War was sometimes a gamble because no one could figure out the intentions of the other side. If they guessed the intentions of the other side correctly, they would have a great chance of winning. If they guessed the intentions of the other side incorrectly, they might be completely wiped out.
Zhuge Liang had predicted that Xiahou Dun would underestimate the enemy and advance rashly, so he had dared to fight him at the Bowang Slope. In the end, he had guessed correctly and won a glorious victory. If he had guessed incorrectly, he would have lost all the soldiers under his command.
Of course, guesses were based on the strength of the enemy's generals and soldiers, the characteristics of the soldiers, and the supply of supplies. These guesses could allow one to deduce the enemy's strategy and tactics, thus allowing one to launch a counterattack.
Altik and Abu Muslim were old acquaintances and had a rather good understanding of each other. Altik understood that Abu Muslim's cavalry was extremely powerful, so he had no chance of victory against Abu Muslim's army in the open. Thus, he could only choose to defend the city to reduce Abu Muslim's advantage. This was an extremely helpless choice.
And he was keenly aware that his opponent Abu Muslim also understood this, but he could not accurately judge how his opponent would respond.
In Altik's mind, Abu Muslim had several tactics, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
First, he could use an all-out assault, using the advantage of his cavalry to surround the five northern cities. Of course, this would not be an equal encirclement. Instead, he could place a large number of soldiers in one of the cities for the main assault while holding down the other cities. If any reinforcements dared to come out of the city, they would be routed in the open.
Second, he could use an encirclement of a city, slowly gnawing at the bones until he finally occupied all five northern cities and annihilated Altik's main force of soldiers.
Third, he could surround the city without fighting, slowly holding a stalemate in the vicinity to see who had more provisions. In the end, the side with less provisions would be unable to hold on and would be doomed to defeat.
Of course, there were many more details that Altik could not analyze.
Altik and his subordinates had all discussed these possibilities, and they all felt that the third scenario was unlikely. After all, the enemy had one hundred thousand soldiers, so the logistical pressure would be enormous. Slowly dragging things out was not Abu Muslim's style.
As for the first two points, Artik and his men felt that the second one was more likely to be true. After all, the best strategy was to concentrate their forces to attack a city.
"Caliph, I feel that Abu Muslim's main target will be the city of Arkhand, because Arkhand is the only way to attack Maia City."
"That's right. Abu Muslim is most likely to attack Archeng, but we can't rule out an attack on Rafha. These two cities are at the greatest risk of being attacked. We should give them more soldiers and weapons so that they can defend their cities."
Several of his subordinates said.
Altik said, "Arkhand has more than twenty thousand soldiers, and the walls are rather sturdy. Even the moat has been completed. As long as we have enough provisions and weapons, defending the city for half a year won't be a problem. As for Rafah, it is a problem worth paying attention to. There are only ten thousand soldiers there, and the moat won't be completed in a short period of time.
"Since Abu Muslim has already attacked, the walls and moat of Rafah must be completed as quickly as possible. We can recruit more manpower and have them finish the defense of Rafah as quickly as possible. At the very least, the moat must be completed before the enemy arrives," one of his subordinates said.
Wang Chong nodded.
Artek nodded and said, "You're right. We must pay attention to Rafha. We can transfer five thousand civilians and some soldiers from Jubai City in the south to reinforce Rafha. As long as we have enough manpower, we can complete the moat of Rafha in a few days. In any case, Jubai City is under the least pressure. Abu Muslim won't take the risk of transferring his main forces to the south. This way, his supply route will be unsafe."
"City Lord, I will go and prepare."
One of his subordinates went to prepare.
"City Lord, the latest batch of Tang dynasty's Concealing Yuan Crossbows and Repeating Crossbows, as well as one million crossbow bolts, have entered the city. Should we immediately distribute them to the army?"
One of his subordinates asked.
Altik immediately ordered, "There are enough weapons in the city. Strengthening the defenses of Arkhand and Rafah is the most important. Divide the weapons into two portions and send them to Arkhand and Rafah. Tell the generals of the two cities that no matter how great the pressure is, they must defend the cities. They must not lose the cities. Otherwise, there is no need for them to come back. They can just go and see Allah."
"Yes, City Lord, I will distribute them now."
"City Lord, if Abu Muslim attacks Arkhand, should we send reinforcements?"
One of his subordinates asked.
Altik smiled and said, "Reinforcements? Why should we? If we encounter tens of thousands of Khorasan cavalry on the way, the reinforcements will definitely be wiped out. "
"City Lord, most of the soldiers in the cities are new recruits. I'm worried that they can't withstand the pressure and can't defend the cities!"
The subordinate said.
Altik frowned and said, "I know this problem, but we have too little cavalry. We can't fight against the Khorasan cavalry. Sending reinforcements to each other will only put us in danger. Only by relying on the cities can we win the final victory."
"It seems that we can only fight for ourselves. The five cities can't send reinforcements to each other and have become five isolated points. It's so sad."
The subordinate said.
"What can we do? Even if Maia City is attacked, we can't expect reinforcements. We can only rely on ourselves. Therefore, the soldiers and civilians in the city can't be idle. We have to constantly reinforce the city walls and prepare as many defensive weapons as possible. The more perfect our defenses are, the more losses we can cause to the enemy."
Altik helplessly said.
The five cities were at least several dozen li away from each other. If reinforcements were sent, it would be very easy for the enemy cavalry to ambush them. Infantry had no ability to contend against cavalry in the open, so they could only deploy their forces in advance to defend the various dead points. There was no better method.
This was a very stupid tactic. In the modern era, when weapons were more advanced, the enemy could be wiped out at any time, but this was an era of cold weapons. As long as they relied on the defenses of the cities, they would still have the advantage.
For example, the insufferably arrogant Mongol Empire had a very smooth time attacking other empires. This was especially the case during their western expedition, where they had wiped out countless countries and fought all the way from eastern Asia to eastern Europe, frightening all of Europe. From this, one could see just how powerful they were.
But attacking the Great Song Empire to the south, which relied on its fortified cities, had taken a very long time. Even the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Mongke, had been killed while attacking the fortified cities of the Great Song. From this, one could see just how powerful the defenses of the cities were, enough to render the insufferably arrogant Mongol cavalry helpless.
Altik was keenly aware that Abu Muslim was extremely skilled at commanding cavalry and conducting large-scale battles in the open, but he wasn't very skilled at attacking fortified cities. Thus, defending the city was the best method. Moreover, Abu Muslim didn't have any effective siege weapons, only primitive cold weapons like ladders and catapults. Altik wasn't the slightest bit afraid of these weapons. The ballistae provided by the Tang dynasty were very effective at suppressing the enemy's siege weapons.
Abu Muslim and Ziyad's army swiftly advanced. In just a few days, they had reached the northeast of Archeng and set up camp to rest and reorganize.
"General, Archeng is not far ahead. Should we go and scout it?"
Ziyad felt that since they were going to attack a city, they had to scout the situation. Even though they had already sent scouts to do this work, they still needed to personally scout the area so that they could better understand the characteristics of Archeng.
Abu Muslim had precisely this idea, so he nodded and said, "Have the army set up camp. Ziyad, let's go and take a look at Archeng."
After leading the three-hundred-some elite cavalry, Abu Muslim and Ziyad rode toward the vicinity of Archeng. They were preparing to personally scout the terrain.
Because the distance was not very far, they soon arrived at a place not far from the city. If they wanted to observe the city, of course, they had to choose a higher place. Thus, they climbed up a small hill nearby and observed Al City from above.
The hill was barren, with not even a single tree to be seen. There were only a few bushes that were much shorter than a person and a few flowers and plants. It was a rather desolate sight, but at least there were no trees to block their eyes. This allowed Abu Muslim and Ziyad to clearly see Archeng in the distance.
But at the same time, the soldiers on the walls of Archeng could also see Abu Muslim and Ziyad outside the city. They could both see each other.
"General, it seems like this city won't be easy to attack! Not only are the walls tall, they also have quite a few soldiers defending them. There's also a newly built moat outside the city, and there's even a barbican at the gate. It's a sturdy city! "
Ziyad worriedly said as he looked at the city.
Abu Muslim frowned and sighed. "It truly is a difficult city to attack, but there's no need to rush. We can take our time. Have the engineers build as many siege weapons as possible, the more the better. As long as we have enough siege weapons, we'll be able to take the city. Ziyad, don't forget that while the soldiers defending the city are many, most of them are new recruits. How strong can they be?"
"The general is right. The city is filled with new recruits. This is their biggest disadvantage. However, we still have to be careful. In addition, in order to prevent the enemy from sending reinforcements, we have to send out a few troops to block the possible reinforcements from the enemy, just in case."
Ziyad seriously said.
Abu Muslim nodded in agreement. "Ziyad, you're very correct. Although we don't think that the enemy has the courage to send reinforcements, we still need to be cautious. Immediately send twenty thousand soldiers to stand guard in all directions and prevent enemy reinforcements. At the same time, cut off all communications between Archeng and the outside world. The main army should be ready to capture Archeng at any time."
"Yes, General."
Ziyad replied.
The soldiers on the walls had noticed the nearby Abu Muslim's group. From their attire, they could tell that they had encountered an important individual. If they could capture or kill a high-ranking enemy official, it would be an enormous achievement!
Thus, the defending commander immediately ordered the mounted archers stationed in the city to go out and fight. Their target was Abu Muslim and Ziyad's group.
There were only one thousand mounted archers garrisoned in Archeng, but Abu Muslim's group outside the city only had three hundred elites, more than three times the number of mounted archers. Thus, the garrison commander was very confident, and the commander of the mounted archers was also very happy to carry out this mission.
In order to quickly assault and capture Abu Muslim and Ziyad, the one thousand cavalry had split up and charged out of the city gates, each group consisting of five hundred cavalry.
Abu Muslim and Ziyad were observing the situation in Archeng from the hill, so it was very easy for them to notice the cavalry surging out of the city.
"General, the enemy cavalry have left the city. It seems like they're coming for us. We should hurry and retreat!"
Ziyad worriedly said.
As he could tell that the other party had more troops, Seiyad was cautious and naturally thought of retreating temporarily to avoid the impending danger.
Abu Muslim glanced at the charging cavalry and said, "It seems like the enemy has one thousand men, a little more than our cavalry. However, the cavalry at our side are all elite warriors, not something that these new recruits can compare to. For one thousand new recruits to divide into two groups, this is truly a good opportunity."
"General, although the enemy is made up of new recruits, they still have the advantage in numbers. It is safer for us to retreat. At the very least, General should not put yourself in danger."
Ziyad requested.
Abu Muslim nonchalantly said, "There's no need to be afraid, Ziyad. My elite guards can definitely defeat them. Leave ten soldiers behind while the rest immediately attack the five hundred enemy cavalry on the right. Once they're defeated, turn to the left."
The guards loyally carried out the order, and under the command of a valiant general, they charged at the five hundred enemy cavalry coming from the right, prepared to rely on their elite equipment to defeat the enemy cavalry in one fell swoop.
The two cavalry units quickly approached each other. Both sides were elite warriors, and they had the ability to shoot arrows while riding. When the distance between them was about an arrow's length, both sides immediately fired their arrows. They were prepared to eliminate some of the enemy first and expand their advantage.
One side was equipped with heavy crossbows provided by the Tang dynasty, while the other side was equipped with inferior bows. In this way, it was obvious who had the advantage.
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