When a layman looks at an army fighting, it is easy to think that the generals at the front are incompetent in command, poor in planning, and all of them are idiots. This is because the real battlefield is completely different from what is described in the documents at the rear.
When reviewing the aftermath of the war, the advantages and disadvantages of the enemy and ourselves, as well as various realistic situations, have been settled and made clear at a glance. Making accusations based on this will naturally lead to disadvantages. But when they are actually on the battlefield, it is difficult for even the best generals to immediately see the situation.
Clearly, what they see in front of them, not to mention the enemy, sometimes even the situation of friendly forces, is just chaos.
Therefore, since ancient times, when describing a person who is good at using troops, one might say that he knows the situation like the back of his hand, or that he can handle his subordinates like an arm and a leg. Both of these are extremely high praises, but they are both extremely difficult to achieve.
Regardless of the influence of weather and geography on generals, a general with three to five hundred people under his command has to rely on many lieutenants, commanders, team leaders, and generals to be distributed layer by layer in order to command satisfactorily. Even so.
, it is inevitable to be disturbed by the complicated and chaotic situation.
When you get to a higher position, those general managers, governors, governors, and marshals have frightening authority and can command tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of troops into battle, but what you can really see is limited to what you can see; what you can really control,
There are only these followers and elites around me.
Therefore, in the early days of the Kingdom, the Jurchens were less than 10,000, and they were invincible. Later, they often had an army of hundreds of thousands, but they were repeatedly defeated by the Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties. Similarly, Genghis Khan was so talented that the Xue army under his direct command only numbered 10,000.
That’s all.
Most of the Jurchen nobles in the Kingdom of Jin who have been away from the army for a long time don't quite understand this truth.
Therefore, on the day of the decisive battle with the Mongols, people such as Duji Sizhong, Wanyan Chengyu, Ao Tunxiang and others all raised hundreds of thousands of troops in order to achieve great power and shake the world.
In their view, numbers are strength. The general only needs to wave his hand, and the soldiers will obey and crush the enemy layer by layer.
But a general like Han Xuan, who had been promoted from the ranks of veterans, had long known the ropes and would never make such a mistake.
In Han Xuan's view, a man like Guo Liulang who led thousands of troops across the battlefield at every turn was truly an overlord and could not be matched by others. Han Xuan himself, with his own bravery and courage, was able to smoothly lead his troops to attack.
The limit of scheduling is three to five hundred people.
This number will not change at all just because he was promoted from Commander Han to General Manager Han.
If all the elite soldiers are used, this number will increase a bit, but Han Xuan cannot afford the loss of elite soldiers. The result is that the toughness in battle is greatly reduced. The subtlety is only experienced by experienced generals.
Only then did I understand.
At this moment, Han Xuan broke into the Mongolian camp with his elite troops, but he only wanted to be treated well and then surrendered. The Mongolian army pursued and attacked him fiercely, so he had no choice but to flee in embarrassment.
But an outstanding general can never rely on his direct troops.
When Han Xuan was appointed as the Liaohai Defense Envoy, Guo Ning specifically ordered him to observe the overall situation as much as possible besides fighting with his head covered. Even if he cannot strategize, he should try his best to cooperate closely with his colleagues and give full play to their talents. Don't always think about it.
Use your own efforts to make a big difference with a small amount.
As Guo Ning's old friend in Changzhou for many years, Han Xuan found Guo Ning's words a bit funny. Because Guo Ning himself likes to go into battle with elite soldiers and do things that use small things to achieve great things. However, after the past two years,
Han Xuan was used to following Guo Ning's words to the letter.
Therefore, although Han Xuan, the general manager, personally led the troops to raid, the methods used to control the navy were far more than just raids.
Wang Bao'er immediately understood that Manager Han looked honest and honest, but actually he had a back-up plan!
"Who is there? How many people are there?" he asked repeatedly with joy on his face.
When Han Xuan was about to answer, a Mongolian cavalry suddenly appeared in front of him on the left. Dozens of cavalry seemed to emerge from the dark night, and they approached Han Xuan and others in an instant.
This team of light cavalry, when Zhebie from the rear noticed that Han Xuan's troops suddenly turned to the hilly area, sent people to outflank and block them at full speed. At the same time, the roar of the horses' hooves from behind suddenly became much louder.
You must not be entangled by this team of light cavalry.
Han Xuan stretched out his hand: "Knife!"
His own long sword fell during the fight, and another servant immediately offered him a spare weapon. Han Xuan held the handle of the sword with his right hand, frowned, and then raised the long sword high.
The arrow cluster in his shoulder has never been taken out. The wound was pulled several times and was dripping with blood. Before, he couldn't lift it at all. But now he raised the knife and made powerful movements, as if he was not injured at all.
Wang Bao'er saw this and suddenly whipped his whip repeatedly, beating his own horses indiscriminately.
The war horse Herod neighed and rushed forward. Wang Bao'er held a knife in his hand and shouted loudly: "Ignore the Mongolian arrows, hurry up the horse, rush the horse! Rush over! We will win this battle!"
Among his subordinates, more than a dozen veterans were deployed here. Although I don’t know where they got their confidence, they all waved their swords, and everyone stared and roared, while desperately urging their horses to speed up. Several people drew their swords from their waists.
The dagger was thrust into the horse's butt.
The war horse screamed loudly, and its potential was suddenly aroused. Its iron hooves flew forward, and it galloped forward at full speed. Instead, Han Xuan and others were squeezed to the back.
The distance between the two groups of cavalry varied from thirty steps, to twenty steps, to ten steps, to staggered.
The Mongols turned sideways on their horses and opened their bows to shoot arrows.
However, riding a horse in an unfamiliar wilderness late at night is a difficult move that requires extreme concentration. Even the elite Mongolians would have difficulty shooting without distraction. A dozen arrows were sparsely scattered in the night.
It didn't cause much damage.
Only one naval knight suddenly fell down with his horse. Because the horse was running so fast, the knight's bones were broken when the horse rolled over, and he died instantly.
When the Mongolian knight was about to fire a second round, Wang Bao'er and his men roared repeatedly, urged their horses to charge, and slashed with their swords.
"Quick! Quick!"
The fight started in the front, and a little further away from Han Xuan in the back, Zhebie was also urging his men.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! When the war horses are galloping at full speed, the land of more than ten miles or more than twenty miles seems to have passed by in a blink of an eye. The Mongolian army is chasing north, which is often the case, although it cannot be eaten for a while.
After leaving Han Xuan's headquarters, Zhe was not in a hurry to say farewell.
According to common sense, Gaizhou City is the only place to decide the direction of the navy knights' escape. Zhebie is absolutely sure that he can kill all the fleeing enemies on the way. Even if there are one or two fish that slip through the net, he can put them in Gaizhou City. Going down to the state city to kill them might even be able to frighten the defenders.
With the virtue of the ordinary Jin army, this kind of intimidation can sometimes scare the defenders into abandoning the city and fleeing. The Ding navy's tenacity is definitely better than that of the ordinary Jin army, but if they know that the general's attack failed and died, will they be shaken? ?
Zhebie had some expectations for this.
If we could really kill this Han Xuan and take advantage of the situation to take Gaizhou, then all the losses today would be nothing, and we would actually make a profit.
But why did they suddenly change direction? Are they going north?
What is there to the north? Just a few barren mountains. Is there any way for them to escape?
Or maybe they knew they would die but were unwilling to die under Gaizhou City to shake the morale of the defenders?
Zhebie couldn't understand the reason at all, and it was really not the right time to think about it over and over again at this moment. So he just shouted loudly: "Hurry up and catch up! Kill them!"
The cavalry suddenly accelerated.
After running for more than a hundred steps, they passed the place where the Ding navy cavalry and the previous group of cavalry were fighting. The Mongols suffered a slight loss, half of them died, and there were still more than ten cavalry lingering around. Jebie rode non-stop from the middle of the cavalry. Passing through, he shouted: "Continue to follow me!"
The fleeing cavalry in front was already close at hand.
Just at this moment, the wilderness suddenly came to an end. Under the heavy night cover, a series of hills and peaks appeared in front of Zhebie. There seemed to be a peak towering in the distance. Although the clouds in the sky gradually dispersed and the stars scattered, it was still dark and invisible. It's clear; but this area nearby is covered by the moonlight, and it can be seen that the mountains are continuous and not dangerous.
Han Xuan's cavalry rushed into the mountain canyon.
Zhebie felt anxious, suddenly drew out his bow and arrow, and shot at an enemy general who was guarded on the left and right.
His archery skills were really outstanding, unlike his companions who could only shoot and scatter. Under the dim moonlight, he suddenly opened his bow and nocked an arrow without even aiming, but the heavy arrow flew out from the string and crossed dozens of steps. He shot the general.
Many people exclaimed at the same time, but the general still sat upright on his horse and led Ding Haijun's cavalry into the valley.
Hundreds of iron hooves trampled the ground in turn, rumbling and reverberating. Judging from the sound, this canyon was not a dangerous place.
But Zhebie sighed sadly.
That’s all!
He suddenly had a strange premonition, as if this arrow could not kill the enemy general, and there would be no chance in the future.
The mood of a war horse is easily affected by its owner. Zhebie felt relieved, and the war horse also slowed down a little.
Na Ke'er and Batu'er, who were following along the way, all felt that they had an opportunity to perform meritorious deeds. They had already lost their temper in pursuit, and now they all showed off their majesty and horsemanship, crossing Zhebie and heading into the canyon.