Chapter 3141 Before the War
Everyone knows that once Tuyuhun invades the counties in Hexi, the people will face killing and plunder, and their parents, wives, and children will become slaves and live like livestock for life after life.
Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, this land has never been far away from wars. The people have also complained about the corruption and harshness of the Han bureaucrats. However, compared to the killings of the barbarians, their own people are more trustworthy.
Fang Jun wore a straight jacket and rode his horse slowly forward at the mouth of the valley to supervise the construction of the fortress.
A fast horse drove out from the mountain pass like lightning. The knight on the horse shouted loudly: "Tuyuhun has rebelled, and an army of 100,000 has been assembled and is heading towards the Qilian Mountains!"
The busy crowd at the scene suddenly fell silent.
The Tuyuhun rebellion was already an established fact, and its crossing over the Qilian Mountains and into the west of the Kou River had long been confirmed, but now that the enemy was really coming, it still made the soldiers and civilians present feel nervous.
War is coming!
Fang Jun rode on his horse, looked around, and then said loudly: "Inform all the generals and gather them in the big tent!"
"Here!"
The soldiers around him rushed out and went to inform the generals everywhere.
Fang Jun turned his horse back and galloped towards the Chinese military tent set up not far from the Ruoshui River.
After a cup of tea, the generals gathered in the Chinese military tent.
Fang Jun pointed to the scout and said, "Tell me the detailed information about Tuyuhun."
"Here."
The scout stood in the tent and gave out the information one by one.
Tuyuhun Khan Nuohebo succeeded to the throne and gathered 100,000 troops from various tribes at Yazhang on the bank of Qinghai Lake. Ten days ago, he vowed to march north and cross the foothills of the Qilian Mountains to the west of the Kou River. This was a move taken by Nuohebo in order to ease internal conflicts. Although he was Fushun's son, he was usually incompetent and had insufficient qualifications. Many tribes did not accept his succession to the position of Khan. It can be said that he did it as a last resort. .
There was silence in the tent.
Fang Jun slowly sipped his tea and said it was "an army of one hundred thousand". In fact, it was impossible for anyone to do so.
It is a common strategy to exaggerate the number of troops before launching a war to scare the enemy. After all, ancient investigation methods were limited, and it was impossible to distinguish between 100,000 and 80,000 people, as long as it was not too outrageous.
But there are many that are outrageous.
There is a "history book" in South Korea that records the so-called "history of the empire", saying that its ancestors originated from the Pamir Plateau, created a glorious history in 6,000 BC, led the world, and awakened the Yellow River Civilization and Hongshan Civilization. Civilization also records that ancient Korea was a huge empire whose territory encompassed China and Japan. China and Japan are both descendants of it. A war can mobilize more than millions of troops.
The Burmese history book "The Chronicles of the Glass Palace" records that its kings lived through 84,000 generations, and at its peak, there were 189,000 cities in Myanmar. What's even more outrageous is that the book records that the king's patrol army included 800,000 ships, 800,000 elephants, and 180 million soldiers...
Even Journey to the West didn’t dare to write like this.
There are similar records in Japanese history books. In the Battle of Pyongyang in the Ming Dynasty, the famous general Li Rusong had one million cavalrymen. It seems that Toyotomi Hideyoshi was beaten to a pulp...
The ancient Greek historian Herodotus recorded that Persia sent an army of 5,283,220 men to attack Greece. This army could drink up a river at a time and eat 4,700 tons of wheat every day. It was then completely defeated by three hundred Greek warriors... …
The Persians expressed dissatisfaction. Caesar recorded in "Gaul Wars" that Rome defeated 430,000 Gaulish troops with zero casualties. Each Roman soldier was an invulnerable master...
It is recorded in the Indian history book "Makupharata" that India once suffered casualties of 1.6 billion people in a war...
It is these absurd so-called "history books" that scholars hope to regard as official history and the origin of their civilization. Instead, they try their best to slander, scorn, and deny recognition of various Chinese documents and oral accounts.
……
Fang Jun said: "It's just an exaggeration. There are only less than 300,000 Tuyuhun people. How can they raise an army of 100,000? In my opinion, the army that invaded this time is only about seven or eight, and among them, the elite troops do not exceed 50,000." . We can fight with the help of the fortress at Dadou Bagogukou."
This statement was naturally intended to stabilize the morale of the military.
The Youtun Guards only number 20,000. If the enemy really has 100,000, they will have to fight one against five. Even with the power of firearms, such a disparity in strength will cause panic among the soldiers.
After all, firearms have only been around for such a short time, and it is unprecedented for the entire army to be equipped with firearms. No one knows exactly how much combat power they can exert in the face of war...
Pei Xingjian also said: "The Qilian Mountains are crisscrossed with ravines and ravines, and the roads are difficult to navigate. It will take a lot of effort for the Tuyuhun people to cross the Qilian Mountains. Even if they rush out of the valley mouth, they will be exhausted. We will form a formation here to wait for the hard work, and we must fight head on. Beat them hard and let them know the power of our Tang Dynasty tigers. They can do whatever they want if they are not barbarians!”
The generals in the tent were infected by his momentum and shouted: "We must win!"
Morale was boosted for a while.
The Tang army has never done this kind of thing with less to defeat more. Remember when the guards of Youtun came out of Baidao and went straight to Mobei. Xue Yantuo, who was known to have hundreds of thousands of string control men, was wiped out by Li Ting. You’re not even worthy of carrying Xue Yantuo’s shoes, so why should you be afraid?
Fang Jun had an expression of approval on his face, nodded slowly, and said: "All the scouts are sent out to closely monitor the mountain passes in the Qilian Mountains. If there is any disturbance, they must report it in time so that they can respond in time. All armies are ready and mobilized, inspecting ordnance, Armor, conduct the firearms inspection again. If there are any problems, deal with them in time.”
He looked around at everyone and said in a deep voice: "This battle can only be won, not defeated. Either the Tuyuhun people will be defeated, or we will be buried here and die to serve the country! Behind us are hundreds of thousands of people from the counties in Hexi, In the past, Hexi was Guanzhong, where we had our parents, wives and children from ancient times to the present! Whenever the dynasty is invaded by barbarians, crazy plundering and brutal killings follow. As soldiers, we should act as the country's fence. We use our flesh and blood to build an iron-like Great Wall to keep the enemy at bay. Foreign! If you neglect your duty, you will never be able to atone for your sins!”
Before the battle, he wanted to unify the army's determination to fight to the death for the last time.
Since ancient times, there have been many battles in which the weak defeated the strong and outnumbered the masses. However, every time the weaker side must go all out and fight to the death, only in this way can the greatest potential be unleashed and an incredible myth be created.
The current battle situation is like this. Although the Tang Army has completed epoch-making modifications and equipped with a sufficient number of firearms so that its combat power can almost crush the entire time and space, in the final analysis, it is still at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers. Weapons and equipment are by no means the only factor that determines the outcome of a war, military morale is.
The quality of the soldiers of the Tang army was already better than that of the Tuyuhun people, and they also had the power of firearms. If they could unite as one and unite, then it would be possible to defeat the many with less.
On the contrary, if the army is fearful of the enemy and has lost morale, then there is no need to fight this battle. Even if the Tang army is given a few missiles, it will still be defeated...
"Here!"
The generals and colonels in the tent responded in unison, all staring angrily, their morale skyrocketing!
The commander-in-chief's words are correct. If Hexi is lost, Guanzhong will face the frontline of the enemy's army. There are Tibetans behind it who are ready to move. If they are not careful, the capital may fall.
Not only would that be a shame that is rare throughout the ages, but it would also expose their parents, wives and children to the plundering and killing of the ferocious barbarians!
As a man of the Tang Dynasty, he will die if he dies, and he will never let the barbarians step even half a step into the pass!
Emperor Qin built the Great Wall with huge stones to resist Hu Ma's southward march; today, the Youtun Guards used flesh and blood as the Great Wall to block the invading Tyuhun people in the great fighting!
Fang Jun said happily: "Very good! Keep this morale up, be determined to die, and go down and prepare."
"Here!"
The generals responded with a roar and filed out.
Fang Jun only left two right-hand men, Pei Xingjian and Cheng Wuting.
After inviting the two people to sit down in front of him, he asked someone to make a pot of tea. Pei Xingjian made the tea. Fang Jun said: "The preparations that need to be made have been made. The next step is to fight with real swords and guns. The enemy's force is huge. , but we are well prepared, and victory or defeat is only a matter of life.”
War is never predictable. Even if he has confidence in the power of firearms, Fang Jun does not dare to be too confident.
Pei Xingjian picked up the tea cup, glanced at the hot sunshine outside the window, and said: "The weather has been excellent recently. Rain will not affect the use of firearms, which is a big plus. But the key to this battle is how long it can hold off the enemy. If we can't stop them and the enemy forces break into the Hexi counties, it will be difficult for us to clear them out with our troops. If we resist for too long, we may not be able to keep up with the supply of firearms."
Although firearms are powerful, they consume too much. If the supply cannot keep up, it will be in trouble...(End of Chapter)