in the northwest, such as Tieying, have a population of only 1.4 million, but they wear armor.
Four hundred thousand. However, the number of their soldiers is obviously affected by the climate, and all the people are soldiers. For our farming nation, the ratio should be between 80 and 100 to one."
Luo Xiang nodded with some relief: "Yes, under normal circumstances, the proportion of soldiers in a farming civilization is like this. Based on Qingfeng's population of 140 million, excluding the three major families, the regular army consists of ten legions plus one navy.
One million to one million. And the more over-developed the farming civilization and commercial civilization are, the ratio of their soldiers will decrease. But in wartime, this ratio can be as high as twenty to one or even ten to one. Feng Jing, you can do the math for me.
Calculate, among the three Northeastern countries, the Mandan dynasty, which has the largest population, only has a population of 16 million. How many soldiers should they have?"
Feng Jing was a little confused, but he still said honestly: "It should be around 200,000. But the actual number of their army should be 800,000."
Luo Xiang continued: "Yes, 800,000. When they invaded Hebei's Third Road, the number of their troops was only 600,000. Why did the army increase by 200,000 in such a short period of time? Have you ever thought about it?
?”
Fengjing shook his head: "I don't understand."
"That's because they kidnapped millions of people from China and returned to their country as slaves. With this free labor force, countless men in their country can be liberated from labor and all invested in the army. With these millions of slaves
, they can increase countless wealth." Luo Xiang said gloomily: "Population, people, this is the foundation of a political power. Why does the imperial court dare not set foot in Hebei Third Road? It is because there are only five million left in Hebei Third Road.
The people who could not be found, and they were all old, weak, women and children, the court could not get the supplement of manpower and materials, and had no basis to rule the homeland. And the reason why the lord was able to recapture Hetao with a thousand cavalry, until now he has twenty soldiers
More than 10,000 is because there are still 6 million people in the six prefectures of Hetao. Because of the existence of these 6 million people, although our conditions are extremely difficult, we finally managed to gain a foothold here."
Feng Jing vaguely knew what Luo Xiang was going to say, but he still asked: "Sir, please clarify."
Luo Xiang's eyes suddenly flashed with a cold light: "What I mean is that the most fundamental reason why the Mandan Dynasty was able to dominate beyond the Great Wall and invade the Central Plains is that they have an extremely strong public base and their people are eager to fight.
, their imperial court is taking the lead in the war. Therefore, although it has tens of millions of people, it has become a thorn in my side, China."
"I still don't understand, kid."
"My lord, one day, we will definitely cross the river eastward to regain the Sixteenth Province of Youyun. At that time, we will inevitably face the huge pressure from the imperial court south of the river and the millions of foreign soldiers outside the Great Wall. On the other side of the imperial court, as long as
We have dealt with them properly, and there is nothing they can do about it, but the aliens outside the Great Wall have always been our mortal enemies in China."
Fengjing finally understood what Luo Xiang meant: "Sir, what you want is for Fengjing to weaken the opponent's national power as much as possible?"