The cold wind is howling, and the northwest land in October is a little solemn in the cold, and under the dead leaves that fall everywhere, what is buried is not the livelihood of spring, but the hard and cold earth.

A pair of leather boots stepped on the dead leaves, making a small sound, and its owner was a young man named Zhu Yuyan, who was wearing a vigorous military uniform, holding a clairvoyant mirror in his hand and observing something, and beside him, there was a young man who was also wearing a military uniform.

"See anything?" A crisp voice rang out, and though it was so small that it was hard to hear, it was the young man who asked in a low voice.

Zhu Yuyan did not turn his head, but still meticulously observed everything in front of him, only to see that in his clairvoyant vision, the shadows of countless people appeared, they were stationed between the towering mountains, only the valley in the middle was filled with endless mist, but it was impossible to see the movement.

"Something is not quite right with the news from MI......"

Zhu Yuyan muttered to himself, he is the descendant of Zhu Zi who returned from crossing the sea in Japan, and later was valued by the emperor and successfully entered the Central Army Military Academy to study, and now because of his excellent grades, he entered the army for internship half a year ahead of schedule, and was awarded the second lieutenant county, and temporarily became a captain probationary regiment staff officer in the West Route Army.

The young man next to Zhu Yuyan is also a second lieutenant officer, but he does not have such a big background as Zhu Yuyan, but a second lieutenant who rose from the grassroots level, named Zheng Guoquan, was originally a squad leader of the Fourth Division, and was later promoted to deputy company commander before he got the rank of second lieutenant.

This time, the two were ordered by the regimental headquarters of the Third Regiment of the Seventh Division of the West Route Army stationed in Malianjing to observe the movements of Xingxing Gorge.

After hearing Zhu Yuyan say these words, Zheng Guoquan suddenly became a little curious, he looked at the clairvoyant mirror in Zhu Yuyan's hand with envy, such a good thing is usually equipped with officers above the company level commander, and he, the deputy company commander, does not have such qualifications, so he can only listen to Zhu Yuyan speak.

As an officer who graduated from the Central Army Military Academy, Zhu Yuyan is naturally no stranger to observing the enemy's situation, and while observing, he is passing on information to Zheng Guoquan next to him.

"The current garrison of Xingxingxia seems to have been completely replaced by Nian Qianyao's headquarters, and the garrison of the observatory seems to have a tendency to increase, but it always feels a little strange....... No, show you! ”

Zhu Yuyan said as he handed the clairvoyant mirror in his hand to Zheng Guoquan, and Zheng Guoquan also happily took the clairvoyant mirror at the moment and wiped it before he began to observe.

After a while, Zheng Guoquan's voice began to sound, his voice was still small but very crisp, "Judging by observation, there are a lot of them, but most of them seem to be dead, almost all of them are motionless, only a few people can move, I thought they might be cheating!" ”

"Fraud?" Zhu Yuyan reacted quickly, he hurriedly took the clairvoyant mirror again, looked at it again, and then asked with some uncertainty: "Do you mean, are they all dummies?" ”

"That's right, the news reported by the military intelligence department three days ago is that Hami's defenders are retreating, and it seems that they are all Jungar's soldiers......"

Zheng Guoquan sighed while quickly recording it on paper with charcoal, "I don't believe that Nian Qianyao will fight to the death with us in Xingxing Gorge for the sake of Jungger, otherwise he wouldn't have run, and it has been foggy for a while recently, he may have already thought about how to get rid of us!" ”

The grass man was arranged on the Star Gorge, pretending to be a large army assembly, which seemed to be something that Nian Qianyao could do.

Zheng Guoquan pondered for a while, and he said softly: "But we are not completely sure yet, we must get close to observe, and the current foggy day may be able to provide us with concealment." ”

Zhu Yuyan subconsciously objected: "No, this will only expose our whereabouts, and it will also startle the snake....... Among the knowledge he learned from the military academy, there are extremely strict requirements for reconnaissance, that is, no one must be allowed to discover the signs of reconnaissance, otherwise all the information at present may be in vain.

At present, Zheng Guoquan's approach is increasing the risk of this exposure, so it will not be accepted by Zhu Yuyan, he prefers to report the information, and then determine the authenticity of this place by means of a tentative attack.

Zheng Guoquan looked at Zhu Yuyan helplessly, although their military ranks were the same, but the task at the moment was obviously dominated by Zhu Yuyan, a promising officer, so he could only try to communicate.

"If we return to report now, we won't allow it in time, and when the military situation is unknown, the army can only attack Xingxing Gorge head-on, and we can't bear this responsibility."

When Zhu Yuyan heard this, he turned his head and looked at Xingxing Gorge again, his face changed, and he finally sighed after a while.

"I'll listen to you this time, let's go!"

In the final analysis, for Zhu Yuyan, he also hopes to develop himself in the Fuhan military system and realize his dream by establishing merit.

After the two discussed, they directly changed out of their military uniforms, and then took out the ordinary people's clothes in the package to change into, but they have been soldiers for too long, no matter from what point of view, they have a military temperament that cannot be concealed, and they are extremely outstanding, but fortunately, Zheng Guoquan found out that something was wrong, so he smeared the two with sludge before covering it up.

It was only in the afternoon that the two quietly advanced along the path to the bottom of the Star Gorge, and then moved towards the direction of the Star Gorge little by little, and they didn't know how long it took to shorten the distance with the Star Gorge defenders to less than a hundred steps, and in such a distance, they were certainly able to observe, but once they were discovered by the Star Gorge defenders, it was also a dead end.

Because it was late autumn, the temperature in Xingxing Gorge was extremely low, so that the two people who were clinging to the ground felt the cold to the bone, but they had no way to keep warm, so they had to tremble at the afterglow of this sunset, looking at the situation on Xingxing Gorge, only to see that the original shadowy crowd was really made of straw men, and only a few people were real!

Zhu Yuyan suddenly felt a tremble, he didn't expect what they found out to be true, he felt that the muscles all over his body were shaking, it seemed to be because of the cold, but more because of excitement....... With this credit, maybe their ranks will be promoted by one place!

Zheng Guoquan on the side was the same, they began to observe the movement on the Xingxing Gorge with the help of their peripheral vision, and recorded some boring numbers on paper with charcoal, but only they understood that these boring figures themselves were the most confidential military intelligence, and when they returned to the rear, they would at least reduce the casualties of the Fu Han army by more than half!

After the sunset completely fell, the two quietly returned from a long way and passed on the information they had recorded, and because of the specific intelligence information to corroborate, their information was not blocked, but was smoothly transmitted all the way to Ning Zhongyi, the capital of the Western Expeditionary Army.

And Ning Zhongyi, who got the news, was also shocked, because in the original intelligence information, the current Xingxing Gorge can be described as a heavy gathering of troops, and he is ready to wait until the follow-up reinforcements are in place before launching an attack........ However, the important information transmitted back by Zheng Guoquan and Zhu Yuyan made the attack on Xingxing Gorge at least ten days in advance!

When the soldiers of the Fu Han Army set off towards Xingxing Gorge by the glimmer of dawn, the city of Hami at this time became a mess, and from time to time there were gunshots from the city, and the soldiers of the Qianyao Department were burning and looting in the city of Hami for countless years, and the dense black smoke went straight to the sky, like a piece of hell.

That's right, just after Xiao Tseling Dundob led his army to withdraw from Hami and march west to Guleza, Nian Qianyao did not live up to his earnest entrustment, and went directly to Hami to start large-scale looting, so as to boost the morale that had been low for a long time and re-water the fighting spirit of his subordinates with blood.

The Jungger people in the city did not expect this at all, and as a result, they were murdered, and the Han people in the city became the object of Nian Qianyao's protection, because he needed to use more Han people to expand his strength and ensure his basic plate.

"Don't kill me, I'm Han, don't kill me......."

Zuo Chun looked at the murderous young soldiers opposite, raised his hands in horror, he knelt on the ground, tears almost filled his eyes.

And right opposite him were two Nian soldiers with Erut muskets in their hands, they looked at Zuo Chun with a frown, but in the end they still did not choose to kill him, and walked in the other direction, because in the order issued by Nian Qianyao before the war, if they killed the Han people, they should also be executed.

Zuo Chun immediately breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could stand up, he heard a gunshot rang out, he couldn't help but look back, but saw the young soldier trotting up a few steps and stabbing the body of an old man in Jungger opposite with a bayonet, and Zuo Chun, who saw this scene with his own eyes, was frightened and retreated.

Then his whole body was like a shrimp, and he vomited vigorously, almost everything he ate was vomited, followed by gastric juice, and the soldiers in the distance saw Zuo Chun's appearance, but they laughed, with a somewhat disdainful smile.

Scenes like this are almost constantly playing out in Hami City, and perhaps everyone in the local area does not know that since the Zungar Khanate accepted the Nian Qianyao Division, the seeds of danger have been planted, and once they sprout, they will be counterattacked.

Nian Qianyao, who gave the order with his own hands, did not enter Hami City, but stopped outside the city, listening to the gunshots coming from inside, but at this time his face was full of shame. And Hu Qiheng beside him is a wise pearl in his hand.

"Yuan Fang, isn't it a little unauthentic for us to do this? Anyway, we were given some supplies earlier, so we slaughtered Hami with our backhand......."

Hu Qiheng looked very arrogant, he smiled and said: "Dashuai, if we don't do this, we will die in the future, just that little material is enough, after slaughtering Hami, we can grab ten times the materials, and let's just grab two days, after the robbery, we will go to Turpan, and then let the Han army cross the Star Gorge." ”

According to the previous discussion between the two, that is, to let the Han army cross the Xingxing Gorge, they themselves occupy Turpan, and develop in the direction of Karasar and Kulongle in the southwest, and just sit back and watch the two sides fight.

Nian Qianyao nodded, he also agreed with this in his heart, but he was a little worried, and said in a low voice: "The old man is not worried about anything else at the moment, but he is afraid that the arrangement of Xingxing Gorge will not be able to hide from the Fu Han army, if they capture Xingxing Gorge in advance, we can't stay here for too long, we still have to leave early." ”

"The marshal is right, please give the marshal an order!" Hu Qiheng was also a little worried in his heart, after all, Xingxing Gorge was not far from Hami, and once Xingxing Gorge was broken through, they would easily be caught up by the Fu Han army.

"Order, seal the knife at dawn! Let's enter Turpan and plunder for three days! ”

"Long live the handsome!"

"Long live the handsome!"

........

When the morning light was upon again Hami was almost a ruin, the corpses of the city filled with endless blood, and in the distance was a procession of horses and carts, marching triumphantly into the distance, without even bothering to wipe the blood off their bodies.

And in the distant Xingxing Gorge, at this time also ushered in victory, this key strategic point known as the throat land, did not let the Fu Han army pay too many casualties, because the soldiers stationed in the Xingxing Gorge were almost only hundreds of old, weak, sick and disabled, and at the first time the Fu Han army marched, they chose to surrender.

Zhu Yuyan, who was checking the prisoners, had a little excitement on his face, he and Zheng Guoquan happened to seize this opportunity in this routine reconnaissance, so they were rewarded for it, and the merit was recorded by the Military Merit Department, and he got the opportunity to be promoted, and he could officially become a lieutenant staff officer.

"Congratulations, Lieutenant Zhu!"

Zheng Guoquan also had a smile on his face, his persistence this time was duly rewarded, and he was also promoted to lieutenant, but his promotion was even more rare, because he got the opportunity to enter the regiment, and after he was delegated here in the future, he could at least become a deputy battalion commander or a company commander.

"Congratulations, Lieutenant Zheng!"

The two laughed heartily at the same time, their eyes were full of hope for the future, and there were many, many others who were the same as the two, along the long arc of the entire northern frontier, there was no shortage of these young people who were making contributions, because from east to west, the war between the Fu Han army and the Russian army had completely begun.