Did the Turks have logistics?
There was!
Although the Turks were nomadic, they also harvested fruits and made them into rations, but the quantity was pitifully small.
In addition, the staple food of the Turks was beef and mutton, and cows and sheep had to eat grass. With two armies confronting each other, would they still have to graze on the battlefield?
Even if they could graze, how many days could the grass around the battlefield last?
Thus, when Jie Li Khan chose to gather his camp, he chose the plains in front of Yu Er Mountain.
This way, the Turkic army could attack Youzhou and retreat over Mount Yu Er into the north, leaving Chai Shao blind.
And behind Fish Mountain, the Turkic tribes could graze their cattle and sheep without fear. Because of the mountain's buffer, they didn't have to worry about Chai Shao's sneak attack.
If Chai Shao dared to come, not to mention the women and children of the Turkic tribes easily escaping on their horses, once Jie Li Khan led his men to surround them, Chai Shao would definitely not be able to return.
It could be said that as long as the grass behind Mount Yu Er was eaten up, the Turkic army would have no problems with logistics.
On the other hand, the situation of the Youzhou border army was clearly not so optimistic.
First of all, they had to transport the rations out of the pass. Then, they had to travel a long distance across the Great Wall. Then, they had to send a large number of troops to escort the rations to the camp!
The entire grain route was extremely difficult!
After two years of chaos in Youzhou, the state's treasury had long been empty. Because the people had fled, the granary did not have much stock.
Chai Shao had been able to hold on for more than three months outside the pass mainly because of the support of the Great Tang's blood transfusion.
Li Er read the battle report in Taiji Palace every day, and his heart was bleeding. He wanted to order Chai Shao to retreat several times, but he thought that once he did, the Youzhou border army would be defeated!
Of course, it was unrealistic to send reinforcements.
Firstly, Jie Li Khan was not stupid. Once they found out that the Tang army had reinforcements, they would definitely choose to pay a certain price and give up the confrontation to escape into the North Desert.
Secondly, the reinforcements had to eat, drink, and defecate. If they ran over, they would only increase the burden on the logistics of the Great Tang!
Therefore, the best plan was to give them money and food!
In this battle of attrition, the Great Tang or the Turks would have the last laugh!
What made Chai Shao feel fortunate was that due to the approaching winter, the Turks had frozen many cattle and sheep to death.
Chai Shao was overjoyed after receiving the news from the spy. After releasing the news, the morale of the Youzhou border troops soared. Chai Shao immediately ordered the entire army to attack and break through the Turkic camp, forcing the Jie and Tuli Khagan to retreat to Mount Yu Er!
Chai Shao rejoiced and continued to set up camp at the foot of the mountain, confronting the Turkic army. Once the Turkic army was defeated, Chai Shao would lead the army to pursue and reap the rewards!
The news of the victory in front of Fish Mountain quickly spread back to Chang 'an.
After Li Er saw this battle report, his originally tightly knitted brows finally relaxed a little.
As expected, these Turks weren't as powerful as he had imagined!
Chai Shao's strength wasn't bad either. He had taken the initiative to attack the Turks while the Goguryeons were eyeing him covetously, and now he had even obtained such a great victory. His strength wasn't inferior to Li Yi's at all!
Li Er was very happy.
But very quickly, Chai Shao's urgent memorial was sent to his table.
Li Er opened the memorial and took a cursory look. His mood immediately turned bad.
"Why do you want money and food again?"
"Three times the usual number?"
Li Er's face was so gloomy that it was about to drip water.
How many years had it been since the founding of the Great Tang? How much money and food did they consume in this war? Moreover, not long ago, the Great Tang had almost emptied its treasury to support Chai Shao, and now it still needed more?
And three times more?
What exactly was this Chai Shao trying to do!
As Li Er held the memorial, he could not help but think of the time when Li Yi had been in charge of Youzhou. He had never asked for a single soldier, a single coin, or a single grain from the Imperial Court. In the end, he had even managed to turn Youzhou into an important border area!
But what about Chai Shao now?
Not only did he exhaust all of Youzhou's assets, but he also kept reaching out to the Imperial Court!
There was really no harm without comparison!
Thinking of this, Li Er's expression instantly became gloomy and uncertain. He faintly regretted sending Chai Shao to Youzhou.
But now that things have come to this, what should we do?
In the end, after Li Er discussed with the officials, they decided to continue supporting Chai Shao!
……
In the imperial prison.
Li Xiuning hurriedly found Li Yi and told him the news of the small victory at Fish Mountain.
As her strength continued to increase, Li Yi no longer hid anything. She would respond to Li Xiu Ning's many questions one by one.
"The Turks come and go like the wind. Attacking their camp isn't very meaningful, and we won't gain much either!”
"Li Yi, you're right. Although this battle was a small victory, Chai Shao only beheaded 500 people!”
Hearing this, Li Yi nodded slightly. What was this? In history, the Ming army had chased the Tartars for hundreds of miles, but they had only killed a few dozen of them. Therefore, to deal with these Turks, it was not reliable to gather and annihilate them. Only by uprooting them could they be cured!
After sending Li Xiu Ning off, Li Yi opened his personal attribute panel.
Not long ago, he had obtained a special reward during his daily check-in---Top Horsemanship!
That was, once Li Yi learned this top-notch riding skill, he would be able to ride on a horse as if he was walking on flat ground, completely making up for Li Yi's lack of good riding skills!
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