lady, please calm down

On the fifth day of August, at the western foot of Daxianbei Mountain.

At this time, the Central Plains was still at the tail end of midsummer, and the enemy's pastures could clearly feel the chill.

In the morning and afternoon, sixteen-year-old Ana drove the horses to a place with abundant water and grass at the foot of the mountain, so that they could put on the last layer of autumn fat before the harsh winter came.

In the middle of the day, Ana saw several men walking out of the mountains to the west.

At first, Anari thought it was a small Han caravan and hurriedly rode up to meet it.

I don’t know how the Han people were born, but they are particularly ingenious. Among the goods they brought, they included brick tea and iron pots that were indispensable to the herdsmen, as well as the daughter’s family’s favorite rouge gouache. The children couldn’t move after seeing it. Tao's candy.

All in all, they are all good stuff.

It is a pity that the enemy's pasture is in the eastern part of Mobei. To the south is the Gobi Desert, and to the east is the Xianbei Mountains that stretch thousands of miles and block traffic.

Han caravans rarely come to this remote place.

The last time Anari saw a Han caravan was two years ago.

At that time, they were a small group of about 300 enemies, and it was very lively for several days. The leader took out precious kumiss to entertain the caravan. The hospitality was one reason, and at the same time, he hoped that the caravan would come back next year. .

However, when Anari approached on horseback, she saw several people in ragged clothes and in a state of embarrassment, and their hair was not in the three-braided style of the tribes in Mobei. She couldn't help but wonder: "Who are you?"

The person who came was obviously wary, but when he spoke, he spoke in a language that Anari couldn't understand.

The two sides chatted for a while, and not long after, several more people walked out of the forest behind them. Although these people looked equally embarrassed, they were all carrying long and short weapons.

Among the people who came from behind, one of them had Liao-style braided hair and staggered forward leaning on a wooden staff. When he saw Anari's dress, he started speaking in the Tatar dialect commonly used by the Ulie tribe, "Beautiful purple." Yan, where is this place?”

"This is the pasture of the leader of our Ulie enemy army, Aorigele. Where do you come from?"

The eastern part of Mobei and the western foothills of the Daxianbei Mountains are the pastures of the eight tribes of Wulie, among which Dili is one of them. The leader "Aorigele" is also a small leader of the Dili tribe.

After hearing about the territory of the Wulie tribe, the Liao people couldn't help but look happy. They didn't answer Anari's question, but said something hurriedly to the person next to them.

As they talked, more and more men came from the mountains and forests. These people gradually gathered on the plain at the foot of the mountain. Some people immediately ran to the river and drank water like animals.

Some people looked at the horses grazing in Anari with green eyes.

Someone else removed the bow arm from his back, took out the bow string from the oilcloth, and began to string it silently.

Even though Anari was innocent and enthusiastic, she noticed something was wrong. She suddenly picked up the reins of her horse and turned around to escape to the tribe's camp.

The man who was stringing the bow happened to have tied the bow string at this time. Seeing Anari was about to run away, he still pulled the bow string calmly and felt that the string was strong. Then he pulled out an arrow feather and opened the bow to nock the arrow.
Seeing that the girl had escaped more than a hundred steps, the man holding the bow slightly raised the arrow by half an inch and decisively let go of his finger.

There was a faint sound of breaking wind, and the arrow feathers pulled out a low-arc parabola, hitting the center of the back.
Ana fell off the horse without making a sound.

A hundred steps away, moving target.

"Wanyan Dutong, what a handsome arrow! Hahaha."

Xiao Zhongxian, who participated in politics, put his palm in his hand and praised him, saying that the person who shot the arrow was Wanyan Lan, the commander of Tiefu Tudu.
The vanguard of the Jin Army, after more than 20 days, finally completed crossing the Daxianbei Mountains today and arrived at the Wuliebu Pasture at the western foot.

However, the price is not small
Along the way, there was no time to count the number of sergeants who fell behind, disappeared, fell to death, died of illness, or were killed by poisonous insects, snakes and scorpions.

However, when setting off, the 20,000 war horses accompanying the army were abandoned in the mountains as early as the sixth day after entering the mountains because it was difficult to pass through the mountain passes and cliffs.

Jin was born in the mountains and was good at climbing mountain walls, but even so, after losing his horse, he was still unable to pass the most dangerous section of the road.

In the end, Wanyan Mouyan, the commander-in-chief of the westward march, became ruthless and threw away all unnecessary baggage, until he ordered the entire army to abandon their heavy armor.

However, he retained 3,000 sets of heavy armor for Tie Fu Tu, and in accordance with Xiao Zhongxian's wishes, he split the heavy armor and divided the burden among each sergeant.
Both Wanyan Mouyan and Xiao Zhongxian knew that Tiefutu was the decisive force for the success of this westward march, and their combat effectiveness must be guaranteed.

By the end of July, the westward marching army groping through the mountains had run out of food, and only the minimum rations were provided to Sergeant Tiefutu who was opening the way ahead.

If we can't get out of the Xianbei Mountains within ten days, the outcome of the entire army's annihilation is inevitable.

Fortunately!
Finally came out on the fifth day of August!
After a short rest, before Wanyan Mouyan, the commander in chief at the rear, could walk out of the last section of the forest, Wanyan Lan summoned his lieutenant general and ordered: "Senior An, at the fastest speed, encircle and suppress this enemy force. No one can escape!"

Although the Wulie Ba tribe are descendants of Tatars, they have surrendered to the Liao Kingdom for a hundred or two hundred years. After the Jin destroyed the Liao, they surrendered to the Jin and paid tribute to the Jin Kingdom every year.

Speaking of which, he is also a subject of the Jin Kingdom.

When the deputy general heard this, he asked one more question, "Kill them all? Do we need to follow the rules on their grasslands?"

The so-called rules on the grassland are that young women can survive as trophies, and boys who are not taller than a wheel can also survive.

Wanyan Lan turned his head and said coldly: "No matter whether you are male, female, old or young, leave no one behind!"

The deputy general then took the order and left, but Xiao Zhongxian, who had been standing aside, said in a tone full of praise: "The commander-in-chief is decisive!"

In order to catch Qi State off guard, the top priority was to keep the westward march secret. The Mobei grassland was vast and the tribes were usually hundreds of miles apart.

If you encounter a large tribe, you will go around it, and if you encounter a small tribe, you will directly eliminate it. In this way, you can not only keep the march concealed, but also ensure supplies along the way and obtain horses.

This time, only the war horses and armor that were discarded when crossing the Xianbei Mountains lost half of the wealth accumulated by the Jin Kingdom over the past 20 years.

If the Qi State cannot make up for these losses, the Jin State will definitely suffer a great loss in strength.

Therefore, compared with this great detour that is weighing on the fate of the country, killing a few Tatars is nothing!
Noon.

Without any preparation, the Aorigele tribe of the Ulie Enemy Tribe were suddenly attacked by a force that was more than ten times superior. In less than two quarters of an hour of fighting, the entire tribe was wiped out.
There has never been a lack of similar battles on the grassland, but this time it was still much more brutal than before. After all, when tribes fought against each other, even hostile tribes would regard children and women as resources without slaughtering them.

But this short battle that took place at the western foot of the Great Xianbei Mountains left no one alive in the Aorigele tribe, not even the infant baby.

At the end of the day, the Chinese army followed Wanyan Mouyan out of the mountains.

Xiao Zhongxian, who came first, had already arranged for people to cook rice and kill sheep and cows.

By dusk, the large army had basically come out.

The army, which had been dressed in bright armor when it set out, no longer looked like a military unit. They were all dressed in rags, and many were bare-chested. They used their guns and swords as crutches and supported each other, just like refugees.

When they smelled the aroma of meat, they completely lost their military discipline and rushed to the nearest stove, scooped out a piece of meat from the boiling hot soup and started to bite it madly.

That night, dozens of people died of overeating after being starved for many days.

At midnight, according to statistics from various ministries, the number of people walking out of the mountain was less than 30,000.
"By the middle of Haishi, the six armies together totaled more than 25,700. The iron pagoda was the least damaged, and there were still 2,800 of the 3,000 soldiers."

When Xiao Zhongxian reported this number, there was a silence in the felt bag.

The army of 43,000 had lost nearly 15,000 people without killing a single enemy.
Since the founding of the Jin Dynasty, and in more than twenty years of battles, so many Jin warriors have never been lost in one battle.

Horses were abandoned, armor was lost, and more than 10,000 people were lost, and such huge losses only occurred during the march.

The Kingdom of Jin had a small population, with only more than 100,000 armored men. Excluding those who followed Wanyan Quan scattered throughout the pass, Wanyan Liang's men totaled only 70,000.

A sudden loss of more than 20%. If this victory cannot shock the world, the Jin Kingdom, which has been severely weakened, will most likely be counterattacked by various tribes.

Wanyan Mouyan, the commander-in-chief of the Westward Expansion, first praised Wanyan Lan's prompt and decisive approach to massacre the tribesmen in Aorigele, and then said: "Although this small and hostile tribe has not many people, it has thousands of cattle and sheep, and eight adult horses. Hundreds. It just so happens that our army needs to rest for two days to gather the stragglers. Wanyan Dutong will send a messenger to Xixia tomorrow."

After appeasing the troops for a while, Wanyan Mouyan encouraged the five generals and said: "Our army has suffered losses today, and I will lead you to recover them from Qi! Now that we have crossed the natural chasm, all that is left are roads and roads. I will do my best!”

"Yes!"

The generals agreed with a roar.

The sixth and seventh days of the lunar month.

Wanyan Mouyan's army rested for two days at the old camp in Gele. Relying on the supply of large amounts of cattle and sheep, the soldiers quickly recovered their physical strength after the long journey.

In two days, more than a thousand stragglers came out of the mountains one after another, barely enough to make up 30,000 soldiers.

On the early morning of the eighth day of the eighth lunar month, Wanyan Mouyan ordered his men to burn the felt bags of the Gele tribe and continued westward. At noon, the rear of the army lit up the fire and left here to the west.

Felt bags woven from animal hair are highly flammable, but burn extremely quickly.

In less than an hour, dozens of felt bags were reduced to ashes, leaving only a few wisps of black smoke.

All the cattle and sheep, regarded as precious property by the whole clan, have entered the belly of the Jin army.

The girl named Anari was lying quietly on the green grass. After two days of dry wind, her plump face with plateau red had shriveled up, and even attracted mosquitoes that were rarely seen in August on the grassland.
A small tribe that had multiplied for a century disappeared into the boundless grassland.

August twenty-two.

Xingqingfu, the capital of Xixia.

The fifth-generation emperor Li Renxiao, who was in charge of Fang Jiweiguan, was sitting in the Zhaoming Hall. Hearing the noisy officials below, he couldn't help but rub his brows.

There have been few comfortable years since he ascended the throne.

In the second year of Daqing, the year after he ascended the throne, General Xiao He of Liao Dynasty in Western Xia rebelled. Fortunately, the commander-in-chief of Jingzhou, Dejing, suppressed the rebellion.

In April last year, another earthquake occurred in Xingqing Mansion, where the capital is located. Black sand rose several feet high from the ground, collapsing houses and swallowing people and animals.

In June this year, locusts broke out again in the country.
Continuous natural disasters led to widespread famine.

After the locust outbreak occurred in Xixia in June this year, knowing that the autumn harvest would be greatly affected, the Xixia court followed the experience of previous years and secretly ordered Richard, the commander of the Jianing Army, to go south to clear grass in the valley.

Once Xixia's country becomes unstable, clearing grass and grain is the only way to maintain domestic stability.

This has been the case for hundreds of years.

The Han people were weak, and Xixia's southern invasion could not only capture livestock and food, but also obtain some wealth and silk from the Han court to alleviate difficulties.

But this time, not only could they not fetch food and grass, but they also knocked out their front teeth.

After Brother Richard's troops crossed Changcheng Ridge and entered the territory of Baoan Prefecture, they first attacked four military villages and captured more than a thousand people and three thousand livestock.

But before he could continue to advance, he encountered the main force of Baoan Prefecture Jiedushi Tong Wei, who came to support after hearing the news, on the west bank of Hunzhou Sichuan, 180 miles north of Baoan Prefecture.

The Xixia Army and the Western Army have been fighting for more than two hundred years. They are already familiar with each other and cannot be familiar with them anymore, so they are not timid.

When the two armies were engaged in battle on the Luliang Plain, unexpectedly, Linfu Road Commander Zhe Keqiu led the cavalry army to cut off their retreat.

Under the attack of the two Western armies of Baoan and Linfu, Brother Richard was defeated. Not only did he lose the captured people and livestock, but also lost two thousand soldiers. Brother Richard was also captured alive.

At this time, the Xixia court exploded.

The generals clamored to send more troops straight to Baoan Prefecture to rescue Brother Richard.

Brother Richard is a member of the royal family, and Li Renxiao will try to rescue him both emotionally and rationally.

But yesterday Prime Minister Wodaochong just presented the collected intelligence to him and explained the reason for the defeat.

The two places fought for two hundred years, with Western Xia winning more and losing less.

Especially in the second, fourth, and fifth years of Fuchang after the Qi Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty, Xixia won successive battles. They not only captured a large number of people, but also took Helanyuan, Shilijing and other places from the hands of the Western Army, and the defense lines of the two countries were Push south for eighty miles to the front line of the Great Wall.

Unexpectedly, I suddenly lost this time, and lost so miserably.

The intelligence brought by Odaochong showed that the Western Army had obtained a new type of wheat in the eleventh year since the invasion of Fuchang, and the yield after cultivation was two or three times higher than before.

After several years of promotion, expansion, and accumulation, now there are mountains of wheat grains in the warehouses of the Western Army's cities. Even ordinary military households can eat staple food made from wheat flour.

Eating well and eating well will bring about changes in the temperament of the entire army.

Moreover, the intelligence also showed that, perhaps because they had food in hand, the Western armies in various places had begun to recruit young men in order to organize and train new armies.

Compared to Brother Richard being defeated and captured, the news of the Western Army training a new army is undoubtedly more shocking.

The two places have been fighting to the death for so many years, and the hatred between the Dangxiang people and the northwest Han people is so great that almost every family on both sides has lost their lives at the hands of each other.

Now that the Western Army has that high-yield divine wheat, more food means more people.

If the Western Army was given a few more years to breed and recruit, once the strength of the two sides became imbalanced, Li Renxiao had no doubt that he would be brutally retaliated by the Western Army.

One bad thing after another gave the young emperor a headache.

After the dispersion of the dynasty, Li Renxiao recruited Ao Daochong and Ren Dejing to discuss matters.

This Wen Yiwu was regarded as his right-hand man by Li Renxiao, but when talking about this matter, both of them fell silent.

Xixia used a population of two million to conquer the two dynasties of Zhou and Qi, not because the Xixia soldiers were invincible, but because the Han people were suffering from internal strife and could not use their energy in one place.

But now, the Western Army has not only solved the biggest shortcoming of "barrenness and food shortage", but also has such close cooperation with the security guards and Lin Mansion.

After the King of Chu of Qi State rose to fame, although he was bloodthirsty and warlike, he built the Qi State into a monolithic state and had extremely strong execution ability.

How can it not be worrying for a puppet dynasty that has gained the country unfairly, but under his control it has gradually become prosperous and brave?
Ao Daochong thought for a long time and finally said in a helpless tone: "Your Majesty, how about we ask the Emperor of Jin to mediate so that Li Dutong can be released?"

The Kingdom of Jin was once the co-lord of the Xixia, Qi, and Zhou Kingdoms. It was indeed a good idea to ask the State to come forward.

Although it was a bit humiliating.

Unexpectedly, Ren Dejing shook his head when he heard this, "You're ridiculous, Prime Minister! Since the First World War in Hebei, father and son have become brothers between Jin and Qi. Now we don't know whether Jin can influence Qi's decision-making, but last month I have received news that Emperor Jin and King Qi Chu have formed an alliance to jointly attack Wanyan Liang. At this time, Emperor Jin still needs to rely on King Qi Chu, so how can he speak for me? "

Aodaochong fell silent.

Ren Dejing bowed to Li Renxiao and said: "Your Majesty, the unification of Li Du is only a short-term concern. The growing power of Qi is the long-term concern that hangs over our country! If we don't think of a way, we, Daxia, will be in danger!"

"Does Commander Ren have a clever plan to reverse this unfavorable situation?" Li Renxiao asked slightly anxiously.

But these words also stopped Ren Dejing. Everyone could see the crisis, but in the face of the irreversible trend, this important Xixia minister also felt powerless.

The hall fell silent.

At this moment, a young man from the Huangmen hurriedly ran in and presented an urgent military message from the Black Mountain Weifu Military Division.

There had been bad news for the past few days, and Li Renxiao couldn't help but be surprised, and some didn't dare to open it and take a look.

The Heishan Weifu Military Division is located in the northeast of Xixia, with Mobei as its back. There is no threat from powerful enemies. There are usually few emergency military situations. What happened today?

After calming down, Li Renxiao opened the express delivery.

There are three letters in the wax letter. The first one is from Heishan Weifu Military Division, saying: On the 19th of this month, thirty Jin Army messengers came to deliver a secret letter from King Hailing of the Jin Kingdom.

King Hailing?
Isn't he trapped in Daling Hedong?
Under extreme confusion, Li Renxiao unfolded the paper and automatically omitted the unhelpful content at the beginning. Li Renxiao was instantly attracted to his attention. "The army has been secretly marching westward in Mobei, and will reach both sides of your country in a few days." If the two countries join forces, they will be able to defeat the Western Army of Qi State in a short time. When the matter is completed, half of Tokyo's wealth will be donated to your country; Jinxia will be bounded by Xihu Lao Pass in Luoyang! '

The letter was written in a very polite manner. If Wan Yanliang regarded the Kingdom of Jin as his superior country, he would not call Xixia "your country".

But Li Renxiao's focus was not on such minutiae at all, but was captured by "the wealth of half the city of Tokyo" and "Jinxia is bounded by Hulao Pass".

Tokyo is rich and prosperous, and everyone knows it.

The west of Hulao Pass covers the entire northwest of Qi State, including not only the prosperous Jingzhao Prefecture, but also the densely populated Guanzhong Plain.
If we can achieve this, Xixia will no longer be a small country trapped in a corner!

Seeing Li Renxiao's hand shaking slightly while holding the letter, Ao Daochong and Ren Dejing couldn't help but look at each other, and the latter asked: "Your Majesty? But something big happened again?"

"A big event, indeed a big event. A big event that can determine the rise and fall of the Three Kingdoms and the life and death of millions of soldiers and civilians."

Li Renxiao swallowed, and with trembling hands, handed the letter from Wan Yanliang to Ao Daochong and Ren Dejing, "You two should also take a look at where I, Daxia, will go." (End of this chapter)