I don't know how long later, the wind gradually subsided, the sandstorm finally stopped, the dark clouds receded, and a full moon appeared in the dark blue sky, and under the moonlight, the white sand was thousands of miles.

Mobold spat out the sand from his mouth and got up from the sand that had almost buried everyone. After a strong sandstorm, the desert completely changed again, and the sand dunes that were originally ravine-like turned into sand waves like fish scales, which were spread out into the distance in layers. Under the moonlight, Hanhai lost its fury not long ago, like a planet that had been abandoned for hundreds of millions of years, dead and desolate.

The sergeants climbed out of the sand one after another, counted the number of people, and fortunately there were no casualties. After a sandstorm, the sand fox and the sand rabbit were hard to find, and it was getting late, so it was impossible to shoot any more prey, so without the commander's orders, everyone took out dry food and water bags, and first served their horses and camels before feeding their stomachs. After all this, everyone took out their sleeping bags from their backpacks and got in, and before long, everyone except the soldiers standing guard entered the dream.

Li Tong, who was thirty miles away, led the main force to experience almost the same scene, but a few people were missing on their side, and the non-combat attrition on this march had exceeded double digits. This made Li Tongxin feel painful, everyone here was carefully cultivated by him, and they will all be used as grassroots officers in the future. I can't afford to lose a single one. But he can't help it, if you fight, there will always be losses.

The moonlight is like snow, the stars are lingering, and the undulating sand dunes are like solidified snow waves. The wind blows from the north of the desert, sweeps over the sand mountains, pours into the ravines, turns back and forth, whimpering, like countless resentful spirits running and crying under the moon, like songs and weeping. The bright moon, the wind, the frost, the cold air are pervasive, and the snake drills into the cracks of the bones. If Xuanjia didn't have this kind of thickened sleeping bag, Li Tong wouldn't dare to let his subordinates run thousands of miles at such a time.

In recent years, horse thieves in the Western Regions have been rampant, holding scimitars, riding fast horses, gathering in the desert, coming and going like the wind, plundering past merchants, and becoming a great disaster in the north and south. Li Tong knew in his heart that these horse thieves secretly communicated with the power of various countries, and colluded with the Hun cavalry, often robbing and killing Han envoys who were ordered to go to the Western Regions, robbing property, and even delivering news to the Huns.

Along the way, in order to hide the traces of the army, Li Tong pursued a policy of leaving no one alive, and killed all the way. Whether it was a horse thief or a merchant, he ordered that he would rather kill the wrong one than let it go. After coming to this world for three years, Li Tong found that his heart became more and more ruthless, and human life became a cold number.

Horse thieves wander in the desert, come and go without a trace. Although the Han Empire was strong and strong, it was not wise to mobilize a large army to rush thousands of miles to the desert to deal with a group of rogues.

However, since the introduction of the Xuanjia Cavalry, these horse thieves have encountered a magical nemesis, because the Xuanjia Cavalry is more like a horse thief than a horse thief, not only is it better equipped, but its tactics are more reasonable. In the past two years, the horse thieves around Hami have become the target of the Xuanjia cavalry training, and they can be regarded as making a significant contribution to the rapid growth of the Xuanjia cavalry with their lives, but unfortunately there is no reward.

The night was deep, the frost covered the white sand, and the sabers stuck in the ground were covered with ice. Li Tong pulled out the knife and wiped it gently, the saber of the Xuanjia cavalry and the standard weapon of the Han cavalry are different, some are like the five or six cavalry knives of later generations, more than three feet long, the blade has a certain arc, oblique front, there is a gauntlet, the back blade is wide and thick, and the handle gauntlet ring is cast outside a dragon.

This kind of knife was officially named "Kunlun Cui Wei Long Knife" by Ban Chao, which originated from Qu Zi's poem "The land with a long sword is separated, and the crown cuts the clouds of Cui Wei", which means that the edge of a hundred battles is as cold as autumn water, shaking the mountains and destroying the city, and the blockers are invincible. There's no way, Ban Chao, who was born in a literati, likes this tune, "Cui Wei" is "Cui Wei", it's better than Geng Gongqi's "Breaking the Edge Long Knife", Li Tong has no reason to refuse.

In the midst of his thoughts, the camels beside him hissed, trampled on all fours, and became irritable. Li Tong looked back, and several black shadows appeared on the sand dunes in front of him, and under the cold moon, a few faint green lights were fluctuating. It turned out to be a wolf! Li Tong smiled and didn't care.

Now it's not what it used to be, now it's not as sad as the wolf on the Gobi with Mo Bode, Li Tong has an army of more than 800 people by his side at this time, and the wolf is not stupid, even if he is hungry, no wolf pack dares to provoke such a huge team. Sure enough, after the soldiers of the night watch shot a few wolves, the wolves fled far away and were never seen again. In the moonlight, only the mournful howls of wolves in the desert remained......

The Xiongnu gave birth to two daughters, and their appearance was very beautiful, and the people of the country thought that they were gods. Shan Yu said, I have this woman, Anke is matched, and it will be with the sky. It is to build a high platform in the uninhabited land in the north of the country, and put the two daughters on it. Say, please welcome yourself...... Year after year, there was an old wolf who kept watch day and night, because it was empty under the stage, and he did not go after a while. His little daughter said, "My father is here with me, and he wants to be with the sky, and now the wolf comes, or a god, an angel." Will be done.

His sister was shocked and said that this was a beast, and she had nothing to insult her parents. The sister did not obey, and was a wolf wife, and gave birth to a child. Later, it multiplied and became a country. Therefore, his people are good at singing long songs, and they are like wolf howls.

—— "Wei Shu Worm Hun Disciple He Gao Che Train Biography"

The Huns worshipped wolves very much, and even claimed to be the descendants of wolves. Although they often fight wolves to protect their livestock, they still worship these steppe elves. Compared with the steppe wolves, the Han army that came to seek revenge was even more terrifying. This winter, Bilig has fully realized this.

As a tribal chief under the court of the Northern Xiongnu, when I was a child, I heard that there was a general of the Han army named Huo Quai, who once led hundreds of Han troops to fight in the desert like a wolf pack in winter, and the Han people defeated the Xiongnu in the way of the Huns and took away the fertile pastures in the Hexi Corridor. A hundred years have passed, and Bilige, who is in his fifties, has always thought that this is just a legend, until a while ago when he heard the news that several tribes in the east were raided by the Han army, he could not believe that all this was true.

Now, the Han army is really here! And against his tribe. With his sons and the warriors of the tribe in hand, Billig trembled and prepared to meet the enemy. When the enemy came, they did not dare to flee, nor could they flee. The tribe's cattle and sheep are here, and they will not be missed, which is their hope to survive this winter. Just as those Han people in the Central Plains were unwilling to give up their farming, cattle and sheep were also the hope of the Huns to survive.

On the grassland to the west, another sixty or seventy cavalry appeared in the field of vision, quietly joining the encirclement, and the encirclement line on three sides had already taken shape. It was getting colder, and the sun shivered from the cold and shrank below the horizon. The cold air on the snow surface rose in the air, and the leather plates of the leather robe were frozen hard. The herdsmen shook their arms, elbows and waists of their robes with a clattering and grinding sound.

Mo Rigen, the youngest son behind Bilige, covered his mouth and nose with a thick sheepskin horse's hoove, and asked in a low voice: "Abba, the Han army is going to be surrounded now, right?" So, what are they waiting for? ”

When the matter came, when the life and death of the tribe were at stake, Bilig, as the leader, had to keep calm, and when he heard his son's words, he said in as relaxed a tone as possible: "These Han troops are very cunning, and it will take a while, you see, the number of enemies and us is about the same." The generals of the Han army are still waiting for an opportunity like the wolf king, and he is looking for our flaws. You think about it yourself, what are the Han army waiting for? ”

After speaking, Bilige's white furry eyebrows moved, and a slight frost flower fell. The fox fur felt hat that covered his forehead, his face, and his shawl was also covered with frost, covering the old man's face so that only his eyes were exposed, and his pale brownish and yellow eyes shone with a gloomy amber luster, and he seemed to be calm, but his heart was full of thoughts: What disasters and difficulties this year! The prairie under Jinwei Mountain encountered a great white disaster that had not been encountered in a century, and the snow on the flat land was so thick that it could cover a felt tent. Fortunately, most of the people and animals, under the leadership of Bilige, took the lead, and when the snow was almost knee-deep, they gathered all the horses, used thousands of horses to rush the snow tread, and then used dozens of herds of cattle to trample the snow, drove a snow road and snow trough that sheep and ox carts could move, and walked for three days and three nights before moving people and animals to this pasture.

The snow here was only a foot or two thick, and the grass was showing the tips of the grass three fingers high. The cattle, sheep and horses, which were half starved to death, all screamed madly when they saw the grass, and rushed over. People all threw themselves on the snow and cried, and kowtowed vigorously to the god Kunlun, knocking their faces all over the snow. When they arrived, sheep and horses could shave snow and graze, and even cows that could not shave snow would follow the flock of sheep and horses to pick grass and eat, and most of them would survive until the snow melted in the next year. But woe is not alone, these damn Han troops are coming! In just a few days, more than a dozen tribes in the grassland under Jinwei Mountain were wiped out.

"Not good! Abba, the Han army burned the pasture at the upwind outlet. Warriors, follow me! Kill these Han dogs. Morrigan screamed in fear.

Bi Lige followed the sound and looked to the north, and sure enough, there were more than a dozen Han soldiers who set fire to the grassland, and I don't know what they used, and the flames suddenly rose high. Howrigan yelled and rushed out, but before he could react to the realization that this was a trap, the angry herdsmen raised their scimitars and roared after Morigen and rushed out, the defensive formation of the defenders' camp had just become a mess.

"Don't chase!"

Billig let out a desperate howl, but unfortunately no one listened to him. Sure enough, the Han army moved, and the Han troops in the north who were being chased by Mo Rigen and them shot arrows behind while running, and the angry herdsmen who were not far away were hanging from their horses, and they shot the Huns chasing behind one by one with their Han crossbows with a longer range. The Han army in the east and west directions pounced quickly like a wolf hunting, sandwiching the Huns in the middle, and from time to time they pounced on the wolves and took a bite. When Bilig fell in a pool of blood, he realized: This Han army is too terrifying! Two hours later, at the foot of Jinwei Mountain, another Xiongnu tribe disappeared into the grassland......

——————

After a series of battles, Li Tong's tactical use became more and more proficient. In battle, the Darkarmor Riders rarely fight the enemy, that is, they rarely fight the enemy head-on. Facing each other head-on often results in large casualties on your side, and the chances of victory are unlikely.

Taking advantage of the high mobility of cavalry, the Xuanjia cavalry adopted the tactic of luring the enemy to attack, then retreating, and encircling the enemy in the retreat, which always achieved victory. In terms of strategy, the Xuanjia cavalry particularly emphasized the mobility of the troops, and the main tactical characteristics were long-distance outflanking and detouring, and attacking in separate and combined attacks were the main tactical characteristics.

The Armor Riders were often able to maneuver on a large scale for hundreds of miles, making it difficult for the enemy to anticipate and defend against their attacks. If the enemy is really strong, they will retreat for a few days, run hundreds of miles, drag the enemy apart, and then seize the fighters, eliminate the most critical enemy, and then take advantage of the situation to defeat the other enemies.

This kind of tactic can often achieve the miraculous effect of winning more with less. In terms of tactics, the Xuanjia Cavalry is now very good at using the retreat and encirclement tactics. This tactic is, first, to retreat and set up an ambush. They set up an ambush in front of them, then sent part of their forces to engage the enemy, pretending to be defeated and fleeing, leading the enemy into the encirclement and defeating them all.

No one in this time and space knows that the tactics adopted by Li Tong are actually the tactics of Genghis Khan, the Mongolian Khan on the steppe, more than a thousand years later. After a month of arduous marching, the Xuanjia cavalry traveled 5,000 miles. In order to ensure the suddenness of the battle, Li Tong chose to bypass the West Sea and enter the north of Heyun (southwest of present-day Kyrgyz Lake in Mongolia), made a huge arc on the map, marched more than 5,000 miles to the enemy's back, bypassed the Tianshan Mountains to the west, and crossed the Ganwei River (present-day Zabkhan River in Mongolia) in the south.

On the third day of December in the eighteenth year of Yongping, in the early morning of a snowy day, Li Tong led his troops to raid Beidan Yu Wang's Tent.

At dawn, the herdsman Qu Lu woke up from his sleep, he was the wrangler of the Northern Xiongnu king's tent, and he was the first person to get up every day in this place where the nobles lived, because he thought that only diligence and thrift were the way to run a family, in order to make a fortune, and what he hoped most was that he could raise more horses, so that he could please the nobles, so that he could get some rewards, and it was best to make himself a free man. But he never got it, because his family had been slaves under the account of the Xiongnu king for generations, and he was not qualified to bargain with his master. That's why people jokingly call him "the industrious melody who loves to dream".

He walked to the stables, opened the fence, and drove the horses in the direction of Jinwei Mountain. Beneath this endless mountain range are gentle slopes and vast expanses of fine pastures. This pasture has always been the exclusive place of the Northern Xiongnu royal court, and unlike the Xiongnu people in other places, the Northern Xiongnu royal tent lived a semi-settled life because of this pasture and the Tianshan Mountains against the cold current. In addition, because it is closer to the Silk Road in the Western Regions, they can also exchange all kinds of precious items nearby, without having to go through those black-hearted merchants.

Qu Lu couldn't help but be even more discouraged, why was he still just a wrangler? Because he fought with people when he was a child and lost an arm, he couldn't be a soldier, and he had to be ridiculed, or he could go to the Western Regions to try his luck, he had heard many rumors that people got rich overnight by plundering in the Western Regions. He raised so many horses for Da Danyu, and every time he was sick, he let himself be whipped once.

The sky was just white, and Qu Lu leaned against a birch tree, staring at the mist in the mountains, still dreaming of making a fortune. In a trance, he noticed something unusual, only to see a black spot appear in the mist, followed by two or three, and a large group of black dots rushed towards him, as if stepping on the end of the fog. Qu Lu was stunned, and he was surrounded by a group of fierce cavalry.

"Don't kill me, I'm just a wrangler, I can't even shoot an arrow." Qu Lu's face turned pale, put down his horsewhip, raised his only arm, and hurriedly begged for mercy.

"Then you tell us, where is the king's tent of Da Danyu!" One of the cavalry generals with a Western face put a scimitar on his neck that he had never seen before, but he smiled and said lightly, "Listen, otherwise I will not only cut off your only arm, but also make you lose another leg, and if you don't speak, I will cut off another one, and then your ears, nose, and eyes." ”

"Don't don't, I say, I say ......" Qu Yu was already scared.

Qu Lu noticed that there were about a thousand of these uninvited guests, including Han Chinese, Western Regions, and even many Huns. Although all of them had frostbite on their faces, they were well-equipped, all of them were very strong, and they exuded a strong murderous aura.

The Wrangler Qulu was terrified, and he trembled, his face pale as snow, and he gave everything he knew. The rhythm of dreaming can't be controlled so much now, and living is his dream now. It is clear what nobles are in the camp, where they live, how many men are available for battle, and how many guards there are.

There was still light snow in the sky, and the grassland was full of thick fog, and the sight could not be seen more than a hundred paces. At this moment, in the middle of the king's tent camp twenty miles away, the most gorgeous felt tent lived in the Northern Xiongnu Da Danyu and those high-ranking nobles, no one could have imagined that there would be a disaster this early morning.

Although frightened, Qu Lu noticed that these fierce sergeants were approaching with a young Han general. He and the big man from the Western Regions who had interrogated him just now were muttering something in a low voice. It is clear that this young Han general is the leader of this army.

When Li Tong saw the herd of horses on the hillside, he and Mobode gathered together more than 200 horses that Qulu had grazed, scattered the marching blanket woven from wool into strips, tied them to the tails of the horses, and smeared them with some fierce fire oil. They sandwiched the horses in the middle and drove them to the camp of the Xiongnu king's tent.

When they approached the camp of the Hun king's tent, Mobod gave the order and set fire to the blankets tied to the horse's tails, and the horses were so frightened that they ran desperately into the camp, not only knocking over the felt tent made of sheepskin, but also setting fire to everything they touched. The only dozens of sentry archers had no time to react, and in a stunned state, Li Tong and Mo Bode each led two battalions of men and horses to kill them, and the dense arrows flew over like lightning, and the archers of the Hun king's tent had to fall forever after shooting their first arrow.

On the galloping war horse, several people cooperated with the Xuanjia horseman, and pulled the felt tent to the ground with a long horse lance, and the people inside exclaimed loudly, before they could figure out what was happening, the rocket had already set the felt tent on fire.

"Enemy attack, enemy attack!"

The Huns shouted loudly. They were stunned by this unexpected disaster, this is the heartland of the Huns, and no one in this steppe dares to fight here. Chengping has been in peace for so long that they have forgotten that there will be enemies who will dare to penetrate deep into their nomadic lands. Arrows flew sideways, and countless people had just come out of the felt tent, and what was coming to them was the arrows' life.

The war horses roared in the camp of the Xiongnu royal court, and the swords and guns shone with dazzling cold light, harvesting life to their heart's content. Li Tong and Mobode led the iron cavalry to the center of the circle of the camp, where dozens of felt tents decorated in bright colors were too conspicuous compared to the others.

Capture the thief and capture the king first! All the people in the Xuanjia cavalry knew that as long as the nobles of the Huns were killed, the Huns would no longer be able to organize an effective counterattack. The sudden explosion of shouting and killing outside the tent woke up the magnates in the bed, and the naked woman in her arms moved lazily in her arms, which was extremely fragrant.

The magnates were all disgusted by the noise outside the tent, and did not hesitate to shout outside the tent to kill the troublemaker. I thought it was just the untouchables being restless, and where did I think that the war was already happening on my side. However, the guards outside the tent were immediately caught in the siege, division and bitter struggle. This ironclad cavalry that appeared out of nowhere caught them off guard.

"Da Danyu, an enemy has come to kill you."

Finally one of the guards stumbled in. Da Shan Yu was naked, only picked up a scimitar and ran out of the tent in a panic, what he saw shocked him. Countless felt tents were burning in the camp, and the raging fire made the people inside the tents scream so badly that many of them were rolling on the ground like a ball of fire, and their deaths were horrific.

When he saw the enemy's banner clearly, Da Dan Yu screamed in a lost voice: "Han army! ”

A bright banner with the character "Han" was waved in the wind, countless cavalrymen in armor rushed back and forth under the guidance of the banner, and the knights of the Han army wrapped in iron armor raised their swords and guns against the unarmed servants and herdsmen, and one person fell down one after another. The guards with swords and arrows in their hands were smashed to pieces by the galloping horses, and the feathered arrows in the air came in waves after waves.

Da Shan Yu's face was full of grief and indignation, he immediately gathered his guards, turned around and found his own sword and bow and arrow, but he didn't have time to put on his armor, he wanted to protect his pasture. Protect your property, and the glory of your family. But he was hugged by the woman in the tent.

"Da Shan Yu, take me! Take me away, run me away, I'll die! The Xiongnu Da Shan Yu's Yan Shi was naked, hugging his thighs, and pleading bitterly.

Da Shan Yu's heart seemed to be blown up by this woman he used to be so proud and pampered in the past. He raised his ground knife and slashed at the woman. The woman was immediately split in half. Red blood stained her body like mutton fat. Like a delicate red flower, she didn't understand until she died. Why is this man who has always been so fond of him in every way.

"Rather than make you a plaything of the enemy and tarnish my reputation, it is better to kill you yourself." Da Shan Yu sneered.

After doing all this, he resolutely ran out of the tent.

"What about horses? What about horses? The Red Grotto yelled at his guards.

"All the horses in the stables were scattered by the enemy, and they all ran away." The subordinate said with a sad face.

"Idiot, what are you doing? I didn't even know that the enemy was coming. "Da Dan is furious.

A cavalry rushed towards him, and Da Dan couldn't choose the enemy, so he had to bite the bullet and meet it. He didn't expect that in this cold winter, the Han army would dare to attack him thousands of miles. He didn't have time to think about it, he opened his bow and shot, and the enemy led by him was taken aback, and he bent down, but he could dodge the oncoming arrow, but the rider behind him could not dodge, and the arrow was hit by a sound of "dang", and Da Danyu was surprised to find that the knight's body in the arrow only shook, but he still sat firmly on the horse, and the plate armor on the man's chest blocked the fatal blow for him.

It was Li Tong who was the leader, he saw that this big tent was very gorgeous and spacious, and knew that it must be the place where nobles lived, but there were too many guards, and he had already rushed twice to clear most of the guards. Fighting against the cavalry at close range, although Da Shan Yu and his loyal guards shot and wounded many Han soldiers in one face, they were not as fast as the cavalry and had a strong impact. Once the other party rushed to kill, he left a large area vacant around him.

Seeing that the enemy army was strong, Da Dan Yu did not dare to touch the other side, and flashed from the side of the tent to the other side. However, Li Tong has already set his eyes on him at this moment, this is his prey, he rode his horse and galloped, a horse lance stabbed at Da Dan Yu's back, Da Dan Yu rolled on the spot, flashed Li Tong's vicious stab, but his heart was shocked. Li Tong saw that his opponent was trying to escape, but he didn't have time to change his bow, so he directly threw his horse lance over, and Da Danyu failed to dodge this time and was smashed in the calf. Da Shan Yu screamed and fell to the ground. Da Shan Yu's guards were shocked, and abandoned the other enemies one by one, some of them entangled Li Tong to the death, and several other guards fought to protect Da Shan Yu and fled.

This was another typical burning of the company camp by Li Tong. Historical records: Beidan was shocked and rushed to meet more than 1,000 elite soldiers. In the fierce battle, Beidan Yu was wounded and fell off his horse, and only led dozens of light horsemen to escape, and Li Tong's expedition to Jinwei Mountain (now Altai Mountain) achieved extraordinary results. Xuanjia rode to break the Beidan army, beheaded more than 5,000 people below the Yan clan and the famous king, and the Beidan escaped with several horses......

Until the end of the battle, Li Tong did not realize that his Xuanjia rode out of the fortress for more than 5,000 miles, which was the farthest trip in the history of the Han army to attack the Xiongnu. After this battle, the Northern Xiongnu royal court migrated all the way west, and the rest of the army was scattered. The Xianbei people in the east gradually moved westward and slowly occupied the homeland of the Northern Xiongnu. The grassland has started a new round of reincarnation of the jungle.

(To be continued)