Chapter 842: Subduing the Tiger
Niu Jianhu squatted in the pine forest by the Nantan River, silent, like a statue.
Outside the forest.
The Nantan River crosses a line of canyons here, and a small road along the river valley at the foot of the valley winds along the valley. This is a road less than one foot wide.
A soldier came to Niu Jianhu.
"Nong Tianshun's 12,000 troops are coming here."
"Be more specific." Niu Jianhu looked serious.
Joining the army quickly pulled out a dagger, and gestured on the ground, "Nong Tianshun's twelve thousand people walked and rode, but they were basically young and strong, and they didn't bring any old, weak, women or children, or luggage. Only some of the mules accompanied the army."
"They have a battalion of about 2,000 men, five infantry battalions, and one cavalry battalion."
Niu Jianhu quickly calculated, "The road is narrow, two people in each battalion will walk one by one, if the road is one foot wide, four people will be in a row, if the road is one foot wide, six people will be in a row, and the road width will be two feet, eight people will be in a row. "..." The road Niu Jianhu mentioned does not refer to the ordinary road surface, but refers to as long as there is dry and walkable ground on the left and right sides of the road, it is included in the width of the road to calculate and arrange marching.
Marching is a very complicated matter, and one of the key things is the length of the marching path. In short, when marching, you must first plan according to the width of the road. The distance between them must be arranged accordingly for reconnaissance and detection of horses, cavalry patrols, etc.
Just like when Yang Guang conquered Goguryeo, he sent 1.12 million troops, which were divided into three groups, and the left and right groups formed twelve armies each, plus a large number of auxiliary troops and grain transporters. It took a full forty days for all the troops to set out, and the armies joined each other end to end, with a distance of more than 960 li.
This is the long march of a million-strong army, which is as high as thousands of miles, which is very terrifying.
As the second generation of generals, Niu Jianhu himself is also familiar with the military art of war. He has been in the army for a long time, so he is quite clear about these.
Take the road along the Nantan River in front of you? Coming from Pazhou? Nong Tiangui's soldiers and horses can only have four people in a row at most? If it is cavalry, they can only ride two.
There are strict standards for marching soldiers of the Tang Dynasty. For example, the distance between each row of infantry is seven feet, and the distance between each row of cavalry is one foot two.
An infantry regiment of 200 soldiers? Not counting the logistics mule and horse convoy, the marching length is thirty-three feet long, while an infantry battalion of 800 men is about one mile long.
What about a camp of 2,000 people? The marching radius is three miles.
Of course? If it is an elite force? The distance between infantry can be shortened to one step? That is about 1.5 meters.
According to this data? Niu Jianhu can quickly deduce the length of Nong Tianshun's 12,000-man team? He has five infantry battalions with 10,000 men. Dividing ten thousand and four divisions by one step is 2,500 steps, and five hundred steps are one mile? Then we have to open a five-mile-long team.
Plus two thousand cavalry? Two thousand divided by two times one step? Another two miles long.
Twelve thousand people? Even if the battalions are not separated, they have to be stretched to six miles long.
And in the canyon passing through here, the road is less than one foot wide? It means that the team will be doubled, which is at least twelve miles long.
In terms of normal marching speed, it takes about ten miles to march in an hour, which means that the distance between the rear army and the front army is more than an hour.
Of course, these data are all based on the data of the elite soldiers of the Tang army. In fact, Nong Tianshun’s barbarian army includes Judingman and Zuoximan. They are not professional troops, but a combination of various tribes. It was originally made up of hunters, blacksmiths, silversmiths, miners, farmers, slaves, and so on.
When such an army is marching, it will definitely not be able to maintain a good tacit understanding, especially between the various troops, there must be some distance between them.
Especially when passing through some dangerous road sections, it may also cause congestion and the like.
In order to ensure that the army is not chaotic when marching, the Tang army has always required that the army march on the road, rest neatly for ten miles, dry food for thirty miles, and board and lodging for sixty miles.
Otherwise, a large number of soldiers and horses may fall behind while walking, and it is necessary to constantly rest and reorganize to bring the troops together and maintain their combat effectiveness.
The larger the army and the more people and horses, the slower the marching speed, because the team has to be constantly organized along the way.
Calculated in this way, Nong Tianshun's 12,000 troops are regarded as the vanguard of the barbarian army, but it is estimated that the journey will take about fifteen or even twenty miles.
The real one-word long snake formation.
Niu Jianhu drew a long curved line on the ground.
"This is Nantan River, this is Thunder Cloud Valley."
The Leiyun Valley is a canyon with a width of more than ten miles. The Nantan River exits the Leiyun Valley, merges into three tributaries, and then turns a big bend to the northwest. Therefore, after leaving the canyon, you have to cross the river.
The Nantan River is not very wide, but there has been a lot of rain recently and the river is quite deep. Although there is no need to build bridges and build ships, one must be careful when crossing the river, after all, the depth can reach the chest.
Individual dark pits can even cover the top of the head.
Niu Jianhu brought three thousand people, and the other party had twelve thousand.
"We can attack halfway, first let Nong Tianshun cross one-third of the troops, or half of them, and then we suddenly rush out, kill him by surprise, and kill his half of the troops on the north bank." A soldier who joined the army. suggestion.
"The opponent has a long snake formation. Let's cut the snake and cut it seven inches. First, let's put a third of the snake's head over there, and then we will cut off the second half, divide and encircle, and annihilate each one!"
Some soldiers thought that their task was to stop Nong Tianshun's forward barbarian army and buy time for General Qin Yong to fight Wen Mendong, so it was enough to strike halfway through and knock off the opponent's snake head, so as to ensure that he would not suffer too much damage .
After all, if all 3,000 troops are deployed on the north bank, they can form a group to support them. However, if they are divided into several groups and ambushes separately, although they can cut the enemy at that time, they will be relatively scattered and easily outnumbered, which is more dangerous.
"Nong Tiangui is just a vanguard. If we really want to defend Jingxi Prefecture, we must be able to withstand Nong Sanniang's 50,000 to 60,000 troops. We must preserve our strength and not lose it easily."
Several soldiers who joined the army express their opinions.
Niu Jianhu pondered.
Qin Lang attached great importance to intelligence collection and analysis, tactical formulation, etc., so he specially set up the Military Intelligence Department, the Staff Department, and the Operations Department, and transferred a group of experienced officers to join the army.
He not only made these enlisted troops for his own camp, but also made the officers at all levels below make one, so that they can work together.
Of course, this will also lead to a small problem, that is, there are too many opinions, which will test the leader's decision-making ability.
Niu Jianhu has 3,000 people, but these 3,000 people are not all members of the South China Sea Fleet, let alone the elite of the Marine Corps. He only had a part of the elite marines. Previously, the marines landed in Taiping Port and scattered to Zhennanguan, Shixi, Xiping, and Gaoping. The ones he brought to Jiaozhou and then up the Jinjiang River were from the fleet. The sailors are the main ones, and there are some Jiaozhou Township Yongtuan Lian and Manding assigned to him by Li Daliang.
After meeting in Pingmeng, he got some Gaoping Tunding, Wuanzhou Xiangyong, and even a lot of young middle-aged men. In general, his three thousand people are very mixed.
Fortunately, after fighting some battles, they cooperated tacitly, especially since they had seen blood earlier, they were still brave enough to fight. In terms of equipment, it is not bad, but to be honest, it is patchwork after all, and it is far worse than regular soldiers.
Whether it is equipment, the quality of soldiers, training and other aspects are much worse.
If there were 3,000 elite government soldiers, Niu Jianhu didn't have to think so much at all. He would just lie in ambush in the canyon with 3,000 people, and then rush out to cut him into pieces from the rebels.
"General, the barbarians are a mob, and they are even more chaotic. Moreover, they are now under great defeat. It is a time when people are panicking and their soldiers have no morale. On the contrary, we have won consecutive battles. Now our morale is high and our army's spirit is available. I think we You can safely and boldly divide the soldiers and horses into several groups to ambush the rebels..."
His reason is that the canyon is very narrow, and the width of the road can only accommodate a few people marching. This means that even if the barbarians have 12,000 troops, they can't use them at all in the canyon, especially their 2,000 cavalry are useless. Earth, there is nothing to be afraid of.
Don't say 120,000, even 120,000, in this kind of terrain, you can't use it well.
Therefore, even if the Tang army spread out in groups of 200 people, when they rushed down the mountain, they faced only a small number of enemies, and they could even form a superior force.
When the enemy's long snake array is cut off, it becomes even more impossible to look at each other from head to tail.
Taking a point intercept, of course Tang Jun has the advantage.
The vanguard of the barbarian army has crossed the Nantan River, but the rear army has not yet entered the canyon.
"Let's ambush an army here at the Nantan River, wait for a third of them to cross the river, then hide and kill them, attack halfway across the river, and cut off the snake's head first. Block the mouth of the valley, cut off the barbarian's tail outside the valley..."
In the pine forest, the ground is densely packed with the strokes of the soldiers.
Niu Jianhu's eyes became brighter and brighter.
"Very well, gather our 800 cavalry and put them on the north bank of the Nantan River. When the opponent's snake head crosses the river, let the 800 brothers attack and chop off the snake's head."
With the remaining 2,200 people, Niu Jianhu divided them into eleven regiments based on a regiment of 200 people, and arranged them into the Shili Canyon to ambush separately.
"It is agreed to use the beacon as the name, and the beacon will rise and attack at the same time!"
Three thousand people fight twelve thousand people, none of them are elites, but when they meet in the canyon road, in addition to the brave man winning, they have to rely on tricks and calculations.
After an analysis, Niu Jianhu's confidence increased greatly. Although there are many barbarians, in this terrain, they line up in a long snake, and they have to stretch for more than fifteen or even twenty miles. It is difficult to connect at all. With the help of the special location of the canyon, even if the barbarians want to see each other head to tail, it is impossible.
"Fight well, win the fight, and there will be rewards!"