Loulan Kingdom is about two hundred miles away from Qiemo Kingdom.
According to the military book "Wei Liao Zi", the army marched about thirty to forty miles a day during this period. Duke Wen of Jin "withdrew three houses", each house was thirty miles away, which was a distance of three days.
Mainly because the road network was not built during this period and it was a cross-country march.
Cavalry is faster than horse-drawn carriages on non-mountainous roads. In order to increase the transport capacity of horse-drawn carriages, people follow the horse-drawn carriages. It takes thirteen days for a horse-drawn carriage to go back and forth from Loulan Kingdom to Qiemo Kingdom, while it only takes six or seven days for cavalry to go back and forth.
In ancient times, transporting food and grass during marches and battles was a top priority. On the one hand, transportation was difficult on the road, and on the other hand, the speed was slow and a lot of consumption was consumed on the road. Soldiers transporting supplies needed to carry their own supplies on the way back and forth, which greatly occupied the transportation capacity.
.
The proportion of transportation by horse-drawn carriages and boats is quite high. If it requires pure human transportation and the distance is relatively long, the food transported to the destination may not be as much as that eaten on the road.
This is why there are only 80 transport troops left here. It is because some of them set off late, and some of the supplies they carried were consumed on the way, so they returned to Loulan in advance to prepare for the delivery of the next batch of supplies.
According to the situation, King Qiemo issued a nationwide military mobilization order, and all men with mobility between the ages of 12 and 60 reported to the palace gate. All women with mobility between 12 and 60 years old came to the palace.
Report to the Fu Guohou Mansion.
Qiemo Kingdom recruited more than 700 people at once, and the remaining more than 100 soldiers totaled 900 people. In addition to dozens of people imprisoned for rebellion, it was equivalent to more than half of the people in Qiemo City.
in the defense battle.
Men will be assigned weapons and responsible for assisting in defense work such as defending the city. Women will be assigned to logistics work, including caring for the wounded, transporting supplies, and cooking.
Of course, when the battle was fierce, they would even distribute weapons to help defend the city, or help throw stones down the city wall.
Of course, there are distinctions between people of different age groups at the beginning of the war. For example, men with no heirs between the ages of sixteen and twenty will give priority to patrolling the city and other defense work.
Women in this age group will also be assigned to work in relatively safe places, because these are the key age groups for the continuation of the post-war population. Therefore, certain preferential treatment needs to be given.
The young and strong are used as the main force, while the old, weak, sick and disabled serve as the relatively dangerous cannon fodder. These cannon fodder often cause the largest casualties in wars. This is indeed somewhat inhumane, but in this era of low productivity, it is a last resort.
All preparations and arrangements were made, and everyone performed their duties and got busy in an orderly manner. Moreover, the city gates were closed tightly and the whole city was under martial law. Except for the army and the conscripted people, everyone else stayed at home and was not allowed to go out.
The city is full of busy figures transporting supplies and increasing city defenses. Everyone is busy silently. There are only occasional voices conveying orders or shouting slogans, which makes the whole Qiemo air a little unsettling.
Uneasy tension.
The renovation of the palace has been stopped, and all human and material resources have been used for city defense. There are only a dozen or so of the king's guards left, and the king also patrols the city's defense situation with a few guards to encourage him.
morale.
Adili found Ye Feng and asked Ye Feng to accompany him to the Youjun camp to discuss countermeasures. Ye Feng had never seen war in this period and wanted to see the excitement, so he readily agreed to Adili's request.
Ye Feng and Adili arrived at the right army camp. Inside the military tent, right general Ai Zezi was discussing defense matters with several lieutenants and some corps commanders.
A deputy general who looked very experienced was bargaining with the right general Aizezi, asking for an increase in the number of soldiers assigned to him.
Because it was not yet clear which gate the main force of Loulan's attack would be placed at, so the right general Ai Zezi first arranged for eighty men to defend the city at each gate.
This lieutenant general was assigned to be responsible for the defense at the East Gate. He requested that the number of troops be increased to 120 on the grounds that the East Gate was the closest to the enemy camp and he was afraid that the enemy would not be able to request support in a sudden attack.
The deputy general in charge of other city gates also requested more troops for various reasons, and everyone was at loggerheads.
Adili said with some disappointment: "In the face of a powerful enemy, these generals don't know how to share the country's worries, they only know how to make demands. It's really disappointing."
Ye Feng smiled and said, "It's a good thing that they cry out and make demands."
Adili asked in confusion: "Why?"
Ye Feng explained: "These veterans are making demands here, which shows that they are confident in fighting this battle. If you see these people are calm, it means that our defeat has been determined."
Adili asked doubtfully: "Why?"
Ye Feng smiled and said: "If there is a huge disparity in military strength between the enemy and ours, and the other party sends tens of thousands of people to attack the city, and you only have a few hundred people in total, will you argue over adding a few dozen more troops?"
Ye Feng had seen veterans face life and death calmly, that was when they were surrounded on the battlefield of Angsazi Kingdom. At that time, the enemy was several times more than oneself, and one's own side was running out of ammunition and food.
The calmness of a veteran is a kind of terrible pressure. It is a look that people who have experienced it once never want to see again in this life.
Adili is just a businessman and has little contact with military affairs, so he doesn't have deep feelings about these things. But after hearing Ye Feng's explanation, his expression relaxed.
But he frowned when he heard the generals' continued quarreling. It was obvious that he had not adapted to this atmosphere.
Seeing Ye Feng and Adili approaching, the people present stopped arguing.
Ye Feng and Adili walked closer, and Ye Feng discovered that there was a sand table of Qiemo City on the table surrounded by everyone. The surrounding topography, water flow, etc. were very detailed. The enemy and our troops were represented by small figures made of clay.
Only then did Ye Feng truly understand the situation around Qiemo City. The south of Qiemo City is adjacent to the Kunlun Mountains. The foot of Kunlun Mountain is about one to two miles away from Qiemo City. This area is used as farmland. There is a river flowing out of the Kunlun Mountains.
To the north.
To the north of Qiemo City is a pine forest, with several fields of farmland in the middle. Fifty miles further north is grassland, and the river makes a forty-five-degree turn in the pine forest.
There is only one bridge over the river east of Qiemo City, but there is a ford at the bend in the pine forest downstream that seems to be able to cross the river.
The pine forests and rivers twist and turn. The nearest distance from Qiemo City is five miles, and the farthest distance is about ten miles. There are farmlands and pastures in the middle, which is the main agricultural and animal husbandry production area of Qiemo.
To the west of Qiemo City is an endless prairie. The water used in Qiemo City is well water, and the river water is used to irrigate farmland outside the city.
This arrangement is because Qiemo City has been under attack from the Loulan Kingdom. If you drink the river water directly, the Loulan people secretly poison the river water or place some dead animals upstream, which can easily pollute the water source and poison the people in Qiemo City.
The main force of the Loulan Kingdom's army was stationed five miles east of Qiemo City, and the baggage troops were camped east of the fifteen-mile bridge east of the city. Moreover, all the troops of the Mo Kingdom were deployed in the city.
The generals gave up the seat on the left side of the table for Adili. Because Ye Feng was not an official or nobleman of the Qiemo Kingdom, no one offered him his seat. Ye Feng could only find a seat next to him and sit down to watch the fun.
Ye Feng listened to their strategies, which were nothing more than shooting enemies in the distance with bows and arrows, hitting enemies closer with rocks, charging at enemies closer and stabbing them with halberds, etc.
And what kind of weapons should be used to push the ladder to the other side, use rapeseed oil to heat and pour oil on the enemy who collides with the city gate, and use rockets to shoot the opponent's wooden siege weapons, etc.
What is more specific is how the soldiers on the city wall use their shields to block arrows, use their shields to push enemy soldiers off the city wall, etc.
The soldiers on the archery tower shoot at the enemy in the middle reinforcement position to weaken the opponent's troops, so that the results obtained by the siege soldiers in the front cannot be maintained, etc.
In this world, except for the ancient Wa country, which knew the tricks of soldiers, other nations and countries understand war as face-to-face, head-on fighting.
Even in the early days of hot weapons, the Far Western countries still used the method of lining up and taking turns to kill each other. Such a stupid way of fighting would not have survived the next day in the ancient Wa country.
Adili listened to the suggestions of several generals and saw Ye Feng from the corner of his eye. Then he remembered Ye Feng and asked: "Brother Ye Feng, do you have any solution to the current situation?"
Ye Feng said politely: "I can't tell you how to solve it. It's just that I don't know something."
Adili said: "If you have any questions, just ask directly. You and the right general Aizezi are also acquaintances, so there is no need to be polite."
Ye Feng asked: "Why don't you burn their food and grass?"
Everyone looked at each other when they heard Ye Feng's question. A deputy general who had guarded the palace with Ye Feng before and was familiar with Ye Feng said: "I have never heard of burning the opponent's food and grass in a war. And how can it be done when there is the enemy's main force in the middle?
Where’s the other party’s food and grass?”
Ye Feng had no choice but to explain: "We will first send a team of dozens of elite soldiers, carrying flammable rapeseed oil, out from the north or west gate of the city, detour through the pine forest, wade across the river from the shoal of the pine forest, and ambush the enemy's baggage on the east bank of the river.
Near the camp.”
"When we are alert, we will send a group of cavalry out of the east gate to sneak attack the enemy's main force. Be careful not to actually attack, focus on testing. If there is an opportunity, kill it. If the opponent is on guard, just attract the enemy's attention."
"At this time, the soldiers who are ambushing on the east bank of the river should try their best to sneak into the enemy camp without making any noise, and then start charging and killing them as a last resort. After rushing into the enemy camp, their main task is to burn their baggage, regardless of other matters."
"After the incident is completed, do not return to Qiemo City. Go directly south along the pine forest to the Kunlun Mountains to lurk. If the enemy does not withdraw their troops, these elite soldiers will look for opportunities to go east to attack their transport team."
"As for the supplies of this team, they rely on robbing the Loulan people. If they can be snatched, they will be snatched up the mountain, and if they can't be taken away, they will be burned. The purpose is to harass their food roads and make them run out of food and grass. Then they will naturally retreat.
"
"If they don't retreat, they will need to send a large number of troops to encircle and suppress our group. This will reduce the defensive pressure on our city."
"And Kunlun Mountain is so big, no matter how many people they send, it will be difficult to encircle and suppress our people. So there is no need to worry about our people. Our troops are really too small, otherwise we can send more waves of troops and use swarms to fight.
The harassment battle made it difficult for them to take care of themselves."
After everyone listened to Ye Feng's suggestion, some people whispered: "This is the first time I know that war can be so damaging!"