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After dividing Gansu, Ningxia, and Liaodong into several new provinces and deciding on the chief officers of the three divisions in each province, Qin Mu urgently dispatched Su Jin's 10,000 cavalry to the north to support Hetao, and ordered Nong Dianzhang to raise food and fodder. After all the busy work, it was already dusk and the light was fading.
The palace lanterns had been lit in the Wuying Hall. Qin Mu and the other ministers had a quick meal, spread out a map, and listened to Xijing Town General Qin Yiming's report on the battle situation in Longyou, Hexi, and Hetao.
Qin Yiming pointed at the map and said, "Your Majesty, the current situation is quite pressing, especially the sudden attack of 15,000 Qitate troops into Hetao, which completely disrupted our previous deployment. There are only 10,000 troops in Hetao now, Dongshengwei was lost, and the 1,000 troops were defeated.
Of the remaining 9,000, except for the 2,000 men led by Wen Cunxiao who were guarding Yinchuan City, the rest were scattered in Lingwu, Xiazhou, Yinzhou, and Yulin. Even if Wen Cunxiao wanted to withdraw troops from these cities, he would not be able to spare many.
Lingwu, Xiazhou, Yinzhou and Yulin are all important places along the Great Wall. There are not many soldiers now. If Wen Cunxiao can transfer a large number of troops and Qitate can go south from Dongtao, as long as one city is captured, the Wuding River defense line will be completely collapsed and the door to northern Shaanxi will be wide open.
Therefore, the troops in these places should not only not be transferred, but also the defense should be strengthened. Now the Mongols and Hui people in the eastern part of the country have all joined the Qitat, and their troops have exceeded 20,000. It is not surprising that they will increase to 30,000. Therefore, I think that it is not enough to transfer General Su's 10,000 troops to the north. "
After Qin Yiming finished speaking, Nong Dianzhang carefully suggested, "Your Majesty, should we temporarily postpone the implementation of Hanization in Hetao?"
In addition to the Mongols, there are also Hui people in the Hetao area. Since the recovery of the Hetao area, Qin Mu has ordered the promotion of Hanization, although not as strong as the Khorchin's division of grassland into households.
But the promotion of sinicization was definitely one of the reasons why the Mongols and Uighurs in Hetao turned to the Qitate people.
Qin Mu looked at Sima An, Li Yuan and others and asked, "What do you think of this, ministers?"
Yu Shangyou replied, "Your Majesty, the worst thing about governing is changing your mind from day to day. Although suspending the promotion of sinicization now will help deal with Qitate, it will be extremely disadvantageous in the long run. Not only will all the previous work be wasted, but it will also be even more difficult to promote sinicization in the future."
Li Yuan and Sima An generally agreed with Yu Shangyou's opinion. Qin Mu then said, "In this case, the sinicization cannot be abandoned, but the progress can be slowed down."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Nong Dianzhang replied quickly.
Qin Mu turned to Qin Yiming and said, "We will talk about sending more troops to reinforce Hetao later. First, tell me about the situation in Longyou and Hexi Corridor."
"Your Majesty. In Longyou, Gushih Khan's 30,000 troops are currently attacking Lanzhou, and Lanzhou garrison commander Ma Wannian has 10,000 troops. With the 8,000 reinforcements from Hetao, there is no need to worry about any losses for the time being.
However, Gushri Khan sent his eldest son Dayan Ochir Khan to lead an army of 10,000 to attack Datonghe Fort in the north. It was initially speculated that his strategic intention was to cross the Datong River, attack Zhuanglangwei, station Qiang Fort and Gulangso, and approach Liangzhou. He had the intention of completely blocking the eastern end of the Hexi Corridor.
In addition, Gushih Khan also sent his general Na Risong to lead 7,000 troops to the south to break through Taohe Pass and Hezhou. Currently, Na Risong is attacking Lintao Prefecture. Our army has 2,000 troops stationed in Lintao Prefecture, and the commander is Wu Qingfeng.
Now the military forces of Gongchang Prefecture, Taozhou, Minzhou, Ningyuan, and even Qinzhou have been basically drained out and are very empty. Once Lintao Prefecture is breached, the above prefectures will be in great danger.
Your Majesty, I want to emphasize that Gushri Khan's troops also used a large number of thunder bombs, and the thunder bombs equipped by our army had a larger amount of explosives and were more powerful;
They also made a crossbow to launch caltrops filled with gunpowder. The caltrops were loaded with five to ten kilograms of gunpowder. When launched into the city, they exploded with power not much less than our rockets, causing great casualties to our soldiers defending the city.
Upon hearing the news, Qin Mu's brows slightly frowned. Grenade is a double-edged sword. Its production process is too simple. As long as there is gunpowder, almost anyone can imitate it.
The Qin army was the first to use it, with very good results, but now the enemies are also imitating it, and some are even trying to improve it. It seems that we should invest more in flintlock rifles and produce more to equip the army.
"Your Majesty, the customs in Lintao Prefecture, Hezhou, Taozhou, Minzhou and other places are very complicated. There are a large number of nomadic Qiang and Tibetan people. These people are usually brave and good at fighting, and unruly. Now that Gushri Khan has the upper hand, many of these Tibetan Qiang people have surrendered to the enemy. It is not ruled out that there are people in Lintao and Minzhou who are causing chaos or acting as accomplices for the enemy."
From listening to the situation, it can be said that the situation is urgent. There is almost no other way to deal with these Qiang people except to intimidate them with force.
During the Song and Ming dynasties, these Qiang people were accustomed to rebellion. It was impossible that they would change their nature, lay down their butcher knives, and become Buddhas as soon as the Qin Dynasty was established.
Qin Mu continued to ask: "What is the situation in Shazhou?"
“Your Majesty, Shazhou is 4,000 miles away, and we received news from a month ago that after the Dzungarian Khan Batur annexed the Yarkand Khanate, his strength increased greatly, and his military strength is no less than 100,000.
At present, Batur Khan has sent his second son, Chechen Taiji, to guard Yarkand City (Shache), and his third son, Zhuoteba Batur, to guard Hasihar (Kashgar). Batur himself has led an army of 50,000 to the east to join his fifth son Sengge in Shazhou. The Dzungar’s military strength in Shazhou has reached 60,000.
After Li retreated to Guazhou, the Mongols in Guazhou rebelled. Although Li suppressed them in time, the food stored in Guazhou was burned. Li was worried that Batur’s troops would surround Guazhou and the army would run out of food, so he had to retreat to Chijin City again and use Zhangma City as a corner... "
"What? You said Guazhou was also lost?" Qin Mu couldn't help but interrupt Qin Yiming when he heard this, his eyes a little cold.
Suzhou (Jiuquan City) is about 800 miles away from Shazhou (Dunhuang City), which means that Li Dingguo lost 800 miles of land in these few months. If he gave up Shazhou voluntarily, it would be like inviting someone into a trap. Unfortunately, he failed to catch the turtle in the trap.
But even with such a large army gathered, they still burned the grain stores in Guazhou, which was a bit incompetent.
Is Li Dingguo really so incompetent? Qin Mu felt lost. Could it be that he really trusted the wrong person
After listening to these situations, I can sum it up in four words: a mess.
Calculating the enemy's strength, Qitate conservatively estimated it to be 20,000, Gushri Khan who attacked Longyou had 50,000, and Batur Khan of Junggar had 60,000, which makes a total of 130,000 troops. The total strength of the Qin army in Hexi and Hetao is less than 80,000.
It must also be clear that these 130,000 enemies were all highly mobile cavalry, while the 80,000 troops of the Qin army were mostly infantry, with a total cavalry of only 30,000.
Looking at Hetao, Longyou, and Hexi, these places are vast and sparsely populated, with only one city every hundreds of miles. In such places, infantry can only be used to defend the city; after leaving the city, even if equipped with advanced weapons, it is extremely dangerous;
Others will not stand there stupidly and let you attack. At the speed of infantry, it often takes ten days or half a month to travel hundreds of miles. If an army of 10,000 marches for half a month, how much logistical food and fodder will it take
You don't need to fight against other people's cavalry. They can easily drag you to death in the wilderness by targeting your food and fodder supplies.
Qin Mu rubbed his aching brow and asked, "My dear ministers, how do we deal with this mess? What do you think?"
Sima An said: "Your Majesty, after Su Jin's 10,000 cavalrymen go to Hetao, even if they cannot completely annihilate Qitate, they should be able to control the situation in Hetao. Looking at the western end of the Hexi Corridor, the more troops we send to Suzhou now, the more dangerous it will be;
The Khoshut tribe in Qinghai-Tibet is like a sharp knife hanging over its head. Lanzhou, Lintao, Minzhou and other places must not be lost, otherwise the troops in the Hexi Corridor will be cut off and the morale of the army will be in chaos. Furthermore, Guanzhong and Sichuan will also be exposed to the enemy's attack.
Therefore, I think the most important thing at present is to get rid of Gushi Khan. If our army attacks from the high altitude and cold land of Qinghai-Tibet, it will be difficult for them to adapt to the high altitude climate, which can be said to be full of difficulties.
Now most of Gushri Khan's troops have moved to Lanzhou. For our Great Qin, this is a crisis, but also a good opportunity. If we can take advantage of this opportunity to defeat Gushri Khan and annihilate his main force, then the entire Qinghai-Tibet region can be secured."
Sima An's words lifted Qin Mu's spirits. Yes, if Gushri Khan did not come down, it would be extremely difficult for the Qin army to capture the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Even if they could capture it, they would have to pay a huge price.
The question is, how can we completely wipe out Gushi Khan's 50,000 troops? Others are not stupid, and if the war goes against them, they will immediately withdraw.
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.(To be continued..)
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