Daqin Engineering Corps

As a result, when there were more Huns, they could only disperse to small oases outside the city to survive.

This is not a problem in itself, because if the Qin army attacks Gushi, these scattered Xiongnu can form their own army to harass the Qin army outside the city or even surround the Qin army.

Shen Bing's heart moved, and he asked:

"Which oasis outside the city is the largest?"

Ji pointed to the point farthest from the aunt and said:

"It's Jiaohe."

"This is where the two rivers meet, hence the name Jiaohe."

Chapter 427 Oasis

It was only on the fifth day that Shen Bing learned that the reinforcements had been blocked by the Huns.

At that time, more than a dozen Yueshi cavalry rushed to Loulan, and some of them were wounded by arrows... Yueshi had business dealings with Loulan and was familiar with the terrain, so Starry Night Fleeing finally arrived at Loulan.

A paper letter they handed to Shen Bing.

Paper is currently only produced in Zhongyuan, and once written on it, it is difficult to change and cannot be reused. You can tell whether it is true or false at a glance.

The letter was written by Wang Yu.

This Wang Yu is the school lieutenant who was left in Chencheng by Shen Bing to pretend that the food and grass were burned and let Changping Jun go when Shen Bing attacked Chu.

Wang Yu was in charge of the second batch of reinforcements and supply troops.

The letter read:

"Our army is still more than [-] miles away from Loulan, and the Huns have more than [-] horsemen."

"My subordinates implore the general to allow our army to fight and walk slowly to Loulan!"

Shen Bing agreed without even thinking about it, and asked the Yueshi cavalry to bring the information back to the army so that Wang Yu could act cheaply.

Shen Bing understood what Wang Yu meant.

Wang Yu's army was not the main force. They did not carry artillery. The camels and carriages carried food and drinking water as well as crossbow arrows. There were also several carts of ammunition and shells for artillery.

It is not difficult for them to survive in this situation, but the speed will be much slower than before.

Just like what Wang Yu said in the letter, let's fight and go and continue to advance in the direction of Loulan.

This is also the defect of infantry against cavalry... because without the maneuverability and speed of cavalry, it is easy to be dragged by cavalry on the road.

Shen Bing did not send reinforcements.

Because he knew that attacking Gu Shi was the best reinforcement for Wang Yu.

Qin Jun rested in Loulan for seven days and set off.

This time I set off with more confidence, because a war horse and a flock of sheep were seized from the Huns before, which gave the Qin army a lot of animal power and food.

If food is in short supply, it is not a bad idea to use those extra war horses as food.Although it is a pity, it is better than dying in the hands of the enemy hungry.

In addition, the Qin army added a lot of crossbow arrows from the Xiongnu and Loulan.

The Xiongnu and Loulan usually used bows instead of crossbows.

But the requirements for bows and arrows will be much higher than those for crossbows... This is determined by the higher requirements of the Xiongnu and Loulan on the hit rate.

Bows and arrows are sharp hunting tools for nomads, and finer production is a must.

In contrast, as a farming nation, the Qin army seldom used bows and arrows to hunt. What they talked about was the scale, that is, tens of thousands of people held crossbow arrows and fired at the enemy.

Therefore, these captured arrows were directly shortened and used as crossbow bolts, but within a few days, hundreds of thousands of crossbow bolts were replenished.

These supplements are very important, because the only thing the Qin army can fight against the Huns cavalry is the crossbow arrows when the shells are insufficient.

And these hundreds of thousands of crossbow arrows are far from enough.

Because hundreds of thousands of crossbows sound like a lot, but the Qin army has 1 people, and each of them needs 30 crossbows for [-] crossbows.

Therefore, Shen Bing still left 1000 people in Loulan, ready to send the newly made crossbows to the front line at any time.

Another relatively easy reason is that the aunt is more than five hundred miles away from Loulan.

And it's not like the "Kumtag" desert is full of sand mountains. For the Qin army with many horses, it only takes nine days.

In fact, there is no need for nine days, because the purpose of the Qin army is to cross the river.

Jiaohe is between Gushi and Loulan... not in the middle but in a triangle shape. Jiaohe is more than two hundred miles away from Gushi, and Loulan is more than four hundred miles away from Jiaohe.

So it only took about seven days for Qin Jun to reach his destination.

In addition, there is drinking water in Jiaohe, so Qin Jun can bring a lot less supplies.

The problem of supply with the army often falls into a vicious circle. For example, it takes about 30 days for the Qin army to set off from Shazhou to Loulan, so the Qin army needs to carry 30 days of dry food and water, and these 30 days of dry food and water will become a heavy burden. Make the march very slow, and the slow march takes longer and requires more supplies...

Fortunately, these problems have been resolved, and the Qin army successfully occupied Loulan and used it as a forward base.

In terms of artillery, Shen Bing only brought five, and all of them were "blossom bombs".

Needless to say why this is, Shen Bing didn't intend to attack Gushi City at all in this battle, so there was no need to carry heavy solid bullets.

This once made Wang Ben and others feel puzzled.

Wang Ben said:

"General, the Qin army has always been good at attacking cities and defending cities but not in field battles. Why did they do the opposite this time?"

Li Yan also persuaded:

"General."

"Although there are only [-] Xiongnu in Jiaohe, it is easier to capture."

"But attacking Jiaohe seems to be useless, because the Xiongnu can completely abandon Jiaohe, and we will still have to attack Gushi."

Li Yan is right. The advantage of the Huns cavalry is that they will disperse as soon as they are beaten, and they will run away if they cannot be beaten. From this perspective, it is meaningless to attack Jiaohe.

But Shen Bing asked back:

"Why should I attack my aunt?"

Wang Ben and others looked at each other in blank dismay, and after a while Wang Ben said:

"The general's intention is that we only attack the oasis and not the aunt?"

Shen Bing nodded and asked:

"Why not?"

Wang Ben said:

"But if this is the case, how can we drive the Xiongnu out of Gushi?"

Shen Bing just smiled, and asked instead:

"If I occupy Jiaohe, where can the Xiongnu's [-] cavalry go?"

Everyone turned their eyes to the map, and then he replied:

"If Jiaohe is not guarded, the [-] cavalry will have to retreat to Gushi, because there is no oasis within a hundred miles that can accommodate [-] cavalry."

Shen Bing asked again:

"What if I take Thrall later?"

Saar is the third largest oasis after Gushi City and Jiaohe, where there are [-] Hun cavalry stationed.

Without even thinking about it, he replied:

"The five thousand cavalry can only retreat to Gushi."

"And the flanks and supplies of the more than [-] Huns who went deep into the desert will be threatened."

Shen Bing nodded, and then stopped talking.

Everyone didn't understand what Shen Bing meant for a moment, and they were a little confused.

It was only after a while that Wang Ben suddenly realized, he clapped his hands and smiled:

"This plan is very clever, and the subordinate understands."

"The water plants in Gushi City are only enough for [-] cavalry troops to eat."

"If we drive batches of Xiongnu cavalry to Gushi, that is to say, Gushi City will soon fall into the predicament of insufficient water and grass."

"At that time, I don't need to wait to attack the city. The Xiongnu will abandon the city because of insufficient water and grass."

Only then did everyone suddenly realize, and nodded in agreement.

What Wang Ben said was exactly what Shen Bing thought.

The Qin army is indeed good at attacking and defending cities, but not at field battles.

But as I said before, field warfare in the Western Regions and field warfare in the grasslands are two different things.

Although the terrain of the Western Regions is also vast and flat, the desert is also suitable for cavalry operations.

But almost all military activities revolve around the oasis to compete for water and grass.

Even so, can this field battle be called a "field battle"?

Chapter 428 Contradictions

Especially for the Huns, aquatic plants are more needed.

In fact, Gushi is considered to be a country with relatively fertile land among the countries in the Western Regions.

This can be seen from the fact that it has more than [-] people... If there is not enough aquatic plants, it is impossible to feed these people.

Among the countries in the Western Regions, only Kucha is bigger than it, with a population of 8.

Originally, the Xiongnu only stationed [-] troops and then dispersed most of the Gushi people, leaving only the royal family and young adults as slaves. At this time, it was not a big problem.

Because there are a few oases outside Gushi City where you can graze.

But after the other [-] reinforcements entered the Gushi, they were overwhelmed.

The reason is that the Xiongnu cavalry is far more than simply counting people and horses.

There is a saying that "a full man does not know a hungry man". Living in the grasslands, the Xiongnu cavalry can find water and grass at any time. They have long developed a habit that can be regarded as a luxury for the soldiers and civilians of the Western Regions: in order to ensure the speed of marching, they always It is with the army that there are many more horses than troops.

It is normal for a person to have two horses, and it is not unusual to have three horses. Four or five horses can be used to carry some heavy objects such as food and tents.

Anyway, aquatic plants are everywhere for them, and there is nothing wrong with grazing while marching and fighting, or even nurturing the next generation of war horses.

So the Xiongnu said in Gushi that it had [-] troops, but there were at least more than [-] war horses, as well as cattle and sheep as military rations, and looted camels.

The destruction of Gushi vegetation by these livestock is devastating, but the contradictions and problems have not been exposed because of the short time.

However, if the Qin army puts more effort during this period, such as occupying several larger oases and driving the Hun cavalry to Gushi...

In fact, this is also the main reason why Maodun Shanyuling Xunyun would retreat to the grassland once Loulan fell.

On this point, it is wise to take the initiative, because he knows that the geography and climate of the Western Regions are not suitable for the Xiongnu cavalry on the one hand, and on the other hand, it simply cannot accommodate these many troops.

However, how could he have thought that King Youxian and his subordinates chose to leave the army to continue fighting against the Qin army because of their greed for merit, so they gave Shen Bing another chance to win more with less.

At the beginning, the Qin army marched straight towards Gushi.

Shen Bing did this to give the Xiongnu an illusion, making them think that Qin Jun's target was the aunt.

Shen Bing believed that the Huns would be fooled.

The Qin army is mainly infantry, what else can it do without attacking the city?Chasing the Huns cavalry?

What's more, the Qin army still has those iron rods that can blow down the city wall with smoke and fire. Wouldn't it be a waste to not use them?

Sure enough, Xun Yun was fooled.

As soon as he got the news from Tanma that the Qin army was marching towards the aunt, he immediately passed it on to all the ministries, including the cavalry scattered in the oasis outside the city.

Even Xun Xun was worried that attacking the Qin army too early would scare him away, so he once ordered the surrounding cavalry to stand still, not even using the Huns' usual harassment tactics along the way.

In fact, the harassing tactics of the Xiongnu along the way are not very effective for the Qin army at this time, because during the time of rest in Loulan, the Qin army has supplemented more than ten sets of three-bow bed crossbows and equipped with cable arrows... This thing is in a specific place. Sometimes it works better than artillery.