Luo Shi didn't know that the family had collectively chosen a difficult path. He led the army of the entire Western Region Protectorate to conquer the Kingdom of Dawan.
The main force of the army is the 3,000 Temple Army. Naturally, they will not wear armor during the march. Each of these 3,000 men looks burly. Judging from the appearance, they are from all ethnic groups, and there are even Huns who lived in Hexi before. His face is serious, his gaze is majestic, his eyes are like lightning, and he seems to be integrated into one body while riding on the horse. His movements are quite orderly. At first glance, he is the elite among the elite.
There is not much else in the Western Region Protectorate, but there are many good war horses. Within the sphere of influence of Wushuang Hou Kingdom and Wusun Kingdom, there are large grassland horse farms. Coupled with the support of the Hexi Corridor Military Horse Farm, all cavalry are one person. With three horses, even infantry can arrive on horseback and then dismount to fight.
In addition to the temple army, there were also more than 30,000 Han soldiers from the Duhu Mansion, among whom the proportion of soldiers was not low, and tens of thousands of troops from allied countries.
In terms of combat effectiveness alone, the Han army is sufficient. The allies in the Western Regions mainly provide food and grass and play a role in siege. The war situation in the Western Regions is very different from that in the Central Plains.
Luo Shi sat in the middle of the formation, watching the army stretch far and wide, and finally reached a place beyond his reach.
After retracting his gaze, Luo Shi said in a deep voice: "We will count the dead and the number of the deceased when we set up camp today."
It takes thousands of miles to march from the Yishui River Valley to Dawan, and the terrain of Dawan is excellent. The entire country is located in an extremely fertile basin, surrounded by high mountains on all sides. It is a natural Great Wall. There is a narrow mountain pass in and out on the southwest side. If the Great Wall is built at the mountain pass and a military stronghold like Hangu Pass is built, it will almost be called an unfallable country.
Historically, Li Guangli suffered a big loss when he conquered Dawan. Especially when he mobilized troops from Chang'an and marched across tens of thousands of miles, it was really outrageous. He simply didn't regard the soldiers as human beings. Luo Shi felt that it was logistically difficult even from the Yishui River Valley.
The army has to cross many mountains. Fortunately, marching from the north does not require crossing the desert. It can just march along the oases of the Zhou Dynasty in the desert basin. In order to conquer Dawan, Luo Shi prepared for a long time and deeply cultivated the countries at the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains. Friendship with the oasis countries north of the desert has finally paid off today.
A march of thousands of miles is a test of the commander's comprehensive ability. It is not easy to appease the soldiers without blowing up the camp. Moreover, there must be soldiers who died during the march or escaped in large numbers. This is a test for the commander.
Even for excellent commanders like Huo Qubing and Luo Wuji, many Han soldiers were lost during the march during the war with the Xiongnu, and Luo Shi was no exception.
Since leaving Wushuang City, nearly 2,000 soldiers have died or escaped one after another. The ones who died were mainly Han soldiers, who were burdened with acclimatization and the like, while those who escaped were the natives of the Western Regions, who had relatively weak willpower. Can't bear the hardship of long march.
Luo Shi looked at the Kanyu map in his hand and stared at the location of Dawan on the map. His eyes were full of fighting intent. As long as Dawan was defeated and Dawan surrendered to Xia Zi, the countries in the Western Regions would be shaken. Even the king of Dawan would be killed by the Han Dynasty. If they die, they will consider their geographical location. By then, all the countries in the Western Regions will surely submit to the Western Regions Protectorate.
At that time, the Western Region Protectorate will be able to transform from a military garrison institution into a supreme political authority that completely rules the Western Regions, just like the current Liaodong Protectorate.
The Liaodong Protectorate and the Western Region Protectorate are still different. Liaodong is much closer to the Central Plains, and the Yan Kingdom has ruled there for hundreds of years. The Liaodong Peninsula has established various kingdoms of the Xia, and the Western Region is a completely foreign land. .
During the years when Luo Wuji governed the Western Regions, he made great achievements, but the power of one person was not enough. Luo Shi took over the responsibility and power from his father and used his own way to maintain the unity of this land.
After marching for who knows how many days, the Han army crossed the mountains and appeared on the land of Dawan.
Dawan is a very powerful country, not half weaker than Wusun when it was strong in the past. There is a set of data that can be roughly compared.
The population living in the Yishui River Valley in later generations was about 4 million, while the population of the basin where Dawan is located was about 14 million. This land has a frost-free period of more than 240 days, making it a perfect place for farming. Choose a place.
There are hundreds of cities in Dawan now. Although most of the cities have a small population, the combined population still reaches 800,000, and the army has 80,000, which is strong.
Faced with such a powerful enemy, Luo Shi was naturally very cautious. Facing the Dawan border city that appeared in front of him, Luo Shi didn't even look at it. He left a force to guard the defenders in the city and attacked directly and decisively. After circling the city, he led the army straight to the capital of Dawan.
This is a typical tactic from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, because Dawan is such a city-state, and each city is basically owned by the nobles. As long as the royal capital can be captured, Dawan will be defeated without defeat.
What Luo Shi wants is for the royal family to admit defeat. As for occupying the entire Dawan?
That is simply a joke. The strength that city-states can exert is not very strong, but when it comes to guarding their own interests, they will not give up an inch of territory. If they want to occupy Dawan, they must attack one city at a time.
This is different from the wars between the Zhuxia kingdoms. The Zhuxia kingdoms have cultural identity with each other, and it is not difficult to accept each other, but it is basically a dream with the Dawan people.
"Our army has amazing speed and strong field combat effectiveness, so we went straight to the royal capital and defeated King Dayuan's army. Then we surrounded the point for reinforcements and defeated the army of nobles of Dayuan Kingdom who came to support. Finally, we broke through Dayuan City and killed King Dayuan. Shock everyone with his head!”
Luo Shi announced his strategy to the generals and lieutenants of the Duhufu. King Dayuan got the news that the Han army had entered Dayuan. Hearing that the Han army only had 20,000 people, he laughed and said: "The Han army is powerful. They The Huns were defeated, but I heard that their army set out from Yishui and covered a distance of thousands of miles. Their grain and grass were shipped from the Han Dynasty, which was ten thousand miles away, and most of them were eaten before they arrived.
Can such a Han army defeat the powerful Dawan army?
Dawan will be the land where they are buried.
Generals, follow my orders, mount your war horses, put on your armor, pick up your weapons, go kill those Han people, and tell them that the majesty of Dawan does not allow a country thousands of miles away to touch it. "
Hearing this, he sounded a bit angry.
Back then, the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu fought bloody battles with white knives and red knives for ten years. The blood they shed flooded the entire grassland. From the distant seaside of Liaodong to the Tianshan Mountains in the Western Regions, there were fights between the two sides everywhere. The traces of the killing have not long passed away, and the Western Region has not forgotten them.
The reason why the King of Dayuan dared to do this was because the Han Dynasty was far away from him. For a farming country, projecting power thousands of miles away was basically a dream, but he didn't know how to conquer and kill the enemy on an expedition thousands of miles away. First of all, how tempting this is for an emperor who likes martial arts.
After Liu Dan received Luo Shi's letter, although he did not express his position and left it to the ministers for discussion, he had already made up his mind to conquer Dayuan and make King Dayuan surrender to his knees.
…
"Dadu protector, the scouts are here to report that the army from the capital of Dawan Kingdom has appeared."
When the Han army was approaching Dawan City at a high speed, the Han army captain reported to Luo Shi. Luo Shi was shocked and said seriously: "Inform all the armies to march in order, stabilize the formation, and there can be no chaos!
The armored soldiers put on their armor in turn, and all the temple army put on their armor, ready to charge with me! "
Following Luo Shi's order, all the troops of the Western Region Protectorate were arranged in the same formation as before. Fighting in the land of the Western Region would not be so complicated. After all, there is a vast plain here, and thousands of people can still hide. Once When there are tens of thousands of people, it is impossible to hide. Without the possibility of ambush, many tactics cannot be used.
Fighting here will test the level of dispatching before the battle, the sophistication of the equipment, the eliteness of the soldiers, and the use of frontal tactics. The stronger side will win, it's that simple.
Soon both sides appeared in each other's sight, with Luo Shi leading the Han army.
Because the elite of the Han army is not comparable to that of the Western Region army, this is to prevent the Western Region allies from being directly defeated by Dawan and then coercing the Han army.
Someone from the Han army came out on horseback, and someone from the Dawan army also walked out. The two rode their horses to a position of tens of meters and shouted loudly.
"People of Dawan, go back and tell your king to open Dawan City immediately and offer your loyalty to the Emperor of Han. The Han will grant Dawan the most precious friendship, otherwise Dawan will usher in the most terrible destruction!"
"Han people, this is the land of Dawan. Even the Huns have never conquered the great Dawan. You will be defeated here. Corpses will cover every corner and turn into fertile soil. The forage and food coming from it will definitely be extraordinarily good. Lush!”
The two sides talked to each other, and they were all mixed with Zhuxiaya language and the local language of the Western Regions. Naturally, it was impossible to convince the other party.
Boom, boom, boom!
The sound of war drums began to sound, and after the verbal exchanges, it was time to start fighting with real swords and guns. Luo Shi was sitting in the middle of the army, riding a very tall horse. Beside him were the dare warriors and the temple. The army, as well as several Luo clan members with stigmata on their eyebrows, were all wearing thick armor and were fully armed.
On the battlefield, swords and guns are indistinguishable, and there are endless incidents of cold arrows wounding people. As long as you are not in the humid mountains and forests of the south, you must wear full armor, especially the face armor and the armor around the neck, which can save your life.
"Soldiers of the Han Dynasty, Dawan is not inferior to the Han Dynasty. Kill them and wash away the shame. His Majesty the Emperor is waiting for us in Chang'an City to make a triumphant return. We will defeat the enemy's army and perform meritorious deeds thousands of miles away.
For those who killed the King of Dayuan, I will ask for a reward from your majesty and be promoted to five levels of nobility, until I reach the level of Marquis of Guannei!
forward! "
Luo Shi drew his sword and shouted loudly. Along with his voice, the war drums sounded again. The Han army's morale was high and they strode forward.
(End of chapter)
