The sky was grayish-yellow, and the wind was like a huge wave, and waves rushed towards a group of cavalry walking slowly in the wind and sand.

The wind swept from behind, the red helmet fluttered in the wind, the iron helmet rustled with sand and stones, and the golden back armor crackled. The scenery more than a dozen paces away was blurred in the dust.

The cavalry, which numbered nearly a thousand people, bowed their heads and walked silently in three columns on the field outside Lingzhou City. A little farther out, there are dozens of rangers, scattered among the fields and dust.

They all wore armor, compared to the skirt armor and shoulder armor of the infantry, and the armor of the cavalry was only two iron plates in the front and back, only protecting the chest and back.

But iron armor is iron armor. Cavalry equipped only with cuirass can still be classified as armored cavalry.

Ten years ago, the cavalry in iron armor were all the elite of the elite, and they were always guarding the boss, and they would not be taken out until the last moment. And now it is just the standard equipment of scouts and patrols.

Yao Lin's eyes narrowed into a slit, facing the wind and sand, and glanced at the long queue behind him,

Seeing that the queue was still in order, and that it was not scattered, he immediately turned around, spit out the sand from his lips, rubbed his nose, and snorted twice with a wrinkled nose, squeezing out all the sand that had penetrated into his nostrils.

As the general of the leader, the errand of patrol will not be his turn this time. However, this was Yao Lin's willingness, and he also had the intention of competing with the iron harriers released by the party members, so he brought out the two commanded Ma Jun with the approval of Gao Zunyu.

The lean horse that stepped down kept a steady rhythm, stepping forward step by step on the sand. But Yao Lin wiped a handful of the horse's shoulder blades, which were already covered with sweat, and even the black fur had turned gray.

"Take a break!"

The wind seemed to be a little lighter at this time, so Yao Lin raised his hand and spread the news of resting on the spot.

The soldiers rushed in front and behind the queue, and the nearly mile-long line slowly stopped advancing, and only the outer rangers were still active in the wind.

After getting off the horse, on the side of the road, Yao Lin found a tree stump and sat down, still carrying the wind.

The generals rested, but the officers couldn't. Lifting his feet, he kicked up the soldiers lying on the ground one by one, and asked them to take their mounts and horses to the riverbank by the road to drink, and fill the empty water bags with clean running water.

On this patrol, the two commanders brought out by Yao Lin were along the Lingzhou River to inspect the safety of the grain road. At the end of the day, it has been more than 80 miles back and forth.

Taking the sheepskin water bag from the hands of his own soldiers, Yao Lin raised his neck and drank half of the bag. It was not water, but thirst-quenching liquor, and Yao Lin was more accustomed to drinking this than river water. The soldiers took the water bag back from Yao Lin's hand, and turned around and hung it behind the saddle with the grinning heads of the two party members.

Yao Lin glanced at the two shriveled heads, and looked away with little interest. Several party cavalry squads were defeated today, and only eight were beheaded.

He patted his body and slapped a pile of sand out of the seam of his clothes. If it weren't for the fact that in the two days after arriving under Lingzhou City, the spaceship could not be used due to strong winds, and it would not have caused the cavalry to run back and forth outside the camp.

A spaceship located at a height of thirty feet can prevent a large group of enemy troops from diving within thirty miles during the day. And at night, with the help of the light of the stars and the moon, you can see the enemy troops lurking in front of you, and cooperate with the probe horses and secret sentry to prevent the army from the enemy's sneak attack.

But the spaceship is afraid of the wind, and if the wind is a little stronger, it will not be able to go to the sky. There are also spaceships in Lingzhou City—the Khitans can steal their studies, and the Western Xia can also steal their studies—and when they left the camp in the morning, they were already blown obliquely by the strong winds. Now the wind is stronger, and it has either been blown away or has been put away.

Now the horses from all walks of life have been scattered for fifty miles, and the safety of the Chinese army has been basically guaranteed, but the party cavalry has more war horses, and they can easily run out of one or two hundred miles to harass the grain road. Every day, the cavalry of the officers and soldiers and the western thieves fought constantly, and although there were many beheadings, the casualties were also not a small number.

If the official army could start to attack the city with all their might, presumably the western thieves would not be able to send out iron harriers so arrogantly. It's a pity that it's been two days since I arrived in the city, and even the materials for the siege equipment have not been prepared, and I don't know when the official army will be able to set foot on the city of Lingzhou.

The stump that Yao Lin sat down on as a chair should have just been cut off, and the wood grain was a little wet to the touch, and the sap that seeped out was still a little sticky.

There are not many trees near Lingzhou, but Yao Lin looked at the past, and within the range of his eyes, there were basically small trees that were the thickness of his wrist, at most no more than the thickness of the bowl, and only the stumps were left if they were slightly thicker.

"I wonder if Peng Qi can still find suitable wood? It's been a few days, and not a single big log has entered the camp. ”

After arranging their men, several officers gathered over.

"Find a fart! gave the thief to the west for nearly half a year, and he didn't cut it down until he had only a toothpick, and he was lucky enough. ”

"If you can't find it again, Manager Gao can't pass that level."

"Count him unlucky, who let him take this errand!"

Within a few dozen miles of Lingzhou City, the slightly larger number of siege equipment that could be used to make siege equipment was all cut down, and the houses with wooden beams in the village were also burned clean.

If you want to attack a city, you must have ladders, thunderbolts, and other equipment. But the current situation is impossible to create in a short period of time

There were more than a hundred craftsmen brought by the two armies, and as long as one or two thousand people were brought in to cooperate with them, and there were enough raw materials, the thunderbolt cannon should be able to be made quickly.

But it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice, and no one has a rut without wood.

"It's also Peng Sun's bad luck, if there is more water in Lingzhou River, there won't be so many things to worry about."

"It's not the fault that Mr. Gao doesn't know astronomy and geography. People can get sunburned in the summer when they cross the Hanhai Sea, and Lingzhou River can still come out of more water? ”

Several officers turned their heads to look at the river on the side of the road, there was only a shallow layer of river water, and they were almost in the center of the river, but they had no calves, this was the Lingzhou River after passing through Hanhai.

Putting wood rows down from the Lingzhou River was Gao Zunyu's plan.

Although the trees at the northern foot of Hengshan are not as lush as those at the southern foothills, the number is still endless and innumerable. And the Lingzhou River that comes down from Hengshan leads directly to Lingzhou, even if there is no wood in Lingzhou, when the time comes, the tree will be cut down, tied into a wooden row, and floated down the river. There are more than enough siege equipment to build a fortress, and by the way, you can also use wooden rafts to transport some forage.

At the beginning, everyone did think that Gao Zunyu's plan was very good, but when they saw the reality of Lingzhou Chuan, no one fantasized about it. After the water of the Lingzhou River flowed into the Hanhai Sea, it seeped from above to the bottom, and it didn't take long for it to be just over a foot deep. After arriving in Lingzhou, it was barely enough to give the whole army a drink, let alone water transportation.

"The Lingzhou River is a north-flowing river, which is not as abundant as the mountain streams in the south of the mountain. It relies on snow water, spring is the time when the water is the most, and now it is almost dried in the Hanhai, and the wooden raft is stranded halfway, and the cargo is not to be expected. ”

"Jurisdiction." A younger officer asked Yao Lin, "Did the western thief make up his mind to retreat to Lingzhou City from the beginning?" Cut down all the trees around Lingzhou, unless you start at the beginning of the year. ”

Before Yao Lin could speak, another tall officer sneered: "If you don't lure us to Lingzhou City for a decisive battle, do you dare to fight with the officers and soldiers at the foot of Hengshan Mountain?" ”

"But Hanhai, just rely on the ability of the western thief," Yao Lin pointed to the head of the western thief hanging behind the saddle, "It was sent to the first level." ”

"Now that we've let the West Thief get their wish, I don't know what the West Thief will do next. Manager Gao guarded Manager Miao as a thief, and only let the Huanqing army besiege the city, and let the Jingyuan army garrison outside. The two commanders don't get along, how can this battle be fought? ”

"If Manager Gao and Manager Miao can get along, the governor will not come out with us."

Although the cavalry under the command of the whole two commanders is quite a lot, it is too meager for the troops under the command of the whole way, if Yao Lin hadn't avoided the storm of the two commanders fighting in the big camp, why bother running out of the big camp to blow sand.

Miao Zhu did not follow Gao Zunyu's military orders before, and fought Dai Dai Ling to join him, but went around to attack Mingsha City. It was true that a lot of grain and grass were taken, but Gao Zunyu was completely offended.

When the two armies arrived at the rendezvous under the city of Lingzhou, Gao Zunyu even planned to seize the military power granted by Miao and hand over the power to command the Jingyuan army to Yao Lin. But where did Yao Lin dare to take over? The military power of the deputy governor of the road can only be deprived by the Privy Council. The permission Gao Zunyu received was only the power to command the Jingyuan Army, and it was not said that the personnel rights were also given to him.

The two handsomes competed, and Yao Lin didn't dare to get involved.

"Miao Jing, the father of Miao Zhu, died in Linzhou, and his credit was reported by Gao Jixuan, the commander who rescued Linzhou. This Gao Jixuan is Gao Zunyu's father, and Gao Zunyu was able to take Miao Zhu to Xihe to dip in the light, just because of this feeling. But now the two families don't talk about each other at all. ”

"I think it's still Mr. Gao's eyes are too small, but it's just a ......"

Yao Lin waved his hand vigorously and interrupted the complaint: "Don't mix, don't talk too much, don't worry about them so much." It's not that we mix. ”

Yao Lin sighed to himself, if he had made more contributions when he opened the border of Hehuang, and his position in the Battle of Hengshan was a little higher, he would not only be an imperial city envoy and a capital ruler now, but also avoid Gao Zunyu and Miao Zhu.

A horse suddenly came from a distance at this time, broke through the wind and sand, and dismounted outside the guard circle of Yao Lin's own soldiers. After saying a few words to his own soldiers, he was led to Yao Lin.

"Imperial City." Tanma knelt down on one knee in front of Yao Lin, "Eight miles away, I found an iron harrier, about 1,500 horses!" ”

"One thousand five?!"

"What are you afraid of, we are on the upper hand!"

"That's right, you can't fight against the wind."

"Imperial City! Let's fight! ”

The generals suddenly screamed excitedly, and their eyes turned to their chief general with longing eyes.

Yao Lin raised his hand and made a quiet gesture, "Wait!" ”

But when the second and third riders came over, Yao Lin didn't wait any longer and jumped on the horse. It was not the thin horse he was riding, but another Hexi steed with a shoulder height of four feet and five inches and a fat body that always accompanied him.

Huanqing Road is all elite, needless to say, when I look at Yao Lin changing horses, I don't know what it means. One by one, they stepped on the war horses when they went into battle.

Yao Lin brought the silver spear over and pointed diagonally to the northwest, "Kill it, kill a wife and shadow son!" ”

Yao Lin's encouragement stirred people's hearts, and suddenly triggered a low roar, the roar was like the muffled thunder before a summer rainstorm, suppressing the coming rage.