Zhao Ziliang's judgment was correct.
The purpose of Nicephorus's attack on Alexander Taler this time was to attack the Holy Mountain Castle.
He was very bold and wanted to take advantage of the troops deployed by the Western Qin State in Syria.
The idea of conquering the Holy Mountain Castle and capturing Zhao Ziliang in one fell swoop not only proved Nicephorus's courage, but also showed that this person was very crazy.
However, he never expected that the Western Qin cavalry had such special skills as guerrilla warfare. .
The Western Qin cavalry, composed of groups of fifty, one hundred, or two hundred cavalry, kept harassing Nicephorus as he led his army to quickly advance towards the Holy Mountain Castle.
Nicephorus suffered a heavy blow.
Unfortunately, he and his generals were completely unadapted and accustomed to this method of warfare.
In the case of serious troop losses, there was also the possibility of a significant decrease in the advancement speed.
In order to achieve the strategic goal of advancing to the Holy Mountain Castle as quickly as possible, besieging the Holy Mountain Castle and capturing Zhao Ziliang alive, he had to bite the bullet and ordered the army to insist on advancing south quickly, regardless of the serious loss of troops, but this brought him big trouble. , the distance between the front cavalry and the rear infantry was getting farther and farther, and the food and grass supplies required by the front cavalry were no longer in supply.
After the army advanced near Damascus, it had to stop advancing due to the lack of food and grass supplies.
"Nicephorus has led his army to stop northwest of Damascus.
Their cavalry is attacking nearby villages to collect grain and military supplies, and 25,000 infantry have only arrived in Homs at this time."
After listening to Duan Wei's report, Zhao Ziliang asked: "How many troops have our troops gathered outside the castle?"
Duan Wei clasped his fists and said: "Your Majesty, we have gathered three thousand cavalry so far.
I have already ordered people to calculate.
In three days at most, ten thousand cavalry will arrive here.
Even if Nicephorus comes with all the cavalry, , currently they still have 18,000 cavalry.
Although the number of cavalry we can gather cannot exceed them, it should not be too different.
With the combat effectiveness of our cavalry, we are not afraid."
Zhao Ziliang nodded after listening to Duan Wei's report.
This time, Nicephorus completely gave up on logistical supplies.
He wanted to obtain supplies through war and support war, and complete the strategic goals as quickly as possible.
Zhao Ziliang I really don’t know if this guy is brave or crazy.
You must know that the Eastern Roman cavalry is just a regular cavalry.
Even if his Western Qin cavalry is equipped with a large number of Mongolian horses, they dare not give up completely.
Logistics and supplies are a desperate move deep into the Eastern Roman Empire.
You must know that food, weapons and armor can be supplied by looting and seizure.
However, bows, crossbows and arrows are extremely expensive combat equipment and are difficult to obtain through seizure and looting.
A large number of supplements, without long-range suppression and strikes, many tactics cannot be implemented by the army, which is sometimes fatal.
Zhao Ziliang thought for a while and ordered: "Send out all the three thousand cavalry who have gathered, bring enough arrows, and use Li Su as the general to tell Li Su how he wants to fight.
I don't care, as long as he can kill a lot of people."
The Eastern Roman cavalry, let Nicephorus know how painful and helpless it is for a cavalry lacking bows and arrows to face a cavalry with superb cavalry and archery tactics."
"Yes, Your Majesty" "Come here, summon the civil and military ministers to discuss matters."
Not long after, the civil and military ministers came to the castle's meeting hall one after another.
When everyone arrived, Zhao Ziliang walked into the meeting hall from the side door and sat on the throne.
The ministers paid homage together.
"Everyone, get up."
Zhao Ziliang raised his hand.
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
The ministers stood up one after another.
Zhao Ziliang looked at the ministers and said: "You must have already understood the general military situation, so I won't describe it here.
Now Nicephorus's cavalry and infantry have been separated, and 18,000 cavalry have arrived near Damascus.
They can only loot the surrounding villages to obtain some supplies.
It is impossible to attack the city with cavalry.
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It's possible.
The 25,000 infantrymen are still in Homs.
Gu Zai thinks that since his cavalry and infantry have been separated, it is better to keep them separated forever.
We send a small group of cavalry to contain the 25,000 infantrymen.
If If his cavalry is difficult to contain, it should not be difficult to contain his infantry.
Where is Xue Ping?"
A middle-aged general in his late fifties, wearing heavy armor, stood up and clasped his fists, saying: "I'm here."
Xue Ping is the great-grandson of Xue Rengui and the son of Xue Song.
When Xue Song was still alive, he had been following Xue Song to guard Mobei.
He was proficient in cavalry tactics and tactics, especially cavalry guerrilla tactics.
Zhao Ziliang said: "I order you to rush to Damascus quickly to control all the cavalry in Syria and contain the 25,000 infantry of Nicephorus.
It is estimated that after you arrive in Damascus, you will be able to mobilize about 3,000 cavalry.
Your task is to let The 25,000 Eastern Roman infantry cannot help Nicephorus's forward cavalry.
Of course, if you can defeat the 25,000 Eastern Roman infantry, I will be even happier."
"Take the order."
Xue Ping clasped his fists and agreed, then turned and left.
Zhao Ziliang looked at the civil and military ministers and said: "Nicephorus suddenly gave us such a big gift this time.
If we don't reciprocate politely, people will say that we don't understand etiquette.
What do you think?"
"Father, I think this is the right time to annihilate Nicephorus' 50,000 troops in one fell swoop, keep them in Syria forever, and then take advantage of the great victory to quickly send troops to invade the Eastern Roman Empire and destroy it in one fell swoop.
"Zhao Lei stood up and talked.
Zhao Lei abdicated a few years ago and was succeeded by the eldest prince Zhao Ang.
Zhao Lei came to the Middle East to fulfill his filial piety in front of Zhao Ziliang, assisting Zhao Ziliang in managing and advising on military affairs.
Zhao Ziliang looked at the other civil and military ministers and asked, "What do you think?"
Li Muchen stood up and cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, our country's strategic material reserves such as ordnance, armor, grain, grass, and war horses are enough to last ten years.
During these ten years, we can continue to increase production and fully support a ten-year war." war, the Eastern Roman Empire has always been a stumbling block hindering our westward expansion.
I think it is time to kick it away."
Zhao Ziliang thought for a moment and then immediately ordered: "After the reinforcements arrive from all walks of life, with Erzhu as the main general and Zhao Shuo and Wang Gan as the deputy generals, we will attack the Nicephorus army.
This battle can only be won, not defeated."
Veteran general Erzhu, young generals Zhao Shuo and Wang Gan stood up and clasped their fists to accept the order: "I obey my order."
Zhao Ziliang looked at the ministers again, his eyes resting on the veteran general Guo Xin, and said: "Guo Xin, the governor of Syria, it is up to you to organize the troops, raise ordnance and supplies, increase the garrison strength in various pass cities, and cut off the return route of the Eastern Roman army.
Don’t let anyone escape” Guo Xin is the nephew of Guo Ziyi.
When he was young, Guo Xin was frivolous and arrogant, so he suffered a lot.
After so many years of hard work, his temperament became calm and perseverant, and he was quite talented in military strategy.
He worked hard in the years when he served as the governor of Syria. change Improving relations among various ethnic groups, resolving conflicts, rectifying public security, and promoting the popularization of court laws were quite effective.
Zhao Ziliang was also very happy about this and sighed that he had done nothing wrong in promoting Guo Xin after being entrusted by Guo Ziyi.
The white-haired Guo Xin immediately stood up, clasped his fists and said loudly: "I obey the decree."
Zhao Ziliang added: "Order the Second, Third, and Sixth Army to carry out war mobilization, and set off for Tel Aviv two months later; order the Palestinian Governor Gao Chongwen to arrange the camp; order all departments to operate at full speed, and the first batch of military supplies It has to be shipped all the way to Tel Aviv.”
All the ministers saluted one after another: "I obey the order."
The huge war machine started to operate, and a large amount of military supplies were transported from all over the country to the Middle East at the fastest speed.
At this time, the cement roads built by the Western Qin State and the stations along the way played a huge role.
The speed of the logistics supply line and the march of the army The speed exceeded people's imagination.
It was originally estimated that it would take about five days to gather about 10,000 cavalry, but they did not expect that 12,000 elite cavalry arrived at the Holy Mountain Castle in only three days.
At this time, the army commanded by Emperor Nicephorus of the Eastern Roman Empire encountered great trouble.
The 25,000 infantrymen who were far behind were held back by Xue Ping with 3,000 cavalry.
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They continued to attack every day.
The harassment of the army made the army extremely annoyed.
In just a few days, the morale of the 25,000-strong army fell to the bottom.
There was also a large-scale bombing of the camp, causing more than 7,000 casualties.
Xue Ping led the cavalry to charge and kill , and lost more than 3,000 people and a large amount of ordnance, food and supplies.
After this battle, there were only 15,000 infantrymen left in the rear of Eastern Rome.
They also faced a serious shortage of food and grass, and were cut off from the front by Xue Ping's cavalry.
With the main cavalry team of Nicephorus, it is no longer feasible to continue to attack the Holy Mountain Castle.
They can only stay where they are to find ways to raise food and then withdraw back to the country.
However, the Western Qin Kingdom has long been prepared to cut off their return. .
The main cavalry of the Eastern Roman Empire in front also encountered a lot of trouble.
Under the command of Li Su, the three thousand cavalry were divided into thirty centuries and harassed Nicephorus from all directions around the clock and day and night.
Sri Lanka's cavalry army.
The cavalry brought by Nicephorus this time were all light cavalry and no heavy cavalry.
Although there were three thousand armored cavalry in Constantinople, the armored cavalry was not suitable for long-distance attacks, so they stayed in the country.
This time, only one-third of the troops he brought were equipped with crossbows and arrows, but for this cavalry team that had only been established for a few years, cavalry and archery were still unfamiliar to them, and the crossbows and arrows were in their hands.
The role it plays is still too small and can only play a certain deterrent role.
In addition, along the way To attack towns and plunder, the number of bows and arrows consumed was no longer small, and there was no logistical support to replenish them.
Therefore, people who originally had crossbows discarded them in order to reduce the load after using up the arrows.
This almost made Ni The cavalry under Severus lost its ability to strike and suppress from a distance
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