According to the latest statistics, there are about 30,000 Han Chinese living in Dunhuang. In addition to the Han Chinese, there are some other ethnic groups in Dunhuang City, about 30,000. The ethnic groups of the Hamiwei region are complex, and there are many other ethnic groups besides the Han and Tatars. For example, what Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Gaz and the like. The war was fought only between the Han Chinese and the Tatars, and it did not have any great impact on the other peoples.

The situation in Hami City is more complicated than in Dunhuang. Hami City is also a major transportation artery. If Dunhuang is the southern route of the Silk Road, Hami City is the northern route. If you want to reach Turpan, Urumqi and other places, you must pass through Hami City.

The Tatars, who had been evacuated from Dunhuang, were currently stationed near the city of Hami. They did not defend the city, but they stayed near the city of Hami and refused to go. In this way, the whites must find a way to expel them. To be precise, to eliminate them. If it's just an expulsion, they'll come back later. If you don't cut the grass and don't remove the roots, the spring breeze blows and grows again. To be honest, this kind of work is very laborious and time-consuming. Pure water grinding kung fu.

The entire Hamiwei area is connected to the surrounding areas, southeast and northwest, and is a vast space. As long as you want, you can run anywhere, and there will be no obstacles in between. The current strategy adopted by the Tatar cavalry is to avoid fighting and have been grinding in circles with the lion cavalry. If you come, I'll run. If you're gone, I'll run back. The lionriders were annoyed, but there was no good way to kill them.

Xu Xingxia frowned and said slowly: "I'll transfer the garrison as soon as possible!" When the time comes, you can free up all your field forces and fight until you kill them. Anyway, in a word, even if you chase them all the way to the sky, you have to kill them all. I don't believe they can hide for the rest of their lives. ”

Those cunning Tatars, taking such an approach, is really a new subject for the white-clothed army. It is conceivable that as the battle gradually unfolds, and with the continuous expansion of the area controlled by the White Army, there should be many more such situations. I can't beat you, can't I escape? I don't believe you're going to chase me all the time! Stay in the green mountains, don't worry about no firewood, as long as you don't kill me completely, I still have a chance to make a comeback.

In this large-scale expansion of the white-clothed army, Xu Xingxia also put forward a new concept, that is, a garrison force. The garrison is the army that specializes in defending the city. This city includes important towns, passes, strongholds, and so on. They were also armed with advanced muskets with high power, received the same rigorous training, and obeyed the same discipline of the White Army. The only difference is that there are no war horses. Perhaps, they should be called the White Army infantry in general.

In the past, the white-clothed army did only have cavalry, but no infantry. The main thing is that the white-clothed army has never lacked war horses. The cavalry has strong mobility, and of course it is a cavalry that goes directly on the horse. At that time, fighting around Ningxia Town, with its back to the Ningxia Plain, there was basically no need to worry about the forage problem of war horses. However, as the area of control expands, and as there are more and more points that need to be defended, it would be a waste to continue to use cavalry to defend them. At the same time, the problem of forage costs for war horses has become more and more prominent.

The main purpose of the emergence of garrison troops is to completely free up field troops for offensive or defensive operations in all directions. Xu Xingxia wanted to give full play to the mobile surname and combat capability of the cavalry troops. Isn't it stupid to let the field troops work empty? Even if you want to waste, there is no such way as waste. A sharpened knife, if you don't take it out to cut people, what do you do with hard work? Is it just for others to see? Xu Xingxia doesn't have such a special hobby. When his knife is sharpened, he must be going to cut someone.

At the same time, the formation of garrison troops is also aimed at reducing the total military expenditure of the white-clothed army. After all, the 150,000 cavalry troops are still very expensive to spend on ordinary expenses. For the current white-clothed army, the forage consumption of war horses alone is a big expense. The 150,000 cavalry troops had more than 200,000 horses.

For 200,000 war horses, each war horse needs 30 catties of forage per day. A rough estimate shows that the cost of forage for war horses alone will cost thousands of taels of silver every day. If you add the salary, weapons and equipment, food, clothing and other logistics expenses of the cavalry, even Xu Xingxia, who is said to be making money, feels a little difficult. The money is spending too fast.

It seems that in history, except for those particularly powerful nomads, no one has ever had an elite cavalry team of more than 150,000 people. In the land of the Central Plains, not to mention 150,000 elite cavalry, even if there are 50,000 elite cavalry, they can almost sweep the world and win the honor of the Ninety-Five. At that time, the majestic Li Shimin's black cavalry was less than 10,000 at most. The famous Yue family army was only 8,000 cavalry, and they beat the Jin army, which was also from a nomadic people, to cry for their father.

Fortunately, there are places such as Ningxia Town, Bayannur Grassland, and Tumochuan Plain, where more war horses can be raised, otherwise, Xu Xingxia is really a little troublesome. The old man of the chairman of the committee has always been the most active in expanding the army, and he is eager to expand the number of cavalry to more than one million, and he can fill up all other people's land by using the tactics of crowds alone. It's a pity that I really don't have this ability. If you continue to drum it up, the chairman will go bankrupt.

And the garrison, if you don't need war horses, the cost can be greatly reduced. It is just a peasant who has been pulled over, equipped with a moon gun, and trained strictly for three months, and he can basically be competent. Without the additional burden of war horses, it is obviously much easier. According to estimates, the cost of one cavalryman is equivalent to the cost of five ordinary infantry musketeers. In other words, by reducing one cavalry, you can increase five infantry...... Hey? What kind of logic is this?

By forming a garrison force and freeing up all the cavalry of the white-clothed army, it can be put into more battlefields and form a greater force advantage. The speed of the cavalry is fast, and if you march quickly, even if you rush from Yansui Town to Hamiwei, it will take half a month. This is something that the infantry will never be able to do. Therefore, if something unexpected happens, Xu Xingxia's first thought must be to mobilize the cavalry team, and he will not consider the slow-moving infantry at all.

With the gradual professionalization of the garrison, the cavalry did not need to undertake the task of defending the city. In this way, there are some special troops, and there are no complaints. For example, the Xiongqu Army has been on the defensive since the day it was born, which makes the soldiers of the Xiongqu Army a little complaining. Xu Xingxia originally meant that the Xiongqu Army was professionally garrisoned, which can be seen from its military number. However, Xiong Qujun's people couldn't understand Xu Xingxia's thoughts.

Why is it always them who take care of the house? Why are they always Xiong Qujun watching the excitement from the side? Could it be that their Xiongqu army can't fight field battles? Could it be that the combat effectiveness of their Xiongqu Army is not strong? However, their Xiongqu army is also equipped with a large number of war horses, and they are also trained in field battles! On the Gobi Desert outside Zhenyuan Pass, they also participated in field battles. Their performance is no worse than that of other troops. Now, it's a waste to continue to garrison us at Zhenyuanguan. Garrison Zhenyuanguan, what do you need so many war horses for?

This time, Xu Xingxia was determined to use the Zhenyuanguan garrison to replace the Xiongqu army and put it into the main battlefield. The Zhenyuan Pass garrison only needs three hundred musketeers to be competent. The cost of the entire garrison is less than that of a squad of cavalry. In addition, the same is true of the garrisons of Yulin City, Xi'an City, Hanzhong City, Jiayuguan and other places.

At the same time, the garrison is also an important supplement to the field troops of the White Army. If the shortage of field troops is large, they can be directly transferred from the garrison. In the future, if the white-clothed army arrives in the water town south of the Yangtze River, the cavalry unit is not suitable for fighting, and the elite will be selected from the garrison and directly organized into an infantry army to conquer the south of the Yangtze River. As for the march into Annam, Tianzhu and other places, a large number of infantry is needed. We must start now, and we must plan ahead.

After the staff officer finished speaking, Gao Yigong added: "Chairman, there is still a situation, that is, the problem of the Yarkand Kingdom. According to the information I have, when we marched into Hamiwei, there were some discordant voices from the side of the Yarkand Kingdom. I fear that if they intervene in Hamiwei, it will increase the pressure on our army. ”

The Yarkand Kingdom was originally of the same origin as the Mongols. The original site of the kingdom was the former Chagatai Khanate. However, due to the influence of the spread of the Green Religion, the people who live here basically no longer believe in the Eternal Heaven. They trust another god even more. Due to the difference in beliefs, the relationship between them and the Mongols gradually weakened. Even, there were fierce clashes between the two sides at one point. Mo Yuegen had long wanted to clean up those infidels. It's a pity that his ideal has not been realized, and he was defeated by Xu Xingxia.

At present, the ruler of the Yarkand kingdom is called Abdullatif. The capital of the kingdom was in the southwestern city of Yarkand (present-day Shache, Xinjiang Province), which was still relatively far away from Hamiwei. However, the Yarkand Kingdom set up a special administrator in the Turpan region, which is commonly known as the governor of Turpan. Above this viceroy, there was also the presence of the Eastern Khan, who was specifically responsible for administering the eastern regions of the Yarkand kingdom. The power of this Eastern Khan is still quite large. Basically, he is the number two person in the Yarkand Khanate.

(To be continued)