After arguing for a whole night, these people still couldn't come to a conclusion. General Kang Ying didn't count on them anymore and quickly sent someone back to deliver the letter. However, the Northwest is so vast that even at the fastest speed, it would take nearly ten days to go back and forth. This is assuming that nothing happened on the way. If there was a sandstorm, it would be hard to say where your letter would be delivered.
The Tang army did not give them time to wait. On the fifth day after their discussion, the first Tang army left the border. Niu Jinda implemented Li Xiang's instructions and dispatched nearly two thousand people.
He searched for several days but couldn't find the weakness of the Western Region Coalition Forces, so he sent our people to provoke them. As long as the people of the Western Region Coalition Forces are dissatisfied, we will start attacking them immediately. Anyway, we carry a large number of firearms. If the people of the Western Region Coalition Forces want to have a try, we can easily arrange it for them.
Niu Jinda wanted to put on a show for them. Even though you have tens of thousands of people and we only have two thousand, we are not afraid of you. If a fight really breaks out, we may win.
Li Xiang really admired Niu Jinda's courage, but he was still prepared. If the reserve team sent a distress signal from Niu Jinda, our people would immediately go out to support them. Five thousand people would definitely be no problem.
Li Xiang is not very old, but he is also an old man on the battlefield. He has already summarized the data from various battlefields. To deal with these armies armed with cold weapons, we can definitely achieve a one to ten ratio. If our number exceeds 5,000, then we can achieve a one to twelve to one to fifteen ratio.
Although the Western Regions coalition forces have more than 100,000 people, they belong to more than a dozen countries. Each country is not subordinate to each other, so they will not cooperate with each other. If a war really breaks out, they may sabotage each other. Therefore, Li Xiang is not worried about Niu Jinda, but worried about another thing.
Lord Zhao told Li Xiang very clearly that the countries in the Western Regions are now afraid of us as they are afraid of a tiger. Even if we have any excessive demands, the countries in the Western Regions may agree. It is probably not so easy for Niu Jinda to provoke this conflict.
But Li Xiang believes in Niu Jinda's military capabilities. We just need to wait near the border. Niu Jinda will send someone to report in a few days.
Niu Jinda was certainly confident. All his men were equipped with chain crossbows, which could shoot more than sixty meters away and had ten arrows on them, making them extremely penetrating.
In addition to these, there are twenty crossbows. The carriage is loaded with various shells, which can hit targets two thousand meters away. If someone really comes to attack, we can even fight while running.
The modified crossbows can be fixed on the four-wheeled carriage. When the four-wheeled carriage retreats to the rear, we can continue to fire artillery shells.
With such mobile warfare, even if the enemy sends out tens of thousands of troops, Niu Jinda can lead them around in circles in the wilderness. If they appear in front of us, with the crossbows in our hands, can't we fight our way out?
After the war is over, they will see the losses and understand that you can't do anything to two thousand people, but my Tang Dynasty has hundreds of thousands of troops. Why don't you surrender then?
After Niu Jinda left the border, spies from the Western Regions coalition kept appearing around him. They followed the army from a distance and had already memorized the requirements from above that they must not get too close. If they were discovered, they would say that they were herdsmen from various countries in the Western Regions.
"How do you usually conduct reconnaissance? Didn't they say there was a military camp here? Why is there nothing there now?"
After a day's walk, they finally penetrated a hundred miles into the enemy territory. Originally, there was a military camp in this place. There were not many people there, about two thousand or so. Niu Jinda's primary target was to choose this place, but when he arrived in front of the military camp, it had been cleared out. Except for the pillars that were driven here, there was no sign indicating that this was a military camp.
"This is really strange. I came here in person half a month ago. This is indeed a military camp. There should be two to three thousand people inside, and they were practicing horseback riding and archery outside. How come there is no one here in just a few days?"
A young general under his command said depressedly that this guy was in charge of the reconnaissance work in this area. Several groups of his men had been here. This was also the first military camp after leaving the border line. It was also regarded as the vanguard of the Western Region Allied Forces. But now even the vanguard has disappeared?
"General, we found some remnants in the barracks. Most of them were their stored supplies, all buried underground. They can still be used."
Just when the young general was feeling depressed, the reconnaissance soldiers had already searched the place. Because of the strong wind and sand in the Western Regions, many things were buried underground. After they went in and searched, they found that the army retreated too hastily and did not take many things away.
"Aren't they just some broken vegetable stems? They're useless."
A general looked at the things brought up with disdain in his eyes.
"You know shit! This kind of stuff isn't valuable in our place, but it's very valuable here. Beef and mutton are cheap here, but vegetables like this are the most expensive. They didn't even take this kind of stuff with them. You can imagine they must have retreated in a hurry and immediately launched a sounding balloon."
At Niu Jinda's command, a balloon instantly carried a person up. They installed a special device on the carriage. The two carriages together could just hold the balloon inside. The carriage shed was nailed with wood around it. When it needed to be raised, a light soldier was hung on it and it could rise immediately.
Compared with the weapons Li Xiang used on the Tuyuhun grassland back then, the weapons now have made great progress, so the soldiers can use them with ease, and their combat effectiveness is much stronger than it was back then.
For example, some soldiers today have even developed volley tactics.
Dozens of soldiers lined up in a row and shot the enemy with crossbows. They would only fire arrows when the officers gave the order. This was done to kill the greatest number of people in a unit of time, causing a huge psychological shock to the enemy, causing them fear, and finally forcing them to flee.