On both sides of the river, drums were beating and the sound of killing was loud.
The Khitan cavalry launched one round of attacks after another. The brave general Huo Lu did not avoid the arrows and personally led the charge. After a while, he withdrew with arrows all over his body, looking fearless.
Abaoji personally helped Huo Lu off his horse and bandaged his wounds.
"No need." Huelu declined: "I can still fight."
Abaoji was greatly moved and said: "With you here, the Xia thieves will definitely not be able to succeed."
Huo Lu sighed and said: "Abaoji, you can go. Just leave this place to me. You saw it just now. I'm afraid a frontal attack will not be effective. We can only delay the thieves."
Abaoji was not pretentious and nodded. He had not planned to stay in the Huangshui Basin for long. The reason why he came here was just in case, hoping to see if he could defeat the Xia army heading towards the flat pine forest.
It seems a bit difficult now.
Huolu captured several prisoners, and after interrogation, he learned that the Xia people, with an army of 50,000 cavalry, flying dragons, and golden swords as the main force, were well-equipped, experienced, and brave and good at fighting. They were indeed no match for them in a head-on attack.
Yesterday, Abaoji personally ordered the Big Falcon and Little Falcon armies to attack the Golden Sword Army, inflicting hundreds of casualties, but to no avail.
Today they became ruthless and drove the Tatar, Lin, Shiwei, Xi, Wugu, and Bohai troops to rush into the Feilong Army. They attacked repeatedly regardless of casualties, but still had no effect. Even after the cavalry army joined the battle group, the attacking troops
The troops were greatly routed, losing more than 2,000 people.
These are a group of veterans who are prolific in killing people. They don't know what fear is in their hearts. They are also very experienced in the battlefield. They seize opportunities very well and are very difficult to deal with.
Today, the enemy of the Haronen clan suggested not to fight head-on with them, but to concentrate the large cavalry and disperse to search the places where the enemies were grazing cattle, sheep and horses.
In grassland wars, sometimes the pace is very fast and the victory or defeat can be decided immediately, and sometimes it is very slow, with one day of fighting and several days of grazing - to put it bluntly, it is still a matter of supply.
The supplies of the grassland come from the cattle and sheep carried by the army. When there is no ground water source, goat's milk is sometimes the only source of water. And sheep are very good at eating grass. If they don't change grazing locations frequently, the grass roots can
I dug it for you. Therefore, it is said that there are 50,000, 100,000, and 200,000 troops, but they are often very scattered on the grassland.
For example, the Xia people in front of them were composed of three to four thousand people from the Feilong Army, plus a thousand cavalrymen from the Iron Cavalry Army, with many large carts carrying some grain, grass, and supplies - these were their so-called war soldiers.
The Tibetan soldiers who were recruited from unknown sources were purely subjugated. There were about 2,000 of them. They had to undertake both combat missions and herding livestock. It was very hard.
The enemy is advised to give priority to finding the opponent's secret grazing land and then raid there. It is not necessary to defeat the enemy, but it can greatly slow down their advance.
Of course, the opponent may also do this. That would be a bad fight. It can also muddy the water and have the effect of delaying the enemy.
But this tactic requires a prerequisite, which is to gather a large number of troops.
The Xia people may not send many soldiers to protect the grazing sheep at first, but after suffering losses, they will definitely send warriors like Feilong and Jindao to protect them. Even if there are only a thousand people, how many people do you need to prepare to fight?
Abaoji was a little tempted at first, but finally gave up.
Fighting like this until the end will only slow down the Xia army and may not lead to victory. Even if they win, they will only defeat the partial divisions. And defeating the partial divisions cannot reverse the situation on the entire battlefield. The only way to break the situation is to defeat the partial divisions.
More than 100,000 Xia soldiers came north from Yingzhou.
Once this road fails, all roads collapse and all problems are solved.
"Abaoji, let's go." Huelu repeated it again and said: "In this battle, our army is the main force and the enemy is the guest. Behind the army, there are the Yuewang City, the West Tower, the North Tower, and Miyun County to provide supplies.
It's much more convenient than the Xia people. You are responsible for big things. I don't have the confidence to reverse this crisis, so I can only rely on you. As for the flat pine forest, the place is huge. Thousands of miles of pine forest, covered with marshes and reeds, I will work with them
So what if we go in circles? It’s a hide-and-seek game. You just need to delay it as long as possible. If you risk death, what’s the point of fear?”
These words were quite tragic, and Abaoji was filled with emotion.
Once upon a time, he had all kinds of ambitions and ambitions. After hitting the wall everywhere, he no longer thought about anything.
The Shao thieves are so abominable that they left the southern vassal towns alone and insisted on an expedition to defeat the Khitan. What can he do? He can only sigh and die. There is nothing anyone can do when encountering such a madman.
"Wait until I come back." Abaoji firmly held Huo Lu's hand and said.
After saying that, he got on his horse, waved his hand, and headed south.
Wanting to be stable, Xia Li, Haili and others said goodbye to Huo Lu one by one, and then followed Abaoji.
If you go to the south, your troops will be more expensive than yours.
The more people there are, the more they eat, and the more difficult it is to supply. The first priority before the war is to think about whether the logistics and supplies can keep up. There are the Khan's personal army, the big falcon and the small falcon, supplemented by some strong troops from various departments.
, which is almost enough.
The army marched very quickly and arrived in Miyun County in just one day.
Miyun is the military state under the leadership of Yelu Qisi. It was originally used to resettle the hundreds of households captured by the Khitans as a garrison in West Miyun. Now many years have passed, Miyun has become a county, a city has been built, and there are more than 3,000 households -
Most of them are Bohai people.
Miyun County is roughly located in the Wengniute Banner area. Most of the more than 3,000 households make a living by farming, as well as animal husbandry. After all, there are so many pastures in the wild, and grazing does not require many manpower. It would be a pity not to use this resource.
Already.
The soldiers from Miyun County had already gone north and joined forces with the Yuewangcheng people. There were more than ten thousand people. They built cities and forts on both sides of the Huangshui River, trying to use the narrow terrain of the place to prevent the Xia army from penetrating deep into the Huangshui River basin.
It can be seen that after the Khitan attacked Bohai, they have made great progress and their shortcomings have been made up to a certain extent. If they are given more time, God knows to what extent they will develop.
Abaoji did not stay too long again.
After grazing the horses and collecting some supplies, they divided into three groups and headed south.
****
"Kill!" The war drum sounded, Wang Chong lowered his curtain and shouted loudly.
More than a thousand riders rushed down the hillside in batches.
Inside the newly built camp, Li Congke, the deputy envoy of Wansheng Huangtou Army, almost had his eyes popping out of his head.
The Jin army once had armored cavalry.
At that time, King Jin was still young and still energetic. After seeing his sworn brother's armored cavalry show off their power, he decided to change all the rampage to armored cavalry, initially five hundred cavalry, and then slowly expanded to a thousand cavalry, and then
Then - I couldn’t afford it anymore.
In the Battle of Xingzhou at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Xia people dispatched armored cavalry, and the Jin King, who was extremely brave on horseback, rode into the mountains...
Why Hedong could not raise large-scale armored cavalry? Li Congke thought it was because of the King of Jin.
Damn, so poor!
Another factor that cannot be ignored is that the Jinyang West Workshop, which once produced 400 pairs of vests per year, has seen a large number of craftsmen fleeing and production cannot keep up.
What a joke!
As a result, the Hengchong Army fought less and less, and finally there were only a few hundred people left, who turned back into armored cavalry and were reorganized into the Boryeong Army.
The imperial court did not absorb them into the Flying Bear Army, which surprised Li Congke. Maybe the burden of three thousand armored cavalry was no longer light, or maybe there was no plan to expand the army at all.
Li Congke still likes armored cavalry.
At this moment, he was standing on the high watchtower, holding the railing tightly with both hands, concentrating and holding his breath, silently watching the charge of this army.
Silver helmets and white armor, tall horses, blocked the middle and rushed into the Khitan cavalry, killing the thieves until they were defeated.
"Oh, this is fighting on horseback! Shoot your mother's arrow, will you be caught this time?" Li Congke breathed a long sigh of relief and laughed.
Since the first day they built their camp, the Khitans have been harassing them repeatedly. They come during the day and at night, and there is no time to rest.
They were all born among the dead, so of course they were not afraid. But the masters who built the camp were afraid, and they were chased out several times, running around and bumping into each other.
Li Congke once asked the military envoy Shi Junli why he didn't go northward. He replied that he had to build a camp and store grain, grass, equipment, and supplies on the way.
Li Congke was speechless. They had many infantry and few cavalry. They built camps every hundred miles or so to ensure smooth logistics supply lines.
He had read military books and knew that this was what Liu Yu did when he destroyed Nan Yan. He was even more ruthless and directly built the city as a logistics transfer node, allowing Nan Yan's cavalry to look at the city and sigh, but he could never cut off Liu Yu's food route.
After the two strongholds in the east and west of Tuhe are built, the army will continue to move north. The next place to build a stronghold is called Toadshu, the former Tang Army Town, more than a hundred miles away.
The two villages in the east and west of Tuhe will be handed over to the Datong Army for garrison. The rest of the troops will continue to move northward, camp step by step, and attack the core hinterland of the Khitan.
In these days and more than ten battles, he has tested the strength of the Khitan people, but that's all.
As long as the grain road is not cut off and they rely on vehicles to go north, the Khitans cannot stop them.
Li Congke went down to the watchtower.
The soldiers were packing up their utensils in the village, loading their vehicles one by one, and getting ready to go north.
Judging from the relaxed expressions on their faces, this Northern Expedition is not like a war at all, but like an outing.
In fact, Li Congke also felt this way. What he feared most was attacking the city, which would result in countless casualties and unbearable losses. The Khitan had very few cities, and most of them were made up of cavalry, which was easy to deal with.
"The Flying Bear Army is leaving." Li Congzhang, the captain of the Wansheng Yellow Head Army, came over and said solemnly.
"Let's go?" Li Congke was stunned at first, and then realized: "It will happen sooner or later. If the Khitan people had not been tricked today, the Flying Bear Army would not have had the chance to dispatch."
"That's not the reason." Li Congzhang said: "I heard that the saint recruited him personally, so I will leave tonight."
"Huh?" Li Congke's heart moved, he came close to Li Congzhang and whispered: "But with the Dragon Palace..."
His heart was beating a little hard.
I once thought there was no hope and had already put away all my messy thoughts. Could it be that——
"Nine times out of ten." Li Congzhang's voice was lower than Li Congke's.
The two looked at each other and said nothing.
"Don't make any noise. We still have to continue heading north. Zang Dubao urges us three times a day. He won't be able to go on." Li Congke said, "If something big happens, we'll talk about it at that time."
Li Congzhang was a little worried: "What will we do if something big happens? Can we escape? Is it possible to surrender to the Khitan?"
"If we really can't escape, we can only surrender. We will think of a way later. When the world is in chaos, there will be many opportunities." Li Congke said: "But from my point of view, basically nothing will happen. We are destined to have no such fate.
"
"That's true." Li Congzhang nodded and said, "Now I can only work hard to go north and show off my strength. Otherwise, I'm worried about being settled by Queen Qiu."