The two sides of the Gaiqu River on the border between Baili and Nangqian present a strange strategic situation.
Dunyue Duoji's frontline troops were surrounded and annihilated, and the frontline supplies were exhausted. Reinforcement troops from all over the country gathered at Longdawei's hometown and deployed defenses at Kangzhu and Qamdo on the west bank of the Jinsha River, but they still did not raise troops to retaliate.
Liu Chengzong's army was overwhelmingly powerful, but it did not move forward. Only a small number of Tangqi crossed the river bank to explore the terrain.
Prayer flags were hunting, and eagles were circling in the valley. The heavily armed warriors from both sides occupied the mountains and faced each other along the majestic snow-capped mountains and rushing river valleys, while maintaining a strange peace.
Because the highland barley is ripe.
Dunyue Duoji's army was busy harvesting food to supply the front line, while Liu Chengzong's army was busy collecting intelligence... They needed to know where the food was.
From the Jinsha River to Zhaqu, from the Derge territory to Qamdo, the Baili Army stationed tens of thousands of troops on the four hundred-mile defense line and more than a dozen mountain passes that were easy to defend but difficult to attack.
In comparison, the Lion Army has no line of defense. They focus on stationing troops in Danba and the Jinsha River, trying to find flaws in the enemy's defenses and win the war in a simpler way. However, until now, the officers of the Lion Army are still helpless.
Li Bei, who went out with the army, could no longer sit still.
He could see that the generals of the Lion Army had fought against the best armies in the world many times and won victories. These veterans who crawled out from the dead were extremely capable of directly commanding battles on the battlefield, and they were all good at killing people.
But when it comes to war, they are a group of laymen.
Li Bei didn't want to say anything at first. He was a reduced general, and many generals in the army disliked him.
On the other hand, he could not understand the strategic intentions of people from Liu Chengzong to Cao Yao, Zhang Tianlin and others.
It wasn't until he heard it many times that he finally understood - the strategy of these people was to attack the land controlled by King Baili inch by inch.
The centripetal force of this army is very strong, and each general has different tactical choices.
Cao Yao advocated using artillery to destroy all fortresses, Wang Wenxiu advocated massing heavy troops to lure the enemy into a decisive battle, and Zhang Tianlin advocated mobilizing cavalry to penetrate the rear and attack the grain roads.
Generally speaking, the purpose is the same, to completely destroy King Baili's defense line.
The generals argued fiercely for their own opinions. Li Bei sat behind and said, "Commander, go around."
Liu Chengzong was quietly listening to the debate among the generals. Each had its own advantages and disadvantages. The decision of which tactic to choose was in his hands.
Suddenly hearing Li Bei's words, he didn't react: "Huh? What did General Li say?"
"I said, we can go around it."
Zhang Tianlin was at a disadvantage in the argument, mainly because of his low official position. Cao Yao and Wang Wenxiu were both battalion generals. General Qian of the infantry and artillery battalions did not speak and listened to their battalion generals.
Only Yang Yao, the general of Ma Ying, stayed in Haibei. As the representative of the Ma Bing generals, he must win the opportunity to fight for the brothers of Ma Ying.
Suddenly hearing Li Bei speak, he glared and said: "General Li, the cavalry team has already explored with Tangqi. Those mountain passes are easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is difficult to go around any place. There is a fort behind it, which cannot be bypassed. "
"Keep going around, and in the end we are trapped in a tight siege!"
Li Bei shook his head and ignored Zhang Tianlin at all. He was not thinking about the problem at the same level, which made him lose the desire to express himself.
Strangely enough, the more this happened, the more disgusted he became towards the court.
If it weren't for these deserters and old thieves to have enough to eat, if it weren't for the officers and soldiers to have enough to eat, how could they lose!
But Liu Chengzong was looking forward to it. This was the first time Li Bei spoke in a general discussion. He said: "General Zhang, don't worry, let General Li finish what he said... General Li, tell me what you think, I want to hear it. "
For a long time, the Lion Army has had the thought of despising traditional generals, civil servants, and even culture.
Their generals were all veterans who came from humble beginnings. The highest-ranking officials were Yang Yao, who was born as a cavalry general, and Wang Wenxiu, who was an infantry general.
Cao Yao, who was a general, was not qualified to manage troops; Liu Chengzu, who became a commander, was not qualified to manage troops.
As for the more generals, most of them had no military positions in the past, but under the leadership of Liu Chengzong, they defeated generals and soldiers one after another.
To them, traditional generals are nothing more than wine sacks and rice bags.
'You said he knew more and he was stronger than him, so why did he lose? '
For them, Ming officers were too conservative.
In any dynasty, the military's thinking is the most conservative. For example, it is very slow to implement a new weapon. From the Jiajing period, bird guns were promoted, and now there are still three-eyed guns in Jiubian.
Just like Liu Chengzong still can't believe in blunderbuss.
Because the battlefield is a place of life and death, there is no opportunity for trial and error. People trust the familiar weapons, familiar tactics, and familiar systems more.
But the generals of the Lion Army are different. They have been in a certain death situation for a long time, and they must use whatever they get. To put it bluntly, no one alive now is dead.
People believe in and benefit from their own wisdom and strength, furthering this understanding.
Liu Chengzong is caught between these two types of people. He is different from others. Others' 100-year-old career is the end of their career. If it had been earlier than 20 or 30 years, there would have been no drought and no decline in national power, and managing a team or being a general manager would have been just the starting point for him.
He believed in these new generals who were forced to become progressive forces, and he also believed that traditional generals must have their own merits.
Li Bei pursed his lips and looked serious as he looked at him for a long time. Then he sighed and explained to everyone: "Bypassing the defense line is not for the purpose of bypassing the defense line."
"We are not familiar with the terrain. They are holding on to the difficult-to-attack mountain passes. There are forts behind the defense line, and there are forts behind the forts. The Lion Army is good at marching and cannons, and is overall stronger than the enemy, but the enemy has the advantage of the location."
"Can our food and grass be replenished? How many ammunition and horses do we have? How many soldiers' lives can we overcome step by step?"
Li Bei paused. Cao Yao was opening his mouth to defend. Liu Chengzong, who was sitting at the top, glared at him and tilted his head to the side, waiting for Li Bei to finish speaking.
Liu Chengzong knew what Cao Yao wanted to say even if he didn't listen. It was nothing more than plundering noble estates and he could always get food.
Li Bei looked around the generals in the hall and sighed deeply: "Anyone can win a battle with ample supplies of food and grass. Can our generals still win even if they run out of ammunition and food?"
Cao Yao and others were confused by the question.
After thinking about it, Cao Yao found that Li Bei was right. Since the rebellion with Liu Chengzong, he had hardly fought in a battle where he had run out of ammunition and food. Even hunger was a distant memory.
Wang Wenxiu sat on the side with his head lowered and picking his nails. He had been beaten. He and Yang Yao had been beaten. They were beaten so hard by the officers and soldiers that they could not find a way to escape. Otherwise, there would be no need to defect to Liu Chengzong.
Zhang Tianlin was silenced by the question. Ever since he left the army, he had been living a carefree life. Although he had to eat a lot before taking over the throne of King Zhuangzi of Qin, he did not fight with the army when he was hungry.
Luo Rucai simply looked at each other and Li Laojiao, and the two of them covered their mouths to prevent themselves from laughing.
So if we run out of ammunition and food, why do we still need to fight? Luo Caocao's troops were stationed for a whole winter without food, and they were fighting against themselves.
The generals laughed angrily at first, then fell into deep thought, and finally looked at Liu Chengzong one by one.
The reason why all of them are running out of ammunition and food is because of Liu Chengzong.
Li Bei shook his head, feeling embarrassed to ask this question.
He never thought in his life that he would ask a group of generals who were born as thieves if they could fight when they ran out of ammunition and food.
At first glance, this situation seems to be the preserve of thieves. In fact, the officers and soldiers always fight bravely when they are out of ammunition and food, and then lose the war.
In fact, in the final analysis, Li Bei was still dissatisfied. Maybe he didn't even realize it. He was dissatisfied not only for himself, but also for Cao Wenzhao and others.
More of a grudge against the imperial court.
"We have a lot of gunpowder, but it is not enough to blast through one fort after another. We have a lot of soldiers and horses, but it is not enough to bear the consumption of besieging the fort again and again."
Liu Chengzong nodded slowly. On the night when he couldn't sleep well, Fan Sanlang, who was on duty in the hall, was preparing gunpowder.
The cannon soldiers on the night watch would consume gunpowder every night, load their guns at night, and knock out the gunpowder the next morning. Therefore, the guards were no longer willing to use granular gunpowder for the night watch, and they all used the gunpowder raw materials found in Nangqian to make their own.
But this amount of raw materials is enough to meet daily consumption. Once a war breaks out, it will not be replenished at all.
The same problem also occurred with grain, so Liu Chengzong was not in a hurry to attack. He hoped to create a good grain harvesting environment for Baili's nobles.
He asked: "Then what General Li said, going around is not just for the sake of going around. What do you mean?"
"General, our army is more elite than theirs, and our generals are more united than their nobles, so every order of the general can be well executed."
Li Bei praised the generals of the Lion Army, and then said: "The defense line in front of them is now well-defended. Their army is composed of nobles and conscripted soldiers. Each of these people has their own territory, each has its own subordinates, each has its own thoughts."
Li Bei entered the state as he spoke. He stood up and walked around to the side. He signaled to Liu Chengzong for permission and then picked up the wooden whip, pointed at the back of the defense line on the map and said: "If these people are to hold on to the fortress and maintain the defense line, there must be a fort to support the rear. , Tangqi should look for the location of these forts."
"If it goes as I expected, the rear fortress should be able to transport food, arrows, gunpowder and supplies to the surrounding areas. We are in enemy territory, and this is the front line where Baili and Nangqian faced off in the past. The enemy has a great advantage in transporting food and grass here. "
Li Bei raised his hand and drew a line along the Jinsha River: "If they mobilize properly and bypass the defense line to attack the Dege area, their troops will definitely be mobilized, and the grain roads here will be useless. The environment in which they transport grain and grass will be the same as ours." Similarity, that’s one of them.”
"Secondly, quickly bypassing the defense line will panic the enemy. If King Baili is not on the front line, his army will be scattered and become a scattered army. Even if the Dunyue Dorje people are on the front line and mobilized properly, each of them will The nobles' march will also be fast and slow. If they don't have any gaps, we will create gaps."
All the generals listened with interest, and Cao Yao asked: "What should Nang Qian do? Don't give up?"
"The war in Nangqian started from last year to this year. The nobles within a radius of 200 miles in the southeast were uprooted, and the local food and grass were collected. The land has become a white ground. What is the use of them taking the opportunity to attack Nangqian?"
Li Bei's face was full of doubts: "The Lion Army is good at marching and fighting in the field, how can it guard its hands and feet on a white field?"
A few words awakened the dreamer, and Liu Chengzong and others suddenly realized... They were trapped by this land. In the past, they wanted the territory but no territory. Now they value the territory too much, so once they have laid down a piece of territory, they feel that they must keep it.
"I understand!" Liu Chengzong clapped his hands and said happily: "Just like in northern Shaanxi, throw them behind, beat the ones who come first, then the ones who come later, and finally hit those who can't come,"
With the help of Li Bei, Tang Qi of the Lion Army had a direction for investigation.
The Tang soldiers were not secret agents. This force was set up for the Mongolians in Monan. There was almost no need to hide their tracks and it was specially used to cover the battlefield. Therefore, sending them to detect intelligence was almost an open investigation.
Teams of Tang Soldiers climbed over snow-capped mountains and walked through river valleys under the nose of the enemy. There were only five people in each pond and entered the enemy's controlled area. This was what they did. Even if they encountered the enemy, they would not be afraid or fight.
If there are many enemies, they will retreat one by one in other directions. If there are few enemies, they will fight on horseback. Even the best-equipped Duokang cavalry is afraid of their three-eyed guns.
However, both sides were basically transparent in terms of strength and location. Liu Chengzong's control area in the southeast of Nangqian was even more transparent to Baili's army. They could not tell whether a herdsman or hunter belonging to Baili or Nangqian belonged to Baili or Nangqian.
The four-hundred-mile-long border was impossible to defend.
Both sides even had a mentality of deliberately letting their opponents see it. Bai Lijun hoped to make the opponent retreat in spite of difficulties, and Liu Chengzong hoped to show off his power and make his opponent surrender.
Tang Bing brought back the information much faster than Liu Chengzong imagined.
Dunyue Duoji's army deployed three layers of defense in an inverted triangle shape.
The slave army was at the front, guarding each mountain pass with a small number of elite soldiers. They were building a camp at the mountain pass. Some Tang soldiers saw groups of Nachaba people on the road delivering fur blankets to the camp.
It seemed that King Bailey had made preparations for the winter defense of these passes.
The Tang soldiers advanced against the troops of commoner Nachaba, and advanced thirty to fifty miles to the rear. Based on what they saw and heard, noble official villages and manors formed the second line of defense on the map.
The eight Guanzhai manors occupying the main transportation routes are the only way to transport grain and grass. Each of them is built like a small fortress, and all of them are stationed with a large number of elite soldiers.
The little nobles also stayed there to play and sing every night, and at the same time, they dispatched buses to let the common people transport supplies to the front line.
Going further south was King Bai Li's last fulcrum on the front line. Regarding this fulcrum, Liu Chengzong could not even dream of what it was.
The last fulcrum of Dunyue Duoji's defense line turned out to be the Central Plains Dynasty's Tibet Station.
From the Dege territory to Qamdo, there are four post cities along the way that were built in the Yuan Dynasty and rebuilt in the early Ming Dynasty. They were the rear food routes for King Baili Dunyue Duoji. He relied on these post cities to transport supplies to the front line, supplemented by various nobles. The manor formed a huge grain road to maintain the confrontation.
Looking at the various important places marked on the map, Liu Chengzong smiled and said, "The station is ready."
He is most familiar with the inn.
