Time flies, and soon it will be the new year. The customs of the Han people permeate into the living habits of every Wei people from all corners. Whether it is Lushuihu people, Xianbei people, or other miscellaneous people, they do not reject this happy festival.
Just as the Chinese in later generations accepted Christmas and Valentine's Day very easily, since there is another reason to be happy together, who would resist
It's just the nasty squishy but it's not New Year's. The most difficult time for the people on the grasslands is winter, and the big festivals are in summer, and the crawling is no exception. But they knew that the people of Wei were celebrating Chinese New Year, so it was like they were deliberately trying to find fault.
There are many herdsmen and small townships scattered in the big camp of Montenegro. These are residents who have lived here for generations. The Rouran people are the first to be unlucky when they go south. Considering that at least these people must have a good New Year, starting from the twelfth lunar month, the Montenegro Camp has continuously sent teams to patrol the front line of Montenegro, with three times the manpower.
Maybe it's because they can't take advantage of it, or because the Rouran people who have been unplugged from the tour account and the main account have to find a way to hunt for supplies. Gradually, the harassment has become less and less, which makes people feel more at ease.
The Chinese New Year is coming soon. Except for more and more people taking baths in the barracks, there is actually no atmosphere for the Chinese New Year.
Drinking alcohol is not allowed in the barracks, so it is not acceptable to use wine to celebrate the New Year; the barracks should not be lit around at night, lest the water will burn the military tent, so there is no lantern. The general had long been accustomed to such a year, and ordered the army tent to add food to each tent on the first day of the army, and to bring out a little more melons and fruits, even if it was a holiday.
There are still many Han Chinese in the army, or Xianbei people who have Han Chinese at home. When it comes to Chinese New Year, they miss their parents more and more, and they start to write letters to send them back.
He Mulan was no exception. Apart from writing letters by herself, she spent almost all of her spare time helping to write letters.
A Shan Zhiqi and others have now been promoted to centurions, and they have accumulated a lot of military merit, just waiting for vacancies to be promoted. Hu Lihun's family heard that they had told him about marriage. He had already applied for a "marriage". As long as there was no war in the coming year, he could go home and marry a wife.
This made everyone envy to death, Hu Li froze for two months under the envy of everyone, and then sneaked up to find He Mulan, asking her to write a letter to the daughter-in-law he had never met, but He Mulan listened to him tossing and turning. I used to say things like "How are you, I'm fine, how are you, I'm fine", I couldn't help rolling my eyes, I processed it myself, and wrote a letter that matched the initial communication between the fiancé and the couple.
Su Hejun left his own post without a sound. The attendant said that he was transferred from the military account and used it for other purposes. He Mulan thought that he was originally on official business, and now he is about to go to work. I went, although it was a pity that I didn't get along with this interesting friend for a while, but she is only a small personal soldier after all, and she is not the Hua Mulan of later generations, and she does not have so much friendship accumulation.
As the New Year was approaching, He Mulan packed up her belongings and dug out the cloth bag from the box. There was no shortage of gold in the three taels, and three gold nuggets the size of projectiles lay in it, like a pleasant surprise. New Year's gift in general.
She always knew that Su Hejun was very powerful, but she didn't expect to be so powerful that she could leave a tael of gold for her in the hands of Yan Guo, who plucked her hair.
What she said was that you "bargain the price", not "don't give it to them", how capable he must be...
Huh
He left the Central Army, wouldn't it be because of a falling out with Gong Cao
No way
As General Ying Yang's personal soldier, He Mulan was guarded by Kumoti most of the time. His life was very monotonous. He got up early every day, practiced martial arts for an hour, and then had breakfast, and then went to the training ground to supervise the training of the Yingyang army.
He Mulan found that the impact of the New Year on Kumoti was that he received more and more letters and gifts. Those letters sent from Beijing or other places flew like snowflakes to the main tent of Yingyang Army. She watched Kumoti sort out these letters, some replied cautiously, and some threw them away. On the other hand, some even threw them into the brazier and burned them without even dismantling them.
The letter that was burned in the brazier should have been written by a woman, the font was embroidered on silk, and the letter box was also very elegant. Kumoti found that He Mulan liked the letter boxes very much, and one day he was in a good mood, and he asked He Mulan to pick a few to play with, which was regarded as a reward.
Such a leisurely day is not like being in the army. It's a pity that the good times did not last long, and the days of peace were not long before the Rouran people attacked with the army.
In fact, it is convenient to use Heishan City to resist Rouran's southern invasion, but Rouran has a vast territory, spanning east and west, connecting Liang State to the west, and the Hulun River to the east. An important piece of land in the center, if the Rouran people give up here and enter Dawei from other places, it is not impossible.
"The travel tents have been pulled out and they still insist on attacking south. Mouhan Heshenggai (Rouran Khan's name) should have received the news of Xia Guo's defeat, and he can't sit still."
Several members of the army in the military account have speculated.
"It's more than he can't sit still, I think the Liang Kingdom, Song Kingdom and other countries wish that we would be unlucky soon." Kumoti sneered at the monarchs of these enemy countries.
"exactly."
Li Yi, the military division general who joined the army tent, drew two curves on the marching map, "This branch should go south through Kumoxi from the east. The Ahui clan (chief) of Kumoxi did not deliver the letter. Either Cuomo Xi acquiesced to the Crawling Man, or he did not break through Cuomo Xi, but just sneaked around. If it is the latter, there should be not many people."
Kumoxi is an alien race in the east. It consists of five tribes and borders Goguryeo. It has a population of tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep. It was defeated by the Great Wei forty years ago and has been paying tribute every year as a vassal.
But they are the five alliance system. Internally, you often disagree with me and I disagree with you. If any one deliberately borrows, the chief can't do it.
Li Yi pointed to the other side again, "There are a large number of squirrels entering the west, and they should have entered through the country of Liang..."
As soon as his words came out, several generals blurted out "impossible".
Now that Wei State is pressing Qin State, he can't even lift his head, and even the lord of the state is hiding in Tongwancheng and dare not come out. Sure
"I'll ask the monarch of Liang Kingdom." Li Yi sneered and pointed at the position of Rouran's Zhuoye Mountain with his finger, and then drew from the foot of Zhuoye Mountain to a long line representing a river.
"The water is dry in winter. They are afraid that they will go south from the weak frozen water, cross the dry valley, and head south to the east."
When the Black Mountain Camp was just established, Tuoba Tao was just a prince, and he did something shocking.
He sent someone who could write and paint in his royal tent. It took him six years to paint the mountains and rivers of Wei, Liang and Qin clearly. As for Rouran, because it was too bitter and cold, and there were many nomads of Rouran who could not Rushing in, no one can tell what kind of inside Rouran is, except for a few generals, King Khan, who had surrendered from Rouran before.
Even so, this map of the north is relatively accurate for this era. There are also several in the Montenegro camp, which are owned by the chief generals of the three armies and the army tents.
The cold current going south not only helped the people of Wei to easily cross the Yellow River and captured Chang'an, but also helped Rouran outside the Great Wall, cross the frozen river from the east and west, and directly attack the military town at the border of Wei...
"The target in the east should be Huaihuang and Yuyi towns, and the target in the west should be Woye."
Tuoba Yan looked at the map with an ugly face. "We just sent back the good news of Gaoche's surrender, and this squishy came to slap our Montenegro camp in the face."
If they were really allowed to go all the way around and go straight to the military town guarding the capital Pingcheng, it is obvious how shocked Pingcheng was.
"If Woye, Huaihuang, or Yuyi fall, everyone will pass the year, and wait for the change of commander!"
Tuoba Yan snorted coldly, feeling extremely annoyed in his heart.
"General Li, where did the news come from?" Kumoti looked at Li Yi. He knew that there were many secrets in joining the military account. The generals in Montenegro had doubts for a long time. Looking for no fun to spy on the military.
"There are people who want to surrender early, and they sent people to send the news. Now there is no news from the east. I want to come to Kumoxi because the terrain is dangerous, and I can't find anyone to send the news. The news from the west has passed ten days ago. If we get to Ruoshui, if we follow the speed of our rush, we will reach the west of Woye in five days.”
As soon as Li Yi received the tip, he immediately reported the news to Woye Town and Beijing Central, and then summoned the commanders of the Montenegro camp to discuss what to do.
"How many people? How many horses?"
When Xia Hong heard that someone from Rouran had betrayed him, he immediately asked the questions he cared about.
"There are 23,000 people on the west front, one person and three horses. The east side... I don't know the exact number, but the number should be more than 8,000." Li Yi's face was not good-looking, and it had been a long time since he wanted to come to the east.
The Rouran people said that there were 23,000 people, and it was a long-distance attack. It must be that they did not even bring slaves and heavy luggage.
Woye is the westernmost of the six military towns. Huaishuo, Rouxuan, and Huaihuang are not far from each other, but Woye is a lonely city outside, and the Yellow River runs around the city and freezes in winter. This Yellow River was originally a natural danger. Now it has become an opportunity.
"23,000 people, if you want to wipe them out of the fertile fields, even if you are waiting for work, you must send at least 20,000 light cavalry to win. We have a total of 60,000 soldiers in the Montenegro camp, except for the defense of the city of Montenegro and the possibility of defending the eastern front. The enemy's men and horses that appear can only use 30,000."
To meet the enemy on the grassland, unlike defending the city, in addition to sending out scouts to look for the enemy's trail, maintaining mobility is also very important. If 20,000 people searched aimlessly outside, they would soon be exhausted, and they could only send the first troops to find the direction of the enemy before they could attack.
But once this vanguard is surrounded by the enemy, it will become very dangerous. Therefore, the vanguard must be fast and strong enough to get rid of the enemy's troops and smoothly reunite with the friendly forces.
As soon as Li Yi finished talking about the deployment, the generals in the tent had already turned their attention to Kumoti.
Yingyang's army consisted of one man and four horses, with complete armour. In terms of mobility and elites, no unit in the entire Montenegro camp could match.
Kumoti also knew in his heart that this time he must be the vanguard. He stood up now and nodded to the generals very sincerely:
"The Yingyang Army is duty-bound."
"General's hard work!"
"I will definitely help!"
It is the first month of the month, and it has been a while since he has played a battle, and there are Gaoche people stationed in the Montenegro camp. Considering the stability of the army, Tuobayan did not publicize the two crawling south, but quietly mobilized his troops and horses. , The left army's cavalry battalion was temporarily assigned to the central army general Yuchi Kualu for dispatch, and the right army's Huben battalion was dispatched. Xia Hong was responsible for guarding the Montenegro camp and was ready to fight at any time.
The Xiao Cavalry Camp, Hu Ben Camp and Yingyang Army's 8,000 cavalrymen to the west of Woye already had 30,000 horses. The three troops were the most elite forward troops in the army. They marched very fast and had strong combat capabilities. The troop can't stop the crawling people in the west, and it is meaningless to go to 30,000.
He Mulan didn't attend that meeting. At that time, she was discussing the three-army competition with several people in the deputy tent in half a month. A few people didn't even make the top ten in the competition of the right army. Naturally, they couldn't participate in the competition of the three armies. They could only wish He Mulan a good ranking with a smile. Captain or something.
Precisely because it was too comfortable before, when He Mulan and several others returned to the main general and were ready to attack immediately, it was a little unreal.
Creeping south
Cross the river
When will crawly be able to do something like art of war
Yes, Crawly must know that when the Xia Kingdom is destroyed, their big Wei will free up their hands to deal with Crawly. In this case, it is better to catch the north by surprise when the army is already on the westward expedition.
Kumoti reorganized the army very quickly, but in just half a day, the generals under his command had already placed the entire army and prepared the rations for the fifteen days, and one person, three horses, and light cavalry attacked.
They have Woye and Wuchuan as the rear, and supplies are naturally easier than Crawly, so baggage and handymen are also not brought.
He Mulan looked at the food bags and water sacs that were filled with cakes, and felt that her cheeks were sore again, and her esophagus to her stomach was cold.
Eat this for fifteen days in a row, and that's where the pain comes in when marching in a hurry.
In addition, what is even more painful is to set up camp and settle down, and make small solutions on the way.
He Mulan had heard from several people that when Ying Yang's army was rushing on, he didn't have time to take care of him on the way, and he did everything on the saddle.
Solved in the saddle…
Whether it is to open the pants and use superb riding skills to take out the water, or just pull it on the pants, He Mulan has not asked in detail until now.
She is ready to drink less water.
"Why do you look so sad? Do you feel a little unhappy that you are going to fight with us soon?" Kumoti looked at He Mulan and frowned, and suddenly asked.
After hearing this, He Mulan, who was guarding Kumoti's side, said blankly, "I want to eat a half-month's cake... Huh? General, what did you just say?"
Kumoti didn't expect that He Mulan was troubled by this kind of thing, and suddenly laughed: "Hu cakes are already very good, three or four years ago, there were no Hu cakes at all, they were all rough and miscellaneous cakes. If you really It's hard to swallow, I still have jerky and courgette here, you can take it for dinner."
"I dare not to be humble."
"Eat well. Eat well to have the strength to fight."
Cuomo sighed.
"Spring and summer are the time to grazing, they are used to fighting in winter, but it will be hard on you."
***
The Yingyang army marched fast for three days, and had just reached the east of Dawoye from the head of Montenegro. Heishan Camp is located in the north of Wuchuan Town, about the same distance from Woye as it is to Pingcheng.
After arriving at Woye, there was only one day left before the five days Li Yi had calculated.
Woye was originally stationed at Ten Thousand Town Shuowei, and when they arrived, he was immediately awakened and encouraged to welcome them out of the city.
The town of Woye suddenly flooded with 20,000 to 30,000 people, and most of the people and military households in the town knew what was going to happen. Many people began to sharpen their knives and arrows, and some people sent their younger children to the south. Let's go, Woye is only allowed to go south and not north. These people send the children away, and Zhen Shuowei also turns a blind eye.
The cavalry was guarded in Woye Town, the Hu Ben Army was stationed outside the city, and the Yingyang Army was the vanguard to look for Crawly, so he took the army to start the search in the west of Woye.
This is not an easy task, because the location of Woye is about west of what is now Baotou City, Inner Mongolia. Considering that Crawly had to look for water sources and aquatic plants all the way to let the horses rest, they searched in the direction of the aquatic plants, and finally found the Crawly team at 50 miles away from the fertile fields.
The crowd of people and horses seemed to suddenly appear on the horizon. The seasoned scouts flew horses to report after spying, saying that there are only tens of thousands of horses here, and the number is not clear, but every horse has a figure, it should be about the same number of people.
Everyone rode their horses, so where did that go for the horses
How did so many people solve the supply problem
These two questions alone are enough to make Cuomoti full of doubts.
"Brother, I don't think it's right again..." Several people murmured when they heard the news from the scouts flying horses, "There are so many horses with knights, why are they running louder than us?"
The other party should have heard the sound of their horses hooves shaking the earth long ago, but they were all visible to the naked eye, and the sound of the other party's hooves was only the loudness of "vibration".
Tens of thousands of horses should shake the sky when they sprint.
Who marches so slowly
"I want you to tell me!" Several tiger heads glared at his brother. "A fool knows it's wrong."
The order that Kumoti received was to search for the movement of the crawling on the western front. After finding their whereabouts, they would join up with other friendly forces and wipe them out in the fertile fields, so as not to cause losses due to the crawling south. To this end, the elites of the three armies have come out, fertile and fierce, waiting for a big battle.
Now Kumoti always feels that the front is not right, but he is afraid of rashly provoking it first. These 8,000 people will confess here, and the losses will be heavy. They can only cautiously continue to send scouts to investigate and wait for news.
"Brother, I think their horses seem to be replacement horses." After listening to the battle report, several people whispered to their elder brother: "Look at those horses walking so slowly, they should be tired horses when changing horses. Normal horses Where is it like the scout said, you can't even lift your feet to walk?"
"You mean, this army is exhausted, can you try to attack?" Duguwei became interested in the little brother Hutou, who always likes to talk, and stretched his head to tease him.
"There are tens of thousands of people on the other side, and we are only more than 7,000..."
Several of them were Kumoti's lieutenants. Kumoti was discussing the news reported by the scouts in front with several generals, while continuing to wait for the news. Seeing the intense discussions of the following lieutenants, he immediately asked aloud:
"What are you talking about?"
Several Hutou and Dugu Weiwei paused, stopped arguing, and replied respectfully: "General Qi, I think that the creepy people ahead may not be the main force we are looking for."
"Oh? Why?"
Kumoti looked at some tiger heads, who were winking wildly at some people who were about to speak, telling him not to speak indiscriminately.
"Hutou, don't stop your brother from talking, I'm not a strict and rigid person."
Others don't know, but He Mulan knows the abilities of several people. Although his martial arts are not strong, he has a natural sensitivity to the situation of the battle and is also good at deduction.
It's just that in the Great Wei army, even if you are good at marching, you have to be strong in martial arts first. Otherwise, according to the nature of the Xianbei generals who have to charge first, they will be killed by the enemy before they give an order.
Several people are also men, and they are still young guys. When they have the opportunity to show their faces, how can they hold back. Seeing that Kumoti asked him to speak, he immediately said:
"I suspect that the army in front is not the main force, it should be a suspect. The main force may have already changed to Jianma and gone to other directions!"
"Oh? How can you see it?"
"I can't be sure of the bid, but if you want to know how many people the opponent has, you just need to send a few hundred empty horses to rush into the formation. If these horses can go straight to the front of the formation, it must be the other party’s suspicion that the formation is just empty horses, not many cavalry!”
"General, what the last commander saw with his own eyes, although the opponent's horse is not running fast, it is true that seven or eight out of ten are sitting on riders, not empty horses!"
When the scout saw that the little personal soldier actually said that he suspected that they had risked their lives to inquire about the news, he immediately became angry and knelt down to retort.
"Eyes can sometimes deceive people!" Several people couldn't help but interjected: "The Han people once tied branches and leaves behind the horse's tail, and when they ran, they made a loud noise, making the enemy think it was an attack by an army. Now who knows if it's real!"
"General, I think I can give it a try!"
"General, I don't think it's right, in case we reveal our whereabouts..."
"The other party is tired of horses. Haven't heard that they can't run fast? We have enough horsepower. Even if we reveal our whereabouts, can we possibly escape?"
"What if the other side is trying to get tired, but is there actually enough horsepower? The number of the other side is several times that of us, so don't take risks!"
Several veterans left by Kumoti's father discussed for a while, arguing endlessly, just like Dugu Wei and some tiger heads just now, no one could convince anyone.
Just now, some Hutou and Duguwei were arguing, but some Hutou who were brothers did not believe what his younger brother said, while Duguwei, who was a friend of some Hutou, agreed with what some people said.
Seeing them arguing again at this time, Duguwei, a powerful and wealthy family member, suddenly said: "It's just a few hundred horses, General, I will lead an army with empty horses to test it once. If the other party is really empty, beat the drum. Let me tell you. We have a small number of people, and if there is something wrong, we can run fast."
Kumoti knew that Dugu Wei was alert by nature, not stupid or strong. In addition, he was not much less skeptical than a few people. At the moment, he asked people to pull out 500 horses to replace them and hand them over to Dugu Wei's trilogy to test.
Dugu Weiyi took the men and horses to a position that could be very close to Crawly. Seeing that the other party was not chasing, he was already certain that the guesses of several people were 80% correct, but he took a closer look. The scout saw it wrong, and was also puzzled in his heart, and immediately ordered his subordinates to stab the horse's buttocks and make him run wild.
A group of horses ran madly towards tens of thousands of horses. This scene looked like a moth to a fire, or a stone thrown into the sea. Duguwei ordered everyone to prepare for evacuation.
Unexpectedly, only a few arrows were shot sparsely in the opponent's horse group. The horses in the Northern Wei army were all war horses. After many battles, they knew how to avoid arrows. Such sparse arrows immediately avoided most of them, and half of them actually rushed in. The front horse group caused a commotion.
"The Guard is Here"
Horses travel in groups. The strongest group of horses in a group drive first, and all the horses behind them will follow. Otherwise, wouldn’t it take a lot of people to put horses on the grassland
But in fact, horse herders can usually put thousands of horses in a few people. It is easy for one person to carry a herd of hundreds of horses, and the horses can find their way back. It is very difficult to even get lost. Because of this characteristic, the formation of cavalry was easy to keep neat.
Dugu Wei saw that the leader of the horse group was in chaos first, and then the entire group of horses was in turmoil.
Hearing the sound of the attacking drums, Kumoti knew that the crawling here was indeed deceitful, and his spirit was shocked, and he led several thousand cavalry to charge. The cavalry of Wei State were like sinkers. When the two armies fought and rushed forward, everyone from the soldiers to the generals was taken aback.
Where there are any riders, the other party's tired hut is loaded with dummies that are tied up with withered grass and then dressed in wiggly clothes. It's just that the dummies are tied to the saddle with straw ropes and other objects, and the horse is slow, and from a distance it looks like a knight riding on a horse and walking slowly forward.
When Kumo saw this situation, his face changed greatly, he immediately grabbed a few Crawlies who had not been chopped off, and asked loudly in Xiongnu dialect. The other party tremblingly answered a few words, and the generals who understood the Xiongnu language were so angry that their faces turned ashen.
"Several units will clean up the battlefield, take this group of creepy captives back, and then bring back this group of tired horses to communicate with the fertile wild!" Although Kumoti got tens of thousands of war horses, he was not in a good mood at all.
Wriggling lacks everything, that is, there is no shortage of horses. These tens of thousands of horses are already crippled anyway, and it is not a pity to say that they are lost!
"The other ministries are on their horses to help Shuozhou!"
He Mulan had no idea what Kumoti had inquired about before, but when he heard Shuozhou, his expression changed.
Shuozhou is between Heishan Daying and Heping City, and to the east of Woye, if you want to bypass Woye and go straight to Shuozhou, you have to fly.
But this year is different from previous years, this year is particularly cold!
Woye Town is at the top of the "Ji" character of the Yellow River, and Shuozhou is at the upper right of the "Ji" character. Both are adjacent to the water source of the Yellow River, which is for the convenience of building a city.
However, the word "Ji" in Woye has two tributaries, both in the north of Woye. The weather is extremely cold this year, most of the rivers in the north are frozen, and the tributaries with not wide water veins are generally able to run horses. If Crawly walks down the ice from the tributary in the north, it can indeed bypass Woye and head towards Shuozhou!
There are three towns in Shuozhou, which were originally impossible to attack. However, they crossed the river from the west, bypassing the Black Mountain Camp and Woye City to the north of Wuchuan, and went straight to Shuozhou. Shuozhou did not take precautions. At this time, suddenly there are cavalry soldiers heading south, and they must suffer a big loss!
"Why Shuozhou! If you can't get a bargain, wouldn't you be trapped in the hinterland of Great Wei!"
Kumoti rode his horse like a fly, and was extremely uneasy.
The weather is unpredictable. It is cold in winter, but after the first month, the earth often warms up and the Yellow River is unblocked. Can these worms swim back to their hometown from the Yellow River
Or, are they not ready to go back at all
What a joke!
They are crazy! Even if Shuozhou is broken, and the three towns are attacked, they will not be able to go further south!
He Mulan was even more puzzling than Kumoti, and there was no such battle in her memory. In her previous life, Hua Mulan was a member of the Right Army. Even if this layout really existed, she should be guarding the Montenegro camp and did not leave the camp. Naturally, she did not know what happened at that time. With many horses, Gan went straight to Shuozhou at the risk of annihilation of the entire army.
Shuozhou!
What the hell is there in Shuozhou!
***
"Report! Weiwei's whereabouts were found in the north of Yuyi Town, and Weiwei did not go south, but went straight to the northwest!"
"How about the number of people?"
The crawly people who had been dispatching various scouts from the army tent to investigate the lost track on the eastern front were rejoicing now that they finally had the result.
"There are about 10,000 people, all of them light cavalry..."
"More than we estimated." Li Yi frowned. "Having arrived at Yuyi, even if you don't fight Yuyi, you should loot the surrounding area. They seem to be in a hurry. What are they rushing for?"
"Military division, now you have to ask the general to add troops and horses, and rush to the east to intercept it!"
A soldier pointed at the map, "After Yuyi, it's not far from Wuchuan!"
"I'm going to see the General!"
Li Canjun held the military newspaper in his hand and hurried to the military tent.
At the same time, more than 30,000 people from the Honglu Temple team in Beijing, Yulin Army and Suwei Army accompanied them to the Montenegro Camp. Five days before departure, the Beijing-Central Special Envoy quickly notified the towns to prepare for the pick-up. .
It's just that Tuoba Tao rarely travels extravagantly, and has always been light and simple. His marching speed was fast, he walked on the main road, and he did not delay along the way. At this time, he had the intention of "surprise inspection" of the Montenegro camp, so when the Beijing News arrived at the Montenegro camp...
The emperor is not far from Shuozhou.