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Wild geese fly in pairs in the sky.
The river is long, the autumn grass is yellow, and the sound of the piano on the grassland is sad.
The wild geese fly southward over the reed marshes.
The sky is vast, where are the geese going? My heart is in my hometown in the north...
There was a shabby horse-drawn carriage pulling a tent. Uncle Bater sat on the shaft, waving the whip from time to time. His daughter-in-law Ujisgla sat behind him holding her grandson, and his son Arsalan followed behind the carriage driving the oxen.
The tall Chier Mountain was faintly visible ahead. The sky was vast and the wilderness was boundless. As Ujisge listened to the sad song her husband was humming, tears welled up in her eyes.
I heard that this song was composed by the emperor of the Qin Dynasty based on a Mongolian toast song. Arsalan listened to it for a night under the city of Xuzhou and often hummed it after returning to express his longing.
Ujisige hated war and hated to endure the longing for separation, but Zasaktu Khan Norbu brought war again, and Tumed Left Banner disappeared in the war. Ujisige's family, who escaped the disaster, had to migrate all the way south.
To the south of Chier Mountain is Tumaochuan, and on the north bank of Tumaochuan are the Zhenlu Guard and Yulin Guard of the Qin Dynasty. Now to the south is the Great Wall.
Coming here, perhaps we can get away from the war.
But they were unfamiliar with the place and didn't know how the Qin army would treat them. Wujisige was very worried. Listening to her husband's singing and thinking of her family members who died under Guide City, tears flowed down her face.
A golden eagle flew across the sky, chirping loudly. The cold autumn seemed so distant.
From the direction of Chier Mountain, a rapid sound of horse hooves was heard, and thousands of Qin soldiers in black clothes and dark armor were seen rushing towards them. Ujisge subconsciously hugged the child in his arms, looking at the rushing Qin army with horror.
Arsalan didn't care about herding the sheep anymore, and rode back to the carriage, but he didn't dare to draw his sword, for fear of arousing the hostility of the Qin army.
Mao Jingyuan didn't look like a military commander. He was a gentle and refined man. He raised his hand and the thousand cavalrymen behind him began to disperse. Then he led a few personal soldiers to the carriage and asked Arsalan, "Which flag are you from?"
Seeing his kind demeanor, Arsalan became less vigilant and quickly dismounted, saying, "General, we are herdsmen from Tumed Left Banner. We came here to escape the war after Guihua City was captured by Norbu. Reporting to the general, we saw tens of thousands of troops heading west to Junzijin in Lianhua Mountain. I guess they are going to attack Tutu City."
Mao Jingyuan's eyes suddenly brightened. He looked at the woman and child in the car, then asked in a deep voice, "Are you telling the truth? Do you know that lying about military intelligence is a capital crime?"
"General, my name is Arsalan. I swear on my head that everything I say is true."
"Who was the enemy general? When did you see him?"
"General, I don't know who led the army. I saw it just after dark last night."
"Gao Kai, take them back to Zhenlu City and settle them there. I will make my decision when I come back."
"Yes. General."
Arsalan was shocked and quickly explained: "General, I really told the truth, every word is true."
Mao Jingyuan said impatiently: "If you are telling the truth, I will reward you when I return. If you are lying about military intelligence, you will be executed when you return."
Mao Jingyuan finished speaking. He immediately whipped the horse's buttocks, and the warhorse neighed and stood up, then rushed forward like an arrow from a bow, and a thousand Qin soldiers immediately followed and rushed away.
The Tuotu city mentioned by Arsalan is the name given by the Mongolians. In the past, the Ming Dynasty called it Dongshengwei. It is located at the upper right corner of the "J" shape of the Yellow River. The Heihe River flowing from Guihua City (Hohhot) merges into the Yellow River from Dongshengwei.
Five miles southwest of Dongshengwei is Junzijin, an important ferry connecting the Monan grasslands to the Hetao area, and its combat readiness location is very important.
After the Qin army recaptured Hetao last year, it sent a thousand soldiers to garrison Dongsheng City. In the past, all the tribes south of the desert had already pledged allegiance to the Qin and did not dare to invade the border, so a thousand soldiers were enough to garrison Dongsheng City.
Mao Jingyuan didn't understand why the army of Ma Yongzhen, the commander-in-chief of the Left Army, was attacking Guihua City, but the enemy suddenly had tens of thousands of troops to the west to take Dongsheng City.
Could it be that Ma Yongzhen was defeated
When this thought came to his mind, Mao Jingyuan was shocked himself.
Deputy General Wu Xin rode up and shouted, "General Mao, what should we do? If Dongsheng City is lost, the gates of Hetao will be wide open. If these 10,000 enemy troops suddenly rush into Hetao, the consequences will be disastrous."
Mao Jingyuan thought for a moment and replied, "Now we can only send someone to report to Commander Ma. We should rush to support Dongsheng City first. The Hetao garrison has been withdrawn to Longyou, and the defense is empty. Dongsheng City must not be lost."
"General Mao, why don't you notify General Fudong of Yulinwei to rush to Dongsheng City to help?"
"Not appropriate. If the troops of Yulinwei also come to support, there will be no troops left on the Maochuan line, and Datong's northwest gate will be wide open. If another enemy comes south, it will be difficult to deal with."
Mao Jingyuan didn't dare to express his concerns. If Ma Yongzhen was really defeated, let alone saving the Maochuan line, it was possible that the enemy would directly attack Datong City.
With the idea of trying everything possible, Mao Jingyuan led a thousand Qin troops and rushed towards Dongsheng City (Togtoh County).
The straight-line distance from Zhenlu Wei to Dongsheng Wei is no more than a hundred miles, but there is a section of exposed loess plateau along the way. Over millions of years, repeated erosion by rain has formed gullies, and the earth is like countless huge wounds.
War horses often had to go back and forth for a long time before they could cross a ditch, just like walking through a maze. A distance of a hundred miles would take more than three hundred miles.
At this moment, under the city of Dongshengwei, there were 15,000 extraordinary people and tens of thousands of war horses, spreading out for a full ten miles. People were roaring and horses were neighing, like a dark cloud pressing down on the city, threatening to destroy it.
Tuya rode a red date horse and rushed to Dongsheng City with Qitate to inspect the city defense. Dongsheng City was about one mile long and wide, with rammed earth walls two feet high. It leaned against the Heihe River in the north and used the water of the Heihe River as a moat. The southwest of the city was about five miles away from the Yellow River. If the city was not captured, it would be difficult to cross the Yellow River safely.
After seeing the defenses of Dongsheng City, Qitate said confidently, "Don't worry, Princess. We will be able to take this city within a day."
Yatu pointed at the top of the city wall with his whip and said, "Khan, I counted and there are six cannons on the top of the city wall. It may not be easy to take this city. If we attack by force, even if we take it, our casualties will be huge."
Qi was in a hurry. He made a feint and suddenly attacked Dongsheng City. His army of more than 10,000 could not be hidden. Now it depended on how long Norbu could hold Ma Yongzhen back.
Time is very precious to him. He must cross the river quickly to get rid of Ma Yongzhen's possible pursuit. Otherwise, if he is caught by Ma Yongzhen halfway across the river, he will lose more than he gains.
Before coming, they told Norbu that by attacking Dongshengwei and advancing into Hetao, they would surely be able to lure away Ma Yongzhen's army so that Norbu could take the opportunity to sweep south of the desert, so Norbu cooperated very well.
Of course, this was a trick that Yatu had come up with to trick Norbu. It was true that they wanted to advance into Hetao, but they did not really want to lure Ma Yongzhen to chase them. Now most of the Qin troops in Hetao had been transferred to Lanzhou, and their manpower was very empty.
Yatu's idea was to cross the Yellow River as quickly as possible and enter Hetao, and then stop the pursuers on the north bank. It would be best if he could occupy Hetao, but if not, he would make a fortune and then immediately cross the Yellow River to the west and occupy Ningxia Wei (Yinchuan City).
Ningxia Wei is the former capital of Western Xia, Xingqing Prefecture. Western Xia once carried out large-scale construction and built a 300-mile-long canal for irrigation, turning the area under the Helan Mountains into fertile fields with abundant grain production. Therefore, the Ningxia area is known as the Jiangnan on the Great Wall.
More importantly, its strategic location is ideal. It is backed by the Helan Mountains in the west, bordered by the Yellow River in the east, controls the desert in the north, and has the natural barrier of Qingtongxia in the south. One man can hold the pass against ten thousand.
Once they occupied the land of Ningxia Wei in the south of the Yangtze River, they would be able to become an independent entity, allowing Norbu and Ma Yongzhen to fight to the death in the south of the desert, while they would use Ningxia as their base to slowly strengthen themselves.
Yatu's proposal of such a strategic deployment amazed Qitate, who simply loved her to death. However, time was of the essence to achieve this goal. Once the Qin army discovered his intention and mobilized troops to defend, everything would probably be in vain.
Chitate was impatient and asked quickly, "Then does the princess have any way to quickly cross the Yellow River?"
Yatu also knew that now was not the time to keep the secret, so she immediately said, "Khan, if we want to quickly capture Dongsheng City and cross the river, there seems to be only one way, which is to use water attack."
"Water attack?"
"Yes, Great Khan, look, the walls of Dongsheng are all made of adobe. You should immediately have people dam the Black River overnight. It will be done overnight. Then, use the water to flood the city and you will be able to take it in one fell swoop."
"Okay, great, I'll do it right away."
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ps: I just spent several thousand dollars in the hospital. When I took out the CPU radiator yesterday, the CPU stuck out and fell to the ground and broke. I spent another four hundred dollars. I feel that bad luck continues. I am in a bad mood. I sat in front of the computer for a long time and couldn't type a word. So, I put on my coat, put on headphones, and walked to the fields in the night. On this winter night, the deserted fields are very cold and dark, and the north wind is howling. When I was a child, I heard a lot of ghost stories. At that time, I didn't dare to go to the fields alone at night. Tonight, looking at the sky full of cold stars twinkling, so high, I suddenly realized that I am no longer afraid of walking at night. The fear of childhood has long disappeared in the water-like time. Maybe, after a while, looking back at the bad luck of the past few days, what does it matter
A string of blessings came from the earphones: The flowing spring follows the road, occasionally turning a few circles in the mountains, and the yellowing leaves drift into the clear stream and drift away... (To be continued...)
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