Shuobei grassland, under the stone ridge, on the shore of Tu Lihu Lake!

Twelve days in a row. The Turkic khan was not exhausted. On the contrary, he was in good spirits, and so were the big and small khans of the guards beside him.

It has to be said that the nation on horseback has a unique advantage in this regard. In particular, a long riding career is a common thing for them, and they live on horseback for several days and nights without the slightest discomfort.

But they could hold on, but the horses couldn't. Domesticating war horses is actually very harsh. Horse feed is very particular.

Generally speaking, there are three types of horse feed: concentrate, roughage, and miscellaneous feed.

The so-called concentrate feed is carefully prepared horse feed, the main materials are legumes, bran and cereals, these foods have high nutritional value. Contains a lot of protein and fat, horses love to eat, easy to digest, and are particularly strong after eating. Roughage, on the other hand, is common grass: cereal, straw, mandarin and weed, but there is a premise, it must be hay. Domesticating a large number of war horses is not as luxurious as feeding concentrate feed, and roughage hay is the main feed for war horses. Of course, what kind of horse grass is also very important, and I won't go into detail here.

As for miscellaneous materials, that is, weeds, weeds, leaves, and other messy things that can be found everywhere. People eat this thing when they are hungry, let alone horses. If horses eat miscellaneous food for a long time, it will cause indigestion, diarrhea, and physical strength can not keep up.

With their 200,000 army and 400,000 war horses, it is naturally impossible for them to run with terrible horse grass. Most of the food eaten by the war horses along the way is miscellaneous materials. Their marching speed will also be reduced due to the horse's physical strength not keeping up.

Arriving near Lake Tuli, the horse's physical strength was also consumed to a certain point.

Jieli had to stop, take a good rest and recuperate the horse, feed some concentrate feed to replenish it, and recover the horse's strength.

Although Jieli can't wait to put on his wings and fly to Shuofang, break the Great Wall and go south to the heart of the Tang Dynasty, he still understands the basic principles of sharpening knives and cutting wood, so he can only rest patiently.

"Good news, King Khan!" The first general under Jieli lost his thinking and strode in front of Jieli.

Behind him was a man in a somewhat strange outfit.

Jieli recognized the person at a glance, his name is Liang Renshan, he is a distant relative of Liang Shidu, and he is also an important person in Jieli's monitoring of Liang Dushi, because he came to the grassland, he made up the appearance of a Turkic herdsman, which looked very strange. He had apparently been on the road, and not only was his eyes bloodshot, but even his hair was covered with thick ice.

Jieli said: "Mr. has come a long way, it has been hard, but there is something important?" ”

For a small role like Liang Renshan, Jieli is still very polite, looking like a corporal Lixian.

Liang Renshan said with a little flattery: "King Hui Khan, please be careful of Luo Tong when you come down, Luo Tong is going to lead the defenders out of the city, and wants to intercept your way south." ”

Hearing the word "Luo Tong", Jieli frowned involuntarily jumped, this year, Jieli's two defeats were because Luo Tong stabbed him in the back, which led to the withdrawal of the Khan of the participating tribes, especially the last time, he led an army of 30,000 to return halfway, so that the entire Turkic were looking at him and laughing, resulting in a great reduction in personal prestige again.

This finally suppressed Tiele to the depths of Mobei, but also lost countless materials, Jieli thought of taking advantage of the momentum of a big victory to capture the Great Wall, and went deep into the Tang Dynasty to loot.

Unexpectedly, Luo Tong appeared in front of him again.

"I was afraid that he wouldn't be able to shrink back, but he himself sent it to the door. Sir, do you know if he has soldiers and horses? ”

Liang Renshan thought for a while and said respectfully: "Luo Tong has 40,000 soldiers, of which 10,000 are from the Sixteen Guards, and the remaining 30,000 are composed of the border troops of Qing, Yan, and Suizhou, in addition, there are more than 30,000 weak brigades that have been dismantled. However, his 40,000 men rode his entire army. ”

Shuo Fang's vigorous disarmament, how many troops Luo Tong has is not a big secret, but the military camp is heavy, and there are light and dark sentinels within a radius of five miles, but Liang Renshan does not know the specific situation.

"Either horses or cavalry!" Jieli shook his head with a smile, thinking about his 200,000 troops and Luo Tong's 40,000 horses, and said in his heart: "It's time to settle all the old accounts together, and by the way, recover the strategic land of Shuofang." ”

"Bring me the map!"

In a short time, the attendant brought a map from the tent.

Jieli spread out on the spot, checked up and down in detail, his eyes fell on the vicinity of Qiwu Mountain, and he snorted: "If you want to intercept my Turkic army, this Qiwu Mountain and Wushui River are the only places......"

Shuobei grassland is a horse Pingzhou, the only dangerous place is Qiwu Mountain, Qiwu Mountain is located in the northwest of Shuofang, is a stretching mountain range that completely separates the north, the geographical location echoes with Shuofang City, and the east is Wushui River, Wushui River is wide, the water flow is turbulent, and it cannot be forcibly crossed.

Qiwu Mountain, Wushui River plus Shuofang. It happened to become a pocket, and if the Turks wanted to continue southward, they had to go through this road from the foot of the Qiwu Mountain and the Wushui River, passing through the Shuofang road, or they had to bypass the Qiwu Mountain, or cross the Wushui to bypass the Shuofang, or cross the Yellow River from the west.

The water in the upper reaches of Wushui is turbulent, and people and horses cannot cross, so they must use boats. There is no such thing as a boat in the Turks, and it is even more impractical to bypass the Qiwu Mountain, and it is even more impossible to cross the Yellow River to the west, so it becomes imperative to cross the Shuofang through the middle of the Qiwu Mountain and the Wushui River.

Looking at the southward line, only the place where Qiwu Mountain and Wushui intersect has this convenience.

and the only place where Rotong is stopping them from advancing,

Because the Turks had a large army of 200,000, while Luo Tong had only 40,000. He wants to fight the strong with the weak. It is particularly important to choose a favorable terrain that makes it impossible for the Turkic army to be lined up and give full play to their numerical advantage.

Jieli didn't think that Luo Tong would be stupid enough to fight them on the grassland, he thought for a while, and said in a loud voice: "General Sili, you immediately lead 10,000 cavalry, rush to Qiwu as fast as possible to rest, and wait there for the arrival of our army." It is not too late for us to destroy Luo Tong and then go south to Li Tang, so as not to let him copy the back road on the return trip. ”

Persistence is his most important favorite general, both wise and brave, extremely brave in battle, after the death of Ashdewu has been his winning vanguard, won his trust.

Without hesitation, he stepped forward.

Jieli emphasized: "Luo Tong has repeatedly done bad things to me, and I can't wait to skin him and cramp him." But you can't be underestimated, you can't be careless, just don't let them control this place, and if they already occupy it, don't let them build fortifications. When the army rested for a while, I led the army to meet it. ”

"Subordinates obey!"

Stubbornly lost his strength and gathered his troops and horses, traveled day and night, and finally arrived at the Wushui River near Qiwu Mountain before the arrival of the Tang army.

I chose the flattest place, close to the water and grass, to set up camp.

The tactics of the Turks were different from those of the Central Plains, and the way of camping was naturally different.

The people of the Central Plains marched and fought, and were accustomed to relying on the advantages of equipment and being good at defense. Most of the camps are important places that are both offensive and defensive. The Turkic warfare mostly relied on the convenience of war horses, and the camp naturally took water and grass first, followed by the flat land that was convenient for cavalry to gallop and fight.

This camp was properly arranged, and Zhi Sili immediately ordered his soldiers to adjust and feed the war horses and mounts.

They galloped all the way from the Tiele Territory in the northwest, and now they arrived at the Datang Territory, and there was very little time to rest up and down. Originally, he was completely resting near Tuli Lake, but because Luo Tong went out of the city to fight, he had to rush to Da Pan Mountain first, so as not to fall into Luo Tong's hands.

This journey has come at a time, and I obviously feel that there is a little bit of a lack of support for sitting down on the good horse. His good horses are still like this, and the horses below are even more unbearable.

Feeding on weeds for a long time and having a long period of physical overdraft is extremely harmful to war horses.

Prairie people are inseparable from horses, and their love for horses is extraordinary.

Obsessed with his thoughts, he can't wait to feed his foal to his heart's content. Do all this, and then stop and rest.

He himself is like this, and so are the five thousand soldiers under his command, who first settle their horses and then come to rest.

It's just that it's okay if I don't rest, but as soon as I rest, I feel a wave of tiredness coming in, and I don't even move.

After the busy camp gradually quieted down, he got the news that the 5,000 Tang Army cavalry had approached within two miles and was rushing non-stop.

"What?" When he heard the news, he was stunned.

A mere 5,000 cavalry, dare to rush his 5,000 Turkic cavalry?

"What a Rotong, really a fox-like figure!" The stubborn thinking force quickly reacted, the Tang army did not take into account the importance of this place, nor did it not have the slightest preparation, but it had already lurked, waiting for them to relax their sharp breath before they came forward to attack.

They had come from Tiele for thousands of miles, and had not yet been well rested. At the end of the strong crossbow, he attacked nearly 100 miles and seized the territory of the Qiwu Mountains. Although it had a slight advantage over the Tang army in numbers, the soldiers were tired and tired, and the outcome was really unknown.

I have been fighting with the Han people for more than ten years, and I have never encountered such a bold Han army, and in the face of their 1,000 people, the other party has never hesitated, and directly faced it, without pause, after marching for a hundred miles, into battle.

"No matter what, we can only talk about the battle......" Stubbornness burst out of his teeth, his eyes showed miscalculated anger, and the ferocity of a wolf, and roared: "Don't rest, get up and meet the enemy." ”

The stubborn and lost thinking power just lined up in formation, and the rolling iron rider on the opposite side had already come into view, the heavy and chaotic sound of the horse's hooves on the ground, and the wheezing and snorting of the war horse were getting closer and closer.

Stubbornly staring into the distance, he saw a general with a white horse and silver armor leaving the army behind and killing the army.

And that person was wearing Mingguang armor, which was the best and best armor in this era, which could protect almost all the vital points on the body, and did not hinder the flexibility of the wearer in the slightest, and the cost was very high, even in the Tang army, it was not popularized. Only generals who have made great contributions have the opportunity to get one.

The stubbornness of thinking power also deduced that any general wearing Mingguang armor must be a commander-level figure.

He inexplicably looked at the enemy general who was taking the lead, and couldn't help but say in his heart: "This guy has a grudge against Luo Tong!" He smiled hideously: "If you offend Luo Tong, you don't want to live, just let grandpa give you a ride." Hey, that's not right! He is Rotong himself. ”

In an instant, the stubborn mind recognized the identity of the general from the string arrow, and the Turks could not know Li Shimin, but they could not know Luo Tong. Because the Lixian Arrow is the emperor of horses, it is very famous, and because of its fame, Luo Tong, who surrendered to it, is also known in the Turks.

Stubborn Sili guessed correctly, the coming will be Luo Tong himself.

Luo Tong is an expert in psychology, he knows that Jieli, who has never fought him head-on, looks down on him, and he also knows that the other party has always thought that he has taken shit luck the first two times, so once Jieli, who has the advantage of troops, knows that he is out of the city, he will definitely come to "eat" himself.

After all, field warfare is the strength of the Turks, and they have the advantage of troops, and they have 40,000 "war exploits", and finally there is a heavy city like Shuofang as a pie. There's no reason why Jieli shouldn't come.

That's why he deliberately spread the news that he went out of the city to meet the enemy, and his original intention was to further drag the Turks down!

After a long day of vigorous trouble, he led the army to this strategic place to lay out, and it was less than two hours before he learned that the vanguard had lost his strength to seize the important place, and simply let the whole army rest and plan to eat this Turkic vanguard first.

As a killer with nicknames such as "Ghost Fox", Luo Tong knew better than anyone that the most suitable time to attack was when the enemy unloaded that sharp breath, and because of this, he had been sitting and watching the Turks feed the horses and rest, and when the fighter arrived, he did not hesitate to lead five thousand elite horsemen with Cheng Chuliang to charge into battle.