Chapter 364 Good News from the Prairie
Now, the three infantry battalions of Wei Xiaokuan, Huang Gai and Han Dang, and five newly formed infantry battalions remain in the territory of Dai'an County. The two infantry battalions of Xu Rong and Cheng Pu, and three newly formed infantry battalions are distributed among the four counties of Yongjing County. When Le Yi heard that Liu Ji was preparing to draw several of the infantry battalions with strong combat power to reinforce Qishankou, he couldn't help but hesitate and said, "Lord, I have a suggestion from my subordinates. I don't know if it should be said or not?"
"Since you have brought it up, then tell me quickly! What's your idea?"
"Although the seven infantry battalions of Gao Shun, Li Xin, Meng Wu, Zhang Guiba, Zhang Guihou and Zhang Guibian have suffered huge losses, the remaining soldiers can be regarded as elite soldiers. As long as we add a large number of soldiers to our seven infantry battalions and use the remaining elite soldiers as the backbone, the combat power of our seven infantry battalions will be restored to 80% or 90% immediately."
Liu Ji understood what Le Yi meant. Le Yi wanted Liu Ji to draw soldiers from the twelve new infantry battalions here in Qishankou to the seven old battalions of Le Yi. In this way, Le Yi and the seven infantry battalions would quickly restore combat effectiveness.
However, these twelve new infantry battalions have already been established, and a large number of soldiers from these new infantry battalions have been drawn. The twelve new commanders cannot have no idea, which is also the reason why Le Yi hesitated.
Liu Ji thought about it for a while and said, "This idea is good. In a while, the prefect will summon Gai Yan. Zang Gong and the others will discuss the matter of drawing soldiers for you seven cavalry battalions."
This time, he accompanied Liu Ji to the twelve new infantry battalions here in Qishankou. The commanders were Gai Yan, Zang Gong, Ma Wu, Liu Long, Li Cunxu, Li Cunxin, Li Cunjin, Li Siben, Fu Cunshen, Li Cunxian, Shi Jingsi and Kang Junli.
Liu Ji turned his head and asked Su Lie again, "How is the situation of the ten cavalry battalions of the Grassland Legion here in Qishankou?"
Su Lie said: "Lord, after the sweeping on the grassland some time ago, the total strength of the ten cavalry battalions here in Qishankou was as high as 240,000. Although after ten days of hard fighting, the ten cavalry battalions of our grassland army lost a total of 60,000 people, but the ten cavalry battalions still maintain the strong combat power of 180,000 cavalry. As long as the infantry can hold on, our cavalry can hold on here at Qishankou."
Liu Ji asked again: "Is there any news from the five cavalry battalions of He Ruobi, Wen Chou, Yan Liang, Zheng Wei, and Wang Ji?"
Su Lie shook his head and said, "The news has not been sent back yet, but according to time, it should be coming soon."
As soon as Su Lie finished speaking, Gao Chong, the captain of the Guards, hurried into the curtain and presented a letter from Yincheng to Liu Ji.
After Liu Ji read the urgent report with a glance, a happy smile suddenly appeared on his face, "Good news! Chengyin City sent a good news from He Ruobi and the other five cavalry battalions, four days ago, destroyed the Dangxiang Wangting Court!"
The Dai'an Army's grassland army had a total of fifteen cavalry battalions. Su Lie brought only ten cavalry battalions to Qishankou and cooperated with the Dai'an Army's infantry to resist the Hu coalition. The five cavalry battalions, He Ruobi, Wen Chou, Yan Liang, Zheng Wei, and Wang Ji, were sent to the grassland by Su Lie to wait for an opportunity to give a big surprise to the various tribes of the coalition, and could also play the role of besieging Wei and saving Zhao.
After the five cavalry battalions led by He Ruobi, Wen Chou, Yan Liang, Zheng Wei and Wang Ji avoided the Hu coalition forces with huge troops, the five people finally decided to take action against Dangxiang Wangting first.
As the second tier of the nomadic people on the grassland, Dangxiang has a population of more than three million, including slaves, and almost one-quarter of the population is concentrated in Dangxiang's royal court on the west side of Moran Mountain and the Anga River.
Although Dangxiang also had four sect kings, these four sect kings were all confidants of Dangxiang Khan Sehelai. It can be said that the entire Dangxiang tribe was firmly controlled by Saihelai Khan.
Dangxiang Dahan Sehelai brought 100,000 Dangxiang cavalry to participate in the coalition this time, only 20,000 were the elite cavalry of Dangxiang royal court, and the remaining 80,000 cavalry were recruited from Dangxiang tribes, and there were still 100,000 Dangxiang cavalry left in the royal court.
After the five cavalry battalions of He Ruobi, Wen Chou, Yan Liang, Zheng Wei, and Wang Ji were expanded a while ago, and there were 110,000 cavalrymen. He Ruobi and others chose a route to avoid encountering various nomadic tribes. In order to avoid alerting the snake, they took a lot of roads and took about six days to quietly arrive near the Dangxiang Wangting.
Of course, it is impossible for the five cavalry battalions of the Dai'an Army to meet the Hu people along the way, but all the Hu people who discovered the five cavalry battalions of the Dai'an Army were all dealt with. In order to keep it a secret, two Dangxiang tribes and one Rouran tribe were completely destroyed by the five cavalry battalions.
After Dangxiang Khan Sehelai led his troops to join the coalition forces of the Ten Tribes of the Grassland, the 100,000 Danxiang cavalry left by Dangxiang Royal Court were all led by Taruge, the eldest son of Sehelai. However, Taruge never expected that there would be a cavalry unit of the Dai'an army that did not resist the powerful Ten Tribes of the Alliance, but secretly came to attack Dangxiang Royal Court, and was caught off guard.
In just one night, Dangxiang Wangting, which had 100,000 cavalry and nearly 700,000 herdsmen and slaves, fell into the hands of five cavalry battalions, He Ruobi, Wen Chou, Yan Liang, Zheng Wei, and Wang Ji.
In this fierce battle between Dangxiang Wangting, the five cavalry battalions lost less than 8,000 people, but the results achieved were very brilliant. Nearly 30,000 cavalrymen in Dangxiang Wangting were killed by 100,000 cavalrymen, and more than 60,000 were captured. Only more than 10,000 people escaped in the chaos under the leadership of Taruge, the eldest son of Dangxiang Dahan Sehelai.
The nearly 700,000 herdsmen and slaves from Dangxiang Wangting, except for a small number of people who escaped in the chaos, the remaining ordinary herdsmen and slaves fell into the hands of the five cavalry battalions of the Dai'an Army, of which more than 120,000 were slaves from Jin, about 100,000 were young and strong men from the Jin Dynasty, and 20,000 were young women from the Jin Dynasty.
The spoils seized by the five cavalry battalions of the Dai'an Army were even more piled up. Because of insufficient time, only a rough figure was counted on some of the main spoils, including 500,000 war horses, 100,000 horses, more than 200,000 cows, five million sheep, sixty thousand iron armor, two hundred thousand leather armor, four hundred thousand weapons, three hundred thousand bows, fifty million arrows, two million taels of gold, and seventeen million taels of silver. The real seizure was only much greater than the above figures.
In addition, the five cavalry battalions of the Dai'an Army were also seized in the Dangxiang Royal Court, and a large amount of copper coins, grain, animal skins, cloth, silk, jewelry and other materials were seized. It can be said that the Dangxiang Royal Court, which has existed for hundreds of years, was robbed of all the family by the five cavalry battalions of the Dai'an Army.
He Ruobi, Wen Chou, Yan Liang, Zheng Wei, and Wang Ji also mentioned in the good news to Liu Ji that because the five cavalry battalions had captured too much spoils and could not be transported back to Dai'an County at this time, otherwise they would be intercepted and killed by the Dangxiang Cavalry and other cavalry of the Hu coalition on the way. Therefore, the five decided to use the personnel and materials seized by the Dangxiang Royal Court as much as possible to expand the strength of the five cavalry battalions, and took the Dangxiang Royal Court as a temporary base to launch an attack on other tribes of the surrounding Dangxiang tribes.
Of course, as long as the tribes of the ten tribes of the Hu people's coalition were all within the attack targets of He Ruobi's five cavalry battalions.
After reading the good news delivered by Liu Ji, Su Lie smiled and said to Liu Ji: "Lord, the Dangxiang cavalry among the Hu people's coalition should not stay at Qishankou again!"
The news that Dangxiang Wangting was captured by a cavalry unit of Dai'an Army was also known by the senior officials of the entire Hu coalition. The eldest son of Dangxiang Dahan Sehelai, Taruge, sent someone to report the shocking news to his father.
In the felt bag of Yelu Qi, the king of Khitan Youli, in the grassland coalition camp, except for the owner Yelu Qi, here, the Khans of the other nine tribes of the coalition army and the kings of the sect gathered here.
Dangxiang Khan Sehelai said in a deep voice: "Leader of the Alliance, our Khan must immediately lead troops back to the grassland of our Dangxiang tribe, convene the tribes of the Dangxiang tribe, and take the royal court back from the Dai'an army!"
The 100,000 Dangxiang cavalry who participated in the grassland coalition lost more than 30,000 people in the ten days of fierce battle. At present, there are 70,000 Dangxiang cavalry who maintain their combat effectiveness. The 20,000 elite cavalry brought by Dangxiang Dahan Sehelai from the royal court was unscathed because he did not join the battle.
After hearing what the Khitan Right Li King Yelu Qi said to the Dangxiang clan Khan Sehelai, he immediately showed a very helpless look. After ten days of bloody battle, the total strength of the Ten Clan Alliance had dropped to 1.14 million. About 400,000 cavalrymen of each tribe died in these ten days. More than 20,000 cavalrymen of each tribe were seriously injured. It is impossible to go to the battlefield again in a short period of time. Moreover, at least half of the more than 20,000 seriously injured people were disabled, so they would not even think about going to the battlefield again in the future.
Although the Ten-Clan coalition forces suffered a lot, what made Yelu Qi breathe a sigh of relief was that the elite infantry of the Dai'an army here in Qishankou had been fought hard by the Ten-Clan coalition forces at any cost, and it was almost consumed. Yelu Qi had already seen the dawn of victory.
But at this critical moment, it suddenly came that Dangxiang Wangting was captured by the Dai'an army, which was definitely a heavy blow to the morale of the entire coalition army.
There are about 70,000 Dangxiang cavalry among the Ten Clans coalition forces. Even if the 70,000 Dangxiang cavalry leaves, the impact on the coalition forces with more than one million troops will not be great. However, Yelu Qi is worried that the withdrawal of these 70,000 Dangxiang cavalry at this time will cause a series of chain reactions.
Yelu Qi sighed and said to the Dangxiang clan Khan Sehelai, "Saihelai Khan, I understand your mood very much. However, since the cavalry of the Dai'an Army can capture hundreds of thousands of people overnight, it means that this Dai'an Army is very strong. Don't fall into the trap of the Dai'an Army because of your anxiety. Perhaps this Dai'an Army's cavalry is waiting for the Khan of Sehelai to lead his troops back to the Dangxiang royal court!"
Seihelai gritted his teeth and said, "Dangxiang Wangting has almost gathered most of the wealth of our Dangxiang tribe. It must not be stolen by the Dai'an army like this. At all costs, I will take back all the things of the royal court!"
After pausing, Sehelai asked Yelu Qi: "Leader, because our Party Xiang people participated in the coalition, the Dai'an army would attack our Party Xiang Wangting. Can other ethnic groups of the coalition send some cavalry to lend it to our Khan to help our Party Xiang people take back the royal court?"
When Yelu Qi heard this, he immediately looked embarrassed. Sehelai not only wanted to take away 70,000 Dangxiang cavalry, but also wanted to borrow some cavalry from other tribes. You should know that now is a critical moment in a decisive battle with the main force of the Dai'an army. Yelu Qi even hopes that other tribes can send more cavalry to make the grassland coalition more sure of victory.
Yelu Qi was not willing to take away 70,000 Dangxiang cavalry, let alone lending troops to Sehelai!
Yelu Qi said embarrassedly: "Saihelai Khan, we have reached a critical moment here, that...you understand!"
Saihelai's face became even more gloomy, "The Khan will lead his troops back to our Dangxiang tribe's territory tomorrow morning. When the royal court is taken back, the Khan will bring his troops to reunite with the cavalry of all tribes!"
At this time, the Khan Mugulu of the Rouran tribe suddenly said to Yelu Qi: "Leader, the territory of our Rouran tribe is not far from the Dangxiang royal court. Ben Da Khan is worried that the Dai'an army will attack the tribes of our Rouran tribes, and even our Rouran royal court, so Ben Da Khan is ready to lead the remaining 40,000 Rouran cavalry back to the territory of our Rouran tribe."
This time, Mu Gulu, the great khan of the Rouran tribe, also brought 100,000 cavalry to join the Allied Forces of the Ten tribes. However, because of Mu Gulu's strength, the Rouran cavalry suffered heavy losses almost every day during the fierce attacks in the previous few days.
Although the Rouran cavalry no longer attacked the infantry battle formation of the Dai'an army in the last few days, only about 40,000 Rouran cavalry were left.
As soon as the Rouran clan's great Han Mu Gulu finished speaking, Yelu Qi sighed in his heart, and the chain reaction was indeed coming.
Yelu Qi quickly persuaded Mu Gulu, the cavalry of the Dahan of the Rouran tribe, "Mu Gulu, the cavalry of the Dai'an army that captured Dangxiang Wangting has been exposed. As long as this Dai'an army cavalry attacks the territory of your Rouran tribes, the tribes of your Rouran tribes will know in advance. With the hundreds of thousands of cavalry of your Rouran tribes, why not be afraid of the cavalry of the Dai'an army!"
Mu Gulu shook his head and said, "The leader of the alliance, even Dangxiang Wangting was captured by the Dai'an cavalry, and there is nothing that can't happen."
Yelu Qi paused for a moment and advised: "Mugulu is a great krypton. Now the main force of the Dai'an army here in Qishankou has been almost defeated by our ten-class coalition forces. Next is the time to harvest the fruits of victory. You are leaving with the Rouran cavalry, so..."
Chapter completed!