To reach the territory of Gao Baoning, the only way to reach the territory of Gao Baoning is to pass through the grasslands of the Khitans, and although it is relatively remote, most of the grass on the grasslands has dried up in October, it is inevitable to encounter the Khitan herdsmen.

The Khitan has a total population of hundreds of thousands, nearly 100,000 young and middle-aged people, but because it is divided into eight divisions, there are many small divisions under the eight divisions, and it is generally rare to see nearly a thousand troops in action.

For the Khitan tribes, Yang Yong does not want to be angry for the time being, at present, the Khitan tribes are a mess of scattered sand, so it is in line with the interests of the Great Zhou, if they are forced to unite, there will undoubtedly be one more strong enemy in the north of the Great Zhou, all the herdsmen who pass by on the road are coerced by the army to advance together, fortunately, the Khitan people have grown up on horseback since childhood, and both men and women are proficient in horsemanship, and they are not worried about them dragging down the army.

These Khitans did not have the courage to fight against the regular army of the Great Zhou, and under the condition of guaranteeing not to kill them, they had to temporarily abandon the grazing livestock and follow the actions of the army, and at the end of the day, more than 900 cavalry had coerced more than 200 Khitan herdsmen.

The speed of the march of the army was still inevitably slowed down, and in the evening, the whole army drove more than 150 miles and found a leeward place to camp and rest. Many fighters began to pull out dry food and nibble on it.

From Yingzhou to Gao Baoning's station, if it is a fast ride, only one day is enough, that is, to coerce the herdsmen forward, two days is enough, the army prepared seven days of dry food, in order to possibly pursue the remnants of Gao Baoning on the grassland, but these coerced herdsmen did not prepare anything, Yang Yong had to order the soldiers to take out a part of the dry food and distribute it to those herdsmen.

"My lord, there is a Khitan who wants to see my lord." Yang Yong had just taken out the dry food and wanted to nibble on it, when a personal soldier hurriedly came to report.

"See me? What did the Khitans say? Yang Yong was greatly surprised, these Khitans were not honest. What do you want to see yourself?

The soldier shook his head: "My lord, he didn't want to say, he just asked to see your lord." ”

"Okay, bring him up."

After a while, a Khitan man about twenty years old with a beard on his face was escorted up by two personal soldiers, although the weapons of the Khitan people were suppressed, Wei Chong and Zheng Xiong still stood behind Yang Yong with their hands on the hilt of their knives, looking like they were facing a great enemy. Wei Chong was about to set off. I don't know how many times I have been told by my brother Wei Shikang, I must protect Yang Yong's safety.

"You are the commander of this army." When the Khitan man saw Yang Yong's age, there was a slight disappointment in his eyes, but he hid it well.

"Exactly, what do you have to say?" Yang Yong replied lightly.

"Are you going to fight Gao Baoning?"

Yang Yong glanced at this Khitan man in surprise, the eight hundred people selected by Wei Shikang were undoubtedly the most elite sergeants in the Yingzhou Mansion, judging from the march all the way, everyone could strictly abide by discipline and would never reveal the goal of this march to this Khitan. As for Yang Yongdi's own soldiers, he won't.

Seeing that the Khitan people guessed, Yang Yong no longer concealed his nature: "Yes, Gao Baoning has repeatedly violated Da Zhou, this time he is to be eradicated, you already know the purpose of the army, I am not afraid that I will slaughter you." ”

Hearing this, the Khitan people's faces showed a little nervousness, and in a blink of an eye, they relaxed again: "Adults won't kill me." ”

"Oh, you're so sure?" Yang Yong didn't know where this Khitan man got so much confidence, in fact, just now the Khitan asked him if he was raiding Gao Baoning. He had murderous intentions against him, this son has such a keen mind, he should be a smart person in the Khitan, killing him can not only reduce the danger of leaking secrets, but also reduce the Khitan one less outstanding person.

"I heard that the Central Plains Dynasty was all about subduing people with virtue. The state of etiquette, I, Utu, have always admired the Great Zhou, and I have the heart to help you break the enemy, how can the adults kill me? Utu's words were neither humble nor arrogant, that is, he exaggerated Da Zhou, but did not belittle himself, and also said his heart.

"You want to help us break the enemy, why do you want to help us?"

"My lord, Gao Baoning is the enemy of Da Zhou, and he is really beyond his strength. The Khitan ministries have long wanted to get rid of Gao Baoning, but they are suffering from lack of strength, and now that they are led by adults, we can naturally do our best. ”

In fact, after Gao Baoning arrived in the grassland, he not only invaded the border of the Great Zhou Dynasty from time to time, but also caused a lot of disasters to the Khitan tribes. had to let Gao Baoning ask for a large number of cattle and sheep and other property, and he had to cooperate with him to harass the border of the Great Zhou. Sometimes, the ministries also had to directly send troops to help him invade the Great Zhou.

The Khitan ministries get the most benefits from the trade around the Great Zhou, if there is no need, the ministries are unwilling to be enemies of the Great Zhou, two years ago after Gao Baoning was defeated under the blow of the Great Zhou and returned, the Khitan ministries saw the facts clearly, Gao Baoning is not the opponent of the Great Zhou, and the ministries no longer want to lend troops to Gao Baoning.

Gao Baoning's own strength was weakened so much that he could no longer suppress the Khitan ministry, so he had to dispel the idea of sending troops to the various ministries, but the cattle and sheep and other property asked for every year were still required, and the ministries did not have the strength to face Gao Baoning alone, so they had to give it, but it also aroused the anger of many young people in the Khitan against Gao Baoning, why should the cattle and sheep raised by themselves be given to Gao Baoning in vain?

Yang Yong looked at Wei Chong, not knowing whether to believe the words of the Khitan in front of him, Wei Chong nodded lightly, he was familiar with the Khitan tribes, and knew that many Khitan people also hated Gao Baoning.

"Your name is Utu, which tribe are you?"

"Back to the adults, the small one is the Rilian Division." Utu shouted out.

"Hmm, how many of the Khitans in our army this time are from your Rilian Division, and are they all willing to help me capture Gaobaoning in the Great Zhou?"

"My lord, this time half of them are people from my Rilian department, and a small half are Li department, as long as the adult can promise to defeat Gao Baoning, divide his grassland to Rilian and Li two departments, and the villain guarantees that he can move them to work for the Great Zhou together."

"Okay, you can try, but whether you are willing to help the Great Zhou destroy Gao Baoning, you all need to be supervised by our army at present." The power of the Great Zhou Land has not been able to expand to the grassland for a while, and if Gao Baoning is destroyed, this grassland of the Great Zhou cannot be occupied, as long as these two departments are sincere and contribute, it will naturally be okay to give them it.

"Yes, thank you, sir." Got Yang Yong's promise

Looks excited. Whether a tribe can prosper depends on the grassland population he occupies, the grassland occupied by Gao Baoning is rich in water and grass, and the Rilian tribe only needs to get half of it, which can double the population of the tribe, without worrying about the lack of forage for livestock, not to mention that he is confident that as long as the Great Zhou supports, he can completely occupy most of the grassland.

Looking at the back of Utu going down, Yang Yong sighed: "This person is very ambitious. ”

"General. Do you want to kill him after that happens? Zheng Xiong said viciously.

Yang Yong shook his head: "No, it's better for him to be ambitious, now that the Turkic family is dominant, it is beneficial and harmless for the Great Zhou to have an ambitious race on the grassland." ”

Utu is the second son of the leader of the Rilian tribe, and when he went back to instigate, the other Khitans really agreed to help the Zhou army exterminate Gao Baoning, but the army's surveillance of them was not relaxed, and the weapons collected and suppressed were not returned. Who knows that none of these herders are inclined to Gao Baoning, and there is nothing wrong with being careful.

The next day, as soon as the morning dawned, the army continued to advance, at this time only more than eighty miles away from Gao Baoning's station, if you rush with all your strength, it is almost possible to arrive in the afternoon, but after arriving there is at most an hour before dark, if you let Gao Baoning drag until dark, it is easy for him to escape while it is dark, it is better to wait until dawn to attack. So the journey of the Great Army began to slow down.

The vanguard sent by the army this time is the backbone of the Japanese company personally selected by Utu, and these more than ten people are people who are patted by Utu to ensure that there is no problem, Yang Yong temporarily believed him, since Utu is the second prince of the Rilian department, he can run the monk and can't run the temple, Yang Yong doesn't believe that he dares to risk offending Da Zhou to report to Gao Baoning. However, he still sent more than a dozen personal soldiers to follow closely.

One day, the local people of Lian were persuaded by the herdsmen on the road to cooperate surprisingly and march to prevent news from leaking, and most of them agreed to join in the attack on the Gao Bao Ning department.

By the time of the day, the army had marched to a place only more than twenty miles away from Gao Baoning's department, and had to find a hidden place to stop, and if it advanced again, it was easy to be discovered by Gao Baoning's scouts, and the forward of Utu on the road had already met Gao Baoning's scouts. However, they were fooled by Utu, they were originally Khitans, and they were all driving cattle and sheep, Gao Baoning's scouts just scolded a few words and asked them to return, and they also picked a few good horses as compensation, and Utu and the others only accompanied the smiling faces.

Gao Baoning's occupation of the grassland is too large, and his subordinates can't use up the cattle and sheep at all. Every year, when the grass is scarce, many Khitan herdsmen's cattle and sheep enter the pasture of Gaobaoning, and Gaobaoning only sends people to collect some cattle and sheep. horses as compensation, so the scouts of Gao Baoning did not have the slightest suspicion of Utu and the others.

Gao Baoning was worried about a piece of news at this time, the Turks had decided to crusade against the Zhou Dynasty next year, and for some reason, he accepted the bribe of the envoy of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and even captured the current nominal monarch of the Qi State, Emperor Gao Shaoyi, and sent it to the envoy sent by the Great Zhou Dynasty, Jianwei Hou He Ruoyi, and now the loyal Emperor Gao Shaoyi is on the way back to Chang'an.

If Gao Baoning has any loyalty to Gao Shaoyi, it is all false, but the Turks have turned their faces so quickly, and it is unknown whether the Turks can send troops next year, not to mention that even if the Turks send troops, without Gao Shaoyi's name, how can he collect the hearts of the people in Qidi, can he only stand on his own?

It would be best if he could establish himself as an emperor, but his strength was too weak, and he was afraid that he would also be betrayed by the Turks, so let alone be an emperor, he would die without knowing how to die. Gao Baoning must have been restless after receiving this news, compared to the fact that a stronghold in Yingzhou was allocated was just a trivial matter.

There was a lot of noise outside, and Gao Baoning walked out of the camp tent and saw several scouts pointing around a few tall horses, and shouted in a deep voice: "What's the matter? ”

One of the scouts replied: "Prime Minister, we found dozens of Khitan barbarians driving cattle and horses into our grassland on the road, so we picked a few good horses. ”

Gao Baoning fixed his eyes and saw that these horses were indeed good horses, tall and even-boned, which made it rare to see even on the grassland, and his mood became happy: "These barbarians always covet our grassland, and it is cheaper to accept a few horses." ”

"Exactly, there are dozens of these barbarians, and there are only three of us, but we don't dare to say a word if we choose, if we don't have too few people, we have to pick a few more horses, and our hearts will hurt to death these barbarians." After saying that, several people burst out laughing.

Gao Baoning had a vague feeling in his heart, which was the sixth feeling that had been refined by more than ten years of combat experience, and this feeling had saved him several times: "Where did you meet them?" ”

"Back to the prime minister, it's twenty miles away."

"Twenty miles away." Gao Baoning muttered to himself, he had zoned his own grassland fifty miles away, and these Khitans had already gone very deep when they reached twenty miles away.

Seeing that something was wrong with the prime minister, the scout hurriedly said: "Prime minister, the subordinates have driven them away, these barbarians have lost a few horses, it is estimated that their hearts are very painful, and now I am afraid that they have already walked thirty miles away." ”

Hearing the scout's explanation, Gao Baoning smiled dumbly, isn't it just dozens of Khitans, what is there to make a fuss about, it seems that today's news has made him nervous, and he has made himself a soldier.

He put the matter back down, but out of caution, Gao Baoning still ordered: "Martial law tonight, double the sentry posts." ”

"Obey."

Tonight at dawn is going to raid Gao Baoning, those Khitan people who joined on the way are full of excitement, these two days the army has more than 600 herdsmen, excluding the old people and children, there are more than 400 soldiers who can fight, the Zhou army has returned all their weapons, and now they are desperately trying to test their weapons.

Utu is even more happy, tomorrow's battle, if you can destroy Gao Baoning, and get the support of the Zhou army, there is no doubt that the next patriarch of the Rilian department will be succeeded by him, the Khitan people on the horse for the army, get off the horse for the people, today is just the beginning, if one day he can unify the eight departments, there will be 100,000 soldiers who can fight, and the Khitan will never be bullied by anyone again.

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