Less than 70 miles to the west outside the Yanmen Pass, merchants from Hedong and Bingzhou established a trading base here, in fact, a defensive point centered on a warehouse. Despite the fierce fighting between the steppe tribes, it has always been a trading point and neither side will attack it.

The reason is simple, it is not only a trading point for the merchants of the Republican Army, but also a logistical supply point for the various tribes, as long as there are enough prisoners of war, or cattle and sheep, and few horses, most of which exist as war materials. As long as they can trade, they can replenish weapons, salt, and all kinds of other equipment to meet their needs in a timely manner, which is an unprecedented advantage for them.

And the merchants of the Republican Army are also very satisfied with the operation here, there are more than 100 hired guards, most of them are veterans of war, at least some combat personnel, or militia, or bandits, or from the White Polish Army, etc., just to make some money. Improve your own life. Everyone has their own reasons for coming here.

This point is called a trade point, because the Huns and Wuhuan people are called it.

"Bang bang. Bang. Bang. Rumble. "But now the battle is on.

I don't know where a group of cavalry came, I can't tell that they are from the nearby tribe, maybe not the nearby tribe, because the nearby tribe will not do such a thing that is unfavorable to themselves, although the two sides are fighting, but this is a neutral zone, both sides need supplies, if they attack and sort out, it will make them lose such a trade point, neither side will do this.

"Damn, there is some loosening of the line of defense on the eastern side, strengthen the eastern one. They're coming. The captain shouted loudly, it was a retired Republican Army captain officer, because of his rank, he was the captain of the guard here, and all the guards had to obey his arrangement.

Soon, a squad was quickly replenished, the artillery was quickly adjusted, and the cavalry who tried to cross the trench and pass through the obstacle zone was knocked down with one shot.

No tribe is going to attack here, and even though the trade point is actually a large warehouse, it's too hard to fight. No tribe would take the initiative to attack such a place, and despite the great temptation, it seems that this kind of thing never happened.

But today something like this happened.

"Has the telegram been sent?" The captain seemed to be a little nervous, but he quickly took a sip of cold water to calm down, as long as they persisted, they could get reinforcements, because they would send telegrams every day, and if they stopped sending them, it could mean that they had some kind of accident. The scouts will check and reinforcements will be dispatched.

"No, it was cut off an hour ago." The telegraph operator said helplessly. The captain was annoyed when he heard this, and if they had found out earlier, they might not have been so passive.

"Take up arms and fight." The captain put down the cup in his hand and said that it would definitely not be the nearby tribes that attacked, it could be from other tribes in the steppe, they were defeated. In order to rise as soon as possible, or to maintain the combat effectiveness of their tribe, it is normal for them to aim here and attack here, but they must hold on. Fortunately, they are holding on to the warehouse, and the only concern is that they are understaffed. Their fortresses were well built, they were all made of cement, masonry, and had strong defenses.

And state, the western suburbs of Jinyang.

In the western mountainous area, the Republican Army had built a fort there, and the main combat purpose of the fort was to provide favorable fire support to Jinyang, because it was the only commanding height nearby. It is also an excellent viewing point.

Because of the extremely important location, the headquarters of the state military district is located here.

"There were two harassing sneak attacks outside Yanmen Pass, and I think we should take the initiative to attack, otherwise, they will launch a larger-scale sneak attack, and we should take action instead of continuing to wait like this." Pei Yuanshao said extremely restlessly that the days of defense were too boring. He had to rely on alcohol every day to get himself to sleep, and war was addictive. Pei Yuanshao felt that his current situation was like this, he once considered retiring himself, organizing relevant people, forming his own caravan to go outside to fight, making money is secondary, the main thing is to be able to fight.

It's a pity that calculating the money he has on hand, he doesn't have the money to pay his subordinates at all, so he can only give up.

Pei Yuanshao is the kind of person who doesn't take money seriously, such a person spends money like running water. Can't control the money at all. It is simply impossible to have money to build a caravan.

"Don't worry, these are just small battles that happened, and the impact of the battles is not as big as it happened." Zhou Cang said very calmly, he went to the defense area is very large, and the situation is very complicated, outside the Yanmen Pass, there are many tribes running back and forth, some are defeated, and a few are defeated to form a new tribe, in short, there are not a few tribes that are too stable to stay there. The danger is not very great. Because the nomadic tribes that have become mobile pose little threat to them. This made Zhou Cang very relaxed. He didn't think any of this could threaten them to the extent that they did.

But the more times like this, the easier it is to be paralyzed, and Zhou Cang seems to be slowly falling into such a situation.

Only the belligerent Pei Yuanshao would take the initiative so actively.

"Well, what you say every time makes sense, but I don't think those are raids, you know, nomadic tribes are bandits. Robbers naturally have the logic of robbers, and when they can't survive, they will also take risks. Trust me, they're sure they'll do it. Pei Yuanshao said. But Zhou Cang still shook his head, he wanted to ensure the safety of the entire military region of Bingzhou, and he couldn't do anything about military operations outside the military region, because he lacked the necessary cavalry strength to deal with it, and it took a lot of money to build a cavalry unit, and the price of those horses was extremely expensive, and he couldn't do this.

The use of infantry and artillery to fight outside the border is extremely dangerous, because their logistical supply can be easily cut off, and if the reinforcements cannot keep up in time, the consequences are simply unimaginable. Therefore, Zhou Cang was against any kind of military adventure, and his character did not accept such a risky military action, because it was unreasonable, and even, there was no meaning at all.

But he's also trying to figure out how to solve some of these problems. He had already submitted such a report.

Later in the day, they received news that more trade points were being attacked, which Zhou Cang thought was extremely unusual, and he decided to go to the front line to check it out and report the situation to Lijiazhuang.

If a commander stays at the headquarters all the time, there is no way to know what is really going on at the front.

Lijiazhuang. Inside the War Department.

"We are seriously undernumbered in cavalry, and the creation of cavalry units is lagging behind, and there is a shortage of horses. Although we have been trading, the number of horses cannot be solved at once, and we lack enough horse farms to provide such a supplement. Jia Xu said helplessly.

"This is a suggestion from the Bingzhou Military Region, Zhou Cang, and the Bingzhou side has been in a passive defensive state, their strength is limited, and most importantly, most of them are infantry and artillery, unable to carry out mobile operations, outside the Yanmen Pass, it is the cavalry troops that are in the advantage, they do not have such an advantage. But outside the gates, there are a large number of defeated nomadic tribes, most of whom are in a straggler state. He suggested that the stragglers should be attracted to join our Republican Army to form supernumerary cavalry units, whose main purpose should be to conduct operations in a more organized manner. Shang Wu told Jia Xu about such a situation.

"I'm not in favor of that. You know, those nomadic tribes, even if they are stragglers, they still have no loyalty to speak of. The steppe has the logic of the steppe, so to speak, they are robber logic, when they are weak, they are nothing, they can obey, but, once they are strong, all sorts of problems will arise. I don't recommend it. Jia Xu shook his head and said. When the strategic center of gravity shifts southward, the problems in the north must also be properly handled, and they cannot create a greater degree of danger for themselves to solve such some things, so they do not want to see such a situation, and this situation is extremely dangerous for them, so in such a situation, Jia Xu is extremely opposed.

"Well, that's right, but there are horses among these stragglers, and if we can find a way to buy their horses, it will be easy." Shang Wu said this, not knowing what happened to those nomadic tribes in the grassland. They have all been resisting the sale of large quantities of horses to the Republican Army. Even a more favorable approach to trade will not work.

And the horses that the Republican Army got were castrated versions. It is simply impossible to build a larger horse farm on your own. The IRA tried to build its own military horse. Unfortunately, it is not possible to do this, the number of horses is too small, and the technical reserves are too small. It's a lot more difficult to set up. But imports don't solve the problem. Unless the Republican Army takes the initiative to attack and occupy the Hetao, a favorable military horse farm. Otherwise, nothing would have guaranteed that the Republican Army would build more cavalry units, and the superiority in mobility would hardly be compensated.

"Perhaps, we can consider another way, to attack from the air." Jia Xu handed a report to Shang Wu, it was the situation of the Fifth Factory, and they wanted to build more airships.