Since ancient times, as long as the size of the army reaches a certain level, even the cavalry corps is often inseparable from the baggage vehicles. However, since ancient times, China has been a mountainous place with complex terrain, so there are many passes to various strategic points in the world. Even the so-called "Meridian Valley Conspiracy" must be based on the premise that a few vehicles can barely pass. This seems to have become a basic common sense among the ancient generals and strategists who knew a little bit.

However, many basic common sense since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period or the Qin and Han dynasties have changed with the development of the times and the progress of technology, and even the different conditions of currency circulation. In the era of the Qin, Han, Southern and Northern Dynasties, when there were few precious metals and the population of the whole country was only about 20 or 30 million at the time of war, it was impossible to count on enough logistics for the march in many slightly remote mountainous areas. Perhaps only in a few plains and rivers in the east will there be a so-called duel of hundreds of thousands of troops.

However, in the late Ming Dynasty, the development of training and iron technology made the gap between the troops more decisive than in the past, and the population density of various places gradually increased, coupled with the inflow of silver, fundamentally changed the pattern of many things. This is also the fundamental reason why Xiao Xuan believes that with a team of thousands or so or even with the necessary tactical realm means, he can bypass some strategic points.

Just when the main forces of the First Army and the Second Army were confronting the main force of the Ming Army, which was equivalent to five or six times their own strength, in the direction of Ningwu Pass, and even when the situation had largely become mutual attack and defense, the volunteer division led by Xiao Xuan was not much in mules and horses, and the situation of going out at night, scouts going out to reconnoiter during the day, and marching at night as the main way of advance crossed South Yulin and approached the city of Shuozhou.

In addition to the fact that the entire Shaanxi and Gansu regions have at least 200,000 or so regular field forces that can be used for field battles and have complete artillery armor, the number of troops defending the city has also increased significantly.

At this time, Shuozhou is close to the enemy area, the geographical location is also slightly more important, the garrison from the night still has dense torches, at least there will be at least three or five thousand defenders, if you take into account that there is likely to be a lot of necessary reserve forces, only the strength of Shuozhou City may be as many as more than 10,000 people, so that every mile of the stretch has enough troops to defend.

However, perhaps because the defenders were very abundant, the head of Shuozhou City was not built as well as Tongzhou back then, and it was relatively decent and tightly covered. After all, compared with the opponents of the Liaodong Group, who had fought a lot in the offensive and defensive battles in the entire capital, and knew more about each other. These newly-built armies in the Shaanxi Provincial Government Department are much inferior in terms of their awareness of combat readiness.

Although there were some risks in organizing a siege at night, which was not taken in ancient warfare, Xiao Xuan finally decided to launch a decisive assault when it was close to dawn, taking advantage of the fact that the sky was just dawn but not bright. After all, there is obviously a big difference between the effectiveness of many projectile lethal means at night and during the day.

The strict discipline of the Volunteer Division, which could be compared to that of ordinary troops, and even the ability to do earthwork during peacetime training, finally ensured that the troops did not alarm the defenders who appeared to be on guard when they launched a blasting attack at a distance of only about 200 paces from the city.

At least tens of thousands of heavy bombs of about six or seven taels fell accurately on the top of the city that stretched for more than two miles from the west of the city to the south of the city in the violent explosion, and thousands of grenades were also thrown on the city head one after another, and the 1st and 2nd Volunteer Regiments launched a fierce attack on the city from the west and south of the city respectively at the fastest speed.

Because they did not expect the enemy attack to be so sudden and swift, the defenders, who were not too badly guarded, quickly fell into confusion under this sudden and fierce attack.

Some catapults and cannons that had been prepared for a long time also began to fire back at this time, including the archers in the city. If it is a traditional siege team, it will definitely suffer a lot of losses if it is launched to attack before the sky is bright. What the defenders did not expect, however, was that the Volunteer Division was a completely different team, and that they had the courage to attack the city directly with hooks and simple ladders under the cover of blasters and grenades in a formation that did not look thick in such a wide width.

The quality of the defenders of Shuozhou City was obviously much stronger than that of Kaifeng, and in the face of such a sudden attack, there were still many elite defenders in reserve who began to rush over, and at the same time, the opponents who did not have many troops in the city planned to fight fiercely.

What these people didn't expect, however, was that this was a completely different team from all the ancient armies of the millennium. Not only is he very good at melee combat, but he is also good at combining concentrated firepower with hand-to-hand combat tactics. When every officer and soldier who landed in the city could open at least three or five calm shots with loaded ammunition, and take advantage of the opportunity to launch a fierce attack at very close range, regardless of the risk and cost of casualties, even a decent defender with ten times the strength could be easily overturned in the face of such an attack.

The defenders of the other castles also seemed to react at this time, preparing to mobilize artillery to prevent the enemy troops from taking control of the entire castle, but at this time, the two battalions of the 3rd Regiment of the Volunteer Division, which were in reserve, also launched a blasting attack in the west and south of the city in coordination with the officers and soldiers who had landed in the city.

Although the enemy's garrison was not excellent, it was still in full condition, but under such circumstances, the entire head of Shuozhou City quickly fell in less than half an hour or so, under the rapid attack of the volunteer division.

After the capture of Shuozhou, the main force of the Volunteer Division, regardless of the gains and losses of one city and one place, temporarily left the Third Regiment to be responsible for opening warehouses and releasing grain and organizing the peasant army, and quickly attacked in the direction of Datong at this time.

Many of the previous battles have undoubtedly shown that the walls that were once an insurmountable obstacle in the past are actually not enough to be important barriers in the new era. It seems to be like the fate of the bastion after the appearance of the Vauban siege.

The garrison strength and strength in the Datong area will definitely be stronger than Shuozhou, but Xiao Xuan judged from the intelligence of the enemy's strength in the direction of Ningwu Pass that even if it is more, it is impossible to increase it by an order of magnitude. Although it may not be as easy as taking Shuozhou, there is still a great opportunity.

(End of chapter)