Late Tang

In the northeast of October outside the customs, it has begun to snow. .

The Qin army's camp in Da'an was in order, and it didn't look like it had won the war at all. Looking through the gate, there was a huge red military tent between layers of military tents and pieces of spears. Although there has been a lot of snow, the soldiers outside the tent are awe-inspiring and unrelenting. In front of the tent is the black eagle flag of the Qin Army.

At this moment, although the generals were seated in the big tent, there was silence, only the crackling of a few charcoal braziers.Guo Chongtao, head of the Thirteenth Legion, whose name is Zhengchen, is wearing a set of navy blue full-body armor, a red battle robe, a silver silk cape on his shoulders, and a wolf-headed pot helmet with a wide forehead. Although there are a few wrinkles on his big face and a big beard, he looks like he is in his 30s, but in fact, what he has never explained to anyone is that he is actually just 30 years old this year, and he is younger than what he claims to be. 30 years old is ten years younger.His real age is even younger than those disciples under Qin Wang Li Jing's seat, but he grew up in a border area, and he is indeed a bit rough, making it seem that there is no flaw in saying that he is [-] years old.

This time, the No.13 Legion is a completely new legion, formed by the foreign cavalry outside the Great Wall drawn from the various legions of the Qin Army. The ten armies have [-] cavalry, all of which are the elite of the Qin Army. The army is well-trained and disciplined, and at the same time has the natural horseback ability, riding and shooting skills of the aboriginal people.Before the Qin Army, many Fanqi were elite warriors of various tribes, and were later selected into the Qin Army. It is said that on the battlefield outside the Great Wall, they are like ducks in water.

With the rank of major general, Guo Chongtao served as the head of the No.13 Legion, commanding 13 horsemen from ten armies, and just ten tribal armies under his command.From the first day he was appointed, he had already been personally received by the King of Qin, who informed him of the reason for forming the Thirteenth Legion and the decision to choose him as its commander. The No.[-] Legion will be responsible for giving the Khitan people the final blow, and Guo Chongtao will be responsible for commanding the [-]th Legion, which can be described as full trust.

Guo Chongtao also did not shoulder the heavy responsibility. After receiving the order, although many horsemen of the [-]th Legion were uneasy at first, he still quickly brought this legion into a tacit understanding.

On the Bohai battlefield, Qin Wang Li Jing unexpectedly led his army into the Heishui Basin, defeated the various tribes who were forced to conquer the emptiness, and finally caused the Blackwater Army in Bohai to be unable to persist. They left Shangjing and returned to Heishui. In front of the fortress, he was defeated by an ambush and surrendered.The surrender of Heishui caused the tribal armies on the eastern front to be in chaos without a fight. Immediately afterwards, the Shiwei people on the eastern front were defeated and surrendered.

The defeat on the Eastern Front made it impossible for the Khitans on the Western Front to persist in the end.

After autumn, the Khitan finally began to retreat.

3 Khitan elite cavalry gathered and retreated, followed by 15 elite cavalry from Shiwei and other tribes, and as many as 18 auxiliary soldiers composed of old and weak troops. As well as 41 people including civilian husbands, the entire breakout force reached [-].

Various Qin armies and the Bohai army already controlled by the Qin army had already surrounded the Khitan people from all sides. As soon as the Khitan people broke through, the Qin army immediately occupied the territories originally occupied by the tribal troops on the western front, and began to chase them like a pack of wolves. Like a flock of sheep, the final chase began.

Facing the pursuit of the Qin army, the Khitan people continued to send a small number of auxiliary troops to lead most of the Bohai Navy to the rear, trying to use these Bohai cannon fodder to block the momentum of the Qin army's pursuit.

However, the Khitan elite had all fled, some old and weak auxiliary soldiers who didn't even have horses, and those Bohai people who had been secretly thinking about surrendering all the time, how could they be able to block the Qin army's pursuit at this time.

The Khitan kept leaving tens of thousands of people behind, but every time the Qin army pursued them, they could always quickly defeat them.Many Bohai people who were left behind even turned back before the Qin army arrived, taking advantage of the dark night to wait for the time to surround and kill the Khitan auxiliary army.

Escaping and chasing have become the same themes day and night.

It was actually not easy for the Khitan people to persist until this fall to retreat.In the words of the intelligence personnel of the Qin Army, the Khitan people have exterminated their surnames.Their logistical supplies were completely interrupted. In the past six months, apart from supplementing a small amount of fishing and hunting, their biggest food supply came from cured meat, which was two-legged sheep.

The so-called two-legged sheep are the Bohai people in the occupied area. Those old people, women and children in Bohai who can't help them are all directly captured by them, killed and pickled with salt, and used as military rations.In half a year, the Khitans killed hundreds of thousands of Bohai people and used them to flood the army with rations, which were not only consumed by the army, but also used as dry food reserves for breaking out.Moreover, many of their battlefields did not have enough hay. Recently, only the elite warriors kept their horses, and each of them only kept one horse, and the rest all killed the bacon.This led to the start of the breakout, with 40 people, but only less than [-] horses, and the rest of the auxiliary soldiers who surrendered all became infantry without horses.

From the very beginning, the Khitan executives had already made a decision. When it came time to break through, it was impossible for everyone to escape. In this case, the elite fighters should be retained as much as possible, and the elderly, children, women, etc. "Auxiliary soldiers" are discarded when necessary.

The new imperial court in the Central Plains that the Khitan people had been looking forward to did not bring them the desired results.Eighteen towns attacked Qin for more than half a year, but did not cause any harm to the Qin army.Instead, he persisted for a long time, but in the end Dongzhang collapsed across the board.The collapse of the Eastern Front made it impossible for the Khitans to continue.They retreat, break out!

There were [-] fine riders on the western front, with more than [-] cannon fodder, but these cannon fodder did not play the expected role.

One month after breaking through the encirclement, the Khitan's more than 10,000 cannon fodder were all lost.If three [-]+ cannon fodder can be exchanged for Khitan, Shiwei and other elite coalition forces to successfully break through, they are still willing.It was just more than [-] cannon fodder, which did not cause any casualties to the Qin army, and hardly even had a slowing effect.

Three 10,000+ what they regard as cannon fodder are mostly self-defeating without a fight, or the Bohai people rebelled in front of the formation, or the tribal auxiliary soldiers surrendered in despair, or fled in all directions.

Without these cannon fodder, in the following days, they had to face the soldiers and horses of the Qin army who were constantly chasing them, fighting again and again, cutting their flesh and fleeing again and again, which made the [-] cavalry fight less and less.The Khitan people even wanted to set up an ambush to ambush the Qin army, but the Qin army's scouting horses were very powerful. After several ambushes, the Qin army finally saw through them early and caught them by surprise.In the end, they gave up their plan to ambush. They also wanted to fight a decisive battle with the Qin army, but facing the Qin army who was not only full of advantages in numbers, but even carried a large number of firearms and heavy crossbows with the army, they had a hasty decisive battle in the field. They didn't even have the slightest advantage. After several tentative battles, they completely gave up the idea of ​​repelling the Qin army in a decisive battle, and began their escape journey without looking back.

At the beginning, the Thirteenth Army was not on the front line of pursuit.They stayed behind unhurriedly, maintaining a steady marching speed.They simply continued on in silence as the pursuing troops routed one tribe after another.

After entering September, the Khitans had already fled to the front line of difficult water, and their more than [-] cannon fodder had already been exhausted. Even the [-] elite cavalry of the Khitans and Shi Wei had less than [-] left at this time.

At this time, all the chasing and intercepting troops of the Qin Army were already exhausted. Only the Thirteenth Army, which had been marching and had never fought against the Khitans, still maintained a complete organizational system and full combat effectiveness.

At the end of September, the No.13 Legion finally started to exert its strength. They first caught up with the tribal army in Yuerluo and attacked the enemy camp at night, smashing the tribal army and beheading more than [-] people.The Khitan soldiers who killed him fled in a big defeat, and three days later they caught up with the Shiwei Alliance soldiers who had dispersed and fled with the Khitans. They defeated the tribal army again and beheaded more than [-] people, successfully forcing the remaining nearly [-] tribal elite cavalry to surrender. .

Hastily leaving some soldiers and horses behind to escort the captives, Guo Chongtao and the No.13 Legion immediately stopped and continued to pursue the Khitans northward, and finally relied on their abundant physical strength and the advantage of their two men and horses, in Kao Lai By the lakeside of Luohu, they once again caught up with the Khitan main force who had been fleeing and fighting non-stop for several months. They had only one horse and were already exhausted.The two sides fought again, and Guo Chongtao led the Thirteenth Legion to launch a cavalry battle with more than [-] Khitan cavalry on the vast prairie by the lake, relying on the iron wall tactics, as well as the long-range support of powerful flying thunder cannons and heavy crossbows .

The Khitan cavalry who were exhausted, manned and horseless, and lacked equipment, especially arrows, met the thirteenth army with strong bows and crossbows and armored armor. In the end, the cavalry battle between the two sides only lasted from morning to dusk, and [-] Khitan cavalry Half of them were killed and injured, and the rest were finally defeated.

The Thirteenth Legion completely defeated the last formed tribal army, and captured hundreds of Khitan tribal leaders, including the tenth Khitan Yili Jin Tiela, and captured more than 8000 prisoners alive. In the final statistics, they came from Khitan to There were nearly 20 soldiers in Bohai, and 20 old and weak auxiliary soldiers who came to fight Caogu together. In the end, there were not 3000 people who finally fled Bohai.

For the Khitan at this time, including all the slaves, it is only about a million, this is a catastrophe. Men from twenty tribes were all recruited, and they couldn't afford a rabble of 2 people.The entire Khitan population has been halved directly, and the only people left in the tribe are old and weak women, children, disabled, slaves, etc. The Khitan people have relied on propagating the threat theory of the Qin army in the past few years, and the tribal alliance formed by half-forced half-fraud has also fully declared it's over.At this time, the Khitan lost not only soldiers and population, but also the top leaders of those tribes, who were almost wiped out.Especially the Shili family, who is the actual ruler of Khitan today, and the last of the seven Yelu families, few of them fled back this time.Almost all the most important figures of Shili Yelu’s family stayed in Bohai, died or were captured. Without these leaders, almost all the soldiers and half of the population were lost. Khitan went back at least 5 years and returned to Khitan again. Before the rise of the Northeast, there was no scene of recovery from the disastrous situation hit by Datang.

Three battles and three victories. With only one legion, nearly [-] elite troops of the last tribal coalition were wiped out. The Thirteenth Legion and Guo Chongtao have made outstanding contributions.

But now he has changed his usual unruly and arrogant style, sitting by the handsome table without saying a word, holding a small wooden stick in his hand and pulling out the charcoal fire in the basin, staring straight at the burning coal fire. The exhausted charcoal was in a daze.

The generals also looked at Guo Chongtao motionlessly.

After a while like this, Guo Chongtao threw the small wooden stick into the brazier, and looked around at all the generals in the camp: "But the interrogation is clear, is there any noble person among the remaining Khitan troops who escaped?"

Jun Sima hurriedly said: "Well, I have already interrogated clearly, this time we almost killed all the big fish in Khitan, but in the end there were still a few missing fish. Three important figures including Yelu Yi Li Jin Palace tent army leader Yelu Hua escaped, but it is also possible that they have already died in battle, and there is a possibility that their heads may not be found for the time being."

Guo Chongtao shook his head.

"I've been searching for a few days, but I still can't find it, which means that they did escape with those 3000 people."

"Should we continue to march in pursuit?" Marching Sima asked. The Bohai War has finally come to an end, but for the Qin army, the battle is not over yet.After defeating the main force of the tribes, now is the time to sweep the nests of the tribes.Just like what the King of Qin did in the Heishui tribe, he visited each tribe one by one, and then took away their strong men and young men, and left some soldiers and horses to build pass cities in various dangerous places, so as to completely Intimidate the tribes and prepare for future total domination of these places.

Now that we have reached here, going forward, whether it is going north to Shiwei or west to Khitan, it is a great opportunity to make contributions.The toughest bone has been gnawed off, and the rest is all fat meat, just around the mouth.

After Guo Chongtao heard his words, there was no expression on his face.

Why didn't he think in his heart that he would take advantage of the victory to march immediately, and it would be best if he could conquer both Shiwei and Khitan at once. In this way, it would be a great contribution.But after several years in the Qin army, he has also become mature, and he is no longer the arrogant Guo Chongtao who was under Li Keyong's tent back then.He is very clear that his contribution this time has been great.The so-called full moon is full, and the merits and demerits are losses.As a surrendered general, he can leap to become the commander of an elite army, even surpassing most of the thirteen disciples of the King of Qin, which is already a matter of envy.This time the Thirteenth Army made such a great contribution, and it was basically achieved through the efforts of the various armies in the early stage.If he also takes the credit for pacifying Shiwei and Khitan, I'm afraid he will be hated by everyone.

He, Guo Chongtao, was not born in the direct line of the King of Qin, and the Thirteenth Army was also a legion composed of barbarian cavalry. He knew in his heart that after the war, this powerful army composed entirely of barbarians would never be preserved. Appreciated by King Qin, it is impossible to lead such a powerful cavalry corps all the time.

"Of course it's good to continue to send troops, but we have chased all the way here, and we are riding lightly on the road. Now that the army is running out of food and grass, and seeing that winter is coming, it is really unwise to continue to send troops at this time." He said. After a while, the generals said, "Besides, the military order given to us by the King of Qin was to attack the coalition forces on the western front. Now that our mission has been completed, we have not received an order to enter the Khitan or Shiwei tribes to fight. There is no military order, and there is no food. Seeing that winter is approaching, every step of our [-]th Legion's nearly [-] troops must be paved with gold and silver, food and grass to clear the way, and continue to march..."

In fact, Guo Chongtao did not say a word. According to the information he received, after the defeat of the tribal army on the Eastern Front, a friend in the attendant disclosed to him a piece of non-confidential information.After the victorious king of Qin will take a rest in Yanjing, he will regroup a cavalry army, a cavalry force of no less than 10, with the Qin army as the main force and the Mohe army as the supplement. Send troops on two fronts, all the way across the Yinshan Mountains, pass through the original Xi territory, and attack Khitan directly, and then go out of Shanhaiguan, go straight up the Liao River, and sweep Shiwei in the north.

He knew King Qin's arrangement, so how could he go to grab credit again?

Moreover, judging from King Qin's arrangement, this may be because the new marching plan is more suitable and the supply route is shorter.But it is also very likely to prevent the Thirteenth Legion from being exhausted from the expedition, or to prevent the Thirteenth Legion from making too much contribution. Although this is just his secret guess, it is by no means impossible.

"Report!" A report outside the tent interrupted Guo Chongtao's thoughts.

"Come in!"

"Report to the general, the king's military order has arrived!"

"What military order?" Guo Chongtao felt relieved when he heard the words "The King's military order".No matter what, he just needs to act according to King Qin's order.

"Your Majesty ordered the General to return the Thirteenth Army Corps to Liaodong. Before the Liaohai Sea freezes, there will be warships transporting triumphant soldiers back to Yanjing at the mouth of the Liaohe River."

Guo Chongtao was a little surprised to hear that they were asked to return to Beijing years ago.

"what happened?"

"New Year's Day, the new emperor will ascend the throne in Yanjing!"

"What, say it again?" Guo Chongtao thought he had heard it wrong, "Say it clearly, who is the new emperor?"

......

The matter of sweeping Khitan and Shiwei was thrown out of the sky by Guo Chongtao in an instant, and the generals who were sitting and standing up and down the tent were all stunned.After a while, Guo Chongtao came back to his senses, walked to the center of the big tent and said in a low voice: "Send the order, the teacher will return to Beijing!" (To be continued.)