After the great victory in Meizhou, Ouyang Xuan did not order to pursue the victory, but ordered to strengthen the defense. This made internal personnel, including many senior officials, quite confused. In their view, even if the Perak Army infantry is currently defeated by the Mongolian cavalry, the Battle of Pengshan completely crippled the Mongolian navy in western Sichuan. Why not send the navy upstream and achieve another great victory in Chengdu? In fact, only a few people such as Ouyang Xuan, Li Shuang, Huang Dagen and Le Quan'an knew that although the morale of the army was high at this time, it was also the time when the Perak Army was at its weakest, and risking the use of troops was very likely to result in failure.
From a material perspective, war means fighting for money and food. Take food as an example. During the war, soldiers' consumption was more than three times the daily amount. "The emperor never lacks hungry soldiers." In high-intensity combat situations, appropriate meat, vegetables, sugar, salt, vinegar and other condiments are also needed to ensure the combat effectiveness of soldiers. Compared with combat soldiers, civilians responsible for logistics consume a staggering amount of food due to their strenuous physical work. Because there are so many civilian women, they are often three times or more than the number of combat soldiers. The mules and horses used to transport baggage were very powerful and consumed a large amount of grain.
Although food is not a problem just after the summer harvest, if it is not used sparingly, the food will be exhausted before the autumn harvest. Once a war breaks out, in addition to food, a large amount of other war supplies will be needed, such as bandages, alcohol, medicine, etc. Compared with materials, the expenses such as pensions, disability subsidies and treatment required for war are much easier to deal with. There is also a large amount of fertile land under the rule of the Perak Army, and part of it can be allocated free of charge to compensate the families of the sacrificed or injured soldiers.
In recent times, the Pili Army has been fighting against the Mongolian Army in Guankou Village, Widow Cliff in Maozhou, Changqiu Fort and Jiangyuan County. It has consumed huge amounts of money and food, and was in deficit before the Battle of Meizhou in Pengshan. Fortunately, the Pili Army adopted a wartime economic model, and used financial means such as credit purchases and accounts - in other words, tearing down the east wall to pay for the west wall. In addition, Boss Qian used goodwill as a guarantee to collect sufficient resources. Guaranteed the logistics of the war. If we continue to wage war now, it will seriously squeeze out industrial and mining development and people's living resources, and harm the long-term development of the Perak Army.
From a human perspective, both the soldiers of the Perak Army and the people under their rule need to rest and recuperate. After coming down from the mountain, industry, mining, and agriculture were both in a period of rapid expansion, and laborers in various industries were working day and night, and even only had one day of rest during the Spring Festival. Especially during this period, in addition to everyone participating in harvesting summer grain, farmers also have to prevent floods and waterlogging, and rush to plant rice in time; industrial and mining personnel work overtime, and even turn on the lights to produce; business personnel have to participate in transporting war supplies. , are already exhausted. Although they had enough food and clothing and some medical protection, the people had no complaints. Most people were still in good spirits, but there were still a few who fell ill due to overwork.
If the above-mentioned difficulties in people and materials can be overcome, then the difficulties faced by the army, especially the navy, cannot be solved in the short term. In fact, in several early battles with the Mongolian army, the Perak Army suffered few casualties, and most of the wounded returned to the team after treatment. Not only did the army's combat effectiveness not weaken, but it was enhanced due to the accumulation of experience. The biggest problem currently facing the Perak Army is the serious consumption of weapons and ammunition, and the inventory of available weapons and ammunition has reached a dangerous situation.
There are two reasons for this situation. The first aspect is insufficient production capacity. In addition to the reasons for the relocation and expansion of the arsenal, the more important reason is that raw weapons take longer to work. Take the production of gun barrels as an example. In terms of performance and safety, the barrels produced by the boring and milling method are completely rolled and cast, but the man-hours required are more than five times that of the barrels produced by the boring and milling method. The same is true for the production of new grenades. Just the production of fire ropes has added many processes such as mercury fulminate production, copper wire drawing and glass slag packaging. Of course, the new grenades produced in this way are much more convenient to use than the old grenades, and they are not affected by bad weather such as rainy days.
The second reason is the overuse of weapons. This is not due to improper use by the soldiers of the Perak Army, but due to insufficient equipment such as artillery and muskets. In order to ensure the firepower density and killing effect, it is necessary to increase the firing frequency. Taking artillery as an example, the Pili Army attaches great importance to its production quality and implements a strict quality system. However, the life of the produced barrels is still only about 300 rounds, and the number of effective uses of the barrels is also about the same. After firing more than three hundred rounds, the barrel of the gun will become out of shape and the rifling will wear out. Although it can still be fired at this time, the fired shells and bullets are no longer accurate, and the range is greatly shortened.
Due to frequent battles, the barrels of many artillery pieces of the Perak Army's main battle force have reached or are approaching their service life. The situation of the field brigade and the garrison brigade is not outstanding, but the current artillery situation of the special forces brigade and the navy brigade is very worrying. Especially during the Pengshan Water Battle, the navy brigade adopted many unconventional means to cool down the gun barrels due to the fierce battle. As a result, one-fifth of the gun barrels were scrapped after the battle. Due to the lack of new barrels, these barrels were not removed and remained on the ship to scare the enemy. But if a war really breaks out, these cannons don't have much lethality. They just make a sound, and they may even explode.
Therefore, it was not that Ouyang Xuan and others did not want to take advantage of the victory to attack the Mongolian army, but that they were really powerless. He has already made his intentions clear to everyone: He vows to be sworn in with the Mongolian army and will never give up until the Mongols are driven out of the Central Plains. It's just that the Mongol Empire is a behemoth at the moment, and even the vast Southern Song Empire seems weak in front of it. The Perak Army's current strength is not even strong enough to deal with the Mongolian cavalry in western Sichuan. They can only gather strength now, and when the time is right, they will give Liu Heima a fatal blow, recapture Chengdu in one fell swoop, and regain the entire western Sichuan.
Ouyang Xuan believes that there are several key conditions for the mature time. The first item is that the Perak Army cavalry can protect infantry in plain areas. He did not expect the cavalry to defeat the Mongolian cavalry, but hoped that it would cover the infantry and artillery to form a calm formation and let the artillery compete with the Mongolian cavalry. The second item is that the firearms equipment of the Perak Army is in place, especially the number of artillery and muskets in the navy brigade and field brigade, which must reach at least 90% of the establishment number. If the firepower density is not enough, it will not be able to resist attacks by Mongolian cavalry or fire warships. The third item is to capture Genting City. This fortified city overlooks the plains of western Sichuan. If the Mongolian army uses this as a stronghold to attack everywhere, even if the Perak Army captures Chengdu, it will be meaningless. To capture Yunding City, it is obviously impossible to rely on a strong attack, even with artillery. Ouyang Xuan has handed over this task to the special brigade that is good at sneak attacks and asked them to conduct simulation exercises in advance.
According to Ouyang Xuan's plan, at least for a period of time before the autumn harvest, the Perak Army will not take the initiative to start a war. He was not worried about a large-scale invasion by the Mongolian army. On the one hand, Liu Heima's navy had been crippled. In this midsummer season when the river water surged, the possibility of the Mongolian army breaking through the blockade of the Pili Army's navy was slim. On the other hand, with the arrival of the hot summer and rainy season, the plains of western Sichuan become slippery and muddy, restricting the movement of horses, which will drastically reduce the combat effectiveness of the Mongolian cavalry. They may plunder the countryside in small groups, but they must be sent out in groups to attack the Perak Army. Fortress is unlikely.
