The total number of shields equipped by Yuan and Meng was less than one-third of Qin Hao's 100,000 army. What is this concept?
It means that Yuanmeng is extremely short of steel.
There is no way, what Yuan and Meng are most lacking is iron ore, and the Jin army, which produces the largest iron ore, refuses to buy iron ore for Yuan and Meng.
Although other princes of the Han Dynasty were willing to sell, they could only keep Yuan Meng's steel at a sufficient level, which was far from filling the huge gap in the entire Yuan Meng Empire.
The amount of steel production is the cornerstone of a country's military force. If steel production is insufficient and sufficient equipment cannot be built, the military's combat effectiveness will naturally not be much stronger.
For the Yuanmeng Empire, which is extremely short of iron ore, steel resources are the most precious strategic resources. Regarding the use of steel, the entire country is in a state of careful calculation, and every pound of iron must be used on the blade.
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Therefore, instead of using precious steel to make shields, Yuan Meng might as well use it to make weapons. After all, one shield can be used to make four or five steel knives.
Yuanmeng couldn't even afford a shield, let alone armor that consumed more steel.
In the Han Dynasty, although iron armor was also a rare item, it was still relatively common and was the standard equipment of the elite troops under the major princes.
In Yuanmeng, no matter whether they are elite or not, soldiers can never wear iron armor anyway. Only generals of the rank of captain and above can be equipped with iron armor, so the armor rate of the Yuanmeng army is naturally very low.
In general, Yuanmeng's equipment was several levels behind that of the Han army. Temujin knew this situation, so he deployed Yuanmeng's cavalry more vigorously. Through the rich horse resources in the grassland and the speed advantage of the cavalry, he
This was to make up for the overall equipment gap with the Han army.
When he saw Qin Hao's army of hundreds of thousands, equipped with 70,000 or 80,000 shields, Temujin felt envious in his heart, and at the same time he became more determined to take over the Central Plains.
The resources of the grassland are really too poor, and any state in the Han Dynasty, even the poorest Liangbingyoujiao, has much richer resources than the grassland. If Temujin wants to realize his ambition to conquer the world, he must
We must rely on the huge resources of the Central Plains.
On the battlefield, Yuan Meng's cavalry and archery tactics were easily resolved by Qin Hao's use of shield formation. Considering that the Han army had a large base of shields, Temujin gave up the idea of continuing to shoot arrows outside the Longmen formation to kill the Han army.
The Han army's crossbows were much sharper than Yuan Meng's bows and arrows. If the two armies were to shoot at each other, Yuan Meng would definitely suffer the loss. Therefore, after several rounds of mounted archery failed, the Yuan and Meng cavalry put away their mounted archery and adopted a charging formation.
A most primitive charge is about to begin.
Qin Hao on the command tower saw that Yuanmeng's cavalry was about to hit the shield array, and waved the command flag again and shouted: "Javelin, throw it indiscriminately, throw it."
After receiving the order, the soldiers hiding behind the shield formation quickly threw out the javelins in their hands. In the first round alone, tens of thousands of javelins were thrown.
Because the numbers were too close, and the density of the Han army's javelins was too high, the Yuan and Meng cavalry had nowhere to seize it, and the shields in their hands could not block the javelins. A large number of cavalry were directly hit by javelins in front of the formation, including both men and horses.
Crucifixion and death were extremely miserable.
"snort……"
When Temujin saw this, he snorted in displeasure.
The javelin is a powerful weapon for both infantry and cavalry, but due to Yuan Meng's low iron production, it is naturally impossible to equip such a one-time equipment.
However, the Han army threw them out without restraint. In Temujin's view, this was too extravagant and wasteful.
In Temujin's eyes, the javelins thrown by the Han army were all money. Is Qin Hao hitting him with the javelin here? This is simply using money to hit him, and he still wants to use money to kill him.
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"I don't believe that the Han army's javelins will never be used up. Charge, just charge at me." Temujin gritted his teeth and ordered.
The double blow of the crossbows and javelins in the Longmen Formation formed an extremely dense firepower network, allowing Yuanmeng's cavalry to rush up to thirty meters outside the formation before being unable to advance any further.
The bones of the Yuanmeng cavalry who fell to the ground also became an obstacle for the cavalry behind them, greatly reducing the speed of the cavalry and making it more difficult for the cavalry to advance forward.
So a scene like this emerged:
Yuan Meng's cavalry rushed towards the Longmen Formation, but when they were about 30 meters away from the Longmen Formation, they were either shot to death by arrows or impaled with javelins. However, the cavalry behind them still continued to move forward, charging at the muzzles of the Han army's guns without fear of death.
On the command tower in the center of the Longmen Formation, Qin Hao looked at this scene with a smile, feeling as good as ever.
"Want to consume our army's javelins? Don't worry, old man. I have prepared many more javelins, a million of them, just waiting for you to consume them slowly."
Qin Hao had made adequate preparations for the decisive battle with Temujin. He had prepared as many as one million javelins alone, which was almost 80% of the javelin reserves of the Qin and Jin armies.
Qin Hao knew that the javelin would be a powerful weapon for infantry to use against cavalry, so he not only emptied the major armories in Bingzhou, but also transferred most of the strategic materials from Sizhou and Jingbei, just to catch Temujin off guard in the decisive battle.
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Qin Hao looked outside the formation and whispered to himself: "This time I will kill you even if I throw money at you."
Temujin used people and horses to make up for the lack of resources, while Qin Hao used a large amount of resources to make up for the lack of cavalry. Both sides have their own pros and cons, but in general, Qin Hao's approach of using resources to offset human lives is definitely better.
wise.
After all, resources are dead and people are alive. As long as there are people around, more resources can be created. However, no matter how much resources are accumulated, it is useless if no one uses them.
Of course, it is actually not advisable to win the battle just by piling up resources.
The reason why Qin Hao dared to do this was not only because the Qin and Jin armies were wealthy and could withstand his expenditure, but also because he had the Tiangong treasure as a trump card.
In the Battle of Hetao, no matter who wins the final decisive battle, he is not the winner. It can be said that Qin Hao and Temujin fought to the death and both sides suffered losses.
Even if Qin Hao could successfully drive Temujin out, hundreds of thousands of people had been killed and injured in the Hetao. A large number of homeless victims were waiting for rescue, and the number of soldiers and militiamen killed in the battle would probably exceed 200,000.
Therefore, the pensions that need to be paid out alone are enough to overwhelm the finances of the Qin and Jin armies, and this may prevent Qin Hao from any external aggressiveness in the next few years, or even ten years.
Qin Hao knew that both sides would lose, but he still dared to fight Temujin face to face, because he had the "God's Treasure" that could quickly restore blood, while Temujin could only silently lick his wounds with tears in his eyes.
Therefore, when the army lacks cavalry and it is difficult to defeat the Yuanmeng cavalry with strength, killing Temujin with money may not be a bad idea for Qin Hao. After all, Qin Hao, who is sitting on the treasure of God, is really not short of money.