Five hundred miles west of Yanmen Pass, in the midst of ice and snow, a group of 2,000 Zhao cavalry was marching with difficulty.

The snow particles on the grassland hit people like bullets. The leather armor was beaten so loudly that no one dared to wear bronze armor in the ice and snow. Bronze armor is easy to get on the skin, and if you don't lose a layer of skin, you don't want to tear it off.

"The north wind swept the white grass and folded, and the snow flew in August. ”

In December on the steppe, it is simply ice. The steam exhaled by people will quickly form a layer of frost on the beard and eyebrows, and even the skin of the face seems to be frozen on the face.

Zhao Guofei's riders kept exhaling white air, and the snow on the ground was already above the horse's knees.

The group walked in the snow with great difficulty.

"Wow! Whoops! ......" The war horses were spewing white gas, and it seemed that they didn't even have the strength to snort.

"My lord, we can't go on like this. If this continues, we will freeze to death before we find the Huns......" One of his soldiers shouted with his mouth open, ignoring the wind and snow. His last shout was stuffed back into his mouth by a violent hurricane, and the few words he uttered were mercilessly shattered in the wilderness by the wind and snow.

"The general has an order, the logistics of the Huns must be destroyed, otherwise Yanmen will be difficult to protect!" Zhao Jun's partial general Li Bao still insisted on advancing, and constantly sent scouts to search around.

At this moment, a scout in the distance heard him before he arrived.

"General, we have found the winter pasture of the Huns, just ten miles ahead." A scout rode back with great difficulty.

"Haha...... The sky does not live up to my big Zhao, the Huns are finished. Zhao Junbian general Li Bao looked up to the sky and laughed, "The order, the brothers drink all the mare's milk wine, rest for a while, and after recuperation, they will go to kill all the cattle and sheep of the Huns." ”

"No." The cavalry of the Zhao army was also very happy, and after walking for three days and three nights, they finally caught the tail of the Huns.

Two thousand Zhao flying cavalry attacked the pastures of the Xiongnu. The Huns, on the other hand, numbered only a thousand people, and were quickly dispersed by being outnumbered.

In desperation, hundreds of remnants of the Hun cavalry had no choice but to flee.

"Kill! Kill all the cattle and sheep! Even if you can't cut it to death, you have to let these cattle and sheep get hurt! The wolves on the steppe will help us bite these cattle and sheep to death! Zhao Jun's general Li Bao was impatient to issue an order.

On the one hand, reinforcements from the Huns would soon arrive; On the other hand, although the steppe wolf cannot eat all these thousands of cattle and sheep in a moment, their ferocious nature will drive them to bite all the livestock. And the cattle and sheep that have been bitten by wolves, no one dares to eat them. Because the wolf teeth of the steppe wolf contain a lot of bacteria, it is easy to transmit diseases. This is what the grassland people say, the most poisonous thing on the grassland is not the fangs of poisonous snakes, but the fangs of wolves!

The beast obviously can't eat so many cattle and sheep, so why should it kill so many cattle and sheep?

Biologically, this behavior is called "killing" behavior. The so-called "killing" refers to the behavior of some carnivores killing more prey than they eat at one time. Felines such as lions and leopards, canines such as wolves and foxes, bears such as polar bears, and weasels and other weasels all have this "excessive behavior". For example, in Africa, when the wildebeest migrates, members of a lion pack will stay at the wildebeest's pass, and when they pass by, they will go crazy and kill. Polar bears can kill more than a dozen narwhals in one go; A wolf pack can kill hundreds of reindeer in a relatively short period of time; A leopard can kill dozens of goats and arrange their carcasses in a neat line. For example, the leopard cat, a small cat known as the "chicken tiger", often comes to the village to catch chickens and can kill several at a time; Weasels can bring more losses to farmers in sneaking up on chicken coops or rabbit houses, and a single weasel can bite all the chickens in a chicken coop or the rabbits in a rabbit pen; Although the red fox belongs to the small canine family, it is also crazy, and a zoologist in the Netherlands once witnessed a red fox burrowing into the chicken coop at night and killing all the chickens; Even if the owl is well-fed, it will not let go of the vole when it sees it......

Li Bao, the general of the Zhao army, led two thousand Zhao flying horses for thousands of miles, and finally bulldozed more than a dozen winter pastures of the Huns, and was very lucky to join up with a friendly army.

"The back team becomes the front team, let's go back. Even if the Huns reached the Yanmen Pass, they would freeze and starve to death in this wind and snow. May God bless, this heavy snow will trap those damned Huns for three days and three nights. Zhao Junbian general Li Bao loudly conveyed the order, and the entourage of his own soldiers was amnesty.

The guys who had just dragged the march, all of them were rabbits like arrows, and they ran happily in the direction of Yanmen. As long as they can return to Yanmen City, they will not only have a warm house to live in, but also hot soup to drink, which is naturally far better than this wilderness.

At this time, the population size of the Han ancestors was far from enough to control the land. The entire Warring States period had a population of only about 30 or 20 million, except for a few large cities with a population of one million such as Xianyang and Handan. In an ordinary small town, there are only 10,000 or 20,000 people. In the border areas, it is still a common phenomenon that the land is vast and sparsely populated.

The more we go to the frontier, the more prominent the contradiction of insufficient population becomes. For example, Yanmen, an important town in the north of Zhao State, has a population of only more than 50,000 people, and the garrison is less than 80,000. On the grassland, a lonely city could not be defended at all. Therefore, Zhao Guocai relied on the mountains near Yanmen City to build the Great Wall for thousands of miles.

Li Mu, the general of Zhao State, stood on the gate of Yanmen and looked towards the grassland. Smoke and dust billowed between them, and cavalry was constantly galloping back and forth, as if they were doing a large-scale assembly. Looking into the distance, the tents seemed to be able to line up all the way to the horizon. Li Mu suddenly felt his scalp tingle, this was the largest invasion of the Huns in recent years.

At this time, the Xiongnu were alone in the big tent, and a heated discussion was unfolding.

"Da Danyu, Li Mu is too cunning, he actually attacked our rear pasture." The Aries King, Sumhorn, rushed over and reported.

"What, isn't the pasture five hundred miles away? In this ice and snow, can the cavalry of the Zhao State really fly? The head of the Xiongnu king, Mandan, asked in shock.

"Da Dan Yu, the cavalry of the Zhao State is extremely fierce, I'm afraid they have already planned a surprise attack." Zuo Xian Wang Touhe reminded.

"Da Danyu, the cavalry of Zhao State was too poisonous, they did not cut down all the cattle and sheep, but after cutting the cattle and sheep, they threw the cattle and sheep to the wolves. What can I do? The cattle and sheep that the wolves have bitten are not eaten by the grassland people! Aries King Subu Horn added.

The title system of the Xiongnu is first of all the Xiongnu single to the largest, and below is the prince, the left and right virtuous kings, and the left and right valley kings; These four kings are the most noble kings common, called the "four horns", and then the Xiongnu are all tribal leaders and small kings, these princes and nobles are under the control of each other, and they do not belong to each other. Under the princes and nobles, there are also civil and military generals such as the Grand Commander and the Great Danghu.

Although the Xiongnu tribal alliance is now a loose tribal alliance, Toumandanyu relies on the powerful Xiongnu headquarters to suppress other small tribes. For example, the leader of the Aries can only be honored as the king of the Aries in the future, and the king of the left and right, the king of the left and right valley is naturally higher than the tribal leader Xiao Wang, and they are all under the command of the head of the Xiongnu king, and they are not subordinate to each other.

Therefore, the current Xiongnu tribal alliance vaguely has the rudiments of a country.

"In that case, today we Huns will go south to train our troops. Tell the order to go down, kill the horses and sheep, and let the brothers be happy! "The head of the Huns, Mandan, is now more of a king.

"Big order is in the name of the UK!" Seeing this, Zuo Xian Wang Touhe put his mind at ease and thought: Since it is a military training, then naturally he will not attack the city. The people of the grassland know that there is a shortage of cattle and sheep, so naturally they cannot stay under the fortified city for a long time.

In this way, a huge war is extinguished!

Zhao Guofei will Li Mu, and he is really wise and brave!

After the Huns retreated, Li Mu hurriedly sent a messenger, and Pegasus reported to Zhao Qian, the king of Zhao, naturally asking for merit for the soldiers.

Handan, Zhao State, Zhao King's Palace.

"Great King, General Li Mu defeated the invasion of the Huns, congratulations! Meritorious soldiers should be rewarded! Zhao Jiajin, the son of Zhao State, said that although the son Zhao Jia was abolished as the crown prince and missed the throne, he was known for his ability and fame, and he still supported his younger brother Zhao Qian, King Zhao.

"Of course! Spread the widow's oral message: reward meritorious soldiers...... "Zhao Qian, the king of Zhao, was about to issue a reward, but was interrupted by a person! Who is this person? How bold it is!

This person is none other than Guo Kai, a traitor of Zhao State, as the favorite minister of two generations of King Zhao, Guo Kai is now almost single-handedly covering the sky in the officialdom of Zhao State.

"Wait, Great! The old minister has something to say. Guo Kai, a traitor of the Zhao State, interrupted the words of Zhao Qian, the king of Zhao.

Although Zhao Qian, the king of Zhao, was a little dissatisfied, he still breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "What do you suggest?" ”

"My lord, it is not appropriate to make a big deal in the northern frontier at this time." Guo Kai, the traitor of Zhao State, paused and said in an astonishing voice.

"Why?" Zhao Qian, the king of Zhao, asked very puzzled, and even the other ministers were very curious.

"King, the heart of the tiger and wolf of the Qin State, next year or the year after, he will definitely raise troops again! And the Zhao State continued to lose troops and generals, leaving only 100,000 elite soldiers in the north, how could they be able to hold on to the wild land for a long time? If the Qin army attacked, would the king want to send elite troops from the north to the south? Guo Kai, a traitor of Zhao State, said slowly.

"Naturally, Handan is more important, but the three counties of Yunzhong, Yanmen, and Daijun in the north are all foundations laid by the ancestors, how to properly dispose of them?" Zhao Wang Zhao Qian thought for a while and asked worriedly.

"Great King, except for Daijun, which is barely suitable for cultivation and good for defense, Yunzhong and Yanmen are vast and sparsely populated, and it is not a pity to abandon them. It is better to migrate the people into Dai County and cultivate with all their might, which will definitely alleviate the grain and grass crisis. As for the existence of Yunzhong and Yanmen, it is just to obtain war horses. But as long as our Zhao cavalry is still there, then the grassland will naturally not be able to escape. Guo Kai, a traitor of Zhao, proposed a compromise solution.