The infantry division is composed of infantry and siege troops except for reconnaissance and heralds, and the specific components of infantry are 30% of the general heavy infantry, 50% of the light infantry, 10% of the mountain infantry and other special infantry units, and 10% of the baggage troops.

The cavalry division was entirely cavalry, not a single infantryman, and each combatant had to be equipped with at least two horses, and the auxiliaries had to have at least one horse each. Heavy cavalry accounted for 40 per cent, light cavalry and archers accounted for 50 per cent, and auxiliary cavalry and other non-combatants accounted for 10 per cent.

Cavalry division, as the name suggests, is a mixed division of cavalry and infantry, generally cavalry and infantry account for half, but this ratio is not the case for all cavalry divisions, some cavalry divisions have more infantry, and some cavalry have more, which is determined according to the actual situation of reorganization at that time.

There are more than 40,000 people in these three divisions, including auxiliary troops and siege tribes, close to 50,000, and each unit has been trained for several years, even if it has never fought a war, it can quickly adapt to the battlefield war environment as long as it is pulled into the battlefield, so there is no doubt about the combat effectiveness of these three divisions.

Ma Li did not answer Qin Dong's question immediately, he walked to the map and observed the map, and only after ten minutes did he speak: "Your Majesty, there are three most critical places at the junction of the border between the Eastern Roman Empire and us, one is Sveren, they will definitely deploy a large number of troops on both sides of the Marzha River to defend against us, and the second is the town of Petro, which is located at the foot of Mount Petro, and there is a road that leads to the rear of Thrace and Greece. The third is Lesovo, which is flat and suitable for large armies. Therefore, the Eastern Empire will definitely deploy heavy troops here, but in any case, they cannot defend it tightly, the border line is too long, although it is very likely that a large army will be detected on the march, but it is very easy for a small army to cross the border line without being discovered, and I plan to divide the three divisions into three ways to attract the attention of the Eastern Empire army. Use a small force to cross the border, assemble the army in the rear of the Eastern Empire's army, and then besiege Edirne. Since it was necessary to resist our army at the border, the army of the Eastern Empire must have gathered at the border, but on the contrary there were not many troops in the rear, and once the capital of the Thracian province of Edirne was besieged. The Eastern Empire army in front of it was in danger of being cut off. They will definitely panic, and at this time, the army in front of us will immediately wave their troops to attack, the army of the Eastern Empire will inevitably be defeated, and our army will take advantage of the situation to cover up, and our army besieging Edirne will divide a part of its forces to defeat the scattered Eastern Empire army from the east, how much the Eastern Empire army can escape depends on the will of heaven, and we will continue to kill until the city of Edirne, and our army will take five to ten days to conquer the city of Edirne, which is defended by only a very small number of troops. The surrounding area and the small city of Constantinople must be all the way to the wind, and our army will reach the city of Constantinople just around the corner! ”

Qin Dong nodded as he listened. He also had to admit that what Ma Li said was indeed very enforceable, and in military affairs, defense has always been in a situation of being passively beaten, and it depends on whether the army's execution of tactics and reaction speed can keep up with the requirements of the war. So in most cases, offense is the best defense, because offense means you can lead the enemy by the nose.

Qin Dong waited for Ma Li to finish speaking, and then muttered for a moment and said, "Ma Li listens to the order!" ”

"The last general!"

"Ordered you to be the commander of this Eastern Crusade, and lead the Fourth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Divisions to set off for the eastern border in half a month later to attack the Eastern Roman Empire. First, it is up to you to decide when you will arrive at the border, and the exact time to attack is up to the king. Second, the strategic aspect is determined by the king, the specific tactical aspect is determined by you, and the end of the war is also determined by the king! ”

Ma Li did not object to this, and immediately saluted: "Obey!" ”

Half a month later, that is, in the middle of July 457 AD, Ma Li led the fourth division of the twelfth army, the sixteenth division and the seventeenth division of the eleventh army to the eastern border under the order of Qin Dong, the fourth division was a cavalry division, and the marching speed was fast, so it went to the city of Sviren located on the border line of the Eastern Empire thirty miles west of the city, the sixteenth division was an infantry division, and the cavalry each had two horses, if the cavalry each divided one horse, it could ensure that the whole division had horses to ride, so the speed of the sixteenth division was in the middle, and the seventeenth division was an all-infantry division, except for officers, Except for the generals and other senior military personnel and reconnaissance and communication personnel, everyone else had to walk, and the speed was the slowest, originally Qin Dong could also match them with horses, but considering that this operation did not need to march in a hurry, and after the infantry division was equipped with horses, the logistical pressure was too great, which was very unfavorable to the operation, so there were no horses.

On 19 July, Ma Li, the commander of the Eastern Expedition, had already arrived with the Fourth Cavalry Division thirty miles west of Sveron City and set up camp.

After the work was completed, Ma Li sent people to various checkpoints and dangerous places along the border line that night to investigate the situation, and if feasible, he would send a small force of troops to cross the border line and penetrate into the Thracian province of the Eastern Empire while the Eastern Empire was not paying attention, and then find a hidden place to hide and wait for the next military order.

A day later, the information from the outpost made Ma Li a little depressed, he didn't expect that the Eastern Empire had already prepared, and patrols were arranged everywhere on the border line to patrol day and night, and even small boats were sent to patrol the Maricha River.

In fact, what Ma Li didn't know was that the Eastern Empire also had spy personnel in Saidika, and on the day his army set off and marched to the eastern border, the spy personnel placed in the Eastern Empire on the side of Saidika passed back the information that the Xiongnu army had set off to the eastern border, and after the Eastern Empire military received the news, the military of the entire empire began to operate urgently, and the armies of all roads in Thrace Province immediately marched to the western border, and Yu Mali's army rushed to the border line first, and then began to deploy defensesTherefore, the outposts sent by Ma Li found that there were Eastern Empire patrols patrolling everywhere along the border.

"So, as soon as we send a small force across the border, we'll be spotted immediately?" Ma Li asked with a frown.

The captain of the reconnaissance and reconnaissance sentry brigade said: "It's not like this, general, the enemy's patrol team also has a time gap, but each place is different, general, you definitely don't just send one or two small troops, but send an integrated division, if a integrated division is dispersed into several small troops, then someone will definitely be discovered by the patrol of the Eastern Empire, and then the generals of the Eastern Empire are likely to guess the general's intentions, and the general's combat intentions will not be disappointed at that time?" ”

After listening to the analysis of the captain of the reconnaissance and reconnaissance sentry brigade, Ma Li was shocked, that's right, only a small force was discovered by the Eastern Empire, and the Eastern Empire was very likely to speculate on his combat intentions, and then they would work out a corresponding method to deal with it, inappropriate, inappropriate, this method could not be used, Ma Li immediately vetoed the idea of dispersing a reorganized division into several brigades to cross the border line and go deep into the territory of the Eastern Empire.

He stood in front of the map and pondered for a long time, when suddenly he saw a blue line, from west to east, from the territory of the Xiongnu Empire into the territory of the Eastern Empire, and actually joined the Maricha River to the west of Edirne, and then passed through Edirne and went south to the Aegean Sea.

Standing on the blue line, the horse asked, "What kind of river is this?" What is the hydrological situation and is it navigable now this season? ”

The captain of the reconnaissance sentry brigade said: "General, this river is called the Densar River, it is the largest tributary on the left bank of the Maricha River, stretching for seven or eight hundred miles, there are many strange rocks in this river, the distribution is complex, the water depth in the river is different, generally speaking, it cannot be navigable, but it can be used on a raft to go down with the water flow on the river surface when the water is gentle. March to May is the flood season every year, the water is very fast, the water level is high, but now it is almost like August, the water flow begins to become gentle, the water level has dropped a lot, the boat can not sail, the raft is okay, but the load capacity should not be too large! ”

Ma Li nodded and asked, "Is there a road from the north side of Mount Petro to the bank of the Denza River?" ”

The captain of the reconnaissance sentry team nodded and said: "General, there should be, the town of Lozen on the back side of Petro Mountain is not very far from the Densar River, and it is only a mountain to get there, and there are Bolgar people living on the nearby mountains, they should be familiar with the road, and they can lead the army over this mountain to reach the bank of the Densar River!" ”

"Good!" Ma Li clenched his fist and hammered it in his palm and said, "Come on, where is the 17th Infantry Division now?" ”

"General, the 17th Infantry Division has just arrived in the city of Dimmit!"

After some thought, Ma Li ordered: "Order the 17th Infantry Division not to come to join the 4th and 16th Divisions, let them secretly turn around at night and march towards the southern Petro Mountain, and when they reach the small town of Lozeng at the foot of the mountain, look for the local Bolgar mountain people, let them lead the way, and the whole division will cross the branch of the Petro Mountain to the bank of the Densar River, and then cut down wood to build a large number of rafts, and wait for the new order from the general!" ”

Ma Li knows very well that if he attacks from the front, he will inevitably have a hard fight with the army of the Eastern Empire, although in terms of strength, Ma Li now has the strength and combat effectiveness of the army, and he is not worried at all that he will not be able to break through the defense line of the army of the Eastern Empire, but in this way, his own losses will also be very large, if there is a way to reduce his own casualties and win a big victory, as a general, of course he must choose this method, rather than a head-to-head confrontation with the enemy. (To be continued......)