Chapter 1977: The cavalry descends from the sky (Part 1)
"Wenyuan, received a message from Luoyang flying pigeons, the Tang army withdrew from Luoyang." Xu Huanghui reported.
After hearing this, Zhang Liang suddenly became energetic and shouted: "Quick, speed up the march. We must catch up with the main force of the Tang army before it leaves Henan Yin and enters Hongnong County."
"promise."
Following Zhang Liao's order, the 40,000 Qin troops started running in attack mode, marching at a high speed towards the Tang army's Hongnong County at a speed of 150 miles per day.
Most of the 40,000 cavalry commanded by Zhang Liao were light cavalry. Among them, the main 20,000 Qin cavalry were one man and two horses. They could travel two hundred miles a day, but the remaining 20,000 cavalry were not so fast.
The other 20,000 cavalrymen came from Li Jing, Zhang He, Xiao Yan, and Han Xin. The previous configuration of cavalry, which used to be one man and one man, had been reorganized and reached the Qin army's standard cavalry configuration of one man and two cavalry, but it was obviously not up to the standard. The high-intensity rapid march speed of two hundred miles a day, or even one hundred and fifty miles, was already the limit for them.
In order to allow the 20,000 cavalry to keep up with the main force, Zhang Liao deliberately reduced the marching speed to 150 miles per day.
At a daily marching speed of two hundred miles, although the 20,000 main force could reach the predetermined position in the shortest time, the other 20,000 cavalry were far behind.
Even if the main force of 20,000 Qin cavalry could defeat the 60,000 Tang army, they would still have to pay a lot of effort. Naturally, Zhang Liao would not do this.
After Zhang Liao's calculations, even if he did not march at full speed, he could still catch up with the Tang army before it left Henan Yin and entered Hongnong County.
The current location of the 40,000 Qinqi is at Xiaopingjinguan in Hedong County, which is only three hundred miles away from Luoyang. Even if they travel 150 miles a day, they can reach Luoyang City in just two days.
The Qin army was all cavalry, so it was so fast, but the Tang army was a mix of infantry and cavalry. No matter how fast it was, its limit was to travel fifty miles a day.
Calculating based on the distance between the two sides, the Qin army could catch up with the Tang army in up to three days at a marching speed of 150 miles per day, and the Tang army probably had not even entered Hongnong County in three days.
In Luoyang, after learning that Zhang Liao had taken the lead with 40,000 cavalry and would arrive in Luoyang within two days, the generals in Luoyang were all excited.
Most of them don't want to watch the Tang army escape, but there are too few troops in Luoyang city, and there are even fewer elite soldiers. Once they go out of the city and recruit the Tang army back, it is very likely that even Luoyang will not be able to save it.
Now this worry is completely gone.
Forty thousand cavalry are about to arrive in Luoyang. Even if the defenders in the city chase them out, it is impossible for the Tang army to dare to fight back.
Based on this consideration, the top brass of the Qin Army unanimously decided to concentrate their elite troops out of the city to pursue the enemy and to assist Zhang Liao's 40,000 cavalry.
Perhaps the Luoyang garrison's combat power is not very strong, but if the elites are gathered together, they will also be an extremely strong combat force, which can give a lot of help to the cavalry team.
Currently, there are only 2,000 Flying Tiger Army and 8,000 Detachment of Women troops in Luoyang City who can go out to fight.
The new soldiers and strong men can only be used to defend the city. If they really fight the Tang army head-on, they will definitely collapse at the first touch. Not only will they not be of help, they will also cause chaos.
"About the candidate for the leader of this pursuit of the army?"
Jia Xu looked around at the generals in the hall, and finally his eyes fell on Mu Guiying.
"Mu Guiying, I ordered you to lead the eight thousand women's army and two thousand flying tiger army out of the city to pursue the Tang army. I do not want to defeat the Tang army, but I want to delay its march until General Zhang Liao arrives."
Mu Guiying's face suddenly flashed with joy, she clasped her fists decisively and said, "No."
Giving the position of pursuing the general to Mu Guiying was actually a helpless move. Now the Yin in Luoyang City was rising and the Yang was declining, and among the 10,000 troops who could participate in the pursuit, 8,000 were all women's soldiers.
If the women's army is not allowed to be the generals, if these iron ladies lose their temper and give up their jobs, Jia Xu will have nothing to do with them.
After deciding on the leader, it was Mu Guiying's turn to lead the army.
"Qin Liangyu, Hua Mulan, Arthur, Hu Sanniang, Deng Chanyu, Liang Hongyu, Yang Paifeng..."
Every time Mu Guiying read a name, a female general would step forward. As she read the name, she discovered that the male generals were shocked to find that the ones who stood up were all female generals. This was a rhythm that they didn't want to play with!
"uh-huh."
A strange look flashed across Jia Xu's face, and she pretended to cough, reminding Mu Guiying to restrain herself.
Mu Guiying didn't mean not to choose male generals, but the current situation in Luoyang was that the yin was rising and the yang was declining. Most of the generals present were female generals, and only one-third were male generals, and most of them were not of high grade. Of course she wanted to Priority is given to selecting female players.
However, Mu Guiying also reacted and quickly ordered a few more male generals, which made the male generals breathe a sigh of relief.
In the end, Mu Guiying led eight thousand women's troops and two thousand flying tiger troops, a total of ten thousand troops, as well as generals such as Qin Liangyu, Hua Mulan, Di Qing, Qin Ji, etc., and embarked on a journey to pursue the Tang army.
Not long after Mu Guiying's 10,000-strong army left Luoyang, they were discovered by a secret sentinel set up by Li Shimin, and the news was passed back to the army.
Li Tang's senior officials were very surprised when they learned about it. They didn't understand why the Qin army in Luoyang City didn't come out to chase them when they first retreated, but waited until they had already walked for a long time before chasing them?
What do these mean? Just for show?
"No, the Qin army is definitely not just showing off. Among the 10,000 Qin troops who left the city, there were not only 8,000 women's troops, but also 2,000 flying tiger troops.
These are the last elites in Luoyang City. If they are just pretending, it is absolutely impossible to send all these elites out of the city. "Li Kui said with determination.
"Then what gave the Qin army the courage to leave the city to pursue them at this time?"
After hearing this, Li Kui couldn't help but fall into thinking. Just when he figured it out, Sima Yi jumped in front of him and said: "There is only one possibility. The reinforcements of the Qin Army arrived in advance, which gave the Qin Army in Luoyang confidence. That’s why I dared to go out of the city to pursue him.”
"This is absolutely impossible."
Li Shimin decisively denied it, but a trace of panic flashed deep in his eyes.
"How could the Qin Army in Hebei, which has a total of 200,000 troops, come so fast? Besides, I got news not long ago that the Qin Army has not completely crossed the Yellow River, and it is impossible to reach Luoyang in such a short period of time."
"No, there is another possibility."
Panic flashed in Li Kui's eyes, and he smiled bitterly and said: "Li Jing should have divided his troops into two groups and let the cavalry cross the river first. Only with the speed of the cavalry can it be possible to reach Luoyang so quickly."
"..."
Li Shimin suddenly felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
If the Hebei Qin Army's cavalry really separated from the main force and came to pursue them alone, with the marching speed of the Qin Army's cavalry, it would really be possible to catch up with them.
The focus now is how many cavalry did the Hebei Qin Army dispatch?
If it were ten to twenty thousand, the Tang army could still cope with it, and they could still defeat it at a certain cost.
But if it reaches 30,000, it may be difficult for the 60,000 Tang troops in Luoyang to withdraw safely.
