Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 31: The Fearless Hu People
"Check the water bags and rations. Don't make me say the same thing a second time!"

"Stop dilly-dallying! Bodhisattva can get dressed faster than you!"

"You can put your armor, long weapons, and rations on the carriage, but you must put your short weapons on your body. Anyone who dares to put them on the carriage will be whipped!"

"No noise is allowed on the road, if there is..."

As the sun rose, the open space outside the east gate of Zhangye became noisy.

After reinforcements, the 13th Regiment once again faced the vast Hexi Corridor with full strength.

Two hundred armored soldiers, including eighty infantry, fifty cavalry and garrison troops, and twenty special forces (cavalry).

In addition, there were twenty horse-drawn carriages and fifty laborers, a total of two hundred and fifty people.

Due to insufficient supplies, the Tang army's organization could not be perfectly replicated. Teams such as Tiaodang and Zhanfeng were not formed due to insufficient supplies and horses.

However, Liu Jilian only had one regiment, so there was no need to complete the organization.

Standing on the grass, Liu Jilong glanced at the soldiers and civilians of the 13th Regiment, then retracted his gaze, turned around and bowed.

"Governor, the Thirteenth Regiment can set off at any time."

In front of him, a large group of military officers led by Zhang Yichao were reviewing the departure preparations of the 13th Regiment.

Although the elite troops are no longer there due to the addition of nearly a hundred new recruits, there are enough veterans to lead the team. I believe it won’t be long before the 13th Regiment will recover its former combat effectiveness.

"On the way east, if we encounter Umo and Huihe provoking us, we should bear with it for now and focus on taking Shandan."

Zhang Huaishen instructed Liu Jilong, and he nodded in response.

Compared with the former, Zhang Yichao obviously had a lot to say, but considering Li En and others behind him, he hesitated before saying:
"The spies I sent out earlier reported that the commander of Shandan City was just a noble from Tibet and had never led troops to fight a war. I think the Shandan army is no longer as strong as it used to be."

"During this march, if things change, you can wait for an opportunity to move. If not, just camp outside the city and wait for me to arrive with the army."

With a long sigh of relief, Zhang Yichao turned his attention back to the soldiers and civilians of the 13th Regiment:
"Now that you are ready, let's set off. Just march forty miles a day."

After finishing the explanation, Zhang Yichao turned around and walked towards the east gate, and the other military officers followed him.

Zhang Huaishen stayed until the end, gave some encouragement with his eyes, and then left.

Liu Jilong finally breathed a sigh of relief after watching them leave.

In front of this group of "big shots", he, a small lieutenant, felt depressed.

Such a depressing scene was not one he liked.

He prefers to be his own master rather than someone else's subordinate.

But the situation was like this, and no matter how much he disliked it, he could only keep his head down and be submissive when facing this group of people.

Taking a deep breath, Liu Jilong turned around, his eyes seemed to pass across the vast Hexi Corridor and see farther.

"One day, all this will change."

Unconsciously, Liu Jilong put his hand on the hilt of the knife at his waist.

"Captain, everything is ready and we can set off at any time!"

Jiu Juyan, wearing armor, came over with Zhang Chang and his party, bowed and reported.

Hearing this, Liu Jilong looked at the soldiers of the 13th Regiment, and saw fifty cavalrymen already wearing armor, standing on one side of the team, leading their horses, ready to mount at any time.

Except for these fifty cavalrymen, the remaining two hundred soldiers and civilians were only wearing clothes and no armor.

This is the advantage of a large army marching. As long as there are Tang cavalry patrolling the periphery, the troops marching in the middle can travel light without having to wear heavy armor.

"lets go!"

After Liu Jilong finished speaking, he looked up and walked towards the team with Jiu Juyan and the others.

As a captain, Liu Jilian naturally had the right to ride a horse.

In addition to him, others such as brigade commanders and team leaders also have the right to ride horses, but they cannot gallop.

As for the lower-level team leaders and soldiers, they can only travel light and on foot.

Although the special forces are the remaining cavalry, they cannot ride horses in this situation.

Instead, their horses will be ridden in turns by Liu Jilong and his men to keep them equipped with sufficient horsepower so that they can respond to sudden war situations at any time.

In any case, a team of 200 people has 70 horses alone, which can be said to be a luxury.

This is only the case in Hexi. If the battle was fought in other places, we would definitely not be able to seize so many military horses.

Although there were constant civil wars among the Tibetans in the Helong and plateau areas, there were still enough horses in the Hexi Tibetans, and the stables in each city were basically full.

"Once we capture Shandan, we must ask Sima Zhang for some soldiers and horses, set up camps in Yanzhi Mountain, and garrison the Tubo in Liangzhou." Mounting on his horse, Liu Jilong talked with Jiu Juyan, Zhang Chang, Ma Cheng and others, while shaking the reins and heading east.

The team moved slowly, not very fast, about the same speed as an ordinary person's normal walk.

In his previous life, Liu Jilong had been to Zhangye, but he took the highway and saw the land where yellow and green met.

However, when I went to Zhangye again in this life, all I saw on the road were green grass and streams and rivers everywhere.

While lamenting the environment of that era, Liu Jilong also couldn't help but feel sorry for the damage to the environment in the past thousand years.

Although global cooling is the general trend, excessive grazing leading to land desertification is also one of the reasons.

"Beep……"

The army had walked for only ten miles when they heard the sound of a wooden whistle in the front.

Soon, the Tangqi group in front of the army began to send out one Tangqi after another to return and report the news to Chen Jingchong in front of the team.

When Chen Jingchong received the information, he immediately slowed down his horse and waited for Liu Jilian and others to come forward and bow.

"Captain, there are Huihe people ahead, with a force of no less than a thousand people."

"Thousands of people..."

Liu Jilong pondered and looked at Jiu Juyan: "How long have we been on the road?"

"It's been about an hour. We should have walked twelve or thirteen miles."

Jiu Juyan reported the news back, and Liu Jilong laughed at himself:
"This place is only twelve or thirteen miles away from Zhangye City, but there are thousands of Huihe people living here."

"So, are there as many Huihe people in other directions as well?"

"It seems that there are quite a lot of Huihe people in Ganzhou..."

His words were obvious, and Jiu Juyan nodded and said, "These Huihe people usually don't dare to fight with Tubo, but after we took Zhangye, they occupied the grassland outside the city like locusts."

"It seems that what they said about a hundred thousand people was not a lie. There are at least a hundred thousand men, women, old and weak." Chen Jingchong also said in a deep voice.

Zhang Chang and Ma Cheng were beside the two of them, but they did not interrupt. They just looked at Liu Jilong, waiting for him to speak.

"Forget it. Let the special forces wear full armor and mount their horses. The infantrymen prepare their bows and crossbows. Let the garrison troops march wearing breastplates. The cavalry outside should be careful."

Most of the Tang army's infantrymen were equipped with a bow and crossbow, so there was no need to specially designate archers and crossbowmen, but this was not the case in Shazhou.

Although Shazhou had won victory after victory, the bows and crossbows they had captured were not enough to equip the entire army, so they had to set aside some archers and crossbowmen.

However, the archers of Shazhou are not just archers. Once they encounter a war, they will transform into vanguards.

Just as it is said in the military manual: [The archers and crossbowmen first tied their arms, brought their swords and clubs with them, and then joined the vanguard in the attack.]

Of course, Liu Jilong could not personally read the specific content of this military book. This kind of book was the heritage of the powerful and it was not something that a commoner like him could easily find.

Liu Jilong understood this sentence because he heard it from Zhang Huaishen during military training in Guazhou.

"Screw rustle..."

While Liu Jilian was eagerly waiting for military tactics, the soldiers of the 13th Regiment had already begun to act. The special forces wore full armor, and the rest wore breastplates.

Normally, wearing full armor would weigh more than 60 kilograms, but since the special troops have horses to ride, they can save a lot of physical strength.

As for the archers and garrison troops, they can only walk, so wearing a breastplate weighing more than ten kilograms is enough. If the Tangqi send news, it will be enough to let the civilians help them put on the armor on other parts of the body.

The cavalry put on full armor and mounted their horses to march!"

"The infantrymen wear breastplates, hold long and short weapons, and string long bows!"

Following Liu Jilong's orders, Jiu Juyan and several others rode their horses back and forth in the army to convey military orders.

A team of more than 200 people was not long, and the military order was quickly conveyed to everyone.

As the military order was conveyed, the civilians in the army began to help the special forces put on armor, while the archers and crossbowmen garrisoned who only needed to wear simple breastplates could do it independently.

However, such a difficult task as stringing a longbow still needs to be completed in groups of two.

It took a quarter of an hour for the 150 soldiers to put on their armor.

Seeing that they were dressed, Liu Jilong gave the order to advance.

Seeing this, the fifty Tang cavalrymen on the periphery also began to advance slowly one mile away from the main army.

Under the scorching sun, the Thirteenth Regiment, led by Liu Jilong, walked out of the protection range of Zhangye City...

(End of this chapter)