Ch.100Western Liao (9)

“I’ll cut through Western Liao.”

Though it seemed like a far-fetched idea, it was entirely feasible.

This was because the entire Western Liao region had fallen into chaos due to Kuchlug’s ambitions for the throne.

“With the emperor’s influence diminished, if we mobilize soldiers to apply military pressure on the cities, they will have no choice but to surrender.”

Western Liao was a centralized state. However, the ethnic groups that comprised it were diverse.

Moreover, they weren’t even the original rulers of this land. Since the original base of the Liao Dynasty was in Liaodong, from the perspective of those living in this territory, it was essentially being governed by outsiders.

Of course, over time, the resentment toward this rule had diminished significantly, but seeds of discord still remained. Because of this, they didn’t have the blind loyalty to the emperor like the Western Xia.

“Lord Munglig, are you suggesting we split our troops to simultaneously occupy the entire region except for the capital?”

Munglig nodded at Elunka’s words.

“That’s right. With Mongol cavalry units of a thousand men each, it shouldn’t be difficult to occupy cities that have broken away from central control.”

To a modern person, the idea of occupying a city with just a thousand cavalrymen might seem unbelievable. But for a city without walls, even a hundred cavalrymen would be more than enough to capture it.

Given the mobility and destructive power of cavalry, cities without walls were bound to be ravaged.

This was why cavalry wasn’t called the tank of the medieval era for nothing.

“A thousand men would indeed be sufficient to capture a city without walls. But you mentioned occupying these places—controlling them with cavalry would require a large number of troops.”

The disadvantage of cavalry was that they couldn’t fully protect the places they occupied. In other words, if internal unrest broke out, they would have no choice but to be driven out.

Of course, they could attack again to recapture it, but by then, the important force of a thousand cavalrymen would be tied down in the village.

“If cavalry remains to control the occupied territories, that would solve the problem, but if Kuchlug seizes power and mobilizes troops to pick off our widely dispersed forces one by one, we would have no way to defend against it.”

Elunka’s observation was accurate. Dividing troops had clear advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage, as Munglig had argued, was the ability to control a wide area at once. The disadvantage was that the size of each unit would be reduced, making them vulnerable to enemy counterattacks.

Of course, if the vanguard attacked the capital of Western Liao, they could hold off Kuchlug’s immediate counterattack to some extent. But the vanguard led by Toghrul Khan was just that—a vanguard—and would need support from the main force to capture the capital.

To support the main force, the divided units would have to regroup, which would mean giving back the occupied territories to the enemy.

“If it’s about controlling the occupied territories, I have a solution.”

“What is it, Lord Munglig?”

“The Western Xia infantry.”

“Western Xia infantry…? Ah…!”

Through the Western Xia campaign, the Mongols had gained a valuable military asset: the Western Xia infantry.

When occupying Khara-Khoto, Ulus had keenly felt the need for infantry. After this, they defeated the unit led by Zhao Yunchang, dispatched from Western Xia, and accepted prisoners to form the Kerik.

Additionally, after conquering Xingqing and controlling the entire Western Xia region, all Western Xia infantry were now part of the Kerik.

Munglig was proposing to use these Western Xia infantry units, specifically the Kerik units composed of agricultural peoples.

“The most important thing in this Western Liao campaign is mobility. If we move with infantry, our advantage of mobility will be reduced.”

“That means…”

“After occupying cities across Western Liao with divided cavalry units, have the infantry following behind control those places. The cavalry that has completed the occupation will join with other cavalry units to occupy more cities more quickly and…”

“We can control the entire Western Liao in a short time.”

Elunka expressed surprise at Munglig’s words and praised his strategy. I, too, couldn’t help but be greatly impressed by Munglig’s proposal.

This was because Munglig’s tactics, though primitive, corresponded to mobile warfare, specifically mobile-occupation warfare.

Mobile warfare itself was an ancient tactic, as seen in Sun Tzu’s Art of War. What made it different was the mixing of occupation warfare, making Munglig’s tactics truly unique.

From a modern perspective, one might wonder why this was so impressive. In modern warfare, there are infantry vehicles, airplanes, and drones that can move infantry quickly, making mobile warfare a familiar term.

But in the medieval era, it wasn’t a common term. The only thing that could move faster than a person was a cavalryman on horseback.

Such cavalry was fundamentally an expensive type of soldier, so even in Central Plains countries, they were only deployed in units of thousands.

But the Mongols were different. Until they occupied Western Xia, their entire force consisted of cavalry.

Because of this, unlike the Central Plains, they could operate tens of thousands of cavalry. Moreover, these tens of thousands of cavalrymen were all highly trained soldiers from childhood, making them elite cavalry capable of dividing and regrouping.

Therefore, as Munglig said, it was possible to divide the troops, occupy cities, and then regroup for large-scale formation changes. Based on this, they could use cavalry to simultaneously attack and occupy the entire Western Liao region, with the Kerik infantry following behind to control the occupied territories.

Munglig had proposed an innovative method of simultaneously conducting mobile warfare and occupation warfare by utilizing these military characteristics of the Mongols.

“I will accept Munglig’s proposal.”

“Thank you for accepting my opinion, Khagan.”

Munglig bowed and showed his respect. He had become an invaluable field commander.

* * *

“We will attack Kucha tomorrow.”

Temujin immediately bowed at the words of his father-in-law, Toghrul Khan.

“I will prepare the soldiers right away.”

Toghrul smiled and patted Temujin’s shoulder. In this battle, Temujin was scheduled to lead the center, the most important position in the vanguard.

Typically, the center was led by the commander-in-chief. However, Toghrul had assigned the center to his son-in-law Temujin to give him experience as a commander, while he himself took charge of the right wing to support him.

“I trust only my son-in-law.”

Temujin bowed and expressed his gratitude at Dei-Sechen Khan’s words. It was thanks to his fathers-in-law taking charge of the right and left wings that he could gain this valuable experience.

“Thanks to both of your help, I have the honor of leading the center. I will do my best to live up to your expectations.”

“Haha! It seems we’ve put too much pressure on our son-in-law.”

At Toghrul’s words, Dei-Sechen smiled and replied.

“Don’t worry too much. If you need help, we will provide it right away.”

“I will try not to burden my fathers-in-law.”

“Haha! That attitude is good too. But too much tension isn’t good, so get some rest.”

With these words, Toghrul and Dei-Sechen left the tent. After they left, Temujin lit a candle and spread out a map.

“To occupy Kucha, I’ll need to be careful of this ravine.”

Temujin muttered to himself as he looked at the map. As this was his first battle as a commander to occupy a city, Temujin was constantly considering strategies and tactics, conducting mock battles in his head.

“Since we are cavalry…”

Saying this, he moved a wooden horse piece to the front of Kucha drawn on the map. Then, Temujin immediately moved the archers inside Kucha to the ravine on the side.

“When we appear, the enemy archers will definitely use the ravine as a shield to attack with arrows. Then our choice is…”

Temujin advanced the trebuchets he had left behind. He was thinking of using trebuchets to intercept the enemy archers.

“But the range is insufficient. With trebuchets, we could intercept enemy archers on the hill, but…”

There was a limit to the range. As a result, to intercept the enemy archers, the trebuchets would have to be deployed near the city walls.

This was essentially suicidal. The enemy wouldn’t just watch trebuchets being deployed in front of their walls.

Therefore, the enemy would certainly open the gates and attack the trebuchets.

“Then we could defend to some extent with cavalry, but our casualties would increase.”

Though ambitious, Temujin wanted to minimize troop losses in this battle. That way, they could quickly subdue the various cities on the way to the capital beyond Kucha.

For this reason, he didn’t want to suffer major losses in the first battle.

“To reduce casualties, we’d have to deploy trebuchets in the back and use arrows to intercept the archers on the ravine, but…”

Mongol warriors were masters of horsemanship and archery. But even such masters of archery couldn’t leisurely aim at the top of the ravine and shoot arrows in a place where enemy attacks were continuous.

In other words, to reduce casualties, they would have to use the mobility of horses to move back and forth in front of the walls and shoot arrows.

However, this would exponentially increase the time needed to occupy Kucha.

“Then should I organize a separate archer unit… No. There’s no one to lead an archer unit right now. Sigh…”

Temujin eventually sighed due to the oncoming headache and sat down in a chair. Sitting in the chair, he exhaled deeply and muttered to himself.

“If we advance the trebuchets, casualties will increase. If we use mounted archers to intercept enemy archers, it will take a long time.”

Temujin had to deliberate between these two options. But as it was his first battle, he was ambitious to achieve both.

“If only there were a marksman who could hit enemy archers with a single shot… If such a person existed, we could reduce both casualties and time.”

What Temujin needed now was a marksman. Specifically, a skilled marksman who could take an enemy’s life with a single arrow while on horseback.

It would be better if there were many, but even one would be fine. This was because the ravine was narrow, limiting the number of soldiers who could climb up there.

Therefore, if there was a marksman who could kill the archers on the ravine with a single shot each time, all these problems could be solved.

“Such a marksman couldn’t possibly exist.”

While thinking this, someone came to the ger. Temujin got up and headed there.

“Who is it?”

In response to Temujin’s question, the man who entered the ger bowed and introduced himself.

“I am honored to meet the son of the great Gurkhan. I am Jebe, a Kheshig who guards the Khagan. By the order of the Gurkhan, I have been assigned to protect the prince in this battle.”

Temujin looked at Jebe with an expression of interest. It was his first meeting with Jebe, who would later become his right-hand man.