The rise of the prince

Chapter 480 Strategy
On the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, the sky was gloomy, with light snow, and it was dark early in the morning. Li Xingzhou got up and went out. Removed the clothes inside, the takeaway was still covered with leather armor and fur cape.

The reason why I am leaving now is because I don't want to make a fuss, and I don't want to disturb anyone.

At the entrance of Tubi Mountain Villa, 250 new troops, 100 direct guards led by Wei Li, [-] auxiliary soldiers, more than [-] mules and [-] pack horses loaded with ammunition, gunpowder, and artillery, have lined up and waited in the snow.

The new army wore warm fur cloaks, new military uniforms, fur gloves, safety grenades, ammunition bags, and bayonets on their waists, and blankets and felts on their backs. The new army guards in this outfit had never seen before. Shangzhi's personal guards hadn't seen him either, and they all whispered.

There are indeed only 50 personal guards in Shangzhi, but because they are dressed in iron armor, and each of them is equipped with a horse, all of which are war horses, so the bedding, blankets, etc. need to be transported by auxiliary soldiers.

This is one of the differences between soldiers in the age of firearms and the elite in the age of cold weapons. It is also the biggest point. Firearms only need ammunition and a gun to form combat effectiveness. The total weight is less than ten catties, and there is no need to wear armor.

However, elites like Shangzhi's personal guards can weigh dozens of catties just by their armor armed to the teeth. The most heavily armored hoplites, iron Buddhas, iron kites and other elites can weigh sixty kilograms with a suit of armor. Seventy catties.

This means fighting alone, with at least two or more auxiliary soldiers to help.

The new army does not need it, because the firearms are light and lethal, so soldiers can completely bring their own necessities for life and be self-sufficient.

The elite cavalry of the nomads can have one man, two horses, or even three horses during long-distance raids. In this way, they can defeat most troops by virtue of their mobility.

In fact, there were many outstanding cavalry generals in the Central Plains. This change originated from the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

The nomads of the Central Plains Dynasty changed from strategic defense to strategic offensive. Wei Qing and Huo Qubing of the Han Dynasty ran for thousands of miles at every turn, killing the royal court of the Huns, and then developed to the Tang Dynasty. A group of famous generals represented by Su Dingfang led the cavalry The tactics of large-scale long-distance raids have reached their peak.

It is a pity that in the Song Dynasty, the country had no horse breeding land, the Liaodong Plain without the Han Dynasty, and the Hetao Plain without the Tang Dynasty, and there was no large-scale cavalry regiment like the Han Dynasty with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands.It is also impossible to have the strategic depth of tens of thousands of miles like Datang.

So cavalry is essential, and the key to replacing cavalry is not firearms, but strategic transportation.

If one day, Jing Guo runs cars and trains everywhere, then he can give up the cavalry, otherwise it is impossible.

In the same way, if one day all soldiers can use helicopters and transport planes to deliver, then land transportation will also be eliminated.

To put it bluntly, the ability to project troops is a strategic ability. As for whether it can fight or not, it is a tactical ability. Strategic crushing can make up for tactical deficiencies, but conversely, superior tactics cannot make up for strategic failures.

The most famous examples are Germany and Japan in World War II.There are also Liu Bang and Xiang Yu in the battle between Chu and Han. Xiang Yu is brave and can lead troops, so he always has the advantage in tactics. Liu Bang is not Xiang Yu's opponent at all when he fights head-on.

But in terms of strategy, Liu Bang's vision is obviously more long-term, and the pattern is also higher.

So after Xiang Yu won a battle, he was still led by Liu Bang, exhausted left and right, so what people saw was that Xiang Yu always won the battle, but he lost when he fought, and even killed himself.
If you win battles every day but still can't win, will you play?

It seems unbelievable that Lao Tzu is invincible in the world, he won battles all his life, and finally beat himself to death?But if you look at the macro situation of the battle, you will find that Xiang Yu was indeed played around by Liu Bang, running around and struggling to cope. This is the crushing of strategy over tactics.

Later Mongolia conquered the world as well, the Mongols had an advantage in tactics, not to mention that Temujin and Kublai Khan and others were really talented and proficient in strategy, which probably has something to do with their traveling around, crossing the world, having a lot of knowledge and broad vision .

However, the Song Dynasty, which was in a corner, whether it was the Southern Song Dynasty or the Northern Song Dynasty, lost at the top and had no strategic vision at all.

Otherwise, in the early days of the war between the Song Dynasty and Mongolia, in fact, the Song Dynasty produced several giants at one time, coupled with a developed economy and leading equipment, it also regained a large area of ​​lost ground.

But after a long time, it will be the same as Xiang Yu back then. Labor and management won the battle, awesome!But he was getting more and more unable to fight, and he lost.

So cavalry is necessary. In the absence of trains and cars, there is no large-scale cavalry, which means falling into strategic passiveness. Unfortunately, he still lacks a general who can help him train cavalry.

While thinking, Li Xingzhou ordered Shangzhi's personal guards to be led by Wei Li as the vanguard, followed by the new army and set off for the camp outside the city.

Wei Li and a group of upright personal guards were very excited, and they didn't want to have bandits who were several times their size.

This is not surprising, each of Shangzhi's personal guards is one of the best fighters in the forbidden army, and they are proud of themselves, and they are not afraid of the enemy several times, but Shangzhi's personal guards also mean that they have little chance to make contributions.

Because they are the emperor's personal guards and the last bastion of the whole country, unless the emperor personally marches, or the enemy enters the imperial city, they have a chance to make contributions.

Even though the king of Wu rebelled ten years ago, the emperor didn't go up to his personal guard for the most dangerous time, and the rebels were blocked by King Xiao at Wuguan.

In short, it is rare to have such an opportunity to fight against the enemy, whether it is Wei Li or Shang Zhi Qin Wei, they are all very excited.

After the army set off slowly, Li Xingzhou led Meixue and prepared to catch up. After walking a few steps, he saw a few people standing under the old withered tree in front of the door.

It was the empress who supported the old emperor on the ground with blankets and snow, accompanied by He Zhao and Fu An, and two young eunuchs standing behind with a lantern, one of whom was a little lame.

Li Xingzhou walked over: "My lord, Your Majesty, Empress."

The emperor was expressionless: "Remember what I said, before the 25th, regardless of whether there is a victory or not, you must come."

He nodded.

"Go, go early and return early. When you come back, I have something to tell you."

The queen took his hand and handed a beautiful porcelain vase to him: "This is the best ginseng pill prepared for me by the imperial doctor in the palace. The mountain is bitterly cold, so don't be cold. Take one every morning and evening to keep out the cold."

Li Xingzhou nodded, "I'm leaving." He Zhao remained silent.

He pulled Meixue, Meixue neighed obediently, then turned her head and thought about going south of the city.

Afterwards, they joined the Xiang army outside the city. There were 120 regular troops, [-] auxiliary soldiers, and [-] horses in the Xiang army.

After joining the army, Tianmengmeng left Jiangzhou City and headed north.

After the day was completely bright, the snow stopped. The avenue was wide and easy to walk. The road was paved with stones and horse-drawn carts could be passed. After all, this was the main road. The army quickly hid by the side of the road in fright.

Both Shangzhi's personal guards and Xiang Jun were very curious about the new army with strange clothing and equipment, they kept looking around and whispering.

By the time they buried the pot for cooking at noon, they had reached the junction of Danshui and Dahe at the foot of Taihang Mountain.

Li Xingzhou looked at the Danshui stretching northwards, with a width of more than ten meters, and his heart was not at peace. This river has fed countless people and buried countless people.

Danshui is the center, and there are many villages and cities on the east and west banks. In the upper reaches of Danshui, there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers from Qin and Zhao countries buried thousands of years ago.

The troops stopped to rest, and Shen Lin took the opportunity to come to him, cupped his hands and said: "My lord, my subordinates still don't understand, why do you need to transfer two hundred infantry to become musketeers? But now there are less than a hundred infantry in the Xiang army. "

"Aren't there still Shangzhi's personal guards? There are fifty of them, and there can be hundreds of them." Li Xingzhou said.

"But it's not enough. The path in the mountain is narrow, and the mountain is blocked by heavy snow. There are not many paths to walk. We can only pull back and forth. At that time, there will definitely be hand-to-hand combat. If the infantry in front cannot withstand it, something will happen.

Furthermore, my lord, there are more enemies than us, if there is no way to go, it is to force people to join together, which is very bad for us." Shen Lin said.

Shen Lin is indeed very insightful. In the era of cold weapons, the area of ​​contact with the enemy is very important, so the army is loose and out of touch, and the formation is very important. The tighter the better.They have few people and many people on the opposite side. If the people on the other side are scattered, they have a chance.

However, when the mountains were covered by heavy snow, if the two sides fought, their forces would inevitably be concentrated, and they would have no way to detour, contain, or circle back, so they could only meet the enemy head-on.

In this way, it is very disadvantageous to them, because there are at least two thousand bandits in Montenegro, and it is not known whether they have counted them all.

Shen Lin's idea is right, he is not as blindly optimistic as Wei Li, but Li Xingzhou has his own plan, the reason why he sent troops in winter, firstly, he can't wait until next year, secondly, it is a surprise, and lastly, there is a very important point that he The new army and the army of this era are reversed!

(End of this chapter)