Zhao Ziliang put all the weapons, armor, bows, crossbows, arrows and food in the camp into the wrench space, turned around and walked out of the camp tent, and shouted at Nur: "Is Duan Xiushi back?" ”

Nur said: "Not yet! ”

"Send someone to urge, and if the matter is done, come back quickly!"

"Yes!"

At noon, Duan Xiushi returned with his soldiers and horses and handed over the order to Zhao Ziliang: "King Qiqi, Attilr has been destroyed by us, and the last general has come to pay the order!" ”

Zhao Ziliang asked, "Why did you go for so long?" ”

Duan Xiushi said: "The last general was worried that there would be fish that slipped through the net, so after the fire was extinguished, he asked the brothers to search again, and only after finding no survivors did he lead the troops back!" ”

Zhao Ziliang nodded and said, "Okay!" However, this is a very important foothold for caravans on the Silk Road, and there are many caravans, so we can't stay here for long, give you an hour to eat, drink, and Lazar, and after an hour we will return to the camp! ”

"Yes, King!"

Zhao Ziliang beckoned to Xuan 18 again, and Xuan 18 came over and hugged his fists and said, "King!" ”

"Send a flying eagle message to the battalion, saying that the matter has been done, let them inform the mission and find an opportunity to evacuate!"

"No!"

After another hour, Zhao Ziliang gathered Duan Xiushi, Xuan Shiba, Nuer and others together, took out a map and spread it on the grass and said: "The road we took when we came, we must not take the same road when we return, so it will be tracked by the Khazar ranger outpost, and we must choose another path!" ”

Xuan Eighteen clasped his fists and said, "King, if we take another way back to the camp, we must go a long way!" It's a little more likely to be discovered! ”

What Xuan Eighteen said is not unreasonable, which puts Zhao Ziliang in a dilemma, it is easy to come and difficult to go!

After thinking for a while, Zhao Ziliang finally made a decision and said to Duan Xiushi: "This king has thought about it, we destroyed Artyr, and it seems unlikely that we want to return to the camp without being discovered!" It is only more than two hundred miles away from Habir's Khazar army camp, and it is only about three hundred miles away from our camp, if you walk in a straight line, you can return in only one day, but it is certain to be discovered, it may take more time to take a detour, and the risk of being found seems to be not small, it doesn't matter if it is discovered at that time, our people and horses simply do not return to the camp directly, just hide near the camp of the Khazar army, Habil may soon find that Attil has been destroyed, He shouldn't know that we did it, and he doesn't think we'll be able to break through the blockade of their ranger outposts and get here, so you and your soldiers are hiding near the Khazarian camp and waiting for news and instructions from our camp! ”

Duan Xiushi said: "If the last general and his soldiers hide near the camp of the Khazar army, what about the king? ”

Zhao Ziliang said: "This king returned to the camp with a few personal guards, and it is easy to avoid the Khazar ranger outpost and guard post with few people, even if you bump into it, it is too easy for this king to kill a few ranger outposts, you don't have to worry about this!" We use the Flying Eagle to communicate, and once our army and the Khazarian army have a decisive battle, this king will inform you with the Eagle Herald! ”

"Now that the king has made a decision, the last general will obey!"

Zhao Ziliang immediately left a month's grain for Duan Xiushi, this Khazar's territory can be plundered everywhere, there is no shortage of food and drink, and the food left for a month is also just in case. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

After separating from Duan Xiushi and his nearly 1,800 cavalry, Zhao Ziliang directly took the soldiers of Nur, Xuan Eighteen, Huya and two personal guards to return to the direction of the camp on horseback. After Zhao Ziliang left, Duan Xiushi also left quickly with his soldiers and horses, he must leave the scene as soon as possible, and at the same time do a good job of cleaning up the traces left by the evacuation, so as not to be tracked down by the Khazarian ranger sentry.

Late the next night, Zhao Ziliang returned to the camp and immediately brought in Gao Shang, Du Fu, Zheng San, Brehan, Wei Meng, Bai Xiaode, Ma Lan and other officials and generals.

Everyone thought that Zhao Ziliang had broken through the previous martial arts realm and had successfully passed the customs, and they all congratulated Zhao Ziliang with his hands and fists.

Zhao Ziliang smiled and waved his hand, asked everyone to sit down, and then asked, "Zheng San, did you send someone to Dugu Jun and send them news?" ”

Zheng San replied: "The king, someone has already been sent, and now they should have received the news, if it goes well, they can return tomorrow!" ”

"Good! Brehan, the soldiers have rested for the same day, have their spirits recovered? ”

Brehan stood up and said, "My lord, the soldiers have rested, and they are all eager to fight, and their morale is high."

Zhao Ziliang nodded and said, "Okay!" If the Khazar Khanate accepts our conditions, it's fine, if not, when Dugujun and the others return, our army will prepare to cross the river to attack! ”

If the Western Qin army wants to cross the river to attack, the Khazar Khanate has no choice, the bank line of the Volga River is too long, and there are constantly in the territory of the Khazar Khanate, no matter how much you take precautions, you can't stop the Western Qin from crossing the river, which is why Habil only sent a large number of ranger scouts to patrol and guard the riverbank.

On the morning of May 18, Xuan 18 came to the gate of the big tent of the Chinese army and reported to Zhao Ziliangyu, who was practicing swords outside: "King, Duan Xiushi has news from there, they were discovered by a group of herdsmen the day after they left Artyr, and they had no choice but to destroy the camp of this group of herdsmen, and then they had to march westward, giving the Khazars the illusion that they had gone west, in fact, they had sneaked into a forest on the edge of the Don River, two hundred miles northwest of the Khazar army's camp!" ”

The Volga River is not far from the Don River, and later Russia dug a canal on the line connecting the two points to connect the Volga River with the Don River.

Zhao Ziliang walked to the map and found the approximate location of Duan Xiushi's department, this distance should not be easy to be discovered by the outpost of the Khazar army, after all, it is their own territory, and the direction will not attract the attention of the Khazars.

······

Camp of the Khazarian Army.

The Minister of Khazar angrily returned to the sweat tent and reported to Habil: "Answer to Han, the envoys of the Western Qin Dynasty have not backed down at all, and have been insisting on all the conditions they have proposed, it has been almost ten days, and they have never let go, this negotiation, the villain really can't talk about it, I think they don't have the sincerity of peace talks at all!" ”

The wrinkles on Habil's forehead deepened, and his brows were raised, and he asked, "What if we agreed to all their conditions?" ”

The Khazarian minister smiled bitterly: "If we agree to their conditions, we will tighten our belts for at least twenty years!" Not to mention anything else, they need us to compensate for losses and military expenses, we don't have so much gold at all, and our submission to Western Qin will inevitably cause strong dissatisfaction with the Eastern Roman Empire, and we will lose the support of the Eastern Roman Empire in the end, and may even attract an attack from the Eastern Romans! ”

Habil asked with a straight face: "So we can only fight with Western Qin!" ”

"If they insist on not giving in, we are afraid that we will only have to fight to the death with Western Qin!"

Habir was silent in the tent for half an hour before he said to the Khazarian minister: "In that case, then let's fight!" If you go and tell the envoys of Western Qin, you will say that we will never agree to their harsh conditions, either they will back down and reduce the requirements of the terms, or we will have to send off guests! ”

"Yes, the villain is going!"

Soon, the Minister of Khazar took Hong Yi into the big tent, and Hong Yi saluted Habil and said: "It's a pity that we couldn't reach an agreement between the two sides, and today I have to endure the pain to resign to Answer Han!" I am personally not hostile to Tārākhan and the Khazar Khanate, and the warm hospitality that our mission has received during the few days here is a testament to your magnanimity and the hospitality of the Khazars, and although we will eventually meet each other, this does not affect my friendship with Tārākhan! ”

Seeing Hong Yi say this, Habil smiled and said politely: "It's an honor to get the friendship of Lord Hong, I hope you have the opportunity to come to the Khazar Khanate as a guest again, I won't send you!" ”

"Farewell!"

When the mission returned, the Western Qin army had built a wooden bridge on the Volga River, which could accommodate five horses side by side at the same time, which was a relatively wide and strong bridge, although it took the Western Qin army a few days, but in Zhao Ziliang's view, this was necessary, after the war with the Khazars, this wooden bridge could be used for at least ten years, and it would be used as an important transportation artery on the Northern Silk Road.

On May 22, Zhao Ziliang led a total of 45,000 men from the Western Qin Army, the Kimak Army, and the Ji Thorn Army to approach the Khazar army camp through the bridge.

Habir was not afraid to fight, he learned that after the Western Qin army crossed the river, he immediately sent a commander of 10,000 commanders to lead 5,000 cavalry to meet the battle, at this time the Western Qin army had just crossed the river, Zhao Ziliang immediately asked King Kimak Khan to take 5,000 cavalry to attack.

The two sides met at Mangrove Slope, and then a fierce battle ensued, and from noon to dark, the Kimak army suffered some losses, losing 2,000 men and was forced to retreat, while the Khazar army, although slightly advantageous, also lost more than 1,400 men, and it was already dark at that time, unable to pursue, so they had to retreat back to the camp.

After this battle, the two sides quickly evacuated from the place and found another place to camp, so as to avoid the other side's reconnaissance posts, so that the other side could not find their specific location, and at the same time, the two sides of the reconnaissance and reconnaissance posts were also engaged in fierce exchanges on the grassland, wanting to find the opponent's camp and probe the opponent's military situation after destroying the other side.

Zhao Ziliang looked at the rather embarrassed King of Kimak Khan, Veil, frowned and asked, "Vechier, why do you look like this?" Are you defeated? ”

Vechel said embarrassedly: "Great King, Xiao Khan suffered a small loss and lost two thousand warriors, but the Khazars were not happy, they also lost more than 1,500 people!" ”

Zhao Ziliang asked: "The Kimak army is also considered brave, why is it that it is not defeated when it encounters the Khazar army this time?" ”

"King, the main reason is that our position was not very good when we first encountered it, we were in a low place, and the Khazars were in a high place, we suffered a loss first, at that time the two armies were too close to each other, and it was too late to find a place to set up a position again, so we could only bite the bullet, so we fought like this!"

As one of the few great powers in the north, the combat power of the cavalry of the Kimak Khanate was quite good, and they could not defeat the Western Qin army, but they were not afraid of the armies of other ethnic groups at all. For this point, Zhao Ziliang is relatively clear, he said: "I see! You're tired after a long day, so let's go down and rest first! ”

"Yes, King!"