Ten thousand horses galloped, and the hooves of the horses were so numerous, that the dust they stepped on was fluttering in the wind, and the air seemed to fly sand and rocks. In addition to the army on the main road, there were also several small roads between the fields and woods on both sides, and there were also men and horses marching in separate columns, and countless men and horses were in groups, as if the land had been occupied by moving ants.

They first moved in Byzantium, and did not attack the city, Tang Tian specially ordered the army to pass in front of each city, so that the Byzantines could see the might of the Tang cavalry!

A total of 50,000 people, 230,000 horses!

The army that can't see the end at a glance, where it passes, the roads are broken, the grass is eaten up, and the chickens and dogs are not left!

Maybe the Byzantines have seen 50,000 people, but they really haven't seen so many horses!

The Byzantines were so frightened that they didn't even dare to put one P, let alone intercept it, they just wanted to send these plague gods away as soon as possible.

Although it is said that it does not attack the fortified city, it does not harm the Tang army to rob along the way, and the population, materials, and livestock, whatever they have, will be killed immediately if they encounter resistance.

They were in an uproar: "What do they want so many horses for?" "There were Byzantines on the walls who asked, but the Byzantines who knew things shuddered.

So many horses, what a terrifying maneuver!

I have to say that the cities that Tang Tian's army passed through left a deep impression on the defenders, especially Tang Tian commanded 40,000 people to set up a city every time, and then!

Ten thousand arrows!

All the people shot arrows together, and tens of thousands of arrows were fired into the city in one go, which was really terrifying.

The arrows are bursting, majestic and shocking!

The sky was dark, and when it fell, it rained like broken flowers, and the dead wind swept by, and the wails of those who were struck by the arrow were deaf.

She deliberately brought more arrows and fired them into the city to demonstrate, making them feel frightened, and laying a wedge in their hearts, so that when they encountered the Tang army again, they would be afraid of the heart.

……

Heading north, he left the Byzantine region with many cities and entered the Bolgar Khanate (Bulgaria and Romania).

What the hell is it?

The founders of the Bolgar Khanate, the Bolgars, were originally a branch of the Turkic tribes of Central Asia (or the Buluoji people, one of the ethnic minorities in northern China). Abbreviated as Jihu. The number is not large, but there are also some influential figures in the troubled times of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern and Southern Dynasties. For example, Er Zhurong of the Northern Wei Dynasty and Hou Jing of Emperor Wu of Liang were buried, anyway, they were Hu people). In about 370 AD, he came with the Huns to the steppes of the western Volga.

A detachment of the Bolgars arrived in the northern part of the Sea of Azov around 460. The Bulgars often partnered with the Slavs on the western shore of the Black Sea to raid homes in the northern territories of the Byzantine Empire and earn extra money in their spare time.

In the 60s of the 6th century, they were attacked by a more powerful opponent, the Avars, who had migrated from Asia, all of whom were Hu people from the East, who saw each other but did not love each other, and the Avars were superior to the Bolgars, so they had no choice but to turn to their old rivals, Byzantium, for help. From this point on, the Bolgars and Avars began to appear in the annals of Eastern Europe (as recorded by the civilized Byzantines).

Later, under the rule of the chief Kurt, a unified and powerful Bolgar Khanate was established and became dominant for a time.

In 665 AD, after the death of Kurt, the Bolgar Khanate was divided, and one of its tribes, led by the boss Asbarukh, united with the Slavs in 679 AD to form an alliance to defeat the Byzantine army and occupy the land between the Danube and the Balkans.

Two years later, the League and Byzantium signed a peace treaty, in which Byzantium recognized Bulgaria as an independent state, with its capital at Pliska and known as the First Bulgarian Kingdom.

The Tang people's troops, under the command of Tang Tian, went straight to Pliska (northeastern Bulgaria, more than 40 miles away from Sumen City), the city is about 100 miles east of the Black Sea, and the distance from Dazhou occupied by the Tang people is more than 600 miles.

Before, in the tragic action of the Byzantines, who lacked horses in heavy armor, they wanted to attack Pliska and travel thirty miles a day, which was a thousand miles of grain, and there was not one in ten!

And Tang Tian's cavalry army attacked the city of Pliska in three days and six hundred miles in three days!

Is this excessive?

It's not too much at all, there are two kinds of ancient and modern famous generals, one is to rely on infantry, step by step, thoughtful so that people can't find weaknesses, and finally crush the enemy with strength, the representative of this kind of general is Zhuge Liang, Zeng Guofan.

The other is to rely on a large number of cavalry, to fight fast and slow, to act quickly after receiving orders, march hundreds of miles in a day and night, and hit the opponent's command center when the other party does not react, so as to make the opponent's entire army collapse, the representative of this kind of general is Huo Quai, Xiahou Yuan and so on.

For example, Xiahou Yuan, there was a saying in the army at that time, "Xiahou Yuan, the captain of the military academy, is five hundred miles in three days, and one thousand miles in six days."

Tang Tian led an army composed mainly of naturalized Hu people, and their one person and five horses are definitely not decorations, they are the Mongols in the new era of the westward expedition!

"Hah!"

"Drive!"

"Rush!"

……

The cavalry wrapped their faces and covered their heads, stopped showing their eyes, and galloped against the wind and dust,

They scrambled to be the first to go, constantly changing horses and maintaining a high pace of marching.

Four teams of 10,000 people marched in two columns: Tang Tian, Shi Wanchao, Tang Tingxuan, and Xiao Bonan each led one (of which Xiao Bonan's army only had 3,000 regular cavalry, and the other 7,000 were horse infantry), while Tang Tingzhi led the rest to follow.

How fast are they?

The Bolgar Khanate was in the stage of evolution, and they set up tents in the wilderness, which was the habit of the Nahu people, and they built cities, but the cities were not very tall.

The Tang people swept by, and they killed people when they saw them on the road!

Shoot or kill them all, no mercy!

And when the city was not attacked, the frightened Bulgars called the alarm in all directions, and some of the cavalry rushed to Pliska, but they were horrified to find that they could not catch up with the large force of the Don cavalry.

Due to the speed of the Tang army's horses, and the other party did not have a beacon, everyone rode horses, and the Bolgars did not run the Tang people.

In other words, Pliska is still in the dark, and there is no warning!

The Tang people are not only fast horses, but in front of every column, there are guides, guides sent to Europa by the Tang people in advance, and they also have maps!

These guides, who knew the road well, traveled back and forth year after year to do business, and with loyalty to the country, they engaged in secret work in a foreign land, with which the motherland was locked up and they could not be heard, and they also knew the discipline of secret work, and unless the motherland called them back, their return would be a failure and a betrayal.

It seems impossible to succeed in the mission, but they have no bearing the motherland, and they have finally waited for the day when the mission is successfully completed!

In Tang Tian's team, it was the guide Lao Guo who led them to Pliska, but he said that he was "Lao Guo", everything was very vague and inconspicuous, just silently leading the way for everyone, pointing out the path from time to time and saying no other words.

The road was accurate, and he swooped down on Pliska as fast as he could.

Others thought that the Western Army had great powers and sent spies everywhere, but they didn't expect it to be difficult!

Tang Tian still knows some inside stories, and while she admires her husband, she is even more moved by those secret agents.

She had visited the secret service headquarters in Korla and seen Wei Xi's inscription there: "Your name is unknown, and your deeds will live on forever!" ”

She took this for granted, because the agent Lao Guo, the character "Guo", was a fake name, and he had already made a meritorious deed and successfully brought them to their destination, which was the city wall of Pliska in the distance!