I want to be emperor

Chapter 657
The Army of the Great Chu Empire dispatched troops from the west of Monan and Mobei areas at the same time, and the two armies added up to [-] cavalry and continued to sweep westward.

This instantly made the vast grassland tense.

Zhungeer did not blindly act as a confrontation, but chose to gradually withdraw the local tribes westward in order to lengthen the logistics supply line of the Chu army, and exhaust the Chu army with the vast grassland terrain and long distances.

But they can still do it here, but they can't do it in the Turpan area.

Because Turpan is a city, and it is also the most important large-scale oasis in the surrounding area, its strategic position is even more important than that of Hami before.

If after Turpan is lost, the Chu army can obtain the Turpan area, then the Chu army can rely on the large oasis of Turpan as a forward base, and directly attack the Tacheng area, and even the Ili River Valley area.

The Ita area is the real nest of the Jungar people. If they lose this place, they will really have to retreat to the Kazakhstan area to the west.

Therefore, in the Turpan area, the Jungar people had no intention of retreating at all. Even after the Hami area fell a few years ago, they spent a lot of manpower and material resources here to build a so-called line of defense.

With Turpan City as the central stronghold, the city defense system was rebuilt, a large number of forts were set up, dozens of artillery pieces of different calibers were deployed, and more than 3 troops were stationed for a long time.

After hearing that the Chu army launched a large-scale offensive, Zhungeer, who felt the danger, continued to mobilize troops from the western region to reinforce Turpan.

According to the scale of their troop mobilization, I am afraid that in the end they will be able to deploy a total of more than 5 troops in Turpan.

This also shows their determination:
No matter what, the Chu army must be resisted in Turpan, and the Chu army must not be allowed to cross Turpan and threaten Tacheng or Yining further back.

Otherwise, the Jungar people may not perish, but the hope of Zhungeer trying to establish a real country is completely gone.

In the process of Zhungeer building the Turpan defense line, the Russians also made a lot of effort. The Russians not only sent people to help Zhungeer build guns, but also directly sold a batch of guns to Zhungeer.

In addition, Zhungeer's previous western expeditions also plundered a large number of craftsmen and wealth from Kazakhstan and other Central Asian regions.

Otherwise, Zhungeer himself would not be able to get the so-called Turpan line of defense.

However, Zhungeer's move to stick to Turpan made the Chu army very happy.

The Chu army is not afraid of you defending to the death, what the Chu army is afraid of is Zhungeer running away, and then going deep into the grassland, Gobi desert and playing hide-and-seek with them.

I am also worried that the Zhungeer people will simply abandon Turpan and even the Ili Valley and the Tacheng area, and go directly to the vast grasslands in the west. Although the Great Chu Empire may occupy the Ili Valley and other areas without paying any price, the problem is that they will We must face the harassment of tens of thousands or even more Jungar cavalry at any time.

Therefore, if there is a chance to kill Zhungeer's main force, then the Chu army will be very happy.

Even in order to allow the Zhungeer people to gather more troops in Turpan and strive for a decisive strategic battle plan, the First Army of the Chu Army even postponed the time for the main attack plan.

Originally, according to the plan, the main force of the First Group Army should march from the Hami area to the Turpan area in late June, and it should arrive at the city of Turpan in July and start the siege operation.

However, because the Turpan people continued to increase their troops and pretended to defend the city of Turpan, the First Army postponed the plan.

Although a cavalry army was also sent as the vanguard to start westward, it was even more slow.

The infantry, artillery and other main siege troops in the rear moved more slowly. Basically, they rested for a period of time after arriving at a city along the way, saying that they were waiting for supplies, but in fact it was to mobilize more troops for the Zhungeers to reinforce Turpan. time.

As for what you said, after Zhungeer hoarded heavy troops in Turpan, whether the Chu army can still take Turpan City.

This is purely overthinking.

So far, what is the most powerful Chu army?
Firepower!

The firepower is strong in field battles, and the firepower is even stronger in assault battles.

Especially after a large number of medium and large howitzers continued to serve, the Chu army's offensive capabilities have actually far exceeded this era.

The explosive grenade fired by a large number of howitzers with wooden shells is undeniable.

The most important thing is that the Chu army has a lot of artillery and more ammunition.

No way, the Great Chu Empire is powerful. When the armies of other countries have only a few dozen artillery pieces in a large-scale battle, when the Chu army is fighting, they will use hundreds of cannons in any large-scale battle. artillery.

Not to mention that many of these artillery are epoch-making howitzers.

The comparison of firepower between the two sides is not from the same era at all. ,

Even for Zhungeer people, it is actually difficult to accurately judge how strong the Chu army's powerful artillery capabilities are.

They knew that the Chu army's guns were sharp, but they didn't have a clear understanding of how sharp they could be.

How to put it, the contemporary Chu army has actually entered the level equivalent to the early nineteenth century, but the Zhungeer army is still at the level of the early seventeenth century.

This is a difference of hundreds of years in terms of technical level, so it is no wonder that Zhungeer has difficulty effectively and accurately judging the true combat effectiveness of the Chu army.

Judging from the strength of the artillery, in fact, if the Zhungeer people choose to fight the Chu army in the field, there is still some hope... After all, the field battle is full of accidents. If Zhungeer’s generals are strong enough, they can even make the Chu army’s artillery units unable to fight. Unleash firepower in time.

But in offensive and defensive battles, especially in this kind of battle where the Chu army can slowly deploy and pull up a large number of large-caliber artillery, the Zhungeer people will not have the slightest chance of winning.

It's a pity that there are not many Zhungeer high-level officials who can clearly understand this point, otherwise they would not choose to stick to Turpan.

They only saw the important strategic role of Turpan, and one-sidedly believed that as long as they defended tenaciously, they could rely on the courage and flesh and blood of the soldiers to defend Turpan, and then defend Tacheng and Ili River Valley and other places.

This may be a contest of courage and guns!
Under such circumstances, time passed day by day. In mid-July, the forward troops of the First Army, that is, the Fourth Cavalry Army, walked slowly for nearly a month, and finally arrived outside the city of Turpan across a distance of more than 400 kilometers.

But these are cavalry units, and there is no way to attack Turpan City, which is like a hedgehog.

The Fourth Cavalry Army that came forward did not come to attack the city, but to open the way for the infantry and artillery units behind and provide cavalry cover.

Three days later, the main siege force of the Chu army arrived, namely the first-class division of the Chu army and the second infantry division, the old opponent of the Zhungeer people.

The division had previously marched westward from Jiayuguan, captured Guazhou along the way, and captured Hami City. After that, it has been stationed in the Hami Oasis for reclamation.

This infantry division is the main force of the Chu army to attack the Turpan army, um, one of them...

In addition to the Second Infantry Division, there is also a Seventh Infantry Division that was reinforced from Guazhou in the rear.

In addition to the two infantry divisions, there is also an independent heavy artillery brigade, the Eighth Heavy Artillery Brigade, which has dozens of 150mm howitzers and some 130mm field cannons.

Two infantry divisions and a heavy artillery brigade, this is the attacking force prepared by the Chu army for Turpan, with a total strength of about 5000 people, which is not as large as the defending force facing Zhungeer.

Zhungeer has successively deployed reinforcements, and now there are at least 4 defenders in the city.

In addition to this attacking force, there are more than 19 cavalry units such as the Fourth Cavalry Army and the No.2 Cavalry Division that provide cavalry cover. There are also cities stationed along the rear to maintain the logistics supply line. It can also be transferred to the front line of Turpan when necessary. After strengthening its mobility, it is actually the No. 30 Seventh Division of the standing second-class division that is no different from the combat-ready first-class division.

Three infantry divisions, four cavalry divisions, and one heavy artillery brigade, this is the main force prepared by the Chu Army's First Group Army for the Zhungeer people in the direction of Turpan.

There is still a big ticket not counting the field army sequence, a large number of transportation groups formed by recruiting young and strong civilians, these transportation groups are deployed on the long supply line in the rear, from the Hexi Corridor to Jiayuguan, then to Hami, and then to Turpan, basically Every city at a certain distance will have a transportation group, and these transportation groups will continuously transport materials forward from the Shaanxi-Gansu area in a relay manner.

And these transportation personnel are much more than the troops on the front line.

There are 10,000+ people in such a logistics supply line alone, and tens of thousands of various carriages!
Not to mention light two-wheeled carriages, among them, there are more than [-] four-wheeled heavy and light freight carriages in total!
This is a terrifying data, because this is only the number of personnel and carriages on this supply line, and it does not include the large number of carriages owned by the frontline army.

If added up, then this statistic will make the Zhungeer people on the opposite side desperate!
To put it bluntly, the total number of personnel mobilized by the Great Chu Empire for this war, including front-line combat troops and logistics personnel, exceeds the population of the Zhungeer Ministry headquarters.

And with so many people directly or indirectly participating in the war, the cost is naturally enormous.

In the contemporary world, only the Great Chu Empire can sustain such a large-scale expedition.

Under the powerful national power of the Great Chu Empire, the main siege troops under the command of the First Army arrived at the city of Turpan one after another.

And with the arrival of the main force of the Chu army, especially when the hundreds of artillery pieces appeared one after another outside the city, the Zhungeer defenders in the city would feel their scalps go numb.

Ma Dan, how can you resist with so many artillery pieces?

In fact, they really can't resist.

When they chose to stick to Turpan, when they gave the Chu army time to calmly mobilize their troops and supplies, when they gave the Chu army cavalry troops to intercept their follow-up reinforcements and even retreat.

The Battle of Turpan has actually lost any suspense.

On July 27, the First Army officially launched a general attack on Turpan City!

Hundreds of artillery began to shell the enemy's defense line in turn, focusing on destroying the enemy's fort and fixing the defensive position.

In the intensive shelling of the Chu army, the Zhungeer defenders deeply felt what a real war is.

Obviously those Chu Manzi's infantry hadn't rushed up yet, but the continuous drop of explosive bombs knocked them out of their wits.

Especially in the shelling on the first day, they underestimated the intensity of the Chu army's shelling. More importantly, they failed to build a series of perfect anti-grenade fortifications. They still used the plan to defend against solid shells to build defenses. fortifications.

And these fortifications against solid shells are basically useless when the ballistic trajectory is curved, and the explosive grenades are barely useful.

The intensive shelling completely stunned Zhungeer.

On the first day of the general offensive, the Zhungeer defenders lost at least a thousand people, all of whom were killed or injured by heavy shelling.

The number of casualties seems small among the more than 4 defenders, but this is only the first day of the war, and the Chu army has not even sent out infantry.

In the next few days, the Chu army continued to bombard, especially severely suppressing the defensive artillery of Zhungeer.

And began to cover the infantry troops to clean up some defensive nodes outside the city on a small scale, that is, some salient forts, forts, and firepower points one by one.

It seems that there are not many infantry dispatched, basically a few hundred people, no more than a thousand people, but the supporting artillery fire is very violent.

Often, before an infantry battalion launches an attack, there will be at least dozens of artillery behind to provide fire support.

Amidst the sound of rumbling guns, the infantry of the Chu army successfully took down many defensive points outside the city.

Five days after the start of the battle, the infantry of the Chu army had pushed the battle line to the front of the city wall of Turpan.

There was no surprise in the subsequent attack on the main fortifications of the city wall. The Chu army launched an attack on three lines at the same time. The heavy-armed assault troops that had been prepared for a long time broke through at fixed points, and then expanded the gap to cover more friendly troops entering.

On the eighth day, the Chu army had fully captured the eastern city wall, and began to advance towards the other walls and even the hinterland of the city.

At this point in the battle, the Zhungeer people's plan to defend Turpan City had completely failed.

Turpan has been conquered.

A little follow-up resistance has not changed the overall situation.

It was even difficult for them to break through the siege. After all, the city of Turpan was strategically surrounded by the Chu army at this time, and there were tens of thousands of cavalry outside the city.

The more than 2 Zhungeer cavalry in the outskirts once wanted to rush in to meet the defenders in the city, but they were all blocked by the Chu cavalry.

Under such circumstances, the remaining defenders in Turpan City were wiped out one by one. They either surrendered or were killed or injured, but few people were able to escape.

On August [-]th, all the fighting in the entire city of Turpan ended, even sporadic fighting.

The engineering units of the Chu Army have already begun to build the fortifications of Turpan City, and the vanguard of the First Army has left Turpan City and headed towards the Tacheng area and the Ili River Valley area.

During the same period, the Second Cavalry Army, which was fighting in the north, had reached a place only a few hundred kilometers northeast of Tacheng.

In other words, even if the Chu Army's First Army hadn't made a breakthrough in Turpan City, the Chu Army's cavalry troops headed by the Second Cavalry Army from the Monan Grassland could still kill the Zhungeer's lair.

There is no way, the Chu army has a lot of troops, money and food, and can advance several fronts at the same time. No matter which front has a breakthrough, it can pose a great threat to the Zhungeer people.

After the fall of Turpan, the Zhungeer side also completely died of the idea of ​​fighting a frontal offensive and defensive battle with the Chu army, and began to voluntarily give up almost all the cities they had, and returned to their traditional nomadic warfare.

They directly exited the Tacheng area, and then returned to the Yili River Valley area.

But in fact, they have already retreated too late.

In the Battle of Turpan, they lost more than 4 troops in one breath. Although these 4 troops were not elite cavalry, they were also elite infantry and artillery among them.

After the Battle of Turpan, Zhungeer can't even make dozens of field artillery...

There were not many arquebuses left.

If this doesn't change their tactics, they won't be able to continue fighting.

Zhungeer took the initiative to retreat, and then the Chu army naturally became more impolite, and continued to control many places in the Western Regions like an armed march, especially the Tacheng area. Immediately afterwards, tens of thousands of troops went straight to the Ili River Valley, which is now the Zhungeer people. Yining, the administrative center of the city.

Naturally, fighting with Zhungeer's cavalry was indispensable on the way.

Speaking of cavalry, Zhungeer's cavalry is much better than their infantry and artillery... No matter how bad it is, Zhungeer's cavalry can't beat them and can still run.

Moreover, the Zhungeer cavalry has learned a lesson long ago. They don’t play any large-scale array charges with your Chu army cavalry at all. They just fight some small and medium-scale harassment operations. Run away.

In terms of maneuvering speed, the Zhungeer cavalry, as nomadic cavalry, is not much worse than the Chu army cavalry.

Therefore, in the cavalry battle, although the Chu army's cavalry has a strategic advantage, there is not much difference in the casualty ratio between the two sides in the actual battle.

It's just that the loss of the cavalry seems to be not much, but the cavalry of the Chu army killed outside the Ili River Valley.

If it weren't for the mountains in the north, east, and south of the Ili River Valley, it would not be very convenient for the army to carry supplies and artillery, and if the small and medium-sized light troops rushed deep and were easily attacked by the enemy's superior forces and firepower, the Chu army would It has already entered the Ili River Valley.

Now, the Chu army is planning to wait for the main infantry and artillery of the first army to come up and fight together.

Anyway, in this war, the strategic victory is certain, and the army didn't think about making a quick decision, and then acting rashly would cause any problems.

On September 23, although the weather had begun to cool down, the Chu army, which had been fully prepared several years in advance, still did not stop and killed hundreds of kilometers away in the Ili River Valley in one breath.

However, during the Battle of Turpan, the Zhungeer people were directly terrified by the powerful combat capabilities of the Chu army. Even if the Chu army killed the Ili River Valley, even if the Ili River Valley was already their old nest, they still did not fight. The courage to stand here.

Instead, he packed up his tent and ran west with his horses and sheep!
Can't beat me and can't run?

The Yili River Valley continues to the west, and that is the real endless Central Asian prairie. Are the Chu Chu barbarians capable of chasing it?
As for whether Zhungeer Xijin will have no place to go, there is no need to worry about it, because the Kazakh Khanate in the west itself is Zhungeer's defeated opponent.

Zhungeer couldn't beat the Chu army in the east, but if he went to the west to fight the Kazakh Khanate, he would be sure to fight one by one...

Zhungeer simply ran away...but it was only the headquarters and a few tribes with close relations who ran together. In fact, many tribesmen who had surrendered to them did not run with them, or sporadicly resisted the Chu army. Either surrender.

Therefore, the strength of Zhungeer, who moved westward, has dropped a lot compared to the peak period a few years ago. After moving westward, he will continue to fight against the Kazakh Khanate. The future is not optimistic.

In this regard, the Great Chu Empire no longer cares much about it.

Anyway, the Ili River Valley has been taken, and the Tacheng area in the north has also been taken, and although some cities in the south have not been taken, it is because of time, and the partial divisions going south are still on the way... But it is expected that there are sporadic cities in the south It can't resist the king of Chu army.

To some extent, the Western Regions in a narrow sense have been fully recovered by the Great Chu Empire.

The Great Chu Empire has already completed the strategic plan formulated before the war: capture the Western Regions!

The fly in the ointment is that although the Western Regions have been severely damaged, tens of thousands of their main forces have been eliminated, and a large number of tribes that had previously surrendered to Zhungeer turned to the Great Chu Empire.

However, the headquarters of the Zhungeer tribe and several closely related tribes, a total of 10,000+ tribes fled westward. In the future, it may still bring a certain threat to the Great Chu Empire on the western front.

But this kind of thing can't be helped... They are nomads, they don't have any place to defend, and they have a lot of mules and horses on hand. It's hard to say that they are good at fighting, but their ability to escape is first-rate.

If Zhungeer doesn't want to play a decisive battle with the Chu army, the Chu army really has no way to find their main force and then gather and wipe them out.

After taking the Ili River Valley, the local weather has dropped significantly, especially after entering October, the local mountain plateau area has become extremely cold.

Winter is coming!
Under such circumstances, the top priority of the Chu army is not to chase down the enemy's remnants, but to take advantage of the last period of time when the mountains are covered by heavy snow, and urgently transport a batch of supplies to the garrisons on the western front as much as possible.
The war in the Western Regions has ended to some extent.

After the news came back to Jinling City, Luo Zhixue was not too happy, because this was expected.

After spending several years preparing, spending so much money and food, and mobilizing so many troops, if the Yili River Valley and Tacheng cannot be successfully captured, then Luo Zhixue will be held accountable...

The military victory was expected, but Luo Zhixue needs to further implement various policies to ensure that the Western Regions can be completely brought under the rule of the Great Chu Empire in the future and avoid various turmoil in the future.

For this reason, Luo Zhixue formally decreed the establishment of Turpan Province.

(End of this chapter)