The most difficult part of fighting this kind of grassland battle is not troop deployment or charging into battle.
From a broader perspective, the most difficult aspect is logistics, specifically the supply of provisions.
Throughout history, the Central Plains dynasties have all possessed formidable military strength. If it were a direct confrontation, the Han people could easily crush the nomadic tribes of the grasslands.
The problem is that nomadic peoples don't confront you head-on.
Their strategy was that when the Central Plains were weak, they would raid southwards and fight fiercely; when the Central Plains were strong, they would launch a surprise attack and then run away.
If a powerful Central Plains dynasty's army marches north, they'll just wander around the grasslands, refusing to fight.
After you left, they started raiding the border again.
This was the most troublesome problem for successive dynasties. The powerful Emperor Wu of Han used up almost all the savings of the previous three generations in order to crush the Xiongnu. However, the Xiongnu were still not dead. They hid deep in the grasslands, ready to make a comeback at any time.
Zhao Huan also faced the same problem. Nomadic peoples are very mobile and flexible. They have no towns, do not need to defend themselves, and can move or attack at any time.
When they can't win, they run away. When you run out of supplies and are forced to retreat, they start attacking.
Therefore, venturing deep into the grasslands has always been a very dangerous thing.
This is also why dynasties throughout history rarely extended their military reach deep into the grasslands.
Moreover, considering the input and output, it's really not worthwhile to fight in poor places like the grasslands, as long as they don't come from the south to cause trouble.
But Zhao Huan didn't think that way. He believed that the grasslands had to be conquered and all nomadic peoples had to submit to the Chinese.
Otherwise, how could he have dared to confidently open up trade routes in the Western Regions and seek wealth in that even more expansive land?
The reason we didn't fight the nomadic peoples of the grasslands in the past was due to the limitations of agricultural civilization itself.
Agricultural civilizations seek stability and have no interest in places where farming is not possible.
But now the Song Dynasty is transforming into a commercial society. A commercial society requires going to distant places to harvest resources, and the nomadic peoples of the grasslands are clearly hindering Zhao Huan from going to distant places to harvest resources.
The ministers in the imperial court now realize that if the Song Dynasty wants to restore the Silk Road, it must prove to the nomadic peoples of the grasslands that they all have to behave themselves!
Otherwise, I'll kill you all!
Fan Zhixu had just finished reading all the grain transport reports. He was probably the first person in the Song Dynasty who felt the most deeply about the highway system that the emperor had imposed on him a few years ago.
Since the completion of several major cement roads last year, the time required to transport military rations from the south has been halved, and the quantity has quadrupled.
The emperor had every reason to want to conquer the grasslands at this time.
Logistics construction became very routine due to the completion of highways and the full implementation of the new military system.
The emperor is currently fighting the barbarians on the front lines. The barbarians want to wage a protracted war, but the Song Dynasty is not afraid at all.
At least Fan Zhixu isn't backing down now.
Three months ago, the garrison troops stationed in Heishui City began to move north one after another, building fortified villages on the grasslands, not far from Heishui City.
They were not large in scale and were not far apart from each other, forming a grain outpost a hundred kilometers north of Blackwater City.
If the enemy launches a surprise attack and support is needed in the ensuing battle, the cavalry can arrive in half a day at their speed.
Now, Fan Zhixu is building an even larger fortified city 150 kilometers northwest of these fortified cities.
Within a few months, a total of 1.5 million Xiang Army troops were mobilized to be stationed in Shaanxi and the Hetao region.
Their main task was to build a fortified city there.
This means that the area that the Song Dynasty could actually control had expanded northward by nearly 500 kilometers.
Most importantly, this time, the emperor's food supply points for the northern expedition were moved forward by nearly 300 kilometers, allowing the emperor to penetrate deep into the northern desert and retreat back at any time.
Now, the administrative name of the government office has also been determined, and the stronghold 300 kilometers away from Blackwater City is called "Northern Prefecture".
Given the initial success of the construction of "Beifu", the State Council officially incorporated "Beifu" into the strategic stronghold of the Song Dynasty in its war against the grasslands.
Right now, Zhao Huan is leading his men on a hunt across the grasslands.
A whole month has passed since then, and Yi Nanchihan is truly like a coward, hiding in some corner of the grassland, and has not shown up.
But almost half of the grassland was slaughtered by the Song army, who were screaming in terror.
The people on the grasslands trembled, bled, cried, and wailed under the iron cavalry of the Song army.
Countless people went to find Inanchi Khan and cursed the Han people there.
When news of the completion of the prototype of the "Northern Prefecture" of the Great Song Dynasty reached Yi Nanchi's ears, it caused him great panic.
He had once considered sending troops to attack the still-established Northern Prefecture, but that plan was rejected.
The reason is that the Song Dynasty had stationed 100,000 troops in Heishui City, making it too easy for them to support the Northern Army. In that case, the Song army could easily attack from both sides and encircle them.
The only strategy that could truly force the Song army to retreat was a surprise attack on the Longyou Protectorate.
However, upon hearing that the Northern Prefecture had been completed, Yi Nanchi still couldn't help but feel panicked. He now only hoped that his son, Bai Buhua, could immediately stir up trouble in the Longyou Protectorate.
After leading his army around the grasslands, Zhao Huan returned to Beifu City.
Wu Jie also returned to resupply.
Zhao Huan, still in his armor, sat in a makeshift hut and summoned Wu Jie.
Zhao Huan took a sip of wine and laughed, "Minister Wu, that Yi Nanchi is clearly going to be a coward to the end, and that old bastard Hebule is hiding in the North Sea, planning to be a turtle for a thousand years. This battle has made me feel so frustrated!"
"Your Majesty, we have killed many tribes along the way, which can be considered a heavy blow to the barbarians of the grasslands."
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