Chapter 6738 Gap

Chapter 6738 Gap
At this moment, Cao Zhang clearly realized what Han Xin meant by command. Was it really just a casual operation to directly eliminate the opponent's greatest advantage with very little manpower?

"The things you have learned will be of no problem in dealing with ordinary officers, but if you meet certain people on a large battlefield, they may make you unable to advance or retreat with just a wave of their hands. You still have a lot to learn later. At the very least, you cannot avoid the knowledge of how to deploy troops in a precise manner." Han Xin's words emerged in Cao Zhang's mind.

Cao Zhang had never faced an opponent of this level before, so he did not realize this. But this time, Ardashir sent a legion to attack him. Now thinking about it, he couldn't block it, nor could he not block it. Before, he thought that this was a case of the brave winning when two meet in a narrow road, which was the key to directly suppressing Ardashir's morale.

After not wanting to actually fight, he discovered that this was actually a trap to trap the shield guard.

Xiahou Ba led the infantry to launch a strong attack on the elite headquarters extending towards Ardashir. However, facing Ardashir who was able to see the battlefield clearly and command after the rain curtain was dispersed, Xiahou Ba's infantry assault had not yet worked. The three or four hundred Holy Death Riders had already completed a diagonal circumference with scimitar assaulters, as if they were planning to cut off Xiahou Ba's front line.

Yan Xing did not dare to delay when seeing this, and quickly asked Zhang Heng, who was closest to Xiahou Ba, to lead three or four hundred infantrymen and more than two thousand shadow soldiers to block the enemy horizontally to help Xiahou Ba block the attack.

After all, the killing and breakthrough ability of the Holy Death Knights is no joke. Three or four hundred Holy Death Knights plus a few hundred scimitar assaulters may be able to make diagonal cuts and directly cut off Xiahou Ba's battle line horizontally. If this happens, it will be a new trouble.

Although Yan Xing thought that his reinforcements had arrived and Ardashir was shrinking the front line, he might want to retreat. But if Ardashir really gave him the opportunity to fight, it would be hard to say whether he could retreat or not. To be more realistic, even if he retreated, he could kill a few hundred of them, which would be a profit. So he had to leave as few flaws as possible and let Ardashir get out of here as soon as possible.

Under the leadership of Zhang Heng, more than 2,000 shadow soldiers fought fearlessly and successfully delayed the Holy Death Cavalry for a while, allowing Xiahou Ba to successfully adjust the battle line. But on the other hand, because of the troop transfer, the battle line extending from Ardashir's headquarters on the outside of Zhang Heng was quickly pulled back.

In response to this, Yan Xing expressionlessly commanded his headquarters to retreat the front line. Even though reinforcements had arrived, the same thing still applied. With such a small number of people, if Ardashir really wanted to kill them, he could completely defeat them in an hour at most, or even annihilate them here.

After all, it rained heavily today and the mountain roads were muddy. We were really defeated and there was no way to escape even if we wanted to.

With the tacit understanding between Yan Xing and Ardashir, the two sides quickly completed the integration of their own legions. Then Ardashir mobilized the guards under Ghazni, opened the shield guard line through infiltration attacks, let the Undead Guards cover the retreat, and quickly retreated without any reluctance.

"Is this the end?" Cao Zhang said dissatisfiedly while directing the emergency soldiers to provide first aid to all the injured soldiers, "Why does it seem like Ardashir left as soon as we arrived?"

Few shield guards died in this wave. After all, the shield guards under Cao Zhang were well-tested and had strong survivability. Even if they were restrained by the guards under Ghazni, they would not die on the spot.

Of course, there was also a reason why Ardashir did not kill the Han Dynasty's support troops in order to delay them. After all, a wounded soldier needed two soldiers to carry him on the battlefield, which effectively consumed the main force of Cao Zhang's army and reduced the possibility of the enemy's pursuit.

Five hundred wounded shield guards can at least hold back a thousand soldiers, and they are shield guards. If they were replaced by other soldiers, it would be difficult to deal with the two hundred kilograms of equipment alone.

"The reinforcements have arrived. Ardashir couldn't defeat me in a short time, so he naturally retreated. It's not worth it for Ardashir to fight us head-on." Yan Xing explained casually, and then seemed to remember something, "Come to think of it, why are you two here? Are you the vanguard sent by General Xiahou? But if you are the vanguard, why hasn't the rear army arrived yet?"

"No, it was my eldest brother who asked us to hurry up and chase the general." Cao Zhang said carelessly, and Yan Xing was shocked when he heard this. Then he looked at the blood in the mud, and his face became much uglier. It was not Cao's conscience that came, but the concern of the prince.

"If your elder brother needs anything in the future, just tell me. As long as I, Yan Xing, still have some strength, I will do my best." Yan Xing said very solemnly. He thought that Cao Cao had a change of heart, but it turned out that Cao Cao still had no conscience. It was just that the prince discovered this in advance.

"Retreat now, before Ardashir can react." Xiahou Ba said dully. In this situation, he didn't want to say anything more, just retreat.

Yan Xing glanced at Xiahou Ba, then at Cao Zhang, and vaguely knew the inside story of this matter, but it was enough to just keep this kind of thing in mind.

"Clean up the battlefield quickly and retreat to Kandahar." Yan Xing gave the order loudly. Even with the support of a huge number of shadow soldiers, Yan Xing suffered nearly two thousand casualties. Ma Wan, one of the eight generals of the flag, did not escape death in the end, and Hou Xuan and Cheng Yi were half disabled. However, now there are ways to treat disabilities, and the most they need is a short rest, which is not too serious a loss.

On the other hand, Ardashir and Tavasdes had vaguely guessed that Cao Cao's main force might be blocking them at other locations instead of coming to rescue Yan Xing. If they fought back now, there was still a great possibility that they could kill all three people. However, Ardashir only thought about the current situation briefly and gave up this idea, instead retreating in the rain.

"Alas, I was not careful enough before." Ardashir rode beside Tavasdes, "Yan Xing's shadow soldier's ability is really difficult to deal with. Although not as good as the Third Cyrenaica Legion, it is also very difficult to deal with."

"It's useless to think too much. Now that we have retreated, let's not think about it." Tavasdes said calmly, "I have already informed Fares and others that Cao's reinforcements may be blocking us in front. I estimate that they are at the Helmand River ferry."

"In the direction we are marching now, only that place can be used to deploy the battle line. Other places are not suitable at all. It is normal for Cao's army to block us there. How are your backup plans for a desperate battle?" Ardashir said calmly, then thought for a moment and said, "Fighting chaos with chaos is not suitable for me. Even if our army has the advantage, this plan will not bring out my command ability."

"The problem is that this way of fighting may very well be our most important way of fighting in the future." Tavasdes sighed and said, "In terms of command, you may be able to defeat the officers of the Han Dynasty, and you may also be more powerful than Cao Cao on the opposite side, but there is only one you."

"We also have many outstanding officers, such as Turansha, Bakza, Fares, Gurgan, Ghazni, etc. These people have no problem commanding an entire legion, and they all have heart abysses or mental images with talents that are no less than those of the other officers and legions." Ardashir said with some depression.

"Then, how many officers and generals like this do we have? To be honest, if we try to squeeze out as much as we can, even including Laguerre and the others, how many officers and generals like this do we have? Ten, twenty?" Tavasdes asked calmly.

"This is the last gift from the Parthian Empire. How much can Kabul produce after these people are used up?" Tawasdes asked without waiting for Ardashir to speak, "Do you know how many officers like this the Han Dynasty has? How many such people can be produced in the next ten years? Trying to compete with others in command will only lead to a lack of successors."

"The Kushan Empire used to compete with the Han Dynasty in command, but their foundation was exhausted to the point of being in a state of disarray. Our foundation is far inferior to that of the Kushans." Tavasdes said in a persuasive tone.

Tavasdes saw it very clearly that the Kushan's defeat was not actually a matter of how many officers died. If we really talk about the number of technical soldiers who died, the Han navy suffered more deaths, but the Han education system was able to hold on and survived. The Kushan education system, to put it simply, could only be considered barely okay.

As for their education system under Ardashir, well, if there is one!
In this case, fighting with the Han Dynasty for command, wouldn't that be courting death? After this, the people fought and the rest of the dynasty was cut off.

With so many high-quality officers in Kabul, it is indeed more than enough to run the army. But are they trained by you, Ardashir? No, these are the essence left over from the fall of the Parthian Empire. If they are used up, there will be no more in the future!

"But if we don't fight with command, fighting a messy battle won't solve the problem." Ardashir frowned and said, "On the contrary, if we fight with conventional command ability, given my current situation, I might still be able to win."

"A victory that is not a key point is meaningless." Tawasdes sighed and said, "Retreat first. We must be careful this time. Cao Cao's main force is very likely waiting at the Helmand River crossing."

Seeing that Ardashir had taken his words to heart, Tavasdes said nothing more. He mentioned this only to tell Ardashir that the situation of the war had changed and he could not only focus on his own advantages. After all, your advantages might also be the enemy's advantages, and you must start from the opponent's weaknesses.

Tavasdes conducted a special study on what the Han Dynasty’s weakness was, and finally found that the other party’s six dimensions were almost full!
There are muscle-building and bone-strengthening injections for height, weight, and bone density, and there is a large supply of meat, eggs, and milk. The average height of an ordinary soldier is over 170 cm, and the weight is over 140 catties. Their bodies are well-proportioned and balanced, far superior to their contemporaries.

In terms of will, there were professional propagandists who informed the soldiers of the reasons for fighting, and even on Cao's side, the ordinary soldiers received the food, wages and rewards they deserved. Although their beliefs were not as good as those of the super elite soldiers under Ardashir, at least they had the belief to fight and would not collapse because of some turbulence on the front line and unfavorable situation.

As for logistics, let's not talk much about food and fodder, as for various medical emergency supplies, Tavasdes was fortunate enough to grab some once, and he was shocked. As long as the Han soldiers were not killed on the spot, the probability of them appearing on the battlefield again after being withdrawn for emergency treatment was as high as 70%.

In fact, Tavasdes didn't know that some Han soldiers were carried away for emergency treatment. After being rescued, some of them didn't want to go to the battlefield anymore, so they retreated when the situation was right. In addition, some soldiers were rescued but disabled, which resulted in the probability of the soldiers carried away returning to the battlefield being only 70%.

In fact, thanks to the three great doctors, professional battlefield first aid personnel, and rear-line nurses constantly optimizing nursing methods, the mortality rate has actually dropped to nearly 10%.

It can be said that as long as they can be carried back, there is a high probability that they can be saved. This is completely different from the previous situation where there is a high probability of infection after being injured, and half of them died after they left the battlefield.

However, if we want to continue to lower the mortality rate, it is actually no longer a problem of the level of emergency personnel, but a problem of nursing care. In theory, after the first aid is completed, the mortality rate of the wounded can be reduced to 2% under the care of professional nurses.

However, Chen Xi couldn't find where the problem lies at present, but the fact that the death rate of wounded soldiers can be reduced to less than 2% is a problem with the nursing level of the nurses. This is not Chen Xi's boast, but according to Chen Xi's estimation, to reduce it to this level, nurses must have spiritual talent.

However, as of now, there is no hope, and Chen Xi's complaints are useless, because these nurses have really tried their best. Chen Xi personally inspected and did not find any problems. In addition, when he went to inspect the wounded camp in Ganges, he found that the death rate of the wounded in the camp was two points higher than the average.

The nurses were helpless and could only find a solution themselves.

To Chen Xi, this level of emergency care was considered rubbish, but to people of this era, it was already an incredible level. Some veterans had been in and out of the emergency camp five or six times and were still alive. Their mere presence on the battlefield was a morale aura for their own side! As long as I have a breath left, I will be a brave man again in a month!
These days, you beat your opponent to the ground eight times on the battlefield, and then your opponent stands in front of you eight times. What do you think?
Tavasdes didn't know, but in his opinion, a 70% survival rate was already incredible. But on the Han side, most of the soldiers knew that as long as they didn't die on the spot and could hold on to the field hospital, they would basically not die. How could their morale not be high?

What Tavasdes found most incredible was that the Han army actually carried out so-called literacy campaign. When he first learned about the so-called literacy campaign, Tavasdes was still wondering what it was. Later, he found out that it was teaching literacy and addition and subtraction.

Tavasdes was confused. Even a top wise man knew the significance of literacy and mathematics, but these things were not so easy to teach. Most of the soldiers these days couldn't even tell the left from the right!
When it comes to things like literacy, the most that officers can do is to educate their own personal guards, and anything more is beyond their capabilities. After all, the cost of education is still quite high for ordinary people, even in the 21st century.

Under such circumstances, the Han Dynasty carried out collective literacy training for its soldiers, and it was effective to a certain extent. At least they were taught the common sense such as addition and subtraction, directions, names, left and right, front and back.

This made Tavasdes feel outrageous. These seemed simple, but think about the time when Qi Jiguang recruited new soldiers. Even the left and right soldiers needed to be taught and identified for a period of time. What was the situation in the third century? To be honest, it was really outrageous that they could be taught to this extent.

At the very least, Tavasdes, who was born into a royal family, had experienced turbulent times, and had seen the common people of this era, knew very well how much investment was required to teach to this level.

Education, even if it is not very good, will produce some capable people in the case of large-scale casting. Don't underestimate the importance of learning to march, call the roll, count, turn left and right, forward and backward, how many degrees to shoot, how far, for children in later generations, these are all easy. In this day and age, if you have learned these and your own martial arts skills are not too bad, you can lead hundreds of people...

This was also the source of the Han Dynasty's endless supply of centurions, generals of a hundred men, Quchang, and military Sima, as well as the source of the increasing number of thousand-man commanders and Yamen generals who came from the lower classes.

The Yellow Turbans risked their lives and died in large numbers, but the number of people who emerged is not as many as those trained by Chen Xi through this method combined with the battlefield over the years. Although many thousand-man commanders have reached this level because of their experience with the Yellow Turbans and then received education, it can also be said that education is still very meaningful.

What makes Tavasdes feel ridiculous is that he doesn't know how much money the Han Dynasty invested in education to reach this level. This is truly universal education.

In fact, not much money was invested. To be honest, a big boss in the opera industry told Chen Xi that no matter how many teaching materials you produce, they are useless. It is okay to produce some opera, drama and the like, but no matter how superficial the teaching materials are, there is a threshold.

In other words, no matter how low-level the teaching materials are, they still need someone to teach them. If you really want to engage in education and popularize cultural knowledge, it is recommended to engage in opera and drama. You will learn the lines by watching them, and you will understand them after performing them more often. Then you can learn the text and you will be able to do it yourself.

Chen Xi was astounded after hearing this, and instantly connected the things that he didn't understand before. Indeed, for more than 99% of ordinary people in this world who have never seen a book in their lives, textbooks are of no use at all. There are very few people who can learn by themselves with the help of textbooks, and most people don't have the habit of studying.

Books have no meaning to ordinary people who cannot read. On the contrary, in the current situation where there is a lack of entertainment and spiritual civilization, dramas and plays are a complete dimensionality reduction attack, interspersing social moral education and knowledge classics into them, and performing them several times...

Chen Xi recalled that most of the old men of the same age as his grandfather were illiterate, but that did not prevent them from singing the complete version of "Three Niang Teaching Her Son" and singing the Qinqiang opera "Three Judges' Trial"!

The pronunciation is correct, the meaning is clear, all that’s missing is the right words!

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(End of this chapter)