This war between the Tang Dynasty and the Tatars is not a competition of wisdom and ingenuity of both sides, but a competition of hard power.

Because no matter whether the generals on both sides are stupid, Deng Xide and Kang Changning, these are all veteran generals who have experienced the domestic unification war, not to mention that there is a whole staff team to help them give advice.

The staff system of the Tang Empire can only be said to be dispensable in the unification war, relying more on the personal talents of the generals, but with the passage of time, the staff system has also developed more and more maturely, and the people who can serve as staff officers are often the best officers in the same class.

This point is inseparable from the unique promotion system of the Datang Army, if the officers of the Datang Army want to be promoted, it is impossible to say that if they become captains, they will be battalion commanders, then regiment commanders, and then division commanders, and the transition of other positions must be needed in the middle, especially the leap from regiment commander to division commander, usually the regiment commander who is favored by the above will be transferred to the combat department as an operational staff officer, or other similar positions, and then he can become a brigadier general and become a deputy division commander or division chief of staff.

After the end of the War of Unification, there has never been an example of a colonel being directly promoted to division commander!

Such a unique system also ensures that the staff team of the Datang Army can concentrate a large number of officers with front-line combat experience and solid military theory, so that the overall quality of the staff team of the Datang Army has been greatly improved, thus making the role of staff officers even greater.

A person may make mistakes, but when a group of people discuss comprehensively, all kinds of rights and wrongs will be put out for discussion, and the final plan chosen is a plan that has been discussed countless times, even if there are any flaws in it, but most of them have been known in advance and will make a little prevention.

Similarly, although Altan Khan did not have a professional staff team, the Tatars fought in the north and south all the year round, especially Altan Khan himself, and almost all his life was spent fighting the enemy on horseback.

He and his subordinates are all generals with very rich combat experience, and these people, even if they have not received professional modern military training, and they do not have any staff officers to help them give advice, but relying on experience and military talent, they can also avoid most of the mistakes.

So, it's almost impossible for both sides to make some low-level mistakes.

However, that doesn't mean they can't make mistakes, and it doesn't mean that they will be able to win the battle!

In wars, there will always be winners and losers, and this Hetao Battle either ended with the defeat of Deng Xide's Ninth Army, or the defeat of Altan Khan's cavalry army, and who wins and who loses, that is a question that no one knows at present.

So far, at least, both sides have strong self-confidence, and they both have strong self-confidence in their own strength!

Deng Xide's self-confidence comes from the strong strength of the empire, which is reflected in the abundance of reserve soldiers, sufficient materials, and advanced weapons, while Altan Khan's self-confidence comes from the rich war experience of his own army and strong cavalry strength.

Once he gathers more than 100,000 cavalry, it will be enough to sweep the entire steppe!

The self-confidence of both sides also made them firmly implement their own strategy, Deng Xide just wanted to kill Dongsheng City, repair Dongsheng City, insert a big nail in the grassland, and directly kill the Tatars.

Altan Khan wanted to annihilate these tens of thousands of people, and no matter how bad they were, they would be severely damaged, so as to dispel the idea of the Tang Empire sending troops to the grassland again in the next few years.

The fact that the two sides are so-for-tat means that although both sides have maintained restraint most of the time, the fighting will always break out.

Thirty-two kilometers from the defense line of the Great Wall, on the flat grassland stands a castle with a circumference of only a few hundred meters, which at first glance is newly built, and it is very rudimentary, and many traces of hasty construction can be seen on the periphery of the castle.

This fortress is the second earthen fortress built by Deng Xide's troops after leaving the Great Wall, which was named Nanlinbao, and more than 800 Tang Dynasty soldiers were stationed here, including 500 soldiers of the first-line troops, plus more than 300 soldiers of the reserve division.

In addition to conventional weapons, these 800 soldiers also have six artillery pieces, including four five-pound field guns and two nine-pound field guns.

These field guns are all equipped with howitzer shells that the Tang Army has only begun to install in recent years!

They were stationed here and served as a guard against the Tatars, as well as a logistical force.

At this time, the supreme commander of the South Limburg garrison, Lieutenant Colonel Cao Guangtao, was frowning and looking into the distance, while behind him, the soldiers were urgently assembling, and the officers were shouting to hurry up, hurry, because they were going to meet the friendly troops.

Three kilometers away, a thousand Tatar cavalry, part of the 5,000 cavalry sent by Altan Khan to attack the grain routes, were in formation and ready for battle.

In front of them, there is a typical Datang Army baggage force that is urgently listing a defensive formation, this baggage force is the Datang Army transport unit that drove from that side, this transport force has more than 500 taels of wagons, and more than 400 tons of various materials are transported on it.

The troops escorting this batch of materials are also quite a lot, but the divisional baggage regiment of the 13th Infantry Division under the command of the Ninth Army, that is, the 13th Baggage Regiment, which was formed during the war, has more than 2,000 troops, and at the same time, there are more than 1,000 civilians of the 45th Transport Regiment under the Logistics Department.

In terms of the strength of the two sides, this transport force of the Tang Army undoubtedly occupies an absolute advantage, they not only have the 13th Heavy Regiment in full armor, but also have more than 1,000 people.

The 13th Baggage Regiment, although it has the word baggage, but in the Datang Army, the definition of the baggage force does not mean to transport materials, but to escort materials, and the difference between the two is also the result that the baggage troops in the Datang Army are actually all combat units.

This baggage regiment has a complete set of infantry, artillery, and even reconnaissance cavalry.

Although the men of the 45th Transport Regiment were temporarily conscripted, they were also issued with cold weapons and some flintlock pistols to assist the troops in battle.

That is, if necessary, this transport force can have more than 3,000 people for defensive operations.

But even so, the thousand Tatars on the opposite side posed a great threat to them!

These Tatars did not rush up at the first time, but began to line up on the periphery, and then only sent a few dozen people to step forward in waves, these Tatar cavalry for temptation and harassment, gave full play to the characteristics of East Asian cavalry, they rushed at high speed, if they found an opportunity, they rushed up and released a wave of arrows, if there was no opportunity, they would not fight, but would quickly turn around and leave at high speed.

The main purpose of this tactic is not to say how many enemies to kill, but to force the enemy to stop, and then make a defensive formation!

The baggage troops of the Tang Army were indeed forced to list defensive formations, and the combat infantry quickly lined up a huge hollow phalanx, and covered the carriages in the baggage troops in the middle.

But then they are stuck in place and cannot maneuver!

When the defenders of South Limburg found that the friendly forces were in a predicament, they did not hesitate to choose to take the initiative to support the friendly forces.

More than 800 defenders, 600 troops quickly left the city, and then rushed forward without fear!

At this time, when the Tatars on the opposite side saw this scene, they did not stop it, but still roamed around the periphery, carrying out small-scale attacks from time to time.

They don't seem to have any plans for a large-scale offensive!

Since they did not attack, the transport troops, which had been supported by friendly forces, also began to slowly maintain their formation and set off towards South Limburg!

After a full two hours had passed, the transport troops had covered the three-kilometer journey under the watchful eye of the cavalry, and then entered the South Limburg.

The reason for this speed was that they were transporting supplies in all four-wheeled heavy wagons, which were fast enough, while the infantry maintained a formation on the periphery and maneuvered.

After they entered Nanlimburg, they did not wait for them to breathe a sigh of relief, but they found a puff of smoke and dust in the distance, and experienced soldiers knew at a glance that it must be cavalry, and it was most likely the enemy's cavalry.

Because in the rear, there is almost no cavalry in the Tang Army, the cavalry corps are all on the front line, and some of the divisional cavalry of the Ninth Army is also with the main force of the Ninth Army, except for a small number of reconnaissance cavalry in the rear, there is no large-scale cavalry.

The smoke and dust were getting closer and closer, and finally, the Tang soldiers of South Limburg found that the enemy army here was really Tatar cavalry, and there were 3,000 horsemen.

Coupled with the previous thousand cavalry, a full 4,000 cavalry were guarding outside South Limburg!

They didn't attack!

Why didn't they attack?

Because their mission is not to conquer Nanlimburg, but to cut off the supply line of the Tang Army, as long as the transport troops are blocked in Nanlimburg, for them, their tactics have already been successful, and there is no need to take the initiative to attack Nanlimburg.

The Tatar defenders knew very well what the Tatars were thinking, but early the next morning, they were still out of the city!

Because they need to deliver supplies to the hands of the main forces of the Ninth Army!

As for the enemy coming to attack, they will fight!

Seeing that the transport troops of the Tang Army dared to swagger out of the city directly, the Tatar generals outside the city did not hesitate at all, and directly ordered to set up a charging formation!

The 4,000 Tatar cavalry formed a charge formation, which was quite intimidating, and they could charge at any time and then crush the enemy.

However, the transport troops of the Datang Army did not stop!

The commander of the 13th Baggage Regiment, Colonel Liu Mengyang, glanced at the Tatar cavalry who were about to charge, and then suppressed the subordinates next to him who wanted to speak, and said directly: "Ignore them, let's move on!" ”

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