I summon all the famous generals in history in another world

Chapter 1495 The Kheshig Army, Si Hanfei Offers a Strategy

The Kheshig was Temujin's personal guard. Temujin said, "Now we should select the sons of officials of ten households, one hundred households, one thousand households, and ten thousand households to be guards, so that they can number ten thousand and become the Kheshig."

A Kheshig of 10,000 men was established, including 1,000 quiver soldiers, 1,000 guards, and 8,000 hostage soldiers. This force was then called the Great Central Army and was the strongest and most elite spearhead under Temujin's command.

In other words, the Kheshig army was not a force composed of ordinary soldiers, but rather "dragons among men" who were strictly selected from the sons of noble families of ten thousand, thousand, hundred, and ten households.

The selection criteria were stringent, requiring candidates to be physically strong, have a dignified demeanor, be proficient in riding and archery, and bring along a younger brother and several attendants to form a "family-style reserve team."

At the same time, their status and privileges were also extremely astonishing. The salary and status of an ordinary Kheshig soldier were higher than those of an ordinary commander of a thousand, and they could even be on par with local lords.

The History of Yuan states: "The Kheshig's status is higher than that of the Nayan, the commander of a thousand households outside the capital. Fighting is a crime punishable by the Nayan, the commander of a thousand households."

Praised as "the elite in peacetime and the decisive weapon in wartime," Muqali personally led the Kheshig suicide squad in the Battle of Yehuling to launch a surprise attack on the Jin army's central camp, causing the commander-in-chief Wanyan Chengyu to flee and the Jin army to collapse completely. This battle laid the foundation for the Mongol conquest of the Jin.

Recognized by the international historical community as the "cornerstone of the Mongol Empire's expansion," it was the only guard organization capable of simultaneously controlling military, court, and administrative power.

You can imagine the fighting power of this army!

With this reinforcement, their chances of capturing Fengzhou City are undoubtedly much greater.

"With Lord Typhon personally overseeing the situation, and with so many elite troops, Fengzhou City will surely be within our grasp!"

A glint of light flashed in Jochi's eyes as he spoke in a deep voice.

He had been worried about insufficient troops, but now that reinforcements had arrived, most of his concerns had vanished.

"Good! Once Lord Typhon arrives, we will concentrate all our forces, capture Fengzhou City in one fell swoop, and take Zhao Kuangyin alive!"

"When the time comes, I will personally kill him to avenge the brothers who died today!"

Tolui was so excited that he slapped his thigh.

Unlike Tolui and Jochi, Sihanfei was not excited. He looked at Ladon, his brows furrowed slightly, and he fell into deep thought.

He knew Typhon's combat strength. As the top general under Temujin, although he was no match for the new generation of Sky Eagle of the Northern Longyao tribe, he was a true war god of the ultimate Qi. With him coming, his top combat strength could indeed be greatly enhanced.

However, he always felt that it would be a losing proposition to use the Mongol cavalry to attack Fengzhou City.

"General Hulagu, what's wrong? Do you think that even with reinforcements, it's not enough to break through Fengzhou City?"

Seeing that Si Hanfei remained silent, La Dong couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.

"The arrival of Lord Typhon with his army will certainly strengthen our forces, but I think we can no longer use the previous method of attacking Fengzhou City head-on."

Si Hanfei raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the three of them, and slowly spoke.

"Why? We have ample troops now, are we afraid of not being able to conquer Fengzhou City?"

Tore was stunned for a moment.

"What is the greatest advantage of the Three Mongol Cavalry? It is their superior mobility and flexible logistical capabilities!"

"Our cavalrymen each ride multiple horses, and these horses have exceptional endurance, enabling them to gallop long distances across the grasslands with incredible speed, covering hundreds of miles in a day and night. In terms of logistics, the cheese, dried meat, and other rations we carry can sustain our soldiers for a long time in the wild, and the warhorses can even be used for emergency food supplies, greatly reducing the burden of baggage." "Furthermore, we can replenish our supplies by raiding tribes along the way or hunting, ensuring the smooth and flexible operation of our supply lines."

Si Hanfei stood up, walked to the map again, traced the area around Fengzhou City with his fingertips, and slowly spoke.

"However, siege warfare is precisely the weakness of our Mongol cavalry. Fengzhou City has strong defenses, and the defenders rely on the city walls to defend, which gives them a geographical advantage. Our cavalry are good at charging on the plains, but when they get to the city walls, their mobility is completely lost. They can only dismount and attack the city, engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the defenders."

"In this way, our advantages will be completely lost, and we will suffer huge casualties. We have already tried to attack the city before, but we suffered heavy losses and made no progress. If we concentrate all our forces to attack it head-on, even if we eventually break through the city, we will probably have to pay several times the cost of the defending army. This will be extremely disadvantageous for us to take over the entire Yuzhou later."

He paused, his tone becoming serious.

“Hulagu is right. Our Mongol cavalry is indeed not good at attacking cities. However, now that Lord Typhon has brought a large army, if he personally leads the army to attack the city, the losses should not be too great.”

Upon hearing this, Jochi nodded and said thoughtfully.

"Lord Typhon will not arrive for some time. Since a direct assault is not feasible, let's try a different approach. The reason Fengzhou City has been able to hold out is simply because it has ample food supplies and strong defenses."

"If we can cut off Fengzhou City's supply lines and starve the garrison, they will fall into disarray on their own without us even having to attack the city."

Si Hanfei's lips curled into a smile, and a glint of shrewdness flashed in his eyes.

"You mean, send cavalry to plunder the grain supplies of Fengzhou City?"

Tore's eyes lit up.

"It's not just about plundering grain and fodder; Fengzhou City's supplies mainly come from Yulu City in Yuzhou and the hinterland near Qianzhou."

"We can send out several small cavalry units deep into the heart of Yuzhou, sabotage their supply lines, burn their granaries, and seize their livestock. At the same time, we can attack the garrison strongholds throughout Yuzhou to disrupt their deployment, making it impossible for Li Yujing and Zhao Kuangyin to attend to both ends."

Si Hanfei shook his head and traced the outline of Yuzhou in the heart of the city behind Fengzhou on the map.

"General Ladong is a great general of our Mongol army. His cavalry is elite and extremely fast. He can lead a small force of iron cavalry, hiding by day and moving by night, bypassing Fengzhou City and going straight into the heart of Yuzhou to attack their supply lines."

"Later, the generals such as Hydra brought by Lord Typhon have soldiers under their command who are all brave and fierce. They can also lead a team to cooperate with the general's actions and make Fengzhou City completely lose its supply source."

He looked at Ladon and said with a smile.

"That's a great idea! My cavalry are best at long-distance raids, so I'm the perfect person to handle tasks like disrupting supply lines!"

Upon hearing this, a hint of excitement flashed in Ladon's eyes.

He has always preferred this kind of mobile and flexible warfare tactic; destroying supply lines is clearly more to his liking than directly attacking cities.

“Our cavalrymen can ride multiple horses and are highly mobile. Although the roads in Yuzhou are not as flat as the grasslands, we can avoid the major cities and take the smaller roads.”

"Moreover, our logistics and supplies are flexible and do not need to rely on fixed supply routes. We can obtain materials locally within Yuzhou. In this way, we can constantly harass Yuzhou's rear without worrying about our own supply problems."

"Our main force, which remains outside Fengzhou City, will continue to put pressure on the city. We will send out a small number of cavalry to launch feigned attacks every day, making Zhao Kuangyin mistakenly believe that we are still preparing to attack the city. He will not dare to easily divide his troops to protect the supply lines. When the food supplies in Fengzhou City are exhausted and the morale of the defending army is low, we will concentrate all our forces and break through the city in one fell swoop. This will surely be twice as effective with half the effort."

Si Hanfei continued.

(End of this chapter)