Since the failure of the attack on Chu Manzi's transport convoy, Danba has been feeling very bad!
The firepower of the Chumanzi transport convoy was far beyond imagination, and the seemingly thin but hollow vehicle formation was like a fortress, all of which gave Danba a very bad feeling.
Perhaps, Chu Manzi's actual combat effectiveness was different from what they expected.
Perhaps, the Chu barbarians were able to kill the Donglu neatly in the first place, relying not only on the huge population, money and food in the Central Plains, but also on their unusual combat mode.
A combat mode that he couldn't understand.
It is not surprising to others that the Great Chu Empire was able to kill the Donglu. After all, the Great Chu Empire played a role in the prosperous hinterland of the Central Plains and had a population and huge amounts of money and food that could make surrounding countries desperate.
As long as the Central Plains Dynasty is not too desperate, it can destroy any surrounding country simply by relying on population, money and food.
Dongdu will not be an exception!
The reason why Dongjiao was able to suppress the Ming Dynasty, which was also a dynasty in the Central Plains, was purely due to internal problems in the Ming Dynasty. It does not mean how powerful the Dongji people themselves were.
The population of the Dongda tribe is only a few hundred thousand, and they are in the bitter cold land of the Northeast and lack money and food. These are the flaws of the Dongda. Being able to win against the Ming Dynasty, which is at the end of the dynasty and has internal turmoil, does not mean that it will win against the Ming Dynasty, which is at the end of the dynasty. In the early days of the founding of the country, the Chu Empire, which was in a stage of rapid rise in national power, could also win.
To put it bluntly, even if the Chu army relied solely on population, money and food, and a steady stream of armed warriors to line up to fight Dongjie, they could kill Dongjie alive.
On this point, many people in Jungar hold the same view, and Danba is no exception.
Therefore, when facing conflicts and wars with the Dachu Empire, although there were many differences in opinions within Zhungeer, the general opinions could still be unified, that is, they must not face the Dachu Empire head-on, for example, absolutely We can't be stupid and take the initiative to attack Jiayuguan, and then do our spring and autumn dream of entering the Central Plains.
The closer they get to the hinterland of the Dachu Empire, the less likely Zhungeer is to win this war.
At the same time, the war cannot be placed in areas such as Monan Mongolia or Mobei Mongolia, because the Chu Empire already controls many of the above areas and controls a large number of cavalry troops.
These large numbers of cavalry troops are supported by money and food from the hinterland of the Central Plains of the Chu Empire, and they are also difficult to fight.
Therefore, the best place for the war to break out is within the territory of the original Yarkand Khanate.
To fight here, the Chu army would have to cross the long Hexi Corridor, and then cross hundreds of kilometers of Gobi Desert and desert to fight on Hami and Jungar.
This long supply line alone allowed the Da Chu Empire to consume a lot of power on the road.
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At that time, when fighting breaks out in the direction of Hami, the pressure on Zhungeer will be much less.
In this way, Zhungeer would accumulate troops in the direction of Hami, but gave up Chijin Town, Guazhou, Shazhou and other places in order to lengthen the Chu army's supply line.
Then look for opportunities!
For example, cutting off the Chu army's supply line, even if it cannot be completely cut off, can still have a great impact on the battle situation if it can be blocked.
In this way, Danba led his army to go out, bypassing the heavy Chu army group, and crossed the desert and Gobi Desert to fight all the way to the area near Guazhou.
Before the expedition, Danba was full of confidence. He believed that even if his thousand elite cavalry could not completely block and cut off the Chu army's supply line, they should still be able to pose a certain threat to the Chu army's logistics, such as forcing the main force of the Chu army to Slow down or even stop the advance; another example is forcing the Chu army to mobilize more troops to protect the logistics line. If there are more troops to protect the logistics, there will naturally be less troops to attack Hami from the front.
Even if the Chu Empire claims to have more than one million troops, it can't change it.
Because how much troops the Great Chu Empire can invest in the Western Region does not depend on how many troops the Great Chu Empire has, but on how many people the Great Chu Empire can maintain as logistics.
To maintain a long supply line from the Shaanxi-Gansu region to Hami... countless grains, grass and ammunition have to be transported from the rear. Even after going deep into parts of the Gobi desert, even drinking water has to be transported from the oasis area in the rear...
I don’t know how the Dachu Empire views this supply line, but the top brass within Jungar just look at the map and feel that this supply line is as difficult as the sky.
Therefore, the scale of troops that an empire as powerful as the Chu Empire could maintain in the Western Region was also limited. More than 50,000 people was probably the conventional limit.
On this basis, every additional ten thousand troops will require more money, food, and more people.
And these are opportunities for Zhungeer.
It is impossible to defeat the Great Chu Empire. If they are given a hundred courages by the Zhungeer senior officials, they will not dare to dream about entering the Central Plains and completely destroying the Great Chu Empire.
This is impossible.
What they want is very simple, that is, to promote peace through war. By causing a certain amount of losses to the Chu army in the direction of Hami, the Chu Empire will realize that it is impossible to defeat them accurately by just relying on small fights and sending tens of thousands of troops. What real threat does Geer pose?
If we really want to force the Jungar side to surrender through war, then we will need to pay a huge price.
In short, the purpose is to make the Chu Empire feel that the Western Region is not the Chu Empire's final say. If they want to be tough, they will have to pay a huge price and the gain will not be worth the loss.
At this time, Zhungeer made some more concessions, such as officially ceding parts of Kansai to the Dachu Empire, recognizing the rule of the Dachu Empire in the Qingkang area, and allowing those Central Plains dynasties most wanted to surrender and pay tribute. Things like that, and even sacrificing a daughter for peace can be discussed.
Through certain concessions, the Chu Empire will gain face, and then end the war smoothly, so that the Jungar side can have time and energy to further digest the Yarkand Khanate.
And accumulate strength to continue the conquest in other directions, such as Kazakhstan, and the Bukhara Khanate. Compared with the Donglu and the Dachu Empire, these two Khans are just little brothers. Zhungeer has an advantage against them. great.
Given a certain amount of time to Zhungar, Zhungar dare not say that it will completely swallow up these two khanates, but it is very possible to achieve certain results and further increase its strength by plundering territory, population, cattle, sheep, and horses.
After all, although today's Zhungeer has not completed unification and established a formal political power, it has actually forced the dual huge pressure from Russia and the Great Chu Empire. In order to protect themselves, Zhungeer and its various ministries have already abandoned their past grievances and united. Internally, Has relatively high cohesion.
It has to be said that this is also the change that the Chu Empire brought to the surrounding forces.
With the strong rise of the Chu Empire, the associated impact on neighboring countries was huge. Mongolian Mongolia led by Zhungeer was the most obvious example.
They completed their unification earlier than in history.
For no other reason than that, just because they continue to linger like this, the Great Chu Empire will swallow them up. You must know that in the west of Monan Mongolia, many Monan Mongolian tribes that have submitted to the Great Chu Empire have already The grazing areas began to gradually move westward, gradually encroaching on the pastures of the Mongolian tribes in the desert.
If the various tribes in the western part of the desert continue to fight among themselves, the Chu Empire will not even need to launch a large-scale war. It can only rely on the nomadic tribes under its control to gradually eat away at the Mongols in the desert.
Because of the strong pressure from the Chu Empire, the Zhungeer side completed the alliance and also received strong support from Russia.
Before the rise of the Great Chu Empire, the Russians' eastward expansion was relatively smooth. However, since the Great Chu Empire rose strongly and adopted an extremely tough foreign policy, it has continuously expelled and intercepted Russians from heading east.
In fact, Russia and the Chu Empire have been in a state of long-term small-scale conflicts, not to mention that Russia and Mobei Mongolia, a vassal of the Chu Empire, fight every two days.
More importantly, the Russians are still at a huge disadvantage in this direction. In recent years, many of the colonial settlements they established in the area east of Lake Baikal, especially in the area north of Heilongjiang, have disappeared without a trace. , or simply fell into the control of the Chu Empire.
Russia's expansion in the area east of Lake Baiga has encountered practical and even unstoppable threats. If this continues, Russia will sooner or later lose everything east of Lake Baiga.
After all, Russia actually does not have many troops in the East. Russia's center of rule is still in Europe, let alone the Far East. Even in Central Asia, they do not have many troops.
Under such circumstances, Zhungeer appeared in their sight.
There is no doubt that Zhungeer, who was also under the suppression of the Chu Empire, was a very good fighter.
As a result, Russia began to support Zhungar. A large number of guns from Russia entered Zhungar's army. Not only guns, the Russians also brought a series of so-called new models from Europe to Zhungar. tactics.
For example, the cavalry used pistols instead of bows and arrows, and the infantry used a large number of muskets and lined up with spearmen.
With the support of Russia, the ambitions of the Jungar Khanate skyrocketed. Also for self-protection, they chose to send troops to the Yarkand Khanate, which eventually triggered a war with the Chu Empire.
A series of changes in the north and northwest were actually the chain effects brought about by the rise of the Chu Empire itself.
When the Chu Empire rose to power, it was inevitable that conflicts of interest would arise in neighboring countries. Then in the 17th century, when there were no nuclear bombs, when there were conflicts of interest, wars would naturally occur.
Fighting is a normal thing for this era.
For the Jungar people and the Danba people, fighting is just like eating and drinking. It is their daily life and they have become accustomed to it.
But... Danba has been fighting for a lifetime and has seen many enemies, but he has never encountered an enemy like the Chu army.
Danba didn't simply think that the Chu army was strong, but he couldn't understand why the Chu army was so strong.
This is even worse!
What's even more terrible is that Danba had clearly retreated in advance and was not delayed on the way, but he was still overtaken by the main force of Chu Manzi's cavalry!
These Chu barbarians are all crazy...
He actually continued to pursue him for more than ten days, and large groups of Chu Manzi's cavalry appeared in the north and east. You don't need to guess, it must be Chu Manzi's main cavalry who reacted and sent out the main cavalry to encircle and suppress him.
Danba had no choice but to lead his army to flee westward!
And the further west we fled, the more desolate it became.
In these desolate areas, even horses cannot find grass to eat and drinking water to drink.
Starting a few days ago, a large number of mules, horses and sheep under Danba's command died in large numbers due to lack of water and food!
But, even so...these Chu barbarians actually dared to catch up, not to mention catching up, and they seemed to be more at home in the Gobi Desert than themselves. They were pressing every step, not even giving themselves time to breathe.
If they didn't do well in the Gobi Desert, how could these Chu barbarians catch up in just a few days... Not counting the early stage, even in the no-man's land deep in the desert, I would lead them around. Go around, it’s been at least a few hundred miles.
However, they are still in hot pursuit!
——
Damn it, this doesn’t look like the Central Plains Dynasty’s army at all!
They were said to be an army of farming people, but these Chu barbarians behaved more like nomads than themselves...
Danba looked at the group of Chu cavalry behind him who looked more like a nomadic army than himself. He felt speechless and helpless, and then also had some resentment.
Those bastards from Monan and those eggless ones from the Heshuo Special Department are all greedy for life and afraid of death. As descendants of the Golden Family, they shamelessly surrendered to those Chu barbarians. For these Chu barbarians, The barbarians went to war.
And they all shamelessly changed their last names.
If these eggless guys hadn't surrendered to Chu Manzi, how could Chu Manzi have obtained so many war horses and elite cavalry.
Well now, the Chu thieves cavalry opposite Nima are wearing gray military uniforms and all have bald heads. You may not be able to tell it just by looking at their appearance, but looking at their marching method and their skillful riding skills, Danba used his toes to Everyone knows that these cavalrymen must be prairie men.
Danba's guess was correct. Coming from the opposite side was the 86th Cavalry Regiment of the Great Chu Empire Army. The soldiers of this unit were all from the Liaohetao area of Liaodong Province.
The herders living in the Liaohetao area today are all herders from the small and medium-sized tribes in the Mongolian Mongolia in the past. The Chu Empire broke up these tribes and resettled them separately.
The tribal model disappeared and was replaced by the county and town model. Their life style also changed from purely nomadic to semi-nomadic.
The cavalrymen of the 86th Cavalry Regiment came from here. They were all herdsmen and their equestrian skills were naturally lacking.
Since the other party was chasing them, and looking at the other party's appearance, Danba knew that he could not get rid of them.
Niang Xipi's, these people brought more horses than he did. Danba found that his own cavalry couldn't outrun them... If he continued to escape like this, he would be completely overtaken by the opponent in less than two days.
Although the 86th Cavalry Regiment is not the main cavalry, their main task is to control the logistics line from Guazhou to Hami. They need to patrol for a long time and pursue the enemy.
Therefore, in terms of the configuration of mules and horses, the 86th Cavalry Regiment does not have top-notch Central Asian horses, and there are not even many good war horses in Mongolia.
But there is no shortage of ordinary Mongolian horses. The cavalry of a thousand people actually brought more than 4,000 horses.
In order to ensure long-term patrols and survival in the Gobi Desert, the 86th Cavalry Regiment even brought many mares and even sheep, as well as a large amount of water and good horse feed.
When fighting, they bring a lot of cattle, horses and sheep, drink mare and goat milk, eat cheese when they are hungry, and occasionally eat mutton or even horse meat... There is a war here and there, and they are completely nomadic!
It is normal for this kind of situation to happen to any nomadic people, but when it happens to the Chu barbarians, Danba feels that it is against the law no matter how he looks at it!
How should I put it? It’s not imperial at all!
More importantly, Danba fled all the way. In order to avoid the Chu army, he was now forced to go deep into the desolate no-man's land. This place has been severely desertified, and there is not much grass around it.
After the supplies carried by their army were exhausted, a large number of mules, horses and sheep began to die. After a large number of livestock died, they might not even be able to get out of the desert no-man's land, let alone continue to evade the Chu army's pursuit.
You can't continue to run away like this!
Sooner or later is a word of death, and this time will not be too long, as fast as two or three days, and as long as five or six days.
What to do next?
What else can Danba do? Naturally, fuck him. You can’t just sit and wait for death!
Moreover, if they go directly to attack the Chu army, they can also grab a wave of horse feed and drinking water carried by the Chu army. These are enough to support them through the desert.
No matter what happens, he can forcefully break through the interception of the Chu barbarians who are chasing the most closely, and then turn around and head east. At least there is grass for the livestock to eat and water to drink!
Danba was a determined and decisive person. After knowing that the battle was inevitable, he began to think about how to fight this battle.
In the evening of that day, as night approached, the two parties who were chasing and escaping involuntarily stopped and set up camp.
Because the distance between the two sides at this time is actually only about four or five kilometers. This distance is naturally difficult to cross in mountainous areas, but in the Gobi Desert with flat terrain and unobstructed views, if the weather is good, find a low-lying place. You can see each other even on the top of a short mountain...
For both sides of the cavalry with a large number of horses, this distance is not safe for both sides.
Because if the fight really starts, it won't take long to cross this distance, and even if the distance is more than four or five kilometers, the soldiers and horses can still maintain relatively good physical fitness.
Because in the early stage, the cavalry can ride on the backup horse first, rotate the multiple horses, and the main war horse can accompany it unloaded.
After reaching a distance of about a thousand meters or even further, the cavalry would switch to the main war horses for charge.
This is also the greatest tactical role of cavalry on the battlefield: short-distance maneuverability!
This is unmatched by infantry.
Based on this, both sides actually maintained great vigilance during this night. The soldiers were always on guard even when they were sleeping. There were strict sentries around the camp, and they even sent people to monitor the other side. Camp.
Once the other party makes any changes, they can respond quickly.
But precisely because both sides were very vigilant, the night was extremely peaceful, and neither side made any unusual move.
However, this kind of calm only lasted one night. By the next morning, according to routine, both sides would start cooking and packing up the camp, and then continue their pursuit and escape in the previous few days.
However, Danba in front did not order the troops to continue fleeing. Instead, he ordered the troops to have a simple breakfast and then led more than 900 horsemen under his command to set off immediately and go straight to the Chu army camp.
At that time, the sun had just risen from the sky!
Danba did not carry out any night attacks. Not to mention the extreme difficulty of night attacks, the great vigilance of the Chu army alone was enough to prevent Danba from finding any opportunities.
In this case, it's better to have a good night's rest, and then launch the attack early in the morning after sleeping.
No, it's not an attack, it's a head-on battle.
The distance between the two sides was enough for the Chu cavalry to have enough reaction time to form a formation to fight.
Danba didn't expect to be able to carry out any unexpected attacks. It was just a daydream.
If you want to fight, then fight head-on!
And choose your own time and battlefield!
What happened next was exactly as Danba expected. As soon as they took action, more than a dozen Chu army cavalry appeared from a hidden corner outside, and then galloped on horseback, obviously going to report the news.
Danba was not in a hurry and did not even send troops to intercept...
Anyway, I can't catch up or stop him.
He just asked his soldiers to maintain the rhythm, all ride on the spare horses, and lead the main war horses to advance at a trot!
Although it was just a trot, because there were too many cavalry and more horses, the sound of the horseshoes trampling on the ground was connected and still very powerful.
Even from a very far away place, if you listen carefully close to the ground, you can hear the rumble of horse hooves. Experienced veterans can immediately tell that a large group of cavalry is coming.
On the other side, the 86th Cavalry Regiment of the Chu Army immediately discovered something strange about the Jungar people on the opposite side.
Soon, the Chu army's cavalry also gave up other things, and they didn't even have time to bury the pot to make rice. The soldiers began to put on their armor and form formations with empty stomachs.
There was nothing that could be done about it. Danba had already planned it. Yesterday, he had prepared for the soldiers to eat only some simple dry food before setting off.
The Chu army had no intention of attacking early in the morning, and they still had breakfast according to normal procedures.
But skipping breakfast doesn’t have much impact!
Because while preparing for battle, the soldiers took advantage of their free time to eat dry food on the spot.
The scene was a bit chaotic, after all, it was too urgent, and it was not easy to organize thousands of cavalry in a hurry.
Officers are required to travel around, and senior non-commissioned officers, such as sergeants and sergeants, who are senior non-commissioned officers at the corps commander level, are needed to cooperate with the officers in gathering troops.
As the sun gradually rose, the Chu army had formed an array outside the temporary camp. The cavalry troops of thousands of people were divided into four cavalry squares according to the standard of cavalry posts.
Between the square formations, there are four 65mm artillery pieces. These are the heirloom artillery pieces of the Great Chu Empire Army. They have been used since the Funiu Mountain Period. Today, more than ten years later, they are still an indispensable main force of the Chu Army. artillery.
Each regiment-level unit is more or less equipped with artillery of this caliber. The cavalry is equipped with a lightweight draft horse-type 65mm field gun. Infantry and baggage units on plain terrain use standard draft horse-type six-inch field guns. Fifteen-mm field guns, while troops stationed in Qingkang, Yunnan-Guizhou and other plateau areas and other mountainous terrains use lightweight 65-mm field guns that can be detached and transported.
The 86th Cavalry Regiment is naturally equipped with this kind of cavalry cannon. There are not many, just four standard ones. They are usually used to bombard dense formations of enemy troops.
Today, these artillery should not be very effective, because the enemy is the Jungar cavalry that is attacking fiercely and maneuvering very fast.
In a pure cavalry battle, the rate of fire is actually limited, and the role of artillery, which is more troublesome to maneuver, will be greatly weakened.
After all, the effective range of the 65mm field gun is only 350 meters, and at this distance, the cavalry on both sides has often entered the hedging stage.
It's not that the opponent rushes over, but hedging!
Because the 86th Cavalry Regiment of the Chu Army could not stupidly line up on the spot and then watch the opponent rush over. That would be no different from seeking death.
When the enemy reaches a certain distance, the Chu Army's 86th Cavalry Regiment will also rush towards the opponent to ensure the impact.
This kind of face-to-face cavalry battle tests the courage and formation of both sides. If you don't rush out, but stay in place, you will die.
And turning around and retreating is also courting death!
Facing the enemy cavalry that has already increased its speed, the best way for our own cavalry is to also increase their speed, then grit their teeth and rush directly to do it!
Any avoidance or concession is a recipe for death!
Of course, it is limited to cavalry and cavalry with the ability to charge.
Infantry and dragoons are not included in this list. Infantry has another way to deal with cavalry.
When the cavalry on both sides began to enter a state of hedging, the role that the four 65mm cavalry cannons of the 86th Cavalry Regiment could play was actually relatively limited.
In order to maximize the power of these four cavalry cannons, Colonel Liners, the commander of the 86th Cavalry Regiment, directly ordered the four cannons to be deployed in a small area 200 meters northeast of the main cavalry force. on the hill.
This is to leave a certain space for our own cavalry to attack, and also to attack the enemy cavalry as much as possible.
In order to prevent the enemy from directly attacking this small artillery position, Lins also lined up more than 100 artillery posts and logistics posts to protect it.
The 86th Cavalry Regiment, like other cavalry regiments in the Chu Army, is not just pure cavalry, but a cavalry unit with auxiliary forces such as cavalry artillery and baggage troops.
It doesn't mean that there are only four lonely cavalry posts.
When everything was ready, the Jungar cavalry in front had already appeared less than a kilometer away.
Danba looked at the Chu Barbarian cavalry in front. He took a deep breath and said: "In this battle, we are not fighting for the sweat, merit, or honor, but only for ourselves!"
"Believe in me and believe in yourselves."
"I can do it, you can do it, we... can do it!"
"Kill Chu Manzi, and then let's go home together!"
Danba's voice was not loud, he did not try to boost morale by shouting as usual, he just spoke calmly.
His subordinates did not show any excitement, they just looked at Danba quietly, waiting for him to give the order to attack.
Everyone knows that they seem to be deep in the vast Gobi desert, but they actually have no way out!
Just like what Danba said, they are fighting for themselves in this battle!
After Danba finished speaking, he immediately got on his horse, and then drew out the scimitar from his waist: "Get on the horse!"
After all the cavalrymen under his command got on the main war horses, Danba no longer looked at the cavalrymen behind him, but looked at the Chumanzi cavalry array in front, and then slowly mobilized the warhorses to move forward!
The trumpeter next to him blew the trumpet, and at the sound of the trumpet, the nine hundred Jungar cavalry began to move forward slowly.
At the same time, Liners, who was a thousand meters away, also gave the order to mount his horse and prepare to charge!
He had led his army to pursue this group of Zhungeer cavalry for several days. He finally caught up with them and forced them into a difficult situation. He would never let go of such a great opportunity easily!
This battle is about me and not him!
