choke element

Chapter 1035 Puzzled (Part )

Tolui's observation and judgment were not wrong.

The sudden appearance of such an army in Kaifeng demonstrated its mobilization capabilities that surpassed any contemporary regime, and also demonstrated its human quality that was beyond others' imagination.

The army was gathered by Yan Ning, the governor of the Zhennan Army of Caizhou, who fought in Chenzhou, Bozhou and other places. Taking advantage of the opportunity that the attention of the Mongolian army was attracted by the troops of Guo Alin and Liu Ran, the various troops gathered mainly around Qi County, using several old camps set up by Guo Ning when he invaded the Central Plains.

During this process, everything from mobilizing food, distributing weapons, choosing marching routes, etc. was difficult, and the losses they incurred were almost ten times that of normal circumstances. In such a difficult situation, they also achieved an astonishing marching speed.

The Great Zhou Dynasty has always attached great importance to long-distance marching and training. Although the proportion of cavalry in the army is extremely high, and there are also a large number of mounted infantry and charioteers, in order to exercise physical fitness and willpower, long-distance marching has always been an important part of the training subjects. No matter whether it is a new soldier, a veteran soldier, or an officer, no one can escape this hardship.

Under extreme conditions, the ordinary regular soldiers of the Great Zhou were required to carry 20 to 30 kilograms of weight and march 100 miles a day. The standards for some elite soldiers were even higher, not only did they have to carry more weight, but they also had to complete a combat drill after carrying a heavy load and forcing a march.

But the main members of this army are craftsmen, not warriors!
When a few or a dozen craftsmen work in a small workshop, they are essentially no different from farmers. But what about hundreds, thousands, or even more miners, blacksmiths, and carpenters? When they work and live in large groups of workshops, they will transform into a completely different class in a very short time.

A group of artisans who had been temporarily assembled to form an army could fight continuously for ten days, gather in large numbers in less than two days, and then march 90 miles to capture Kaifeng. This shows that in addition to the martial arts of fighting in battle formations, the physical strength, tenacity, obedience and fighting will of the artisans were almost naturally close to the level of warriors. In large-scale battles, these factors are more important than martial arts!
From this point of view, the superiority of craftsmen to farmers is almost as great as that of shepherds to farmers. And which army is better, craftsmen or shepherds? This question has never existed before, but today there will be an answer.

The large-scale military formation became tighter as it advanced, and the footsteps became more and more regular, like the endless rumbling of thunder.

They did not care about the Mongolian tactics of interspersed fighting, because they were very sure that the entire Central Plains was like boiling magma. The Mongolian-style killing created such a situation, and as a result, the Mongolian army created a net to bind itself, and no matter where it went, it would be burned by the magma.

They didn't care about the Mongolian cavalry attack. Because the situation was obvious, it was the Mongolians, not the Han people, who were attacked from all sides. It was impossible for the Mongolians to fight against the army in the south with all their strength. And the scale of this army was too large. If they couldn't deal with it in a short time, the Mongolians would have to rely on Changshengtian for help.

Come on, come on!
Many soldiers gnashed their teeth. They waited for the Mongolian army to come. They believed that the Mongols had no choice but to attack according to the rhythm preset by the Zhou army and then get stuck in the quagmire.

"Don't be fooled."

Tuolei shouted at Batuer, who was eager to fight, and said, "Let's kill the group behind first."

The initiative was lost too quickly, and the enemy suddenly gathered in large numbers. There were too many things that were difficult to understand in the current situation. But Tolui would not hesitate, and he would not waste time and energy trying to solve unsolvable problems. He only knew that the most important thing on the battlefield was not to do what the enemy wanted.

So Tolui immediately decided to first defeat the troops that continued to pour out of Kaifeng City.

The army rushed out of several gates of Kaifeng at the same time, and at the same time, weapons on the city walls kept firing loud bangs, constantly bleeding the Mongolian army. Tuolei understood that the defenders of Kaifeng had been hiding in the past ten days, preparing for the attack. Now the defenders attacked, obviously thinking that they were ready and could join the friendly forces in the decisive battle against the Mongolian army.

The Mongols naturally felt unhappy about this.

Years of experience in war made them realize that any weapon has a limited range, and as long as they stayed away from the city walls, they would not be attacked by gunpowder weapons. So they retreated again and again, watching the defenders of Kaifeng leave the city one by one.

Fortunately, opportunities are also there.

The city wall was the defenders' support, but also an obstacle. When the defenders took the initiative to leave their tortoise shells and stretched their necks as far as possible, it was the perfect time to swing their swords.

Tuolei stretched out his hand and gestured a horizontal cut towards the gradually formed army formation: "Don't worry about the other troops. Let's test Guo Zhongyuan's ability first. You guys eat the first one, and then come back immediately."

Tuolei did not dare to underestimate the Nanjing garrison commander of the Great Zhou. The troops sent out to attack were five hundred cavalrymen drawn from two elite thousand-man teams, all of whom were excellent fighters picked from ten miles away.

These Mongolian cavalrymen have been fighting non-stop for more than a decade and hold a contemptuous attitude towards any enemy. They are ferocious and have no fear of life or death when their tempers flare up.

The five hundred cavalrymen were divided into two groups, one group attacked from the front, while the other group lagged behind and rushed out diagonally, relying on the dust raised by the front group. Amid the sound of whistles, the cavalrymen expanded their ranks like dark clouds blown away by the wind, covering the target.

Tolui's main force fell behind. He hoped that the 500 cavalrymen in the front could annihilate part of the enemy, or at least break the enemy's position. Then he could find the weak point according to the enemy's movement, and use a large number of cavalry to feint, detour, and outflank this weak point, and finally break through and destroy it.

On a large scale across the Central Plains, the various units of the Mongolian army were pinned down and could not move freely. However, on a single battlefield, the cavalry still had the speed advantage. After the main force was withdrawn, the remaining Kaifeng defenders, who were mainly infantry and recruits, were divided, surrounded, and annihilated separately.

The roar of the horses' hooves trampling the ground overwhelmed the footsteps of the Han army. Amid the sound of the horses' hooves, the Mongolian knights howled. This howl was like that of a wild beast, but it did not mean that they had lost their minds. On the battlefield, the Mongolian warriors were able to find the best balance between violence and calmness, slaughtering the enemy in the most violent way and keeping themselves alive in the most calm way.

"Good fellow... we all guessed wrong!" Guo Luda swallowed his saliva: "The Mongols don't pick on the weak, but instead pick on the strong? They are quite arrogant!"

As a warrior who had recently joined the Great Zhou army system, Guo Luda had not yet gotten rid of his habit of showing off his bravery. He liked to speak with his body, armor, and handmade bow and sword.

But he was now standing in the command position and could not move forward any further.

In front of him were rows of spearmen, who were already preparing to raise their spears diagonally. These men, who were ordinary people ten days ago, had learned a lot in the ten days of low-intensity city defense.

Guo Zhongyuan was better at uniting troops than Yan Ning. He had more complete conditions to gather manpower in Kaifeng City than outside the chaotic city. Therefore, experienced soldiers had been added to every node of the troops, making up for their lack of combat experience. Even if the enemy cavalry came faster, the soldiers could clearly judge the enemy's trajectory and speed and determine what they should do.

Guo Zhongyuan was not known for his bravery, but his men were definitely the best trained. The coordination of the various arms, the sequence of attack, the defensive formation, the strategy to deal with cavalry... It was hard for outsiders to imagine how much training Guo Zhongyuan's men had to go through to qualify. Some of the training even exceeded the standards of military academies.

Serving in the prosperous Central Plains, with generous daily benefits, land distribution, and even dividends from certain businesses, these things don’t come for free... The soldiers used to motivate themselves in this way.

After ten days of rectification, the ordinary soldiers suddenly found that they were quite suitable to lead the team. The grassroots officers also found that it seemed that it was not a dream for everyone to be promoted to a higher rank, and everyone was quite comfortable with it.

(End of this chapter)