The coalition forces arrived very quickly.
Before the Western Qin army had time to capture all the passes east of Sedica, the Frankish army and the northwest Spanish countries had already arrived near Sedica.
As the second main force of the coalition, the army of Bulgar Khan Under the leadership of Khan King Krum, they passed through the Kashbitsa Pass and entered the Thrace region, and are now fighting towards the city of Plovdiv from the northeast.
One thousand papal knights and three hundred priests from the Papal States came to Sedica with Pope Leo III on September 12.
Eight thousand people from Dalmatia and six thousand people from Serbia arrived in Dupni due west.
The police converged and stopped, Macedonia Twelve thousand people have arrived at Bansko in the southwest.
After the coalition armies arrived at the predetermined location, the generals of each army secretly rushed to Sedica to discuss with Emperor Charlemagne and Pope Leo III to discuss with the Western Qin Army combat matters.
Sedica Governor's Palace.
There is a round table in the middle of the large hall, and the generals of the coalition forces are sitting around the round table.
The function of the round table meeting is to make the generals of the coalition forces equal in status, without subordinate status, so that they can speak freely during discussions.
No scruples.
Batannicus looked at everyone and said: "His Majesty Charles, His Majesty the Pope, His Majesty the Emperor, King Krum Khan, and all kings, lords, and generals, I believe you have received relevant news.
A series of passes east of Sedica Almost more than 90% of the capital has been captured by the Western Qin people, so now we have lost the initiative in the war."
Although these people had already received the news, when the news came from Batannicus's mouth, everyone's hearts still jumped.
Some people's faces even changed.
What does it mean to lose the initiative in the war?
Now we can only defend passively.
The governor of Macedonia, Grete, said angrily: "Batanicus, what on earth did you do?
How could you be so careless that you are surrounded by mountains on all sides?
The terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack.
How could you allow the Western Qin people to conquer so many areas in the east?"
Where is the pass?”
Grete slapped him in the face, which made Batannicus look a little ugly.
After all, he was also the governor of a place and the boss of a force.
He showed no mercy to him in front of so many people, which really annoyed him: "Grit, what do you mean?
Do you think I am willing to seize so many passes for the Western Qin people?
Maybe you We don’t know that this time Zhao Ziliang personally led his army to the city of Plovdiv.
There are now two to three hundred thousand Western Qin troops stationed in the east.
I only have less than thirty thousand men in my hands, and there are so many territories and pass fortresses.
Garrison, if it were you, you would probably be worse than me.
Maybe Sedica has been captured by now."
"You are still reasonable."
Grete was not willing to be outdone.
These two guys had always been at odds with each other, and they would fight each other every time they met.
Leo V hurriedly tried to persuade him to make peace: "Okay, okay, we are facing a powerful enemy.
Why are you still arguing?
Do you have to wait until the Western Qin people come to kill you before you can sit down and talk calmly?
Since things are already like this, There is no use in fussing over it any more, so let’s discuss how to deal with it, Charlie, what do you think?”
Frank had the largest number of troops, so the weight of what Charlie said was quite heavy.
Charlie said: "I have seen the situation in Sedica a few days ago.
The city walls are strong and tall, and the defense facilities are complete.
With the defensive power of this castle, as long as it is stationed With more than 5,000 people, it is impossible for the enemy to break through it in a short time, so we don't have to care about its success or loss just now.
After introducing the situation, the Western Qin army broke through most of the passes in the east.
Judging from the current actions and the comparison of the forces of both sides, the Western Qin people do have the initiative in the war.
They can attack if they want to attack and defend if they want to defend.
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However, this is not absolute.
This is also the reason why when I was still on the way, I suggested that the various armies do not need to meet at Sediqa, but instead arrive at the designated place to station."
"If all the armies of our coalition converge in Sedika, it will be a lot easier for the Western Qin people.
They don't need to consider whether there are enemies in other directions, and they only need to concentrate on dealing with us in the west.
In the past, we set the battle location in Here, on the one hand, it is because the main offensive direction of the Western Qin Army is on this line, and the strength of the troops is relatively large; on the other hand, it is also because the surrounding terrain is not suitable for cavalry combat, and more than half of the Western Qin Army is cavalry. , such terrain will limit their combat capabilities, but I overlooked one point.
This time the composition of the Western Qin army is not a single Western Qin standing army, but also other territorial legions and foreign legions, and most of these legions are infantry.
Some of the soldiers of these legions live on plateaus, some live in dense forests, some live in areas with dense plains and water networks, and some live in deserts, grasslands, and extremely cold places, so no matter where they fight, , the Western Qin army can always deploy units suitable for fighting in the terrain, which is terrible.
So now we can't place our hopes on using the terrain to limit the combat effectiveness of the Western Qin army.
We must avoid exposing our shortcomings to the Western Qin army.
In front of us, we must take advantage of our advantages.
In terms of strength, there is a big gap between our coalition forces and the Western Qin army.
If we concentrate our forces for a head-on confrontation, we have little chance of winning, and this is what the Western Qin people hope for.
Yes, they can just take this opportunity to catch us all once and for all.
Therefore, we must disperse our forces.
The coalition's spheres of influence are north, west and southwest.
If we disperse our forces to the west, southwest and north, we can start from Surrounding the Western Qin Army's sphere of influence from all sides and launching attacks against them, although our forces are dispersed and relatively weak in all directions, we have taken the strategic initiative."
Having said this, Charlie stood up and walked to the simple map hanging next to him, pointed at the Sedica Plain area to the west, drew a circle and said: "To the west of the Western Qin Army, we are in a passive position here in Sedica.
Because a series of passes here are occupied by the Western Qin army, they can fight if they want and defend if they want, but we are not absolutely passive.
We can use Sedika's strong city defense and the surrounding mountainous areas to deal with the Western Qin people. , holding back the main force of the Western Qin Army."
"In the southwest and north, we have the initiative.
The passes in the southwest and the north are still in our hands.
If we can't defeat them, we can retreat.
Several armies can even retreat to their own territory.
In the hands of King Krum Khan in the north There are 40,000 cavalry in it, and they have strong maneuverability.
Even if the Western Qin people send out large-scale cavalry, it will be difficult to catch up.
There is really no way to retreat to the north of the Balkan Mountains.
Our main attack direction is to the north and southwest.
If between these two The direction can attract most of the troops of Western Qin.
We will have no pressure in the west and can take the initiative to launch attacks.
If we attract most of the troops of Western Qin in the west, we can take the initiative to launch attacks on the northern and southwest defense lines.
Therefore, from the overall perspective Strategically speaking, we have an advantage.
The Western Qin people have the advantage of having more troops and stronger combat effectiveness.
However, our overall strategic advantage can offset their superiority in military strength and combat effectiveness.
It is not that we have no chance of winning this battle, and we have a very good chance of winning. big" Everyone around the round table nodded repeatedly, and some were thoughtful.
No matter what, they had to admit from the bottom of their hearts that Charlie had a strong strategic view of the overall situation.
They originally seemed to be weak after Charlie's analysis.
With the arrangement, they immediately got even with the Western Qin people.
After discussion, the leaders of the various coalition forces participating in the round table meeting reached some resolutions.
The coalition forces were divided into three parts.
The northern part was led by Bulgar Khan King Krum, and its strength was the Bulgar Khan's 40,000 cavalry.
The southwest part is divided into two small parts.
One small part is composed of the Dalmatian Army and the Serbian Army, with a total of 14,000 people.
The leader is headed by the Dalmatian Governor Lautres.
The other small part is mainly composed of the Dalmatian Army and the Serbian Army.
The Macedonian army consisted of 12,000 men, with the Macedonian governor Grete as its commander-in-chief.
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These two A small part formed the southwest part of the coalition.
The commander of the southwest part was Leo V, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire.
He was not an ordinary commander.
Although his status as emperor was not recognized by these governors, now he With great righteousness, he still has 3,000 imperial guards at his disposal.
The third part is Sedica and the surrounding areas, with Charles as the commander.
The force consists of 80,000 Franks, 30,000 Thracians, and 8,000 people from the northwest Spanish countries.
Pope Leo III served as the liaison between various departments.
One thousand papal knights stayed in Sedica, two hundred priests were left to serve as military doctors in Sedica, and the remaining one hundred were sent to the southwest to serve as military doctors and bless the soldiers.
Duties of Prayer.
Plovdiv city.
"Oh, the coalition forces of the Western countries did not converge in Sedika."
Zhao Ziliang frowned after hearing Wan Qingming's report.
"Yes," Wan Qingming said, walking to the map, pointing at Sedica and saying: "Your Majesty, there are 80,000 Franks, 20,000 Thrace, and 8,000 Spanish troops in Sedica.
There are also 10,000 Thracian garrison; in Bansko and Dupnica to the southwest are 12,000 Macedonian troops and 14,000 Dalmatian and Vervian troops."
Zhao Ziliang looked at the map and asked: "Where are the 40,000 Bulgarian cavalry now?"
“In the Sliven Generation” Zhao Ziliang took a few steps back and looked at the map from this position.
He seemed to have a more comprehensive view.
He touched his chin and said: "Interesting, the Western coalition forces did not merge, but were stationed in three directions: west, north and southwest.
So Since then, we have been in three There are threats from enemy forces in all directions.
Strategically, we seem to have lost a bit.
Our supply line is too long.
King Krum of Bulgar Khan has 40,000 cavalry.
They can easily plunder our supply line and the surrounding vast area. regional city The towns and villages can play hide and seek with us.
They can retreat and defend in the southwest, and they can attack when we are not paying attention.
In the west, they have hundreds of thousands of troops and are surrounded by mountains.
Capture Sedica in one fell swoop It will be difficult in the short term.
If they contain most of the main force of our army from the west, the forces we can use in the southwest and back will be limited.
It will be difficult to give full play to the absolute advantage of our forces.
I didn't expect that the Western coalition forces would join us in this move
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