Chapter 2238: If there aren't enough elites, we'll have to hire some soldiers.
Chapter 2238: There are not enough elites, so soldiers come to join us
Chapter 2234: There are not enough elites, so soldiers come to join us
While Huo Qubing was still cleaning the battlefield, Li Shimin had returned to Chang'an.
The Qin army that invaded Guanzhong posed too great a threat to the Tang state. As soon as Li Shimin returned to Chang'an, he immediately summoned Li Kui and other counselors to discuss how to annihilate Huo Qubing's troops in the shortest possible time and where to deploy troops for encirclement and suppression.
In the Battle of Sizhou, 150,000 Tang troops invaded Sizhou, but in the end only 80,000 people escaped back to Guanzhong.
Afterwards, Qin and Tang Dynasties faced off at the Tongguan line. Li Shimin mobilized another 20,000 troops to Tongguan, and assembled a 100,000 army to confront the Qin army. At the same time, he also ordered various places to urgently expand their troops.
Li Shimin had exhausted all his plans, but he never expected that Li Jing would attack Tongguan in the open and attack Wuguan secretly.
The fall of Wuguan changed the main attack direction of the Qin army from Tongguan in the east to Wuguan in the southeast.
In order to prevent the Qin army from marching directly to Chang'an through Wuguan, Li Shimin personally sent an army of 40,000 to Lantian, leaving Li Keyong to lead an army of 60,000 to guard Tongguan.
Li Shimin wanted to stop Li Jing in Lantian, but unfortunately he failed. Lantian was quickly captured by the Qin army. The Tang army lost 10,000 elite and 10,000 county soldiers and retreated to defend the Aoguan pass.
In addition to the 20,000 elite troops of the Tang army, Aoguan also had 30,000 county soldiers. However, these tens of thousands of troops could not stop Li Jing's army of hundreds of thousands, so Li Shimin prepared to transfer 40,000 elite troops from Chang'an to Aoguan.
But something unexpected happened to Li Shimin. The Qin State actually sent Huo Qubing to lead the cavalry to attack Xiaoguan by surprise over a distance of more than 3,000 miles.
Not only did Xiao Pass be conquered in less than a day, but the 40,000 troops who came to support were unable to advance or retreat, and had to fight a decisive battle with the Qin army.
The Tang army rushed to a decisive battle, and the result was as expected. Only 5,000 of the 40,000 elites were left, which made the situation of the Tang state even worse.
Before the war with Qin, although the Tang State had 300,000 troops nationwide, it only had 230,000 elite soldiers, and the rest were county soldiers with weak combat capabilities.
The losses in the Sizhou battle were 70,000, Wuguan lost 5,000, Lantian lost 10,000, Xiaoguan lost 5,000, and Qixian lost 35,000.
The Tang State has lost 125,000 elites. Although the total strength has not decreased after the expansion of the army, there are only 105,000 elites left.
The Tang Dynasty did not lack military strength, but what it lacked was elite soldiers.
Of the last 105,000 elite soldiers, 60,000 are in Tongguan, 20,000 are in Jiguan, and 10,000 are in Hanzhong. The remaining elite soldiers add up to only 15,000.
Judging from the current situation, the Tang State has been forced to a dead end. If you are not careful, not only will the Guanzhong be unprotected, but the country will even be in danger of subjugation.
So the question is, where should we mobilize our troops?
In addition to the three counties of Guanzhong, the Tang State also had three counties of Hanzhong (Hanzhong, Shangyong, and Xincheng), three counties of Longxi (Longxi, Wudu, Hanyang), and three counties of Qiang land, totaling twelve counties.
Hanzhong is now threatened by Han Xin, and Li Xiaogong has too much to take care of himself, so the troops in Hanzhong must not be moved.
The elite troops from Longxi and Qiang regions had been transferred to Guanzhong long before the war. The new army after the expansion was not ready for use, and even if it was recruited, it was already too late.
So we can only rely on the army in Guanzhong.
After some discussions, Li Shimin made the following adjustments:
Forty thousand troops were transferred from Tongguan, 20,000 infantry were transferred to Aoguan, and another 20,000 infantry were transferred to Wuzhangyuan.
Then from Jing Zhaoyin and Zuo Feng Ling, 10,000 county troops were transferred from each, and a total of 20,000 county troops were stationed in Tongguan.
Under this arrangement, the Tongguan garrison will be reduced to 40,000, including 20,000 elite soldiers and 20,000 county soldiers.
The garrison at Yaoguan rose to 50,000, including 30,000 elite soldiers and 20,000 county soldiers. Such an arrangement can only cure the symptoms but not the root cause, so Huo Qubing must be defeated as soon as possible.
There are still 80,000 troops in the barracks in Chang'an City, including 10,000 elite soldiers and 70,000 county soldiers.
Li Shimin decided to personally go to Wuzhangyuan with 10,000 elite cavalry and 20,000 troops.
Including the 20,000 elite infantry and cavalry in Tongguan and the 10,000 garrison in Wuzhangyuan, the total is 60,000 troops.
In addition, Li Shimin also ordered Li Siyuan, the governor of Youfufeng, to lead an army of 20,000 to support, including Gao Siji's 5,000 elite cavalry.
After all the troops from all sides arrive, the Tang army will have 80,000 troops in Wuzhangyuan, including 35,000 elites and 20,000 cavalry.
As long as they are deployed properly, it will be no problem to deal with Huo Qubing's 30,000 cavalry.
There are not enough elite soldiers, so mixed soldiers come to make up the troops.
Li Shimin has made up his mind to eliminate Huo Qubing's army, even if it costs lives.
On the way to Wuzhangyuan, Li Shimin was suddenly alerted.
"Report...to inform my lord, the Qin army did not take advantage of the victory to pursue it, but chose to stay in Qixian County to rest and recuperate."
After hearing the news, Li Shimin couldn't help but secretly thought it was a pity.
The Qin army traveled a long distance and experienced two consecutive battles, suffering a lot of losses. Now they must be exhausted and their combat effectiveness is greatly reduced.
If the leader of the Qin army is arrogant and continues to advance aggressively, Li Shimin will lead his army to wait for work at Wuzhangyuan, and he is absolutely sure to defeat the Qin army head-on.
It's a pity that Huo Qubing is not that kind of person and will not give Li Shimin this opportunity at all.
"Report...to inform my lord, after the Qin army rested in Qian County for two days, five thousand defenders were left to guard Qian County. The remaining 25,000 cavalry, under the leadership of the general Huo Bing, are heading towards Wuzhangyuan."
"Haha, Huo Bing'er only has an army of 35,000. When he goes deep alone, he doesn't concentrate his forces on fighting, but he still divides his troops. He is simply asking for death."
Huo Qubing has left 5,000 troops in Xiaoguan, and now he has left another 5,000 troops in Qian County. This is naturally good news for Li Shimin.
Huo Qubing went deep into the army alone. He already had insufficient troops, no logistics, and no retreat, but he still dared to divide his troops in this way. This was obviously a taboo for military strategists.
The Qin army's cavalry has extraordinary combat power. If 35,000 cavalry were to gather together and fight head-on, Li Shimin would not dare to fight against the Qin army without an army of 100,000.
But now Huo Qubing has chosen to divide his troops, which is tantamount to abandoning his martial arts, and Li Shimin is more sure of dealing with him.
After Huo Qubing’s main force is eliminated, it will be easier to destroy the remaining 10,000 Qin army’s cavalry.
“Huo Bing, who almost sealed the wolf’s status as Xu, is nothing more than that.”
Li Shimin sneered, but at the same time he felt a little lucky. He had received the news. Because Liangzhou was about to be unified, Huo Qubing sent 30,000 cavalry to support Ma Chao. Otherwise, Tang State would face 70,000 Qin troops alone.
To deal with the Qin Army's 30,000 cavalry, Li Shimin recruited troops from all over and only managed to gather 80,000 troops. If all the Qin Army's 70,000 cavalry came to Guanzhong, this battle would really be unwinnable.
Wuzhangyuan is only more than 200 miles away from Chang'an. It is bordered by the Qinling Mountains to the south and the Wei River to the north. It has deep ravines in the east and west. The situation is dangerous, easy to defend but difficult to attack.
Zhuge Liang once stationed troops in Wuzhangyuan to confront Sima Yi across the Wei River. He later died of illness in Wuzhangyuan due to overwork, and Wuzhangyuan became famous all over the world.
(End of this chapter)