The Tianshan Mountains can be said to be one of the longest mountain ranges in the world, stretching for 5,000 miles from the east-west direction of the Gobi Xingxing Gorge in Hami, China, to the Kizilkum Desert in the west of the Western Regions, this rolling mountain range may also be the most arid and desolate mountain range in the world.

Drought and desolation have been accompanied by it for thousands of years, and it seems to have become a symbol of this place for a long time.

The sun jumping out of the ridge clearly outlines the outline of the Tianshan Mountains, and in the morning sun, the ice and snow on the top of the mountain reflect the sun, like a dragon shining with golden light, undulating in the clouds, and under the dragon's words, the desolate mountains lie quietly on the earth, for thousands of years, as it has always been, nothing seems to break the tranquility of the mountains.

Everything in heaven and earth seems to be quiet. Here, time seems to stand still. Everything was silent.

Suddenly, the sound of horses' hooves from far and near broke the silence of the valley, and in the dawn of dawn, a group of knights rushed along the naturally formed path between the valleys, and in the earthy valley, this red was particularly conspicuous and eye-catching. It was like a fiery red lotus, worn from the valley, and even if it was a few miles away, the red flame in the valley could be clearly seen.

Regardless of the clothes wet by the morning dew, Yang Chengwei still urged his subordinates from time to time, he came from the Zunyi Military and Civil Mansion, he was the son of a local local official, when he entered the Lu Shi School nine years ago, he thought he was a proton, but when he came here, he found that no one was monitoring him at all, and allowing him to enter the Lu Shi School was a reward for the Tuguan - only the children of Xungui could be admitted without examination. And they, the sons of the southwestern magistrates. How can it be compared with the nobles of the Ming Dynasty? When I think of my mother's crying and crying when I left my hometown, I feel a little funny. At that time, no one could understand the actions of the imperial court, and they all believed that the imperial court was to control the local officials. Who would have thought that if it was the court's gift to the southwest officials.

Now those who were unwilling to send their sons back then may even regret their intestines, right? Sometimes, when good things come to the door, people will inevitably have all kinds of suspicions.

After graduating from the Lu Normal School for two years, Yang Chengwei did not go back to the southwest to enter the Zunyi Town Garrison, but applied to be transferred to the cavalry, he never walked out of the mountains, the first time he walked out of the mountains, he was conquered by the vastness of the plains, he liked to ride horses, like to ride horses on the grassland.

"I'd rather go to Heihe than go back to the southwest."

For the eldest son of a Tuguan who grew up in the mountains since childhood, although he knew that it was impossible, maybe after this battle was over, he would return to the southwest and return to the mountains of Zunyi. After his father's death, like his ancestors, he continued to work as a local official.

Although he was not reluctant, it was also his responsibility. It's not just about living there like your ancestors. More importantly, as a soldier of the Ming Dynasty, he must stabilize the imperial court. Maybe he can't settle the world, but at least he can settle down his hometown and let the people live a good life.

Years of subtle education have begun to influence some of his actions and ideas. His education at the Lu Shi Academy and years of living in Han China gave him very different ideas from his parents, and these subtle changes were exactly what the imperial court needed.

After many years of life in the army, Yang Chengwei never felt that he was any different from the Han people, and he was as excited as everyone else about this western expedition, and he also had an excitement of revenge.

After a night of rapid marching, they all felt a little tired, and soon in a wide area between the valleys, Yang Chengwei ordered his subordinates to stop their horses and rest, and both men and horses needed to rest.

When the brothers were feeding the war horses with water and food, Yang Chengwei did not stop, but continued to explore the road with the guide. The guide is the local native, with the attack of the official army, the local natives who had been hiding in the mountains walked out of the mountains, but the population is extremely sparse, the largest group of people, men, women and children are only a few dozen, but even so, let them get the guide, although the number is not much, but it is enough to be a guide. And the reason why these people were able to survive the butcher's knives of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was precisely because of their knowledge of the local road environment. So it's perfect to have them as guides.

Thanks to these guides, they were able to find some way to the enemy's rear in the mountains. Like the reason why they're traveling long distances right now. Coming here was at the suggestion of the guide. You want to penetrate into the enemy's rear and deal a fatal blow to the enemy.

"Honorable general, through the valley ahead, is the devil's granary."

Rashel on horseback pointed to a valley looming in the distance and said to Yang Chengwei. After Rashel's words fell, the interpreter on the other horse immediately translated his words into Chinese in Qingjiao's voice.

The interpreter is a woman!

Ayisha is a Kirgiz, when the Qing army invaded this area, thousands of Kirghiz were killed, and she was only ten years old and was taken by the Qing army like many young girls, and later they were sold to foreign lands, but unlike other girls, she was rewarded to the banner people as slaves, that is, from the master, she learned Chinese, when the Ming army attacked, she escaped from the master, and now she has become a translator, responsible for translating the guide's words into Chinese.

If it weren't for their existence. The troops at the front simply did not have the means to communicate with these native guides. This is also the reason why these women appeared on the battlefield.

Of course, they are not as delicate as ordinary women, they can also ride horses, they can march with the troops, and more often, the hatred in their hearts drives them to serve the Ming army willingly. It drove them to endure the hardships of the long march on the march.

Nodding to her. After saying that he understood her words. Yang Chengwei looked ahead again.

"Oh, that valley ahead?"

Raising the binoculars, Yang Chengwei stared at Taniguchi and asked.

"Yes, out of this mountain pass, the valley becomes extremely wide, and this river passes through the valley, and there are dozens of miles of land on both sides of the valley, and the land here is fertile, and it has always been a place for us to graze and farm in the past, and it is because of this that those pigtailed soldiers will take away our land and plant a lot of corn brought from the Han land."

Rashel hastened to explain. In the past, he lived there, and if it weren't for the Braided Army, his son and daughter would not have starved to death in the mountains, his parents would not have been killed, and even his sister had been taken away, and now he doesn't know whether he was alive or dead.

If it weren't for his great understanding of this mountain, and he had been herding sheep in this mountain since he was a child, maybe he wouldn't have been able to live until now. Like his relatives, he died under the butcher's knife of those people a long time ago.

"If there is such a large valley with more than 100,000 acres of land, there must be a lot of defenders, and if we fight over, the cavalry will definitely not be able to storm the fortifications."

Sun Ke, a staff officer of the cavalry battalion on the side, frowned and asked. Regardless of whether there is a guide or not, this area in front of you is an extremely unfamiliar area for the Ming official army, and there is not even a detailed map.

Besides, for the fishy guy next to him, Sun Ke didn't have any trust at all. Even if they have a deep hatred for the Qing captives, but the blood and sea of hatred for the enemy are not practical interests, and there are also some natives in the Qing army, if this person leads everyone to the crooked road, something will definitely happen.

Those who are not of my race will have different hearts, and even if they use these guides, they must be reserved. What if they colluded with the Manchus?

"Back to the general, there are only a few hundred braided soldiers here at most. The little one had been here before, and the pigtails here had almost all left, leaving only a few men to guard the crops, presumably thinking that they would wait for the corn to ripen before coming to collect the grain and grass. They built a stone watchtower on the north side of the hill, just guarding the mountain pass, and we will definitely pass through the stone tower, but if we go over the hill over there from here, and then enter the valley through a pass, we can go around their backs, and it is estimated that the pigtails will definitely think that no one will enter the valley through this road. ”

Rushel explained hurriedly, and even added.

"In this way, you can go directly behind their backs, and then quietly approach the pigtailed army."

"Well, you are indeed right, go around behind them, those Jiannu are only staring ahead, and they must be very lax about the rear guards who are not threatening, and this is also a good time for our army to attack."

Yang Chengwei tugged on the reins and said arrogantly.

"Let's go, when the brothers are well rested, let's lay down here, take down this fertile field, and turn the enemy's granary into our granary! More than 100,000 acres of land can produce more than 20 million catties of corn, and with these corns, tens of millions of catties of grain can be transported less in the rear! ”

Because the railway was only built to the Alashan Pass, so to the west of Alashan, the transportation of materials completely relied on horse-drawn carriages, 100,000 troops to fight, and the war horses alone needed a large amount of grain and grass every day, with these tens of millions of catties of grain, at least the same amount of grain could be transported, and for military horses, corn itself was the best feed. With these feeds, the pressure will be greatly reduced in the later stage.

"But Yang Dusi ......"

As a staff officer, Sun Ke still didn't feel at ease and wanted to dissuade him.

was bluntly interrupted by Yang Chengwei:

"What it means, I understand, in this way, send scouts to investigate first, if there is an ambush, we will naturally not take risks."

Even if the aspirant was rewarded with military merit, he did not forget his duty, and he did not become obsessed with the most basic rules of marching and fighting because of that desire.

With that, he turned back and ordered.

"Captain Zhao, you lead the sixth team and the guide into the valley in front of you to investigate first."

"Yes!"

The squad leader who received the order waved his hand and personally led his small group of cavalry to follow the guide cautiously towards a hillside, they need to climb over that mountain, and then enter another valley, in the Tianshan Mountains, there are many valleys like this, there are many seemingly dangerous passes, can pass through some inconvenient valleys, maybe those valleys are extremely complicated, but in the march and battle, there is always a surprise, but when the small group of cavalry turns over the mountain collar, there is no movement.

While waiting, Sun Ke picked up the binoculars from time to time and looked into the distance, wanting to see some people from the sixth team, but there was no movement on the top of the mountain. Seeing that the time passed minute by minute, he couldn't help but say to Yang Chengwei again, who was not at ease about this matter.

"Dusi, I look at this matter, let's slow down for a while, if you have to take this place, report to the town commander, draw some artillery teams over, and then use the artillery team to bombard the stone fort."

Although Sun Ke, as a staff officer, is equivalent to a "supervising army" to a certain extent, the battalion capital division still has decision-making power, and Yang Chengwei said with a smile about Sun Ke's suggestion.

"Oh, how can this work! Maybe as soon as we report, the brothers of the infantry team will come over to pick the picks, there are mountains everywhere, our cavalry team is to be a ranger, responsible for the periphery of the guard, or else we will escort a material, where is our turn to attack the enemy, and when the battle is over, maybe the brothers have not earned any credit, and in the end, when the meritorious deeds are rewarded, the brothers have no military merits, even the division of the field is several percent less than others, I have to think about the future of the brothers! ”

Yang Chengwei even deliberately raised his voice and said to the brothers, sure enough, those brothers nodded their heads when they listened, indeed, since the Western Expedition, although Jiannu has insisted, but most of the time, with artillery bombardment and infantry attack, it is invincible along the way, and it is not the turn of the cavalry to exert its power at all, it is simply watching the play on the sidelines, there is no military merit, Xuntian will be much less, of course they understand this truth, and they are willing to follow the capital to earn military merit now.

Of course, Yang Chengwei also has his own selfishness, he hopes to get a military merit that belongs to him, even if he returns to his hometown in the southwest in the future, he can show off in the village, and even this military merit can allow him to improve his status in many toasts. Why the status of Shizhu and Youyang Tusi is respected, it is precisely because they have made great contributions to the Ming Dynasty, and Shizhu Tusima Wannian is the grandson of Qin Liangyu and the hereditary loyal marquis.

However, none of them had the military merits of the Xingqian Dynasty or the military merits of the Xingqian Dynasty. Therefore, Yang Chengwei is eager to obtain his own military merits through this attack. In this way, the ancestors will be glorified, so that when everyone sees the Yang family, they will show envious eyes.

Seeing that Du Si was still stubbornly insisting on his decision, Sun Ke couldn't help but sigh in his heart. Just as he was about to speak again to dissuade him, the members of the sixth team who had entered the valley earlier finally raised the signal of safety.

Seeing this situation, Yang Chengwei, who was bent on achieving meritorious service, naturally would not pay attention to Sun Ke's bitter persuasion. He immediately led the horse and walked up the hillside, and at the same time ordered.

"All forward!"

Seeing that the chief officer was rushing forward, the eight hundred cavalry behind him naturally followed. Because they could not ride horses over mountains, they could only lead their horses, and after leading them over several hills, the exhausted warriors saw a narrow valley, which was very narrow compared to this wide valley, and even the narrowest place could only allow one horse to pass through.

Watching the large group of people enter this narrow valley from the halfway up the mountain, Sun Ke's expression became more and more serious, and he looked up vigilantly at the front, such a valley may allow the army to pass, but it is also more conducive to the enemy to set up an ambush here! Despite his anxiety, he eventually followed the brothers into the narrow valley.

Both sides of this valley are almost vertical mountain walls, the more you go inside, the narrower it becomes, perhaps, this is the sheep's intestine-like mountain road mentioned in the book, for Yang Chengwei from the southwest, he does not feel unfamiliar with such a road, of course, he also knows that such a mountain road is full of danger, so he specially ordered the troops to increase the distance.

Be careful, there's nothing wrong with that.

There was a distance of three or four horses between men, and as they passed through the narrow valley, the warriors couldn't help but look up at the surrounding cliffs, the dim valley made everything here extremely strange, and there seemed to be some danger hidden in the deep valley.

If the Qing army set up an ambush here, it would be really miserable!

Despite their inner tension, in the end, Sunke's fears did not materialize, and the cavalry passed smoothly through the seemingly dangerous valley into a wide valley, and further ahead, they even saw a continuous stream of cornfields in front of them, and a green was very striking in the surrounding desolation.

"Look, how about it, let's come over smoothly."

Just when Sun Ke was about to breathe a sigh of relief, and Yang Chengwei wanted to laugh at his caution, suddenly a series of violent explosions came from behind them, accompanied by the explosion, and a choking smoke spewed out from the valley they had just passed.

"Enemy attack!"

The sound of the explosion behind him, so that Sun Ke, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, immediately reacted, and when he shouted these two words, accompanied by a continuous explosion, the rain of gravel flew out of the smoke halfway up the mountain, and then fell on their heads, those gravel small ones are as big as fists, and the big ones are like watermelons, and when thousands of stones are thrown, the soldiers are either stoned to death or injured, they turn around and want to retreat, but the valley behind them has been blocked by the explosion.

The cavalry, who had been beaten by the sneak attack, scurried like headless flies under the rain of stones, and the shouts of the warriors and the neighing of the horses echoed in the valley......

Looking at his comrades-in-arms who had their heads smashed and seeing that the retreat had been broken, Yang Chengwei immediately drew his knife and pointed forward.

"Brothers, follow me and ...... forward"

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