Chapter 1978: The Iron Cavalry descends from the sky (Part 2)
Chapter 1978: The cavalry descends from the sky (Part 2)
When he thought that there were tens of thousands of Qin Army's cavalry chasing him, Li Shimin could no longer sit still and quickly ordered: "Quickly, send all the scouts out to find out the location of the Qin Army and the specific details.
Number of people.”
"promise."
Watching the spies leaving, Li Shimin already had two results in his mind.
First, no trace of the Qin army was found, which shows that the Qin army did not split into two groups, nor did they send cavalry to pursue it alone. All the previous speculations were that they had overthought.
The second is to find the traces of the Qin Army. After all, if the Qin Army really let the cavalry pursue them, the tens of thousands of cavalry troops would be so powerful that it would be impossible to completely cover them up.
If it is the former, it will naturally be beneficial to the Tang army, but if it is the latter, then the 60,000 Tang army in Luoyang will be in danger.
Li Shimin led the Tang army to continue to retreat while waiting for reports from the scouts. Two days later, he learned that a large number of Qin cavalry had appeared hundreds of miles away.
"Reporting to my lord, a large number of cavalry traces have been found hundreds of miles away."
"What?"
As soon as this news came out, Li Tang's senior management exploded.
The Qin Army's cavalry appeared hundreds of miles away before the Tang Army received the exact news. This not only showed that the Qin Army was intentionally hiding its traces, but also showed that the Qin Army's cavalry had a clear purpose and had been chasing the Tang Army from the beginning.
For the Qin army's cavalry, a distance of a hundred miles was nothing more than a long-distance attack, and they would be able to catch up with the Tang army in less than a day.
But for the Tang army, which was composed of infantry and cavalry, one day was not enough to reach Hongnong County.
The Heluo Plain can be described as a flat plain, which is extremely suitable for cavalry operations.
If the Tang army was overtaken by the Qin army's cavalry on such a plain terrain, it would be a luxury to think of retreating.
At this thought, everyone's eyebrows showed a hint of deep worry.
After Li Shimin thought for a while, he asked: "Can we find out the specific number of Qin troops?"
"We have not been able to find out. The Qin army has too many people to count. It should be more than 30,000."
"What?"
Li Shimin suddenly screamed. He originally had some hope that the Qin army chasing him would be less than 20,000, but he did not expect that the Qin army chasing him would exceed 30,000.
The cavalry fought with the infantry on the plains. One cavalryman was at least worth five infantrymen, but the Tang army had a mixed army of 60,000 elite infantry and cavalry.
If the number of chasing Qin cavalry is less than 20,000, the 60,000 Tang army's infantry and cavalry may not be able to defeat the chasing Qin army, but if it reaches 30,000, it will be very dangerous.
Thirty thousand cavalry charged on the plain, and with the blessing of the terrain, the combat power they unleashed was enough to defeat the 60,000 Tang army head-on.
What's more, the Qin army chasing after them was more than 30,000.
Once the Tang army was defeated by the Qin army's cavalry, and they were in the plains, it would only be a matter of time before they were completely eaten away.
Therefore, for the Tang army, facing the pursuit of more than 30,000 cavalry, it would be difficult to avoid being defeated once they were overtaken, and once they were defeated, it would mean the entire army was annihilated.
"How could this happen?" Li Shimin clenched his fists with a look of unwillingness.
By the way, hasn't the Qin army already started a war with the Manchu and Qing Dynasties? To deal with a country like the Manchu and Qing Dynasties that can dispatch hundreds of thousands of cavalry on the move, shouldn't Qin Hao transfer all the cavalry to Youzhou? Why did he send so many cavalry instead?
Sizhou was sent?
Li Shimin did not visit the Youzhou battlefield in person, so he did not understand the situation.
The Qin army already has enough cavalry in Youzhou. Even if these 40,000 cavalry are used in Youzhou, they will not surpass the Manchu Qing in terms of cavalry, but it is completely different when used on the southern battlefield.
Among the three kingdoms of Tang, Shu, and Chu, Tang was doing relatively well, but Shu and Chu were extremely lacking in cavalry because they were located in the south.
Forty thousand cavalry could not make waves in the north, but they could play a vital role in the south, so Qin Hao arranged so many cavalry for the 200,000 Hebei army.
"In less than one day, the Qin army's cavalry will be able to catch up, but this time is not enough for our army to withdraw. Do you have any strategies to retreat from the enemy?"
Li Shimin looked at everyone expectantly, but there was silence for a while, and everyone was lost in thought.
Sixty thousand infantry cavalry and 40,000 iron cavalry met on the plain. They would definitely not be able to defeat each other in a head-on confrontation, and they would not be able to escape even if they wanted to. This was already a dead end.
"My lord, we can set up an ambush to fight the Qin army."
"Yes, this is a good method."
"But the commander of the 40,000 cavalry this time is the famous Qin army general Zhang Liao and Zhang Wenyuan. This man is famous for his speed, accuracy and ruthlessness in his military use, and he is cautious by nature. What kind of ambush can make him fall into an ambush?"
As soon as this was said, the scene fell into silence.
Want to ambush Zhang Liao? This is too difficult.
Besides, there is another important issue, that is, the land of Heluo is vast and flat, so there is no place suitable for setting up an ambush.
"Prince Tang, you have to make a choice." Sima Yi said solemnly.
Hearing this, Li Shimin's eyes were full of pain, and he deeply regretted his rash move, otherwise he would never have been in such a dilemma.
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Zhang Liao led 40,000 cavalry and entered the Yin territory of Henan Province. However, they did not enter Luoyang and continued the pursuit without stopping.
"General, Luoyang has sent ten thousand troops out of the city to support us. We are now only thirty miles away from the Tang army."
Zhang Liao asked with a surprised look on his face: "There are still 10,000 troops dispatched from Luoyang?"
As far as Zhang Liao knew, most of the people in Luoyang City were new soldiers, and there were not many elite soldiers. How could it be possible to send 10,000 troops out of the city to fight?
"Master Jia sent out the Women's Army, and now we have an army of 10,000. Now the leader of the army is Mrs. Mu, and your wife, the general, is also here."
"What?"
Zhang Liao subconsciously exclaimed.
Hu Sanniang left the army after marrying him, and now she has returned to the Women's Army. She must be more than one female general returning to the army, which shows how dangerous the situation in Luoyang was before.
The married female generals in the Women's Army are basically the wives of big bosses in the army. Not only her own wife is in the army, but even the princess is now in the army.
If he suffered any damage, Zhang Liao couldn't bear the responsibility.
"Send the order, speed up the march, and don't let the ladies suffer any harm." Zhang Liao shouted.
"promise."
[Ding dong, Zhang Liao's skill 'raid' is activated. When launching a surprise attack or charge, the movement speed of the troops increases, the combat power increases, the general command is 3, and the force is 3.
Zhang Liao: Commandery 98(1), Force 100(3). The current Commandership has increased to 10, and Force has increased to 103.】
With the blessing of the 'raid', the speed of the 40,000 cavalry increased significantly, reaching an average speed of 180 miles per day, and the distance between them and the Tang army quickly narrowed.
"Report...The Qin army's cavalry is less than fifty miles away from our army."
"What? How could it be so fast?"
"Report...The Qin army is less than thirty miles away from our army."
"...The Qin army is less than ten miles away from our army."