Early in the morning, Tuoba Bogu stood at the head of Huining City, looking at the field to the south, the Zhou army camp was too far away to see clearly, but he could still see the figure like a small black dot three or four miles away. It was the Zhou army that had been trying to get close to the city to reconnoitre, but the tribal rangers naturally couldn't let them get their wish, so they tried their best to intercept the Zhou army's horses, and the two sides chased and fought in the field.

The Zhou army camped fifteen miles southeast of the city, which was also a dangerous distance for Tuoba Bogu in the city, which meant that the city would be attacked by the Zhou army. According to Dang Jinfu, the Liang Qiang has already surrendered the Zhou army, and the long grain road along the Zuli River to the north cannot be cut off with the Liang guards.

At the same time, the northern exploration horse reported that the Zhou army of Wulan County sent 5,500 cavalry, which had passed the Kip Pass between Rouwolf Mountain and Qu Wu, and was heading to the southwest, and would soon reach Huining.

It is the beginning of November, the weather is getting colder and colder day by day, and the military situation is becoming more and more urgent, and a total of 12,000 cavalry of Lanzhou Bailanqiang and Zhuoluoqiang who promised to send troops to support have not yet arrived, and Tuoba Bogu used to defend the city only 13,000 soldiers of the headquarters and 7,000 soldiers of the Dang Qiang clan, and these 20,000 people are all young and strong in the clan, and the source of troops has been exhausted, and they are unable to recruit again. However, it is enough to defend the city, but it is still too far to defeat the Zhou army and even make it dare not fight Huining again.

Fortunately, the high walls of Huining City are thick, five miles from east to west, four miles from north to south, 20,000 soldiers and more than 100,000 people can easily live, but there are too many people, and a large number of cattle and sheep brought into the city are slaughtered every day, which makes the city smoke obstructive, and the orderly and peaceful life of the original tribesmen has been completely broken.

Tuoba Bogu's ancestor also surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, so when there was an accident in August before, he also thought about surrendering to Zhou, but Huining is governed by Huizhou, and surrendering means giving up the best pastures around Huining, and on both sides of the Yellow River, and some arable flat land, not to mention himself, the elders of the clan do not agree.

In fact, the looting and extortion of the property of the envoys of the Great Zhou Dynasty had nothing to do with the Tuoba clan, it was done by the Dang clan Qiang and the head of the Yeci clan in the north, but even if Tuoba Bogu knew, it was impossible for him to hand over the people, and he could not even admit it, otherwise his prestige would fall sharply among the three Qiang in Huizhou.

Later, the Jingyuan army sent an envoy to negotiate, but at that time, Tuoba Bogu was determined to fight and defend the territory of the Qiang people in Huizhou, so he not only refused, but also humiliated.

However, now, as long as the reinforcements of Bailanqiang and Zhuoluoqiang arrive, Tuoba Bogu is confident that he will defeat the Zhou army, and then he will negotiate peace before he can keep his territory. It is because this battle must not only be fought, but also won by battle, and everything will be easy to say at that time.

"Report to the patriarch, Da Lang crossed the Yellow River and entered the west city gate, the head of the Bailan tribe, Pan Fu Duowang, and the head of the Zhuoluo tribe, Zhuo Luo Zunli, personally led the troops to the west bank, and they can cross the river and enter the city after another twenty miles."

This short and stout leader of the hundred guards is named Brother Zong, who is selected from the tribe to be brave and brave, they no longer have to bear the burden of agriculture and animal husbandry, and they have been the personal guards of the Tuoba family all their lives, and the authority of the patriarch depends on them to be consolidated and established.

Although they had believed in Bon with the Tubo Dynasty, and later converted to Buddhism, after the collapse of the Tubo Dynasty, the Qiang people still believed in Buddhism, but they no longer had to pay cattle and sheep to the Tubo Dynasty, and contributed to the source of young and strong soldiers, so that the survival ability of the tribe was enhanced, and the life of the tribe was much better.

Originally, under the rule of the Tubo Dynasty, everyone lived very poor and miserable, and all the tribes could keep their own peace, but after the defeat of the Tubo Dynasty in the civil war, the tribes often seized the pasture and fought in a scuffle. The same was true after the decline of the Tang Dynasty in the Central Plains, warlords from all walks of life fought for decades, and no one cared about these old Tang Dynasty lands in the northwest. But now the Great Zhou of the Central Plains has a rising trend, and once again stretched out its hand here, and the war is coming again.

"Let's go! Go back to the house! Tuoba Bogu said lightly, turned around and went down the city. Brother Zong beckoned after that, and led forty or fifty horsemen to follow from the head of the lower city on horseback.

The so-called government is in the center of the city, the houses are very dilapidated, but still retain some Tang style, there are two squatting stone carvings of evil gods and beasts under the high pedestal, open and magnificent momentum, these still show that this city once had a glorious past.

A short man in his twenties and thirties, wearing a curly-brimmed hat with short braids hanging down his shoulders, saw Tuoba Bogu dismount, walked down the steps, and saluted with his hands on his chest. This way of saluting was passed down from the Sogdians in Hezhong during the Tibetan period, and was accepted by the Tibetan royal family and imposed on the Qiang people with a longer history but almost no cultural customs.

"Fanjin! Did Pan Fu Duowang and Zhuo Luo Zunli bring their own grain and grass? Tuoba Bogu asked.

When I returned to my father, they brought some cattle and sheep, which were only enough for ten days. I heard that the Zhou army has arrived, can I go out of the city to line up and fight the Zhou army? Tuoba Fanjin is the eldest son of Tuoba Bogu, and he couldn't help but ask at this time.

"No hurry! Now that you have returned, then stay in the palace to take care of things, cross the Yellow River for your father to meet the reinforcements of the two tribes, and let Tuoba Dagu lead 500 people down the river to support the raft and wait. Tuoba Bogu had a stiff face, and planned to go back to the back house first to change into a round-necked regular clothes, put on iron armor, and then lead the rider to pick up people.

Like the county seat of Wulan, the west gate of Huining City is also adjacent to the bank of the Yellow River for about two or three miles, because the two ends are blocked, so out of the city is the ferry wharf on the bank of the Yellow River, where more than 300 rafts have been parked, connected by ropes, moored on the river outside the wharf.

Tuoba Dagu received the order, led the troops down the river to untie part of the cable, the clan soldiers in a team of five, assigned to the rafts, do these and waited for a while, Tuoba Bogu went out of the city to the river bank dismounted, along the dock trestle under the raft, an order, the clan soldiers waved the slurry in unison, the raft slowly sailed to the center of the river, the speed was very slow.

In the middle of the day, they finally arrived on the opposite bank, and it happened that the reinforcements of Bailanqiang and Zhuoluoqiang had already arrived, and they were lining up on the plain behind the shore to wait for response. As soon as Tuoba Bogu came ashore, he saw his old acquaintances Pan Fu Duowang and Zhuo Luo Zunli riding horses by the river.

"The two came from afar, but let the two of them wait for a long time, forgive the sins!" Tuoba Bogu laughed and saluted his chest.

"It's okay for us to take a break, it's just...... I heard that the Zhou army has arrived, but has it started to attack the city? "Pan Fuduowang was about forty years old, short and thin, with dark skin and shining eyes, and looked very cunning.

"Not yet! Even if they attack the city, they will be helpless for a while. Tuoba Bogu sneered.

"That's right! Now that our reinforcements have arrived, there is nothing to be afraid of when the whole army goes out of the city to fight with the Zhou army. "Zhuo Luo Zunli is about thirty years old, tall and burly, with a thick beard and a very conspicuous beard.

"No, no...... At least it must be consumed first, so that it is not too late to fight again after the Zhou army's sharp energy is exhausted. Pan Fu said with a smile, thought about it and asked, "Dare to ask the Tuoba patriarch, can the Zhou army send an envoy into the city?" ”

"Nope! How? What does Patriarch Pan Fu mean by this? Tuoba Bogu was stunned when he heard this, and secretly thought that he had humiliated the envoy of the Jingyuan army before, how could the Zhou army send the envoy again.

"Haha...... If we are not in a hurry, let our warriors cross the river first and go into the city to rest. Pan Fu looked at it and laughed and sold it.

Tuoba Bogu was here to greet him, and Tuoba Bogu didn't say anything, so he immediately asked the two patriarchs to send some clan soldiers to board the raft in the river, and then began to ferry back and forth. (To be continued.) )