***
On the Moxi grassland, Sengge led an army of 10,000 to march forward with difficulty. Unlike the summer scene of wild flowers everywhere and green grass, the Moxi grassland at this moment was whistling like a knife. There was only one color left between heaven and earth, that is white, so white that it hurts the eyes.
The snow on the ground was more than a foot thick, and everything was covered in the white snow. Apart from some hungry wolves and vultures, there were almost no other living creatures on the grassland.
The howling north wind came, blowing up the snow on the ground. This is what the herdsmen often call the white-hair wind.
Unlike when it snows, the snow blown up by this white hair wind is as fine as fog, just like the north wind has grown fine white hair, flying all over the sky, swirling back and forth, making it impossible to tell east from west, south from north.
When encountering severe white hair winds, even the herdsmen on the grasslands often get lost and are starved or frozen to death in the ice and snow.
Sengge covered his thick fur coat with his hands, his heart bleeding with anxiety. The ten thousand horses behind him kept emitting white hot air. His steel knives were cold and difficult to hold, and his iron arrows were frozen like frost.
Should we continue searching? Sengge hesitated. Yan Yingyuan was so cruel that he not only swept away all their people and livestock, but also burned all the fodder they had stored for the winter.
Now, not only can people not find food, but even the war horses under their crotch can only push away the snow and gnaw on some grass roots to satisfy their hunger. This definitely cannot last long. If people don't starve to death, the war horses will too.
His general, Nalet, came up and said, "Young Master, the heavy snow has covered all traces. We have no idea where the enemy has gone. If we keep looking, I'm afraid we will starve to death in the snow before we find the enemy."
Sengge said unwillingly: "No, the enemy brought so many old and weak people and cattle and sheep with them, some of them must have frozen to death. Look for them! Whether it is the corpse of a person or an animal, as long as we find it, we can determine where the enemy has gone."
"Young Master. But..."
"No buts, search! Send more rangers, search quickly!"
Sengge's eyes were bloodshot, like a wounded wolf, his gaze was sharper than a knife and colder than the wind. Under his strict orders, the 10,000 troops searched north for another day, and finally made a major discovery by a small lake called Quesada.
But when Sengge rushed over to take a look, he was not happy. That's right. He found his tribesmen, more than 17,000 people, but all of them were elderly people over 50 years old, without a single young woman or child.
Some soldiers found their parents and couldn't help crying. The crying sound filled the area near the lake, shaking the earth.
Of course, there would not be Sengge's mother, wife and children among these old people, so Sengge asked around and confirmed that his mother, wife, and all the young women and children were taken east by the Qin army, and they had been gone for thirteen days.
Sengge drew his saber and hacked and stabbed a dead sheep, as if he wanted to cut the enemy into pieces. His roar was like that of a wounded tiger, and his soldiers were so scared that they all avoided him and dared not get close.
Thirteen days, if it was fast, it would have covered a thousand miles. Even if Yan Yingyuan couldn't walk very fast with the woman's belongings, he would have walked at least several hundred miles;
In addition, although these old men said that the Qin army was heading east, anyone who was not stupid could guess that this was probably just an illusion. After leaving the sight of these old men, no one knew where the Qin army would turn.
The food and grass they brought were almost gone, and what was even worse was that Yan Yingyuan had left these ten thousand old men with only a few cattle and sheep. They had to leave, they had to return to the Western Regions immediately, otherwise they would starve to death... ... At home... ... Yes, this place was their home, but now... ..
***
Yan Yingyuan had indeed only walked a few hundred miles, and he was now hiding in the foothills of Jinshan (Altai Mountains).
Outside the mountain, there was a lot of snow and wind, but inside the valley, it was like a paradise. At this moment, Yan Yingyuan, his commander Zhang Jie, and assistant official Wei Ming were soaking in a hot spring. The hot spring made people not want to get up.
Yan Yingyuan decided to take the risk and stay in this valley because of the geothermal heat here. The pervasive heat melts the falling snow as it hits the ground. The warm climate makes the valley full of gurgling water and evergreen grass.
Zhang Jie rubbed his body with hot water until it turned red, and shouted: "Don't worry, Wei Chenshi, I bet my life that the enemy will never find this place. Unless they are immortals, they don't need to eat or drink. Even if they really don't need to eat or drink, as the saying goes, you want the horse to run, but you don't want it to eat grass. How can it be possible? It's icy outside, where can they find grass..."
Yan Yingyuan also comforted Wei Ming, saying, "General Zhang is right. We really don't need to worry too much. We still have nearly half of our ammunition, which is enough for a tough battle. I have seen that there is no way out behind this mountain. The entrance is narrow but the inside is wide. It is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Even if the enemy comes with 10,000 or 20,000 troops, we don't need to be afraid of him."
Wei Ming replied: "You are the commander-in-chief, and you decide the actions of the army. I am just reminding General Yan not to be careless."
Yan Yingyuan smiled and said nothing more.
This time, nearly 30,000 women and children were captured, including Batur Khan's Khatun and a large group of concubines, as well as Batur Khan's five-year-old son named Galdan.
In addition, there were more than 200,000 war horses and a large amount of gold and silver treasures, worth at least two to three million dragon coins. It can be said that the harvest was huge, and when he returned to Daqin, it would be a great achievement.
The only pity is that although the valley is wide, there is not enough grass for more than 200,000 horses to graze for a whole winter. Yan Yingyuan sighed and said, "General Zhang, you can take your brothers and keep 70,000 to 80,000 horses. Kill the rest."
"I obey your command."
Each war horse was worth 20 to 30 dragon coins in Daqin, and hundreds of thousands of war horses were worth at least 4 to 5 million dragon coins. It was a pity to just kill them like that.
But there was no other way. If we didn't kill them, all the grass would be gone and all the war horses would starve to death. Even if we killed more than 100,000 horses, at least 70,000 to 80,000 would still survive.
Wei Ming rubbed his face with hot water and said, "Just kill the cattle and sheep to keep them as food for the winter, but don't kill the hundreds of thousands of horses. Drive them out of the valley and let them fend for themselves. How long will it take for you to kill hundreds of thousands of horses with your swords? I'm afraid the valley will be flooded with blood by then."
"Yeah, hahaha..." Zhang Jie laughed. Thinking about the fact that two thousand people had to slaughter hundreds of thousands of war horses, it was really a daunting task. He was afraid that everyone would be exhausted in the end.
It would be better to drive them out of the valley. The snow outside is more than a foot thick. If these hundreds of thousands of war horses are driven out, there will probably be only a few that can survive. There is no need to worry about them falling into the hands of the enemy.
After enjoying a nice soak in the hot spring, Zhang Jie led his men to pick out 80,000 fat and strong horses, and drove the rest out of the valley. There were more than 100,000 horses, and the scene could be described as overwhelming.
Zhang Jie and his men spent a whole day finally driving the horses out, and the valley suddenly became empty.
Everyone has to spend a long winter in this valley, but not only can they soak in hot springs, but they can also soak in beautiful women, drink wine and eat meat, so it doesn't feel hard to endure. They have endless energy to expend on the women, and they can also go hunting in the mountains. The two thousand Qin soldiers live a life like gods.
But they didn't know that although they were very happy, Li Sheng's thousand men who were anxious to rescue them suffered.
Li Sheng, who was crossing the 800-mile Gobi Desert in the wind and snow, would probably kill Yan Yingyuan and the others if he knew in the future that they were living a life like gods.
But that is in the future. What Li Sheng needs to do now is to find the enemy and fight him to the death.
It took them six full days to cross the Gobi Desert with flying sand and rocks. The frightened thousand men were immediately met with tens of thousands of enemies.
At the edge of the Gobi Desert, the enemy was riding their horses at full speed. The sound of horns was wailing, mixed with the howling north wind, sharp and piercing. Sand was blowing in their faces, and the thundering sound of horses' hooves was shaking the earth.
Then, when they saw Li Sheng and his men with all blue rifles waiting for them in a line, the oncoming enemy troops immediately stopped and wandered around the periphery, watching closely, but did not launch an attack.
Seeing this situation, Li Sheng secretly thought that it was not good. If the enemy came directly, he was confident that he could defeat the enemy army. However, the enemy did not attack and was so eager to attack. Once it dragged on until night, it would be extremely disadvantageous for him in this wilderness.
"Let's go! Push towards Mulei City. We must take Mulei City before dark no matter what!"
Li Sheng's decision was absolutely wise. Muli City was not far from the edge of the Gobi Desert, only about ten miles away.
They did not mount their horses either. Soldiers on all sides held rifles and carried rockets to defend. The people in the middle were responsible for leading the horses. They advanced towards Mulei City step by step. The enemies appeared and disappeared around them unpredictably. The situation was pressing and a bloody battle was imminent at any time... ...
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.(To be continued..)
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