My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 495: It turns out Gao Que is so difficult to defeat?

In the spring of the third year of Emperor Rong, Gaoque was established.

After most of the winter of preparation and mobilization of troops, the Xiongnu Right Wise King Luandi Yizhixie officially launched a counterattack against Gaoque.

However, the painting style after the outbreak of the war formed a sharp contrast with the "relaxed and freehand" style when the Han army captured Gaoque three months ago.

——Nomadic people are not good at defending cities, let alone attacking them.

When attacking Gaoque, the Han army soldiers were able to launch a counterattack against Gaoque in the ice and snow in the cold winter, and even captured Gaoque in half a day!

The offense and defense switched places, and it was the Huns' turn to attack Gaoque - let alone a surprise attack, the Huns did not even dare to make up their minds to fight in winter.

From the middle of November when the Han army captured Gaoque, it is now the end of February.

More than three months have passed.

The Gaoque defense line, which was originally wasted by the "laymen" Xiongnu, had already been made impregnable by the Han army soldiers who were experts in city defense.

In particular, the one stationed at Gaoque was a master of defensive warfare rarely seen in the Han Dynasty, or even in the past few hundred years: Cheng Bushi!
Again.

If Cheng Buzhi were to expand territory, take the initiative to attack, or fight with a large army of wisdom troops in the wild, Cheng Buzhi might miss the opportunity because of his excessive caution.

But if a city is handed over to Cheng Buzhi to capture, provided that the logistics and supplies are guaranteed and the troops are sufficient, it will be enough to make the enemy despair.

No conspiracy or trick can work on Cheng Buzhi!

The only way to defeat Cheng Buzhi is to attack the city head-on in the most conventional way.

That way, everything becomes obvious.

"The Art of War" by Sun Tzu says: The method of using troops is to surround them if they are ten times your number, attack them if they are five times your number, divide them if they are twice your number, defend them if they are the enemy, and flee if they are fewer than you.

Translated, it means: Only when the military strength reaches ten times that of the enemy can we implement encirclement and annihilation.

Only when your military strength reaches five times that of the enemy can you launch an aggressive attack without any scruples.

If your military strength is twice that of the enemy, you should divide your forces into two locations so that the enemy will be attacked from both sides and put into a disadvantage.

If your forces are equal to those of the enemy, you should keep your composure and let the enemy take the initiative to attack, so as to gain the natural advantage of the defender and make the enemy reveal its flaws first.

If your forces are outnumbered by the enemy, to put it nicely, you should retreat; to put it bluntly, you should run away.

This theory may not be very accurate, nor may it cover every combat situation.

But there is no doubt that in the era of cold weapons, this theory can be used to review the reasons for success or failure in most wars.

If your military strength is not ten times that of the enemy and you cannot achieve numerical crushing, and you try to surround the enemy without considering your own capabilities, the result will most likely be failure.

If you succeed, it’s of course because you are awesome and created a miracle team.

But failure is reasonable.

If your military strength is less than five times that of the enemy, that is, when you have an absolute advantage, and you launch an offensive recklessly, you will most likely be tricked by the enemy.

The fact that you were not defeated by the enemy's strategy can only mean that the enemy is not smart enough. Despite being at an absolute disadvantage in terms of military strength, they still don't think of making any moves and give you a head-on blow for underestimating the enemy and advancing rashly.

Your military strength is twice that of the enemy, which means you have a relative advantage in terms of manpower, but you don't know how to divide your troops into two groups and instead fight the enemy face to face. This means you are wasting your manpower advantage.

With the same amount of troops, instead of thinking about defense, you actively attack the enemy, and fall into the natural strategic disadvantage of the attacker. This is stupid.

It would be extremely foolish not to attack when your forces are smaller than the enemy's and there is no need to defend the position even though you have the chance to escape.

When it comes to the second battle for Gaoque, the situation is even clearer.

——If there are ten of them, surround them; if there are five of them, attack them; if there are twice as many of them, divide them; if you are the enemy, defend it; if there are fewer than the enemy, flee. This is not about defending a city!
Rather, it is a battlefield response theory derived from the two sides in the field, under the same quantitative conditions, only based on the superiority and inferiority of their troops!

Even in a battle in the wild, the defender is naturally at an advantage and the attacker is naturally at a disadvantage;
Not to mention how great the advantage the defender has in the attack and defense of cities and passes.

There is no need to talk about anything else - just talk about Hangu Pass, which is praised by people all over the world as: One man guarding the pass, ten thousand men cannot open it!

Although this statement is somewhat exaggerated, it is obviously impossible for one person guarding Hangu Pass to withstand the fierce attack of 10,000 people, but it is just an exaggeration, not nonsense.

Normally, in the attack and defense of cities and passes, the ratio of troops between the attacking and defending sides must reach at least 3:1 to be considered evenly matched.

That is, the attacking side needs to have three times as many troops as the defending side to be evenly matched.

In addition, in the siege and defense of cities and passes, the attackers usually have the strategic need to race against time and achieve quick results, so this ratio should reach 4:1 or even 5:1 to be considered comparable.

Think about the fourteenth year of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen's reign, when the gateway to the Han Dynasty's Beidi County, Chaonasai, was breached. How was it?

——The Xiongnu leader Chanyu led an army of 140,000 and launched a fierce attack on the 5,000-strong garrison of the Beidi Duwei tribe at Chaona Pass!

The troop strength ratio between the two sides was as high as 28:1, and the fighting even lasted for several days, which allowed the Beidi Duwei's troops to buy some time for the people of Beidi and Longyou behind them to evacuate.

That's just stuffing it there!
Not to mention epic checkpoints from the cold weapon era such as Gaoque and Hangu Pass - even second-level passes such as Xiaoguan and Wugu Pass are much easier to defend than Chaona Pass!
Combining all of the above, it is not difficult to draw a conclusion.

Within China, on the premise that both sides are Chinese armies and have certain experience in city attack and defense, the strength of the attacking side must be at least three times that of the defending side to be sufficient to support the confrontation between the two sides.

Only four times the number of troops may allow the attackers to gain a certain advantage, and five times the number will give them an absolute advantage and achieve "quick success".

For example, six years ago, after the Wu-Chu Seven Kingdoms Rebellion broke out, the Battle of Suiyang determined the final outcome of the war.

The attacking and defending sides - the main force of the Wu-Chu coalition forces, as the attacking side, although it is said that there are tens of millions of soldiers, and the reported figures are not very exaggerated, but in fact, there are always more than 200,000 to nearly 300,000 soldiers who can fight.

After all, it was King Liu Bi of Wu who sold all his belongings and wanted to bring all the men in Wu with him to put together this army with great difficulty.

Even if we take the lowest number of 200,000 as an example, compared to the 30,000 to 50,000 Liang soldiers in Suiyang City, they are at least four times more numerous than the enemy.

How is the result?

The Battle of Suiyang certainly caused heavy casualties to the Liang army. Liang Xiao Wang Liu Wu even wrote seven letters in blood in one day to impeach Zhou Yafu for not helping his nephew in Xiayi.

But would it be easy for the main force of the Wu-Chu coalition forces attacking the city?

There were still heavy casualties!
Moreover, the casualties were far more tragic than those of the Suiyang defenders! It was only because of the support of Conglong, as well as the support of Xingyang Ao Cang and Dongdu Luoyang behind Suiyang City, that the morale of the Wu-Chu coalition army did not collapse.

Finally, didn’t Zhou Yafu’s surprise attack on the Huaisikou also cause the Wu-Chu coalition forces to collapse on the spot, and King Liu Bi of Wu failed at the last hurdle?

From the Battle of Suiyang, it is clear that both sides are Chinese troops that are good at attacking and defending cities, and they are all soldiers from vassal states. The attacking side must be at least four times the size of the defending side, in order for both sides to suffer losses - either the defending side will try to hold the city, or the attacking side will have to win a difficult and tragic victory and break the city.

But now, in this battle for Gaoque, where the Han army was the defender and the Xiongnu was the attacker, the situation between the two sides was by no means as simple as the battle of Suiyang in the past.

——First of all, the Han army defending the city is no longer the Liang army with above average combat effectiveness, but the main force of the court at the ceiling level of the Han Dynasty!

The one stationed at Gaoque was the top-level defense master of the Han Dynasty: Cheng Bushi!

Based on the combat effectiveness of this army, plus the defensive level of the generals, the number of troops is as high as 70,000!

Even if it were the King of Wu, Liu Bi, he would have to gather at least five times as many, or 350,000 soldiers from Wu and Chu, to barely create a Warring States period with equal strength.

This time, the troops of the Right Wise King Yizhixie who attacked Gaoque were obviously not as good at siege as the King of Wu Liu Bi and his Wu-Chu coalition forces.

At this moment, the more than 3 cavalrymen under Yizhixie had neither the siege attributes possessed by the Wu-Chu coalition forces or all Chinese armies, nor were they far from reaching the 1:4 or 1: ratio between the attacking and defending sides.

At present, Gaoque had more than 40,000 main forces of the central army led by Cheng Buzhi, plus more than 30,000 vanguards led by Zhidu - a total of more than 70,000 soldiers and horses.

During this period, the Gaoque garrison and the Bowang Third Battalion garrison carried out an orderly rotation, sending 18,000 lightly wounded soldiers back to Bowang City and replacing them with thousands of students to fill Gaoque;
But having said that, this is also the main force of the Chang'an court with more than 70,000 troops!

On the other hand, Yizhixie, with more than 80,000 cavalrymen, was going to attack the main force of the Han army of 70,000, plus Gaoque garrisoned by Cheng Buzhi, when the strength of the two sides was almost equal - the difference in strength between the two sides was basically negligible?
All I can say is: the practical significance of doing so is lower than its symbolic significance.

It was as if Yizhixie had gone to great lengths to gather more than 80,000 soldiers and horses in Munan, and came to Gaoque with great momentum!
The result was just to tell the nomadic people on the grassland and the main force of the Chanyu court who would return in autumn: I am not without remedies!
After Gaoque changed hands, I really tried my best to take it back!
But the result is destined.

——Using the same force to attack a dangerous pass like Gaoque, Yizhixie tried his best but failed to cause even the slightest trouble to Cheng Buzhi and Zhidu of Gaoque.

do not forget.

Gaoque was not built by the Xiongnu people on the north bank of the river to defend the Hetao area on the south bank.

Instead, it was built by Qin Shi Huang Ying Zheng in order to guard against the nomadic people of Munan further north on the north bank of the river!
The really difficult direction to attack Gaoque is not the south side, but the north side!

With the river frozen and Gaoque losing its moat, and with the defenders and the rivals taking advantage of the time, place and people, it still took the Han army some trouble to capture Gaoque from the south.

What’s more, it was the Huns who openly attacked Gaoque from the north?

In the first ten days after the battle broke out, the scenes looked like copy and paste.

——When the Huns reached two miles inside the northern wall of Gaoque, the crossbows that had just been sent from Bowang City and placed on the top of Gaoque City began to fire huge arrows, or pointed wooden stakes, that were as thick as thighs and as tall as a person.

After advancing one mile, that is, into the 300-step area, ultra-long-range heavy crossbows such as the Dahuang crossbow began to work, killing the nobles in the Xiongnu army.

When entering the 200-step area, the longbows are ready for throwing, and when entering the 150-step range, the longbows are fired in unison.

When they were about a hundred steps away, crossbows joined the battle, firing horizontally and causing casualties.

By this time, the front vanguard of the Huns had only reached Gaoque a hundred steps, but had already entered the multiple firepower network of the Han army's bows, crossbows, crossbows, and catapults.

After passing through this heavy firepower network, only more than half of the people were lucky enough to survive and walk within a hundred steps of the northern wall of Gaoque.

Then, the real nightmare began.

Trapped in a horse trap!
Tripwire!
There were also short-thorn thorns buried in the soil that people might not even find when they stepped on them, but which would definitely cause great pain to the horses. The Huns, who were riding their horses towards the northern wall of Gaoque, were so miserable that they could not even cry.

You can’t do without riding a horse!

Only by riding a horse and having speed can we break through the long-range firepower of the Han army and reach the range of a hundred steps within Gaoque without causing too many casualties.

If they dismounted and walked, their speed would drop sharply, making it almost impossible to break through the Han army's long-range firepower network and advance within a hundred steps of Gaoque in an organized manner.

Even if there are lucky ones who break through occasionally, they are only a few scattered people.

In a battle of this scale, the power of an individual is so weak that it can be ignored.

Even the Overlord Xiang Yu, in such an extremely tragic and heroic battle, could not escape death even if he advanced within a hundred steps of Gaoque.

——The Han army’s bows and crossbows can shoot at targets only a hundred steps away!
Anything a hundred steps away can be "shot at", quantitative change leads to qualitative change, and volley fire creates a strike coverage area.

If you advance a hundred steps, you will be able to shoot accurately and kill the enemy instantly.

What's more, in this battle, the Chang'an court was unprecedentedly generous.

——Long before the second battle for Gaoque broke out, the bows, feathers and arrows stockpiled in Gaoque had already been piled up to the order of millions by the madman Han Shaofu!
And there’s more behind!

As long as there is a shortage on the front line, the reserves in the rear can be replenished at any time!

Cheng Buzhi just wanted to say: I have never fought such a rich war.

What's more, when it comes to war, especially this foreign war against the Huns, Emperor Rong is extremely wealthy and powerful, which is rare and astonishing in history!

Tian Zirong made his words very clear!

The Shaofu was willing to pay an extra million dollars in logistics supply costs in order to save the life of one Han soldier on the front line!

Therefore, frontline generals must never make any decisions that sacrifice soldiers in order to save money or supplies!

Any life that can be exchanged for money, baggage or supplies must be exchanged, no matter how valuable it is!
Therefore, this second Battle of Gaoque lasted only seventeen days, but it presented a bloody casualty ratio between the two sides, and an even bloodier reality to the Han people and the grassland farmers north and south of the Great Wall.

——In the seventeen days before and after, 274 Han soldiers of Gaoque were killed and more than a thousand were injured.

On the other hand, the various Munan armies led by Yizhixie - the number of cases where they had to carry back the bodies of their comrades to inherit their estates was as high as six thousand!
This is just the number of bodies recovered!
How many people were injured, or how many bodies were lost before being picked up by their comrades, is another matter!
Even if we count it as 22: 1 to , a death ratio of :!

As a result, people all over the world, whether they were Han farmers or nomads, finally realized: Oh~
It turns out that Gaoque is so difficult to defeat?

When the Han army captured Gaoque before, it turned out that it was not because Gaoque was easy to capture, but because the Han army was too strong?

Or maybe the Xiongnu army guarding Gaoque was too weak...

(End of this chapter)