There are still one hundred and fifty miles away from Jiuyuan City, Xue Yantuo's cavalry slowed down, after the last fiasco, Xue Chake also became cautious, he also knew very well that his task was mainly to explore the way for the army, prevent the army from being intercepted by the Tang army when crossing the Yellow River, and prevent being ambushed by the Tang army on the way.

In the early morning, two thousand Xue Yantuo's army rested by a small river, and Darhan had woken up early, kneeling on a sheepskin and praying to the rising sun, which he did every day, and everyone was not surprised.

Xue Chake spread a map on a large rock, and the map marked his march route with thick lines, and he did not go to Jiuyuan County, but turned around and headed north when he was fifty miles away from Jiuyuan County, and followed another official road to the north to the shallow waters of the Yellow River in the north, where the main force of the army would cross.

He found his seat, the confluence of two small rivers, and then walked a hundred miles or so along a river to the east, and then turned around and went north.

Xue Chake looked at the surrounding environment, this area is all low hills, distributed with large forests and wilderness, the land is very fertile, and a large area of pasture can be opened up here, he is a little tempted, once Xue Yantuo's army occupies Fengzhou, can he apply for this land as his own ranch?

But this idea was quickly vetoed by himself, this place is too close to Lingzhou, the Tang Dynasty will not give up, and it will definitely become a battlefield.

"Chief, it's time to go!" A centurion behind him reminded in a whisper.

Xue Chake pulled his thoughts back, glanced at Durhan in the distance, and saw that he had finished praying, so he nodded and said, "Order the soldiers to pack up and go!" ”

The two thousand horsemen quickly gathered their blankets and sheepskins, filled the water bladders with water, turned on their horses, and urged their horses to gallop east with their leader........

At noon, they were still a hundred miles away from Jiuyuan County, and they passed along the official road through a very shallow valley road, on either side of which were low hills, overgrown with dense pine trees.

Xue Chake was very careful and sent dozens of soldiers to check the situation in the pine forests on both sides first, lest there be an ambush of the Tang army on both sides, and the closer to Jiuyuan City, the stronger this uneasy feeling became.

After a while, dozens of cavalry rushed back and reported: "Chief Qiyu, there is no trace of the Tang army within a hundred steps on both sides!" ”

Xue Chake's heart was put down, and he immediately ordered: "The army continues to advance!" ”

Two thousand cavalry entered the valley road, at this time, Durhan and gradually fell behind, he led two camels, on the camel is his iron guy, after all, Darhan has been the deputy commander of the army of 100,000, he knows very well that this kind of terrain is the easiest to have ambushes, especially against the cavalry, after riding into the pine forest is not the opponent of the infantry at all, he is walking slower and slower, and the distance between the team is getting farther and farther.

On a big pine tree closest to the valley road, there was a black shadow hidden, about eighty steps away from the valley road, Guo Song was hiding in this dense big pine tree, he couldn't see him from below, he took off the shaded pine branch, and a big hole was revealed in front of him, just facing the valley road below.

Guo Song pulled out an arrow, put it on the bowstring, and stared sharply at the approaching Xue Yantuo army, his eyes locked on a golden helmet general riding a white horse in front of him, this chief general was completely different from others, almost everyone else was wearing leather armor, but this person was wearing iron chain mail, wearing a golden helmet, and carrying a mace weighing sixty or seventy pounds.

This person should be the enemy's commander-in-chief, if it is a fake, it is impossible to carry such a heavy iron rod.

Guo Song stared at the neck of the main general, his golden helmet had sides that covered his cheeks, but his neck was exposed.

The enemy commander was getting closer and closer, Guo Song pulled out the bowstring, and as soon as his hand was released, a wolf's tooth arrow 'whoosh!' The ground shot out, the speed was incomparably fast, and in the blink of an eye, it reached Xue Chake, Xue Chake suddenly felt something, and turned his head, "Poof! An arrow struck him in the throat, and it pierced through the back of his neck, breaking his cervical vertebrae with such force that it broke his cervical vertebrae.

Xue Chake covered his neck, turned around, and fell from his horse to the ground, unable to breathe, and soon died of exhaustion.

At this time, Guo Song took out the horn and blew it vigorously in the sky, 'Woo———'

The low sound of the horn echoed in the valley, and the soldiers of the Tang Army, who were lying in ambush hundreds of paces away, came out together and killed towards the valley.

At this time, the cavalry team had stopped, most of them were at a loss, and more than a dozen soldiers were treating the main general Xue Chake, and the sound of the horn made them suddenly panic.

Just when the cavalry realized that they had been ambushed, arrows rained down on both sides, and 10,000 arrows whistled from both sides towards the cavalry in the middle of the valley road, and the screams rang out, and more than a thousand cavalrymen fell off their horses.

Xue Yantuo was in a big mess, and the instinct to survive made them have no intention of fighting and fled in all directions, at this time, the second round of arrows of the Tang army was fired, and countless people fell from the arrows.

Two rounds of 20,000 arrows were fired, and only a few hundred soldiers remained on horseback.

'Woo-' The horn of the attack sounded, and 10,000 Tang soldiers came out of the dense forests on both sides, they closed the encirclement, surrounded the remaining hundreds of cavalry regiments, and countless spears stabbed at the cavalry on horseback.......

The battle ended in less than a quarter of an hour, and all the two thousand Xue Yantuo cavalry were killed by the Tang army, and no one was spared, of course, the only one who survived was not Xue Yantuo's army, and it was not counted.

Liang Wu found Darhan and led him to Guo Song, and Darhan pounced! He knelt down, kowtowed, and said, "Does Engong still remember me?" ”

Guo Song hurriedly helped him up and said, "You are a Sogdian warrior, don't kneel for me!" ”

Durhan got up and said: "I came from Kangguo, encountered heavy snow, so I borrowed land from the Xue Yantuo tribe for the winter, and happened to meet them to attack Fengzhou, I only thought about how to send a message to Engong. ”

Guo Song smiled and nodded, "I received your letter, it was very timely, did you go back to find your daughter?" ”

Darhan's eyes were gloomy, and he shook his head sadly: "I have been looking for several years, and I have received news that they may be sold to the far west, and I can't find them. ”

Guo Song was full of sympathy for this burly man, how could he not be like this, and he would never see his daughter again.

"And what are you going to do?"

"I don't have a plan, I just want to find Eun Gong, and then follow Eun Gong for the rest of my life."

Guo Song thought for a while and said, "That's it! You can strike iron, you stay in our army as a blacksmith first, and then I will find a way to place you. ”

Durhan still shook his head, "I don't want to be a blacksmith anymore, please accept me as a personal soldier, and I am willing to follow Engong before and after the saddle." ”

Guo Song didn't have a personal soldier, only a dozen cronies and an entourage, which could barely be counted as a personal soldier.

Guo Song saw that his eyes were firm, and he also knew that he was a man who made a promise, so he happily said: "It's okay!" Let you be a blacksmith, waste your martial arts, you will follow me in the future! ”

Darhan was overjoyed, knelt down and kowtowed again, "Thank you Engong for containment." ”

........

Although Xue Yantuo's 2,000 vanguard army was completely annihilated, the threat of war hung over Fengzhou, Guo Song was not worried about Xue Yantuo's army, he was worried about the morale of the army and the people, and he was worried that the immigrants would not dare to stay in Fengzhou because they were afraid.

After annihilating 2,000 Xue Yantuo cavalry, Guo Song immediately sent cavalry back to Jiuyuan County to report the good news, and the cavalry rushed in the county town and shouted, "The first battle is victorious, and 2,000 enemy pioneers are annihilated!" ”

"The first battle was won, and 2,000 enemy pioneers were annihilated!"

........

In the annunciation, the anxious people finally vented their emotions, the crowd was excited, and the city was full of jubilation.

It is necessary that the people are hungry for news of victory, so that their faith will gradually be boosted, and if they don't say anything, it will only make them all live in fear, and over time, their faith will be destroyed.

Therefore, even if it is a small victory, it is necessary to tell the people in time, boost the people's morale and morale, and let them build up the confidence that the war must belong to them.

From Kang Bao's mouth, Guo Song guessed the strategic intention of Xue Yantuo's vanguard army, they should be preparing to go north to protect Xue Yantuo's army to cross the river, and they could only take the shallow water beach.

Guo Song immediately personally led 3,000 cavalry to prevent Xue Yantuo's army from crossing the river.

There are two shallow water beaches of the Yellow River in Fengzhou, one is in the South Yellow River, about 50 miles west of Jiuyuan County, the caravans along the south bank of the Yellow River generally cross the Yellow River from here, the river surface is very wide, but the deepest part is only the chest of the people, generally do not need a ferry, you can directly wade across the river.

The other is in the North Yellow River, the water is also relatively shallow, livestock and carts can cross the river from here, here is the only way to go to the west to surrender the city, Xue Yantuo's army kills from the northwest direction, if you don't carry a baggage, you can use a raft to cross the river, but if you carry a large number of baggage materials, then you can only take this shallow beach.

They can't walk the shallow water beach in the south, and if they want to go through the shallow water beach in the south, then they must first cross the Yellow River in the west, and there is no need to walk on the shallow water beach again.

Guo Song led 3,000 cavalry to the south of the shallow water beach of the North Yellow River one step ahead of schedule, and quickly deployed here.

The night covered the land, and there was not much spring in Toyosu in February, and although the snow melted during the day, it was still cold at night, and the soldiers were tightly wrapped in sheepskins.

Guo Song stood on a high place, looking at the vast twilight on the other side of the Yellow River, but in his heart he was quickly estimating the impact of this blocking battle.

There is no doubt that his army cannot defeat the 20,000-strong army to cross the river, but it can slow down the enemy's advance, give Jiuyuan City a little more time to prepare, and at the same time can damage the morale of the enemy army, which is his purpose.

At this time, there was a slight commotion behind him, Guo Song turned around, only to see a camel team coming, the person leading the camel turned out to be a soldier of the Tang Army, and a soldier ran over and said: "Envoy, Jiuyuan City has sent food." ”

Guo Song nodded, "Let the soldiers all get up and eat!" ”

The sleeping soldiers woke up one after another, they set off in a hurry, only brought a small amount of dry food, and counted on Jiuyuan City to deliver food, and the soldiers were hungry and gathered around.

Dinner was good, fluffy baked dough with succulent lamb with shallots, two per person, a small honeydew melon and a bowl of warm soup.

Three hundred camels brought three days' worth of food to the soldiers, and tomorrow breakfast only needs to be warmed up to eat.

The first lieutenant stepped forward to give Guo Song a salute and presented a scroll of eagle letters to Guo Song, it was already dark, Guo Song didn't want to open it, and asked, "What is the content?" ”

"It seems to be a reply from the envoy of the festival!"

"How?"

The captain hesitated for a moment and said: "General Li asked the humble post to send a message to you, since the Shuofang army is unwilling to come to help, then we can also defeat Xue Yantuo's army with our own strength." ”

Guo Song nodded, "I understand, you guys go back and be careful all the way." ”

The lieutenant clasped his fists and saluted, turned and went down.

A sneer appeared at the corner of Guo Song's mouth, as he expected, Li Huaiguang would not send Shuo Fangjun to rescue Fengzhou, everything could only rely on themselves.

........

Before dawn the next day, a thousand cavalry galloped from the opposite bank, and the Tang soldiers rushed to their respective combat positions, raising their crossbow arrows, Guo Song looked at it for a while, and recognized the other party's banner, not Xue Yantuo, it should be the Tang army withdrawn from the Xishou surrender city.

Guo Song hurriedly turned around and waved his hand and said, "It's my own person!" ”

The soldiers put down their crossbow arrows one after another, the war horses waded into the water, and there were only small black spots left on the surface of the Yellow River, which was currently a spring flood, although the water level had not yet submerged the head, and the river surface was full of ice floes, and the water at the bottom of the river was turbulent, and it was much more difficult to cross the river than usual.

The soldiers climbed their horses and slowly swam in the water, gradually approaching the south bank, and the first general to go ashore was the Lang general Ma Wei.

He shivered from the cold, and two soldiers rushed up to wrap him in blankets.

"Envoy ..... Envoy, how are you in ..... Over here? ”

His lips were black, his teeth were chattering, and he couldn't speak.

Guo Song asked the soldiers to boil hot water and give them a drink to warm their bodies, and he stepped forward and said with a smile: "If you don't fly the flag, I'm afraid you will all die at the bottom of the river." ”

Ma Wei immediately understood, it turned out that the envoy led the army to ambush Xue Yantuo's army here.

"We.... Stay, too! ”

Guo Song thought about it, and then said happily: "One more strength will annihilate one more enemy army, and you will also stay." ”

After a while, a thousand Tang cavalry came ashore one after another, they were all shivering from the cold, their teeth were fighting, the Tang soldiers quickly wrapped their bodies in blankets, and brought them hot water, a bowl of boiling water belly, and the soldiers' faces finally recovered.