"Present it to me and show me!"

"No!"

According to the plan of the Military Division, the entire exercise will be divided into several parts, such as the siege and defense of the city by the infantry, the attack on the cavalry by the sword, the long-distance attack of the cavalry, and the defense of the cavalry by the infantry.

"Well, very good, Director Lu, the exercise plan formulated by the Military Affairs Department is very good, so let's convey it to the exercise troops in the name of the Captain's Office!"

In ancient times, it was very difficult to conduct military exercises, because there was a lack of too much auxiliary equipment, and it was simply impossible for the two armies to fight a real battle in the exercises, except in actual combat. In order to do a good job in this exercise, the Military Affairs Department can be said to have tried all means.

First of all, wooden weapons were used instead of standard equipment, and white ash was plastered before the exercise, while the soldiers participating in the exercise wore dark clothes, and after the battle, the white marks on their bodies were used as the standard to determine casualties. However, even this could not avoid casualties during the exercise, especially if cavalry participated, and accidental casualties were more likely.

Second, in the exercise, the military division did not focus on the content of the assessment, but on the contrary, it focused on the tactics of the arms, the physical fitness of the soldiers, the ability to execute the tactics, and the ability to coordinate among the arms.

Wei Shuo particularly agreed with this point, unlike the special equipment of modern exercises such as empty ammunition in ancient times, he really couldn't imagine that in ancient exercises, more than 10,000 people would be mixed together to fight in groups.

In the end, although it was impossible to organize a large army to fight face-to-face, the Military Division still arranged several small-scale fighting assessments, among which the Modao team against the cavalry was the main assessment object.

In the first year of Jianxing, on the eighth day of December, that is, on the day of the Laba Festival, the Liaodong Army held a grand military exercise in Liaozhong, and a total of 30,000 soldiers and logistics troops participated in the exercise. Before the exercise. Wei Shuo wore a sword hanging from his waist in fish scale armor, and accompanied by Lu Chang, Liu Yao, Su Maru, Zhang Tong and others, he inspected the participating troops.

The entire Liaodong is running at high speed for one purpose at this time: winter military exercises!

That's where the focus is all right now. In order to prevent the exercise from being known to the outside world, Wei Shuo issued an unheard of 'martial law' for the first time.

Under martial law, during the exercises. No one will be allowed to enter or leave the exercise area at will. The entire exercise area is bounded by Juzhuo County in the north, Anshi County in the west, Longgang Mountain in the east, and the vast area by the sea in the south.

After reviewing the troops, the exercise officially began. The first thing to do was the Jin army's best infantry siege and defense drill, in which the 12,000 infantry of the government army were divided into two sides. Zhang Tong, the head of the Infantry Division, personally led 3,000 soldiers to defend, while Cao Hong, the director of the Department of Soldiers, commanded the remaining 9,000 soldiers to attack the 'city' where Zhang Tong was stationed.

Under the command of Cao Hong, 9,000 soldiers were helped by various siege equipment. Launched wave after wave of attacks on the 'enemy' and 'city' in the form of encircling three and one. The soldiers of the 'enemy' and 'me' fought fiercely in the simulated state, but no matter how realistic the simulation was, in Wei Shuo's opinion, the entire 'battlefield' still seemed more lively and less murderous.

However, the soldiers and officers who participated in the exercise did not see it that way, and they were all participating in such an exercise for the first time, so they were ready to show their skills in the exercise. In particular, Cao Hong, the chief general of the attacking side, received strong support from the Ordnance Supervision and the Joint Logistics Department during the exercise, and his troops were equipped with a large number of new siege equipment.

During the siege, Cao Hong gave full play to the advantages of siege equipment. First of all, under the cover of a large bed crossbow, the people pushed the well railing step by step to the foot of the city. The crossbowmen then occupied the well railings at close range, suppressed the defenders of the city with their crossbows, and covered the infantry to climb the walls through ladders.

Zhang Tong was very good at defending the city, and when he was guarding the two counties of Daifang and Lelang, he relied on the tall city to defeat the invading Goguryeo people repeatedly with a small number of weak troops. This time, Wei Shuo asked him to serve as the main general of the defensive side in the exercise, which can be said to be the best use of his talents.

In the face of the frenzied attack of the 'enemy army', Zhang Tong did not panic. He calmly commanded his subordinates to counterattack. Stones made of weeds were thrown from the top of the city, and those who were hit had to 'fall' down, and because the soft and thick straw mats were covered underneath, the soldiers who fell did not have to worry about being injured.

In war, siege warfare is the most tragic kind of warfare. Regardless of the final outcome, both the offense and the defense will pay a great price. In the exercise, there was no exception, and in just a short period of time, both the enemy and us suffered extremely heavy losses.

Before the exercise, it was suggested that in order to reduce the difficulty, it could be considered to arrange an internal response for the besieging side so that the city gate could be opened at a critical moment. But Wei Shuo resolutely disagreed with this arrangement, in his opinion, it was too rare to open the city gate in actual combat.

In most cases, the capture of the city requires infantry to fill it with their lives, and Wei Shuo asked the Liaodong Army to experience the fierceness of siege warfare during the exercise, so as to avoid some unnecessary casualties in the same situation in the future.

In fact, if you really want to say that this exercise is not very favorable to the attacking side, the most important thing is that Cao Hong's troops are too small, according to the "Sun Tzu's Art of War and Attacking Chapters": "Ten are to encircle, five to attack, and multiple is to divide the army", the attacking side must have at least 15,000 soldiers to be suitable.

However, Cao Hong was not discouraged by this, but was actively looking for the weakness of the defensive side, and at first he only launched an attack from three directions, not only because of the lack of troops in his hands, but in fact, he also had a sneak attack plan. Unexpectedly, Zhang Tong arranged the defense of the city in an orderly manner, and did not give him a chance at all.

As time went on, seeing that the situation was becoming more and more unfavorable for the attacking side, Cao Hong was ready to launch a final blow in a desperate gamble, and he gathered the only 1,000 reserve soldiers in his hand, intending to launch a surprise attack on the northern city wall, striving to open a breakthrough as soon as possible.

The addition of a thousand new forces suddenly made the northern city wall precarious. Zhang Tong apparently realized that the time for the final battle had come, and he quickly reacted by sending two hundred elite soldiers who had been standing by in the city. The enemy and the enemy are close to each other, and the victory and defeat are soon known.

"Okay, yes, Jifu and Ziji just performed so wonderfully."

As soon as the exercise ended, Wei Shuo called Cao Hong and Zhang Tong to praise them, and the performance of the government army was completely beyond his expectations, no matter in terms of tactical quality or combat skills, the state shown by the government soldiers in the exercise was enough to make Wei Shuo satisfied.

"Thank you for the compliment!" Zhang Tong and Cao Hong stood up to thank them.

Wei Shuo saw that Cao Hong, who had lost the exercise, was unhappy, and couldn't help but comfort: "Jifu, you performed very well in this exercise, and the reason why you couldn't break through the city guarded by Master Zhang was mainly because of the serious shortage of troops in your hands. But I watched all of your on-the-spot performance in the exercise. Very good, totally lived up to my expectations of you. ”

At this time, Zhang Tong also stood up and affirmed Wei Shuo's statement, only to see him look at Cao Hong sincerely and said: "Lord Cao, don't be discouraged, in fact, as long as you have two more troops in your hands, it will be enough to break through the city I guard." In warfare, siege warfare is a very costly battle, and no one will attack a city with a large army without sufficient troops. ”

"Well, Master Zhang said it very well, let's go down and rest first, and then it will depend on the performance of the others. In addition, after returning home, we should not forget to write a summary of the exercise, and we should record all the problems and experiences found in the exercise, so as to provide a basis for our future campaigns. ”

"The government infantry siege drill is a good start to this exercise, you have all watched the whole exercise with your own eyes, and everyone must have benefited a lot. Now it's time to see the performance of the cavalry, I hope you don't disappoint me! ”

"Please rest assured, the last general will never dare to live up to the expectations of the lord!"

During the exercise, the cavalry will mainly practice various tactics, the most important of which is the long-distance running tactic. According to the regulations of the exercise, the cavalry of the 6,000 Xiang Army, under the leadership of Nengchen and Wang Xiang, will set out from Juzhuo County and travel all the way to Xi'anping in the southeast, where they will be intercepted and harassed by the government soldiers and militia along the way, and they must arrive at Xi'an Ping in full concealment as much as possible. (To be continued.) )