On May 12, a delegation under the banner of envoys set out from the east bank of the lower Volga River to cross the river to the west bank, but it was soon discovered by the Khazar rangers patrolling the river, this mission has more than 200 people, the envoys and retinue have 50 people, and the remaining 150 people are all cavalry of the Western Qin Army, and the commander of these Western Qin Army cavalry is a captain, he is Zhao Ziliang's eldest son Zhao Lei, this is his initiative to ask to be the head of the mission guard, Zhao Lei's martial arts are stronger than his younger brother Zhao Ting, Zhao Ziliang is not too worried that he has no power to protect himself, Therefore, he respected his request and agreed to him, and the young eagle will eventually grow up and soar into the sky alone. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

When the mission had just come ashore and had gone a few miles southwest when it was stopped by a dozen Khazar cavalrymen, the leader of the Khazar cavalry, the ten-captain of the Khazar cavalry, grunted with the scimitar in his hand and shouted loudly: "Who are you? ”

In addition to the Khazar Commander who was the leader, the other Khazar cavalry also aimed their bows and arrows at the mission. Not to be outdone, the escort cavalry led by Zhao Lei took out their bows and arrows and aimed them at the dozen or so Khazar cavalry, making them very nervous, and regardless of the individual combat strength, the difference in number was too far.

The envoy of the mission was named Hong Yi, who had led the merchant group to trade with the West on the northern route of the Silk Road for a long time, and was familiar with the languages of the khanates and tribes on the northern route of the Silk Road, and was a rare talent.

In the face of the Khazar rangers scouting, Hong Yi did not panic, but said loudly with full of anger: "We are the envoy of His Royal Highness the King of Western Qin of the Tang Empire, and this official is an envoy personally appointed by His Royal Highness the King of Western Qin, and we are ordered to go to the camp of the Khazar army to visit the Khazar Khan King Habil!" This is the scepter of the ruler, don't you know it? ”

Of course, the Khazar Commander couldn't admit that he didn't know the Scepter, otherwise it would be tantamount to saying that he was ignorant, so he hurriedly said: "Of course I know the Scepter, but it's better to ask clearly!" Why have you come to see us to answer the Assassins? ”

Hong Yi shouted: "You are just a little ten-captain, is this what you should ask?" Quickly take us to meet your answer, if you delay the major affairs of both of us, I am afraid that you, the captain of ten, will not be able to afford it! ”

The Khazar Commander could not bear the fright, and was frightened on the spot, and hurriedly sent people to report to Habil first, and then led the rest of the people to guide the mission, and the large group of men and horses marched together to the camp of the Khazar Khanate's army.

・・・・・・

Soon after the departure of the mission, a cavalry of the Western Qin army also set off from the camp to the southeast, this army cavalry has 2,000 horses, all riding Mobei bantam horses, the combat sprint speed is not the fastest, but riding such Mobei bantam horses can march for a long time without rest, this kind of horse has extremely strong endurance.

This time, the task was to return to Atyrau on the northern shore of the Caspian Sea to establish a material transit and transportation station, and the time was not too rushed, so Duan Xiushi did not want the soldiers to be too tired, so he ordered to stop and rest after half a day of marching.

The soldiers all sat on the ground in units, letting the war horses graze on their own, and Duan Xiushi was no exception, sitting on the blankets spread by the pro-soldiers and drinking the fresh mare's milk just squeezed out by the pro-soldiers, and humming songs from time to time.

At this time, a tall soldier came over with a waist knife and said with a smile: "General Duan should be interested!" ”

This voice was a little familiar, Duan Xiushi turned his head to look at it, and was immediately surprised, and hurriedly got up and hugged his fists and said, "General Nur, why are you ・・・・・・ here?" ”

Nur smiled: "General Duan is saying how can I get mixed in your army, right?" Come with me, the king is here, he wants to see you! ”

"The Great ・・・・・・ King? How so? Duan Xiushi was stunned, looking at the back of Nur holding the waist knife and turning away, and hurriedly chased after him.

After a while, the two came to a clearing, an extremely tall and mighty man wearing an ordinary set of cavalry armor was sitting on the ground and eating a leg of mutton.

Duan Xiushi hurriedly said: "The last general will meet the king!" ”

Zhao Ziliang stopped and pressed his hand: "General Duan must be surprised, right?" Come, sit down and talk! After saying that, he threw a leg of mutton.

Duan Xiushi hurriedly took the leg of mutton and sat down, Nur also sat on the ground, and the three of them sat down together while eating mutton and talking.

Zhao Ziliang wiped the grease stains on his mouth and said to Duan Xiushi: "This time, let you bring two thousand cavalry out, and the establishment of a material transit and transportation station near Atyrau is only your second task, so before that, you must also complete the first task with this king, and this task is your first task!" ”

Duan Xiushi clenched his fists and said, "Please command, the king!" ”

Zhao Ziliang waved his hand, and a personal soldier standing guard next to him sent a parchment map, Zhao Ziliang took it and spread it on the grass, pointed to the map and said: "You see, this is the camp of our army, our current location is here, this should be the current camp of the Khazar army, and two hundred miles southeast of their camp, Attil, is the summer retreat of the Khazar Khan, King Habir, and now there is a batch of ordnance and materials from the Eastern Roman Empire to the Khazar Khanate in Attil, Among these ordnance materials, 300,000 arrows are urgently needed by our army! Two days ago, Zheng San told this king that our arrow reserves are already insufficient, if we want to defeat or even destroy the Khazar Khanate, the remaining arrows are not enough to support us to fight this battle, and to transport ordnance materials from Henglus, it will take at least more than two months, our army is afraid that we can't afford to wait for such a long time, if we run here for a long distance and snatch this batch of arrows, then we can solve the urgent need! ”

Duan Xiushi only then understood the real purpose of him and the two thousand cavalry being sent out and the real reason why Zhao Ziliang appeared here, he hugged his fists and said: "The last general understands, please give the king an order, the last general will leave and let the soldiers gather and set off!" ”

Zhao Ziliang smiled and waved his hand and said: "No matter how urgent the matter is, at this time and a half, you eat something, let the soldiers eat something, take a rest, gather all the soldiers after two quarters of an hour, this king will give a lecture before departure!" ”

"No!"

Zhao Ziliang gnawed on the leg of mutton, while checking the map, from here to Attil, about 800 miles, Attil, located at the mouth of the Volga River, close to the coast of the Caspian Sea, the northern line of the Silk Road has a trade route from the Amu Darya River downstream, to the Aral Sea, around the north bank of the Caspian Sea, across the Saracan Valley at the mouth of the Ural River, up to the mouth of the Volga River Attil, this trade route from Artyr, up to Salai, and then down the Don River to Rostov on the Azov Sea, from Rostov directly by boat across the Black Sea to Constantinople of the Byzantine Empire.

This trade route has a history of one or two hundred years, due to the rise of the Arabs, control the traditional Silk Road, collect heavy taxes on Greek merchants and Sogdian merchants, and later Greek merchants and Sogdian merchants in Central Asia developed this northern Silk Road, this northern Silk Road can not be controlled by Arabia, in fact, the Khazar Khanate also benefited a lot because of this trade route, because it is an important transit point for this trade route.

Obviously, the Khazars would not fail to focus on this trade route and sent a large number of ranger sentry to investigate, so Zhao Ziliang decided not to follow this road to attack Athil, but to take another route. There is no fixed road in this prairie, as long as you don't reveal your whereabouts.

Xuan Eighteen, the commander of the Huya Army, came over and hugged his fists and said, "King, the hour is almost up!" ”

Zhao Ziliang nodded, put away the brush and handed the sheepskin map to Xuan 18 and said: "The army will then set off, and the Huya Army will send an outpost to attack the front station, follow the newly drawn route on it, try to avoid the Khazar ranger outposts, if you really can't avoid them, you will directly deal with them, but never let anyone go, so as not to reveal our whereabouts and identity, if the Khazars find out that we have attacked Attil, the mission will be in danger!" ”

"The last general understands!" Xuan 18 took the map and turned around and left to make arrangements.

Zhao Ziliang nodded to Duan Xiushi and said, "Let's start!" ”

"Yes, King!"

Duan Xiushi immediately passed the order for the whole army to assemble, and after a few short horn sounds, everyone quickly packed up their things and got on their horses and quickly lined up, the whole process was only three minutes, and this kind of assembly speed could be calmly dealt with even if the enemy suddenly came to carry out a sneak attack.

After the assembly, the number of people was counted, and everyone arrived, Duan Xiu Shice immediately stepped forward and shouted: "Soldiers, our previous task was to return to Atyrau to establish an ordnance and material transit transportation station, but now we have a temporary new task, and this task will be led by the king himself to complete, just now the king has come to our army, now please give the king a lecture!" ”

"Roar, roar, roar・・・・・・" The soldiers beat their armor with their weapons together, and got up and roared to express their joy and welcome to Zhao Ziliang's arrival.

Zhao Ziliang immediately stepped forward and raised his hand, and everyone stopped shouting and quieted down.

"Soldiers of the Escort Army, the new mission is not a good errand, it is to go to war, it is to carry out a long-distance attack!"

The soldiers of the Western Qin Army were not afraid of war, and many people were very excited when they heard that there was a battle, and their morale was very high, and the soldiers collectively roared again: "Roar, roar, roar・・・・・・"

Zhao Ziliang continued: "Eight hundred miles away from here, on the opposite bank of the mouth of the Yedi Li River, there is a Khazar settlement, called Athir, where thousands of Khazars live, and possibly other foreign merchants! That's the target of our run! Long-distance raids are no strangers to many of our soldiers, this king has fought a lot of battles in his life, and there are not a few battles for long-distance runs, in Tubo, in Mobei, and in the Beiting period, this king has led a team to carry out long-distance raids, and the most important thing about long-distance raids is to be fast, faster, faster, so fast that the enemy can't think of it, and let them die without understanding how they died! But in order to complete a long-distance run, the soldiers must have a strong will far beyond ordinary people, and they must not sleep for several days and nights. The distance of this attack was 800 miles, and it was 800 miles in three days, and when it arrived, it immediately launched an attack, could the soldiers do it? Tell me, can you do it? ”

Everyone yelled, "Yes, yes, yes!" ”