Chapter 2237 There are not enough elite troops, so the miscellaneous soldiers come to get together


    Chapter 2234: There are not enough elite troops, so the miscellaneous soldiers come to get together


    While Huo Qubing was still cleaning the battlefield, Li Shimin had already returned to Chang''an.


    The Qin army that invaded Guanzhong was too threatening to the Tang State. As soon as Li Shimin returned to Chang''an, he immediately summoned Li Ju and other advisers to discuss how to wipe out Huo Qubing''s troops in the shortest time and where to mobilize troops to encircle and suppress them.


    In the battle of Sizhou, 150,000 Tang troops attacked Sizhou, and in the end only 80,000 people fled back to Guanzhong.


    Later, the Qin and Tang confronted each other on the front line of Tongguan. Li Shimin mobilized another 20,000 troops to Tongguan, gathered 100,000 troops to confront the Qin army, and ordered emergency military expansion in various places.


    Li Shimin had all the tasks but never expected that Li Jing would attack Tongguan openly and secretly attack Wuguan.


    The fall of Wuguan has turned the main attack direction of the Qin army from Tongguan in the east to Wuguan in the southeast.


    In order to prevent the Qin army from going to Wuguan and attacking Chang''an, Li Shimin personally visited 40,000 troops to Lantian and left Li Keyong to lead 60,000 troops to guard Tongguan.


    Li Shimin wanted to block Li Jing in Lantian, but unfortunately he failed. Lantian was quickly captured by the Qin army, and the Tang army lost 10,000 elite troops and 10,000 county soldiers retreated to defend Yuguan.


    In addition to the 20,000 elite Tang troops, Yiguan also has 30,000 county soldiers, but this army of no ten thousand can stop Li Jing''s ten thousand army, so Li Shimin prepared to transfer 40,000 elite troops from Chang''an to Yiguan.


    But what Li Shimin did not expect happened. Qin State actually sent Huo Qubing to lead the cavalry, raiding more than 3,000 miles a long distance, and attacking Xiaoguan.


    Not only did they break through Xiao Pass in less than a day, but they also made the 40,000 troops who came to support them unable to advance and retreat, and had to fight the Qin army to decisively.


    The Tang army fought a hasty decisive battle, but as expected, only 5,000 elite troops were left, which made the situation of the Tang Kingdom worse.


    Before the war with Qin, although the Tang Dynasty had 300,000 troops nationwide, the elite troops were only 230,000, and the others were county soldiers with weak combat power.


    The battle of Sizhou lost 70,000, Wuguan lost 5,000, Lantian lost 10,000, Xiaoguan lost 5,000, and Xianxian lost 35,000.


    The Tang State has lost 125,000 elite troops. Although the total strength has not decreased after the expansion of the army, the elite troops are only 105,000.


    The Tang Dynasty did not lack troops, and the elite troops were lacking.


    The last 105,000 elite soldiers were 60,000 in Tongguan, 20,000 in Yuguan, and 10,000 in Hanzhong. The remaining elites were only 15,000.


    As for the current situation, the Tang Kingdom has been forced to a dead end. If you are not careful, not only will Guanzhong be in danger of losing its protection, but it will also be in danger of destruction.


    If you want to wipe out Huo Qubing''s cavalry, you must dispatch elite troops, but the current situation of the Tang Kingdom obviously cannot generate so many elite troops.


    So the question is, where should we dispatch troops?


    In addition to the three counties in Guanzhong, the Tang Dynasty also had three counties in Hanzhong (Hanzhong, Shangyong, Xincheng), three counties in Longxi (Longxi, Wudu, Hanyang), and three counties in Qiang, totaling twelve counties.


    Hanzhong is now threatened by Han Xin, and Li Xiaogong is too busy to take care of himself, so Hanzhong''s troops must not be able to move.


    The elite troops from Longxi and Qiang were transferred to Guanzhong long before the war. The new army after the expansion of the army was neither useful nor late, even if it was recruited.


    So we can only rely on the army in Guanzhong.


    After some discussion, Li Shimin made the following transfers:


    40,000 troops were transferred from Tongguan, 20,000 infantry were transferred to Yuguan, and the other 20,000 were transferred to Wuzhangyuan.


    Then, from Jingzhao Yin and Zuo Fengling, 10,000 county soldiers were transferred, and a total of 20,000 county soldiers were stationed in Tongguan.


    Under such arrangements, the defenders of Tongguan will be reduced to 40,000, of which 20,000 elite soldiers and 20,000 county soldiers.


    The defenders of Shiguan rose to 50,000, of which 30,000 elite soldiers and 20,000 county soldiers. This arrangement can only treat the symptoms, but not the root cause, so we must defeat Huo Qubing as soon as possible.


    There are still 80,000 troops in the barracks of Chang''an City, including 10,000 elite troops and 70,000 county troops.


    Li Shimin decided to visit 10,000 elite cavalry and 20,000 troops to Wuzhangyuan.


    In addition to the 20,000 elite infantry cavalry in Tongguan and the 10,000 garrisons originally from Wuzhang, a total of 60,000 troops.


    In addition, Li Shimin also ordered Li Siyuan, the prefect of the Right Fufeng, to lead 20,000 troops to support, including Gao Siji''s five thousand elite cavalry.


    After all the troops from all sides arrived, the Tang army would have an army of 80,000 in Wuzhangyuan, including 35,000 elite troops and 20,000 cavalry.


    As long as the dispatch is properly done, it is still fine to deal with Huo Qubing''s 30,000 cavalry.


    There are not enough elite soldiers, so the miscellaneous soldiers come to get together.


    Li Shimin has made up his mind to destroy Huo Qubing''s army even if he uses his lives.


    On the way to Wuzhangyuan, Li Shimin was suddenly exposed.


    "Report to the lord, the Qin army did not take advantage of the victory to pursue it, but chose to stay in Fengxian County for rest."


    After hearing this news, Li Shimin couldn''t help but think it was a pity.


    The Qin army traveled a long distance and experienced two consecutive battles, which suffered a lot of losses. Now they must be exhausted and their combat power has dropped greatly.


    If the chief general of the Qin army was arrogant and continued to make progress, Li Shimin led his army to wait for work in Wuzhangyuan and was fully confident that he would defeat the Qin army head-on.


    It’s a pity that Huo Qubing is not that kind of person and will not give Li Shimin this opportunity at all.


    "Report... Report to the lord, after two days of rest in Fengxian, the Qin army left behind 5,000 defenders to guard Fengxian, and the remaining 25,000 cavalry were coming to Wuzhangyuan under the leadership of the chief general Huo Bing."


    "Haha, Huo Bing''s son only has 35,000 troops. He went deeper and did not concentrate his troops to fight. He was still splitting his troops. It was simply seeking death."


    Huo Qubing has left five thousand troops in Xiaoguan, and now he has left five thousand troops in Fengxian County, which is naturally good news for Li Shimin.


    Huo Qubing went deep into the army alone, with insufficient troops, no logistics, and no retreat, but he still dared to divide his troops like this. This obviously has violated a military taboo.


    The Qin army''s iron cavalry had extraordinary combat power. If 35,000 iron cavalry gathered together and fought head-on, Li Shimin would not dare to confront the Qin army without a 100,000 army.


    But now Huo Qubing chose to divide his troops, which was tantamount to self-destruction, and Li Shimin had greater confidence in dealing with him.


    After removing Huo Qubing''s main force, it will be easier to wipe out the remaining 10,000 Qin army cavalry.


    "Huo Bing, who almost sealed the wolf, was just like this."


    Li Shimin sneered, and at the same time he felt a little lucky. He had received the news that because Liangzhou was about to be unified, Huo Qubing sent 30,000 cavalry to support Ma Chao, otherwise the Tang Kingdom would face the 70,000 Qin troops alone.


    In order to deal with the 30,000 Qin army cavalry, Li Shimin recruited troops everywhere and only gathered 80,000 troops. If the Qin army had 70,000 iron cavalry coming to Guanzhong, this battle would really be impossible.


    Wuzhangyuan is only more than 200 miles away from Chang''an. It is adjacent to the Qinling Mountains in the south and the Wei River in the north. It has deep ditches from east to west. The situation is dangerous and easy to defend but difficult to attack.


    Zhuge Liang once stationed troops in Wuzhangyuan and fought against Sima Yi across the Wei River. Later, he died of illness due to overwork and illness in Wuzhangyuan, and Wuzhangyuan was also famous throughout the world.


    (This chapter ends)