(It's so powerful, it really poked the toad giant old chrysanthemum..... The next step is to keep our tender chrysanthemums, right? ）

Chapter 540: Raising Soldiers

Back at the cottage, when it was almost time, Fang Jie's white lion caused a commotion when he entered the cottage door, fortunately, the white lion didn't seem to have much interest in those surprised soldiers, and just followed Fang Xie honestly. In fact, Fang Xie himself is also strange, this lion is obviously the first time he has met him, but why does he behave like this?

Sun Kaidao and others welcomed Fang Xie into the big tent, and the generals above the fourth rank did not sleep, the lights in the big tent were extremely bright, and the flames crackled and exploded.

"The Great General"

Sun Kaidao explained the situation in detail, and then said while marking it on the map: "You see, Gao Kaitai rebelled in Hexi Road, and blocked the river with Wang Yiqu, the general of the water division, and then it took less than a month to capture Hedong Road. ”

"With the loss of Hedong Road, the emperor's way back to Chang'an is completely broken. Even if he crossed Mangdang Mountain to Huangyang Road, Luo Yao would be waiting there for the same road. The emperor probably never imagined that the people he arranged at the most critical moment would raise the flag to rebel just after the end of the counterinsurgency. Gao Kaitai led the more than 200,000 soldiers assigned to him by the emperor, plus Wang Yiqu's nearly 100,000 sailors, the soldiers were so strong, how could the local county soldiers be able to stop it. ”

"So ......"

Sun Kai apologized and said: "My subordinates know that the general has returned, so I asked Chen Xiaoru to rush over immediately and ask you to go back to the cottage to discuss matters." ”

Fang Xie frowned slightly and listened to Sun Kaidao's words, and actually straightened out these things in his mind: "Are you worried...... The emperor knows that there is no way to go east and no way to go south, and he will return to Jinyang? ”

"Right"

Sun Kaidao leaned over and said, "If the emperor returns to Jinyang, I'm afraid that he will send someone to contact us immediately." What the subordinates are worried about is that although the soldiers have many complaints about the emperor, after all, they have been soldiers of the Great Sui for so many years, and if the emperor makes any promises and benefits, it is difficult to guarantee that the soldiers will not have any changes in their minds. The emperor is now desperate and must recruit more men to help him open the way back to Chang'an......"

"It's not just us, I'm afraid that the emperor won't even fight against Meng Wansui Yin Poshan's rebels anymore."

Fang Xie snorted: "You guessed right, the battle situation has changed, the emperor abandoned the Black Flag Army before because he thought it was worth it, but now our Black Flag Army has become a knife he must go back to." ”

"Therefore, my subordinates ask the general to make a decision as soon as possible."

Sun Kaidao pointed to the map and said: "The subordinates have sent a large number of flying fish robes into Huangyang Dao, and in the more than one month since the general left, there has been news from Huangyang Dao, and the flying fish robe has surveyed several places suitable for garrisons, which is quite secretive. As long as our whereabouts are well protected, we will not be noticed. Spent the winter in a remote place on Huangyang Road, and made a decision depending on the battle situation after the warm spring next year. ”

Fang Xie was silent for a while, shook his head and said, "Let's withdraw all the flying fish robes sent to Huangyang Dao, let's not go to Huangyang Dao." ”

"Huh?"

Sun Kaidao was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously glanced at Fang Xie and suddenly understood: "What does the general mean, go out of Qingxia to the prairie?" ”

Fang Xie nodded, sat down and said to everyone: "In the past month or so, I have traveled all the way west out of the canyon, traveling nearly 10,000 miles, and I also have a good understanding of the current situation of Meng Yuan. The Mengyuan royal court and the Buddhist sect were fighting fiercely, and the Buddhist followers and herdsmen left their homes and rushed to the Great Snow Mountain to protect their holy land, and the men and horses who supported Koktai Mengke also gathered there, and the two sides fought day by day, and the blood flowed like a river. The current Mengyuan is not crowded for thousands of miles. ”

"Since I left the canyon and arrived at Qinlin Gol, I have not encountered a large tribe or a regular army. This war will not be able to be won or lost in a moment, and even if the winner is divided, how much damage will the strength of both sides be? Besides, we didn't go to settle on the grassland. ”

Fang explained: "We need to rest, and the most important thing is to replenish the war horses."

He smiled: "Now on the grassland, there are not many people, and cattle, sheep and horses are not uncommon." Relying on these things, our soldiers can eat meat every day to survive this winter, and then we can recruit young and strong people and take them to the grassland for training. ”

"Besides, we have the final say."

"That's right!"

Sun Kaidao's eyes lit up: "We have built a stone wall in the canyon, as long as we send someone to guard it, no one can easily pass it." Could it be that at this time, the emperor will still consume heavy troops to storm it? Since the grassland is already an undefended place, it is indeed better than going to Huangyang Road to adventure. The main thing, as the general said, is to replenish the war horses. ”

"Just one year"

Sun Kaidao said with a smile: "If we are lucky, we can turn all these 50,000 people into cavalry!" ”

The generals were not used to this sudden change, but after thinking about it, they realized that it was indeed the best choice. Eating the cattle and sheep abandoned by the herdsmen on the grassland, riding the war horses they lost, spending this winter comfortably, taking advantage of the fact that the Mengyuan people had no time to take care of them, they used a year or even longer to develop their strength, and waited until they were strong before returning to the northwest, at that time the emperor was already dead.

What's more, the canyon is in the hands of the Black Flag Army, and they can enter and exit.

"This trip to the grassland."

Fang Xie smiled and said: "My biggest gain is to find that the Mengyuan Rebellion is even more complete than the Great Sui Rebellion, a day galloping horses for three hundred miles, halfway to see cattle and sheep herds of pasture and fertile grass, but not a single wolf cavalry can see it." The large tribes are in or on the way to the Great Snow Mountain, and the smaller tribes are afraid of being implicated and migrate south...... Now out of the canyon, at least within a few thousand miles, even the people with armor can't be seen, the grassland people believe in immortality, but now their immortality has prepared gifts for us. ”

"Tianyu...... How can you not take it? ”

……

……

Although Fang Jie's decision was a little abrupt, it was immediately supported by everyone. Now their strength is not enough to clash with either side, if the emperor surrenders Meng Wansui and Yin Poshan, and then amnesty the rebels, it will not take long to estimate that he will be able to reorganize hundreds of thousands of troops, and then the emperor will definitely raise troops to march eastward.

At this time, the emperor would definitely not go south to fight Luo Yao again.

And Luo Yao is estimated to have some response, leaving the soldiers and horses to seal all the Huangyang Dao and prevent the emperor from going south, and then he himself may rush to Ye Jinnan's army and command a million troops to go straight to the south of the Yangtze River. Someone once said that whoever wins Jiangnan wins the world. The land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River has no shortage of money and food, a large population, and sufficient soldiers. As long as you occupy the south of the Yangtze River, you can also rule the river with the Yang family if you are not in a good situation.

If nothing else, Luo Yao must first pacify the south of the Yangtze River and then march north. His army was too large and he urgently needed supplies in a land of abundance. The farther the battle is farther and the longer the battle line becomes, the more impractical it becomes to transport grain from Xinkoucang. Across the river, it is not easy to transport the grain from Xinkoucang to the south of the Yangtze River.

Although it seems that the Black Flag Army's retreat into the prairie is very passive, and even an evasive move, it is indeed extremely beneficial for the future use of troops. Now that the grassland is abundant, the water and grass are abundant, and the cattle and sheep discarded by the herdsmen can survive the winter in peace.

After the emperor and Gao Kaitai fought, Fang Xie came back with the Black Flag Army, and when the time came, whether it was going south or east, he would have a strong cavalry team in his hand, and he would have the strongest mobility, and no one could help it.

After deciding, the army was ready to leave.

The well-repaired Fangu City cannot be discarded, and it is the lookout post of the Black Flag Army. Fang Xie left 2,000 men and horses to defend the city, and the rest of the people left the Central Plains and walked through the canyon into the grassland. A few years later, when the soldiers set foot on this meadow for the second time, everyone was in a strange mood.

Back then, they came with great spirit, but blood flowed all over the ground.

This time, they did not encounter any enemies. Those small tribes who didn't have time to retreat, where did they dare to provoke tens of thousands of elite Great Sui soldiers.

Fang Xie ordered Fan Gu's garrison to rotate, and at this time Fan Gu was one eye, watching the changes in the northwest of the Great Sui and how the emperor struggled at the last moment.

While the emperor was still gathering the rebels on the side of Mangdang Mountain, Fang Xie also left a group of people to recruit strong people to join the army. The people all know that General Fang loves the people like a son, so the people who signed up were very enthusiastic.

After arriving on the grassland, Fang Xie chose the location of the army in the pasture of Mandu Latu. This is the most abundant grassland within a radius of 2,000 miles, after the Mandu Banner was destroyed, the neighboring banner owners continued to send people to encroach, and some small tribes also migrated here to escape oppression. Later, after the war, the place of Mandu Banner became a paradise for small tribes because there was no flag owner.

Fang Xie sent Chen Dingnan and Xiahou Baichuan to each take a thousand light horses to search on the grassland, and when they encountered small tribes, they asked their leaders to take cattle, sheep and horses to Mandu Banner to worship, and the leaders of those small tribes did not dare to resist, so they could only obey their orders. In a month, the Black Flag Army collected no less than 100,000 cattle and sheep and tens of thousands of war horses on the grassland.

It was so easy to get it, and now all the generals of the Black Flag Army were crazy with joy. The benefits stimulated their enthusiasm, and the generals of each battalion took turns to go out to expand the scope of the search, whether there was a master or not, and pulled back when they saw the war horse. However, according to Fang Jie's instructions, the Black Flag Army only took half of the war horses from those small tribes, and Fang Xie was worried that they would take too much, and these small tribes together were also a not weak combat force, so they tried their best not to touch the troubles that could be avoided.

By the time winter reached the northwest, Fang Jie's people had already searched all over the three thousand miles.

Meng Yuan's war horses are so shocking that they will let the Black Flag soldiers have one horse in a few months!

Such a huge harvest makes the soldiers of the Black Flag Army very happy every day.

The last thing that is lacking in the grassland is horses, cattle and sheep. This is the happiest winter that the soldiers of the Black Flag Army have had since the Western Expedition, and they eat meat every day, which is much better than living on the Wolf Milk Mountain.

Fang Xie sent out a large number of scouts to inquire about the news from the royal court, and the soldiers who remained in Fangu had to send information to Mandu Banner every ten days according to his request.

It looks like this winter is going to be so easy.

Happiness and contentment.

But just when people were gradually getting used to comfort, a piece of news made Fang Xie pay special attention to it.

November

The Northern Barbarians put together the most powerful army they had ever had, about 150,000 people entered the grassland from the northernmost part of the Wolf Milk Mountain, and on the way, these Northern Barbarians launched an attack on the Northern Liao Land to try to seize the grain and grass of the war horses, but were killed by the 20,000 Han cavalry led by Wanyan Chongde himself.

In desperation, the Northern Barbarians had no choice but to negotiate peace, and then walked around the 100,000 mountains and entered the grassland.

The barbarians are coming

Moreover, this is only an advance army, and if they find that there is no defense on the grassland, they will immediately scream with excitement like a dragon who has found a treasure. Millions of northern barbarian tribes will cross the mountains and mountains and pour into the grassland, and the barbarians who have survived in the extremely harsh environment for many years will feel that the grassland is paradise.

If the Northern Barbarians don't open their eyes to provoke the Black Flag Army to grab territory

Maybe this winter won't be boring.