On the barracks and school grounds outside the north city gate, the soldiers gathered according to the location of each battalion, and gathered in groups of three or five to discuss in a low voice.

"Hey, Brother Ma, do you know where this is going to fight?"

"I don't know, I didn't say it, but I heard that there are a lot of ferries prepared by the river, I think it should be a tribe in the north!"

Many of the soldiers who heard this turned their heads to look at the northern river, and sure enough, they saw many ferries moored on the river, and many soldiers were working.

"The ferry just stops on the shore, what are they doing?"

One of the wise soldiers cried out, "Oh, I see, they put the ferries side by side on the river, and then fixed them with stakes, and laid planks on them, so that a pontoon bridge was formed that floated on the river, and the army could ride safely across it!" ”

When the soldiers around heard what this man said, they all suddenly realized, and some people were surprised: "Who is so clever to come up with this way to cross the river, fast and safe!" ”

"This is the method that the general came up with, what's so strange!" Yun Dingtian walked over and said, "Okay, quickly gather and stand, the general is coming soon!" ”

Yun Dingtian, the bandit leader, had been promoted from the initial soldier to the team leader after several battles, and as soon as his words fell, Zhao Ziliang rode in from outside the camp gate with his subordinates.

Seeing Zhao Ziliang and others galloping into the camp school grounds, all the generals immediately issued orders to rectify the formation of the team, and in a short period of time, when Zhao Ziliang walked on the review stand, the 2,000 cavalry who were ready to go out had all been completed.

"The general is here—everyone rests!"

After the trumpet was shouted, the whole ground shook, and soon calmed down, only the cold wind blew the flags and hunted.

Zhao Ziliang held the handle of the knife in his left hand, and walked to the front of the stage with the golden nail Zaoyang lance in his right hand and said directly: "Soldiers! ”

"Huh!" Everyone in the audience stood upright.

"A few days ago, a descendant of the Xianbei people migrated from the Mobei grassland. There were 6,000 people and 2,000 men in control, and they sacked a large caravan from Chang'an, on the Silk Road, all caravans were under our protection, as long as anyone robbed the caravan, it was our enemy, and we must destroy it, and the Governor's Mansion had sent a letter asking them to hand over the murderer who had sacked the caravan, but they refused. Why? Because they despise you, and they think that you dare not do anything to them. And they have now gathered 3,000 men and horses and are rushing towards Broken Leaf City, ready to attack us, we can't sit here and be beaten by them, we must take the initiative to attack, change from passive to active, our Broken Leaf City is an undefended city, there is no condition to defend, we can only take the initiative to attack. Take the initiative on the battlefield into our own hands, and since they are here to die, why don't we fulfill them? For you, half of you are recruit eggs. Today is your first battle, and after more than three months of hellish drills, you have completed all the drill tasks, and you will know whether it is a mule or a horse to come out and slip around. It was a man's, plucked up courage, clenched his weapon, and prepared to follow the general on his horse to meet the enemy. Don't be scared! Two thousand to three thousand, do you dare? ”

"Dare!"

"Dare!"

"Dare!"

"Very good, there may be some soldiers and generals here who have followed this general since the beginning of Tuoyun Fort, we used to kill the enemy's ass with three hundred to five thousand, three thousand men and horses, it's a fart, we now have two thousand, and the odds of winning have increased sixfold! As long as you obey orders, obey commands, and do not be greedy for life and fear death, there will be no battle that you cannot win with this general. Okay, the whole army set off and went straight to the river to cross the river! After Zhao Ziliang gave an order, he turned around and walked to the side of the review stand, jumped on his horse, beat his horse and ran towards the camp gate, more than 100 followers followed, and each battalion and department lined up in order to ride their horses and trot behind, in just a few minutes, the entire camp was half empty, leaving only a thousand recruits to guard the safety of Broken Leaf City.

It took only ten minutes for two thousand cavalry to arrive at the river, Zhao Ziliang reined in his horse, saw that the pontoon bridge had been built, and was very satisfied with the fact that the baggage troops were ordered to build the pontoon bridge for the first time, so he waved his hand and shouted back: "Cross the river in two formations!" ”

Saying that, the first horse stepped on the pontoon bridge, and more than 100 servants behind him lined up in two columns to follow behind, after stepping on the pontoon bridge, although it was still a little shaky, but it was still to the extent that the war horse could withstand it, and the war horse did not have any discomfort, which reassured Zhao Ziliang.

It took half an hour to cross the river, after crossing the river, Wang Can had been waiting on the opposite bank for a few nights, he saw Zhao Ziliang riding a horse ashore, so he stepped forward and said: "General, I have already scattered all the night collection under my command, forty miles ahead, no movement within a radius of thirty miles can not avoid our sight!" ”

Zhao Ziliang nodded and said, "Well, you don't take the lead at night to explore the way in front, and report any movement at any time!" ”

"No, the last general will go first!" Wang Can arched his hand, took a few nights and whipped his horse to the northwest, and soon disappeared between the white sky.

Zhao Ziliang trotted at the front of the team, he always controlled the speed, not to let the horse run too fast, but not slow, this is called walking the horse, so that the march can allow the horse to maintain this jogging speed for a long time, not easy to fatigue, this is the best way to march for a long distance, and this kind of marching also preserves the physical fitness of the knight.

At noon, the army marched to the foot of Lingling Mountain, the horses were a little tired after running for several hours, and the soldiers also needed to eat to replenish their strength, so Zhao Ziliang ordered the army to stop advancing, and let the soldiers eat, drink, feed the horses and rest.

Lingling is a stretching mountain range from northeast to southwest, up to hundreds of miles, wide sections up to more than ten miles, narrow places only a few hundred meters, this mountain range is not high, but it is very precipitous everywhere. According to Zhao Ziliang's estimation, Murong Changge wanted to avoid the densely populated place and march, so he could only march along the lower reaches of the Ili River, let the desert edge turn south, and then reach the northernmost point of Lingling, and then advance southwest along the western foot of Lingling.

That is, he led the army to advance northeast along the foot of the mountain on the west side of Lingling, set up an ambush at a mountain col and gorge in the middle of Lingling, and waited for Murong Changge to throw himself into the net.

However, when he was resting and eating at noon, Zhao Ziliang suddenly found that his decision was very inappropriate, what if Murong Changge did not march as he had speculated, but from the east side of Lingling, and didn't care if he was discovered by the tribes along the way? This situation is not impossible, as long as Murong Changge's march speed is fast enough, even if the tribes along the way do not allow them to cross, they will not have time to stop it, and before they launch a surprise attack, Broken Leaf City will not be able to find it, and they will be able to avoid the ranger outposts of Broken Leaf City.

It took about an hour to eat, drink, feed the horses, rest, etc., and Chu Ge came over and said, "General, it's almost time!" ”

Zhao Ziliang thought for a moment and said to Chu Ge: "Call all the colonels and captains above the battalion, this general has something to say!" ”

"No!"

Soon, the colonel and colonel above the lieutenant who received the notice quickly rushed over, and now it was the field, Zhao Ziliang asked everyone not to be formal, everyone walked and stood, he went directly to the topic, and said: "General Ben thought about it for a long time just now, if Murong Changge's marching speed is fast enough, he doesn't need to be careful about the news leaking at all." The reason why we got the news was because we had planted an inside line around Mohedagan, and he didn't know, he thought that he was sending troops was a very secret thing, as long as he marched as fast as possible, the news would not leak out, and the tribes along the way would not have time to stop him from passing by, so that he could choose the east side of Lingling, which was a little closer, and he could also avoid the reconnaissance and detection post that we were not familiar with in the Broken Leaf River, assuming that he really went to the east of Lingling, and we were advancing along the west side of Lingling, Wouldn't we be staggered? Then Shattered Leaf City is in danger, and if we go to the east of Lingling, what if he goes to the west of Lingling? No matter which side of Lingling we go, there is a risk of staggering with him, so General Ben decided that we should wait at the foot of the southern end of this Lingling Mountain, waiting for Murong Changge's men and horses to appear, no matter which side he goes, we can intercept him here, and still wait for work! ”

Hearing this, the generals talked in low voices, and Li Siye stood up and said: "What the general said is very true, so it is the safest, even if Murong Changge walks in a straight line from the Moon Bow Department to Broken Leaf City, we can also get the news in time, and return to Broken Leaf City as soon as possible for reinforcements, we still have a thousand soldiers and horses in Broken Leaf City, which is enough to support us until we come back!" ”

Zhao Ziliang nodded and looked at the other generals: "Do you have any other objections?" ”

All the generals and colonels looked at each other, shook their heads, and said together: "It's all up to the general!" ”

Zhao Ziliang immediately said: "Okay, the order is for the soldiers to lean against the foot of the mountain to avoid the cold wind, but no one is allowed to remove their armor, and the swords and guns cannot be left in their hands, and they must be ready to fight at any time."

"No!"

There was no snow today, and there was still sun, but the heat from this bit of sunlight was limited, the snow and ice did not melt in the slightest, and the air exuded a biting cold.

In order to keep the soldiers warm and have enough heat, Zhao Ziliang ordered the men to cook some hot mutton soup for the soldiers to drink. At the same time, he also ordered the soldiers to form a circle in a circle to keep warm.

After eating dry food and drinking hot mutton soup, the soldiers were all warm, and the cold air was all removed, and they could roast the fire again, and many people gradually fell asleep in the roasting fire. (To be continued.) )