Early the next morning, at dawn, we were in Yutian Town, two hundred miles away from Gusu City.
The news of the bloody battle in Gusu City last night was successfully conveyed to Qin Feng.
After Qin Feng read it, he handed the letter to Zhao Yulong.
Knowing that only 2,000 of the 20,000 pioneers were left, with a loss rate as high as 90%, even Zhao Yulong, who had always been calm and composed, could not help but frown.
"Twenty thousand vanguards were just defeated?"
"Brother Qin, this battle has caused huge losses to our army, and Sun Bo cannot escape the blame."
In Zhao Yulong's view, the 20,000 vanguards are all elites. Even if they cannot defeat them, there is still no problem in retreating.
A total of 20,000 people!
He was defeated just like that!
The remaining two thousand people were no longer able to form a fighting force. Even if it was said that the vanguard army had been destroyed, it would not be an exaggeration.
Not to mention Zhao Yulong, even Qin Feng did not expect that the vanguard army would fight so fiercely.
It's not because Sun Bo's command is incompetent.
On the contrary, Qin Feng has been keeping track of the trends on the front line based on the information provided by Jin Yiwei.
Whether it was the surprise attack on New Year's Eve or the battle for the city gate, despite the tragic casualties, from a strategic perspective, there was actually not much fault to be found.
After all, opportunities are fleeting on the battlefield. As the vanguard commander, Sun Bo naturally has to do his best to seize any opportunity to capture Gusu City.
Facts once again proved that it was not Qin Feng who overestimated Sun Bo's command ability, but... underestimated the combat effectiveness of the southern soldiers.
Although the southern border is a land of fish and rice with abundant products, the soldiers in the southern border are not embroidered pillows.
On the contrary, since the founding of Daliang, the southern border has been shouldering the pressure of resisting the southern barbarians.
Although the wars between the soldiers in the southern border and the southern barbarians were not as frequent as those in Beidi, when they did come to war, it would be a life-or-death situation.
There is a shortage of horses in the southern border, so cavalry is the biggest disadvantage.
But in water battles, they are invincible, and at the same time, they are not inferior in foot battles.
Seeing Zhao Yulong's attitude of insisting on punishing Sun Bo severely, Qin Feng immediately comforted him softly.
"Sun Bo is not to blame for this battle."
"In the final analysis, after experiencing several wars in a short period of time, it has exceeded the endurance limit of the vanguard army."
"Lin Wenwan is in charge of Gusu City, so she must have a thorough understanding of the overall situation. She knows that Sun Bo's pioneers fought alone and experienced two tragic battles in a row."
"Sun Bo's vanguard must be exhausted and their morale is low. At this time, taking the initiative to attack and seeking field battles will naturally defeat Sun Bo's vanguard in one fell swoop."
"Besides..."
"The troops sent by Gusu City are no less inferior to Sun Bo's Pioneers in terms of size and equipment. Coupled with the home field advantage and morale advantage, it is not surprising that they can win."
Speaking of which. Qin Feng pointed at the paragraph in the letter.
"It's clearly written on it. Three thousand Beixi Qingqi have been supporting them, but they can't help Sun Bo at all."
"Even if the black cavalry arrived and broke the formation head-on, they were still pushed back by the opponent's heavy-armored soldiers time and time again."
"Sun Bo's vanguard, plus Beixi Qingqi and Black Cavalry, a mixed army of this size still cannot defeat the army of Gusu City."
"It can be seen that the problem is not with the command, but with the simple strength of the troops."
Hearing this, Zhao Yulong couldn't help but frown: "There are infantry, black cavalry, and Beixi light cavalry. It can be said that they have both offense and defense. Why are there insufficient troops?"
"Brother Qin, is there anything I can't see in this battle?"
Qin Feng knew very well that the reason why Zhao Yulong was impatient was because the black knight was defeated on the front line.
This was also the first time that Black Cavalry broke through the formation head-on, but almost got himself involved.
Zhao Yulong, who has always been invincible, naturally wants to find out where the problem lies.
Qin Feng was able to basically draw a conclusion based on the battle situation mentioned in the letter and his own understanding of the arms.
It was the heavy infantry that went wrong.
"Whether it's an attack on the city on New Year's Eve or a battle for the city gate, Sun Bo will definitely show off his best troops."
"Although they all ended in failure, the rewards are really too great. If it were me, I would have to take this risk."
"What if we capture Gusu City?"
"It is precisely because of these two battles that the heavy infantry under Sun Bo's command suffered heavy losses."
"Without the backbone of heavy infantry, the deployment of various arms and lines of defense will naturally become extremely fragile."
"Although the Black Cavalry is a heavily armored cavalry, its victory lies in its ability to break formations, not in its ability to resist lines."
"In other words, if there are heavy infantry in the rear and you resist the line, and the black cavalry attack from the front and break the enemy's defense line, the advantage will be maximized."
"On the contrary, with only black cavalry and no heavy infantry, even if they break through the enemy's defense line, they will be immediately surrounded by the opponent's heavy armor soldiers and then be surrounded and annihilated."
Zhao Yulong has already vaguely understood the disadvantages of this battle.
After the black cavalry broke through the enemy's defense line, there was no heavy infantry behind them to fill the position. If the light infantry stepped forward, they would only be massacred by the opponent's heavy armored soldiers.
When heavily armored cavalry faced off against heavily armored soldiers, it was almost impossible to defeat the opponent unless they were numerically superior.
Qin Feng is also a little worried now.
The situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly. Before coming, Sun Bo still had elite soldiers and generals under his command.
Now, there are only two thousand scattered and defeated soldiers left.
The most important thing is that the 10,000 northern cavalry mobilized by Qin Feng are all light cavalry.
In other words, Qin Feng reached the point where he had no "heavy infantry" available.
Qin Feng couldn't help but sigh: "On the battlefield, if you want to win, you may not need the participation of heavy infantry."
"But if we don't want to lose, we must have heavy infantry."
"Before the heavy infantry arrives on the battlefield, there is no chance of winning in a field battle with Gusu City."
There is absolutely no pessimism in these remarks, but a rational analysis conducted on the battlefield.
In the past, Qin Feng was able to conquer all enemies on the battlefield simply because his enemy was Beidi.
Beidi's territory was vast and sparsely populated, and the heavy infantry moved slowly, making it inconvenient to deploy and march.
Therefore, only when Beidi takes the initiative to attack Daliang, the heavy infantry will be assembled to attack the city.
On the contrary, in the face of Qin Feng's attack, when Beidi was passively defending, it could only rely on light cavalry to support each other.
But now, the enemy Qin Feng has to face has become the southern border.
The cavalry is almost negligible, but the infantry combat has reached its peak. In addition, there are cities to rely on and strong logistics.
A head-to-head confrontation with the Southern Territory would only involve getting kicked in the head by a donkey.
Zhao Yulong smiled helplessly: "I didn't expect that these talented soldiers in the southern border would have such outstanding combat effectiveness."
Scholar soldiers?
Qin Feng was speechless, but in his heart he strongly disagreed with Zhao Yulong's remarks.
The world only knows that the northern soldiers are powerful and extremely tough.
Little did they know that the southern soldiers were equally strong, capable, and extremely resilient.
In infantry fighting, northern soldiers could not get the slightest advantage.
What limits both sides is not physical fitness, but the weather and environment.
