The Jurchens were not originally a nomadic people. They were a fishing and hunting tribe that originated from the land of white mountains and black waters. They did not have any nomadic traditions.
With continuous development and growth, after annexing the Liao Kingdom and half of the Song Kingdom, it directly began the process of agriculturalization and Sinicization.
It can be said that they did not develop in the direction of a nomadic empire from the beginning, but in the direction of an agricultural empire.
In recent years, the Jin Empire has become deeply agricultural, and its wars rely heavily on logistics. The food for the army is mainly grown food, rather than meat and milk from the grasslands.
Even if they are cavalry, the Jin Army cavalry does not have the supply level that the Mongolian cavalry did later.
Prairie cavalry often use dairy products and dried meat as their main supplies during battles. They do not need civilians to transport logistics. They mainly carry them themselves. They do not need logistics supplements every month or two. The main method of combat is to support war with war.
The cost of raising cattle, sheep and horses with lush aquatic plants is much lower than the Central Plains feeding method, so it has become their practice for the nomadic cavalry to be able to afford such military rations and logistics methods.
The Central Principle doesn't work. There are no such large-scale pastures. The fertile land is used to grow food, and the main product is food.
Therefore, the Jin Army's cavalry did not have the self-sufficient logistics capabilities of the nomadic tribes. During the war, they also needed logistical support from the state capitals along the way to continue.
The 20,000 cavalry and 40,000 war horses led by Wanyan Alin required logistical supplies comparable to those of a 100,000-strong infantry army. This was a heavy burden for the central government of Jinting and the state capitals along the way.
Especially for war horses, in order to maintain their impact and prevent them from losing fat, they are fed and fed well. They eat better concentrated feed than humans. Beans, eggs, and grass are indispensable, and they eat a special amount. Large and extremely expensive.
Neither beans nor eggs are cheap commodities these days, and it is not easy to supply them in large quantities even with a country's national strength.
Therefore, after arriving on the battlefield, due to the huge logistical needs, one state could not afford to supply Wanyan Alin's troops. The Privy Council and the Ministry of War coordinated the three states of Lizhou, Anzhou and Mozhou to provide logistical support.
If the war lasts longer, these three states will not be able to supply it, and the scope of supply will have to be expanded. More state capitals will be needed to provide logistics in order to maintain the combat effectiveness of these 20,000 elite cavalry.
Now all three states are under rebel attack.
The treasury was destroyed, a large number of officials were killed, the logistics force was destroyed, the three states were in chaos, and thieves appeared in droves. Even daily security and administration could not be guaranteed, let alone the transportation of grain and fodder that required a high degree of organization.
So Wanyan Alin instantly realized that he seemed to be facing a more serious situation than the Liberation Army in front of him.
Don't stay here for long!
Wanyan Alin gritted her teeth and came to this conclusion.
It was clear that the great achievement was in front of him, but he was too concerned about the opportunity to completely wipe out the main force of the rebel army, and ignored the threat behind him. As a result, the rebels took advantage of the loophole.
Where did the rebel cavalry come from?
The rebels in Zhending Mansion?
The intelligence he had received earlier showed that the rebels from Zhending Mansion were besieging Zhending Mansion. The situation was similar to that of Hejian Mansion, and there was no further movement yet.
Did they do it?
If they did it, then they were a little too brave.
Wanyan Alin was extremely annoyed, but there was nothing he could do about it.
In order to avoid unknown risks and preserve this precious new force, he decisively ordered the entire army to retreat, return directly to Xiongzhou, and eat in Xiongzhou. In short, he first settled the food for the war horses.
He no longer cares about Hejian City and Sun Ziyi.
Some of his subordinates persuaded Wanyan Alin to fight one last time, trying to defeat Sun Tzu Yi's troops before retreating, but Wanyan Alin's cautious character made him unwilling to do so.
"I heard that the ancients said that a gentleman should not stand under a dangerous wall, which means that he should take less risks in everything, especially in the military. These 20,000 fine knights are of great significance to the court, and I cannot let the fine knights be put in danger. Or the losses are too great, otherwise even if we win this battle, in terms of the overall situation, we have still failed."
After this explanation, on November 20th, Wanyan Alin gave up the huge military success in front of him, decisively led his army to retreat and returned north.
Both Sun Ziyi and the Jin army in Hejian City were very surprised by Wanyan Alin's retreat.
Sun Tzu Yi thought this was a strategy to lure the enemy, so he did not dare to move for two days.
It was not until two days later that the messenger sent by Su Yonglin arrived at Sun Tzu Yi's military camp under Hejian City. After showing his identity and being verified, he entered the military camp and then explained it. Sun Tzu Yi finally understood what happened.
In short, this is a race against time.
The reason why the Jin army was forced to give up its huge advantage and retreat directly was because Su Yonglin led his cavalry to quickly raid the rear of the Jin army while besieging the city.
In just a few days, Su Yonglin personally led troops to sweep through the three states and destroyed the Jin army's logistics.
Su Yonglin learned the news that Wanyan Alin was leading troops very early, and the specific information was provided to Sun Ziyi by Su Yonglin.
Su Yonglin also knew about the subsequent confrontation between the two armies and the battle between the two sides.
He benefited a lot from the developed intelligence system, and it also made him realize Sun Ziyi's crisis and Wanyan Alin's weaknesses faster.
The extremely high sense of crisis made Su Yonglin think that Sun Ziyi could not be allowed to deal with the 20,000 cavalry alone, otherwise the possibility of failure would reach 90%.
But he did not have the ability to directly support Sun Tzu Yi.
If the two armies of the Northern Expedition collapsed here, the strength to deal with Wanyan Liang's army would be reduced by half, which would be very unfavorable for him and would also be quite bad for the entire Shandong Liberation Army's fight against the Jin Dynasty.
Something must be done to prevent Sun Tzu Yi's army from collapsing in Hejian Mansion.
When Su Yonglin was distressed, Xin Qiji made a suggestion.
The Jin army had 20,000 cavalry, one person and two horses. The number of horses was huge, so the material consumption was also very large. The logistics consumption of 20,000 cavalry and 40,000 horses was comparable to that of 100,000 infantry, so their logistics must be very tight.
If something happens to their rear, causing the Jin Army's logistics to be inadequate, the Jin Army must withdraw its troops in order not to starve to death.
Even if they could really defeat Sun Tzu Yi, they still had to retreat.
People can persist, but horses cannot.
Without food, the horses will have no strength and cannot run or run fast. The cavalry will turn into infantry and completely lose mobility. What is the point of the cavalry then?
If the losses of both war horses and cavalry are further serious, it will really be more losses than gains for the Jin Empire.
In this way, the possibility of the Jin Army's general retreating will be very high.
Su Yonglin's eyes lit up, he praised Xin Qiji fiercely, and then decided to take a risk and start a big race against time.
He mobilized all the cavalry and personally led Su Yong and Xin Qiji to attack. He handed over the main force to Su Haisheng as the temporary commander and continued to besiege Zhending City.
Three thousand motorized cavalry, under the personal leadership of Su Yonglin, launched a long-distance attack and raced against time to achieve the strategic goal.
Sanzhou, which provided logistics, mobilized all military and reserve forces to support the cavalry operations on the front line. Su Yonglin attacked from the flank, which they did not expect.
Therefore, they were unprepared and were directly killed by Su Yonglin. Then they quickly returned to Zhending City to prevent them from staying too long and being overtaken by the Jin army's returning troops.
As a result, this action really saved the Sun Tzu Volunteer Regiment in danger, preserved the main force of the Sun Tzu Volunteer Regiment, and maintained its establishment.
After hearing this, Sun Tzu Yi was filled with emotion.
"If it weren't for Yu Ting, my tens of thousands of troops would be trapped here alive, unable to move. Yu Ting himself is also fighting, but he divided his troops to help me. His kindness to me is really too great."
The messenger shook his head.
"My general said that they are all members of the Liberation Army and anti-golden martyrs. He will never fail to help. Whenever possible, the general will do his best."
Sun Tzu Yi and his men were very moved, and Sun Tzu Yi held the messenger's hand tightly.
"There is no more kind and righteous person in the world than Yu Ting. I owe Yu Ting too much. Go back and tell Yu Ting that wherever you can use me from now on, he can just say, go to Daoshan. Even if he is thrown into the sea of fire, if Sun Tzu Yi frowns, he is not considered a man!"
