The outbreak of plague in the army in the past two days has caused panic in the people, everyone is in danger, for fear of being infected, and the soldiers and generals are guarding against each other, how to fight in this state? There is no tacit understanding between the generals at all.

Tuoba Jian's words also caused the generals present to think deeply, and then the cavalry general Yanpu stood up and hugged his fists and said: "Lord Wang, among our military horses, only Zhao Dutong's baggage battalion has not found epidemic patients so far, and their morale is the highest. ”

Some of the other generals began to whisper to each other.

Tuoba Jian asked Zhao Junsheng: "Zhao Dutong, what do you think?" ”

Of course, Zhao Junsheng would not be stupid to agree, he stood up and said to Yanpu: "General Xiaocai, I, Zhao, have no enmity with you, right?" Why do you want to hurt me like this? ”

Yanpu pretended not to understand, "What is Zhao Dutong talking about?" What Ben will say is the truth, now only your baggage battalion has the highest morale, and it has not been affected by the epidemic, only the baggage battalion is the most suitable for battle, and the other armies can't, is Ben wrong? ”

"Hmph, I only have 3,000 cavalry and less than 5,000 infantry, you can see dozens of miles away at a glance on this prairie, the cavalry of the Rouran people can choose any location as a battlefield, the infantry will not play any role at all, but will be dragged down, you let me use 3,000 cavalry to fight 10,000 iron cavalry, isn't it harmful to me? If the cavalry general is afraid of confronting the Rouran army, why don't you give me your cavalry army, and I will command them to fight the Rouran army, how about it? ”

"You ······"

Tuoba Jian immediately stopped their quarrel, "Okay, stop arguing! Generals, can you use a plan? For example, take the method of ambush, set up an ambush on the path of Pirixian's army, and attack them when they are trapped? ”

Zhao Junsheng clenched his fists and said: "Lord Wang, the humble position has already sent people to explore the terrain within a radius of one hundred and ten miles, and there is no place that can be used for ambushes, even if there is, it is far away, and we have to find a way to lure Pi Lixian's army over, but Pi Lixian is not stupid, we do not have the conditions to lure the enemy army into the ambush circle!" ”

Tuoba Jian was at a loss: "Can we only watch as Pi Li first rushed with the army to attack His Majesty's Western Route Army before and after Da Tan?" How good is that? ”

Tuoba Jian knew in his heart that he knew that Pi Li was going to attack the Western Route Army from behind, if he didn't want to find a way to intercept Pi Li Xian's army, the emperor would definitely hold a grudge when he learned the truth afterwards, if a courtier impeached, his prince would not only lose his title, but also might worry about his life, and even behead all over the house, could he not be anxious?

The generals looked at each other, and none of them could think of any good way, and in just two or three days, they could not eliminate the panic caused by the plague in the barracks.

Yu Ji thought for a while, stood up and said to King Yongchang: "Lord Wang, we can think slowly about the idea and strategy, it is impossible for the army of Pi Lixian to attack our Western Route Army with the army of Da Tan in a day or two, and his subordinates suggest that he first send a group of soldiers and horses to follow him from afar, find a way to drag Pi Lixian, slow down their marching speed, and prevent him from leaving our sight, and wait for us to think of a plan and then do something to him, I don't know what the prince thinks?" ”

Tuoba Jian agreed in his heart when he heard this, Yu Ji was right, no matter what, he couldn't let Pi Lixian's army out of sight, he had to send someone to keep an eye on him, and when he thought of a way, he immediately looked at the faces of several generals and asked, "Which general is willing to lead troops to keep an eye on Pi Lixian and drag him down?" ”

This is not a good errand, if it is in peacetime, it is just that, now the morale of all armies is low, and the soldiers have no intention of fighting at all. Can he tolerate a tail hanging from his side or behind him? In the current state of the armies, whoever goes will be unlucky!

Tuoba Jian was very annoyed in his heart, but no one shared his worries at the critical moment, he was both the commander of the Right Guard Army and the marshal of the Eastern Route Army, so he couldn't let him, the commander, lead someone to deal with Pi Lixian, right? But the Right Guard, apart from him, did not have a general who could reassure him to take on this great task.

Tuoba Jian couldn't help but look at Zhao Junsheng and said: "Junsheng, the task of dragging down Pi Lixian's army can only be entrusted to you, this king does not require you to intercept them, as long as you can slow down their march and buy time for our army to restore morale, what do you think?" ”

Zhao Junsheng knew that he couldn't hide from this, and he couldn't really let Pi Li lead the army to attack the back of the Western Route Army, Hua Mulan was still there, he couldn't let her have an accident.

However, since this task cannot be shirked, he must take it, he must strive for enough benefits for the soldiers and generals under his command, he groaned, hugged his fists and said: "The order of the prince, the humble position does not dare to disobey, but it is not easy to successfully drag Pi Lixian, the humble position needs 20,000 war horses, grain, grass, arrows, armor, and spears to be managed!" ”

If in the past, Tuoba Jian couldn't take out 20,000 war horses at all, but this way he killed, destroyed dozens of Rouran tribes, and captured a total of 7.8 million horses, although it was said that the seizures belonged to the army, but his right guard army captured more than 200,000 horses, plus the horses that the commanders of the various armies gave him filial piety, he can now directly control more than 400,000 horses, as well as cattle, sheep, furs and other materials that are simply impossible to count.

What are 20,000 war horses? As long as you can hold off the army of Pi Lixian, Tuoba Jian doesn't care, he waved his hand: "This king will give you 30,000 horses, and these 30,000 horses will be yours in the future, as long as you can drag down the army of Pi Lixian, the king will have a heavy reward afterwards, if you have the ability to defeat Pi Lixian, not only the spoils of war will go to you, but the king will also promise you the title of a general to Your Majesty afterwards!" ”

This really verifies the fact that no matter what is worthless as long as there is a large number, if hundreds of thousands of horses enter the territory of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the price of horses will inevitably fall in an avalanche, which is a hellish disaster for those horse ranchers.

Zhao Junsheng didn't have any extravagant hopes for the title of general at this time, and he didn't have the heart to serve the Northern Wei court, so it was better to give a more practical official position to be in charge of more resources and territory.

"Yes, the lowly will do everything he can!"

"Come on, take Zhao Dutong to pick 30,000 horses for him!"

Zhao Junsheng got his wish and got 30,000 good horses and a large number of war materials with enough grain, grass, arrows, armor and spears.

He returned to the camp and immediately gathered his men to discuss the matter.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have received a task that cannot be refused, the scouts sent by the king of Yongchang have detected the traces of the army commanded by the brother of the Rouran Khan, Pi Li Xian, and now the Right Guard, the Woye Army, the Huaishuo Army and the Xiao Cavalry Army are all demoralized due to the plague incident and cannot fight, the prince means to let us send troops to drag the Pi Li Xian army, wait for the other armies to recover their morale and then fight with it, Ben Du Tong can not refuse, and now only we can do it! So Pontus has brought you over to discuss how to successfully hold them back! ”

The subordinates looked at each other, and knew that this matter had been settled, and now they could only find a way to do it tactically.

Gao Xiu clasped his fists and said: "Dutong, we know very little about the situation of Pi Lixian's army, and if we want to hold them back, we must first find out the situation of Pi Lixian's army before we can formulate a strategy!" ”

Zhao Junsheng nodded, and instructed Gao Xiu: "In this way, you go to find a team of scouts, and Bendu will take them to personally investigate the enemy's situation, and you must find out their situation!" ”

Gao Xiu promised: "Obey!" ”

Zhao Junsheng instructed the others: "A few of you stay in the camp, feed the horses, and mobilize the soldiers to prepare for battle!" ”

"Yes!"

A pair of carefully selected scouts were brought to Zhao Junsheng by Gao Xiu, "All of them, everyone is ready!" ”

"Let's go!" Zhao Junsheng waved his big hand, and galloped away with Gao Xiu and this team of scouts to the southeast.

According to the information obtained by the scouts of the Right Guard, Pi Lixian's army appeared fifty miles away from the southeast, and Zhao Junsheng calculated according to the time and moved the direction of the road slightly to the west.

On this prairie, horses can run wildly, and the horse's running ability is improved by the flat terrain and the softness of the grass.

"Look, it seems to be a ranger scout of the Rouran people over there!" Gao Xiu pointed straight ahead and shouted at Zhao Junsheng.

Zhao Junsheng raised his eyes and saw three horses standing on a hill in front of him, the people on the horseback were wearing animal skins and carrying bows and arrows, they must be the ranger scouts of the Rouran people.

"Rush over!" Zhao Junsheng snorted loudly, if you want to find out the military situation of Pi Li Xian's army, you must observe it closely, now it is broad daylight, there is no way to avoid the Ranger scouts of the Rou Ran people, you can only kill them hard to get close to Pi Li Xian's army.

The Rouran Ranger Scout on the hill also found Zhao Junsheng and the others, and when they saw that there were more than a dozen of them, one of the rangers immediately turned around and disappeared, and there were still two rangers standing in place and not moving!

Zhao Junsheng immediately accelerated and rushed over, and if he wanted to get close to Pi Lixian's army, he couldn't let the Rouran Ranger scouts go back to report the news, otherwise it would attract more Rouran cavalry.

He took his bow and arrows as he galloped at high speed, and with his legs between the ups and downs, he quickly drew his bow and shot an arrow at one of the gentle scouts.

With a "whoosh", a soft cavalry on the left fell in response.

The remaining Rouran scout was taken aback, he probably didn't expect Zhao Junsheng's bow and arrow range to be so far, so he immediately hit his horse and turned around and ran away, and soon disappeared from the sight of Zhao Junsheng and the others.

When Zhao Junsheng, Gao Xiu and the others led the scout team to the hill on horseback, and then looked around, the two Rouran ranger scouts had already run down the hill one after the other, and in the line of sight in front of Zhao Junsheng and the others, there was a cavalry march about four miles away in the distance, from east to west.

An army on the march is the most likely to be detected by enemy scouts, because it is impossible to fake the number of troops during the march, as long as the enemy scouts observe it closely.

Zhao Junsheng set up a pergola and began to observe this cavalry, and from the cavalry on the way of this army, he observed the number of columns, the length of the troops, and the number of flags, so as to roughly estimate the number of its troops, and also to estimate its marching speed according to the distance it traveled in a unit of time.

Zhao Junsheng put down his hand and said to Gao Xiu: "The number of troops is about 12,000 horses, but there are about 30,000 horses, and a large number of cattle and sheep are driven behind the team, and such a marching speed can travel about sixty to seventy miles a day!" ”