At The Beginning of The Game, The Five Tiger Generals Were Intercepted

"Does my lord think that the four counties in Hexi are sparsely populated and inconvenient to manage?"

There are four counties to the west of Wuwei County, and the land is as vast as the entire Guanzhong.

And the famous place for raising horses, the Qilian Mountains are also among the four counties in Hexi.

Seeing that Liu Zhang didn't speak, Fazheng tried to persuade him again.

"My lord, you must not underestimate the land of Hexi! Although the Hexi region is vast and sparsely populated, it is rich in water and grass, with good weather and mild climate. It is a natural horse herding place!"

"Liangzhou's horses can become the best in the world, making princes from all over the world covet it, and it is also because of the superior terrain here!"

"Only by occupying the four counties in Hexi, can we completely solve the crisis of war horses!"

Due to the vast land and sparse population of the four counties in Hexi, it is extremely difficult to operate.

In Fazheng's view, the sooner you get it, the sooner you can operate it.

Not only Fazheng had this question, Cheng Gongying also looked at Liu Zhang with some doubts.

On the way back to Yuzhong, Liu Zhang appointed him as the governor of Dunhuang.

But if you don't send troops to advance, is it possible that you still think that the counties will surrender on their own initiative?

Even so, soldiers and horses are needed for deterrence!

Liu Zhang waved his hand lightly, signaling Pang Tong and Fazheng to sit down temporarily.

"We only occupy one state, how can we dislike the four Hexi counties? It's just that the timing is not right yet."

"Do you know how long it has been since we sent troops to Hanzhong?"

Liu Zhang's words were like a wake-up call, instantly waking up Pang Tong and Fazheng, who were obsessed with merit.

Liu Zhang led the army to set off in Hanzhong in April, and it is now December.

The Yizhou Army has been fighting for nearly eight months.

From Hanzhong to Hanyang, from Hanyang to Longxi, from Longxi back to Hanyang, and from Hanyang to Yuzhong!

It can be said that the Yizhou Army has hardly had a real rest during these eight months.

Fortunately, the Yizhou Army has excellent soldiers and brave generals, and even in the case of consecutive victories, the momentum is like a rainbow.

However, after Han Sui continued to attack day and night for ten consecutive days, the Yizhou army suffered huge casualties.

Although the final victory of the war has been achieved by completely defeating the Qiang people today, the fact that the army is exhausted is still unavoidable.

"Everyone, I also want to occupy the counties as soon as possible, but the current conditions do not allow us to unscrupulously labor the expedition."

"It's the coldest winter right now, and the north wind is bitter, freezing to the marrow! We can still feel the ruthless cold while sitting in the house, let alone the soldiers who are fighting again and again?"

From ancient times to the present, even after thousands of years, winter has never been the time to launch a war.

"Gongda, how many soldiers do we have left in Yuzhong?"

Xun You's face darkened obviously, and then he answered Liu Zhang's question in a low voice.

"My lord, the Wufeng camp, Wuwei camp, Huwei camp, the barbarians plus the attached Liangzhou elite cavalry, the total number is less than 35,000..."

Since entering Yuzhong, the Yizhou Army has never experienced a single defeat.

But even so, the total number of people still dropped from nearly 70,000 to nearly half!

The extent of the tragedy can be imagined, even if Liu Zhang is a little careless, it is very likely that the entire army will be wiped out!

"Everyone, the remaining soldiers are less than 35,000, which means we have lost more than 30,000 soldiers."

"Of course, at the cost of more than 30,000 people, we wiped out more than ten times as many enemy troops. The results of the battle will definitely shock the world!"

"But you all know the situation in Yizhou. Almost all the troops that can be mobilized are in Yongliang."

"Don't forget, everyone, there are nearly 200,000 Xianbei cavalry waiting for us outside the street pavilion!"

"Let me also tell everyone that the Xianbei people in Guanzhong do not come and leave whenever they want!"

Liu Zhang's bold words immediately made the atmosphere tense again, and even became frozen because of depression.

Today, the entire strength of the Yizhou Army includes the county soldiers stationed in Yuzhong, Longxi, Wuwei, Jieting, Chencang and Hanyang counties.

The total strength of all the troops is only about 100,000. If you exclude the troops that can be mobilized, it is far less than 100,000.

With an army of less than 100,000 people against the Xianbei cavalry of less than 200,000, it seems that there is not much disadvantage.

After all, Liu Zhang had just personally led an army to defeat more than 400,000 Qiang soldiers with a force of 50,000 to 60,000 troops!

It's a pity that everyone in the room doesn't think so.

Whether it is Liu Zhang as the commander-in-chief, or the counselors Xun You, Pang Tong and others, or the Yizhou generals Tai Shici and Dian Wei, or even Pang De and Ma Chao who have just surrendered.

No one would be so arrogant that he would not take the two hundred thousand Xianbei cavalry seriously!

Liu Zhang was able to defeat Han Sui's 400,000 Qiang army twice in a row, not because he suppressed it with force, but because of conspiracy.

For the first time, Ma Chao created chaos and completely disrupted the 300,000 army. The Yizhou army sent pursuers to cover up the killing, and they won 150,000 troops.

The second time relying on the strong city of Yuzhong, it literally consumed more than 100,000 Qiang soldiers. When it was finally time to hold on, Liu Zhang designed Han Sui to rely on Ma Chao and Dian Wu to create chaos and force the coalition forces to stop marching.

Later, he designed the letterhead of Han Sui's surrender, which aroused the internal fighting between Han Sui and Ma Chao, and won the war in one fell swoop.

From the beginning to the end, Liu Zhang did not lead his army to fight Han Sui head-on.

It's not that Liu Zhang has no confidence in the soldiers under his command, but that he simply can't bear the loss of a head-on battle.

The elite level of the Yizhou army is not comparable to that of the Qiang people, and even field battles can cause huge casualties to the Qiang people.

But in the end, two fists are hard to beat with four hands. Even if the Yizhou army can defeat five with one, Liu Zhang will not be able to win the final victory.

Sun Tzu's Art of War once clearly stated that the first is to attack the strategy, the second is to attack the handover, the second is to attack the army, and the next is to attack the city.

The worst things are field battles and siege warfare.

Sun Tzu once said that the law of using troops is to surround them with ten and attack them with five.

Han Sui had nearly five times the strength of Liu Zhang, but unfortunately he was still frequently at a disadvantage in siege battles.

Liu Zhang used his tactics to conquer the strong with the weak, but Han Sui used his tactics to attack the city, and finally he was defeated and died.

But once the Xianbei were confronted, without Ma Teng, Ma Chao could use it, and without Dian Wu as an internal response, no strategy could avoid direct contact with the Xianbei cavalry.

Liu Zhang's thinking is very clear, wipe out the Xianbei cavalry, and keep all 200,000 of them here.

But the Xianbei people are not fools, and they can turn around if they are unfavorable in attacking. After learning of Han Sui's demise, they will not kowtow to death under Jieting City.

At that time, the Xianbei cavalry invaded Sanfu, and the streets of Jieting City must be empty.

If Liu Zhang wanted to eliminate the Xianbei cavalry, he had to fight them head-on.

In particular, all the string-controlling soldiers in Xianbei are cavalry, and all Liu Zhang's soldiers and horses now add up to less than 20,000 cavalry!

Liu Zhang also changed from the huge advantage of the first military campaign to the huge disadvantage of the second military campaign.

Just as the room fell silent, a soldier hurried in.

"Report!"

"Report to my lord, urgent report from Jieting!"

(end of this chapter)