Chapter 404: A Knife in the Vest
On the boundless grassland.
A total of 7,200 people from Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing's armies were marching in the area. They were marching at an extremely fast speed, and they almost never stopped while protecting their horses and maintaining basic combat effectiveness.
Huo Qubing had an excellent sense of direction, and with the Huns as guides in the army, he was very accurate in finding the Huns tribes. However, he was still amazed by Luo Wuji's ability to think.
The essence of the large detour tactic is to effectively confuse the enemy, making it unclear where the army is, or even completely unaware that an army is coming to attack. Then suddenly appear and defeat the enemy with lightning speed to achieve the effect of decisive victory. This is the large detour tactic.
In real history, Huo Qubing was a general who almost reached the pinnacle of this path. The two battles in Hexi led by him cannot be said to be wars, but more like art. Although the results were not as great as the decisive battle in Mobei, it was absolutely unparalleled in terms of the pinnacle of tactics, and could be said to be a textbook example of large-scale cavalry detour tactics.
Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing went all the way west and soon entered the sphere of influence of King Youguli. However, the Xiongnu tribes lived by following the water and grass, and there were no obvious national or city boundaries. In fact, there were not only Xiongnu people here, but also people from other tribes. For example, the Yuezhi lived together with the Xiongnu, especially the Xiaoyuezhi who did not migrate away, whose sphere of influence overlapped with that of the Xiongnu.
…
The Chanyu's court.
The atmosphere in the royal court was naturally very bad. After all, Qilian Chanyu had just lost many of his relatives. His uncle and grandfather were the only ones killed, and his two sons were also killed by the Han army. Qilian Chanyu could not accept such a deep hatred and roared, "Such a tragic defeat is unprecedented in the war between Daxia and the Han Dynasty.
King Aries, who occupied the fertile Henan land and had countless livestock, a large population and an army, was defeated and even killed by just two Han army captains. This is a shame that Daxia will never be able to wash away.
Now Wei Qing is leading a large army to attack King Loufan. Can King Loufan stop him?
This Chanyu thinks this is not possible. If the King of Loufan is defeated by the Han army again, Henan will be lost to Daxia again. Is this an acceptable result? "
The last time Henan was lost was when Qin Shihuang sent Meng Tian to attack the Huns and then built a section of the Great Wall. However, the Huns at that time were just a relatively strong tribe, and were completely not on the same level as the extremely powerful nomadic empire that the Han Dynasty faced.
"Great Chanyu, the remnants of King Baiyang and King Loufan have tens of thousands of followers, could they be so vulnerable?
Wei Qing's gains over the years were only 20,000 to 30,000. The number of Han corpses he left on the grassland was no less than that. The Han cavalry was small, and even if the King of Loufan was defeated, he could still evacuate directly. Could he fail so easily?"
Many people agree with this statement, and this is the biggest advantage of the Huns.
They can fight a frontal positional battle. If they don't want to suffer such heavy losses, the cavalry's mobility allows them to cut off the Han army's food supply and slowly trap the Han army to death. It is impossible to set an ambush on the vast grassland.
The Huns are invincible!
Upon hearing this, Qilian Chanyu was disappointed with the stupidity of his ministers and shouted, "Didn't you read the intelligence about the defeat of the Aries King?
Two captains of the Han army killed the King of Aries, but so many soldiers died. These Han troops were all elite cavalrymen, coming and going like the wind. This is our Daxia's way of fighting. Moreover, they are elusive and do not need logistics like other Han armies. It's terrifying!
This Chanyu dares to conclude that the Han army will definitely use this tactic again to deal a sudden and fatal blow to the King of Loufan."
Qilian Chanyu was much more superior in military terms than the Xiongnu Chanyu in real history. The first time he saw the battle report, he realized the strength of Huo Qubing and Luo Wuji and witnessed the changes in Han army's tactics. He was not like in history, where he was beaten to the point of being unable to take care of himself by Huo Qubing's blitzkrieg, large-scale deep and roundabout attacks, and still did not repent.
Seeing that no one spoke, Qilian Chanyu said loudly: "We must give the Han people a strong blow to let them know that the great Daxia cannot be violated. This Chanyu requires the Right Xian King and the Right Guli King to support the Loufan King."
The Right Wise King was at the Chanyu's court. Hearing this, he said, "Great Chanyu, I am willing to obey your orders, but it will take a long time to mobilize the livestock of each tribe. I am worried that by the time the troops are mobilized, the Han people will have left."
Upon hearing this, Qilian Chanyu said in a deep voice: "Impossible!
The Han army is going to learn from the emperor of the Qin Dynasty, completely defeat the Baiyang King and the Loufan King, and take Henan back to the hands of the Central Plains. They will not leave until the goal of the war is achieved. "
Upon hearing this, the Right Wise King bowed and said, "Surrounded by the sun and the moon, the descendant of the heavens, great Chanyu, I will obey your orders and lead the warriors of the royal court across the vast desert and grassland to Henan to support the King of Loufan."
…
If Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing knew what Qilian Chanyu was thinking, they would definitely tell him that it was too late and too slow!
Blitzkrieg is about speed and surprise. You are here slowly deploying your troops, but I have already arrived at your house and set it on fire.
Even if you brought back more people, I would have left long ago, leaving you, a loser, helpless and furious.
Even if they are not careful, I will come back and send you to accompany them. Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing strictly implemented this rule perfectly.
The two men headed westward from the Baiyang King's tribe, bypassing all of the Loufan King's scouts. After all, no matter how cautious the Loufan King was, it would be enough to send out scouts thirty to fifty miles away. It has never been heard of anyone sending scouts hundreds of miles away during a war, especially since Huo Qubing and Luo Wuzhi ran hundreds of miles and rushed directly into the Youguli King's tribe.
After the two men rushed into the Youguli King's tribe, they successively broke through many small tribes along the way and seized a lot of supplies, but the two men continued on their way with only food and water. This is another key point of long-distance raids. You cannot be dazzled by the supplies in front of you, and anything that may hinder the rapid march must be abandoned without hesitation.
As soon as the Right Wise King returned to the royal court, he heard the Right Guli King report that the Han army had invaded his sphere of influence. This made the Right Wise King both shocked and angry, saying, "How dare these Han soldiers go to war against the King of Loufan and me at the same time? They are so arrogant!
Notify all tribes to look for the Han army and encircle and destroy them."
Upon hearing this, the King of Youguli asked, "Your Majesty, the Chanyu's order is to support the King of Loufan. Shouldn't we send a large army to Henan?"
The Right Wise King said angrily: "I am not a weakling like the Aries King. Do they dare to send a small army to die?
Therefore, the army that entered my territory must be another army of the Han army, waiting for me to go to support King Loufan, and then they will raid my court. I will never be fooled, and I will immediately send someone to inform the Chanyu that I will fight the Han army with my own troops, but you can lead the troops in the west of the desert to the south of the desert, where the terrain is connected and the road is very short. If there is a change, you can return and it will not affect the overall situation. "
Although King Youguli felt that something was wrong, he still obeyed the order and went to Moxi to lead the tribes there.
Neither of them knew that Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing had already crossed the sphere of influence of the Right Xian King and the Right Guli King, headed all the way south to Moxi, then suddenly turned east and headed straight for the unguarded territory of the Loufan King.
At this time, King Loufan was fighting fiercely with Wei Qing's troops. King Loufan was unwilling to fight to the death with Wei Qing, so he fought and retreated. Wei Qing was unwilling to increase casualties, so he was waiting for the opportunity for a great victory and also did not fight to the death.
However, Wei Qing would naturally not place all his hopes of victory on Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing. He had already calculated the time. If Huo Qubing and Luo Wuji could not appear at the approximate time, he would have to rely on his own methods to defeat King Loufan.
His name is Wei Qing. He is the great general of the Han Dynasty and the Marquis of Changping. He is the successor of Huaiyin's military tactics and currently the strongest commander of the Han Dynasty. He can defeat any enemy for the Han Dynasty!
Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing walked along the way, looking at the ever-changing scenery on both sides. Luo Wuji calculated the direction. The two marched over a continuous hill, and then met the 20,000-strong army of King Youguli who was leading his army to support them.
"This must be the Xiongnu army coming to support King Loufan!"
Huo Qubing looked at the endless Hun army and felt eager to move. After all, the Hun army that appeared in front of Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing was in the shape of a long and narrow strip. This way of marching was very fast, but if they encountered sudden cavalry, they would be caught off guard.
But who would have thought that enemy cavalry would appear in the heartland of the Xiongnu, at the junction of Moxi and Hexi?
Especially since there are Han troops in the tribes of King Loufan and King Youxian, it is impossible for the Han troops to appear here. In addition, the Han troops do not have such a large-scale cavalry, so there is no need to worry. This is what King Youguli thought.
There was nothing wrong with this idea in the past, but it became completely wrong after the appearance of Huo Qubing and Luo Wuji.
"Brother Qubing, you attack from that patch of rubble and I will attack from the right side and go straight to the Xiongnu leader. We will capture the thief and the leader and decide the outcome in one battle."
Huo Qubing nodded in agreement, and then the two of them led their cavalry to charge at full speed, completely disregarding whether the horses' hooves would be injured. Without horseshoes, not all terrain was suitable for cavalry attack.
To put it simply, you can walk much more places with shoes than without shoes. The same is true for horses. Without horseshoes, there are many places they cannot go.
But now we can't care about all that anymore, the most important thing is to win the victory in front of us.
In an instant, the sound of horse hooves shook the whole area!
(End of this chapter)
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