There are two roads from Broken Leaf City to Tingzhou, one is the North Road, go west along the north foot of Cheling, go to Huangcaobo and then go south through Alashankou, this road is to take the bow back, the road is relatively far.

The other road is along the Poplar River through Cheling, which is now Borokonu Mountain, and then along the Erie River Valley to the south of Cheling, you can also reach Broken Leaf City, this road is much closer than the northern route, but the road through Cheling is more southerly, basically through the mountain valley.

In addition to the snow peaks of the Tianshan Mountains still being covered with snow, the ice and snow in the low-lying areas have also begun to melt gradually, the tender grass has quietly sprouted, the birds have contended, and the deer have appeared by the stream, and the north courtyard has begun to become vibrant.

At noon on this day, a group of more than 100 Tang army scouts were passing through Cheling along the Baiyang River Valley, the high place was covered with snow, shining with magnificent brilliance in the sun, and below the waistline was a large forest, stretching to the foot of the mountain, the river was full of rocks, the water was very shallow, clear to the bottom, but cold to the bone.

The cavalry walked along a narrow path along the river, which was also full of fine gravel and no dirt, and they did not find the enemy's horseshoe prints along the way.

The leader of this cavalry team was none other than the scout commander Zhang Yun, who had learned from the local Wusun herdsmen that the Qarluq cavalry spies had appeared in the Yili Valley several times since last autumn, and Zhang Yun suspected that the Qarluqs were likely to invade Tingzhou on the southern front.

What's more, the area around Huangcaobo in the north is the pasture of the Uighurs, and unless the Qarluqs target the Uighurs, they must take the southern route.

The guide is a Wusun hunter, called Saike, about thirty years old, very strong, also very sensitive, hunting in Cheling all the year round, knows the situation in this area well, more importantly, he can speak fluent Chinese, was hired by the Tang Army as a guide, Zhang Yun hoped that he could join the Tang Army, but Saike could not leave behind the beautiful wife and young son at home, and refused to join the army, but he promised to accept the long-term employment of the Tang Army, and the money given to him by the Tang Army was enough for him to hunt for several years.

"The Yili River Valley was originally occupied by the Hui people, and then the Hui people retreated north and handed over the Yili River Valley to the Shatuo people, but the Shatuo people are very few here, only a small tribe, I heard that they have migrated to Yibohai last year, and now our Yili River Valley is grazing by our Wusun people."

Zhang Yun smiled and asked, "The Hui people retreated north, and the Qarluq people didn't fight the idea of the Yili River Valley?" ”

"Why don't you want to, the Qarlu people fought with the Hui for the Yili River Valley, but failed, if it wasn't for the Qarlu infighting last year, they would have occupied this oasis a long time ago, where would it be our turn to get the Wusun people."

In fact, the occupation of the Yili River Valley by the Qarluq people does not have much impact on Tingzhou, after all, there is still Cheling and Tianshan Mountains, but the problem is that the Qarluq people are extremely aggressive, once he occupies the vast oasis of the Yili River Valley, it is very likely that he will use this place as logistics to invade Tingzhou, so the Tang army must control the Yili River Valley in order to keep Tingzhou safe, and the Tang army established the Broken Leaf Military Town, that is, to control the Yili River Valley.

Zhang Yun remembered something and asked, "I remember that there is a military city of the Tang Dynasty in the Yili River Valley, called Gongyue City, is it still there?" ”

"It's still there, it's not badly preserved, the Hui people once occupied it, and the Shatuo people are useless, in fact, it's been empty for seven or eight years!"

This is, a sika deer galloped over, and several Tang soldiers were about to open their bows and arrows, Zhang Yun immediately shouted: "No! The deer was injured. ”

Everyone also saw that an arrow was stuck in the back of the sika deer, Zhang Yun immediately realized that there was something abnormal in front of him, and he immediately ordered: "Everyone enter the woods!" ”

The men turned their horses' heads and ran towards the woods above, hiding in the woods.

After a short time, I saw several horsemen wearing leather hats and leather armor galloping towards them, they were all burly and fierce-looking, they were armed with bows, arrows and spears.

Saike whispered to Zhang Yun: "It's the Qarlu cavalry!" ”

"How do you [Bayi Chinese Net] know?"

"They have black fur hats on their heads!"

The Qarluq people advocate black, and generally wear black fur hats or black belts, Zhang Yun also heard about it, and he looked closely, and the three cavalrymen were indeed wearing black belts.

The scouts all looked at Zhang Yun, do you want to attack?

Zhang Yun shook his head, these three people were just chasing the prey, and the main force should be behind.

The crowd continued to wait, and at this time, the sound of horses' hooves was heard in the distance, and a large group of men and horses came.

Zhang Yun raised his hand and hooked his index finger, the Tang army scouts took off their horned bows one after another, and pulled out their feather arrows from their backs, Saike climbed the big tree and hid in the bushes, he was a little excited, this kind of short-distance ambush battle, he had never seen it.

At this time, a large group of Qarluq cavalry rushed from a distance, Zhang Yun's eyes were sharp, and he immediately recognized forty-seven people, plus three people in front, exactly fifty people, a team of fifty people to explore the outpost.

The Don soldiers held their breath and stared sharply at the enemy cavalry from afar and near, and they quickly locked onto their respective targets.

This is the difference between scout cavalry and ordinary cavalry, there is no difference between general cavalry, it is likely that everyone concentrates on shooting the enemy leader, but the scout cavalry has their own goals, they all have their own team numbers, the team number in the front shoots the enemy in front, the team number shoots the enemy army in the middle section, and the team number shoots the tail cavalry in the rear section, although it is not so precise one-to-one correspondence, but the main target can be aligned.

Zhang Yun stared at the centurion of the cavalry, and he suddenly shouted, "Shoot!" ”

He pulled the bowstring and shot an arrow, which hit the centurion's neck, and the arrows of the Tang soldiers shot out one after another, and the enemy outposts were all turned on their backs, and nearly forty people were shot and killed in an instant.

"Captain Zhang, you lead twenty brothers to arrest the first three, and the rest of the brothers will follow me to kill them!"

The scouts came out of the woods, and Captain Zhang Yuanzhi shouted, "The first and second teams follow me!" ”

He led twenty cavalry to chase forward, the remaining eighty scouts shouted and killed, and the remaining dozen or so Qarlu detectives tried to turn around and escape, but they were surrounded by the Tang army scouts, and after a short time, they were all picked off their horses.

All forty-seven Qarluq cavalrymen were killed, and after a short time, Captain Zhang Yuanzhi galloped back with twenty of his men, and three Qarluq detectives were tied to their horses.

At this time, Saike, who was excited, climbed down from the big tree, ran forward and said to Zhang Yun: "General Zhang, I also want to join you!" ”

Zhang Yun smiled: "What about your wife and children?" ”

"I asked them to live in Jinman County."

Zhang Yun smiled slightly: "You do things for us first, earn the money from this employment, and then join the army, so that you can also have money to settle your wife and children." ”

Saike nodded, "Of course it's the best!" ”

Zhang Yun said to him again: "Be a translator for Captain Zhang, he wants to interrogate these three enemy soldiers!" ”

Saike hurriedly followed Zhang Yuanzhi to escort the captives to the woods.

The Tang scouts quickly cleaned up the battlefield and obtained more than forty war horses, and as is customary, they laid out the equipment of centurions and ordinary soldiers on the ground, and one soldier quickly recorded them.

Zhang Yun stepped forward to take a look, the Centurion and the ordinary soldiers are leather armor, but the centurion is a double layer of leather armor, which is a little stronger, but considering that the equipment of the outpost is the best, it means that the Centurion is generally based on a single layer of leather armor.

The soldiers all had leather shields, barely able to withstand bow and arrow fire from sixty paces, but for powerful crossbow arrows, such leather shields were completely meaningless.

Their weapons were spears and knives, which were made in a mediocre manner, similar to the level of weapon manufacturing of the Shatuo people, and the bows and arrows were not compound bows, but single bows.

It is no wonder that the Tang Army's compound bow took three years to manufacture, requiring exquisite craftsmanship and good materials, and the cost of a compound bow alone cost twenty yuan, and the nomadic army did not have so many good craftsmen, nor would they have such great patience, let alone such a strong national strength, and it was normal for their bows and arrows to be generally single-bowed.

Zhang Yun pulled out an enemy arrow, Zhang Bow shot out, the arrow fell more than sixty steps away, and the killing range was thirty or forty steps, for a single bow, this shooting distance is already very good, but this single bow has no threat to the Tang Army's Mingguang armor, and at most shoots ordinary people.

At this time, Zhang Yuanzhi rushed out and said, "General, their forward 3,000 people have already entered the Yili River Valley, and they should have come to seize the pasture." ”

Zhang Yun immediately ordered: "Clean up the battlefield, let's go!" ”

The soldiers quickly buried the bodies, turned on their horses and continued south along the Poplar River........