On the fifth day of October, two months had passed since the Usumish Khan was killed by the troops led by the Ishmi Khan of Ba Ximi Khan, and on this day Zhang Shouyu led 2,000 elite cavalry from the garrison of the Lan army to Yunzhong City, and before this day, Zhao Ziliang had led 2,000 cavalry to arrive first.

"Report - General Qiyu, General Zhang has arrived with his army and is camping outside the city!"

Zhao Ziliang listened to the soldier's report, waved his hand, and said, "Let him arrange the camp and come to see the general immediately!" ”

"No!"

This time to lead the troops, in addition to storing enough reserve grain and grass in the wrench space, Zhao Ziliang only asked Zheng San to prepare ten days of dry food and five days of cold boiled water to distribute to each soldier to carry, in addition, each soldier carried the necessary equipment and weapons, but also carried three pots of arrows a total of ninety, in order to maintain the speed of the march and the ability to maneuver at high speed, each cavalry was equipped with two horses, so the whole army had a total of 12,000 horses. These war horses account for almost eighty percent of the entire Hedong war horses, and most of them were seized from Cui Huitong's caravan, and you must know that only 30,000 war horses were raised when An Lushan rebelled in the future.

Soon, Zhang Shouyu rushed over, "General, the last general Zhang Shouyu was ordered to lead two thousand elite horsemen to converge!" ”

"Okay, Zhang Shouyu, sit down and deliberate!" Zhao Ziliang said and pointed to the vacant seat next to him.

"General Xie!"

Zhao Ziliang looked at the generals and officials on the left and right, and said: "The purpose of this expedition is to eradicate the Khitan and Tongluo, and at the worst of all, drive them to the north of Hanhai (Lake Baikal)!" In order to maintain a long-distance high-speed march and a strong mobile salute, in addition to the cavalry and war horses you brought, General Ben also prepared an additional war horse for each cavalry to transfer! Of course, if you want to let the horses run, you have to let the horses eat grass, now is the time when the autumn is high and cool, the grass is fat and the horses are strong, when the war horses want to maintain high-intensity combat and save their physical strength, they only eat forage but can't, so they must eat other things, Zheng San, you tell the generals, what else do you prepare for the war horses? ”

Zheng San stood up and arched his hand and said: "Xiaguan also prepared thirty catties of soybeans for each war horse, which was fed after the war horse's long-distance rapid march and high-speed sprint battle, and the war horse could quickly recover its strength after eating, feeding three to five catties each time, not too much!" ”

Zhao Ziliang pressed his hand, and after Zheng San sat down, he said: "I heard it, after the meeting, you will bring people to prepare a carriage and go to Zheng San to receive soybeans, dry food for soldiers and water bags with cold boiled water!" ”

"No!"

"The whole army will set off on time tonight, Zhang Shouyu, your 2,000 cavalry is the left army, thirty miles to the left of our Chinese army, Gao Xiuyan, your two thousand cavalry is the right army, thirty miles to the right side of our Chinese army, the three armies are advancing together, and every other hour send messengers to and fro to report the military situation and the march of the army along the way, there must be no mistake!"

Zhang Shouyu and Gao Xiuyan fought at the same time and arched their hands: "No! ”

Zhao Ziliang thought for a while, and shouted again: "Blehan, Guo Ziyi!" ”

"The last general!" The two stepped forward.

"Brehan led six hundred cavalry thirty miles in front of the army as the vanguard, and Guo Ziyi was the deputy!"

Brehan and Guo Ziyi were overjoyed, and immediately surrendered their orders: "Obey the order!" ”

The reason why he made Brehan the main general of the forward and Guo Ziyi was his deputy, Zhao Ziliang took into account that Brehan had been by his side for six or seven years and had learned a lot of marching and combat methods, especially in commanding the cavalry, Brehan's experience was very rich, and letting Guo Ziyi be his deputy, on the one hand, Guo Ziyi could learn the method of cavalry combat with him, and on the other hand, Guo Ziyi had a calm personality and considered things more thoroughly, which could make up for the more impulsive side of Brehan's character.

Zhao Ziliang thought about it again, and looked at Zhao Hu, who was standing aside with armor and a horizontal knife at his waist, who was already tall and tall, "Zhao Hu, you follow Brehan to be a flag officer!" ”

Zhao Hu couldn't believe it was true when he heard it, and when a servant next to him pulled his arm, he reacted, and immediately stood up and promised loudly: "Obey!" ”

Zhao Hu is now seventeen years old, more than one meter tall and more than eighty meters tall, with big shoulders and a round waist, brave and powerful, and his kung fu practice is barely passable in Zhao Ziliang's opinion, so he will take him out to experience this expedition.

In the middle of the night, Zhao Ziliang led 6,000 elite cavalry to set off from Yunzhong City to the north, and after a night of marching, he had already marched 300 miles at dawn, which was already the limit for the newly trained cavalry of the Hedong Army.

After dawn, the vanguard commander Brehan sent someone to report that he had found a wood, the terrain was slightly higher, which could be used as a temporary resting place for the army, and there was no one within thirty miles around, Zhao Ziliang immediately ordered the whole army to advance at full speed, rest in the birch forest for half a day before setting off.

After arriving at the birch forest, Zhao Ziliang ordered the soldiers to eat and drink immediately, rest and sleep immediately after eating and drinking, and arranged for his subordinates to be on guard duty, and at this time the vanguard led by Brehan had already rested for two hours and continued to set off north, out of thirty miles.

During the rest and sleep of Zhao Ziliang's army, Brehan sent someone to report again, and found a Khitan tribe of seven or eight hundred people, Brehan decided to attack it, and when Zhao Ziliang's army woke up at noon, Brehan sent someone to report that the vanguard army had eliminated this tribe of more than 700 people by the small river eighty miles ahead, and killed more than 60 people and wounded more than 20 people.

When Zhao Ziliang and his army arrived in the afternoon, the camp by the small river was in a mess, but the corpses had been all buried, only many of the remains of the tents had been burned and some tents and a total of more than 7,000 cattle, sheep and horses.

Zhao Ziliang looked at the cattle, sheep and horses all over the ground, and shouted: "Judge, arrange for people to slaughter cattle and sheep by hand, take three days of meat to make jerky and distribute it to every soldier, and leave fifty people to drive the other cattle, sheep and horses back to Hedong!" ”

"No!"

It is not easy to drive the captured cattle, sheep and horses back to Hedong, such a large number of livestock need to eat, so it is impossible to march quickly like a human eye, the livestock walk is to eat for a while and walk for a while, fortunately in this season there are weeds everywhere, and endless wild grasses can be seen everywhere in these places in Monan.

Within three days, Zhang Shouyu and Gao Xiuyan both sent people to report that they had encountered some small tribes, and after raiding these tribes, they had seized a large number of cattle, sheep, horses, and leather wool. At present, they have sent people to drive back these captured cattle, sheep and horses.

Zhao Ziliang's army raided the small tribe of the grassland could not do without leaking the news, during the raid, there were people who ran away and fled to other tribes, the news spread, which made the Khitan tribe in Mobei and Tongluo as if they were facing a big enemy, Zhao Ziliang and others could no longer be as successful as before, and the tribes in various places sent the detective and detective outposts fifty miles away, and Zhao Ziliang's three-way army appeared and was soon discovered.

Some Khitan tribes still look at the Hedong Army with the previous vision, thinking that the combat effectiveness of the Hedong Army is mediocre, so the Ju clan and the Hedong Army fight, if the Hedong Army has an advantage in troops, of course it will fight, if the strength is not superior, immediately retreat to join up with other friendly forces, accumulate troops and then fight against the enemy, when some small groups of Hedong Army are greedy for merit and rashly advance, suffer big losses, and even fall into the encirclement of the Khitan tribal army and the whole army is annihilated.

After the news of the defeat in the battle, Zhao Ziliang immediately sent an order to prohibit the vanguard army and the left and right armies from scattering their forces to sweep each Khitan tribe, but to concentrate superior forces to fight the weak tribes first, avoiding the powerful Khitan tribes, in short, abide by a principle, without losing too much of their own strength, they will fight if they can, and if they can win but will lose too much, they will not fight, and on the premise of preserving their own vitality.

Because at this time it had penetrated deep into the hinterland of the Khitan region, and the three armies were fighting separately, and it was no longer as convenient to connect as before, so Zhao Ziliang sent people to Zhang Shouyu and Gao Xiuyan to give orders to decide on their own route and whether to fight with the Khitan tribes along the way, but they must meet on the bank of the Dule River after half a month.

Dule River is the dividing line between Khitan and Tongluo, after the Dule River and then go north is the territory of Tongluo, Khitan is also called Khitan, there are many tribes, the big tribe has tens of thousands of people, the small tribe has hundreds of people, the Khitan tribe is the most powerful is the Xi people, but the Xi people were defeated by Wang Zhonghei last year, and the strength of the Xi people was greatly damaged, and at most they can only make up seven or eight thousand horses.

In the evening of this day, Hu Cong reported: "General, Brehan sent someone to report that the front is the territory of the Khitan Xi tribe, and now the Xi tribe has prepared all the men and horses of about 8,000 elite horsemen, waiting for a decisive battle with our army, Brehan's scout cavalry has fought with the Xi scout cavalry several times in succession, and the two sides have suffered losses from each other!" And according to the news that they have seized their tongues, the men and horses of other Khitan tribes are also rushing to this area, presumably the Khitans want to unite against our army! ”

"Oh?" Zhao Ziliang stood up with a horsewhip and walked down the hill along the lawn, followed closely by the general.

On the grassy hillside, Zhao Ziliang walked for a while and stopped: "Immediately send an order to Brehan, let him not go further north, retreat to the south for a distance to join the Chinese army, and then give an order to Gao Xiuyan of the right army, ordering him to move closer to the Chinese army quickly!" ”

"That General Zhang Shouyu's ······" A lieutenant asked.

"Don't worry, the previous military order is still valid, and we will rush to the Dule River within the specified time!"

The generals around him didn't understand why Zhao Ziliang gave Gao Xiuyan an order to bring troops to converge, and Zhao Ziliang's move made the generals a little confused. (To be continued.) )