Chapter 120: Turning Point (3)

In the summer, there is a big difference between marching in the desert and marching on the plains. Marching in plains and mountains, unless there is a special reason, is generally a march during the day and a camp at night to rest. But inside the desert it was the other way around, and they could only rest during the day and march at night.

Because of the softness of the sand, the speed of the horses in the desert was greatly slowed down, and they could run more than a hundred miles a day on the plains, but here they could only walk thirty or forty miles, and if they did not spare any horsepower, they could travel more than ten miles. The best mounts here are not horses, but camels. This is because camels have large soles and can store water in their bodies.

Even hiding in a tent can only avoid sunburn, and the temperature inside is still very high. Even if you don't understand it, the water you carry with you is depleting rapidly. Many officers began to become anxious, and at this rate, in just four or five days, the accompanying water would run out.

After the sun sets, the heat on the ground quickly dissipates, and the temperature plummets from more than 40 degrees to less than 20 degrees. Chen Cheng then turned out of the tent and ordered the soldiers to pack their bags and prepare to continue their journey. Yang Qiu looked at the stars rising in the sky, compared them on the map for a long time, and then pointed in one direction and said, "There should be a water source over there!" ”

"Should?"

Xu Rong licked his lips and said, "It shouldn't work, if you get lost in this desert, you will be sunburned into a dry corpse." How far is it going? ”

Yang Qiu said with a dry smile: "It's also the first time I've gone so far into the desert, and my grasp of the distance is not so accurate. ”

Chen Cheng tied the straps on Gollum's body tightly, then jumped on the horse's back and said to Yang Qiu: "Don't look at your broken map, just follow me, I know where the oasis is." ”

Yang Qiu was stunned and said, "How could the envoy know? ”

Chen Cheng glanced at him and said, "Knowing is knowing, where do you need to ask so much?" Everyone, follow me! ”

With that, he clamped his horse's belly and ran to the right front. Xu Rong silently beat his horse to follow, and Yang Qiu was stunned for a while, then put away the map in his hand and beckoned his subordinates to follow. The group ran forward for more than ten miles, and the soldiers at the front rode up a sand dune with difficulty, first stunned, and then cheered together.

"What's wrong, what's wrong?"

The people under the dunes hurriedly asked, "What's going on up ahead?" ”

The soldiers above cheered: "It's an oasis!" ”

Chen Cheng rode on the back of a fiery war horse and looked out at the oasis below. The people resting in the oasis were alarmed by the cheers from this side and were in a panic to form their formations.

"That day," Chen Cheng shouted downward, "there are some people in front, can you persuade them to surrender?" ”

That day, he climbed up with his war horse, looked at the movement in the oasis, and whispered: "If you don't beat them, they won't surrender." ”

"Tsk, I knew it was so."

Chen Cheng shouted to the soldiers around him: "Immediately blow the rallying horn and prepare to meet the enemy!" ”

Eight hundred horsemen led their horses over the dunes, leaving two hundred men behind to watch the cattle.

After spending a little time to form the team, Chen Cheng said loudly: "Yang Qiu, you lead the soldiers and horses of the headquarters to the left wing, Xu Rong takes two hundred people to the right wing, and the rest of the people, follow me!" ”

The horn of the charge sounded, and the eight hundred horsemen charged in the direction of the oasis under the moonlight. Eight hundred horsemen is not much, and any medium tribe can pull out more warriors than that. But eight hundred well-trained cavalry was not something that the hasty and smaller Huns in the oasis could withstand.

The ground near the oasis was harder than sand, and the speed of the horses gradually increased. Eight hundred horsemen were more than three thousand horses' hooves, and the horses' hooves kept knocking on the ground, making the Huns in the oasis cry out in despair. Amid the screams of women and the cries of children, the Huns, riding bareback horses, rushed out waving a variety of weapons.

Their courage was commendable, but they rushed into battle and did not form a queue. Although the queue on Chen Cheng's side was not very dense and neat, it was much better than the other side. As soon as the confrontation was combined, more than half a hundred Huns screamed and fell off their horses. After the remaining Huns rushed out, they did not dare to turn back, and fled into the desert on horseback.

Chen Cheng did not send people to chase after him, but only divided his troops to strangle the remnants of the Huns in the oasis. Resting in this oasis was a small tribe of the Huns, who did not have too many livestock and did not have a strong fighting force. Otherwise, you wouldn't have to go deep into the desert to survive. Those powerful tribes all occupy large areas of abundant water and grass near Shuofang County and Meiji in Hetao, and they will not mix to the point of trying to survive in the desert.

It didn't take long for the Huns here to be wiped out. More than 100 women and children were brought to Chen Cheng, and looking at these weeping women and children, Chen Cheng fell into deep thought.

After waiting for a while, Xu Rong asked, "Lord, how should these people be handled?" ”

Chen Cheng looked at Yang Qiu, and Yang Qiu said with a grin: "Just cut it all." ”

Chen Cheng sighed and said, "Forget it, leave them a few injured horses, and leave them some food." ”

Yang Qiu said disappreciably: "It's also a disaster for these people to stay, it's better to kill them." ”

Chen Cheng shook his head and said, "The human head is not a leek, and it won't grow back if it's cut off." There are few people here, so let's kill one less. ”

He shouted not far away, "That day! ”

On the day with a big round face and looped legs, he trotted to Chen Cheng, nodded and said, "My lord, what do you command?" ”

Chen Cheng pointed to the women and children and asked, "According to the rules of your Huns, what should you do with the people of the hostile tribes that you caught?" ”

Without thinking, he said, "The leaders of the nobles are put to death, and the rest of the people are incorporated into the tribe." ”

"This is similar to the habit of the Wuhuan people," Chen Cheng said: "Then these people will be given to you, but you can't take them away now, let them wait here for a while." Let's talk about it when we lay down Linrong. ”

When I was in the Hexi camp, in order not to leak the news, I also needed to keep the soldiers below secret, but now that they have gone so far, as long as they are individuals, they can guess that they are going to cross the desert to fight the Huns, but I didn't expect Chen Cheng's determination to be so big that he wanted to attack Linrong directly.

That day's eyes widened, and the breath in his nostrils suddenly became heavy, and he asked in a whisper, "Are you really going to fight Linrong City?" ”

"Why else are we here? Gnawing on sand? ”

Chen Cheng asked, "Don't you dare to go?" Or do you have other thoughts and don't want to go? ”

That day was taken aback, and waved his hand again and again, "My lord, I am loyal to you, how can I have other ideas?" ”

He said cautiously: "I heard that the new Shan Yu has moved a lot of gold to Linrong. ”

That day rubbed his hands one by one, and his eyes gradually showed a look of intoxication, and said; "I heard that the gold man who was recast later is also in Linrong, and that is thousands of catties! If only you could grab it...... Hey hey........."

Chen Cheng raised his eyebrows and said, "You are a Huns!" ”

He was stunned and asked, "So what?" ”

"What are you going to do?"

That day was even more puzzled, "Why can't you do it?" ”

Chen Cheng smiled and said, "It's nothing, you go and say a few words to those women and children, just say that we won't kill them, but they don't want to be bored." I'm just kind-hearted, not soft-hearted. ”

That day nodded one by one, walked up to the Hun women and children, and spoke loudly in Xiongnu language. Gradually, the crying became quieter, and the women and children looked at everything around them with hatred and horror. Suddenly, a little boy of twelve or thirteen years old rushed out screaming, and the dagger in his hand stabbed at Na Sun.

"Look for death!" In a fit of rage, he kicked the boy over, then drew his head knife and slashed at the boy's body. The five men he brought with him were nearby, and they all roared and drew their weapons, cutting the screaming boy into meat sauce. A Hun woman rushed out screaming, and was hacked to death by Na Ri and his men.

Chen Cheng's eyelids twitched a few times, and he watched the bloody scene in front of him silently, without any other movements. In this day and age, this kind of thing happens every day, and there are often more cruel things than this.

Yang Qiu on the side watched it with relish, and even laughed out loud later. The other Hun women and children huddled together, but no one dared to blow up the stab anymore.

After a while, he put away his weapon and rubbed two handfuls on his face to wipe the blood off the stain. A little blood can be wiped away, but the smell of blood on his body lingers. He walked up to Chen Cheng and said respectfully, "My lord, I have already made it clear to them." ”

Chen Cheng nodded and said, "Very well done, go over there and pick ten horses, it will be considered a reward for you." ”

That day suddenly grinned, revealing a mouth full of yellow teeth.

After replenishing the oasis with water and having the mounts drink heartily, Chen Cheng had the soldiers slaughter the captured cattle along with some wounded horses, eat what they could eat, and roast what they couldn't finish and take them on the road. The army went on its way after a full meal. When the moon is bright and the temperature is cool, it is only right to run a few more miles.

In this way, they walked in the desert for three days, rested twice in the oasis, and finally walked out. When the team stepped onto the green plains, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, glad that they had escaped from the scorching hell. Even if it is a Hun like that day, or a Qiang person like Bali Bashi, it is the same. Although they are Hu people, they do not like the harsh environment in the desert.

After coming out of the desert, the army moved faster again. Without counting the loss of horses, the cavalry moved very fast, and could run more than a hundred miles a day. Since the main force of the Huns either ran away with Yuvro, or piled up in Beidi County, Shuofang County was extremely empty. Some of the Xiongnu tribes encountered along the way were old, weak, sick and disabled, and were crushed by Chen Cheng and his troops with a light blow.

They lost more than 600 horses along the way, and more than 1,000 more along the way. And that's when they didn't clean up the battlefield much. When it was almost time to reach Linrong, the speed of the army slowed down, and it was only sixty or seventy miles out of Pingping in a day. This was to allow the horses and soldiers to rest.

At this time, even if the Huns got the news, they would not be able to immediately summon back the main force trapped in the north. Two days later, at sunset, they finally came to Linrong.