The sky was overcast and the cold wind was howling, making it feel particularly cold. The Tianshan Mountains next to it were already bare, but when they reached the top, they became white. On the other side, it is not reckless and the desert is endless. A river from the Tien Shan Mountains flows past the castle, and now in winter, there is very little water in the river. In the vicinity of the castle, there are some houses scattered in twos and threes, and there are no people in sight.

Du Zhongxiao rode on a horse, looked at the castle in front of him, and the large camp tent behind the castle, and said to Fu Bi: "This is Bu Xuer, which was originally a beacon of the Han and Tang Dynasties, and later the population increased, and a small castle was built." The Black Khan's army has taken this place, and since we have increased our forces here, they have continued to increase their forces. Now that the two sides are heavily armed, there are no accidents, and a battle should be taken here. ”

Fu Bi said: "There are more than 60,000 black sweaters, and more than 40,000 of us, what do you think the chances are?" ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Speaking of which, Hue Du's war against the party was also 20,000 or 30,000 against 50,000 or 60,000 people. Of course, the Black Khan is different from the party in that there are not so many auxiliaries in the army, and it is mainly a war soldier. Still, I think we have a good chance of winning. ”

Fu Bi was a little strange when he heard this, and asked: "Since the whole army has been reorganized, the commander has been dissatisfied with the combat effectiveness of the new army, why is he so confident now?" With 40,000 against 60,000, how can it also be the advantage of black sweat. ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled and shook his head: "Deputy envoy, how can you only compare the number of people in a war!" We have all the guns and horses, and 50,000 men are enough to serve as a journey, and no amount of people is of much use. I am dissatisfied with the new army after the retraining because compared with the original battalion and field army, their combat effectiveness is not up to that year. And, it may never be there. In addition, against these armies, of course, it is still an advantage. ”

Fu Bi didn't come from the era of the Yingtian Xiang Army, so he didn't understand it, so he could only shake his head.

Du Zhongxiao didn't explain, but just carefully observed the layout of the Black Khan army opposite. The battalion and field army were almost all built from scratch, without constraints, those who can go up, and those who can't go down. Through a lot of study and repeated drills, a high-level team was organized. At that time, whoever learned the best would be promoted, and if he didn't learn well, he would go down, and everyone had no complaints. The drill is different, basically according to the original class, graduation is qualified, not the selection of the best talent. Those eliminated by the forbidden army are mainly middle- and lower-level officials, all of whom command and above, and even if they are not qualified, they are only transferred. For Du Zhongxiao, such an army is enough to fight, but it lacks the sharpness of the battalion army.

If it is a battalion and a field army, why should Du Zhongxiao be so careful, he is already going to arrange a division and encirclement. The current Zhang Qi's first army is naturally stronger in combat effectiveness than the other side, but there are bound to be unqualified ones, and the strategic arrangement is conservative and allows some troops to make mistakes.

The terrain around the Bulletin is flat, the only river has little water in it, and it has long since frozen, making it a good battlefield. The Black Khan's army was centered around the castle and divided into several camps around it.

Du Zhongxiao's consideration was to annihilate the Black Khan army as much as possible here, and after the First World War, there would be no resistance to continuing to advance westward. It was more than 200 miles from Qiuzi, and if it was only defeated, it would not stop them from retreating to Qiuzi. It is better to surround this place and destroy it one by one.

After looking at it for a long time, Du Zhongxiao said: "This place is too flat, and our army is less than the other party, so it is a little difficult to surround it." ”

Fu Bi said: "Jie Shuai, it's nothing if you can't surround it." Since then, all the way to the west, all the towns are under the Tianshan Mountains, no need to detour. This one is defeated, which of the 50,000 soldiers and horses dares to stop it! As long as Shule is broken, Black Khan will have no heavy land south of the Tianshan Mountains, and can only retreat. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Although this is the case, due to the long distance, the army has no way to bring heavy artillery, and it is always difficult to attack the city. There is only one small castle in Bla, and it is a rare good thing that Black Khan chose to fight in the field here. This battle defeated the main force of the Black Khan, and for ten years, they did not dare to peep south. ”

Du Zhongxiao estimated that after this battle, he should be transferred. The court is not in tune, and he has to find a way to go. If not, if you have the military merit of seizing the winding road of the river first, plus the development of the Western Regions, your own military merit will be too great, and the influence on the army will be too great, which will not be conducive to the future. Now is the time for the whole army to change its training, make a start, and it is better to leave yourself and let others complete it, otherwise there will be too many scruples.

Fu Bi didn't know Du Zhongxiao's thoughts, in his opinion, if he couldn't win quickly, he would wait for two years, nothing. As long as the railroad is built, which city can withstand heavy artillery? The party can also go deep into the city and work hard to cast cannons, but Black Khan doesn't even have this ability.

After looking at it for a long time, Du Zhongxiao said: "The terrain here really can't complete the encirclement. When it came time of war, the castle should be left to the Black Khan, and the armies were divided into three divisions. The front part attracted the Black Khan army, and the north and south flanks attacked mainly, leaving most of the Black Khan army behind. Later, the cavalry was sent to chase and kill the fleeing Black Khan army as much as possible, so that they did not dare to defend Qiuzi, or even the last barbarian, and fled directly back to Shule. ”

After speaking, Du Zhongxiao said to Fu Bi: "What does the deputy envoy think of this?" ”

Fu Bi said: "In doing this, some people don't take the Black Khan Army seriously. I thought it would be better to attack head-on and take the castle first. ”

Seeing that Fu Bi couldn't understand, Du Zhongxiao didn't argue, but said, "Let's go back first, and discuss with the generals tonight." ”

Now that Zhang Qi's army has complete artillery, to deal with a cold-weapon army, it is still dominated by light cavalry, and the infantry is not long, so there is no need to consider the problem of not being able to defeat it. Otherwise, Zhang Qi would be too useless.

Du Zhongxiao was handsome, a large map was spread on the ground, and several generals were seated around, and there were many discussions.

Pointing to a military camp behind the castle, Du Zhongxiao said: "This is the enemy map drawn by the Detective Cavalry Scout in recent days. The tent behind the castle looked the largest, and after inquiry, it was the head of the Black Khan, Ilik. As a reminder, Iric is the third brother of the current Black Khan King Suleiman, and his status in the Black Khan is very small. In this battle, if we can capture Ilik, we can ask the Black Khan to withdraw his troops and retreat to the north of the Tien Shan. As long as Shule is occupied, the Black Khan has no stronghold south of the Tianshan Mountains, and Khotan will naturally return to the imperial court. ”

Tan Chong listened, pointed to the handsome tent and said, "I didn't expect that there is a big guy living here!" Straight lady thief, if he is captured in a war, what a great military feat! General, how about letting my troops attack here? I can't run away from him! ”

Without waiting for Zhang Qi to answer, Du Zhongxiao said, "Do you really want to attack here?" Attacking here is only a feint, and it is necessary to wait for the other departments to complete the encirclement before they can attack in a big way. If Illic had been alert and had fled first, there would have been nothing. ”

Tan Chong said: "People who are soldiers are risky in everything they do. I listened to the marshal, the biggest target of this battle is him, so naturally he should invite this fight! If you are unlucky, there is no way, a little luck, if you catch him, isn't it the first merit of the battle? ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Okay, you have taken Ilik, your department is the first military merit in this battle!" ”

After speaking, Du Zhongxiao said to Zhang Qi on the side: "If you want to catch Ilik, what does General Zhang think you should do?" ”

Zhang Qi thought for a while and said, "Illik is in the army of the Black Khan, and the part around him plus the garrison in the castle is the most powerful in the Black Khan. If you want to take him, I'm afraid that you can't attack him head-on. The situation was unfavorable, so he naturally left with the army. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Then how should it be?" ”

Zhang Qi pointed to the map and said, "The terrain in this area is flat, and if we want to completely surround the enemy army, we only have less than 50,000 people, so we shouldn't be able to do it." If you want to catch Illic, you can only do some arrangement. The marshal just said that if Irik is to be captured, the troops attacking in front must be patient, and they must not rush forward and scare the enemy away in a single battle. Instead, it is necessary to attack from the left and right flanks with all your might, and crush the enemy from the middle in the shortest possible time. Before Illic could react, it was possible for the troops on both flanks to hold him in the middle. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Yes, this is the difficult part." In fact, even if the two flanks attacked, Illic could still escape, and there was no way to do it in the plains. Therefore, in this battle, you should place your troops and horses on both flanks, and with the greatest determination, you should crush the rear troops of the Black Khan as quickly as possible. Don't think about whether we can win the enemy, although we have fewer people, our weapons and equipment are far superior to the enemy. It is necessary to use forces boldly, with heavy troops on both flanks, and cut into the middle of the enemy at all costs. The troops in front of the frontal battlefield must be patient, and wait until the two wings are encircled, and then suddenly exert their strength to attack with all their might. As long as you hold on to Illik and run away with some Black Khan troops, it's worth it. ”

Zhang Qi said yes.

Du Zhongxiao said: "When we were studying at the military academy, we always asked to maintain enough reserves so that we could invest in critical times. This time it was a little different, because of the terrain restrictions, and it was required to capture the enemy commander, and the reserve team could be less. In other words, the troops that pinned down Illic head-on were themselves reserves for this battle. There are more than 3,000 people in the Economic Strategy Division, which is my reserve, and the rest of the soldiers and horses are all under your command! ”

Zhang Qi forked his hands and said loudly: "Obey the orders of the commander!" We will do everything in our power to capture Illic! ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded, and said to Fu Bi and Zhang Sheng on the side: "What do the two deputy envoys think?" ”

Zhang Sheng said: "Although the enemy army has more than 70,000 soldiers and horses, they are concentrated around the castle and are not scattered. In this way, our army will have the possibility of destroying them in a concentrated manner. 40,000 soldiers and horses, attacking with all your strength will not suffer! ”

Fu Bi felt a little worried: "Forty thousand against seventy thousand, and fighting head-on, this battle is won, and the significance is not small." ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Gaochang is too easy to fight, this battle will make all parts of the Western Regions dare not rebel again!" At least for a few decades, the imperial court will be as stable as Mount Tai in the Western Regions, and it will be considered qualified! Black Khan is concentrating his army to fight me here, and this is the opportunity! ”