The army marched north for several days, and although there were more than 60,000 people, the line was still not too long.

The steppe march is such a small benefit, hundreds of thousands of people are thrown into it, compared with the vast prairie, it is actually not much bigger.

Here, it is a paradise for cavalry and a hell for infantry.

Li Yuanji, who led nearly 50,000 infantry into the depths of the grassland, could be regarded as thoroughly experiencing the horror of the grassland in just a few days.

The cold of the steppe invades everyone's body, the infantry is okay, as long as the feet do not stop, the body will heat up, and the cavalry is the worst.

"Your Highness, you can't train anymore, the soldiers can't bear the cold here......" Su Dingfang is also a member of this northern expedition and belongs to Li Jing's subordinates.

But because there was no one to use in his hands, Li Yuanji transferred Su Dingfang over, and Su Dingfang can also be said to be pulled up by Li Yuanji, and he also knows some of his tactical ideas and knows how to train cavalry.

Li Yuanji had already calculated the number of cavalry, he had prepared 30,000 recurve bows and 20,000 sets of new saddles and horseshoes, but before that, he did not take them out, and he did not take them out until he asked for war horse equipment from the three departments for his subordinates.

Li Yuanji ordered to take advantage of the opportunity of the march to the north to train those cavalry who had just mounted their war horses, hoping to use this nearly 1,000-mile journey to hone them.

But the reality was not as good as imagined, and as the time to go north increased, the cavalry fell one after another, all frostbitten.

The snow on the grassland, which has not yet completely melted, has become the first enemy of the soldiers at the moment.

"Train every day at noon, and lead the horse at other times!" Li Yuanji also knew that he couldn't train anymore, the soldiers would not be able to stand it, and even he himself couldn't stand the ghost weather here.

Approaching March, the snow has not completely melted, and there will be a muddy road from time to time, this battle is far from as simple as imagined, and now is indeed not the best time to fight.

"Your Highness, the right army is here!" The whole person was wrapped like a zongzi lookout, standing alone on the ten-meter-high lookout, and the whole person couldn't stop trembling and reported to Li Yuanjitong below: "It's the right general!" The right general came over personally! ”

The lookout platform is very simple, several thick wooden sticks connect the four carriages to form a huge base, and several sticks with thick calves are fixed vertically on the four carriages, and then make a ten-meter high platform similar to a nest car, as long as the four carriages are not separated, the high platform will not be dangerous.

Ten meters, not very high, but here you can see the movement dozens of miles away, of course, there are some places that you can't see.

How exactly did the position of Right General come about? Zhang Gongjin didn't have the heart to be exquisite, his old face was red from the cold, white gas came out of his mouth, and his hands couldn't be stuffed into his clothes to keep warm.

Zhang Gongjin, whose face was full of worry, went straight into the Chinese army, and came to Li Yuanji with both hands and fists: "Your Highness, you can't go north anymore!" ”

"This king allows you to command the soldiers and horses of the headquarters to return to Fengzhou!" I was too lazy to talk to him, Li Yuanji's face was not good.

"It's not that the last general is timid, our army has been in the grassland for a few days, the logistics are getting farther and farther, and here is a white expanse, except for these snow water, there is nothing, the food and grass of the war horses are not enough to deal with, and the soldiers have no warm clothes, and they are slightly better during the day, and they can't rest at night. Zhang Gongjin pleaded with a forbidden face.

When marching to fight, the grain and grass must be calculated first, and when leaving the city, Li Yuanji only let the troops carry their own grain and grass for five days, followed by a baggage team, but after replenishing the grain and grass the day before yesterday, he let the baggage team return to Fengzhou.

And now that two days have passed, and they only have less than five days of grain and grass left in their hands, it is just right to go back now, and if they go any further, they will not be able to go back.

"There is a lot of grain and grass in the Turks!" Li Yuanji replied lightly, and glanced at Zhang Gongjin gently, he had said good things for himself, he had a share of his credit for living until now, but this is the battlefield, and he is also his enemy, squinting his eyes slightly: "Either you lead your troops back to Fengzhou, or you follow, this king doesn't want to hear the third choice." ”

Li Jing of the rear army watched Zhang Gongjin go to the Chinese army and leave alone, shook his head helplessly, and sighed deeply: "Hey, if he can listen to you, he is not the king of Qi!" ”

……

"Here we are...... Here we are......" A Turkic scout ran into the king's tent with a tired face, shouting loudly as he went.

"Where?" Jieli Khan immediately stood up and asked with concern.

"There are less than three days left before the tooth tent, and they are almost catching up with the bowl department, and there is less than a day left." The scout said.

"How can it be so fast? What does he want to do? Since the Turki Khan asked to abolish the position of the Khan, Jieli ordered that he could only be called Boli to show his legitimacy.

Although the strength of the bowl is not strong, but he can compete with himself for so many years, he will naturally not be an idiot player, doesn't he know that he has to return to the tooth tent as soon as possible, and then deploy it in a unified manner?

"When the Bobi Department withdrew from Fengzhou, they lost a lot of grain and grass, and when the scouts passed by, they found that their war horses were almost unstable, and the warriors did not have the slightest fighting spirit." The scout reported what he had seen.

"This idiot...... "Hearing that Bo Bi had lost a lot of grain and grass, Jie Li hated to cut the goods with one sword, isn't this an enemy?

"How many men and horses are there in the Tang Army?" It's still the old man who doesn't talk much, if he doesn't pay attention, he is no different from a passerby, but as soon as he speaks, he will definitely be able to influence Jieli Khan's decision.

"That's about sixty or seventy thousand!" The scout thought back to what he had seen, and confirmed.

"Sixty or seventy thousand? Are you sure? Jieli was stunned, how is this different from intelligence?

"Sure, it's sixty or seventy thousand, there are not many cavalry, and most of them are infantry."

"There's fraud in this!" Jieli subconsciously said, turning his head to look at the old man: "Ejili, what do you think?" ”

The old man also frowned, thought for a moment, and said slowly: "If sixty or seventy thousand cavalry is reasonable, but the infantry is the majority, how can the Tang army dare to go deep into the grassland with only such a small number of troops?" Unless they are sure of victory, how can they beat our cavalry? It's good to be able to keep yourself. ”

"The infantry is a decoy, luring us to attack, and then hold us up, there must be tens of thousands of cavalry nearby, once the two sides are engaged, the cavalry will quickly appear, flank inside and outside, and crush us in one fell swoop." Jieli Khan said subconsciously, and his back was instantly wet with sweat.

Li Yuanji definitely did this kind of thing, he had experienced this situation when he was in Weibei before, and Li Yuanji's use of troops also made Jieli Khan feel desperate.

After all, Jieli Khan is the great Khan of the Turks, and he is not a fool, thinking of this possibility, almost at the same time, he also came up with a strategy to deal with it, and hurriedly ordered: "Send some grain and grass to the bowl, let them counterattack on the spot, besiege the Tang army, Ben Khan personally led his troops to arrive later, and this time Li Yuanji will definitely stay." ”

……

Hundreds of miles north of the tooth tent, hundreds of thousands of troops have been slowly advancing, the front is the army, the back is a large herd of cattle and sheep, the weather is cold, and there are often cattle and sheep are frozen to death.

Wei Dao was wearing the traditional costume of the tribe, that is, clothes made of animal skin, although it did not look good, but the effect of keeping out the cold was good, although it was still a little cold, but it did not feel harsh.

"When is Khan going to do it?" In the past few days, Wei Dao seems to have been isolated, and he can't see the shadow of Yi Nan at all, and today the tribe sent troops south, Wei Dao saw Yi Nan and hurriedly stepped forward to ask.

"When it's time to make a move, Ben Khan naturally knows it in his heart, so Tang Envoy doesn't have to worry about it." Yi Nan replied calmly, not paying attention to Wei Dao's urging at all.

"The King of Qi has been sending troops north for several days, and the time is almost near the tooth tent, is the Khan planning to wait until the King of Qi's victory is decided?" Wei Dao said a little impatiently in his heart, Yi Nan promised very happily before, but these days he has always pushed back and forth, so that Wei Dao noticed that the situation seemed to be a little bad.

"Ben Khan said that when to do it, Ben Khan knows in his heart." Yi Nan glanced at Wei Dao with disdain, and continued: "If Ben Khan had listened to you, would he still be able to go south so safely now?" Don't you Han people have a saying that beats the grass and startles the snake? ”

Damn Yi Nan......

Wei Dao's teeth itched with hatred in his heart, indeed, Yi Nan did not listen to his urging to send troops in advance, and soon after waiting for the order of Jieli Khan, Yi Nan led his troops south to prepare for war, which avoided the possibility of early exposure.

But Yi Nan's attitude made Wei Dao very worried.

This goods are clearly to make a profit, so this road is as slow as you can go, and you can walk the road in two days, and you can't finish it in three or four days.

At this rate, by the time they get to the tooth tent, the war is basically over, and at this time, what can the Yi Nan Department, who has been recuperating for a long time, do there? Naturally, he took advantage of the fire to rob, reaped the merits of the spoils, and pursued the remnants of Jieli by the way.

At that time, the few troops near the tooth tent will have no one who is the opponent of the Yi Nan Division, and he can completely destroy any of the forces.

Wei Dao, who seemed to have seen the consequences, revealed a trace of despair and unwillingness in his heart, and after a few breaths, Wei Dao was in his heart, gritted his teeth and said: "His Royal Highness the King of Qi said that if the Khan did not do it before March 15, then don't do it, His Royal Highness will transfer other troops to take over the Khan's task." ”

Yi Nan was shocked in his heart, and looked at Wei Dao with extreme disgust: "Are you forcing this Khan?" ”