"To capture Jicheng, it is not possible to storm it, and we can no longer afford to suffer too many losses." Liu Yi slowed down his tone and said: "After all, our ultimate goal is not just to capture Jicheng and Tianshui City, laying this passage is only our beginning, if it is because of attacking Jicheng and Tianshui City, our army's vitality will be greatly damaged, and the root will be damaged, then it will not be cost-effective." ”

"That's right, Chao'er, don't be impulsive and reckless, everything still needs to be planned carefully before you can act." Ma Teng also signaled Ma Chao not to be impulsive, this time is indeed not the time to be reckless.

"If you want to capture Jicheng, you can only sneak attack." Liu Yi raised his hand and said his opinion: "If we want to attack Jicheng, we must first capture the Northern Plains or the upper valley. However, in this way, it must alarm the defenders of Jicheng and let Zhao Ang be prepared, so that we will naturally not be able to sneak attack. Therefore, my opinion is to see if there is another way to bypass these two places without knowing it, and directly attack Jicheng. ”

Along the way, Liu Yi had already noticed the mountainous terrain along the way, and knew that if he attacked Jicheng and Tianshui City from Longxi, it would be similar to attacking from Chencang Pass to Tianshui City. Although, from Longxi to Jicheng, there will naturally not be as many dangerous passes as from Chencang Pass to Tianshui City, but when will it be fought after the checkpoints are captured? In addition, in the battle of fortification, it is inevitable that the loss of one's own sergeant is inevitable, and if there are too many military horses lost, the follow-up attack will also be very difficult.

So, now Liu Yi is in Longxi. After meeting Ma Teng, Ma Chao and his son, and figuring out their current situation, Liu Yi felt. Forcibly attacking the battle, it is no longer very suitable, the only way is to go dangerously, directly bypass the northern plains, the upper valley, and directly attack Jicheng, without alarming the defenders of Jicheng, and take them by surprise.

But. The first thing to solve is the problem of how to get around the northern plains or the upper valley.

Liu Yi came this time and brought many sergeants of special operations in the mountains and forests under Meng Ke. But they haven't come to Longxi yet, and they haven't been able to let them go to the mountains of Kamcha for a while, so they can only ask Ma Teng and Ma Chao about them. See if there are any secret passages to go through those places.

"Impossible!" Ma Teng waited for Liu Yiyi to finish speaking. He immediately continued, "Why didn't we think about it? However, the north plain and the upper valley are the only way for Longxi to pass through Jicheng, the north plain, one side is facing the Wei River, the other side is the lofty mountains, the mountains are steep and horizontal, there is no road at all. It is said that it is the original, but in fact, it is after pointing out that dangerous passage. A plain facing Longxi. Kitahara-Hobara refers to the plains to the north of the mountains. There is also the upper valley, which is a passable mountain road that I don't know how many generations have walked out, and the upper valley is just the name of one of the canyons, in essence, it refers to a mountain road that must be passed through dozens of miles long. In addition to these two passable roads, Ma also sent people to inquire in many ways, but in the end, there was still no passage that could go directly to Jicheng. ”

What Ma Teng said, Liu Yi also knew in his heart, because Ma Teng would definitely send someone to spy on it, if he didn't even think of these, then Ma Teng would not have the possibility of becoming a hero.

Liu Yi nodded and said: "Well, I have also heard of these, the northern plains and the upper valley are indeed the only way from Longxi to Jicheng, under normal circumstances, if you do not pass through these two places, it is indeed very difficult to come to Jicheng." ”

When Liu Yi said this, his eyes flashed, and he said resolutely: "However, our Xinhan army has always faced difficulties, and I, Liu Yi, don't believe that there is no road to Jicheng except for the Northern Plains and the upper valley." You must know that the roads are all walked out by people, even if we climb over those mountains, we must kill under the city of Ji unconsciously and capture this city in one go! ”

"Lord......" Seeing Liu Yi say this, Ma Teng opened his mouth to say something, but he didn't say it, he seemed to think for a while before saying: "Lord, it's cold winter at this time, even if we plan to split a passage, I'm afraid it's not easy." I'm afraid it will take time and effort, and it may not be possible to lead to Jicheng, so it seems that it will save a lot of time by attacking directly. ”

If there is a way, Ma Teng also wants to lead a surprise army to raid Jicheng, but the question is, are those big mountains so easy to get through? It was not that he did not send people to reconfind the way, but after the people who sent him out entered the mountain, they could hardly find the way out, and they were almost trapped in the mountains. Those who returned reported that they had either reached a dead end by walking, or had come under some unclimbable cliffs, and saw that they could reach another mountain, only to find that they were separated by an impossible canyon. Then they found their way through the mountains and walked around the mountains, but they didn't know where they went, and the difference was 108,000 miles, and it was not the place they wanted to reach at all.

"The cold can be overcome, and as for splitting a passage, there should still be a way." Liu Yi seemed to have made up his mind.

"Oh? If the lord has a way, he only needs to give an order, and we will absolutely obey my words, and never say anything! Ma Teng looked at his face and knew that Liu Yi might already have a plan, so he immediately expressed his support.

Ma Teng was originally a prince, and now although he said that he had surrendered to Liu Yi, his army was still up to him, so what Liu Yi wanted to do now had to go through Ma Teng's opinion, and if Ma Teng didn't have any opinion, Liu Yi could do it according to his own ideas.

Seeing that Ma Teng didn't say a word, Liu Yi said with satisfaction: "Okay! That's it, Ma Chao! ”

"The last general!" Ma Chao hurriedly stood up and walked out of the queue, looking a little excited. Finally able to act, he was already a little impatient.

"This attack, we don't need cavalry, your defeat is probably too dependent on your cavalry, the area around Jicheng is not suitable for cavalry combat, so the cavalry does not need to participate in this attack. Now, of course, you don't care whether you are a cavalry or an infantry army, you immediately go and select 10,000 soldiers from the army, and ask them to be physically strong and, relatively speaking, good at climbing, at least, not afraid of climbers. If there are not enough 10,000 people, then thousands of people can do it. ”

"Yes, the Admiral understands!"

"And. After selecting the men and horses, in addition to the necessary warm clothing, each of them only needs to bring enough dry food for about ten days. Depending on the situation, if it is too heavy, at least five days of dry food per person can be brought. Anyway, be sure to be soldiers, travel lightly, and the extra baggage does not need to be carried. Including siege baggage and other items. ”

"Yes!"

After Liu Yi finished speaking to Ma Chao, he turned to Ma Teng and said, "General Ma Teng, you will immediately follow what I said to Ma Chao now." Cooperate with the supply of soldiers selected by Ma Chao. It is a very cold weather now, so it is necessary to prepare enough protective clothing for the soldiers, as well as some armor to protect against rain and snow. ”

"The old man understands!" Ma Teng responded with a stern face.

"Pound!"

"The last general!" Pound stood up.

"Get around and find a place with a high cliff. Set up a temporary camp. Then, when Ma Chao selects the people and horses, they will immediately enter the camp for a short-term climbing training! ”

"Yes!" Pound's unsmiling response.

"Okay, let's prepare like this for the time being, and when my people come from Tianshui, we will start the operation immediately. The time given to you is estimated not to exceed five days. So, within these five days. Your people must learn the art of climbing high cliffs. ”

After Liu Yi explained these things, he went to rest first under Ma Teng's arrangement.

As for other things, Liu Yi didn't want to ask anymore.

Since he was going to attack Jicheng, Liu Yi felt that 10,000 people were enough, and there were too many people, which was not conducive to the sneaking of his military horses.

Two days later, Jia Xu and the women had already led hundreds of people to Longxi to join Liu Yi. With Hao Zhao by their side, they arrived in Jicheng very easily, and then found an excuse to go to Longxi.

Hao Zhao is really exquisite, and he also met with Zhao Ang in Jicheng, and he seems to have a good relationship with Zhao Ang. Therefore, Zhao Ang did not make it difficult for Hao Zhao, so that Jia Xu and the hundreds of women could rush to Longxi through Guò Jicheng.

As soon as they arrived, Liu Yi immediately sent the mountain and forest special forces out, and asked them to explore a road that could directly pass through the mountains and reach Jicheng.

After another three days, they had something to gain, and they came back to report to Liu Yi that they had found a passage that was difficult to walk, but could bypass the northern plains and the upper valley.

As soon as Liu Yi heard this, he was overjoyed, and immediately went to the camp temporarily built by Pang De to inspect the situation of the 10,000 military horses selected by Ma Chao.

The situation is not optimistic for Liu Yi, most of Ma Chao's men and horses are used to fighting on horseback, but they are not very good at foot combat. Especially when it comes to climbing cliffs, most of them are a little panicked.

In fact, in a few days, it is impossible to train those sergeants to be like special forces in the mountains and forests, and they can climb over mountains and mountains, but as long as they have the courage to climb up with a rope hanging down from the cliff, they will be considered to have passed.

Under the encouragement of Ma Chao, the 10,000 military horses that were selected, although they are not very good at climbing, but they are also courageous, even in the training, there are individual soldiers who fell off the cliff and died, but they all seem to have a heart of revenge, morale is high, and everyone desperately forgets to learn the skills of climbing.

Liu Yi was short of time, he didn't plan to let these sergeants train any longer, and with Ma Teng, Ma Chao and his son ready, the army immediately started.

Liu Yi also personally acted with the military horses, but except for Yuan Qing, the rest of the women, Liu Yi stayed in Longxi, as well as Jia Xu.

Jia Xu was not worried about the seizure of Jicheng and Tianshui City, because no matter what, he believed that Li Dao would not be able to stop the footsteps of the New Han Army to recover Xiliang, and what he needed to do now was to immediately conduct an in-depth investigation and understanding of Xiliang, especially to win over or divide those ethnic minorities in Xiliang, and prescribe some conditions, so that those foreign races could accept the rule of the New Han Dynasty, and lay a foundation for the governance of Xiliang in the future.

There are many Han people in Xiliang, but ethnic minorities account for the vast majority of the people, and if the relationship between those ethnic minorities and the new Han Dynasty cannot be handled, it is unlikely that they want to govern Xiliang well.

Although the Xiliang area is also a desert area, most of the places are covered with yellow sand, but when it comes to the complex terrain, I am afraid that it is a little more complicated than the great northwest desert further north. Another point is that it is not easy to deal with the foreign peoples, because they are not all gathered together like the Hun tribes. Their tribes are generally very scattered, and they sometimes appear in Xiliang, and sometimes they may appear in the steppes outside the northwest of Xiliang. So. If you want to govern them well, you must first appease them and let them feel at ease about the entry of the New Han army into Xiliang. and then give certain preferential policies, so that they sincerely submit to the new Han Dynasty, only in this way can we truly make those fierce foreign nations surrender and never betray.

This, Liu Yi also explained to Jia Xu. Because Liu Yi knows that Xiliang is a foreign nation. It can't be treated like the Huns, such as the Qiang, Di and other tribes in Xiliang, they may indeed be fierce. Not very obedient to the rule of the imperial court. However, they are some minority ethnic groups with strict sinicization, and in their hearts, they yearn for Han culture. Under the influence of Han culture. They already have a desire to be stable and beautiful, and they are no longer those barbaric peoples.

In the case of the people's convincing, it is not possible to kill them like the Huns, the best thing is to make them surrender and submit to the rule of the Han people forever, slowly. Let them be completely sinicized.

These are some small number of ethnic groups that can be created. Liu Yi felt that there was no need to do things absolutely, and there was no need to create too many killings. Of course, the qiē is based on the fact that the minority ethnic groups can accept the rule of the new Han Dynasty.

Therefore, now, Jia Xu has to contact some minority ethnic groups first, persuade them to submit to the New Han Dynasty, and have some minority ethnic tribes to set an example for other minority ethnic groups, so after the New Han army enters Xiliang, things will be easy to do.

Xiliang has been in chaos for too long, and it is time to stop the army.

Not to mention how Jia Xu contacted the minority ethnic group.

Liu Yi was dressed in heavy cotton clothes, but he was also clean and neat.

He stood on the platform of the temporary camp and looked around at the 10,000 soldiers in the school field below.

"Brothers, at the moment, I think we prefer to stay at home, roasting and eating smoked mutton by the fire, and drinking wine in a big bowl. Even, hugging our beautiful wife and concubine, wouldn't it be happy together? ”

Liu Yi said loudly, but the soldiers below did not laugh because of this, and still stood quietly and solemnly.

Knowing them, Liu Yi turned to say, "Are you thinking about your brother who died in battle not long ago?" Father? Son? Sad heart? Grief in the heart? My heart is full of hatred, so I can't be happy, right? Your loved ones have died in battle, and you are so hurt that you can't eat or sleep. So, you want to take revenge?! ”

"Revenge! Avenge! ”

Tens of thousands of soldiers suddenly burst out with excited shouts.

Liu Yi can see that Ma Chaojun is indeed under the mourning soldiers now, and the morale is available, and all of these sergeants have a spirit of not fearing death, a spirit of indomitable progress.

"Good!" Liu Yi shouted: "I know, brothers' feelings, then, Liu doesn't say much, now, I, Liu Yi, will personally take you together to take revenge and kill Zhao Ang!" Destroy Li Dao! But...... Before destroying them, will you be able to defy these mountains and mountains, and will you have the confidence to cross through the past? You know, it's still a severe cold season, and the temperature in the mountains is much colder than at the moment, and after we enter the mountains, it will be impossible to regenerate fire and take ambiguity, to put it mildly, this operation, we will die nine times, if it is not for people with extraordinary strong will, it is impossible to complete this march and sneak attack mission. Do you have faith? ”

"Yes! Yes! ”

Sergeant's neat response!

"Good! I Liu Yi ugly said in front, after entering the mountain, everyone must treat themselves as dead people, it is impossible to retreat, if there is anyone who feels that they can't persevere, not enough perseverance, they can quit now, I Liu Yi will not be reluctant. ”

After Liu Yi finished speaking, the scene was silent and silent for a while.

"For the sake of our dead brothers, we swear to die to serve the Lord! I am willing to follow the lord and go to the soup and fire, at any cost! ”

The soldiers shouted passionately.

Liu Yi couldn't help but look at Ma Chao with a stern face beside him, and couldn't help but feel a little funny in his heart, knowing that Ma Chao was really a little well-intentioned, it is estimated that after he announced his submission to the New Han Dynasty, he instilled a kind of loyalty to his military horses.

It's okay like this, a force that originally didn't have much to do with him, but now it is loyal to him, which makes Liu Yi feel a little honored.

"Good! Let's go! ”

Liu Yi didn't say much, tightened the thick cotton clothes on his body, stepped on high boots, turned around and walked off the platform.

A group of special soldiers in the mountains and forests who explored the way, they first led the way in front of the team, and the army drove towards the depths of the mountains and forests.

The pace of the march was slow, after entering the mountains and forests. It is very difficult to walk, because the snow in the mountains and forests is much deeper than outside.

Well. If you have never been to a real forest, you will not understand how difficult it is to travel between them.

It can be said that when ordinary people enter the mountains and forests, they can travel several miles through the mountains and forests in an hour, which is quite good.

And now, it's still bitterly cold. There is snow in the forest, which makes the mountains even more difficult to walk.

Lewi's march route was through the mountains between the Northern Plains and the upper valley. Among them, I really don't know how many mountains I have to climb or how many mountains I have to wade.

On the first day's march, it was only forty or fifty miles. Before dark. In front of a high mountain with a cliff in front of him.

According to Liu Yi's request, Ma Teng mobilized the people of Longxi City and hurriedly took out more than 10,000 sleeping bags, so under the cliff, the soldiers camped.

Actually, Ma Teng's spies, along the route of the march of this great army. I've been here, but. After coming here, this cliff stopped, and it was really not easy to climb over this high mountain, so they had to explore only here. Of course, if you look for a path along the side of the mountain, you will go further and further, and you will encounter another high mountain. In this cycle, you will eventually find that they have been busy for many days, but they are getting farther and farther away from the direction of Jicheng.

However, the people trained by Meng Ke, they can detect according to the direction of these mountains, and only by climbing directly on the cliff and climbing over the high mountains can they cross the northern plains and the valley above. Of course, after crossing the mountain, you will face some more steep mountains.

In general, these places are not roads at all, and all of them are still hiking and wading through the water. Changed to ordinary people, let alone the army, even if it is some masters like Wang Yue, I am afraid it will not be easy to travel through these mountains and forests, and finally reach Jicheng.

The cliff is as high as 100 feet, which is daunting.

The next morning, a ray of sunlight appeared from the sky, reflecting the world in snow.

After Liu Yi ordered the people to eat the dry food first, he immediately asked people to prepare for the climb.

Under the gaze of 10,000 soldiers, dozens of special soldiers of the mountains and forests, carrying a large bundle of ropes on their shoulders, began to climb up at the bottom of the cliff. Although they could not say that they were as agile as monkeys on the cliffs, they were about the same, and in a few moments, they had climbed without danger.

Next, dozens of long ropes hang from above.

Ma Chao stuck a spear in his back, gave an order, and took the lead in climbing up.

It took half a day for all 10,000 military horses to climb this cliff. Among them, there were also some accidents, several soldiers still fell off the cliff, two fell to their deaths on the spot, and the others were also injured.

Leaving some soldiers behind, the wounded were sent back the way they came, and the army set out.

However, after this climb, the sergeants finally mastered a lot of skills to climb the cliff, and under normal circumstances, there would be no missteps and falls off the cliff. However, due to the severe cold climate in the mountains and forests, especially when climbing over the mountains, some soldiers died due to the severe cold and itching.

In general, the situation is still good, and the rest of the soldiers, they are all people with amazing perseverance.

Four days later, the army did not know how many steep cliffs they had climbed, and how many mountains they had climbed, and finally crossed the steep mountain range between the northern plains and the valley above. All the way, all the wild forests, few people, no one will live in those deep mountains and dense forests.

The spies came to report that the place where they were was only more than 20 miles away from Jicheng.

In this way, Liu Yifang breathed a sigh of relief,

When the army marched, it was decided to bring only six or seven days' dry rations, so after a few days of marching in the mountains and forests, the dry rations were almost consumed. Because in the severe cold environment, the body calories consumed during the march are too great, and the sergeants have to eat more than expected, so if it is another day or two, I am afraid that the dry food will be eaten.

Liu Yi knew that the place where his military horse was located was only more than 20 miles away from Jicheng, and after discussing with Ma Chao, Pang De and others, he decided to attack the city overnight.

After all, this place is too close to Jicheng, if they stay too long, they may not be discovered by Zhao Ang's scout spies, and once they are discovered, then they will not have the effect of a surprise attack. (To be continued......)