The nomads would need to travel for more than 10 or even 20 days to cover a distance of about 1,000 kilometers in order to ensure they would still be able to fight when they arrived in the Central Plains.
This time, when Yan Liuyuan headed south to the Central Plains, all the tribes' elderly, young, women, and children stayed behind. Most of the cattle and sheep were also left behind.
Among the women, only Sister Xiaoyu was brought along. Even Tsetseg was not brought along.
Hassan suggested that his master bring Tsetseg along so that there would be someone to take care of his daily needs along the way. However, Yan Liuyuan rejected the suggestion. Many people would die in this war.
This time, Yan Liuyuan carefully calculated the number of men in the imperial court who could go to war. There were no more than 10,000 of them.
Actually, there were still many of them. However, due to the internal strife in the grasslands over the past few years, coupled with the fact that a group of them had died when Bulan Zir and Kirghiz Yan led them to attack Stronghold 176, the number of them seemed a little smaller.
However, this was not important. The main combat force this time was not the nomads, but the wolves.
At this moment, the Wolf King had already led the pack of wolves to scout ahead. This was Yan Liuyuan's greatest reliance.
As for the mobilization before the war, Yan Liuyuan had also chosen the method that was most suitable for the nomads. After the war ended, he would choose ten of the bravest men and bestow them with blood wine.
This was the greatest encouragement to his believers. On one hand, they could receive the power bestowed by the gods, and on the other hand, they would also receive the gods' approval.
There was no declaration of who to protect or who to protect. Yan Liuyuan's method of controlling these nomads had always been simple and crude.
They might not even understand the complicated things he said.
In fact, the nomads had also contributed to this war in the Central Plains in some ways.
The nomads were the first to breach Stronghold 176. After they arrived, they took away a portion of the rations and a large portion of the light weapons, such as pistols, automatic rifles, grenades, heavy machine guns, and so on.
Later on, when the Wang Clan went there, they did not seem to have any intention of defending Stronghold 176 for long. They did not even refill the ammunition depot in Stronghold 176.
Then, when the expeditionary army attacked the city and the city was breached, the Wang Clan's army received the order to retreat. When they left, they would definitely take their guns with them.
Therefore, the weapons that the barbarians obtained at this time did not have much ammunition at all. At most, they had obtained some guns beside the corpses of the Wang Clan troops, and they were almost out of bullets.
There were also some cannons left behind, but when the Wang Clan troops retreated, they used explosives to blow up the cannons. In fact, even if the cannons were not blown up, the barbarians would not be able to find any artillery shells.
This was awkward. Therefore, the expeditionary army did not have as much firepower as they had imagined.
So when P5092 fought the barbarians back then, he was still a little puzzled. Based on the barbarians' strategy of luring the Pyro Company to advance rashly, the expeditionary army had already made preparations to use the elderly to replace them on the battlefield to lure the Pyro Company into advancing rashly.
But since the expeditionary army had already obtained the firearms from Stronghold 176, why did they still plan to give up the forest as bait? Wouldn't it be better to defend the forest?
P5092 also vaguely felt that something was amiss, but he could not figure it out.
But in reality, the barbarians did not have much firearms in their hands at all. The expeditionary army also knew very well that the small amount of firearms they had was not enough to fight the Pyro Company head-on. In the end, they would still have to rely on their own fighting style.
Right from the beginning, the expeditionary army had never thought of using those firearms and explosives to do anything big.
It was not that they looked down on firearms and explosives, but that they looked down on the number of firearms and explosives they had.
…
At this moment, the battle at Zuoyun Mount had just begun. The sound of gunfire coming from the defensive positions was extremely intense. As they were fighting a defensive battle from a high vantage point, the 6th Combat Brigade had the upper hand at the beginning of the battle. With the suppressive firepower of the heavy machine guns, the barbarians who were charging at them could not even raise their heads.
Just as P5092 had said, if the 6th Combat Brigade did not have the advantage of the environment and terrain, the expeditionary army would only be able to beat up their 6,000 soldiers.
But now that they had the advantage of the terrain, they could force the expeditionary army to come over themselves. In that case, he was confident he could use 6,000 of his men to exchange for the enemy's 60,000 men!
This was a one-to-ten deal, and in P5092's opinion, it was completely worth it.
P5092 said, "Main forces, be careful. Hide behind the bunkers and be careful of the enemy's artillery attacks."
But when he voiced this concern, a soldier next to Wang Run said, "Don't worry, the barbarians don't have any artillery to use, so this strategy is feasible."
P5092 frowned. "What do you mean?"
"When the Wang Clan's troops retreated, they destroyed all of their artillery," the soldier said.
P5092 was taken aback. "Then why didn't y 'all mention this when the Pyro Company was negotiating with the Wang Clan for intelligence back then?"
Wang Run said awkwardly, "Let's not dwell on the past at a time like this. We're all in the same boat now. If y 'all can't hold the position, the seven of us will also die. Don't worry, there won't be a situation where we don't share our intelligence again."
P5092 said coldly, "Who knows if the Wang Clan cares about the names of the seven of you? Given the Wang Clan's means, it shouldn't be a difficult decision to give up on the seven of us, right? "
Wang Run did not say anything else. Meanwhile, P5092 focused on observing the situation on the battlefield.
This was only the expeditionary army's probing phase, so it was also a good time for him to check and make up for any loopholes. No commander could arrange everything at the start of the war. Everyone would have to make tactical adjustments during the battle.
At this moment, P5092 realized there were a total of four mountain paths leading to this place from the defensive position. There were too many paths, and this might lead to the defensive position not being able to withstand the large number of troops the expeditionary army had to send in a large number of troops at once.
In other words, they would not be able to kill that many barbarians in one go. The barbarians would then rush up to the defensive position in the form of a suicide squad and use their lives in exchange for the expeditionary army's victory.
Based on P5092's understanding of the expeditionary army, it was very likely that they would do that.
He said to Ji Zi 'ang, who was next to him, "Can you collapse that mountain within an hour and seal off one of the expeditionary army's attack routes?"
Ji Zi 'ang glanced at the towering peak and said a little awkwardly, "I'm afraid it's too late for me to collapse such a large mountain with my abilities."
P5092 frowned. It looked like they would have to increase their firepower in advance. But if they did that, they might not have enough ammunition.
But at this moment, the soldier next to Wang Run who had spoken earlier said, "With your abilities, there's no need for you to destroy the entire mountain."
With that, he took out an automatic rifle and casually fired 12 shots at the mountain. Then he said to Ji Zi 'ang, "You only need to sand these 12 points horizontally, and the mountain will collapse. Moreover, the angle at which the mountain will fall will block the expeditionary army's path."
The others were stunned when they heard this. That was even possible?
Ren Xiaosu looked at the soldier's figure from the side. He had already confirmed his identity.
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