Steel Dynasty - Chapter 789

[Chapter 788: Vigorous and high-spirited]

north wind with a hint of coolness whistled past the city of Shanhaiguan.

Xiao Ming, Niu Ben and other generals stood at the top of Shanhaiguan City and looked at the vast grassland in front of them. In the coming days, Dayu will have a war with the barbarians here that will determine the destiny of the country.

Different from the contemporary foggy environment, the vision in this era is extremely clear, and Xiao Ming can see far away through the telescope.

“Your Majesty, this is the strategy discussed by the ministers.”

Lu Fei told Xiao Ming the marching strategy he, Luo Xin and Lei Ming discussed a few days ago.

Turning around, Xiao Ming looked at the dozens of generals behind him and said: “It takes too long to build the Uburg, and the preparation of materials is also quite cumbersome. This time I mobilized all the chariots and sent them to the chariots. You can rely on the chariots.” The chariots build a chariot bastion that can rely on each other every twenty miles, which is much more flexible than Wubao. “

Lu Fei looked at the densely packed chariots outside Shanhaiguan. Da Yu has been creating wars in these years. The number of chariots now reaches 1,800.

On weekdays, in addition to normal training, they would also practice with the chariots when encountering barbarian cavalry.

Niu Ben said: “Using chariots as a stronghold can be used to attack or defend, and you can quickly evacuate when encountering unfavorable situations. This time the barbarians will definitely use all their strength. For safety reasons, you must rely on chariots. When the time comes, you can stabilize your position.” It won’t be too late to send the construction battalion to build Wubao…”

Luo Quan nodded after hearing this.

The three of Lu Fei looked at each other and bowed at the same time: “Yes, Your Majesty.”

Xiao Ming turned around and looked at the grassland again, “Ammunition supply is extremely important for this war. Once the ammunition and food are exhausted, the advantage will be lost, so As long as we can ensure the supply of ammunition in this war, we will be able to win, otherwise it will be in danger. “

The generals looked solemn, there has never been such a big war since the founding of Dayu.

This is not a civil strife in the Chongqing Kingdom or a small battle at the border, but an all-out war between the Chongqing Kingdom and the barbarians.

After inspecting the city defense of Shanhaiguan, Xiao Ming and a group of generals descended the city wall. Along the way, the soldiers looked at Xiao Ming with reverence.

The emperor they worshiped day and night appeared at Shanhaiguan and would fight alongside them. This made the soldiers inexplicably excited.

Xiao Ming looked at the soldiers with smiles on their faces. The purpose of his coming here was to boost morale. During the entire war, he would stay at Shanhaiguan instead of going out with the army.

The reason for this was that he did not want to increase the burden on the generals, because once the barbarians knew that he was in the army, they would attack at all costs.

This would cause the general to concentrate on protecting him and forget his own goals. He did not want to make the mistake of the Ming Dynasty Tumu Fortress.

After coming down from the city wall, Xiao Ming did not rush to the staff headquarters set up here, but went directly to the Shanhaiguan camp.

Now soldiers from all over the Chongqing Kingdom are concentrated here.

When they arrived at the military camp, Xiao Ming and the generals entered the soldiers’ tents to greet them one by one and asked them about their current needs.

“Your Majesty, we don’t need anything.”

An eighteen-year-old soldier’s body was straight, his throat was rolling, and he was stammering nervously. When he was chatting with a soldier in the camp, Xiao Ming left. Come in.

Xiao Ming patted his shoulder and said loudly: “There will be a war soon. You may not be able to come back after going to the battlefield. Now is not the time to tell lies.”

Hearing this, the young soldier glanced at Lu nervously. Fei, he is Lu Fei’s soldier.

After swallowing, the soldier said: “I want a wife.”

All the generals laughed as he spoke, and Niu Ben said: “The emperor can’t give it to you, but when you come back from the war and make meritorious service, The matchmaker who comes to your house will probably break down the door.”

The soldiers scratched their heads when they heard this,

and he shouted loudly: “Yes, General.” After chatting with other soldiers for a while, Xiao Ming continued to inspect the military camp.

After he left, the young soldier sat down on the ground and said, “When I go back, I must tell my mother that I saw the emperor. The emperor also patted me on the shoulder.”

The other soldiers also looked excited, and one soldier said : “I didn’t expect the emperor to be so approachable.”

While the soldiers were discussing, Xiao Ming went to five or six more camps. At noon, he and the soldiers had dinner in the same camp. This kind of approach to the people made the soldiers feel happy. high.

In the afternoon, he and the generals gathered at the staff headquarters to plan the next day’s battle.

According to the attack plan, the army will leave the city and advance towards Pingzhou City tomorrow. According to the news from the hunting cavalry, the barbarians have assembled 120,000 cavalry near Pingzhou, and more than 200,000 slave soldiers have been stationed in Pingzhou City.

“According to the information provided by the secret guard, the total number of barbarian cavalry is 350,000. After the Battle of Bashu, there should be 290,000 left. And some of these 290,000 cavalry are in the west to defend the Ottoman Empire. Now the barbarians have mobilized 120,000 cavalry and deployed them in Pingzhou City, which must be the majority of the cavalry force in the eastern part of the barbarians,” Luo Quan analyzed.

Xiao Ming nodded. In this era, it is a terrifying thing for any country to have more than 300,000 cavalry.

Because the consumption and maintenance costs of just over 300,000 cavalry are enough to drag down the finances. If the barbarians did not own large tracts of grassland and raise horses in groups, it would be impossible to develop the cavalry to such a scale.

However, in addition to cavalry, the barbarians also had a large farming population. In addition to slave soldiers, there were also barbarian infantry. Together, the strength of the barbarians should not be underestimated.

“The number of barbarian cavalry in the west should be about 100,000. Based on this calculation, there are still 70,000 cavalry that have not been mobilized. These cavalry should be the troops guarding the Golden Tent.” Niu Ben said.

Lu Fei said at this time: “And we have a total of 110,000 new recruits, including 80,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, 30,000 cavalry under Qi Guangyi, and 30,000 infantry under Ye Qingyun, for a total of 170,000 troops. “

There is a huge disparity in numbers.” Xiao Ming narrowed his eyes, but the number of modern armies was not comparable to the number of feudal armies.

Looking at the sand table at the staff headquarters, he continued: “The most threatening thing to us is the barbarian cavalry. As long as the barbarian cavalry is destroyed, the other infantry will be nothing more than a mob and cannot face us head-on.”

The generals also knew it .

For this reason, everyone exchanged looks and nodded.

After analyzing the strength of both sides, Xiao Ming and the generals determined the enemy’s troop deployment position on the sand table, and formulated the march method for the second day before disbanding.

In the early morning of the next day, a red sun had just risen above the horizon. The gates of Shanhaiguan City were wide open. Soldiers in green military uniforms, carrying muskets and flintlock rifles, marched toward Pingzhou City with great courage.

(End of chapter)