Daqin Engineering Corps

Another part of the reason is that Xun Xun thought it was just that his subordinates were frightened by Qin Jun's "Thunderbolt Fireball", so he talked nonsense.

This is the case in ancient times, and there is often a certain distrust because of the backwardness of information dissemination.

For example, the Xiongnu was written in the language of Zhao State on the cowhide and sent to the hands of Xunxuan on a fast horse. There are many problems in the description...

The thick iron rod, smoking and burning, hit the city wall with a bang, and the city wall collapsed.

People who don't know the artillery and don't know the contents will believe it after reading these words. The first thing that comes to mind may be witchcraft.

However, even if he didn't believe it or not, he still ordered all the troops, including the reinforcements, to be withdrawn.

Before sending [-] reinforcements to reinforce Loulan, that was when Loulan was in the hands of the Huns.

The fact that Loulan is in the hands of the Xiongnu means that the Huns are not short of water, and it is the Qin army that is short of water, so the survival and combat of [-] reinforcements is not a problem.

Unexpectedly, the Qin army could capture Loulan within a few hours and firmly control it.

So the situation was different immediately: the Qin army was not short of water, but the Huns were short of water.

Therefore, there is only one possibility for the Xiongnu to continue to reinforce Loulan... a quick battle to capture Loulan within a few days, otherwise the Xiongnu will have to withdraw due to lack of water.

It is almost impossible for the Xiongnu, who are not good at attacking, to capture Loulan, where the Qin army is stationed, within a few days, even though the Huns have twice as many troops as the Qin army.

So Xun Yun had only one choice, to withdraw the troops.

But Xun Yun was unwilling to withdraw from his aunt.

Although from a strategic point of view, the Xiongnu should withdraw their troops from Gushi.

The original intention of the Xiongnu to occupy Gushi and Loulan was to prevent the Qin army from crossing the desert to obtain water and gain a firm foothold in the Western Regions.

The Qin army's occupation of Loulan meant that the Xiongnu's strategic goal had completely failed.

According to common sense, the Xiongnu should return to the grassland, which is their battlefield, instead of continuing to garrison Gushi.

But Xun Yun was not reconciled.

The reason is as mentioned before, the two countries of Loulan and Gushi are very important, they can be said to be the gateway to the Western Regions.

It's okay that Loulan is lost, if she loses her aunt again...

The channel for the Huns to enter the Western Regions was cut off, which almost meant losing the entire Western Regions.

Therefore, Xun Xun planned to guard his aunt for a while, and if he couldn't keep it, it would not be too late to flee north into the grassland.

In addition, Xunyu also considered that the Xiongnu had an absolute advantage in military strength:

The Qin army only had more than [-] troops across the desert to Loulan, while the Xiongnu had more than [-] troops... Originally it was [-], but [-] were wiped out in Loulan.

Of the [-] troops, [-] are located in Gushi, and the other [-] are led by Xun Xun and have been waiting for the fighters on the flanks.

Xun Yun didn't believe that Qin Jun could not be defeated with such a force ratio!

Or guard the aunt.

This was not up to Xunyu to decide, because it changed its strategic goal without authorization.

But Xun Xun's position is far from that of Mao Dun Shanyu. If he reports back and forth, he may have lost the opportunity to guard his aunt.

So Xun Xun decided to make his own way to guard Gu Shi.

He gritted his teeth and said bitterly to his subordinates:

"If we can't defeat the [-] Qin army with [-] troops, then we will be defeated by the Qin army even if we hide in the grassland!"

The subordinates all agreed:

"Our army will win this battle!"

"[-] against [-], if we can't win by fighting, we will die!"

"Today, even if Shen Bing has the ability to reach the sky, he will be killed by us!"

……

However, some subordinates still asked worriedly:

"But Youxian King."

"Shanyu has an order, if we lose Loulan, we will abandon our aunt..."

Xun Xun interrupted his subordinates:

"At that time, Shan Yu didn't know that Qin's army only numbered ten thousand."

"I believe that if Shan Yu is here, he will definitely support us and fight with all our strength!"

All the subordinates nodded in agreement one after another, and all of them were gearing up for a big battle.

Chapter 426

Shen Bing did not expect that the Xiongnu would be stationed at Gushi.

In his imagination, as soon as the Loulan artillery fired, the Xiongnu should know that the city walls like Gushi and Loulan were paper that could be torn apart by the Qin army, and they should take the initiative to give up.

The reconnaissance work was done, and he brought people to report:

"The Xiongnu deployed [-] troops in the Gushi area, divided into five places: Gushi, Jiaohe, Qitai, Tuyu, and Saar."

"Among them, there may be [-] troops in Gushi City."

Ji's tribe was originally located to the east of that Gushi, so the names of the topography and places in this area are well known.

Seeing this, Wang Ben couldn't help but frowned:

"Gushi alone has an army of [-], and it is said that there are Huns on the flanks."

"I'm afraid that the Youxian King will come out in full force."

A trace of worry flashed in Li Yan's eyes, and he said to Shen Bing:

"General, this subordinate thinks that we should delay attacking Gu Shi."

"Our army went to Loulan and spent a lot of supplies, while the Xiongnu waited for work in Gushi and their strength was several times that of our army."

"If you attack rashly..."

What Li Yan said is not without reason.

The cost of supplies is mainly artillery shells. [-]% of the shells were consumed when attacking Loulan City. Although the "blossom shells" were not used much, they were not much in number. In addition, some of them were given to Zhang Yao for the deterrence of Loulan. , so there are only a hundred hairs left.

These artillery shells are probably not enough to attack Gushi, because Gushi is not a small city like Loulan, and the Huns have several times more troops. At least they need to prepare the original number to have the confidence to fight.

In fact, solid iron bullets are not the key point. Loulan National Energy can smelt bronze wares, so it is not a big problem to replace them with bronze solid bullets.

But the matching medicine kit is a big problem... The Western Regions lack the raw materials for making gunpowder, especially saltpeter, so the medicine kit cannot be replenished.

On the other hand, the supplies and reinforcements from Shazhou were already on their way, and they would arrive in Loulan in about ten days. It might be a good idea to wait a few days.

But Shen Bing shook his head and said:

"I don't think our troops will be able to get supplies."

Wang Ben nodded in agreement:

"If the Huns intend to garrison Gushi, they will definitely attack my reinforcements and cut off my supplies!"

It is obvious that the Huns are not stupid.

If the Xiongnu did not expect that the Qin army would go south to avoid its attack, now that Loulan is lost, they know that the Qin army's supply line is to the south.

It would be fine if the Xiongnu had no plans to garrison Gushi, but if they wanted to garrison Gushi, they would definitely try to attack the Qin army's supply line to weaken its combat effectiveness.

The fact is also the same. The first step of Youxian King Xunyun was to organize a team of luo and horse to go deep into the desert.

This suggestion was opposed by his subordinates because the cost of cavalry going deep into the desert was too high, and the Huns cavalry who were accustomed to fighting on the grasslands might not be able to adapt.

Grassland and desert are two different things... In the grassland, you can graze anywhere, and the horses can graze as soon as they rest, so there is basically no need to worry about supplies.But the desert has to consider the problem of drinking water and forage all the time.

Xun Xun said this to his subordinates:

"My cavalry has always been good at mobile combat, so I shouldn't stick to my aunt."

"Otherwise, if the Qin army can get reinforcements and supplies smoothly, it will only be a matter of time before the aunt falls."

Xun Xun was right.

The Qin army was not short of troops. If the [-] cavalry troops of the Yuezhi were added, the Qin army would also have [-] troops.

The problem of the Qin army is that the desert between Shazhou and Loulan is difficult to cross, which is [-] miles away. This is also the weakness of the Qin army.

If the Xiongnu did not take advantage of this weakness and attack it, then the strength of the Qin army in Loulan would not be strengthened little by little, and eventually the Xiongnu would have to retreat to the grassland.

Therefore, either you don’t fight, or if you want to fight, you must go deep into the desert to cut off its supplies, even if you pay the price.

After being analyzed by Xun Yun, the subordinates have nothing to say.

So the Xiongnu immediately organized a team of [-] people. They collected a large number of camels to bring supplies and captured Gushi who was familiar with the terrain as a guide, and went south thousands of miles to attack the supply line of the Qin army.

The Huns did suffer losses in this work, but at the same time it could also cause losses to the Qin army, and the Qin army's losses are likely to be much greater.

Although Shen Bing and the others had not received any news at this time, it was not difficult for the Xiongnu to guess this step.

Li Yan couldn't help being shocked when he heard this, and said:

"Since this is the case, I should go to respond immediately!"

Wang Ben asked back:

"How to respond?"

"The vast desert is surrounded by sand mountains, and we don't even know where the supplies are."

"If you send troops rashly, you will not only find no reinforcements, but you may also fall into a tight siege."

Wang Ben was right.

In this regard, the desert is somewhat similar to the grassland, and it can even be said to be better than the grassland.

Because the terrain of the grassland is relatively flat, it is possible to spot a supply team in the distance within sight.

However, the "Kumtag" desert is mainly composed of sand hills. Sometimes the target cannot be found on the opposite side of such a terrain. It is not easy to "coach".

At this point, everyone lost their minds.

Without supplies and reinforcements, wouldn't it be necessary to fight the Xiongnu's nearly [-] army with [-]?

If there is enough gunpowder and "blossom bombs", it may still be able to fight. After all, artillery is too scary in this era, especially the unusually powerful "blossom bombs".

But now Qin Jun is caught in a dilemma.

Shen Bing looked at the map of the deployment of the Xiongnu troops made by Ji, and asked:

"Why are the Huns so scattered?"

"Shouldn't such a layout let me wait for each one to defeat it?"

Wang Ben replied:

"The Xiongnu set up this way, I'm afraid it was just to raise horses rather than garrison."

Jiang nodded and explained:

"What the captain said is exactly."

"The place where the Xiongnu is stationed is actually a aunt."

"However, the space and water plants in Gushi City are limited, so the Xiongnu had to disperse the army outside the city."

Hearing this, Shen Bing let out an "oh".

This should be said to be the characteristics of the Western Regions.

Most areas in the Western Regions have a dry climate and little precipitation, so places with water are oases, and deserts are unsuitable for living outside.

Over time, people gathered in the oasis to live and naturally formed oasis agriculture.

And where there is an oasis, people will name it.

These oases are usually small in size. For example, Loulan is an oasis that can only accommodate more than [-] people, and even the water source is still drying up.

Gushi City must also be an oasis.

If there are more than 2 people in Gushi, then Gushi City should accommodate about 3 people... This is exactly the number of Huns stationed in Gushi.