On February 19, 154 AH, the coalition forces had recaptured 30% of the lost territory. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info Under the grand strategy of fighting steadily and steadily, step by step, the battle losses of the coalition forces were very low, and the total number of casualties did not exceed 7,000. The total number of casualties among the aristocratic army and local rebels exceeded 50,000 due to siege and internal strife, most of whom were professional soldiers.

Every time a local rebel army is defeated, a large number of soldiers flee. Some of them have fallen into the grass, but most of them have chosen to disarm and return to the fields to live a stable life. The situation of the aristocratic army was much better, and most of the scattered soldiers were able to gather back, and only a few would become bandits or flee back to their homeland.

By the end of January 154 of the new calendar, the gap between the strength of the coalition and the noble army had been greatly reduced. Including the local rebels, the total strength of the aristocratic army that has used mercenaries is about 1.2 million. The total strength of the coalition army exceeded 900,000, of which the Byronic army, the Ilibi army and the Egus army accounted for 200,000, and the remaining 700,000 were the troops of the Tairong Kingdom.

As long as the Taeyong Kingdom is given another half a year, they can mobilize another 100,000 people to fight. This is not the maximum mobilization capacity of the Tairong Kingdom, but if it continues to be mobilized, even with the big granary of the Byron Kingdom, the coalition army will not be able to raise more troops. Even if there is enough food, there are not enough people and vehicles to transport it.

The situation was similar on the part of the aristocratic army. From the beginning of the war to the present, the noble army has hardly replenished any troops, except for mercenaries. Unlike the coalition army, which suffered very little battle damage, the aristocratic army as the attacking side suffered large battle losses and consumed a lot of money, and most of the new recruits that were replenished would be used as cannon fodder to reduce the losses of elite troops. However, these cannon fodder are all strong men in the territory, and if they die too much, the development of the territory will be seriously affected.

The aristocratic army is here to regain lost territory, not to fight with the Tairong Kingdom. However, most of their lost territory was controlled by local rebels, and the rest were fortified fortified cities, which were easy to defend and difficult to attack, coupled with the arrival of reinforcements, the mobile forces of the coalition army increased, and the noble army had to divide a large number of troops to contain the mobile forces of the coalition army.

Now Maier commands 200,000 coalition troops and confronts 300,000 noble armies on the plains east of the Chishui River. The 200,000 allied troops commanded by Tengyuan confronted the 300,000 noble army on the plains north of Weijin Mountain. Maier and Tengyuan are both prestigious generals, and in the case of equal forces, the noble army is easily unstable, so the number of troops to contain them must be large. At present, counting mercenaries, the total strength of the aristocratic army is only 700,000, of which 600,000 will be used to contain the coalition army, and only 100,000 can be used to attack the city.

The local rebels were all on the side of the noble army for the sake of profit, and they were afraid that their strength would be lost, so they were unwilling to join forces with the noble army, and some forces were not even willing to provide military rations. Under the stubbornness of the local rebels, a large number of available forces remained in the rear. As a result, the siege troops were seriously under-armed, and the defenders were fighting with the determination to die, and it was extremely difficult to break the city, and until now the noble army has not been able to capture a city.

In order to improve the efficiency of the siege, the aristocratic army was ready to concentrate the siege troops and fight city by city. Don't look at the fact that there are still 500,000 people left in the coalition army, which is much more than the noble army, but don't forget, the coalition army must steadily regain the lost territory, and the recovered lost territory must be defended by a sufficient number of troops to prevent the enemy from counterattacking. At the same time, the defenders from all over the country cannot be mobilized, and once the local rebels perceive that the garrison of a certain city is weak, they will definitely take advantage of the opportunity to attack. In the event that the enemy broke the city and repaired the fortifications, the coalition forces would have to pay a great price if they wanted to regain the lost territory.

So 500,000 people is still a bit insufficient for the coalition army. The next 100,000 people to be mobilized are mainly to fill the personnel gap in this area. The coalition also needed a mobile force, so that the noble army would not concentrate the besieging forces and unite their forces to steadily attack the city.

Judging by the strategic situation, the actions of the coalition forces are clearly a step slower. The third mobile unit has not yet been formed, but the noble army has changed its strategy. The combination of the noble army will not cause much trouble to the coalition army, because even if the army is combined, the siege will have to pay a great price.

Both Chunshan City and Yaolin City were heavily guarded, and it was impossible for the noble army to attack these two cities. Their targets can only be small and medium-sized cities, and even small cities with a garrison of less than 5,000 can inflict at least 3,000 losses on the noble army. After a few cities, the noble army will lose two or three percent of its strength, and its morale will plummet. After the city was captured, the noble army had to divide their forces to defend the city, so that they had fewer troops available, and it was difficult to have the spare strength to fight again.

But the problem is that towns that are occupied by the noble army will be difficult to gnaw. In case the aristocratic army chooses to withdraw its troops for the time being and maintain the status quo, the coalition forces will have to find a way to take the town back. Once the offense and defense are reversed, the coalition army, which is already inferior in strength, will be more uncomfortable than the noble army, and it is likely that they will not be able to recapture these towns.

To avoid this, the coalition must fight a major battle with the noble army and defeat one of the containment forces. In the case of a setback of the main force, the noble army would definitely not dare to act rashly, and could only shrink its forces in case the coalition forces took the opportunity to counterattack.

The risk of the inferior side taking the initiative to attack is relatively large. The enemy army of Tengyuan Department camped on the back of the mountain, and could defend against the mountain, and the difficulty of attacking was extremely high, and even if it could win, it would pay a large loss. The enemy army of Meier was located on the plains, and the enemy only had the advantage of troops, so the difficulty of attacking was relatively low.

The proportion of musket units in the Ministry of Mer was high. The Byronic Army had three musket regiments, 3,000 musketeers, and 8,000 advanced muskets. The army of Egus had 4,000 musketeers and 8,000 advanced muskets. The Ilibi Army had twenty-two musket battalions, 11,000 musketeers, and 24,000 advanced muskets.

In other words, Mel had 18,000 musketeers and 40,000 advanced muskets. The extra muskets were replaced, and in the previous battles, the task of the musketeers was basically to go into battle and fire a few salvos, with no loss of personnel or weapons, and the replacement muskets were all brand new.

The "three-stage strike" that Mel used during the Battle of Yaolin City is nothing new these days. The two most advanced musket-producing races that survive have learned this tactic, and Meier's musketeers don't need to sharpen their guns like they did last time, because for them, the tactical action of the three-stage strike has become as much of a habit as eating and drinking.

At the time of the Battle of Yaolin City, Mel had only 4,000 musketeers at his disposal, and they inflicted tens of thousands of casualties on the enemy with three shots. Now that he had 18,000 musketeers at his disposal, and they were much more skilled in the three stages than their predecessors, how many casualties would they inflict on the enemy?

Maier would not have wishful thinking that these 18,000 musketeers could take out at least 50,000 enemies. Last time he was defending with the advantage of terrain, this time he was the attacker, and the battlefield was still a plain terrain favorable to the cavalry. Although there were enough sappers and enough wooden and spiked fences, these defensive tools did not do much.

As long as the coalition forces began to place wooden fences and spiked fences, the aristocratic army would definitely withdraw beyond the range of muskets, or even directly withdraw their troops, so that the situation of the coalition army became very passive. In order to avoid this, the coalition forces could not use these defensive tools, and even had to attack the noble armies with fortifications.

The Coalition was at a disadvantage, with 18,000 musketeers, but the Ilibi Army accounted for 130,000 and the Tugu Army accounted for 50,000, which meant that the Coalition forces were weak in melee combat and relied heavily on long-range attacks. Once the aristocratic army launches a counteroffensive and forces the coalition into hand-to-hand combat, the losses of the coalition will be very heavy.

However, while the noble army inflicted heavy losses on the coalition forces, their own losses will be even greater. The Byronic Army was a professional standing army, and the Ilibi Army was a fully trained and equipped citizen army, while the situation on the side of the Eguz Army was worse, but the average quality of the soldiers was not low.

At first glance, the aristocratic army would earn even if it exchanged two cannon fodder for the life of a coalition soldier, but the aristocratic army did not have that much cannon fodder, and if the coalition army was not forced into hand-to-hand combat, even ten cannon fodder could not be exchanged for the life of a coalition soldier. Cannon fodder is called "cannon fodder" because they are weak in combat, have low morale, and have no use on the battlefield other than to send them to death, and it is impossible for them to force the coalition forces into hand-to-hand combat.

If you want the coalition to enter hand-to-hand combat, you have to invest elite troops. Although the strength of the coalition army is smaller than that of the noble army, the base of troops on both sides is very large, which means that the intensity of the coalition army's firepower is very terrifying. As a result, the elite units of the noble army had to withstand intensive fire strikes and pay huge losses.

The coalition forces are weak in melee combat, but this does not mean that the coalition forces cannot fight hand-to-hand combat, if the forces in front of the coalition forces are too small, they will die before the reinforcements behind them can come up. As soon as the people in front die, the coalition forces will be free again, and they can carry out fire strikes on the support troops, and then the people in front will die in vain.

In order to ensure that the first wave of attacks can be delayed until the arrival of reinforcements, the first wave of attacks must be invested in more troops. In order to reduce losses on the way to the attack, the formation should be as loose as possible. However, if the formation is too scattered, the soldiers will have no sense of security and will easily flee. In case of a chain reaction that leads to a collapse across the board, things are in trouble. Therefore, the formation should not be too scattered, and the distance between the soldiers should not be too far, so that the noble army will still have to pay a lot of losses.

Some people may ask, can't the aristocratic army not counterattack?

The answer, of course, is no. The coalition forces mainly use long-range strikes, and if the aristocratic army does not counterattack, the coalition forces only need to arrange the formation and then keep firing. If the noble army should not fight after the coalition army issued a war letter, the coalition army will be greatly demoralized and will directly attack the camp of the noble army.

Although the field battle turned into a storm, this did not mean that the disadvantage of the coalition army would be aggravated, because the defense of the large battalion was not very high, and it was much worse than the city wall. Since the battlefield has been determined, the coalition forces can set up fortifications outside the large camp, or even directly move the large camp near the main camp of the noble army, so that the counteroffensive of the noble army will become more difficult.

Holding on to a large camp may be cut off from the grain route, causing the morale of the army to waver and collapse without a fight. Therefore, once the coalition army is dispatched, the noble army must take action, and it must not wait honestly in the camp. Even if they don't accept the war letter of the coalition army, they have to fight when the coalition army reaches the big camp, otherwise their situation will become very passive.

Since it had to be fought, the noble army had only two options. Either accept the offer to fight, or fight a defensive battle near the big camp. The generals of the aristocratic army argued for hours and finally decided to accept the treaty. The reason for not fighting a defensive battle near the large camp is simple, because the noble army has to fight back, and the space near the large camp is limited, and it may not be possible to deploy the troops.

On February 25, 154 New Calendar, 150,000 allied troops and 260,000 noble armies fought on the plains east of the Chishui River. A battlefield of 400,000 people with a total width of more than eight kilometers. In order to facilitate his command, Maier divided his troops into three armies, left, center, and right, with the left army of 50,000 men, commanded by Salin; 50,000 Chinese troops, commanded by Meier; The right army was 50,000 and was commanded by Wei Xu.

The aristocratic army was also divided into three armies, left, center, and right, with 80,000 troops on the left, 100,000 on the middle, and 80,000 on the right. Each army was divided into two parts, 40,000 men in the front and 40,000 in the rear; 60,000 in the front and 40,000 in the rear; 50,000 men in the front of the right army and 30,000 in the rear.

The so-called front and rear parts are not all arranged according to the front and rear. The front and rear of the left army were deployed side by side, and they flanked Wei Xu's troops with the momentum of the corner. The front of the Chinese army was in the center, and the rear was further split, 20,000 to the left and 20,000 to the right, forming a pincer with the front, and being able to respond to the left army and friendly forces. The front and rear of the right army are the front in front and the rear in the rear.

On the coalition side, 18,000 musketeers were divided into three teams and assigned to the left, center, and right armies. The left army consisted of twelve Ilibi musket battalions of six thousand men; The Chinese army was six Ilibi musket battalions, plus three Byronic musket regiments, for a total of six thousand men; The right army was four Ilibi musket battalions, four Tugu musket thousand-man detachments, a total of six thousand men. Thirty Ilibi cavalry battalions, totaling fifteen thousand Ilibi cavalry, were evenly distributed among the left, center, and right armies, with an even ratio of crossbowmen to infantry.

It took four hours for the two armies to enter the battlefield and complete their deployment. Both sides entered early in the morning and were deployed by midday. After a busy morning, the officers and men of both armies were hungry and had to eat first. After eating, it took nearly an hour for the two armies to adjust their formations, and then the battle officially began.