In a mountain pass outside the Black Collar Peak of Sheep Mountain, several soldiers of the Iron Bell Battalion were chatting, and suddenly a black shadow shook behind the tree.

"Who? Come out! With the sound of the soldier, he stopped drinking. A young man dressed in sackcloth came out from behind a tree, carrying a knife in his hand.

"Throw the knife away." The archers hiding in the shadows shouted. The young man slowly bent down and placed the knife on the ground. Two soldiers walked up vigilantly with their guns raised, and they were still three or four feet away from the young man, and the two soldiers looked at each other, rushed up, threw the young man to the ground, put his knees against the back of his heart, and pulled his arms and tied him. The young man did not resist in the slightest.

When everything was done, the old fire hiding in the shadows appeared, and with a stick of grass and wood in his mouth, he looked around the young man and asked, "Who are you?" ”

"It's my own people." The young man replied calmly.

"Your own people? I see you like a spy. Lao Huo spit out the grass and wood stick in his mouth, brushed the ground and pulled out the waist knife and put it on the young man's neck: "Number, name, password." ”

"One sentry and one team of the Xiao Cavalry Battalion, Zheng Sen, iron cage lock Liu San." The young man replied, Lao Huo silently put away the knife, and asked, "Isn't the Xiao Cavalry Battalion in Mu Na Mountain?" How did you get here? ”

"We were scattered in the Black Sheep Valley, and I withdrew to Muna Mountain with General Yang, and later separated from the general. The deputy of the team took us through the Lianghe Valley to find General Yu, and I didn't want to be ambushed when crossing the bridge in Duliangzhai, so I escaped by jumping into the river. I have an urgent military situation to report to General Yu, so please let my brother know. ”

This young man is Yang Hao, who escaped after falling into the water. During the spring flood period in the north, although the Lianghe River was a small river, the water flow was very fast. After Yang Hao and others fell into the water, they were swept away by the current, and the Hedong army chased along the river for a long time, but finally found nothing.

Yang Hao swam four or five miles along the current before climbing ashore, but all the tokens around him fell into the water. Without a token, he didn't dare to say to people that he was Yang Hao, it was a felony to pretend to be an official in that era, and to pretend to be a general on the battlefield, that was not enough to cut off a hundred heads.

"How do you know our general is here?" Lao Huo suddenly became suspicious of Yang Hao's words. Yang Hao secretly complained in his heart, "If Huyan Valley is lost, retreat to Heiling Peak to wait for reinforcements", this is a plan made before the war. Yu Lianwan knew this, and Wu Bohan also knew, but the low-level officers didn't know. Yang Hao couldn't explain it to him.

Lao Huo stared at Yang Hao coldly: "Why can't you say it." I think you're clearly a spy. After saying that, he tilted his head, and the two soldiers held down Yang Hao on the left and right, kicked Yang Hao twice, forcing Yang Hao to kneel on the ground, and the third soldier pulled his hair forward, and Yang Hao's neck was exposed. Lao Huo pulled out his waist knife and gestured, but did not immediately cut it down.

"I'll give you another chance, who sent you as a spy?"

"Don't kill me, I'm Liu Desan's person, and I have important military intelligence to report to General Yu." At the critical moment, Yang Hao had to admit that he was a spy against his will. A worthy spy cannot be easily killed.

"You're smart." Lao Huo put away the waist knife, "Take it to General Wang." ”

General Wang is Wang Hu, the captain of the Iron Bell Battalion, who is an old man in the Iron Bell Camp and has a high prestige in the army. Yu Lianwan's Chinese military tent was set up in a mountain temple halfway up the Black Collar Peak. Lao Huo blindfolded Yang Hao and escorted him to the foot of the mountain. The Chinese guards came over to ask. Lao Huo said: "Please tell General Wang, we have caught a spy of the Hedong Army, and this person said that he has an important military report." ”

The chief guard glanced at Yang Hao, and said disapprerovingly: "Just him, the egg hair has not grown, what important military information can you know?" General Wang has been in a bad mood in the past two days, don't say that I didn't remind you, if you don't come out of the trial, you won't be able to eat and walk around. ”

When Lao Huo heard this, he muttered in his heart, was silent for a while, and said with his fists clenched: "Thank you for reminding me." After saying that, he was about to take Yang Hao away, when he suddenly heard a person behind him shouting: "Bring someone over!" ”

The one who spoke was a Chinese army guard in the Iron Bell Battalion, and the Chinese army guard was the guard who guarded the Chinese army's tent and the personal servant of the general of the unified army. Lao Huo hesitated, but the guard sneered: "Why can't you trust me?" When Lao Huo heard this, he hurriedly said that he didn't dare, so he had to hand over the person to him.

The Chinese army guards glared at him fiercely and took Yang Hao up the stairs. Halfway up the mountain, there is a small pine forest on the left side of the platform, and there are several military tents in front of the pine forest. The Chinese army guard whispered in Yang Hao's ear: "Wan Duan is a subordinate of General Guan, and he has important matters to report to the general. Ask the general to speak in the tent. With that, he pushed Yang Hao into the military tent in front of a group of guards.

There was a middle-aged civil official in his forties and two junior colonels in the military tent, the civil official was five feet tall, white-faced and fat, with five locks of beard, and after loosening the tie to Yang Hao, he hurriedly knelt down and said: "The iron bell battalion measures Lu Benqing to see the general." Yang Haoxin smiled bitterly for a while, and hurriedly helped Lu Benqing to say: "You are an elder, how dare I accept your worship?" ”

Lu Benqing said seriously: "There are no fathers and sons in the army, you are my superior, I naturally want to worship." Yang Hao didn't dare to fight with him when he heard this, but he smiled secretly in his heart, he was really a pedantic person.

This Lu Benqing is the younger brother of Lu Rui's adoptive father, Lu Benzhong, who once served as a county school teacher, and later resigned because he was not used to seeing all kinds of shortcomings in officialdom. He was pedantic, not good at business, and lived a poor life. When Yang Hao held the Fengzhou Economics School, he searched for talents in many ways. Lu Rui recommended his clan uncle to him.

Yang Hao met him once, and felt that although this person had some talents, he had a pedantic temperament and was not suitable for teaching in the academy. But it was difficult to refute Lu Rui's face, so he handed him over to Guan Suo for placement. Yang Hao didn't ask about the rest of the matter, who knew that he had become the measuring officer of the Iron Bell Battalion. The Measuring Officer belongs to the civil service sequence, and mainly verifies the current accounts, which is roughly equivalent to the audit of later generations.

Lu Benqing said excitedly: "Yu Lianwan secretly communicated with the Hedong Army, and his antipathy has appeared, and the general must not go to see him again." ”

Yang Hao didn't answer, he looked at Wan Duan, Wan Duan said: "Last night, the secret envoy of the Hedong Army arrived in the camp, Yu Lianwan talked with him alone for an hour, and when he left, he also sent the Hedong secret envoy to the door. ”

Yang Hao smiled bitterly when he heard this, and he was neither surprised nor angry in his heart. In this world, the feudal towns support the army and divide the world, and the generals in the feudal town support the troops to stand on the mountain, and the rebellion in the twilight of the Qin Dynasty is really nothing new in this era.

The Iron Bell Battalion was originally a descendant of Han Sui, nominally subordinate to the Tiande Right Army, but in fact it was self-contained. Han Sui died, Baishui Fox defected, and Zhuang Yunqing was transferred to the Department of Military Justice. This unit lost its backbone, and Yang Hao took the opportunity to reduce it to a battalion. The Xining Army had eighteen battalions, and the base number of each battalion was five hundred, with only three battalions exceeding this number. The Tiger Camp is six hundred and five, the Fire Camp is six hundred, and the Iron Bell Camp is eight hundred. Even so, compared to the original 3,000 people, it has been reduced by more than two-thirds. An ordinary soldier in the current battalion may have been a captain or a gang commander in the past. It's a force full of bones, and they can be magnified several times in an instant when they have the right opportunity, without sacrificing quality.

Because of this, after Zhuang Yunqing left, it took a lot of thought to choose who to be the commander of the army. In the end, Yang Hao took a fancy to Yu Lianwan, whose qualifications and military merits were not inferior to Ling Tong and Li Tong. Yu Lianwan is known as the "fox" in the Tiande Right Army, this person is resourceful and the city government is very deep, but he never forms a gang. This is a great temptation for Yang Hao. But Yang Hao still ignores one point: a fox is a fox, and camouflage and transmutation are their nature.

"Please go north immediately and join General Jiang Tao." Wan Duan pleaded.

"yes, I can only go to him." Yang Hao thought helplessly, "I hope he hasn't gotten along with Liu Desan yet." ”

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Jiang Tao did not get along with Liu Desan, but he did not follow the original plan, and immediately rushed south to help after assisting Jin Mili to regain power in the Vulture Division. He stood still and waited to see how things unfolded. After Yang Hao's fiasco in the Black Sheep Valley, Jiang Tao used insufficient supplies as an excuse and ignored the strong opposition of the prison army Mi Luofu, and stationed his army on the golden sand beach one hundred and twenty miles northwest of Huyan Valley.

Yang Hao went directly to Mahshan's camp and made an appointment with the two lieutenants and three sentry commanders of the leopard battalion. Then he sent another order for Jiang Tao to come and see him. Jiang Tao came to the Fengya camp in fear, and only a Chinese guard greeted him at the door, and after he dismounted, his guards were blocked from the door and asked to hand over their sabers.

Jiang Tao failed to see Yang Hao, and Ma Heshang announced Yang Hao's decision to him: remove him from the post of commander of the Leopard Battalion, reassign him to the Xining Military Grain and Grass Supervisor, and immediately return to Feng'an to take office. Immediately, he was "escorted" by Mahshan's personal soldiers back to Feng'an.

Jin Mili thanked Yang Hao for helping him regain power, and he wanted to send troops to help Yang Hao defeat the Hedong Army, but his current strength was very limited, except for the 1,000 cavalry brought back by the three surnames of Datongchuan, he only had a few hundred old, weak, sick and disabled on his hands. Jin Mili suggested that Yang Hao borrow troops from the Fifth Department of the Barbarian Black. The five tribes of the Mangyo are also from the Murwei, but they belong to the Cihu Murwei, which is of the same origin and different from the Mengwu Murwei. The Mughal Murwei had contacts with the surrounding Tang, Xi, Uighurs, and even the Khitans, but the Cihu Murwei was very closed, and the degree of social development was far inferior to that of the Mugyus.

According to Jin Mili, the five tribes of the Manhei suffered a snowstorm last winter, causing heavy losses of cattle and sheep, and were invaded by the Xi and Khitan people at the beginning of this year, and had to move south to the border of the Tang Dynasty. Preparing to annex the Tang Dynasty through the Tiande Army, he didn't want the Tiande Army to have civil strife, Wang Qian fell ill and died, so he had no place for a while. Originally, they also hoped that the vultures would give them some help for the sake of their own clan, but they were flatly rejected by the white water fox. At present, nearly 20,000 people in the five divisions are stationed in the north of the green mountains, and they have lost their ground.

Yang Hao didn't know much about these situations, and what he was most concerned about now was how the combat effectiveness of the Mangyo Five Divisions was, and whether they could compete with the elite Hedong Army on the battlefield. Jin Mili patted his chest and assured that the five tribes of the Barbarian Black were all warriors, and they had repeatedly thwarted attempts by the Uighur court to conquer, and the reason why they lost to the Khitan and Xi people this time was because of the great losses caused by last year's snow disaster. As long as they are equipped with enough weapons and horses, this is definitely a strong force in the grassland.

Weapons, Yang Hao has in his hand. Since the establishment of the Ordnance Division, the battalions have been equipped with a variety of sophisticated weapons, and the eliminated weapons are enough to equip 7,000 men. At this time, they are all sealed in the warehouse, as long as an order is given, the weapons can be retrieved within five days, as for the horses, the vulture can solve seventy percent, and the remaining thirty percent are drawn from all over Toyosu, which is only three or five days.

Yang Hao was overjoyed and decided to ally with the Five Divisions to deal with the Hedong Army together.

Jin Mili immediately sent someone to inform the five tribes, and the leaders of the five tribes were overjoyed when they heard the news, and they all brought gifts to the Vulture Tooth Tent Alliance. When Yang Hao saw everyone for the first time, he couldn't help but be dumbfounded. After a long time in his heart, the leaders of these five tribes were all unkempt, and the animal skin clothes they wore seemed to have never been washed, and they could smell the fishy body odor on everyone's bodies from a distance of seven or eight feet. When I get closer, I grin at you, the smoky bad breath, the yellow and blackened teeth are enough to make people with a bad heart unable to eat for half a month.

Looking at the generals behind the five people, those half-orcs who can play in the magic film without makeup, have human form and no human touch.

The leaders of the five departments greeted Yang Hao in words that Yang Hao didn't understand at all, and that's fine, after all, they didn't go to Chang'an to study. Their fellow Jin Mili couldn't understand their words either, and they relied entirely on interpreters to communicate with each other.

The leaders of the five tribes all agreed with Yang Hao's request for an alliance, and they put forward their own demands: First, they must provide 3,000 men with ordnance and horses for them to equip the army. Second, they were willing to belong to the Tang Dynasty, but hoped that Yang Hao would be able to show the imperial court and set aside land in several counties for them to graze. Third, provide 10,000 stone of food to help them survive the famine. Fourth, they need a thousand women who are young and able to have children.

Yang Hao can understand the first three requests, but he is disgusted by the fourth condition. "At the beginning of the year, the Xi people broke through their camp and plundered many of their women, and many of them lost their wives and children, so they urgently needed to replenish the population. Jin Mili suggested that Yang Hao allocate the women in the middle of the forest to them.

Jin Mili's suggestion cannot be said to be unreasonable, after the central part of the forest was pacified, a large number of men were killed in battle, widows and orphans were everywhere, and hundreds of stones were spent every moonlight relief food.

Yang Hao asked how many troops could the leaders of the five departments send to help in the war? The five of them deliberated for a while, and replied that they could send 5,000 troops. Yang Hao was too little, and asked them to send 8,000 troops to help in the war. After discussion, the five leaders agreed, but asked Yang Hao to allocate an additional 1,000 people in armor and ordnance. Yang Hao agreed to come down.

The discussion was decided, and the five of them made an alliance with blood, and agreed to send troops south in five days.