The fiery sun rises slowly from the east, the earth is still filled with a faint morning mist, and the north is approaching winter in October, and the whistling autumn wind makes the fluttering or unicorn flag flutter.

Outside the eastern city, more than 10,000 soldiers stood quietly in the wilderness, waiting for the order to set off. Hundreds of meters away, there were hundreds of people watching from afar, silently blessing the army that was about to enter Baixian.

"My lord, the siege equipment has arrived in Wuji County, and it can be requisitioned at any time." Lu Shijie, the director of the craftsman camp, reported to Zhao Xunyu, who was preparing to travel.

"Well, the territory of my Yanzhou Mansion is not something that can be touched by the Yan people, and I will remember the merits of the craftsman's battalion. The craftsman is up and down the camp, and the ordinary people are rewarded with one tael of silver, five taels of the master craftsman, and ten taels of supervisors. ”

"Thank you, sir!"

"Pass the order, go!"

Nearly 10,000 Huolin troops went straight to the northeast, and on the city wall, all the officials left behind silently watched the distant Huoqilin banner.

In this expedition, there are 5,000 troops in the Right Government, all of whom are foot soldiers, Li Chenfeng will take over in the Left Government, Xue Lei will take over as the General of the Right Army, and Zhao Xun will no longer serve as the General of the Right Army; There are 1,000 heavy armor battalions and heavy infantry, all of which are infantry soldiers who have changed to heavy Kai, of course, armor is only worn in battle; The four cavalry battalions were newly built from Qi Yan's war horses, namely the Zhongzi Battalion, the Guzi Battalion, the Gangzi Battalion and the Xinzi Battalion.

The Zuofu Army stayed in Yanzhou City, and the veteran battalions Shanzi Battalion, Huozi Battalion, Dizi Battalion, and Shuizi Battalion were divided into four counties. There is a great shortage of soldiers in the Huolin Army, but Zhao Xun can no longer continue to expand, not because the source of soldiers is insufficient, but because Yanzhou Mansion can no longer afford to raise more troops. The grain and grass in Shiping Town were also transported to Yanzhou City one by one and stored in the Huolin Military Treasury.

The newly built light cavalry not only had a uniform and delicate lock scale armor, but also added thick steel plates to important parts of the body, which was far superior to the ordinary light cavalry wearing thick leather armor in terms of defense.

The weapon in his hand is a cavalry spear nearly three meters long, with a thick back horizontal knife that is conducive to chopping at the waist, and three short javelin slots are also inserted in three sharp throwing spears on the weapon racks on both sides of the war horse.

This gives the light-cavalry with strengthened defense a very good mobility and impact power, which is a new weapon configuration for the cavalry of the Fire Lin Army when the number of people is insufficient. In addition, the guard battalion is armed with a light crossbow, which is a nirvana at close range. If it weren't for the difficulty of making zuò, Zhao Xun would still want to let someone have one. This one-handed crossbow bolt is simple to operate and has high shooting accuracy, which allows the cavalry to rely on one foot to open the crossbow arrow on horseback, and put the crossbow into the crossbow to give the enemy great lethality. After testing, the one-handed crossbow could easily shoot through a soldier who was not protected by a heavy Kai at a distance of 150 paces, which was death for the Yan army.

In the evening, the Huolin army marched into Wuji County, and the county commander of Wuji County ordered Yu Wenhai and Zhao Kang, the captain of the Shanzi Battalion who was responsible for staying behind, to welcome Zhao Xun into the county.

After some greetings, Zhao Xun asked directly: "Yu County Order, you already know the purpose of our visit this time, are the personnel in charge of logistics ready?" ”

"Your Excellency, rest assured, Wuji County learned that the Huolin Army was going to counterattack Bai County, and they all enthusiastically signed up to assist your lordship, and the five thousand young men were ready to be on call."

Zhao Xun nodded and said: "Yu County has worked hard, this battle, Yanzhou Mansion can be regarded as a complete recovery, and there is no room for loss." ”

"Under the rule of my Huolin Army, unlike in the past, we will never allow those treacherous corpses to be vegetarian, and once discovered, we will not spare them, but the Shadow Guard has found a lot of people to talk to. Yu Yu was added as a parent official in the county order, and he should be an example for all officials. ”

Yu Wenhai replied again and again: "The lower officials understand that the lower officials must do practical things for the people." "Yu Wenhai knows a lot about the Shadow Guard in the Huolin Army, and many officials of a thousand fish and flesh people have been taken down by the Shadow Guard and overthrown. Although he is not that kind of person, he is also afraid that Shadowguard will live by his side like this, and always watch his every move.

After having dinner with the new officials of Wuji County, Zhao Xun refused the accommodation arranged by Yu Wenhai and returned to the barracks.

"Aoyama, how do you feel in the Heavy Armor Battalion?" Looking at Zhao Qingshan, who is now also a captain of the first battalion, standing in the big tent, pretending to be, Zhao Xun couldn't help but ask.

Zhao Qingshan scratched his head and said with a wry smile: "My lord, it's okay to let me fight on the battlefield, if I let my brothers fight, I'm afraid ......."

Zhao Xun shook his head helplessly, Zhao Qingshan seemed to be the life of a school captain, with his temperament, he couldn't hold it in a high position.

"Then study more, don't always think about fighting with the enemy, you are a captain, in charge of the lives of a thousand people, you can't leave more than a thousand brothers behind because of impulse. You're an old man next to me, and I don't want you to be just an ordinary creep. ”

Zhao Qingshan also understood Zhao Xun's care for him, and said movingly: "Don't worry, my lord, Qingshan will never live up to my expectations." ”

Seeing Zhao Xun's care for Zhao Qingshan, the rest of the people were envious, the heavy armor battalion was not an ordinary battalion, it was part of Zhao Xun's personal guards, and under the same level, it was half a rank higher than others.

"Situ Liang, what's the situation in Baixian now?"

Situ Liang replied: "Since the withdrawal of the Yan army, for some reason, the commander of the Yan army, that is, the eldest prince, evacuated Bai County and rushed back to the Bo Du Department. Now in Bai County, the defenders have less than 5,000 people, and the main general is Huang Han. This Huang Han is said to be a famous warrior of the Bo Du tribe, and he has the courage of ten thousand people. For more than a month, the city wall of Baixian County was also nine meters high and twelve meters high, ready to be defended. ”

Zhao Xun sneered: "Wanfu is not brave? The commander of the little Commander also dares to claim that he is not brave and arrogant. ”

Situ Liang said with a smile: "Compared with adults, it is naturally the fireflies and Haoyue, but this Huang Han has a very good set of leading troops, but he is not valued by their eldest prince." However, more than 4,000 people stuck to Baixian, which was not very difficult for us. ”

Bai County, Wuji County at night is exceptionally clean, for a while, the Yan Army forbade people in Bai County to be active at night, and the second is that the news that the Yan Army is going to attack Bai County has spread to Bai County. As a result, the whole Bai County was extremely nervous, and more than 100 Han people who wandered at night were all killed on the spot by the Yan army, and the bloody facts told the Han people in Bai County that the current Bai County was still the final say.

"Report! Report to your lordship, the Yan army has arrived in Wuji County in the west in the afternoon, and will be stationed outside Wuji County first. Under the candlelight, the gloomy face of the dark Han quietly listened to the news of the return of the Tanma.

"How many of them are there?" Xiao Han asked calmly.

"Lord Hui, there are nearly 10,000 people in the Yan army's trip, half of them are foot soldiers and half of them are cavalry." Tanma cautiously told the news he had gotten.

"Okay, go down, and get a reward of ten taels of silver yourself." Huang Han waved his hand to let the horse retreat.

"Ten thousand! It seems that this Zhao Xun is bound to Baixian. Under the flickering candle flame, Huang Han's face became more and more gloomy.

"Big brother, why don't we retreat. With just 4,000 of us, we can't hold Baixian at all, not to mention that most of these 4,000 people are wounded soldiers. Sitting not far from Huang Han, the middle-aged man who knew Huang Han for seven or eight points said.

"Retreat? Can we retreat? Tacitly, the eldest prince stayed with us here, you don't know what it means, if we retreat, what will happen? Huang Han stared at the flickering candle flame, and said in a deep voice, revealing this kind of helplessness and resentment in his tone.

Mo Yun was silent for a moment, and said bitterly: "Big brother, you are really, why do you want to fall out with the eldest prince for those people." ”

"Second brother, that's not a few people, not dozens or hundreds, that's fifteen thousand people, it's gone. It's ridiculous, these people didn't die on the battlefield with the enemy, they died at the hands of their own people. 50,000 people, what is the result? In the end, only 10,000 people retreated back, and 40,000 people, the warriors of death! If my letter can be notified, at least 30,000 of these 40,000 people can withdraw to Baixian smoothly, then will the Huolin Army still dare to pay attention to Baixian? With the bridgehead of Baixian, wouldn't it be easy to capture Yanzhou Mansion again in the future? It's a pity that for this infighting, 40,000 warriors were sacrificed in vain, not to mention, and our advantages were wiped out. ”

Mo Yun was unconvinced: "Big brother, even if we lose Bai County, after this winter, we can still take Yanzhou Mansion again." ”

Huang Han sneered: "Again? We were able to attack Yanzhou Mansion this time, firstly, the Yan army in Yanzhou Mansion was not prepared, and secondly, someone opened the city gate for us. How can it be so easy next time, not to mention that there are still the other three tribes around Yanzhou Mansion peeping. ”

Mo Yun smiled bitterly: "In any case, the eldest brother shouldn't go against the eldest prince, whether it is the eldest prince or other princes who ascend to the top of the tribe, we are all subordinates." ”

When he heard this, he was silent, but his eyes revealed this indescribable grief and indignation.

Seeing the appearance of the eldest brother, Mo Yun did not continue the topic anymore, and continued: "Eldest brother, it is said that Yan Xu took refuge in the Huolin Army and killed two thousand ...... people."

Huang Han said angrily: "Don't mention him, ungrateful fellow, sooner or later he will be cut by a thousand cuts." ”

"Second brother, tomorrow I will send someone to the tribe to urge grain and grass, and you can also go back with the team."

"What? Big brother, I want to stick to Bai County with you, and I will never do ......"

"Listen to me, go back and take good care of my mother, your sister-in-law and your nephew and niece, I don't want both of us to die here, so that they have no one to rely on."

"Big Brother ......"

"Go ahead, we'll leave with the team at dawn tomorrow! Do you want me to die without a blind eye? ”

With tears in his eyes, he reluctantly agreed.

Looking at the flickering candle flame, Huang Han sighed helplessly, and finally said silently: "Yan Xu, maybe your choice is right." The Tatar people are not something we can rely on. ”

Because he learned that his secret letter to Yanzhou City was intercepted by the eldest prince's people halfway and was not delivered, he argued with the eldest prince and was arranged by the eldest prince to stay in Baixian, but only 4,000 remnants were left. It's not so much about sticking to it as it is about staying and waiting for death.