The situation when passing by Lingqiu made Li Buqi realize the importance of communication again.

When the Song army slowly approached Lingqiu City, the Liao army generals of Lingqiu City even sent a team of cavalry out of the city to inquire about which troop came. When these cavalrymen saw that it was the banner of the Song army, they turned around and ran away in fright. Then Lingqiu City pulled up the drawbridge, the city gate was closed, and the Liao army in the city never dared to leave the city again before Li did not abandon it.

Think about it. The Liao army in Lingqiu was originally dedicated to guarding against the Song army in the west, but suddenly a Song army quietly appeared behind it, can you not be afraid! And nearly 20,000 horses caused smoke and dust to billow, no matter how you look at it, it is definitely a big army!

Since the Liao army in Lingqiu did not dare to fight, Li Buqi was most concerned about the Liao army chasing from Bauhinia Pass. However, the rearguard cavalry reported that the Liao army was not chasing fast, and stopped before they could get out of the mountain road, and now the rearguard cavalry is guarding the mountain pass.

As long as the pass doesn't suddenly lose, then there is plenty of time to react. Seeing that the sky was beginning to darken, Li Buqi ordered him to camp under Lingqiu City, and put on the appearance of preparing to attack the city. This bluff really worked, and the Liao army did not dare to move all night.

The next day, Li Buqi pulled out the camp and set off slowly under the watchful eye of the Liao army in Lingqiu City, and the Liao army did not dare to chase after him.

The gates of Lingqiu were closed too hastily, and he didn't have time to inform the walled forts and herdsmen outside the city, and as a result, Li Buqi plundered a lot of cattle and horses, and burned down villages, post stations and bridges along the way.

Li Buqi frowned and listened to the messenger's report on the movements of the Liao army that was chasing after him, and said to himself: "What do the Liao people want to do? Why not catch up? ”

According to the report of the rearguard cavalry, the Liao army that chased from Zijing Pass walked unhurriedly, and it seemed that they did not want to catch up with Li Buqi at all, and now there is a tendency to be thrown farther and farther away. It shouldn't be.

Yang Shiqing also touched the mustache on his chin and said, "Could it be that the Liao people have any conspiracy?" But we have already passed Lingqiu City, and there is nothing in front of us that can stop us. ”

Gao Zunyu said wisely: "It must be the arrogant plan of the Liao people, when I return to my heart like an arrow, relax my vigilance, and its cavalry will take the opportunity to attack again." ”

Now this is only possible, but the distance between the two armies is a bit far. The Liao army came from afar, and the preparation was definitely not so sufficient, and it was impossible to bring too many horses, and the horsepower was a little nervous to attack such a long distance.

But he suddenly clapped his hands and said, "The last general seems to understand." ”

Including Li Buqi, everyone looked at Chong Ge, and Chong Ge said: "Whether this Liao army is from Xijin Mansion or drawn from the Liao army attacking Hebei, it must be a long-distance attack in a hurry. Then nine times out of ten, they are already short of grain and grass, and without food and grass, people can still support it, but horses can't support it. We had already made preparations, and along the way we robbed the post station and broke so many horses, if the Liao army ran so wildly like our army, I was afraid that the horses would die. ”

"The last general heard that the horses of the Liao soldiers are self-prepared, if this is the case, then the Liao soldiers will definitely cherish the war horses even more, and they will never run the horses as casually as we do. In the past two days, the Liao people marched about seventy or eighty miles a day, which was exactly the speed of the cavalry on weekdays. The last general estimated that if the Liao people were really short of food and grass as estimated by the last general, at least before reaching the flying fox, the speed of the Liao people would not be fast. ”

As soon as he analyzed it like this, Li Buqi patted his head and suddenly realized. The mindset he had formed in the past always made him feel that the cavalry moved more quickly, but he always subconsciously forgot that horses, such delicate animals, were actually more dependent on logistics than humans. The long-distance and high-speed movement of the Mongol cavalry was conditional, and they needed a large playground or a large amount of grain to feed their horses, and without these conditions, the Mongol cavalry would not be able to play long-distance running tactics. In the late winter and early spring of Taihang Mountain, it is not easy to find suitable pasture, if the Liao army did not have sufficient preparation before, how could it feed tens of thousands of war horses? You must know that even if Li does not abandon this raid and let more than 10,000 horses carry grain and grass, this can keep these pot-bellied men from starving for the time being, and now, in fact, the horses are about to run out of food. If you don't find grain and grass at Yanmen Pass, many horses will die.

Everyone talked and discussed, and they all thought that the analysis of the seed was very reasonable, and they all put their minds at ease. So Li Buqi ordered the horses to go first, and the troops slowly retreated. Along the way, the Liao army did not catch up.

But before he reached Yanmen Pass, he ran into trouble again. The person sent by Li Buqi to contact reported that the Yanmen guard said that he had not received an order, and he could not judge whether Li Buqi's seal letter was true or false, and he did not dare to let so many people enter the customs, and had already sent people to Taiyuan Mansion to ask for instructions, so that Li Buqi could wait for news in front of the pass.

Fack! It's irritating to get to the door and not be able to get in. Li Buqi had no choice but to order the troops to be stationed in front of the pass, and then put on official robes and came to the city in person.

He was not in a hurry to enter or enter the customs, but was anxious that the horses had no forage.

In order to prevent the invasion of the Liao State, the Song army came up with a way to limit the cavalry, which was to burn all the wild grass for dozens of miles on the border every autumn, so that the Liao cavalry would have no pasture when they came. But now it has caused difficulties for Li Buqi, and the horses can't find anything to eat under the Yanmen Gate, or they will all starve to death in a few days.

Who knew that when he had just arrived at the city, he had not yet called the city, when suddenly a gap opened in the city gate, and a few cavalry ran out of the crack in the door and ran to the front of him. The person at the head was stunned when he saw Li Bu abandon his official uniform, and came to salute and asked, "But Li Xunbian is in person?" Dong Rui, the son of Dong Hua, the guard general of Xiayanmen, has seen the patrol, and he is in armor, so he can't get off the horse to see it. ”

Li Buqi raised his hand and said, "General Dong is polite. I don't know what happened to the general? ”

Dong Hua took a few steps closer and looked at Li Buqi carefully before saying, "It turns out that it is really Li Xunbian!" ”

Li Buqi hurriedly asked, "Do you know me?" ”

"I went to Beijing to do something in the next day, and when I heard about the reputation of Qingyuan Academy, I went to play. On that day, I happened to meet Li Junjian and several pedants arguing, and many people were watching, so I also watched it once, so I recognized Li Xunbian. ”

Well, it's easy to recognize this face, maybe you can be accommodating. Li Buqi hurriedly laughed and introduced Gao Zunyu to Dong Rui. After the two sides had a salute, Li Buqi asked again: "General Dong, where is this going?" ”

Dong Rui hurriedly said: "But I came here to patrol the border." ”

Li Buqi was busy: "But the order to let us enter the customs has arrived?" So fast? ”

Dong Rui smiled: "But it's not that the order has arrived." It was the official Jiaming who sent a tie to patrol the border, and just sent it to the Guannei, and then his father knew that the patrol was indeed not in Hebei. My father also worked on Hebei Road in his early years, and he knew a little about the geography of Liao, and if he couldn't retreat to the difficulty after patrolling the border and cutting off the grain road of the Liao, it was not impossible to retreat to Daizhou to the west, so let me confirm it. If it is really a patrol force, please enter the customs immediately. ”

Gao Zunyu was in a hurry to enter the customs and save himself from any extraneous branches, so he immediately said: "Now that you see Li Xunbian with your own eyes, please hurry up and open the city gate." The army has been running for thousands of miles, and it is already exhausted, and there are chasing soldiers behind it, if it stays at the pass and has an accident, it is not a good thing for General Dong. ”

Dong Rui was slightly stunned, but the unhappiness on his face was fleeting, and then he smiled with a smile on his face: "There is another matter here." However, although Yanmen Pass is an important gate, the hoarded grain and grass are prepared according to the number of garrisons. I wonder how many people the patrol brought this time? Please inform me on the patrol, and I will go back to report it later. ”

Li Buqi knew that he was still not at ease, and this was an excuse to watch the military situation. He didn't say anything, but said: "In that case, General Dong will come with me, let's talk as we go." ”

Immediately, Li Buqi took Dong Rui to check around, Dong Rui saw so many horses, and heard Li Buqi say that they were all snatched from the Liao State, and couldn't help but be speechless, and listened to how Li Buqi covered the attack, how to burn Zhuozhou, how to use cattle to break the Liao army, and then how to let the infantry run on horses for nearly three hundred miles day and night, and was even more dumbfounded.

After looking around, Dong Rui repeatedly promised to welcome the army into the customs after he returned. Sure enough, not long after he returned to Yanmen Pass, the sound of drums and horns was loud when he watched, the door was wide open, and the two teams of Song troops went out of the gate to line up on the side of the road.

Dong Rui came to Li Buqi again with a team of cavalry: "Patrol the border, my father please patrol the border and enter the customs." My father was waiting at the city gate. ”

Li Buqi looked at Gao Zunyu with an impatient face and said, "Commander Gaodu, you bring people into the customs." First horses, then cavalry, and finally infantry. As soon as the horses entered the customs, they arranged to eat in various places. ”

Gao Zunyu and Dong Rui both asked in surprise: "Won't you enter the customs when patrolling the border?" ”

Li Buqi said firmly: "Since this official has brought these soldiers out, he will see that many of the people who can be brought back will return to the Great Song Dynasty. This official will enter the customs with the last group of fighters! ”