In June of the 19th year of Chengshun, during the midsummer season, the Dachu Imperial Army officially launched a large-scale offensive against Jungar.
The first to launch the action was not the Chu army in the direction of Hami, but the Second Cavalry Army of the Great Chu Empire Army located in the western region of Monan Mongolia.
The Second Cavalry Army, this cavalry army belongs directly to the Second Group Army. It is composed of young cavalrymen from various tribes in Monan who submitted to the Chu Empire in the early days. It was the main cavalry force during the Eastern Capture War.
After the Eastern Capture War, the cavalry troops of the Great Chu Empire, including the surrendered cavalry troops, were reorganized into thirty cavalry divisions and divided into ten cavalry corps for garrison duty.
The Second Cavalry Army was stationed in the naturalization area, and later moved to the Mobei area. During this garrison process, the soldiers of the Second Cavalry Army had already been replaced by cavalry mainly recruited from herders' children from the early years. .
Two years ago, the Second Cavalry Army was transferred back to western Monan for garrisoning, and in the process, equipment and horses were changed.
The refitted Second Cavalry Corps is equipped with various new weapons, including the latest models of cavalry flintlocks, Suifa pistols, 65mm and 90mm cavalry field guns, 115mm cavalry howitzers and a number of the latest models of new artillery. .
At the same time, it is equipped with plate armor for cavalry with better defensive capabilities, including various breastplates, light half-body armor and other lightweight plate armor specially prepared for cavalry to resist bows and arrows.
As for the horses, there are also a large number of Hexi horses and Liaohe horses.
After a large-scale change of equipment, the Second Cavalry Army has a completely new look in all aspects, its combat effectiveness has been greatly improved, and it also has a relatively rare heavy cavalry unit.
The Second Cavalry Corps has three cavalry divisions. Each of these three cavalry divisions has a heavy cavalry regiment. Two of them are standard cuirassier regiments, but one is a rare half-armored lancer. group.
This half-body armor is actually a lightweight half-body armor specially prepared for cavalry. The core idea is to use new steel materials to create a half-body armor with a larger protective area but a correspondingly thinner armor thickness.
The main defense is not guns, but bows and arrows, which are still widely used by nomads.
This situation is actually very common among infantrymen...
The infantry of the Chu Empire Army seem to be using fusiliers to engage in line combat, but in fact they still have not given up their armor... In addition to the heavy full-body armor assigned to the grenadiers, the fusiliers also Light half-body armor will be selectively issued based on the enemy's situation.
If the enemy is an army that uses a large number of guns, especially muskets, then the infantry of the Chu army will not be issued armor, and they will directly go on the battlefield naked and fight in line with the enemy...
If the enemy is an army that uses a large number of cold weapons and the infantry's long-range firepower is still based on bows and arrows, then the fusiliers of the Chu army will each have a lightweight designed half-body armor.
The reason for this selective equipment is purely because of armor. Even the steel plate armor equipped by the Chu army has very poor defense against muskets. If the enemy uses a large number of muskets, the Chu army generals would rather have mobility than Useless protective abilities.
However, no matter how lightweight the Chu army's lightweight armor is, the defensive effect against bows and cold weapons is quite good. If the enemy uses a large number of bows and arrows, the Chu army generals will not mind turning their fusiliers into heavy weapons. The fusiliers... relied on their armor to carry the enemy's bows and arrows forward dozens of meters, and then fired a row of volleys at the enemy's face, directly destroying them.
The Jungar people are very special. Even though they use a large number of guns and cannons, they continue to use bows and arrows.
This also led to the Chu army still being widely equipped with armor on the western front to deal with the threat of bows and arrows from the Zhunger people.
But sometimes, the Chu cavalry wearing armor is of no use against Zhungeer's guns and cannons. Instead, it will hinder mobility... Therefore, they often fall into a very embarrassing situation. If this armor is not , don’t and don’t.
Faced with this situation, after several years of repeated trials, the Chu army's frontline generals finally figured out a way, that is, the light cavalry simply threw away their armor and emphasized their ultimate maneuverability.
As long as you run fast enough and engage in pursuit operations, the opponent's bows and arrows will be useless... What can you do to me if you can't even catch up?
If the two sides fight on a large scale and fight face to face, the Chu army cavalry will say that if you dare to play horseback shooting with me, I will directly form a close formation and charge forward, using my saber to teach you how to behave.
Well, this move was often used by the Ming Army's frontier cavalry and the East Riding Cavalry in the early years to deal with the Chu Army's pistol cavalry... Whenever the Chu Army dared to engage in half-turn combat with the pistol cavalry, they would just wave their sabers. All kinds of messy weapons, such as carbines and even three-eyed blunderbuss, rushed directly at them, beating the Chu army's pistol cavalry to the point where they couldn't take care of themselves.
Why did the Chu army almost completely abandon the pistol cavalry? Even after switching to the newer Suifa pistol, they still did not continue to engage in the pistol cavalry. It was because during the Unification War, their own pistol cavalry were bullied miserably by the enemy's sabers and carbines. Already...
Now, the Chu cavalry also used the same tactics used by the enemy to deal with the Zhungeer people. Whenever the opponent dares to assume a cavalry and shooting posture, the Chu army's cavalry will rush out without hesitation and directly chop and chop with their sabers...
And they also made improvements to the early enemy's saber charge... Because the Chu army's cavalry generally charged in a dense formation, the Chu army's cavalry, which was called wall-mounted charge by the outside world, was more powerful in charging and more powerful in combat effectiveness.
All of this has led to the current light cavalry troops of the Chu army basically giving up armor, not even lightweight breastplates, and just fighting on horseback. Most of the time, they prefer to fight with sabers, and sometimes they also fight with sabers. They can dismount and fight in formation with muskets, usually during defensive operations.
As for the Suifa pistol, this thing is just a self-defense weapon and decoration.
However, the Chu army's cavalry did not completely give up their armor, but the Chu army transferred their armor to their heavy cavalry units.
After developing heavy cuirass cavalry in the early years, the Chu cavalry has gradually developed half-armored heavy cavalry in recent years.
These heavy cavalry all have a relatively clear combat method, which is to charge in formation!
With tall horses and thick armor, they brave the enemy's arrows, rush forward to fight with the enemy, or use them to fight against the enemy's light cavalry units, etc.
Charging in formation is their only way of fighting.
Moreover, the formation's impact capability is extremely powerful. If the opponent does not have perfect gunfire, it will be impossible to block such a heavy cavalry impact.
From the military perspective of later generations, the area covered by cavalry armor was getting smaller and smaller, but the development of the Chu army's cavalry armor was repeated.
In the early years, I played traditional full-body armor, then half-body armor, and later the more radical unarmored light cavalry and cuirassier heavy cavalry.
But after playing with it for a few years, I’m now starting to get back into half armor.
This is obviously a step backwards.
However, military development sometimes does not depend on one's own performance, but on the opponent's... If the opponent only has guns and cannons, the Chu army would have thrown away their armor long ago.
But the problem is that their opponents do not have a large number of guns and artillery, and they are still using cold weapons such as bows, arrows, swords and spears on a large scale.
Against these cold weapons, armor can still bring superior protection to soldiers.
Specifically, when it comes to the Second Cavalry Army, among the main cavalry subordinate to the Second Cavalry Army, there is one heavy half-armored soldier, two heavy cuirass cavalry, and the rest are hussars carrying lightweight cuirass.
Whether these cavalrymen wear armor on the battlefield depends on the situation... It depends on whether the Jungar cavalry on the opposite side is mainly equipped with bows and arrows or muskets.
But no matter what, it is always right to put on the armor first.
The Second Cavalry Army took the lead in launching in June. The entire army was close to 20,000 people and carried more than 60,000 war horses or draft horses.
They also pulled dozens of cavalry artillery pieces and a large number of four-wheeled and two-wheeled carriages, marching westward from western Monan Mongolia in a mighty manner.
There were more than 80,000 people and horses moving on the grassland, and the momentum was so great that even if the Zhungeer people on the opposite side were blind, they could still hear the sound of galloping hooves of a large number of horses on the grassland.
Almost immediately, the Jungar people on the opposite side got the news and quickly passed the news to the rear.
Approaching the front line, they were grazing and monitoring the Chu army on the opposite side. As the first line of defense in Zhungeer, several small tribes immediately ran back.
These are just small tribes sent to the front line. Even if the old, young, women and children add up, there are only a few thousand people, which is not as many as the Chu army's cavalry on the opposite side...
Their duty is to monitor and report immediately after discovering the Chu army's attack. This does not mean that they really want to block the Chu army's attack on the front line.
Several small tribes from Jungar along the way fled, and the Second Cavalry Army did not send troops to pursue them. Instead, they advanced westward unhurriedly, and even spread out slightly to expand their coverage.
This is to further expel, squeeze Jungar's strategic space, and force the enemy's main force to appear and fight with our own side.
Therefore, the actions of the Second Cavalry Army in the early stage were not focused on fighting the enemy, but on setting up battle formations to expel enemy tribes along the way, squeezing their strategic space, and forcing them to fight.
As for a large-scale battle with the enemy, there is a high probability that it will not be fought in a short time. If you are optimistic, I am afraid that it will have to wait until the Chu army penetrates deep into the hinterland of Zhungeer before the main force on the opposite side appears, and then it will be launched when the time is right. Attack or interception.
This is how fighting on the vast grassland is. There is no place that must be defended, strategically important, or even a rear area.
If the enemy doesn't want you to fight and keeps avoiding you, there's nothing you can do about it...
Therefore, the Chu army's method is to gradually suppress, occupy more territory through military superiority, and then force the enemy's strength into a certain area, so that they have to fight!
Gradually compressing the space, finding the enemy's main force and defeating it is the strategy implemented by the Chu army's top brass to fight in the vast grassland area.
Of course, that's what you say, but it's not that easy to actually do it.
Again, the grassland is so big that the 20,000-strong Chu Army's Second Cavalry Army cannot control a large area if they are spread out. Moreover, the other parties are all nomads. With the tents in one hand, the cattle, sheep and horses can be driven away in minutes. people.
So much so that the Second Cavalry Corps has been out for half a month and has not encountered any enemies...
Of course, the few scouts who came forward could occasionally find some scattered Jungar cavalry, or even some small tribes, and even some sporadic battles broke out between the scouts.
But the problem is that these sporadic battles cannot affect the situation of the war.
According to traditional concepts, the Chu army's fighting method may be to run out for several months, but they can't find an enemy to fight. They will be forced to retreat when the supplies they carry are almost consumed and the logistics supplies cannot be supplied. Army.
But...that's a traditional army.
But the Chu army is different!
Before the Chu army marched, the logistics and transportation problems were extremely heavy. It can even be said that in this battle to destroy Zhungeer, the top brass of the Chu army were most concerned about logistics issues.
Including carrying out reclamation in Hami and other areas several years in advance is essentially to solve logistical problems.
Although there is no way to colonize the prairie, the Chu army has successively transported a large amount of materials to the frontline areas in the past few years, established a number of garrison cities in advance, and stocked up in these garrison cities. A large amount of grain, ammunition and other logistical supplies.
The combat supplies accumulated on the front line alone are enough for the front line army to last for more than half a year.
Not to mention, there is a continuous stream of horse-drawn carriages from the rear transporting supplies to the front line.
Speaking of transport convoys, we have to mention a series of freight carriages equipped by the Chu Empire Army.
The Chu army had a large number of two-wheeled and four-wheeled freight carriages. These carriages were equipped with springs and the support structure was still made of wrought iron.
Among them, four-wheeled carriages can carry more than one ton, and two-wheeled carriages can also carry hundreds of kilograms. Standard-sized boxes are also used to transport materials for better and faster loading and unloading. These standard boxes can also be stacked when necessary. Stand up to act as a defensive breastwork or something.
A large number of carriages gather together to move together, and they have excellent protection capabilities. There is no need to worry about being attacked by enemy cavalry.
With a large number of horse-drawn carriage troops and numerous material transfer stations established on the front line, the Second Cavalry Corps does not have to worry too much about logistics and transportation problems. It will not attend even if it hangs around the front line for more than a year, let alone a few months. What about supply issues?
This series of material transfer stations and transport fleets are all based on the strong national power of the Chu Empire.
Only with strong national strength can hundreds of thousands of people be mobilized to continuously transport materials in the rear, and can they withstand the huge losses in the process of transporting materials over such long distances.
This is why the conquests on the northern grasslands or the Western Regions in the past dynasties basically occurred decades after the dynasty was unified and people's livelihood was developed.
Because in the early days of the dynasty, after decades of stable development, the national strength had been greatly improved, so that it could withstand heavy losses in foreign campaigns.
Even if the national strength is slightly weaker, it is impossible to withstand losses on this scale.
Well, even the Great Chu Empire actually launched the war of annihilation against Junger more than ten years after unifying the Guannei area and defeating the Donglu.
In more than ten years, the Chu Empire was developing people's livelihood and accumulating national strength.
If you asked the Chu Empire to break out of Jiayuguan and engage in a decisive battle with Zhungeer more than ten years ago, it does not mean that it cannot be fought, but the gains outweigh the losses, which will greatly hinder the development of domestic people's livelihood.
Money and food are limited. If you use them to fight wars, domestic development will naturally be slowed down.
Now, the national power of the Great Chu Empire is booming, industrial productivity has been greatly improved, and industry has brought about improvements in agricultural tools and other equipment. At the same time, the domestic situation continues to stabilize, the population is gradually growing, the labor force is increasing, and more and more wastelands are being continuously developed.
What these ultimately brought about was that the national strength of the Chu Empire was at least several times higher than that in the early days of unification.
This can be seen from the central fiscal revenue of the Dachu Empire.
When the Donglu was defeated, the central fiscal revenue of the Da Chu Empire was only tens of millions, but it increased year by year.
So far, it has reached a huge amount of 200 million Chu Yuan, and it is still maintaining a rapid growth momentum.
Why can central finance increase so much? It is because the GDP is higher and has doubled.
Only the Chu Empire with its strong national power could support an army of 200,000 people fighting on the front line, and could support a main cavalry force like the Second Cavalry Army to fight deep into the northwest grasslands for a year or more.
It was precisely because of this confidence that the Chu Empire was able to launch a war of annihilation against Jungar in order to regain the Western Regions.
All confidence is based on strength.
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After entering July, the Second Cavalry Army continued to wander in the western region of Monan Mongolia, unhurriedly continuing to press the enemy's living space, and covering the rear engineer and infantry units to build fortresses at some strategic locations as a Material transfer station.
Since the Zhungeer people didn't come over, they naturally weren't busy fighting. They just advanced gradually, then covered the rear and built fortresses to improve the logistics supply line.
At the same time, there were more than 20,000 Chu troops in the direction of Mobei, namely the Sixth Cavalry Army, which was advancing westward. The predecessor of this Sixth Cavalry Army was actually the coalition of Mongolian tribes in Mobei.
However, it is no longer appropriate to call them the Mobei Mongolian tribes, because after more than ten years of assimilation, coupled with the strong attraction of the Chu Empire and the continued pressure from the Russians, the Mobei Mongolian tribes The leaders have long recognized the reality.
Each one of them honestly accepted the title conferred by the empire, and then took the whole family to settle down in Jinling City, and even changed their surname to Yifu to recognize their ancestors...
These people, who were wearing Hanfu and growing their hair long, could no longer tell that they were Mongolian nobles.
Even now, if you say they are barbarians, they will turn against you on the spot... I am a serious descendant of Yan and Huang, not a barbarian.
The leading nobles in the tribe all ran away to Jinling to enjoy the colorful world, and the remaining ordinary herders naturally accepted the administrative rule of the empire.
Now the tribes in the Mobei region have fully accepted the empire's administrative transformation.
The empire established Mobei Province locally, dispatched a governor to Urg (Kulun), and established five prefectures, large and small, with administrative agencies at the county and town levels under the prefecture.
They also imitated the nomadic peoples in Monan Province, Liaohetao area of Liaodong Province, and western Monan area of Gansu Province, and adopted the method of fixed herding to rule.
The Dachu Empire's Dingmu was to directly change the nomadic organizational structure from tribes to administrative units. Generally speaking, small tribes were changed to towns, and large tribes were changed to counties. At the same time, large-scale mutual penetration and differentiation would occur at the beginning of the reform.
Then the dispatched officials led collective units such as towns and counties to carry out nomadic herding.
During the nomadic process, grassroots administrative officials accompanied the herdsmen on their herding journeys and handled office work at any time.
Then go to the predetermined grazing point for grazing.
This fixed grazing point is generally chosen as suitable for farming, has a relatively important strategic position, and is mostly a place where herders spend the winter.
The official will build a city here, dispatch county-level and even prefecture-level officials to station to manage the surrounding herdsmen, and will also station troops.
At the same time, we will also rely on the garrison, immigrants, merchants, etc. to establish a system of settlement, education, medical care, and industry and commerce.
As a result, a number of small cities appeared one after another on the grasslands where even cities were rarely seen. They were not large in scale and basically existed as prefectural cities and county towns. Reclamation and farming began to appear in the surrounding areas.
As a result, although the herdsmen on the grasslands still maintain the tradition of nomadic herding, they all conduct nomadic herding according to fixed routes and spend the winter in fixed places.
This not only allowed the herdsmen to continue their nomadic life, but also allowed the Chu Empire to exercise a certain degree of rule through cities and fixed pastoral points.
This governance model can be regarded as a complete change of the tribal nomadic model that has lasted for thousands of years on the grasslands, making the nomadic people, a group that is outside the feudal tradition of the Central Plains feudal dynasty, gradually included in administrative notices.
This played a very important strategic role in the Chu Empire's complete control of the grassland area.
The Dachu Empire never thought of regaining a few tribes and then allowing this unstable tribal pattern to continue on the grasslands.
Establishing administrative rule was an important part of the Chu Empire's control of the grasslands.
The gradual improvement of grassland administrative rule has also promoted the development of local animal husbandry... Because the wool spinning industry in the Chu Empire is developing at a rapid pace, the demand for wool can be said to be endless. Local herders were encouraged to raise sheep in large numbers and sell their wool to make money.
Not to mention the large demand for various draft horses in the Chu Empire, which also allowed local herdsmen to earn more income.
In addition, because these places also belong to the mainland of the Chu Empire, naturally there is no such thing as the so-called mutual trade in ancient times. Any merchant can go deep into the grassland to sell goods needed by a large number of herdsmen.
This will inevitably lead to the cost for local herdsmen to obtain cotton, tea, ironware and other daily necessities.
This increases income, reduces living costs, and naturally improves the quality of life.
Generally speaking, in the grassland areas, whether it is Monan or Mobei, the income of local herdsmen has increased to a certain extent after they were included in the imperial rule, and their lives are better than before.
This is also the reason why the Chu Empire was able to smoothly carry out administrative rule in the area, and at the same time, the tribes in Mobei were willing to completely naturalize, and for this reason they were even willing to give up their surnames and other so-called traditional customs.
Because these so-called traditions are not worth mentioning in front of a full meal.
The Da Chu Empire allowed these herdsmen to have enough to eat, and then they were willing to become subjects of the Da Chu Empire and join the army to fight for the empire.
This is also the reason why the cavalry troops of the Dachu Empire Army have a large number of herders' children.
These herders' children all volunteered to join the army and fought with great enthusiasm.
Because for the children of herdsmen at the bottom, just like the children of poor farmers at the bottom of the empire, joining the army has become their best choice to get ahead!
Joining the army will provide you with plenty of food and drink, the opportunity to study at night schools within the army, and some professional and technical training.
Not to mention the various career change arrangements after retirement, even if there is no change of career arrangement and you only use retirement money to find a job, it will be easier because you have an academic certificate.
In this way, they can get rid of their poor and hungry life and move towards a new life!
