Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 17 The war is coming
"Sorry..."

"Boss, someone's coming!"

As the sun set, the Hexi grassland turned dark again.

The only light they had were the torches in their hands and the moonlight above their heads, so when another fire appeared under the night sky, Liu Jilong and his companions were ready to go back and rest.

Sure enough, in less than a cup of tea, eleven Tang riders from other regiments appeared in front of Liu Jilong and his men.

"Wang Can, the captain of the fifth squad of the second brigade of the ninth regiment, will take over the night duty."

The person who came was from the 9th Regiment. Liu Jilong knew this regiment and heard that a member of the Li family was serving as the captain.

Liu Jilian didn't think much about it. After exchanging the badge with Tangqi, he led his brothers to the camp.

After an incense stick of time, they were briefly checked at the camp gate and then guided to the regiment's resting place.

Since they were in charge of the rear of the army, they were the first group to return.

After they tied up the horses, the eleven people with clear division of labor began to feed the horses water and beans, as well as cook and boil water.

The sheep that Zhang Huaishen assigned to them had already been made into jerky.

The so-called cooking is nothing more than washing the stone pot, pouring clean water from the water bag into it, putting in a piece of vinegar cloth, then removing the vinegar cloth, pouring in corn, and shaving some dried mutton and cooking it.

Picking up the whitish vinegar cloth from the stone pot, Geng Ming said with a sigh: "Captain, the vinegar on this vinegar cloth is probably all soaked up."

"Go to the team tomorrow and get a bigger one." Liu Jilong instructed, and at the same time took out a small cloth bag from his arms and signaled Geng Ming to open the lid of the stone pot.

After Geng Ming opened it, Liu Jilong took out a crystal the size of a fingernail from the cloth bag.

He picked up the crystals with chopsticks and rinsed them in the pot, then scooped them up and put them back into the cloth bag.

The method of making this salt crystal is to take three pounds of salt, put it into water and boil it in a pot until it becomes hard and small, then you can collect it.

It looks like a lump as big as three fingernails and weighs three taels. Every time you cook, just scrape off a little with a knife, or rinse it in water.

The method of making vinegar cloth is similar. Generally, soak a one-foot coarse cloth in a pound of vinegar. After it is dried, cut off an inch every time you cook, soak it in water, and then take it out after the cloth changes color.

These things are the ancient version of convenient military rations.

Although it can satisfy the body's needs, it doesn't taste very good.

After hurriedly eating a bowl of mutton stewed with corn and rice, everyone lay down on the felt and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Liu Jilian went to get a foot-long vinegar cloth, and then waited for the captain's command to replace the Tangqi outside the camp.

Seeing the army breaking camp, he continued to lead the brothers of the third group to stand guard vigilantly ten miles behind.

Watching the army marching off, they rode their horses to catch up, keeping an eye on the rear while looking ahead.

From Chenshi to Weishi (13:), nothing happened in the rear, but there was a commotion in the front.

"Boss!"

Zhang Chang reined in his horse and looked at Liu Jilong. Liu Jilong raised his hand to signal and narrowed his eyes at the same time.

Under his gaze, the riots in the army ahead did not stop. Seeing this, he immediately gave orders to Zhang Chang and Ma Cheng beside him.

"Zhang Chang, Geng Ming, Li Ji, follow me. Ma Cheng, you guys continue to guard the place."

"Yes!"

As Ma Cheng responded, Liu Jilong shook the reins and drove the horse forward.

Before he reached the rear army, he saw the flag bearers waving military flags and conveying flag messages.

"Xu..."

Liu Jilong reined in his horse and raised his hand, signaling Zhang Chang and the other two to stop.

He looked at the flag signal carefully, then turned his horse around and said, "Let's go back. The Tang cavalry in the front army have run into the Fan cavalry. It looks like we are not far from Zhangye."

"Okay!" Zhang Chang and the others nodded and turned their horses to leave. After they returned, they explained the affairs of the front army to Ma Cheng and others, and then continued to scout in the rear, keeping vigilant in all directions.

However, the commotion of the army seemed to have opened Pandora's box. In the following afternoon, the Tang cavalry on both wings of the army sent out news of encountering the enemy, causing constant commotion in the army.

Fortunately, the Shazhou army has been fighting all the way, and they will not lose their composure even if they encounter the enemy.

From afternoon to dusk, as a river several dozen steps wide appeared in front of the army, Zhang Yichao issued the order to set up camp.

"The river ahead should be the Ganzhou River (Heihe River)."

At dusk, due to insufficient strength on the left wing, Liu Jilong and his men were transferred to the left wing to help, and thus they also saw the Ganzhou River that stretches across the Hexi land.

"Captain, what is this Ganzhou River?"

Zhang Chang asked, the young man was full of curiosity.

Not only him, but also Zhao Qian, Ma Cheng and others were looking at Liu Jilong.

Seeing this, Liu Jilong introduced: "The Ganzhou River originates from the Qilian Mountains. It is the largest and longest river in the Hexi region. The river is over a thousand miles long, flowing north from the Qilian Mountains to the Juyan Lake."

"I know about Juyan Lake. I heard that it is now occupied by the Uighurs." Ma Cheng interrupted appropriately and Liu Jilong also nodded.

"The Juyan Lake is rich in water and grass, and there are grasslands for more than a hundred miles around it, with millions of sheep. It's a pity that it was occupied by Tubo a hundred years ago and invaded by Huihe ten years ago."

As he said this, everyone immediately felt indignant.

“That was our pasture.”

"It's okay, I'll take it back later."

Zhang Chang said this angrily, while Ma Cheng comforted him.

Listening to what the two said, Liu Jilong remained silent.

According to his understanding, the Juyan Lake was not recovered until the establishment of the Ming Dynasty more than 500 years later, starting from the invasion of Hexi by Tubo.

Unfortunately, it was recovered only sixty years later before it fell into the hands of the barbarians again during the Xuande period.

Although the Ming army later recaptured it with the momentum of the great victory in Yijinai, it was lost again following the Battle of Tumu.

"Ugh……"

Liu Jilong let out a long sigh, looked toward the horizon, watched the sun gradually set, and then cheered up again.

"We should be west of Ganzhou River, north of Ganzhou City. After crossing the river tomorrow, the army should march north."

"Return to the camp and have a good rest tonight. There will be a fierce battle waiting for us tomorrow."

"Yes!" Everyone nodded. Liu Jilong also took out a torch and lit it, waiting quietly for the cavalry from other regiments to come and take over.

As time passed, about half an hour later, a group of Tang riders came to exchange shifts.

After the change of shift, Liu Jilong led the third group of brothers back to the camp to have a good rest.

However, just as he returned to the door of the tent, before Liu Jilian could dismount and remove the saddle from the military horse, he saw a soldier walking towards the tent not far away and bowing to Liu Jilian.

"Captain Liu, Captain Zhang has ordered that you return to the camp and go to the regiment's tent to discuss matters."

"Okay, I'll go now."

Liu Jilong did not ask any questions, but agreed directly and turned to give instructions to everyone.

"I'm going to the tent, you guys clean up and cook as usual."

"Yes!"

Seeing that everyone agreed, Liu Jilong and the soldier went to the 13th Regiment’s tent...

(End of this chapter)