Yoshikawa breathed a sigh of relief, the cavalry reconnaissance that had been going on for several days had been fruitless, and it had already reached the extreme. Since the rebellion to cut off the salt road, he has never been so anxious, when the meeting of the nobles in the clan decided to cut off the road to intercept the salt transport officer, almost everyone breathed a sigh of relief, after all, this is an open opposition to the huge Han dynasty in the Central Plains, everyone understands that if this Han dynasty really moves, none of the thousands of people in the Yeji clan will have a chance to live. Fortunately, judging from the intelligence collected from all sides, the Bianliang side has been worried about external troubles in the past two years, and it should not be able to take care of this trivial matter in the northwest border for a while.

As the patriarch, Ye Jichuan was well aware of the importance of salt transportation, as long as there was no salt transported through Gyeongju to Guanzhong and Kwantung for a month, the emperor of the Central Plains would be shocked, and at that time Guo Yanqin of Gyeongju could not sit still. Only in that case will this dog official put down his body and negotiate with the Yeji clan. This guy has been scraping the ground for two years, and he should have made enough money, as long as he still wants to keep the official position of the assassin, the matter of sheep and horse donation is not negotiable.

The Battle of Huai'an made the Yeji tribe see the weakness of Guo Yanqin and the Gyeongju state soldiers, and this offensive campaign launched by Yejichuan not only completely defeated Guo Yanqin's Gyeongju soldiers, but even unexpectedly took the county seat of Huai'an.

With this kind of combat power, it is absolutely impossible for Guo Yanqin to launch a counterattack, and he can't even defend the city of Gyeongju.

Of course, Ye Jichuan didn't want to force Guo Yanqin to a dead end, after all, if he provoked the imperial court to report the Fu Ye Ji clan, he would have to go around without eating. Therefore, Gyeongju must not be beaten, not only can it not be beaten, but it must also be restrained at all times, and Guo Yanqin must not be scared away. It doesn't matter if Gyeongju doesn't have a governor. But then the Yeji people will have no one to negotiate.

Taking the risk to cut off the salt road, to put it bluntly, is just for the sake of the god-damned sheep and horse donation and trade ban, as long as Guo Yanqin is willing to give in, the Yeji people have no idea of going against the Han people in the Central Plains.

It's a pity that although Guo Yanqin was scared to death, he never refused to let go of the negotiation conditions, and insisted that Ye Ji's family deliver the surrender table. This is very inconsistent with this man's timid personality. The nobles of the Ye Ji family were very surprised. If the state soldiers are strong, the form on the battlefield is not good, and the pheasant family has no opinion on the delivery of the table, after all, the fist is hard and reasonable. But now it is the Ye Ji family that has the military advantage. Guo Yanqin didn't even have the strength to fight, so the Ye Ji family was reluctant, how could there be a reason to surrender if they won the battle?

Of course, they would not have known that Guo Yanqin was frightened after the defeat of Huai'an, and not only ran to Lexian County in the south on the border with Ningzhou to watch the situation, but also delivered an emergency stamped to the imperial court overnight. Guo Jianshi thought that these Fanyi wanted their own heads, and it wasn't until the messenger of the Ye Ji family entered Gyeongju that he knew that the Ye Ji family just wanted to restore the trade market and cancel the sheep and horse donations. But by this time the seal had already been issued. couldn't chase it back, and in his frustration, he gave up the idea of fleeing to Ningzhou. returned to Gyeongju to sit in the town, and while bargaining with Ye Ji's family, he sent people to Beijing to make a point.

He didn't know the news of Wang Jun's fall at this time, otherwise he was afraid that he would immediately loosen his mouth and sign a contract with Ye Ji's family.

Since the imperial court already knew that the pheasant tribe had rebelled and had put itself in a guilty situation, then it was only possible to shirk the responsibility of defeating the Yeji tribe to recover the lost land and forcing the Yeji tribe to surrender. So for Guo Yanqin. The two counties of Huai'an County and Luoyuan County must be recovered, and the Yeji people must go up to the table, so that they can survive this hurdle without danger.

But he was defeated on the battlefield. The negotiation is not enough, but the Yeji people in Huai'an County don't want it, after all, it is too close to the state capital, and it belongs to the inner line of the Great Wall, so it is really worthless. But Luoyuan County is different, this county is at the junction of the Yeji tribe's territory and the cattle killing family's territory, which is of great significance for the future struggle between the two clans, and at the critical moment, this county can even be used as a fortress to annex the cattle killing family's land. With such a strategic value, of course Ye Ji's family bit it and refused to say it, coupled with the fact that the issue of lowering the table could not be discussed, the matter dragged on like this, which made Ye Ji's family a little anxious, and the rebellion lasted for two months, and the heart of the earth was already empty, Ye Jichuan had no choice but to decide to give Guo Yanqin another lesson - to capture Baima County and put the soldiers and horses under Lao Guo's nose.

It was at this time that a force of elusive cavalry began to appear among the mountainous valleys east of Huai'an.

The movement of this cavalry was erratic and extremely difficult to capture, and it was often difficult for the Yeji cavalry to approach them when they went out of the city to reconnoitre. Judging from the reconnaissance, the number of this cavalry seems to be small, but the speed of movement is amazing, the armor is excellent, and the arrows used are very similar to the regular army of the imperial court.

Ye Jichuan panicked, sent more cavalry to search, and after losing more than thirty people, he finally determined that this cavalry always operated in groups of ten to twenty people, using terrible cavalry crossbow arrows to attack, wearing standard cavalry armor, although the number was small, but because of the excellent weapons and strong horsepower, effectively sheltered the eastern mountains.

Ye Jichuan immediately judged that there was an official army sent by the imperial court hidden in the east of Huai'an, and his heart immediately rose to his throat, and the attack plan on Baima County that had been prepared was suddenly canceled, and he began to mobilize the cavalry in his hand to probe the enemy in the east.

Just this afternoon, he personally led a hundred cavalry, after the loss of eight people, finally followed the route of action of this cavalry to trace the camp of this official army, after some detailed exploration, his heart relaxed, the total number of this officer army is not much, about 300 to 400 infantry, dozens of cavalry, and the strength of the Gyeongju state soldiers is still worse, although the cavalry is very well-equipped, but the infantry is relatively poor, not many in armor, and the discipline is loose and slow, and the weapons used are mostly wooden guns.

Such an official army will not bring ruin to Ye Ji's family.

Ye Jichuan guessed that since this army came from the east, it should be the Eighth Route Army in Yanzhou—although they did not show their banners, this can be detected from the accents of those people. What was the purpose of Li Wenge sending such a force to Gyeongju? Ye Jichuan's analysis is that this Yanzhou warlord wants to take advantage of his own battle with Guo Yanqin, and if he sends troops to fight Baima, this army will immediately attack Huai'an and cut off his retreat.

Li Wenge made a good calculation.

The Yeji people did not believe in Li Wenge at all, and dared to come to Gyeongju with the whole army. The party members in the north have always been the biggest enemies of Yanzhou, and when the Tuoba family is still eyeing the land, Li Wenge came to Gyeongju, isn't that waiting to be raided by others?

After finding out that there were no enemy ambushes within dozens of miles around, Ye Jichuan decided to send the main force tomorrow to fight the Yanzhou soldiers. The main force of the enemy is the infantry, and it is no match for the Yejijia cavalry in the maneuver of the large corps, although the enemy's cavalry is elite. However, the number of people is too small, and it is more than enough to cover the battlefield under normal circumstances, but in the face of the superior cavalry of the enemy, the enemy's cavalry is of little use in a head-to-head confrontation. The crossbow bolts were terrifying, but they took a lot of time to fill, and they were hard to do after the first wave was fired.

As long as nothing else, this battle is not too dangerous.

This time, Ye Jichuan mobilized 200 tent soldiers, all cavalry, and 800 people were divided into the front army, the middle army and the rear army. The front army and the rear army each had 50 tent soldiers and 200 soldiers, and the middle army had 100 tent soldiers and 400 soldiers. Eight hundred cavalry searched and attacked the enemy camp along the eastern valley through ten trees. Kill all the people alive along the way, whether it's enemy cavalry, the unlucky herb-picker Hannon, or the merchant horse team that sneaks across the blockade to ensure the secrecy of the troops' movements.

Of the eight hundred, there were one hundred and thirty-three pairs of various kinds

All equipped in the main forces of the central army. This is the most valuable town house of the Yeji people

The distance between the front army and the middle army is one mile, and the distance between the middle army and the rear army is three miles, which is to be able to respond to each other and support each other in case of enemy ambush.

Speaking from the heart. The Yeji tribe is still at an extremely low stage in terms of organization and strategic and tactical level. They relied on the courage and morale of fighting to the death and the natural bravery and savagery of the grassland people to defeat the state army in Gyeongju, but in terms of enemy situation analysis and judgment and command and coordination, they have a big gap with the regular army of the Central Plains and even the party Tuoba soldiers, and their sensitivity to the enemy is also much lower. The Folding Soldiers had already treated this primitive tribe as a group of dead people.

Zhi Yuqing was also more careful, although he was also a long-time battler, it was the first time that he had eliminated the enemy army on the map plan, and he was eager to test whether this precisely calculated combat mode was really feasible.

According to his calculations, if the total strength of the enemy army is 800 to 1,000, the casualties of his own side should be controlled within 100, and the number of casualties should not exceed 50. After this battle, Huai'an County has almost become an undefended city.

……

In Gyeongju in March, although the weather has warmed up, the morning is still a little chilly. The Ye Ji cavalry, who were dressed in various leather costumes and barely marched in columns, kept pouring wine into their mouths to dispel the slight cold.

In the past three months, the awe of these Ye Ji heroes for the Han officials and soldiers has gone from strong to slight, and then to the current disdain, and has gone through a rather bumpy journey. Before the battle in northern Huai'an, many people were ready to sacrifice their lives to ascend to heaven, and if it weren't for Guo Yanqin's sheep and horse donations and trade bans, which really made these herdsmen unable to survive, they would not have risked being beheaded to support Ye Jichuan's crazy move to cut off the salt road.

The battle in the north of Huai'an completely shattered the halo shrouded in the heads of the Han officials and soldiers, and the old men of the Ye Ji family who were old were stunned to find that today's officers and troops were no longer the mighty and powerful officers and soldiers who entered Pingxia in the fourth year of Changxing.

Naturally, it is difficult for people to have any sense of awe in such officers and soldiers.

After traveling fifteen or sixteen miles, the sun had risen overhead, and the soldiers of the Ye Ji family, who had been walking all morning, began to be hungry.

Many people immediately picked up the water bag and poured the goat's milk into their mouths.

Ye Jichuan wiped the sweat from his head, glanced at the team in front of him and behind him, and shouted: "Heroes of the Ye Ji family, work hard!" When we arrived at the ten trees in front, we rested for a while, and then continued to hurry, and rushed to the enemy camp before this evening, and killed the rabbits and cubs from Yanzhou, and returned to Huai'an, where the whole clan slaughtered sheep and let everyone have a full meal......"

"Roar—" all the Yeji warriors shouted as they brandished their weapons.

"Woo-" The front army suddenly blew the horn in a hurry, Ye Jichuan was stunned, and the soldiers of the Chinese army were also stunned, this was the reaction to the discovery of the enemy's large army.

It is still more than ten miles away from the enemy camp, could it be that the enemy army has come here out of the village?

Ye Jichuan looked nervously ahead, and after a while, a fast horse seemed to run in the opposite direction from the front, and the Ye Ji cavalry in the front team dodged and gave way.

This cavalryman kept going all the way, and ran in front of Ye Jichuan before he panted and said: "Da Lu Ze, the front army found the Han army brigade in Shikeshu, they lined up on the east side of the valley, and the front army asked for instructions, do you want to attack?" ”

Ye Jichuan was taken aback, he couldn't imagine that these Han soldiers would dare to fight, which was really unexpected.

He pondered for a moment and asked, "How many enemy troops are there?" ”

"In the middle are infantry, about three hundred people, two wings are cavalry, and on one side there are more than twenty people!"

Ye Jichuan frowned, it was about the same as the total strength of the enemy army he calculated, and counting the strength of the remaining camp, this was already the largest force that the enemy could dispatch.

He gritted his teeth: "Tell your family Lu Ze, don't attack, wait until the front of the Chinese army converges." ”

"Yes—" The warrior turned his horse's head and ran forward in sweat.

Along the narrow valley road, the cavalry of the 400 Chinese Army slowly entered the Valley of Ten Trees within a radius of about five or six miles, and joined the 200 former troops who had arrived in advance.

This process took about a quarter of an hour, and during this time, those enemy troops in the distance to the east lazily carried wooden guns one by one and coldly glanced at these Yeji family soldiers, waiting quietly. There was a lot of noise on the west side of the valley, but there was silence on the east side. Ye Jichuan was a little puzzled for a while, should these cunning Han people get some scarecrows to fool themselves?

But the corpse of a fallen horse and a Yeji warrior lying on the ground in the distance proved that the opposite side was not a straw man, but a living enemy who could kill and shoot arrows.

Just behind the corpse of this warrior, a shallow ditch that was not wide separated the Yeji army from the Han army.

This ditch is so shallow that it is hardly a ditch, and if you step on it carefully, you won't even break your feet; Not to mention the wide, the smallest warrior can easily step over, not to mention that all the Yeji warriors are riding horses.

Ye Jichuan frowned and looked at the ditch, and asked softly, "What's the matter?" ”

Lu Zeye Jimao, who led the team in the front army, grinned, and said after a while: "Someone just came forward to shout, and he said, up and down the Ye Ji family, those who dare to cross this ditch will die!" ”

Ye Jichuan suddenly narrowed his eyes, he raised the whip in his hand and whipped Ye Jimao fiercely.

"Cowardice - the enemy said such a word, and the Ye Ji family was frightened?"

Ye Jimao Tu was very aggrieved: "Da Lu Ze, it's your order not to attack, I'm waiting for you to arrive!" ”

Ye Jichuan stiffened his face, he knew that what Ye Jimao Tu said made sense, he was in an unbearable atmosphere for a while, and this group of Han soldiers was too blind, so they actually used this method to humiliate themselves.

Just casually draw a ditch on the ground, and then tell your tribe that you are not allowed to pass, and those who pass will die!

The enemy army is obviously weak, but the arrogance that seeps out of the bones is really unbearable. Who do they think they are? Is the god of the underworld able to judge life and death?

Ye Jichuan suppressed the anger in his chest and urged the horse forward.

"Da Lu Ze—be careful—" Ye Jimao shouted, reaching for the reins of Ye Jichuan's horse.

With a whip, he pulled his hand away, and Ye Jichuan's deep voice sounded: "Without my order, no one is allowed to step forward!" Kill the violators! ”

The military order was issued, and no one dared to stop the eldest Lu Ze, the great patriarch of the Ye Ji family, only to see him riding his horse and running gently, not moving fast, and gradually approaching the "boundary ditch" in the middle of the valley, about a mile or so away from the place where the enemy army was arrayed.

Soon, Ye Jichuan grabbed the reins in front of the boundary ditch, he glanced at the boundary ditch, raised his head contemptuously, and raised his head in a strange Chinese voice: "The patriarch of the Ye Ji family, Chuan Lu Ze, please speak in front of the Han army's main general——"