Xuanxia

Chapter 926: Flying Bear Danger
The Northern Barbarian Prairie.

In the sunshine, a Northern Frontier Army horse galloped against the wind, rushing towards the cloud of black smoke rising on the horizon not far away.

Soon, they arrived at their destination.

"Uu——"

With a long sigh, the cavalry captain at the front pulled the reins and looked at the large area of ​​burning tents in front of him with some astonishment.

The rest of the cavalrymen behind him also stopped and looked at the large area of ​​fire and black smoke, with surprise written all over their faces.

"This, this is the Cliff Eagle Tribe?"

someone asked.

The team leader frowned, took out a map from his pocket and looked at it carefully.

"There is a rocky mountain thirty miles to the west, right?" he asked.

Upon hearing this, one of the men simply stood on his horse, put his hands over his eyebrows, and looked into the distance.

"That's right!"

He replied: "Yes, there is one!"

"That's it." The team leader put away the map, his face solemn: "The Northern Barbarians are crazy. The Cliff Eagle Tribe is considered a medium-sized tribe, but they also burned it down..."

"Do you want to go in and take a look?" another subordinate asked.

The team leader responded, "It's so badly burned, there's no need to go in. Let's walk around and take a look at the traces."

The surrounding cavalry responded, quickly dispersed, circled around the burning tribal ruins, and soon reunited.

"Boss, there are a lot of signs of camping nearby."

Someone reported: "Judging from the scale, this is probably the main force of the Northern Barbarian Army."

"Judging from the extent of the burning, they left not long ago." Another person said, "There are a lot of footprints extending to the northeast, but there are also some newer footprints, heading... in all directions."

The team leader frowned and handed the map over directly: "Mark it out."

The soldier responded, took the map, took out a charcoal pencil from his waist, and drew a few strokes on the map. As soon as he finished, he was stunned.

"what happened?"

The team leader's eyes narrowed.

"Captain, look!"

The soldier quickly handed over the map: "The direction they are heading to is several other tribes around!"

"And the direction their main force is heading... is, the Flying Bear Tribe!"

This map was made by Daiqin and several of his men after the Feixiong tribe defected to the Northern Frontier Army. It was then copied and distributed to almost all the scout teams of the Northern Frontier Army. The map is very accurate.

At this time, the team leader looked down at the map, then looked up at the burning tribe in front of him, and clearly felt that something was wrong.

"I'll go back right away and report to the marshal!"

He put away the map and waved his arm vigorously: "You guys, run one more time and follow the direction of their main force! Don't make contact with them! If you find anything unusual, report it immediately!"

"Yes!" All the soldiers responded in unison.

The team leader didn't hesitate any longer. He turned his horse's head and kicked the horse's belly hard. The horse's hooves lifted up the grass and the horse sped away in a cloud of dust.

The news soon reached Hong Ruohai.

At this time, the Northern Frontier Army had already broken camp and was marching on the prairie.

But they didn't go fast.

For an army of hundreds of thousands strong, and in enemy territory, food and fodder supply is a big problem, so they must consider the marching speed of the rear logistics troops.

But at this moment, Hong Ruohai, who was in the carriage, frowned as he looked at the news coming from the scout team ahead.

His injuries had not yet fully healed, and he was not wearing armor at this time. His body was still wrapped in bandages, especially his right hand...

After several days of treatment by Doctor Tao, the originally irregular and shocking wound on his right forearm has turned into a smooth and flat fracture, wrapped with layers of bandages, emitting a strong smell of medicine.

Obviously, it will take a long time for his broken hand to fully recover.

"Call Daiqin here."

Hong Ruohai put down the battle report in his hand and said in a deep voice.

In less than a cup of tea, there was a burst of hurried horse hooves' sounds outside the carriage, and then Daiqin lifted the carriage curtain and got in.

"Marshal Hong."

He saluted with his fists clasped according to the etiquette of the Northern Frontier Army.

"Sit down." Hong Ruohai said, handing over the battle report: "Take a look."

Daiqin was a little nervous when he was summoned, and he was even more nervous when he saw Hong Ruohai so serious. After reading the battle report, his eyebrows immediately stood up!
"Marshal Hong! Tiele is trying to destroy my Feixiong tribe!" he shouted in a panic!

Hong Ruohai nodded slightly.

It doesn't take much wisdom to see through Tiele's behavior.

The Northern Frontier Army had to rely on its own logistics forces for supplies as it advanced deep into enemy territory. If it wanted to march quickly, it would need to find a way to snatch food and fodder from the various Northern Yi tribes. Otherwise, within a few days, both the men and horses would starve to death.

Some people may say, the grassland is so big, can’t horses eat grass?
Besides, how could there be no animals on the grassland? Can't we hunt?

Let’s talk about horses first.

Ordinary horses are different from war horses.

Wild horses spend most of their lives eating grass - chewing grass - sleeping - waking up and eating grass again. They occasionally run around to avoid carnivorous beasts, or reproduce.

But war horses are different, they need to carry loads and run day and night.

War horses not only need to be physically strong, but more importantly, they need to have "time other than eating and sleeping"!
Therefore, it is impossible to give war horses time to eat and chew grass slowly. They must be fed with fine grains to supplement them with a large amount of nutrition in a short period of time. This kind of nutrition cannot be provided by the light grass on the grassland.

Let’s talk about people…

The daily rations required for an army of hundreds of thousands would not last for a few days even if all hunters in the country were mobilized.

The army still wants to eat meat every meal? How can there be such good conditions!
Their food and fodder have always been purchased with funds from the national treasury and sent to Chongshan Pass by the Ministry of War after adding military taxes. Of course, some of the food and fodder also comes from the public, that is, merchants transport grain to the border and then the Northern Frontier Army purchases it directly.

After the civil unrest in the Yan Kingdom, even though the Ministry of War was controlled by aristocratic families and the Northern Frontier Army was "isolated" by the Xishuo Army, no one dared to stop them from supplying food. Even the King of Xishuo, who colluded with the Northern Barbarians and tried to delay the Northern Frontier Army, did not dare to run into such bad luck.

If they dare to cut off the food supply of the Northern Frontier Army today, the Northern Frontier Army will dare to march south with raging anger tomorrow. There is no need to worry about the Northern Barbarians anymore. We will kill you even if it means we will fight to the death!
But the Northern Frontier Army, which has penetrated deep into the enemy's territory, can only rely on itself.

It always takes time for food and fodder to be transported from the rear.

So, if Tiele wanted to hold back the Northern Frontier Army, he didn't need to send any large army. He just needed to burn all the tribes along the way and even those within a hundred miles around, as he was doing now.

As for where those people went?

Perhaps, they were all temporarily recruited and directly assigned to the Northern Barbarian Army!

Tiele did not fight with the Northern Frontier Army, nor did he stop the Northern Frontier Army from advancing deeper into the country. He even took one step ahead of the Northern Frontier Army and robbed, burned, and sent people into exile from the tribes under his command, and then took them... directly to the Feixiong Tribe!

"marshal!"

Daiqin's hands were already shaking: "Our tribe is the first to surrender to the Yan Kingdom and fully support you! You, you can't let our soldiers... lose their homes!"

He was not stupid and saw at a glance the optimal solution for the Northern Frontier Army.

If the Northern Frontier Army wanted to rescue the Feixiong Tribe, they could only abandon their food and supplies, march quickly to catch up with the Northern Yi Army, and before the Northern Yi Army attacked the Feixiong Tribe, they would attack the tribe from both inside and outside and wipe out the Northern Yi Army.

But there is a side effect of doing this...

Many people will die.

The Northern Frontier Army will be very exhausted after chasing all the way. Without sufficient food and fodder on the road, both the men and horses will be very tired. After arriving at the destination, they will have no time to set up camp and rest, and I am afraid that the war will break out right away.

Regardless of whether we can win...even if we can win, I'm afraid a lot of people will die!

The best solution for the Northern Frontier Army is to speed up the march, but there is no need to be too hasty. It is enough to wait until the Tiele and Feixiong tribes are both defeated before taking action.

After all, the Northern Barbarians had just suffered a major defeat, they were racing against time, and they were very tired.

Of course, we can’t wait until they really destroy the Feixiong tribe, otherwise that tribe will become Tiele’s new fortress, and it will be difficult to attack.

As for Daiqin and the others?

Of course they will be dissatisfied and resist.

But they were surrounded by Northern Frontier troops, so how could they possibly cause any trouble?
Hong Ruohai glanced at Daiqin indifferently.

With just one glance, he could see through the thoughts of the chief of the Flying Bear Tribe.

However, just as he was about to speak, the curtain of the carriage was suddenly lifted again.

But the person who came in this time was not a human.

It was a small paper crane made from a yellow talisman.

Hong Ruohai's eyes lit up, he reached out to grab it, then spread it out and took a look.

"Haha."

After reading it, he smiled and said to Daiqin: "Don't worry, take the Feixiong tribe soldiers and rush back to the tribe as quickly as possible - can you get back to the tribe before Tiele and without contacting them?"

"can!"

Dai Qin said quickly: "There are so many of them, their speed will definitely not be as fast as ours!"

"it is good."

Hong Ruohai nodded and said, "You have met Fu Qingzhou. He will come to help you. You only need to hold on for three days. In just three days, our army will arrive! By then, we can lift the siege of Feixiong!"

(End of this chapter)