I wish you all a happy Dragon Boat Festival and all your wishes come true! I also have a wish during the Dragon Boat Festival, that is...... Get more red tickets......

Chapter 197: The Eve of the War

When there are only two days left before the Spring Festival, the arrangements in the palace are actually almost complete. The huge and magnificent Tai Chi Palace is lit up with lights, and the festive red color adds another beauty to the originally solemn place. The palace people also changed into new clothes, and when they met back and forth, they tirelessly said auspicious words to each other.

In the camp of the Sui army in the northwest, this kind of celebration is missing.

The army has been out of the customs for several months, although it has conquered Nirvana City, and has advanced 500 miles of Mandu Banner territory, but this is by no means too much to celebrate, according to the original plan, this time should have occupied the entire territory of Mandu Banner. After all, Mandu Latu had no more than 50,000 troops in his hands, and even if he added those herdsmen who participated in the war, there was still a big gap in strength compared with the 700,000 Great Sui soldiers who were armed to the teeth.

In fact, the original intention of this war was to take the Mengyuan Mandu flag.

More than 2,000 miles of pasture, tens of millions of livestock, hundreds of thousands of herdsmen, if these are all won, the results are brilliant enough.

There is no problem with the plan specified by the Ministry of War, but the battle situation just can't be opened.

After the first battle, after the 2,000 elite cavalry under the command of Mandu Wolf was almost lost, he retreated to Nirvana City with the remnants of a few hundred cavalry, but how could he hold it with just these few hundred troops? Moreover, the army of the Great Sui is familiar with the siege as if recalling an event that happened yesterday. Although the most recent war dates back to more than 20 years ago, the soldiers of the Great Sui are not a little jerky about siege warfare.

A small city of Nirvana, which was brought down with almost no effort. The Mandu wolf fled with less than thirty men, but before he left, he poisoned all the cattle in the city. Not only in Nirvana City, but also in the Mandu Banner, the tribes of the Mandu Banner withdrew in an orderly manner at the beginning of the war, and all the livestock that could not be taken away were poisoned.

The corpses of these animals were not even used by the Sui army to make food.

Wherever the army passed, the soldiers looked at the frozen carcasses of the animals that had fallen to the ground, and the faces of the soldiers were distressed. So many cattle and sheep, and even war horses, were poisoned like this. Those Mengyuan barbarians can really do it, and for the Sui army, which lacks war horses, it is a huge loss to be unable to harvest.

According to the plan, after the raid on Nirvana City, the army would transport the looted cattle back to the eastern edge of the Wolf Milk Mountain, but now, although they were stepping on the five hundred miles of grassland of the Meng Yuan barbarians, they felt that they had found nothing.

The general manager of the expedition to the west, Yang Kai, the king of Xujun, has been in a bad mood.

Originally, he planned to take out a batch of captured livestock and slaughter the three armies during the Chinese New Year, but now the things snatched from the Mengyuan people can't even feed a soldier and horses! Without livestock, what's the use of asking for these 500 miles of pasture?

"Lord ......"

The military department Shangshu Mou Liangbi hesitated for a moment, and couldn't help but persuade: "Although we didn't capture the cattle, sheep and horses of the Mengyuan barbarians as expected, the war can't be regarded as unsmooth, after all, the army has penetrated five hundred miles, and our logistics supplies are very sufficient. Even if there are not enough cattle and sheep to work on the army, there will be no shortage of wine and meat. ”

Yang Kai sighed and said, "I feel ashamed of your trust. ”

There were only two people in the room, him and Mou Liangbi, so there was no taboo for him to say many things: "Although there is enough grain and grass, according to the plan, after taking Nirvana City, the army actually does not need to transfer grain and grass from the pass." What Your Majesty is looking forward to is the good news we sent to Chang'an City, not the current situation! ”

Mou Liangbi sighed and said: "The army is not united, how easy is it to win a big victory?" Lord Wang, look at the faces of those generals, and then look at the faces of those governors...... Where do they have a little enterprising mind, they clearly want to force the prince and his ministers to flee back to Chang'an City in embarrassment! ”

"You can't say that."

Yang Kai shook his head and said, "The armies have not slackened off in their attacks. ”

"There is no slack in the march, but many battles that can be easily won are fought so anxiously, how can these people be worthy of His Majesty's trust!"

"Or I haven't been able to coordinate it."

Yang Kai said with some sadness: "Your Majesty handed over this errand to me, if I don't do it well, I am incompetent." ”

"Why should the prince take all the fault on himself!"

Mou Liangbi said: "I have already written a fold, please give Shang Fang the sword to the prince." There is nothing that can calm them, and they have no reverence for the prince! ”

Yang Kai waved his hand and said, "Since the founding of the Great Sui Dynasty, there has never been a commander holding His Majesty's Shang Fang Sword to lead the troops. If you can rely on the majesty of your majesty to command the army, it is precisely the incompetence and shame of the commander. When the banquet is held the day after tomorrow, I will discuss with the generals, this war can no longer be delayed, how huge is the daily consumption of 700,000 troops and millions of people? Even if my Great Sui is strong, I can't afford such an unwarranted waste for too long. ”

At this time, suddenly the soldiers outside said loudly: "Li Yuanshan, the general of the right Xiaowei, Jin Shixiong, the general of the left Xiaowei, Pei Huan, the general of the left army, and the general Yu Zhengdong, the right general, ask to see him." ”

"Please!"

Yang Kai hurriedly got up, and Mou Liangbi stood up with a wry smile.

The four great generals rushed in, and then gave Yang Kai a salute. Yang Kai hurriedly stepped forward to help him, and said with a smile: "I just came back from the promotion, what's the matter, is there any urgent military affairs?" ”

Among the four generals, the oldest is Jin Shixiong, the general of Zuo Xiaowei, the Great Sui has the most garrisons in the northwest, and four of the sixteen guards are arranged in the northwest. The imperial court's wariness of Meng Yuan has never weakened in the slightest. In this westward expedition, the soldiers and horses of the four guards in the northwest are also well-deserved main forces.

Jin Shixiong said with a smile: "There is no urgent military affairs, just come to Wang Ye to ask for saliva to drink, by the way, how to spend the Chinese New Year's Eve the day after tomorrow." ”

These things had already been said when the account was raised before, so Yang Kai knew that the four of them must not have heard it before their ears were bulging.

He ordered someone to serve tea, and then sat down in the coach's seat and said: "I don't have any good tea here, Wu Yiyi has returned to Chang'an City, I have already drunk all the good tea he brought with him, if you are here for this, then you will be disappointed." ”

Jin Shixiong and the others laughed, and Li Yuanshan said with a smile: "Why is the prince so stingy, I don't believe that you really don't have any inventory left." ”

Yang Kai said: "I still want to take back Chang'an City to show off with others, and the rest of the little will definitely not be taken out." ”

General Yu Zhengdong smiled and said: "Actually, I didn't come specifically to ask for tea, but I still want to ask the prince when to march?" When the account was raised, some words were not easy to say directly in front of the people below, and they were worried that if they dragged it out, it would be more and more difficult to fight when Meng Ge's reinforcements arrived. The men and horses of the Mandu Banner are only about sixty or seventy thousand, but it is estimated that Meng Ge's Golden Horde cavalry will arrive in half a month at most. ”

Yang Kai couldn't help but be stunned, and said in his heart, why did these people suddenly change their sex?

……

……

After several months of marching, there has not been a real hard battle, and it is too big to attribute it to Meng Yuan. There are 20,000 miles from the Mengyuan Golden Horde to the Mandu Banner, and when the reinforcements from the Golden Horde are assembled, they will not arrive at all in a few months. And the banner owners of the other banners, without the orders of the Great Han Mengge, could not lead their troops to leave their fiefdoms at will, which gave the Sui army an opportunity.

In fact, the reason why Mandu Latu has not waited for reinforcements until now is that the discord between him and the banner owners of Mengyuan is even greater. For example, the Keqin Banner next to the Mandu Banner, the contradiction between the flag owner Keqin Lelang and the Mandu Latu has been going on for a long time. Mandu Latu was dissatisfied with the small size of his fiefdom and encroached on the pastures of the Keqin Banner. It's not that there hasn't been a conflict between the two flags for this, it's just that no one can tear their faces and fight.

Mandu Banner was captured by the Sui army for at least 500 miles of grassland, and Keqin Lelang was happy to watch the play. Anyway, there are ancestral laws where the banner owners are not allowed to take troops out of their fiefdoms at will, and the Great Khan Meng Ge can't really do anything with him. Besides, he didn't think that the Sui people could easily take down the entire Mandu banner.

Mandu Latu is a notoriously madman, even if the Sui people don't come to fight his idea, he still wants to beat the wolf milk mountain, the Sui people come to the door by themselves, and it would be strange if Mandu Latu was so easy to admit it.

Mandu Ratu was indeed a madman, but this madman came to his senses this time. The army of Mandu Banner has not been in a confrontation with the Sui army, but has been waiting for the arrival of reinforcements from the Golden Horde. Because he knows a truth, once he has exhausted all the men and horses in his hands, then he will not be able to keep his position as the banner master. Even if he defeated the Sui people like a divine help, the strength of the Mandu Banner would inevitably be greatly damaged.

And Mandu Banner is too far away from the Golden Horde, how did he encroach on the Keqin Banner grassland, that guy Keqin Lelang will get it back even harder. Looking for a Great Khan judge? Not to mention that by the time the envoy arrived at the Golden Horde, the pasture would have been lost, and even if he did, the Khan would at most send someone down to reconcile it, and it would be more difficult to make Keqin Lelang spit out what he had eaten, than to turn him into a woman.

It is precisely because Mandu Ratu knows this that he has always avoided fighting. He was distressed about the lost pastures, and he was even more distressed about the poisoned cattle, sheep and horses, but there was no way to be distressed, it was much better than the entire grassland was not occupied by the Sui people but was snatched away by the Keqin Banner.

Manduratu was old, and he didn't want to be a sinner in his tribe at the end of his life.

However, that doesn't mean he doesn't want to make a name for himself. Meng Yuan has been too peaceful for too long, lacking a true hero. Moreover, he has been waiting for an opportunity to teach those Sui people a lesson. The battle has to be fought, and what is lacking is the best timing.

Mandu Ratu had two sons, the eldest of whom was held hostage in the Golden Horde. This is the traditional rule of the Mengyuan Empire, the eldest son of each banner owner must live in the royal court until he inherits the banner owner, and when they or their brothers inherit the banner master, new hostages will be sent to the royal court.

This is an effective means of controlling the savannah, and the Golden Family has never been stingy in raising a butcher's knife against those who do not obey the rule.

The second son of Mandu Latu is called Mandu Teller, which means as fast as the wind in the Mengyuan language.

He also has a nephew who is very important, that is, Mandu wolf.

Mandu Wolf's father, that is, Mandu Latu's brother was a hostage in the royal court back then, and he was looking forward to returning to the territory to inherit the banner owner, who would have thought that Mandu Latu would immediately announce the succession to the banner owner after poisoning his father, and Mandu Wolf's father was already too late when the royal court knew the news.

He went to the Great Khan to theorize, and the Great Khan didn't bother to take care of their household affairs. In fact, the Golden Family prefers that there is no peace between or within the flags, and if the flags are united and strong, the Golden Family will have to worry. Stirring up contradictions between flags has always been the Golden Family's forte.

Mandu Ratu sat back in a chair covered with a thick velvet blanket and glanced at his generals.

"The day after tomorrow is the Sui people's Chinese New Year's Eve, and for Sui people, Chinese New Year's Eve is as important as our fast. On this day, they will put down their weapons and sing and dance, drink wine and eat meat, which is a rare opportunity. The reason why I have been avoiding the fight is that I am waiting for this day...... I need a brave warrior to lead the children of the Mandu Banner to repay the blood debt of the Sui people! Everything they plundered, and their own lives, must be taken back! ”

"Who among you wants to fight this battle?!"

"Me!"

ManduTeller strode to the front, put his palm on his chest and bowed his head, saying: "Dear father, your brave son Mandutler is willing to take the children to the snow shame!" As soon as you give your son the whip, he will always be at the front on his horse! The shameless Sui people have taken away our pastures, cattle and sheep, and I will use their blood and human heads to pay tribute to the dead! ”

"My son, you make me very happy."

Mandu Ratu said: "But you can't do it alone, you need a strong helper." ”

"Mandu wolf!"

He shouted, "Don't you want to take back Nirvana City?!" ”

The Mandu wolf put his hand on his chest and replied loudly: "I think! I have long wanted to take the warriors of the Mandu Banner and ride horses to trample the corpses of the Sui people! ”

Mandu Ratu laughed out loud, spread his hands and said, "Go, my children! The wolf god will grant you infinite power, and the king will shine on your body with holy light. Let the Sui people's festive Chinese New Year's Eve become their death day! ”