At this time, it was June, affected by the climate, the ice and snow on the Tianshan Mountains melted, and the water surface of the broken leaves that originated in the Tianshan Mountains rose nearly ten meters in just ten years, and the army had to build a pontoon bridge to cross the south to aid Gao Xianzhi, but Zhao Ziliang had already considered and prepared when he led the army to come, and it only took one morning to build the pontoon bridge. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Zhao Ziliang sent Xuan Yi to lead 5,000 cavalry to the north, on the one hand, to drive the Qarlu people back to their original place of residence, that is, at the foot of the Tianshan Mountain, on the other hand, to prevent the Great Food Army from carrying out water supply in Yibohai to attack the hinterland of Beiting in the east, Zhao Ziliang ordered the Han Navy 6,000 iron cavalry and the Xilin Garrison Army 5,000 light cavalry each to carry five days of dry food and drinking water, and he personally commanded the crossing of the pontoon bridge into the desert on the south bank of the Broken Leaf Water, and he was ready to cross the desert from north to south to aid the Gao Xianzhi Department who was fighting with the Great Food Army, The marching speed of the baggage troops could not keep up with the main cavalry brigade, so they were ordered by Zhao Ziliang to follow.

The city of Henglus (present-day Taraz).

There is a small river ten miles away in the east of Henglus City, because this small river flows outside Henglus City, so it is called Henglus River (now Taraz River) by the local herdsmen and the merchants who pass by, originally there is a small bridge on the river surface for the merchants to pass, but this place is a strategic place, and there are often wars, so the small bridge on the river surface has been destroyed many times, and it has been rebuilt again after being destroyed, and so on many times.

When the Great Eclipse Army came from the west and raided the city of Henglus, the remnants of the Tang Army and the Shi Army, who broke through to the east in embarrassment, destroyed the small bridge over the river and cut off the trade route in order to prevent the Great Eclipse Army from chasing and killing from behind.

The people's sensitivity to war is always very strong, this is the instinct of living beings to seek good fortune and avoid harm, when the war comes, the mixed Hu people and Hu merchants scattered within a radius of fifty miles around the perimeter have already run clean.

In order to continue to advance to the east, Said sent troops to rebuild a pontoon bridge, and set up a camp on the east bank of the Hengrus River, gathering the army and the camp, on the one hand, the east bank of the Hengrus River as a bridgehead to advance eastward, on the other hand, if the Tang army arrives, he can resist the enemy on the east bank of the Henglus River, hold the east bank, and ensure the safety of the Henglus City, which can be said to be offensive and retreating.

At this time, the east bank of the Henglus River, is really a large army gathered, a radius of more than 20 miles is full of Tang army and the big food army of the military tents, banners, the camps of the two sides are ten miles apart, the Tang army did not rush to counterattack after arriving, and the big food army did not take advantage of the Tang army to maintain stability when the attack, the big food army needs to rest, need more troops, after all, the strength of Said's hands is only 10,000 people, the main force is still in the hands of Ziad in the city of Tuozhi, with the arrival of the servant army of the Zhaowu countries, the number of the big food army also began to increase, reaching more than 50,000 people, It is not much less than the Tang Army, but the main regular army of the Great Food Army is still on the way, and what Said has to do now is to hold the bridgehead on the east bank of the Henglus River and keep the City of Henglus, and the main general of the Tang Army, Gao Xianzhi, also seems to be waiting for the main force of the Great Food Army to come to the decisive battle, and he does not look at these servant troops who have rushed from the Zhaowu Kingdoms.

Gao Xianzhi took his own soldiers and Bian Lingcheng of the prison army to ride a horse to a hillside to check the camp of the Great Food Army, the camp of the Great Food Army was clear at a glance, it was obvious that the Great Food Army did not want to hide it, Xu is the Great Cannibal knew that the General of the Tang State was good at using stratagems, so he did not give the General of the Tang Army a chance to use the strategy, and the two sides set up a position and spoke with their real strength.

Bian Lingcheng looked at the camp of the Great Food Army, and said with some worry: "General Gao, according to the scale of the Great Food Army today, I am afraid that there will be no less than 50,000 people, it is said that the stall reported that there are only 10,000 main forces of the Great Food Army, and the others are servant troops, there are quite a few people, and the main force of the Great Food Army of 40,000 cavalry has not yet arrived, if we really have to wait until the main force of the Great Food Army arrives to fight, the miscellaneous family is worried that we will suffer because of too few troops!" ”

Gao Xianzhi was obviously proficient in the art of war, he was not intimidated by the number of troops of the Great Food Army, he shook his head and said: "Lord Bian is too worried, the matter of the military formation is not something that can be won by a large number of people, a group of rabble, how can it compete with my Tang Heavenly Army?" ”

Bian Lingcheng pointed to the camp of the Great Food Army and asked, "The general refers to the rabble of these Great Food Servant Army?" But we also have 40,000 servant troops on our side, and the other side also has about 40,000 servant troops, if the strength of these servant armies cancels each other, what remains is a duel between the 20,000 main army of our army and the 50,000 main army of the Great Food Army. ”

The war is imminent, and he actually said such words that shook the hearts of the army, if it weren't for the fact that Bian Lingcheng was a supervisor sent by the emperor, Gao Xianzhi would have ordered Bian Lingcheng's head to be cut off, but he still held back, but he still didn't give Bian Lingcheng a good face, and said coldly: "If the supervisor is worried about his own life, he can go back to Anxi first and wait for news!" ”

After saying that, Gao Xianzhi turned his head and shouted behind him: "Pass the order, it is strictly forbidden for anyone in the army to spread remarks that shake the morale of the army, otherwise it will be killed!" ”

Although this was said by the herald, but Bian Lingcheng is not a fool, how can he not hear that this is aimed at him, Gao Xianzhi obviously said that he just talked nonsense and affected the morale of the army, his face was embarrassed for a while, but he was very angry in his heart, and secretly resented Gao Xianzhi for giving him an ugly look in public, and he thought he was sorry after winning a few battles? Don't you take the miscellaneous family in your eyes? If it weren't for the miscellaneous family's advice to the saints, do you think that you would be able to become the envoy of the Anxi Festival with your qualifications? Phew!

scolded Gao Xianzhi fiercely in his heart, Bian Lingcheng laughed a few more words, and said to Gao Xianzhi: "Where did the general say, are the miscellaneous family greedy for life and afraid of death?" Besides, the miscellaneous family is a prison sent by the emperor, so they should be with the army, and they should be diligent and hardworking, so how can they withdraw before fighting? The general should not say such things in the future! ”

Gao Xianzhi didn't want to make the relationship too stiff with Bian Lingcheng, after all, at this time, everyone was a grasshopper on a rope, a colleague who was shaving food in a pot, although he was greedy for money, but he would never be ambiguous in war, at this time, he should handle the relationship with Bian Lingcheng well, so as not to be hindered, he still understands this truth.

Thinking of this, Gao Xianzhi sighed: "Since General Ben is in charge of the Anxi military power, this is the third westward expedition, the first time is to lead the troops to attack Xiao Boluguo, that time Lord Bian is the supervising army, we cooperate with each other, understand, and get along quite well; The second time was an expedition to the Jieshi country, Lord Bian was still a supervisor, and you and I fought that war and made a fortune together; This time is the third time, Lord Bian is the supervisor in turn, Ben will believe that Lord Bian wants to continue to get rich, and General Ben also wants to get rich, but only if the battle is won, can we get rich together! In terms of the way of being an official, Gao thinks that he is not as good as Master Bian, but when it comes to marching and fighting, Lord Bian will not think that he is stronger than Gao, right? ”

Bian Lingcheng is an old oilman in the officialdom, how can he not hear the meaning of Gao Xianzhi's words, of course he also wants to make a fortune, Gao Xianzhi's words went to his heart, so he said: "General Gao, don't worry, command the war, even if you let go of your arms to do it, the miscellaneous family will remove all obstacles for you, if the following general is disobedient, you don't need General Gao to come forward, and the miscellaneous family will settle it for you first!" If anyone is cowardly before fighting, our family will use military law to punish him first! ”

Gao Xianzhi knew that Bian Lingcheng had taken a step back first, he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and hugged his fists and said, "Thank you Lord Bian for that!" ”

The two temporarily gave up their prejudices because of their common interests, but the rifts in their hearts were not so easy to get rid of.

On June 12, the main force of the Great Food Army arrived at the city of Hengrus under the command of Ziad, and crossed the pontoon bridge into the camp on the east bank of the city of Hengrus, and the Tang army scouts soon got the news.

The person in charge of the scout camp is Duan Xiushi, Duan Xiushi was born in a family of generals, what he did when he was in the army was a scout, and he rose from the scout camp completely by military merit, and he is now a general in Anxi, in charge of scout sentry.

Duan Xiushi, who got the report of the scouts under his subordinates, immediately came to the big tent of the Chinese army, at this time Gao Xianzhi was discussing with the generals and officials, Duan Xiushi saluted and reported after entering the tent: "General, the 40,000 main force of the Great Food Army has arrived, and the scouts just found that a large number of people and horses from the direction of Henglus entered the camp of the Great Food Army on the opposite side through the pontoon bridge, this army is densely packed, covering the sky and the sun, and the momentum is huge, all of them are cavalry, and the number of people is about 40,000 horses, it should be the commander of the Great Food Army, Ziad, who personally arrived with the army!" ”

Liang Zai, the deputy envoy of Jiedu, bowed his hand to Gao Xianzhi and said: "General, now that our army has been resting for seven or eight days, the soldiers have long since recovered their combat strength, and they are alive and well, and it is time for a decisive battle with the Great Food Army!" ”

Gao Xianzhi nodded and said: "Yes, it is not easy to keep the morale of the soldiers high all the time, the only way is to fight the enemy army when the morale of the soldiers is high, the soldiers can rest for ten days to recuperate, but if they rest for too long, they will become lazy!" The general is determined to send a team of soldiers and horses to invite the Great Food Army to fight tomorrow, and first test the combat power of the Great Food Army, I wonder which general is willing to take the lead? ”

Li Fei Yuanli, who was defeated by the Great Food Army wheel battle in Kangguo and fled back, immediately stood up and hugged his fists and saluted: "General, the last general has fought with the Great Food Army, if you want to talk about combat power, our Tang Army is definitely higher than the Great Food Army, the last time the Great Food Army took turns attacking the last general, the last general was defeated, and the last general was not convinced!" Please give me 10,000 soldiers and horses, this time the general will definitely beat the big cannibal to the ground! ”

Gao Xianzhi hadn't agreed yet, and now Zhao Chongyu, the town guard of Shule Town, stood up and said to Li Fei Yuanli: "General Li Fei has already fought with the big cannibals a few times, why bother fighting with us people?" ”

After that, Zhao Chongyu hugged his fist to Gao Xianzhi and said: "General, the last general will ask for his life, and lead the Shule army to take the lead!" ”

Jia Chongjun, the envoy of the city guard, also stood up and hugged his fist at Gao Xianzhi and said: "General, the last general Jia Chongqian asks for his life to take the lead!" ”

The generals Xi Yuanqing and He Lou Yurun also stood up and saluted: "General, the last general and others please be the general's leader!" ”

Gao Xianzhi saw that the generals under his command were all eager to fight, and their morale was good, and he was in a good mood for a while, and he was about to speak, but he saw Cao Lingzhong, the soldier and horse, standing up and arching his hand: "General, please let the lowly leader attack this first formation, the first formation can't lose its sharpness!" ”

Gao Xianzhi was a little unhappy, waved his hand and said, "You are a general, how can you let a general do this big thing?" Otherwise, the Great Food Army still thinks that our Tang Army has no one available! ”

Even Bian Lingcheng thought that Gao Xianzhi was right, and nodded: "What General Gao said is very true, General Cao, don't compete with these generals below!" ”

Cao Lingzhong saw that the two bigwigs said this, so he could only retreat gloomily. (To be continued.) )