Chapter 962: Chola Kingdom
Relying on this method, Meng Kangbu quickly rolled up a force of more than 100,000. Of course, half of them were miscellaneous soldiers, and the rest were generally old, weak, sick and disabled, and there were only tens of thousands of young and strong people.
After all, they come from a group of small countries that are not even as big as kingdoms. They are called countries, but in fact they are just city-states and tribes.
You can't raise a real dragon by diving.
These miscellaneous soldiers may not even be as good as the most common farming soldiers of the Han Dynasty, but it doesn’t matter. They can be used to test, harass, or give up.
In short, no matter how useless something is, it still has value in being utilized, let alone a living person. Even if they have weaknesses, they can still be used to make up the numbers.
At worst, we can still dig a hole and fill it with soil.
When the time comes, if we put javelins closer, they can also serve as a certain combat force. If not, they can be used to guard prisoners and suppress the local people of Wenjia. If that doesn't work, they can always be used as sailors to row boats, so every country must hand over people.
Relying on such means, Montcomb successfully formed a very large army. With the cooperation of the pirates who had been annexing everywhere recently, Montcomb's team became even larger.
More importantly, this time there were not many elite troops belonging to Mengkangbu, nor were there many soldiers belonging to Kushan.
This means that Meng Kangbu can use some inhumane tricks unscrupulously. Even whether he wins or loses, as long as he can severely damage the Han Dynasty, it is good for Meng Kangbu.
Sometimes, the dead are more useful than the living.
Montcomb was not a good man. He had even planned to use corpses to cultivate plague and then poison people.
He knew that the Han army must have a way to prevent and control it, but every additional action would be a test for the Han army. No matter what, the Han army was ultimately on an expedition.
Medicine and the like, no matter how sophisticated the means, will inevitably hinder logistics.
Moreover, even if we take a step back, his purpose was to clear the countryside, strengthen the walls, and impose the greatest restrictions on the Han Dynasty.
"Even if we win this battle, I'm afraid it won't really shake the Han army's grand strategy . In the current situation, the Han army may lose tactically, but it has always been in a strategic advantage. We have been responding passively. If this continues, something bad will happen sooner or later."
Meng Kangbu sighed in his heart, unfortunately he couldn't change the overall situation!
Contrary to Cecilien's expectations, Montcomb also had his , and this judgment tended to be mainstream, that is, Kushan was strategically restricted.
By now, Meng Kangbu had also discovered the bias of the overall situation. The Han army's deployment always gave people the feeling that the other side was planning three steps ahead of them. Although they were clearly losing the battle, it made them feel even more uncomfortable.
It feels like the victory was deliberately given to you by the other party in order to seek a greater victory.
This feeling is not good. It’s very bad.
It is a tragedy for any military force when victory or defeat on the battlefield cannot affect the overall situation.
Especially after confirming the authenticity of this feeling, Meng Kangbu became more cautious in dealing with the aftermath of the incident. This led to Meng Kangbu recruiting natives, chiefs, foreign nations, and borrowing troops from kingdoms large and small.
They were even prepared to fight to the death and perish together with the plague.
Because the development of the situation has made Meng Kangbu feel that it is impossible to suppress the Han Dynasty with the power in his hands alone.
Not only the power in his hands, but also Cecilien, Rahul and Arvind, it seemed that the three most powerful points of Kushan were unable to suppress the Han Dynasty.
Moreover, a series of previous events made Meng Kangbu clearly realize that even if he could suppress the opponent, it might just be a preparation made by the Han Dynasty for a better outbreak next time, which was not good!
He decided to abandon his past experience and use another approach to open up the situation.
"What on earth is Moncomb planning to do?" Bangala, a fierce general of the Chola dynasty, muttered to himself.
He was assigned by Meng Kangbu to land in this direction, but he felt uneasy no matter how he thought about it. If the Han army were to deploy defenses in such a place, it would cause a devastating blow to the soldiers of the Chola Dynasty.
Faced with a powerful enemy, even if Meng Kangbu wanted to deal with the Han Dynasty, he would not hand them over directly to the Han Dynasty.
After all, it is a broken royal guard, a double-talented legion, and a group of regular soldiers, so it has a little bit of strength.
The Chola Dynasty still had some foundation, after all, it was a rising dynasty.
Bangalore is one of the foundations. As the most powerful general of the Chola Dynasty, he is also a respectable figure in the empire, at least stronger than Madai and others.
The reason why he had been suppressed before was because of political intrigues, but since the commander of the Royal Guards died in battle and the Royal Guards suffered heavy losses, he was quickly re-appointed and held great power.
But no matter how strong their foundation is, they are not confident enough to fight the empire head-on. Just like Carikala, who harbors evil intentions, Bangalore actually tends to sit on the sidelines and wait for the right opportunity to take action after determining which is stronger between the Han Dynasty and the Kushan Empire. In other words, he wants to be a fence-sitter.
In fact, they are now leaning towards neutrality, and both sides are terrible.
There is no need to mention the strength of the Kushan rule over the years.
The Han Dynasty's sweeping military force was truly terrifying, and they were well aware that the main force of the Han army was confronting the Kushans.
This was just a small detachment of troops, and one could feel that just by looking at the Han army's sweep across the entire middle and lower reaches of the Ganges.
The troops they were fighting against were the regular Kushan army, and their initial target was just a group of small kingdoms.
You have to know that when Kalikala was preparing to attack the middle and lower reaches of the Ganges, he was mentally prepared to spend five to ten years slowly.
As a result, both the Han army's detachment and the Meng Kangbu's detachment pushed forward and achieved their goal of nearly ten years in just half a month. The combat effectiveness of the two sides is not at the same level at all.
If the Royal Guards were fully staffed, Bangalo might still want to make a move and show his allegiance. But now he has no plans at all and is just thinking about how to preserve his strength.
It's impossible to just go through the motions on the battlefield and then pretend to be defeated.
As long as the elite troops of their Chola Dynasty are not destroyed, they will still have some hope of turning the tables after the war between the Han Dynasty and the Kushan Empire.
This is also the limitation of the kingdom. Its vision is really narrow, as both the Han Dynasty and the Kushan Empire have already prepared for a decisive battle.
They still believed they had a chance of survival.
In fact, after this battle, whether it is the Kushans or the Han Dynasty, they will be completely swept into the dust of history and incorporated into the empire's ruling territory.
This is also the sadness of small countries. They are not as good as the best but better than the worst. However, when the empire really gets serious, their ideas are never taken into consideration.
If you follow the will, you will prosper; if you go against the will, you will perish.
"Military Advisor, should we just stay on the top of the hill and wait for the enemy to come over?"
Ma Dai stared at the enemy's warships eager to give it a try. This place had a natural port, so if the Han army stayed here without moving, it wouldn't take long for the soldiers of the Chola Dynasty to successfully land.
"Let them go and let them land. We will stay on the top of the mountain. The view from the top of the mountain is good and it is also good to wait for the opportunity." Fa Zheng said expressionlessly.
He had no interest in this level of battlefield. What was so good about it? Ma Dai, Ma Tie, Ma Su, Ma Liang and others led their men down from the top of the mountain and won in one wave.
In fact, it would be enough to leave the planning to Ma Su and Ma Liang and let Ma Dai lead the cavalry charge.
But Meng Kangbu was a famous Kushan officer after all, and he was more or less worried about leaving the matter to Ma Su and others.
"Don't worry, we are squatting on the mountain. We have no shortage of water and we won't be burned by the enemy's fire. It is obviously easier to defend squatting on the top of the mountain than below!" Ma Su told Ma Dai the advantages of squatting on the top of the mountain.
Ma Liang on the side nodded repeatedly as he listened. Compared to Fa Zheng's casualness, Ma Su could better understand the concerns of Ma Dai and others, so he directly broke down Fa Zheng's intentions and explained them to them in detail.
Fa Zheng nodded silently after hearing this. Ma Su was obviously a good young man, but he had a comment from Liu Bei in his hand. Liu Bei's evaluation of Ma Su was that he could only be an aide to the emperor, but could never lead troops.
Although he didn't know why Liu Bei made such a judgment, Fa Zheng believed it.
Liu Bei was very good at judging people.
At present, he is only slightly worse than Guo Hao. After all, Guo Hao dug out Chen Xi from Yingchuan. No matter who it is, they have to admit defeat.
There are advantages to squatting on the top of a mountain, and there are advantages to squatting down there. However, there is no shortage of water sources on the top of a mountain, and the mountain will not be set on fire by the enemy. It is obviously easier to defend on the top of a mountain than down there.
After all, there are only about 10,000 Han troops under Ma Dai. It is good for them to squat on the top of the mountain. At least when they rush down, their momentum will be very strong, and they may be able to crush the enemy's front line in one go.
Ma Dai was also a fierce general. Ever since he overturned the Imperial Guards head-on with his chariot, his status in Fa Zheng's eyes had risen sharply.
In the past, he might have viewed him as an officer who could be controlled at will, but now, he regarded Ma Dai as a person of equal status.
So no matter how stupid the question Ma Dai asked was, he would respond instead of ignoring it outright.
As a leader, sometimes you don't need to explain too much about your tactical intentions to your soldiers, as long as the soldiers obey your orders.
However, the plan needs to be explained to the generals in order to better implement it.
"After you get close, shoot once, then stop firing and let them go ashore. When they come over, shoot two more rounds, leaving three to four thousand people behind on their way."
Fa Zheng said casually to Ma Dai that as to whether doing so would expose him or not, Fa Zheng didn't care at all. He was just attracting fire.
He just wanted to tell the Chola Kingdom about their arrival and they arranged an ambush here.
He needed to observe the reactions of the generals of the Chola Kingdom to infer Meng Kangbu's plan. The other party had been networking troops since its appearance and had gathered nearly 200,000 people under his command. Even if they were all old, weak and sick, this was not a good sign.
Fa Zheng is not so naive as to think that the old, weak, sick and disabled are really not a threat at all. On the battlefield of the empire, no point in the battle must be underestimated.
"Yes!" Ma Dai nodded after hearing this and looked out at the Zhu Luo army in the mist. The top of the mountain is good, with a broad field of vision and a large observation range. More importantly, they have the ability to launch long-range attacks, which is simply the best.
Because of his outstanding performance, Huang Zhong assigned him a double-talented Shooting Sound Battalion. Although there were only a thousand people and their majors were not suitable, their abilities were there. No matter how unskilled they were, they were a disaster for the miscellaneous soldiers.
A large number of small boats were released by Bangalore, and soon they found a natural port where they could easily land. However, just as the soldiers of the Chola Dynasty gathered there, the ultra-long-range attack of the shooting sound had already landed.
However, the effect was not good. They simply designed and calculated the landing point. The ship's own defense easily blocked the arrows, and only a few unlucky people were shot.
After a long while, the soldiers of the Chola Dynasty began to land.
Another rain of arrows fell. This time, the Shesheng Camp truly mobilized the most essential power of the Shesheng Camp, that is, the arrows guided by will. Theoretically, these arrows were sure to hit the target, and almost every arrow would take away a soldier.
The soldiers of the Chola Dynasty almost collapsed. The scene of hundreds of people being shot to death was quite a shock to them.
Fortunately, Bangalore was capable and quickly stabilized the situation.
"You are definitely not mistaken. The arrows adjusted their angles in the air. Even after they were fired, they still have a certain degree of control. To this extent..."
"It can't be the three talents or the military spirit, so... that means this legion has an unavoidable weakness, probably the firing rate..."
Bangalo thought silently, then ordered all the soldiers to retreat back to the cabin, drop anchor and wait.
Although avoiding war is shameful, it is indeed very effective, especially when facing an enemy that is currently unable to deal with it. Bangalo withdrew all the soldiers back to the cabin without hesitation, relying on the warship's own defense, turning on his own defense and waiting silently.
After the two previous rains of arrows, Bangalo was able to basically determine the position of the Han army, but this determination did not affect the Han Dynasty's continued attack. The distance between the two sides made Bangalo completely unwilling to try the Han army's attack capability.
Even though he had already estimated that the enemy's weakness was the firing rate, Bangalo did not intend to risk the lives of his soldiers to take this dead end. The distance between the two sides was too far, more than twenty miles. Even if the Han army's firing rate was not high, at such a long distance, with the previous accuracy, it would probably have collapsed before it got through.
Charging into a barrage of fire is not the quality that a Chola soldier should have.
The opponent's ability of precise shooting means that they are destined to be sitting ducks on the way to the charge. Even if the soldiers with double talents rush forward, their morale will be completely lost, and it will be better for them to just surrender at that time.
This is not how war is fought. There is no need to fight to the death with the Han army.
Just hide in the cabin and survive the day, and then settle the score at night. Even if it is beyond visual range, it is still limited by day and night. You can only shoot if you can see.
At least in Bangalore's experience, the archers' performance would be limited at night.
But he forgot that he had never seen a double-talented archer, nor had he ever seen the sound of shooting.
If the sound of gunfire could be limited at night, the Huns would not be forced to update their technology tree due to the sound of gunfire.
"Another wave." Fa Zheng frowned as he looked at the Zhu Luo Army, which had completely turned into turtles. This reaction was a bit wrong.
Fa Zheng ordered his Shesheng Battalion to fire another wave of arrows, but the large defensive ships easily withstood the attack.
