The autumn wind is blowing, and winter is coming.

On a flat earth, the grass clippings were swept in circles and floated in the air, two armies ten miles apart.

On the southern side, a twenty or thirty-mile battle line was arranged in a zigzag manner, and at the fore of the line were three deeply dug trenches, which stretched backwards and were covered with fences, horses, antlers, and other obstacles, and then there were camps connected by roads.

In the camps on the south side, rectangular flags and triangular flags with drooping poles hunted in the wind, and black, gray, cyan, white, and red figures could be seen everywhere in the camps. The soldiers in red robes were the Han troops who entered the Qin land to help in the battle, and the rest of the colors were the Qin troops who were transferred from the Qin State to conduct defensive battles.

The number was probably on the side of the 370,000 Chinese army, and the number of the Han army was only in the early 60,000s.

The number of Han troops in Qin should have a total of 80,000, but the first batch of 30,000 Han troops who entered Qin participated in the early defensive battles, lost some in the direction of Taiyuan County, and joined the 50,000 Han troops who entered Qin in the later period, until Meng Tian ordered the battle line to retreat again to the defense line near Dingyang (60 miles east of modern Ganquan), and the rest was about 60,000.

In fact, the loss of the Han army of about 20,000 is not much, in several battles on the border between Shangjun and Taiyuan County, the Qin army invested about 450,000 troops, but the Qin army that successfully withdrew to the Dingyang defense line was less than 300,000, and the Qin soldiers who disappeared from the establishment sequence within half a year were more than 100,000.

Since the Xiongnu joined the 150,000 Qi Yan troops, they advanced the battle line to about 50 miles away from Neishi County and about 200 miles away from Xianyang within half a year.

At first, Meng Tian continued to pull the battle line in order to ensure the increasingly difficult logistics supply line, and later it became clear that the Han army's grand strategy was even more deliberate to keep retreating the troops, and it was only until the front line of Yang that another purposeful blocking battle was fought. After that, what was formed was a kind of retreat similar to the collapse of the front, and finally settled down on the Dingyang line.

A big battle in which the total number of troops invested by both sides was close to one million, and the Qin and Han troops continued to retreat, including the Han army, and the combined losses of the Qin and Han troops were only about 120,000, which was not a heavy loss, you must know that they retreated three or four hundred miles in order to serve the grand strategy. In this era when there is no radio contact, it is inevitable that some troops will lose contact with the command center when the large army retreats, and there are nearly 200,000 Hu people on horseback on the enemy's side, and Meng Tian's command has been very appropriate, and it is not uncommon for a fake retreat to become a real rout under the constant attacks and attacks of the Hu cavalry.

On the side of the Qin and Han coalition forces, 120,000 soldiers disappeared from the formation sequence in the process of fighting and retreating. The Xiongnu, Qi, and Yan were not without losses, but because the Qin and Han sides were constantly retreating, the Qin and Han command systems could not come up with accurate figures.

"The enemy is pursuing the cavalry of the Huns, and the cavalry can easily evacuate under unfavorable circumstances, and our side is basically for foot soldiers...... "The lieutenant is very serious in the analysis, he specially cited some examples of the Han cavalry and the Qi army, and finally raised his right hand and compared the posture of three fingers: "Therefore, the maximum inference is that the enemy's loss of troops will not exceed 30,000." ”

Meng Tian naturally sat in the main seat, and the lieutenant and the generals of the Han army sat on the right side of the lower head. Zhang Han, Su Jiao and other generals of the Qin army sat on the left side of the lower head.

The military tent is relatively large, and in the middle is a sand table arranged by the generals of the Qin and Han dynasties, and some maps of mountains and rivers are hung on the four sides of the tent with wooden shelves. Whether it is on the sand table or on the map of mountains and rivers, the signs representing both the enemy and the enemy are marked. The Qin and Han armies were naturally on the defensive line, but the enemy army was divided into several parts, the Xiongnu cavalry scattered more troops, and the Qi and Yan armies, which were mainly foot soldiers, were ten miles outside the Qin and Han defense lines east of Dingyang.

Zhang Han saluted Meng Tian realistically. Then he looked at the communist lieutenant and said, "General Gong, your army is familiar with cavalry combat. As he spoke, he stood up, walked to the sand table and pointed to several Hun cavalry signs scattered in number of more than 3,000: "Can you judge the intentions of these enemy troops?" ”

The lieutenant also stood up and walked to the sand table, picked up the wooden stick that was placed beside him, and first lit a few Hun cavalry: "The number of these cavalry is not enough to launch a frontal attack, so they can only be mainly roaming and attacking," and then the long stick pointed to the area north and east of Gaonu: "The Qin cities in these places are still under the control of your country, and there are more or less garrison troops in the cities," the meaning of the words was very clear, and those Hun cavalry intended to divide and blockade: "The two armies of Qi and Yan have not been mobilized, but before winter is coming, The enemy was clearly trying to capture a few cities so that they could survive the winter. ”

"Taught." Zhang Han bowed his hand and continued: "There are as many as thirteen Hun cavalry scattered out, and some of them are detouring to the north and west. This part of the roundabout cavalry, the scouts have obtained information about 50,000......"

How could the Qin army be unfamiliar with cavalry? For the first time in history, pure cavalry was put into use in the land of China...... Well, at that time, they called it a single horse, in short, it was not an example of the Qin army not using a large force of cavalry to fight. In addition, even so far in the Qin State, there are still nomadic tribesmen, and it is impossible for them to be unfamiliar with the characteristics of the horse march, and what they do not understand is the Han army's riding combat mode.

Zhang Han said a lot, and gradually revealed the Qin army's familiarity with the mobility of the cavalry, and finally revealed that he wanted the Han army to organize a cavalry to intercept it, and all the war horses were collected by the Qin side.

"This ......" the lieutenant said with a wry smile: "The two groups of Han troops who came to Qin to help in the war, except for a very small part of the scouts who can ride horses, the rest are infantry soldiers. ”

To be honest, the remaining 60,000 or so Han soldiers who can fight on horseback may not even be able to gather a thousand. In addition, the equestrian skills on the Han side are basically selected into various cavalry formations, and these troops who enter the Qin land to help in the war, in addition to the 20,000 heavy infantry, are crossbowmen, spearmen, and Pu sword soldiers.

"Really?" Zhang Han did not hide the pity on his face, he turned around and walked towards his position, paused halfway through, slowly turned around, and made a hesitant expression: "That...... Can you teach us the way the Han cavalry fights? ”

Not!? Dare to say that the purpose of providing war horses for the Han army is to explore the secrets of the cavalry on the Han side???

The expressions of many Han generals present became stiff, and the lieutenant even glanced back and forth between Zhang Han and Meng Tian.

The Han army was able to quickly spread out the battlefield after going north, and successively captured so many counties in a very short period of time, which was inseparable from the play of its cavalry corps.

The Han State was able to raise 150,000 cavalry within six years, although it was true that there were many soldiers who could have ridden horses without stirrups, but the cavalry corps quickly formed combat effectiveness after it was formed, and the credit was really the greatest in stirrups. At the same time, the Han cavalry did not wear much loss of horses during the battle, because the Han army put on the "boots" of horseshoes for the horses, otherwise even the marching horses should have lost a lot because of the damage to the horses' hooves.

There is no scientific and technological content, what is lacking is just inspiration, but the advantage is at least a thousand years ahead of the current era, and these generals of the Qin State want to know those secrets in a few words, and the establishment is to make the lieutenant feel a little crying and laughing, and those Han generals are basically angry in their hearts.

"Is this General Zhang's own opinion, or General Meng, or the prince of your country?" The lieutenant didn't erupt in anger, and he even smiled as he spoke.

Zhang Han glanced at Meng Tian on the throne, then bowed and saluted: "The Han State and the Qin State are now allies, and after this battle, we will also join the Great Empire according to the advice of the King of Han, and then there will be no Han army and no Qin army, all of them will be the army of the empire." ”

"Yes...... "Of course, the lieutenant knows the secrets that have not yet been made public.

The first time I heard that the Han State and the Qin State would cancel the country name, and then merge into one general of a great empire, whether it was the Han army or the Qin army, they all showed stunned expressions.

Meng Tian, who was sitting on the main seat, opened his mouth and said: "I'm about to part of each other, I don't know if the communist general is willing to tell the secret of the cavalry in advance?" After a pause, he smiled and said: "The current war is tense, if there is no cavalry to intercept the enemy troops who are detouring, I am afraid that the supply line in our rear will be interrupted, and it will ...... then."

"The lieutenant is only a lieutenant general, and he doesn't have enough authority to deal with this matter." The lieutenant took a deep look at Meng Tian: "But...... The lieutenant can send someone to ask the king urgently, and there will be a reply within seven days at the latest. ”

"Seven days?" Meng Tian stopped talking.

Zhang Han said: "The cavalry can march up to sixty or seventy miles a day, and some can travel a hundred miles a day, and after seven days, they will get a reply, and then make the corresponding tools, I'm afraid it will be ......."

The lieutenant didn't pay attention to Zhang Han, arched his hand at Meng Tian, and saluted: "If there are no other issues, the lieutenant will retire first." ”

Meng Tian stood up and saluted back: "General Gong, I'm waiting for the abruptness." ”

The lieutenant saluted again, and then walked out of the tent without looking back, and the other Han generals also got up to leave.

It wasn't until the people on the Han army's side were out of the tent that Meng Tian smiled bitterly and said, "They don't believe that we are serving the war situation." ”

"If the Hun cavalry led by Mao Dun completes the detour, our supply line will not only be cut off," Zhang Han said gloomily: "If Mao Dun not only cut off our logistics line, but also make a move to threaten Xianyang, it will be difficult for us to return to the army to support." (To be continued......)