Qi Diaoyan said: "I received a secret report from Northern Xinjiang that the Ma family may have an abnormal movement, and it is very likely that they will set out to carry out a surprise attack on our army in the near future. ”

Ji Ya hurriedly asked, "Can the news be confirmed? What is the approximate scale? When will the attack be launched?"

"There are troops and horses mobilized in Youcheng, about 1,000 cavalry, plus more than 1,000 cavalry originally stationed in Sanzhou, it is estimated to be about 2,000 to 2,005, and there is no offensive posture against us for the time being. ”

Ji Ya immediately understood that the other party had no intention of attacking in a big way, after all, the main task of the Ma family now was to fight through the clouds, but it was no longer a secret that Ji Ya was rising strongly in the clouds, maybe they were here to strengthen their defenses, or maybe they were remembering Ma Juncai's hatred and preparing to secretly give themselves a knife.

Ji Ya then said: "The Ma family shouldn't come here with great fanfare this time, it's just that the two thousand cavalry are quick to decide, and there are Sister Changxiu and a thousand Battle cavalry in the east, I'm not too worried, and the master is still there, just pay more attention to it." ”

"Yes, my subordinates understand. "Qi Diaoyan really didn't take the threat of the Ma family too seriously. This time, Lin Yue did not set off together, thinking that there were lacquer carvings in Yucheng, and they would also get the news, so he changed the topic and said: "The third thing is that many officers of the Yunzhong Military Region have been in tandem and have shrunk their defenses and concentrated their forces on the Red Mountain Pass. ”

Ji Ya was stunned, she had studied the map, and the Red Mountain Pass was indeed a good place for a decisive battle, of course, this was based on the other party. This is the big thing that concerns the whole army: "How many people have they gathered, and if we march in a hurry now, can we conquer the Red Mountain Pass before them?"

Qi Diaoyan thought about it, then shook his head: "At present, it is estimated that they have gathered 12,000 soldiers and horses, although the assembly has not yet been completed, but we can't catch up anyway, even if a small group of elites travels, there are fewer people who go and can't take the Red Mountain Pass." And in the southern part of the Red Pass, they seem to have given up. ”

Well, this is a good thing, so that if you take a large area without blood, at that time, it will be equivalent to occupying three-fifths of the entire territory in the clouds, and it is precisely because of this that the Red Mountain Pass is actually equivalent to the decisive battle field in the clouds.

Ji Ya decisively ordered: "Inform the soldiers and horses of the east and west, the situation has changed, and order the two armies to change the route immediately, and the Yuhong Pass will meet in five days," Qi Diaoyan received the order to go down, and the original division was met in three days, because the location was changed, and the time limit was extended to five days.

......

In the middle of the city

Lin Yue and Venia were eating barbecue, he knew that the Moon Wolf Clan's appetite was very good, but he didn't expect that little Venia would have such a good appetite.

"You eat slowly, no one will rob you. ”

"It's more delicious to eat like this!"

At this time, Qi Diaoling came in and said, "The Ma family has moved." ”

Originally, it was best for Lin Yue to be in command of this expedition, and it could be regarded as a legitimate exercise of the duties of the envoy of Yunzhong Pacification. But Lin Yue didn't want to steal the limelight from his apprentices, so he stayed in Yucheng with peace of mind. Ji Ya couldn't persuade her, so she could only ask Lin Yue to help watch the east before leaving, after all, the Ma family was really a behemoth. Relying only on Chang Xiu's three thousand people and one thousand cavalry, how could Ji Ya be completely at ease.

Lin Yue was not surprised: "They really won't live in peace...... Let's talk about it. ”

It turned out that there were different opinions within the Ma family on whether to send troops to Yunzhong, and Qi Diaoling had been in the intelligence circle for a long time, so he naturally had more information channels than Qi Diaoyan. Judging from the information known now, due to Ji Ya's previous low profile, the Ma family has not linked her with the Wulonggou bandits. In their minds, Ji Ya is just a capable and ambitious mixed-race princess who wants to make some waves in the clouds, and the bandits from Wulonggou came to defect, which is a great help to Ji Ya, who is not strong, so it is unlikely to be resolved through negotiations.

Now the main force of the Ma family is still fighting with the Shu army in the Cloud Pass, and sending troops and horses to fight with Ji Ya, which is not in the interests of the Ma family, although Ma Juncai is a talent, but it has not yet reached the point where the whole family avenges him. After all, the Youcheng Ma family is not a bloodline, it is composed of dozens of families of different bloodlines, except for their own lineage, who can really hold a grudge against Ma Juncai?

However, his parents couldn't swallow this breath, knowing that there was no hope of revenge, so they simply made another arrangement, and they also knew that Ji Ya's action was to unify Yunzhong County, so they prepared their own 1,000 cavalry, as well as more than 1,000 cavalry stationed in Sanzhou, a total of more than 2,000 people waiting for the opportunity to move.

Therefore, more than 2,000 cavalrymen were ready to enter the country during the big war, and they did not fly the flag, and even if they were caught by mistake, they would never reveal that they were assigned by the Ma family. Naturally, this matter can't be hidden from the top of the Ma family, but they have no objections, and not moving Ji Ya for the time being does not mean that she can tolerate her unifying Yunzhong, and the side of the couch allows others to sleep soundly, a Yunzhong Military Region led by the princess, and the integration is only afraid that it will be detrimental to the development of the Ma family.

Lin Yue snorted and laughed: "In this way, even if they are all killed as horse bandits, the Ma family can't say anything?"

If you don't play the flag, of course, this is the truth, Qi Diaoling said: "It's just that in this way, you will completely resent the Ma family." ”

"It's as if today's beam is not deep, since they already have an idea, they don't care about grievances. "When she broke into the Tower of Death in Huangquan, Lin Yue was taken care of by Ma Ling'er, the ancestor of the Ma family, and she was also a little dissatisfied with the current Ma family.

So he said to Venia, who was still struggling with the barbecue, "How is it? Vinya, do you want to go to the event with me?"

"Hmm, are you going to fight?" "She didn't understand much about what she said just now, but the third grandmother told herself to listen to Lin Yue, and besides, she was entertained here with delicious food and drink for more than half a month, Venia has always been a fair and righteous person, isn't it just fighting, which one has she been afraid of?

Lin Yue flew to Changxiu's station with Venia, Vinia was fascinated in the air, in fact, she liked the feeling of flying in the air very much, but it was a pity that she couldn't study spells as a Moon Wolf Clan.

Knowing that Lin Yue and the others were coming, Chang Xiu also immediately came to greet him, fooling Venia to continue eating, Lin Yue then opened his mouth to explain the information of Qi Diaoling, don't look at Chang Xiu's danger here, and widely spread eyeliner. The actual grand strategic intelligence is far inferior to the Qidiao family, Qidiao Ling has already investigated the causes and consequences of the Ma family's troops, and Chang Xiu is at most suspected of reinforcements, and there is a conclusion that there may be abnormal movements.

Thinking of this, Chang Xiu had to envy the intelligence network of the lacquer carver, Chai Shengnan actually paid attention to intelligence at the beginning, but he still couldn't do it if he wanted to completely roll it out.

Chang Xiu said: "I see, I also received news that the Ma family seems to have reinforcements, but it is not as comprehensive as the prince. I will send a letter to Centurion Bermonda, telling him to beware of a large number of riders without flags. ”

Lin Yue smiled: "There should be a few more days, I will stay with Venia during this time, if I really come, I can practice for this little girl." ”

Chang Xiu did not doubt this, even if the cavalry was lightly armed, it would take a few days to prepare. Besides, the Ma family is powerful, so naturally they also have their own scouts, of course Ji Ya and the Northern Army in Yunzhong can't hide the matter from them, maybe they are also waiting for a suitable opportunity to dispatch.

......

Red Pass

Ji Ya finally arrived after a few days of marching, and the soldiers and horses on the east and west roads also came a little earlier than her, because there were many local officers on the way to shrink their forces to the Red Mountain Pass, so Ji Ya's soldiers did not bloody those territories.

Everyone met together, and the faces of the generals were full of joy, although the decisive battle in front of them was imminent, but the harvest of the past few days was indeed inspiring, Ji Ya met a few more officers who were willing to surrender, and the kind words appeased.

Everyone understands the current situation that Ji Ya currently has 15,000 people, and the defenders of Hongshankou are almost 12,000, and in fact, their own side does not have an advantage.

Under the protection of the female guards, Ji Ya and the military judge Meng Mengda came to the outside of the Red Mountain Pass. Monmonda nodded and said, "It's a dangerous place, and the Red Mountain Pass really deserves its name." ”

During this period of time, Meng Meng Da has been following Ji Ya around, recording who has made meritorious contributions and who has made mistakes, Wu Yan is either busy with the military or busy with the aftermath, which makes Ji Ya a little embarrassed to disturb, so sometimes she and Meng Meng Da discuss even more.

After this period of time, in addition to the theory, the two also have a lot of experience in the actual use of troops, looking at the high mountains of the Red Mountain Pass, Ji Ya also agreed with Monmonda's judgment, here is not only the mountain is steep and condescending, and the road to charge is very uneven, the other party also has firearms in the city, under this height difference, the same firearm should be farther in the other party's range, it is not a good idea to attack hard, Ji Ya even had the idea of flying over to open the city gate, but after thinking about it, he vetoed it, even if he opened the door by himself, under the artillery fire at the head of the city, the damage would inevitably be heavy。

Seeing that Ji Ya was also a little worried, Meng Mengda persuaded: "But Your Highness, rest assured, the soldiers and horses of the three roads have converged, and everyone should work together, so it should be no problem." ”

After returning to the camp, Monmonda began to count the other two armies, while Ji Ya discussed countermeasures with everyone.

On the second day, the two sides launched a decisive battle at the Red Mountain Pass, first the artillery bombardment, followed by the artillery and stone machines, and the siege crossbow took turns to fight, Ji Ya cherished the soldiers and was reluctant to attack, which led to the temporary uselessness of the siege vehicles and other manpower-driven equipment, but only relying on long-range attacks, the damage to the Red Mountain Pass was extremely limited. After all, everyone has the same firearms, due to the difference in terrain, Ji Ya's troops want to avoid the opponent's range, so they can only move the gun position back and hit it.

Moreover, the defenders of the Red Mountain Pass are not incompetent, they adjusted the angle of the artillery fire at the beginning, and divided the landing points at three levels within a certain distance, coupled with the strong bows and crossbows at close range, it can be said that from the farthest range to the immediate vicinity, they did not let go at all, and they made up their minds.

Behind the Northern Army there were both grain stocks and pastures, and the Northwest Manufacturing Bureau provided ordnance. If she made up her mind and stuck to it, Ji Ya would really not be able to bite them in a short time. Unexpectedly, the Southern Army of Yunzhong, which had been under more than 40 town passes for more than 20 days, would be blocked at Hongshan Pass for half a month. The southern army, which was already like a bamboo, was frustrated, and there was no way to break the situation.

In the Red Mountain Pass, although the situation of the Northern Army has the upper hand, everyone does not seem too happy, relying on the terrain and sufficient logistics to suppress the Southern Army, but it is not a way to continue to consume it like this, especially for the sake of this battle A few officers who gave up their territory are all thinking about quickly turning the tables so that they can kill back in one fell swoop.

However, in the past half a month, the generals' minds were roughly divided into two factions, one was part of the quick war faction, including a few officers who had given up their territory, and wanted to quickly implement Du Zuo's plan, contact those in the southern army who were unwilling to surrender to Ji Ya to defect, and quickly end the battle, maybe they could also take some advantage in the chaos. The other faction is the protracted faction, originally seeing that Ji Ya was powerful, but also agreed to the previous battle plan, but now it is no problem to see that the confrontation between the two armies is not a problem, and it is possible to retreat from the enemy even if it is consumed like this, so why do you have to contact the people on the other side? Du Zuo made it clear before, if you want them to do the benefits, what kind of people are they? If you take other people's food and salary, you can still receive other benefits and eat outside the people, will you want less things? If there is no way, who wants to trade with this kind of person.

In fact, the most worrying thing for the protracted faction is that Princess Ji Ya is a monk after all, and if the army fills it with human lives, she will use spells to break the city. It is not difficult to lose a few thousand people to take the Red Pass. But the other party really doesn't want to lose more than one person, which is a bit of a woman's kindness, in the end it is still a teenage girl's family, and she still doesn't understand the reason why Ci is not in charge of the army, but it also shows that they are safe from the other side.

After half a month of fighting outside, and arguing for half a month about the follow-up plan inside, some people even proposed to be willing to serve Princess Ji Ya as the lord of the clouds, as long as the other party agrees to their own regional autonomy. Or take the Red Mountain Pass as the boundary, the southerners return to the south, and the northerners return to the north. As a result, the officers who gave up their territory quit, and I, who abandoned my family and business, ganged up with you, and you sold us when you turned around?

Just when they were arguing, there was a roar at the head of the city, and the other party called? Impossible, how could their artillery fire have such a range?

Immediately, a herald came to report: "Report ~ A female general in the enemy camp flew up from below and released a few fires to blow up the city. ”