Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1644 The war is coming!

Facing Xun Ke's exhortation, Dariyachi remained silent. Seeing him like this, Xun Ke was extremely disappointed. He knew that the reason why Dariyachi was so determined to fight on was that he actually wanted to use this opportunity to achieve a beautiful victory so as to increase his prestige among the Luobi tribes!

Now they have been on the expedition for such a long time, and although they have annihilated some small forces of the Golden Horde, it is still difficult to say that it is a beautiful victory. If they go back in disgrace, Dariaochi will not be able to increase his prestige among the Luobi tribes, and his dignity will probably be destroyed. This is why Dariaochi is unwilling to leave!

Although Xun Ke understood what Dari Achi was thinking, he felt that they had no chance of winning now. They should not consider the issue of face at this time, but should protect their manpower as much as possible to ensure that they would not suffer heavy losses!
At this moment, in Xun Ke's eyes, Dari Achi was like a gambler who had lost a few times. Although this gambler had lost a few times, he still had some chips in his hand, so he wanted to put all the remaining chips in an attempt to make a comeback!
Although Dari Achi wanted to continue gambling, Xun Ke no longer wanted to accompany him. As Xun Ke just said, the gunpowder and bullets of his soldiers had basically been consumed in the past few days, and the subsequent replenishment had not kept up. So in this case, once a large-scale battle occurred, the firearms of the Daqian army would soon become fire sticks!
Xun Ke was very clear that the tens of thousands of soldiers under his command were all the elite of Daqian, and were the wealth that Daqian had accumulated with great difficulty.

If all these assets were invested, Daqian might not be able to effectively interfere in grassland affairs in the short term.

So he had to be cautious and not accompany Dariachi in gambling. In fact, by accompanying Dariachi until now, Xun Ke felt that he had given Dariachi a lot of face. If Dariachi was hopeless, he could not help him...
Thinking of this, Xun Ke looked at Dariya and said in a deep voice:
"My Lord Prince, our troops will withdraw tomorrow night! You can take care of yourself!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Dari Achi immediately turned around and looked at Xun Ke, but General Daqian ignored him and walked straight out of the central military tent.

Seeing Xun Ke walk out of the tent, Dari Achi was extremely angry. He drew his knife and cut the table in front of him in half as if to vent his anger.

Xun Ke returned to his camp. As it was getting late, he wanted to rest immediately. However, he did not expect that as soon as he took off his armor, his personal guard came to report:
"Sir! Lieutenant General Zhang Shuai said he wants to see you for something important!"

Xun Ke, who was about to get into bed, frowned slightly when he heard this. He wondered what this guy Zhang Shuai wanted that he had to see him at this time!

Xun Ke pondered for a while, then asked again:
"Did Zhang Shuai say what it was about?"

"He didn't say that. He just said that there was something important and he wanted to report it to you immediately!"

Xun Ke frowned even deeper when he heard that. He had been working hard all day and was exhausted all over. He just wanted to lie down and have a good rest and sleep, so he instinctively wanted to refuse Zhang Shuai's request to meet him and asked him to report to him tomorrow morning if he had anything to say!
But then I thought, if Zhang Shuai really had something urgent to do, and if I didn't see him and caused the matter to be delayed...

After pondering for a moment, Xun Ke's duty came into play, and he immediately ordered:
"Let Zhang Shuai in!"

"Yes!"

Following Xun Ke's order, a stout and heroic young general walked into Xun Ke's tent a moment later, bowed and clasped his fists, and reported to Xun Ke:

"I, General Zhang, pay my respects to General Xun!"

Xun Ke glanced at Zhang Shuai coldly and said:
"You'd better have something urgent to do!"

Zhang Shuai felt a chill in his heart when he heard this and immediately said:
"Sir, I understand that it is inappropriate to ask for an audience at this time. It will disturb your rest, but I really have a very important discovery, and I really can't help but talk about it!"

"Say!"

"Your Excellency, the scouts I sent out couldn't find our logistics convoy even after traveling a hundred miles to the east!"

"what do you want to say?"

"Sir, our logistics convoy is delivering supplies to our army from Yunbing via the Erlunqin Grassland. The last time our logistics convoy arrived was 21 days ago. According to the schedule, the logistics supply is already nearly six days late!"

After hearing what Zhang Shuai said, Xun Ke's eyes flashed with suspicion. The Daqian army has always been strictly disciplined, and the logistics convoys have always been very punctual regardless of weather conditions, and it is rare for them to be overdue.

The last time Xun Ke encountered such a situation where the logistics convoy failed to deliver supplies in time was during the last expedition against Jamukha. At that time, the logistics supplies were delivered three days late!

But now it is six days late and still hasn't arrived. Xun Ke is a little anxious. Why hasn't the logistics convoy arrived yet?
But Xun Ke changed his mind and realized that the delay of the logistics convoy was unexpected but also reasonable. After all, they were now in the Turtu Steppe, the heartland of the Golden Horde. Not to mention the Daqian people, even the Robe people rarely reached this place.

Therefore, even if the logistics convoy has Robin guides, it is difficult to deliver the logistics supplies on time in this vast grassland!

When setting out on this expedition, Xun Ke was actually mentally prepared for this. So now that the logistical supplies have not been delivered, although he is anxious, he did not think too much about it. He just thought that the logistics convoy encountered something on the road, got lost, or was delayed by wind and rain.

However, now that Zhang Shuai mentioned this matter, Xun Ke had a bad feeling. As expected, Zhang Shuai continued:
"General, in order to ensure that the logistics can be delivered on time, the logistics convoy is not only equipped with Luobi guides, but also Daqian merchants who have done business with the Golden Horde as guides. In addition, we also have soldiers to guide along the way!"

"It is precisely because of this deployment that the previous logistical supplies were able to be delivered to us on time!"

"And now this logistics convoy has been late for six days, which is really unbelievable, so I arranged dozens of scouts to search in the east direction, but these scouts have reached Hulunpo, which is a hundred miles away, and still haven't found the logistics convoy!"

"So I suspect that something might have happened to this logistics convoy..."

After hearing Zhang Shuai's story, Xun Ke hesitated for a moment and said:
"You mean the enemy sent troops to intercept and kill our logistics convoy?"

Facing Xun Ke's question, Zhang Shuai swallowed his saliva, then nodded and said:

"General, this is very likely the case! And the enemy's army is likely to be quite large!"

"how to say?"

"The logistics convoy usually consists of 1,500 civilians and one battalion of soldiers. In this way, even if they encounter the enemy, as long as the enemy is not too large, the logistics convoy can form a battle formation and ask for help. Now there is no news from the logistics convoy, which means that the enemy should have a lot of troops. Otherwise, even if they are defeated, there should be someone in the logistics convoy who can send a message back!"

Xun Ke was also shocked when he heard this. After a moment of silence, he said:

"How many enemy troops do you estimate were there who intercepted the logistics convoy?"

"Sir, this is hard to estimate!" "Just speak up!"

Zhang Shuai thought for a while and said:
"I think there are at least 3,000 people, 5,000 is very likely!"

"Three to five thousand people? Are you saying that Makhachev divided his troops into three to five thousand and went around behind us?"

"Sir! I can only infer that our logistics convoy was annihilated by three to five thousand enemy troops. As for where these people came from, I really don't know!"

Xun Ke frowned when he heard this. Although what Zhang Shuai said was a little hard to believe, since the battle, both sides have been keeping a close eye on each other. It would be difficult to hide the movement of three to five thousand people from each other, so Xun Ke was a little skeptical of Zhang Shuai's inference!
However, judging from Zhang Shuai's reasoning, Xun Ke felt that what Zhang Shuai said made some sense. The logistics convoy had not arrived for six days. In view of this situation, the possibility of the logistics convoy being annihilated by the enemy could not be ruled out...

Although it is not possible that there is really an enemy force of three to five thousand people behind us now, but if this is true, and there is really an enemy force of three to five thousand Cuman cavalry ambushing behind us, there is no doubt that this will be a force that determines the outcome of the war!

If this force suddenly appeared and attacked from both sides together with Makhachev's troops behind them when they were retreating, the consequences would be unimaginable!

Thinking of this, Xun Ke felt a chill on his back, and then he looked at Zhang Shuai and said:

"Zhang Shuai, do you have anything else to say?"

Zhang Shuai shook his head and said:
"I no longer have this humble position!"

Xun Ke nodded slightly when he heard this:
"Now arrange for fifty, no! One hundred scouts to search in the east direction!"

"Yes!"

After Zhang Shuai took the order and left, Xun Ke, who was alone in the tent, was no longer sleepy. Although at this moment he still found it hard to believe that there would be such a group of three to five thousand Cuman cavalry behind him, Xun Ke had to act carefully!

After all, the troops he has now can be said to have assembled most of Daqian's cavalry, so there will definitely not be any problems...
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The next morning, at the foot of an inconspicuous hill on the Turte grassland,
In the morning breeze, Habib was playing chess with Chen Zhongshu. As more and more chess pieces appeared on the board, Chen Zhongshu bowed to Habib and said:
"Great Khan! You are truly a genius. In just over a month, you have achieved such great accomplishments in chess. It is truly admirable. I am truly ashamed of myself!"

Listening to Chen Zhongshu's words, Habib smiled and shook his head:
"Mr. Chen, although my chess skills have improved, you really gave me the advantage on purpose in this game!"

Chen Zhongshu immediately looked embarrassed when he heard this, and Habib continued:

"I heard that in the Daqian court, there was an imperial censor who could directly confront Ye Mingsheng's faults?"

"Yes! Ye Mingsheng is such a bastard that even his own lackeys can't stand him. He is often scolded by them and has lost all face in the court!"

Looking at Chen Zhongshu who looked gloating, Habib's eyes revealed a hint of contempt. After these days of contact, he had long seen that Chen Zhongshu was a complete villain. If he did not need someone who knew Daqian well enough to help him, he would never allow such a villain to stay by his side.

Just as Habib secretly despised Chen Zhongshu, his confidant Umar quickly walked over and reported to Habib:

"Great Khan! Last night, the Daqian military camp suddenly sent a large number of scouts to search eastward. It seems that they are looking for their logistics convoy!"

Habib's expression immediately turned serious when he heard this, while Umar continued:

"According to your instructions, our people did not move these scouts. However, if we let them search, I'm afraid they will find the battlefield where we ambushed their logistics convoy a few days ago!"

Habib pondered for a while after hearing this and sighed:

“I’m a little greedy…”

"What do you mean, Khan?"

"I have been hiding for so long, so I naturally want to catch them all in one fell swoop. That's why I have been holding off on taking action. I want Makhachev to consume more of the enemy's troops, and then I will catch them off guard and try to wipe them out completely in the Turte grassland!"

"As long as this battle is successful, the Luobi people will be finished, and Daqian will find it difficult to send troops to intervene in a short period of time. We, the Kipchaks, will become the true overlords of the grasslands!"

"But the Daqian people are not stupid. They must have noticed something and that's why they acted like this. Now that they are prepared for our surprise attack, the effect will not be better than before. It's a pity!"

At this point, Habib also beat his chest and stamped his feet, looking annoyed. Seeing this, Umar couldn't help but ask:

"If that's the case, Khan, what should we do now?"

"Since the enemy has already noticed something, we must seize the time and attack them before they fully realize what's going on!"

"Umar, contact Makhachev immediately. We will launch a general offensive together this afternoon. Even if we cannot completely annihilate the enemy in this battle, we will cripple them and make Ye Mingsheng dare not send troops to the grassland again in his lifetime!"

"Yes!"

After giving the order, Habib turned to look at Chen Zhongshu and said:

"Mr. Chen, the general Xun Ke who is leading the troops this time seems to be from Guanzhong like you. You two are from the same hometown. How much do you know about him?"

Facing Habib's question, Chen Zhongshu's heart suddenly tightened. He was just a small official in Guanzhong before, and he didn't know anything about the Daqian army. If Habib hadn't said it, he wouldn't have known that Xun Ke was also from Guanzhong...