On August 17 of the second year of Kaiyuan, as the queen of the whole army, the Luzhou regiment trained to the Xiaoluan River.

Li Tao looked at the not wide river on the horse, pondered for a while, turned his head and said to the one-armed young man who had always followed him: "Wolf Thirteen, you go and call Zale." ”

Wolf Thirteen has been following Pei Yue since he was subdued by Pei Yue. This time, Li Tao went on the expedition, and because he was not worried about the people in the palace, he left Li Bai in the palace, while Pei Yue and Wolf Thirteen followed Li Tao as Li Tao's bodyguards.

Wolf Thirteen was still an old man and rarely spoke, so he listened to Li Tao's instructions, nodded and turned his horse and went backwards.

After a while, Zale came.

The four strong slaves that Li Tao bought in Luzhou at the beginning have long since broken away from their lowly status, and now they are all independent figures.

Wang Maozhong and Li Yide followed Li Longji, Wang Maozhong had been enshrined as Huo Guogong and served as General Zuo Wuwei, and Li Yide also served as General Yulin. Kham in Luzhou Dacaotan Horse Farm, for Li Tao to breed Turkic horses has achieved a lot of results, Luzhou regiment training cavalry now military horses, all are Kham's masterpieces. Li Tao gave full play to the expertise of the Zalhuo map and let him walk around as much as possible. Over the years, Zale has been to the Western Regions, entered the Turks, and before this expedition, he specially let him go to Yingzhou, and all the roads he has traveled have been reflected in his mind.

"Zale, I remember you said that after crossing the Xiaoluan River, five miles ahead is Buriga, and twenty miles ahead is Nantai Valley?"

Zale nodded, "Little master, that's right! ”

"How long is this South Terrace Valley? What are the mountains on both sides? ”

"There is a distance of more than five miles between the valleys at the two ends of the Nantai Valley, and after passing it, it will be a flat river. The mountains on both sides are not steep. However, weeds are more abundant. ”

After hearing this, Li Tao picked a wooden stick and drew it on the ground.

After a while, Li Tao got up and walked towards the only wooden bridge on the Xiaoluan River. Zale and Pei Yue followed closely. Standing on the wooden bridge, Li Tao looked left and right, the river was not fast, and the current was not large. This is the narrowest place in the water flow on Xiaoluan, about five or six zhang, and the rest of the places are either seven or eight zhang, and the widest part is more than ten zhang.

"Zale. The last time you came, was the water in this Xiaoluan River so small? Li Tao asked.

Zall shook his head and said, "The last time I was here was during the rainy season, and there was a lot of water than that. It's all over the bridge. Now in the middle of summer, the water must be much smaller. ”

Li Tao no longer spoke, but crossed the bridge to the opposite side, and in front of him was a large area of lush grass. Good line of sight ahead. You can faintly see the mountains on both sides of the Nantai Valley in the distance.

Li Tao returned from the bridge again and said to the herald behind him: "Pass my order, after the brigade crosses the river, set up a defensive circle one mile away from the Xiaoluan River, and all the personnel are ready for battle. Scouts were sent to the upper reaches of the Xiaoluan River to investigate whether there was any trace of the enemy. In addition, have the auxiliaries drive deep piles on both sides of the wooden bridge and pull a chain each. Just in case. ”

"Yes!" The heralds immediately gave the order backwards with red and white flags.

Pei Yue asked in a low voice, "Little master, are you worried that the Khitans will cut off the flow of water upstream. And then release water to wash away this wooden bridge? ”

Li Tao sighed and said: "I'm not sure, but I have to guard against it, if the bridge is really destroyed, these tens of thousands of troops will have no way to retreat, and the consequences will be unimaginable!" ”

Except for some people who drove piles on the bank of the river, the Luzhou regimental training brigade crossed the Xiaoluan River in an orderly manner.

At the mile mark, the convoy stopped, and the auxiliaries began to unload supplies from the van. The scouts were all sent out, and in addition to guarding the brigade on all sides, more than twenty horsemen rode their horses upstream along the river.

At this time, there was a horse running towards the circle in front of him, and Li Tao looked at it, not knowing who it was.

Pei Yue's eyes were sharp, and he said to Li Tao: "Little master, it seems to be the king Wang Duwei." ”

Li Tao also saw that the person who came was Wang Haibin.

The 1,200 people of Wang Haibin Lunu Zhichong Mansion were in the position between Xue Ne's Chinese army and Luzhou regimental training, which Li Tao specifically asked Xue Ne.

Wang Haibin arrived in front of Li Tao, dismounted and asked urgently: "King Lantian, why don't you leave, is there a situation?" ”

"I feel something is wrong!" Li Tao frowned.

"King Lantian, do you mean that the Khitans will attack us here?" Wang Haibin thought for a while, and then said: "This is unlikely, this is still more than three hundred miles away from Yingzhou, how could they attack us so far away?" ”

"Even you don't think it's possible, isn't that the old adage of surprises?" Li Tao sighed and said, "Don't forget, the Khitans are all cavalry, and it is not difficult for them to travel three hundred miles. ”

Wang Haibin wanted to say something, but was stopped by Li Tao: "It's best if I misjudge, if I really get my words wrong, I hope Wang Duwei will help me do something!" ”

"King Lantian, please command!"

"Wang Duhu, do you know why I asked the Metropolitan Governor to let you be in front of me?"

Wang Haibin shook his head.

"Just to let you help me at a critical moment! I hope that when the army is defeated, you can arrange your men to organize the rout to pass through the two sides of the circle I have set up, and never let them attack my defensive position from the front, so that the Khitans can take advantage of it. Can you do it? ”

Wang Haibin saw that Li Tao was very serious, and knew that the matter was very important, so he said solemnly: "King Lantian, please rest assured, I will do my best!" ”

"Wang Duwei, please, you can go!"

"Lantian King, I'm leaving!" Wang Haibin saluted Li Tao and rode away again.

Li Tao looked at Wang Haibin's distant back, and shouted again: "Uncle Pei, wolf thirteen, you two will go to the Chinese army and the front army immediately, and meet ......."

……

Buriga is a land of abundant water and grass, and there should have been herdsmen grazing here, but now the herders are gone. Xue Ne sat on his horse, glanced at the scorching sun overhead, and couldn't help but shake his head.

At this time, Xue Ne no longer had the kind of rhetoric he had at the beginning, but faintly had a trace of unspeakable worry. Maybe it's because he wants to make meritorious service too much, or maybe it's because of other reasons, in short, people have considered everything, but they have forgotten one point: most of the troops led by themselves are infantry, and each of them carries dozens of pounds of weapons and equipment, and marching under such a big sun is an extremely physically demanding thing.

Looking at the languishing soldiers, Xue Ne knew that if the Khitans really attacked at this time, the soldiers would not even be able to escape, let alone face the battle. There are still more than 300 miles on the way to Yingzhou, whether the Khitans will attack and when they will attack is not something he can control, but he can't stop for fear of attacking, waiting here stupidly, the only thing he can do is to pray for God's blessing.

At this moment, Xue Ne finally understood what Li Tao said at the beginning, about the reason why this battle would be defeated. What do you want, just when Xue Ne just thought of Li Tao, Li Tao sent someone. The person who came Xue Ne recognized that it was Li Tao's personal guard Pei Yue. (To be continued......)