In mid-to-late June of the third year of Guangshun, Li Wenge personally led the headquarters of the Yanchuan Independent Regiment of the Eighth Route Army to wander south of Tongwancheng for seven days, and fought more than ten battles large and small.

Strictly speaking, this cannot be considered a war, it can only be regarded as a sweep.

In the south of Tongwan City, there are dozens of family tribes of the Tuoba family and the Mi Bao family, and these tribes divide the large grassland east of the Wuding River in the south of Tongwan City into dozens of large and small pieces. This meadow is the most fertile meadow occupied by the Eight Divisions of Pingxia, and it is the foundation of the Tuoba family, relying on the support of Tongwan Jiancheng on weekdays, the two tribes living in this meadow have never encountered a major threat. The most recent threat came last fall, when Li Wenge burned two-thirds of the pasture, causing a massive famine that was not alleviated until this spring.

Among the eight tribes, the Mi Bao clan and the Tuoba clan were the closest, and the tribe was also the smallest, with less than 3,000 people up and down the clan, and less than 300 warriors in the clan used for battle.

It is precisely because the scale of this tribe is too small that it is basically not qualified to challenge the leadership of the Tuoba family in the eight tribes, so that they can survive under the nose of the Tuoba family and share this grassland with the Tuoba family.

Most of the great nobles of the Mi Bao clan married into the Tuoba clan to secure their status, and in the eyes of the other six clans, the Mi Bao clan and the Tuoba clan could basically be regarded as one family.

Coupled with the tribes of the Tuoba family who did not have time to retreat into Tongwan City, there were a total of 7,000 people active in this grassland within a radius of hundreds of miles.

These 7,000 people are scattered among dozens of small families, large and small, with the largest population of each small family not exceeding 500, and the smallest being only a few dozen.

Li Wenge burned the city and drove the 8,000 people in the party and Xiang City into this grassland area. Immediately, he himself led the main force of the Western Route Army into this grassland.

The more than 8,000 party members who had been completely disarmed suddenly crowded the pasture.

Due to the war and famine, most of the cattle, sheep and grain of the nomadic tribe families in the pasture were sent to Tongwan City to be concentrated and stored, and the tribe only had a very small material reserve. The sudden influx of party nobles with noble status naturally cannot afford to offend, but the already small reserves have been diluted in such a way, and they are even more stretched.

Although the grassland is the source of food and clothing for the nomads, after all, the living cannot live by eating grass. But people always need food to survive, and the combined size of the major families in Tongwan City is in the thousands, even the largest local tribe that still remains in the pastures. Suddenly, so many people will be eaten poor.

These party nobles were all snakes of the land, and naturally knew which tribes were poorer and which tribes were richer, so they came up and down the steppe like locusts. Look for a place where they can eat enough for a few days.

In this case, many local tribes have eaten even the lambs cleanly.

And the other terrible consequence is that this group of people come on the front foot. It often means that the Han soldiers are stationed on the back foot......

The cavalry of the fine seal minda almost drove the ass of these large moving partisans, and attacked each rich tribal point swiftly and mercilessly. The elite warriors of these local tribes have all been withdrawn, and their defensive capabilities are already weak, and there is almost no room for counterattack in front of the cavalry of the fine seal Minda.

Li Wenge pursued the simplest policy against these steppe tribes: drive them out and burn them all!

Often, after a battle, almost the vast majority of the population of the Pingxia tribe fled, but all the cattle and sheep left behind in the same place were killed and burned along with other supplies.

The only decent battle in seven days was with the Mi Capture family, a tribe that still maintained its basic structure. Therefore, in the face of the attack of the Western Route Army, a relatively effective resistance was organized.

The battle lasted about an hour. Hundreds of cobbled together soldiers of the Mi Capture family finally collapsed in the coordinated attack of the infantry and cavalry of the Yanchuan Independent Regiment, and the head of the Mi Capture family, Mi Capture Zel, was captured alive. The three tribal elders of the Mi Bao family were killed in battle, and the establishment of this family was completely shattered.

Li Wenge did not interrogate Mizel, but directly ordered the patriarch's head to be cut off.

It's not that Li Wenge suddenly changed his sex, but that he really didn't have time to play hide and seek slowly with the Mi Bao family---- and his army didn't even have the ability to carry prisoners. It takes at least two infantry to watch Mirazel, what a waste!

The war lasted for seven days, and the steppes were filled with wolf smoke and fire, and for the first time the nomads learned what it was like to be "plundered" by people.

Fortunately, these robbers were merciful, and only robbed grain, cattle and sheep, and did not necessarily have to take their lives.

Of course, they didn't know that they had a chance to escape for their lives, because these enemies really didn't have the time and strength to kill them with knives, guns and arrows, so they had to choose a more labor-saving mode of starving to death or killing each other for food.

Seven days later, this kind of war finally ended, because after many twists and turns, the elite cavalry led by Tuoba Yi Yin finally crossed the Wuding River to catch up.

In just over 180 miles, the cavalry took seven days, which was really a record-breaking speed.

The crossing of the Wuding River by Tuoba Yi Yin's army was on June 17, after which they "recovered" the still burning city of Tongwan.

More than three thousand fighters spent almost two days doing one thing ---- trying to extinguish the fire.

Tuoba Yi Yin was not a stupid commander, yet he could barely command his soldiers for two days. Almost every Pivotal Leader who led the team led his own men to put out the fire, and any other orders were invalid to them.

For the Tuoba family, Tongwan City is not just a city, it is a miracle, a faith, and a spiritual pillar that cannot be abandoned.

In this way, Tuoba Yiyin was delayed for three days in Tongwan City.

In the past three days, he has also done one thing, or rather, encountered a new trouble.

An army of 3,500 men gathered more than 2,000 scattered tribesmen, including two family elders.

In the face of the harsh accusations of the two elders. Tuoba Yi Yin was speechless---- after all, it was he who brought the Tuoba family into the current predicament, and the destruction of Tongwan City made the family feel the pain even more.

Tuoba Yi was still calm-headed. He did not heed the advice of his son and nephew to kill the two elders---- the more important it was at this time, the more important it became, and the fratricidal fighting within the family could only cheapen the enemy.

However, the actual problem had to be solved, so many refugees were accommodated, hundreds of slaves were removed, and more than a thousand more mouths were eaten in the barracks......

Fortunately, the cattle and sheep carried by the army itself can still be supported for the time being.

Tuoba Yi Yin originally carried 3,500 cavalry cattle, sheep, and grain and grass for half a month out of the city, and in the original plan, such food was sufficient.

Back and forth on the Wuding River. Nearly half of the supplies were consumed, and now there are more than 1,000 refugees, and this amount of supplies suddenly seems to be stretched.

The walls of Tongwan City are still towering. However, the city has been burned to the ground, not to mention food, and not even a handful of hay can be found.

Tuoba Yi Yin finally realized. If you don't take bold action, you don't need Li Wenge to fight you. The armies of the land that starved others alone will be starved to death.

Even for the sake of food for the army, it was necessary to march south.

On June 20, the main force of the party's cavalry finally gave up Tongwancheng and began to move south.

At this time, the Xia Nan grassland was already full of smoke.

Tuoba Yi Yin didn't expect that Li Wenge would dare to slowly turn around the steppe of Pingchuan after his cavalry had already crossed the river, and sweep away the southern tribes one by one.

Could it be that he calculated that he would be in a state of inconvenience for a short time after crossing the river?

Tuoba Yi Yin doesn't believe that Li Wenge is a human being. Not a fairy! The southern grasslands are no more than 200 miles long from north to south. For the cavalry, it was only two days' journey at full speed.

Li Wenge was actually not so bold, and all his decisions were based on the precise calculations of the Yu Hou team.

According to the calculations of this squad. The maximum daily march distance of the Tuoba cavalry could not exceed forty li, and if it exceeded forty li, its cavalry unit would completely lose its physical strength and would not be able to fight. For Tuoba Yi Yin, chasing Li Wenge's ass is not a good choice. For him, the best strategy was to ambush the front of the independent regiment with high mobility.

In response to this possibility, although the marching route formulated by Yu Houke varies from day to day, one thing remains the same---- always pointing south, the difference is only southeast or southwest.

Another point is emphasized in the Yuhou Ke local strategy---- the distance from the upper reaches of the Wuding River, that is, the Hongliu River, at any time is not more than thirty li, which is the average distance of the infantry on a day's march.

There is always a cavalry in front of the infantry column as the vanguard, a cavalry corps on each flank to guard the flanks, and a cavalry corps in the rear as a rearguard cavalry. The remaining cavalry team was held by Li Wenge and used as a mobile force.

The existence of these 300 cavalrymen in the Western Route Army is the most reliable guarantee for the safety of the whole army.

As long as the warning time is sufficient, the infantry is not always at a disadvantage, even on the plains.

At this time, the infantry was no longer the original infantry.

After the unimaginably difficult long march and the fantastic Battle of Keseong under Tongwan Fortress, the infantry hastily assembled from Gyeongju began to behave differently in the following marches.

Martial arts and tactics could not be achieved quickly, but discipline and morale had risen markedly, and now the whole army was in high spirits, and even after several days of continuous marching and fighting with the party members running around the grassland, most of the exhausted soldiers had smiles on their faces. Despite the fighting, the speed of the troops' march never fell below the standard of thirty miles a day.

Now that everyone has become accustomed to the feeling of tying leggings, and hot water every night has become a compulsory task, these things are now completely free from the urging of officers, and now almost everyone in these nearly 1,000 infantry understands that these things mean whether they can keep their feet, and their own feet determine whether they can guarantee their lives.

Among the troops under Li Wenge's command, the Yanchuan Independent Regiment is not the first unit that can fight in the coming years, but it is definitely the first unit that can walk.

June 23. The rearguard cavalry of Li Wenge's department came into contact with the Tuoba Yiyindi forward, and a skirmish broke out between the two sides, and finally the Yanzhou cavalry voluntarily disengaged after losing three soldiers.

In this battle, the crossbow arrows of the Yanzhou cavalry inflicted five casualties on the advance of the Tuoba cavalry. At the same time, Tuoba Yiyin's judgment was wrong.

Cavalry, crossbow arrows, and ironclad troops, these three elements together outlined the prototype of a main force in Yanzhou for Tuoba Yiyin, and Tuoba Yiyin began to test and analyze the actual strength of Li Wenge through various channels.

On 25 June, on the grassland on the east bank of the Hongliu River, Tuoba Yi Yin personally led a cavalry to conduct a fire reconnaissance of the cavalry in Li Wenge's land.

This skirmish lasted for about half an hour, and the cavalry on both sides let go of the reins and carried *** on the grassland, and finally in the twilight the Yanzhou cavalry fled in the direction of the Hongliu River. However, the cavalry of a pivotal leader led by Tuoba Yi Yin did not pursue due to the problem of horsepower.

In this battle, the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army lost more than 20 people, while the Tuoba cavalry suffered no more than 10 casualties.

Although equipped with advanced crossbow arrows, he fights for riding skills in the grassland. Young, the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army was still inferior to the nation on horseback.

After this battle, Zhang Guizhi was scolded by Minda, who was scolded, and almost all the ugly words he had learned poured out on poor Zhang Duzheng's head.

Zhang Guizhi could only stand so pitifully, bearing the wrath of Minda in front of all his subordinates. There were all cavalry warriors around, but none of them dared to intercede for Zhang Guizhi.

For these young cavalrymen of the Eighth Route Army. The fear of the fine seal Minda is eternal, even if they are not afraid on the battlefield, even if their rank and position are enough to lead an army to become the commander of the front in the future, this fear has never been eliminated.

Li Wenge, the commander of the army standing on the side, couldn't see it, and waited until the fine seal Minda finally stopped his mouth, and just pulled him to say a consolation words such as "Yang is good at the public court, and the rules are too private", and he was beaten back by the angry fine seal Minda. Seeing that the fine seal Minda raised his eyebrows and stared at the Great Zhou Dynasty to inspect the school Taibao Right Xiaowei General (Li Wenge didn't know at this moment that Chai Rong had promoted him to the inspection school Taifu Right Guard General), the Eighth Route Army made the festival spitting froth. The soldiers around him all looked sideways.

On 26 June, the Yanchuan Independent Regiment marched along the Hongliu River to the edge of the southern mountains. Same. Tuoba Yi Yin led the main force of the Tuoba family with 1,500 cavalry to chase here. On that day, both sides were sleepy and tired, and they camped five miles apart, and there was no fighting.

On 27 June, the two sides finally engaged in the first regular battle since the Northern Expedition of the Eighth Route Army.

Li Wenge and Shen Chenxi set up a formation in the mountains in the south of the Hongliu River and the south of the river, and arranged a 3*3 phalanx in the capital, this time Li Wenge took out his old book, and the infantry composed of four veterans were all clothed in iron armor and deployed in the two directions in the northeast, and at the same time used all the cavalry to carry out battlefield vigilance and fire support.

The Eighth Route Army occupied a favorable position, and the cavalry mobility advantage of the Tuoba family could not be brought into play, Tuoba Yi Yin was unwilling to give up this last opportunity, and finally ordered a pivotal unit to dismount and fight on foot after a stalemate all morning. In addition, with two cavalry units of the Pivotal Commander, he attacked the right flank of the Eighth Route Army's phalanx from the east---- Tuoba Yi Yin was really reluctant to use light cavalry to attack the right flank phalanx defense line composed of ironclad troops.

The cavalry's diffuse fire caused heavy casualties to the three infantry in the central position and on the west flank, and the infantry armor of all three infantry was not enough to completely protect the soldiers from the rain of arrows, and in just half an hour, more than 30 people were killed and nearly 40 were wounded to varying degrees.

However, the central and western fronts did not collapse because of this, because Li Wenge shamelessly wore Mingguang armor and rode a tall horse to stand in the center, so that everyone in the army could see him.

The diffuse rain of arrows had little effect on the super-defensive Mingguang Armor, and Li Wenge only needed to protect his mount from damage. The march distance this time was too long, so the burden on the equipment was reduced, and the entire army of the Yanchuan Independent Regiment only had two hundred wooden shields, otherwise the casualty rate would not be so high.

The cavalry of the two cardinals immediately encountered the counterattack of the cavalry of the fine seal minda who occupied a higher terrain, and the crossbow arrows shot by the crossbow were obviously much stronger than the scattered rain of arrows, and the two cardinals circled three times on the right flank, and the battlefield was already covered with the corpses of fallen war horses and party soldiers.

The attack of a pivotal inscription on the front of the ironclad infantry phalanx lasted less than a quarter of an hour, and in this short quarter of an hour, nearly fifty party soldiers fell in front of the Eighth Route Army's phalanx.

This obviously asymmetrical war situation made Tuoba Yi Yin stop the attack in time, and within two moments, this party commander finally ordered the troops to retreat and wait for the arrival of the main cavalry of the party before the battle.

On this day, the Tuoba family threw down nearly one hundred and thirty corpses in front of the battle. The Eighth Route Army had 53 killed and more than 80 wounded, including nine seriously wounded.

No one expected that this would be the last face-to-face battle in this war.

That night, Li Wenge led his troops to retreat into the Qiwu Mountains, and only deployed a small number of cavalry at the mountain pass to guard them. Since he had already made the party members suffer a little and proved that the Eighth Route Army had the ability to fight them head-on, Li Wenge was not prepared to continue this kind of war of attrition, and he was ready to pull his troops into the mountains and the party army, and the gap between the mobility of the infantry and the mobility of the cavalry in the mountainous areas would be greatly shortened, and Tuoba Yiyin, who was tired of soldiers and had little food, would face serious difficulties.

Li Wenge was extremely interested in fighting a guerrilla war in the mountains in which "the enemy advances and we retreat, and the enemy is tired and we fight," and Shen Chen and others did not oppose this strategy, but just when Li Wenge was intoxicated with the sweet dream of "crossing the Wuding River four times," on 27 June, the battle situation changed fundamentally.

Kang Shishi led the main force of the security cavalry regiment to appear on the plain forty miles east of the Hongliu River......