Altik was keenly aware of the capabilities of his soldiers. These soldiers might be able to win against weaker enemies, but if they ran into Abu Muslim's elite Khorasan cavalry, they would suffer defeat. Thus, he needed to expand his strength as quickly as possible and occupy as many cities as possible. Once Abu Muslim's soldiers arrived, he would have enough soldiers to occupy as many cities as possible and use the city walls to offset the advantage of the Khorasan cavalry.
Of course, Abu Muslim also needed to form his own cavalry force. After all, cavalry were far more mobile than infantry. On his journey north, he had forcibly gathered many horses and formed a cavalry force, but the lack of time for training made the fighting power of these cavalry very unsatisfactory.
The saddles and stirrups required by the horses were not difficult matters, and Altik could deal with them himself. As for the weapons of cavalry, they mainly consisted of spears, sabers, swords, and crossbows.
When the enemy was far away, they would use bows and crossbows to fight. When the two armies clashed, the long spear would have room to play. If the long spear was broken or thrown out to kill the enemy, then they would have to use swords to attack the enemy.
Spears were not very difficult to make, and as long as the requirements were not too high, they could be easily made. Sabers and swords consumed a great deal of metal, and in an era where steel production was limited, the production of sabers and swords was truly quite costly.
Crossbows were also very costly. Although the majority of the crossbows were made of bamboo, the arrowheads were made of metal, and a large number of arrows were consumed in a large battle. Even if all the arrowheads were added together, they would still require quite a bit of metal.
However, Altik did not need to worry about this, because the majority of the arrows used by his soldiers had been provided by Ang Lee, and there were many of them.
In addition, the Tang dynasty's Concealed Origin Crossbows and Repeating Crossbows were truly powerful weapons. For this reason, Altik's cavalry used crossbows as their primary weapon of war, and he had even chosen to give up on spears for the sake of carrying more arrows.
Without any armor, the cavalry under Artek's command would definitely be much faster than the average cavalry. In this way, they could use their crossbows to attack the enemy cavalry while retreating quickly so that the enemy would not be able to catch up to them. This was the cavalry archery tactic, and it was also the main tactic of the Mongolian cavalry during their expedition to the west.
When he had set out, Altik had only two thousand cavalry under his command. Now, after many days of development, Altik had ten thousand cavalry under his command. In truth, he had more horses, but some of them were simply too stupid. They could only be used to pull carriages, and could not be turned into warhorses in the short term.
His greatest harvest of warhorses had been when he had taken the Khorasan cavalry camp. At the time, the camp had nearly ten thousand warhorses. Although Osman had taken six or seven thousand, Altik had obtained around three thousand. These were all excellent warhorses, and they were all well-equipped. As long as one knew how to ride a horse, one could quickly form a powerful cavalry force.
Osman had not been able to expand his army as quickly as Altik, but the quality of his soldiers was better. Moreover, he had placed more importance on cavalry. Of his thirty thousand soldiers, twenty thousand were cavalry, while he only had ten thousand troops and supplies. Moreover, this army of ten thousand had many horses.
Altik was currently thinking about how to deal with the main force of Abu Muslim's army that was about to move south. He was keenly aware that Mansur would not sit by and watch his southwest be conquered. He would definitely send soldiers to seize it, so Altik had to make preparations to meet the Khorasan cavalry at any time.
In the current situation, Altik's soldiers and soldiers were inferior to the Khorasan cavalry, but Altik was not worried, because he had the support of the Tang dynasty. He had the support of the Tang dynasty's advanced weapons, such as the long-range lurking crossbows and crossbows with astonishing firing rates. These were things that the Khorasan cavalry did not have.
He would sometimes wonder how he could deal with the powerful Khorasan cavalry. The advantages of cavalry were their mobility and powerful charge, but they also had their disadvantages: they were large targets and their defensive capabilities were inferior to infantry.
Thus, the crossbows provided by the Tang dynasty could be used to deal with the Khorasan cavalry. In particular, if the light cavalry were used with the crossbows, they would be able to restrain and harass the Khorasan cavalry.
Of course, Altik had never used this tactic before, so he didn't know how it would work. How many losses could light cavalry equipped with crossbows and crossbows inflict on the enemy, or whether they could influence the outcome of the battle? These were all unknown. However, his cavalry were weak. Even if this tactic could not wipe out many Khorasan cavalry, the light cavalry were faster and more capable of protecting themselves. Thus, Altik boldly made the decision to establish a mounted archery unit.
Because the cavalry's training was insufficient, there was a high chance that there would be problems with the deployment and battle of a large scale mounted archery unit. To avoid this problem, Altik divided the mounted archery unit into five hundred men each, allowing them to be flexible and attack the Khorasan cavalry. If they could win, they would fight, but if they couldn't, they would retreat. Preserving their lives was more important than anything else.
Altik's overall strategy was to use the main force to defend the fortified cities in the north to offset the advantage of the Khorasan cavalry. He would also use these flexible and mobile cavalry to harass the Khorasan cavalry and wipe out the strength of the Khorasan cavalry. They could even attack the enemy's supply lines and cause the numerous Khorasan cavalry to lose their supplies. In this way, no matter how strong they were, the Khorasan cavalry could only retreat in defeat.
Altik quickly gathered a few subordinates and had them discuss with him how to divide the troops to defend the northern cities and how to use small groups of mounted archery units to harass and exhaust the incoming enemy.
"City Lord, in order to avoid being completely surrounded, our forty thousand infantrymen need to defend at least three cities. The three cities in the north are less than a hundred li apart, forming a triangle. As long as we defend these three cities, the enemy won't dare to continue south. Otherwise, their supply lines will be cut off by our army. No matter which city they surround, the rest of the cities can send troops to harass them from behind, causing the enemy to be distracted."
"That's right. Our cavalry units also need to be spread out. This way, they can be more flexible and harass the enemy. They can also go to other cities to obtain supplies. If one city is suddenly surrounded, the cavalry can also move to the next city. We won't be too passive."
"Three cities is too little. The two cities in the south are also very important. Defending a few more cities will make the cavalry more flexible."
"Deploy ten thousand troops to the three cities in the north, and five thousand troops to the two cities in the south. The cavalry will take turns to harass the enemy at any time. This kind of defense will be impenetrable and will make the enemy unable to attack."
"City Lord, how can we forget about Osman? I heard that the number of troops under his command has increased to thirty thousand. If his troops are in the west, our defense will be even more perfect. "
Several of his subordinates said.
Altik listened to his subordinates' opinions and felt that they made sense. However, he did not like Osman, so he said, "We are not the same kind of people as Osman. The entire peninsula is our land. This is what the Tang dynasty promised us. Osman is going to Egypt. We cannot place our hopes of resisting Mansur on Osman. We need to rely on our own strength to resist Mansur. You must understand this."
"City Lord is right. However, we are too weak right now. Joining hands with Osman will increase our chances of victory. Once we are stronger, it will be more reliable for us to rely on our own strength."
"That's right! City Lord, our plan is quite tight, but the difference in strength is still too great. If all five cities are taken one by one, it will be too late. "
"We still don't know how many troops Mansur will send to deal with us. However, it will not be less than fifty thousand. Perhaps a hundred thousand, or even more."
"If Mansur sends a hundred thousand troops to attack us, can we really defend the cities with only ten thousand troops in each city?"
"Ten thousand troops defending a city against enemies ten times stronger than us will be very stressful."
"What are you afraid of? We have the crossbows supported by the Tang dynasty. Recently, the Tang dynasty supported us with a batch of heavy crossbows. It needs four or five people to operate them. These guys are much more powerful than the long-range crossbows. They can shoot very far and have great lethality. They are enough to deal with the enemy besieging the city. Deploying twenty of them in each city will be enough to deter the enemy. Moreover, we have so many crossbows and arrows. As long as we fortify the city and dig a moat, we will be able to resist ten times the enemy besieging the city."
Several subordinates discussed.
Altik said, "Well said. We have the heavy crossbows supported by the Tang dynasty. We will definitely be able to defeat Mansur's army. As long as we unite and train our troops well, there is no enemy we can't defeat. Of course, it will be best if Osman is willing to help us. If he is not willing to help us, then we will not force him. We can't count on our former enemy to provide us with help. We have to rely on our own strength."
His subordinates all nodded to show their support. They felt that what Artik said was very reasonable. They really couldn't pin their hopes on Osman. Otherwise, if Osman didn't come to help, wouldn't it be over for them?
"City Lord, there is good news! Ibrahim has escaped from Khorasan and entered the city. "
A confidant hurriedly ran over.
The so-called Ibrahim was Ali's great-great-grandson, who was recognized by the Shia as the legitimate leader of the Arab world. They had fought against the Umayyad Dynasty for hundreds of years in order to let Ali's descendants ascend to the position of Caliph. It was just that for so many years, they had not realized this wish.
"Ibrahim? This is really great news. Let's go and welcome him together! "
Altik said excitedly. He led his subordinates to welcome Ibrahim.
Ali had many descendants. Ibrahim was not the only one, nor was he the most qualified to inherit the position of Caliph. However, Ibrahim's legitimacy was at least much stronger than Mansur and Abdullah. At least, he was Ali's descendant, while Mansur and the others were full of usurpers.
In short, in the hearts of the Shi 'ites, Ibrahim's status was higher than Mansur's, and he was more qualified to become Caliph.
Altik was now the de facto leader of the 50,000-strong army. According to Ang Lee's plan, as long as he controlled the peninsula, Altik could proclaim himself Sultan and become the founding monarch of the peninsula.
However, Altik was a Shi 'ite, and he had to support Ali's descendants. He could not become a usurper like Mansur, so he did not mind handing over power. Perhaps he could control the military, but the power would support Ibrahim's ascension to the position of Caliph.
"Ibrahim, long time no see. It's great that you left that traitor Mansur."
When Altik saw Ibrahim, he enthusiastically shook hands with him.
"Altik, when I was in Khorasan, I heard that you defeated Mansur's elite cavalry and conquered many cities. However, Mansur has already called back his main army in the north. I estimate that he will soon send troops south to deal with you. I rode fast to inform you. You must be prepared. In a month at most, Mansur's elite army will reach your city."
Ibrahim said.
Altik nodded. "Don't worry! This situation is similar to what I expected. We have already made all the preparations and will definitely be able to withstand Mansur's elite army. Right, our army has already grown to 50,000 soldiers. Of course, we can continue to recruit and expand the army to 80,000. "
"Oh, is that so? That's great. Then let's quickly expand the army! Don't wait for Mansur's main army to arrive before you start panicking. "
Ibrahim's words were very direct, and his fear was very casual.
"You coming here means that we have already won half the battle. If the soldiers hear that Ali's descendant Ibrahim is here, their morale will definitely soar. Haha!"
Altik said half-jokingly.
Ibrahim smiled. "Oh, that's great. I didn't expect that I would be so useful. Then I won't leave."
"Great. We welcome you to stay. Ibrahim, you've traveled a long way. You should rest first. Let's drink together tonight."
Altik said politely.
Ibrahim had been worried that there would be pursuers along the way, so he had run as fast as he could. At this time, he was indeed very tired. After listening to Artik's words, he took his entourage to rest. He wanted to have a good sleep to replenish his energy.
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