. After arriving at Yanmen Pass for a short rest, Mu Yu and several other personal guards who had been waiting there rushed to join Yang Hao, and the group went out of the customs and headed for the northeast.

At this time, outside the Saiwai, there was another imperial civilization. If the previous Xiongnu, Xianbei, and Turkic were all degraded to barbarians in the Central Plains, there was neither a standardized state breeding, nor a perfect organizational structure, nor a mature ideological system, and its organizational structure was only a tribal alliance, but when the Khitan was founded, the situation had changed.

The eight Khitan tribes were unified, and Ji'er incorporated the Xi, Murowei, Wugu, Uighur, Jurchen and other tribes and Bohai and other countries into his rule, abolished the tribal system, established an imperial system learned from the Central Plains, set up a prime minister, a bureaucratic system of three provinces and six ministries, and administrative units such as prefectures, counties, and counties, and established a state system similar to that of the Han and Tang Empires, vigorously recruited Han people, encouraged agriculture and commerce, introduced Han civilization, and built Confucian temples...... One country, two systems, with the Han people of the sixteen states of Youyun as subjects, rather than being regarded as slaves, this kind of imperial civilization was the key factor for powerful empires such as the Khitan, Western Xia, and Jurchen to surpass the nomadic tribes of their predecessors and become the strongest opponents of the Han nation in the future. When the Central Plains was still in turmoil, the Khitan country was gradually maturing, so that the northern steppes, the Western Regions, the Arab world and even Europe all felt the civilizational influence of the Khitan Empire, and many Western peoples mistakenly thought that the Khitan Empire was the legendary Chinese Empire.

However, after all, the Chinese civilization has thousands of years of heritage, although it has experienced a long period of chaos and war, but when it was unified, it immediately regained its strong vitality, and the Song State came from behind, and now has the ability to compete with the Khitan, and has the potential to surpass, and began to gradually regain the Central Plains in the eyes of the world rightful position.

Yang Hao traveled all the way and found that the people here were mostly based on farming, supplemented by grazing, and the border people in the Song Dynasty were about the same, if you approached to talk, you would find that they also wore Hanfu and spoke Chinese, which was the same as the Central Plains. Before Shi Jingtang gave this place to the Khitans, this was originally the territory of the Han people, and most of the people who live here today are still Han people, and you can hardly see any difference between them and the Han people in Guannei.

It's just that more than 50 years of separation and Khitan rule have artificially erected a barrier between each other. Under the banner of the Great Song Dynasty, Yang Hao could not see the picture of some Song Dynasty propaganda materials left for future generations: the Han people in the north were excited and wept, cheering to look at their envoys to the motherland who were looking forward to it day and night, their eyes were vigilant and indifferent, and even with a hint of hostility.

More than 50 years ago, it was the time when the princes of the Central Plains took the people of the world as fish and meat and killed each other, and the people of the sixteen states of Youyun had been ruled by the Khitan at that time, and since then the Central Plains has gone through many dynasties, and there is today's Song State, and the people of the Song State and the sixteen states of Youyun do not have any sense of belonging and affection, and the Song State is a completely strange country in their memory.

There are nine stops in the world, headed by Yanmen. Surrounded by the mountains, high on the mountain. On the east and west wings, the mountains are undulating. The Great Wall of the mountain ridge, its momentum is meandering, go east to the Pingxing Pass, Bauhinia Pass, and the Reverse Horse Pass, you can go straight to Youyan; If it is from Bianliang directly, then it is faster to go out of Juyong Pass, cross Shimen Pass, and go to Jiming Mountain in Khan Prefecture, but they are starting from Luoyang, and the people sent by Yang Hao are waiting outside Yanmen Pass, so Yang Hao will use the excuse to go to Yanmen Pass first to understand the situation, grasp more favorable information, and then go to Beijing from there, so he chose another way, but the different paths are the same, and finally he has to go to Guihua Prefecture.

After leaving the customs, they had already made contact with the Khitan defenders, who sent a team of 500 people to escort them on the road, and had quickly reported to the southern courtyard and Shangjing.

Eighty percent of the soldiers in the army are Han, and the commander of the garrison sent to escort them is also Han, named Feng Biwu, and there is no problem in communicating with them in language.

Along the way, Yang Hao and Feng Biwu often looked for opportunities to talk, to understand all aspects of information, and learned that since the civil strife in Beijing, the prime minister of the Khitan Southern Yuan strictly restrained the department from clashing with the Song people.

Yang Hao also learned that after King Qing was attacked by the officers and soldiers of the Southern Courtyard in his tribe's hometown, he had abandoned Shangjing City, which had not been attacked for a long time, and migrated to the Jurchen realm, but this was just a feint, and after attracting King Qin's army to pounce in the direction of the Jurchens, they had abandoned the old and weak, quickly interspersed westward, and fled to this side.

Although this side is the ruling area of the Southern Yuan, because the land is vast and sparsely populated, the field of activity is broader, and it is not the activity area of the main Khitan monopoly, and the Southern Yuan cannot mobilize enough men and horses to block their way, so they are like every grassland tribe in history that has failed to fight for power, trying to cross the steppe, kill to the northwest where the Khitan control is weak, and establish their own territory there.

Yang Hao was secretly happy when he heard this, the Khitan and the Song State stood together, just like a man in a coat with a full face and a handsome man with a deep clothes and jade belt standing together, when it came to aggressiveness and threat, they were obviously stronger than anyone else, if King Qing's army could successfully break through the siege and establish a regime in the northwest to fight against Shangjing, it could contain the entire Khitan army from being unable to go south, then it would obviously be more beneficial to the Han people in the Central Plains and for his future survival in the northwest. He was already looking forward to King Qing's success.

On this day, still walking on the Xijing Road, the front gradually to a desolate and less populated place, Feng Biwu pointed to the vast place next to the road with a horsewhip, and said: "Lord Yang, you see, this kind of grass is the grass that our horses like to eat outside the gate, called Xiji grass, the roots of Xiji grass are large and fat, and it is the most delicious for horses. ”

Yang Hao heard the sound and saw that the grass was eight points similar to the reeds in the pass, and he didn't expect that this unremarkable weed was the main food for the northern war horses. The northern ethnic groups have abundant water and grass suitable for large-scale grazing pastures, and the nomadic tribes that grow on this grassland have a strong ability to move south at any time to invade the Central Plains, and once they encounter a counterattack, they can retreat to the desert grassland, making it difficult for the Han people to go deeper, and when the Han people's troops are slightly reduced, they can re-emerge from the rivers and lakes, which can be described as advancing and retreating freely.

Their Mongolian horse breeds are much inferior to the Arabian horse breeds and the Nordic horse breeds, but they are easy to breed and raise, so it is easy to build a large number of cavalry troops, once the Han people lose a reliable source of horses and cannot form a stronger cavalry corps to compete with them, it is difficult to win in frontal combat by relying on infantry alone, and even if they win, it is difficult to pursue to expand the results of the battle, so they can only sit and wait for them to assemble and counterattack again until they are exhausted and defeated.

I don't know that it is difficult to be a soldier, it is difficult to become the master of the Central Plains without heavy farming, and if he wants to control the northwest, he can't ignore animal husbandry, Yang Hao was about to ask shamelessly, learn more about this knowledge, suddenly a sharp whistling in the air swept by, Feng Biwu was stunned, and he had already picked up his horse and galloped forward.

Feng Biwu rushed up a low slope in front of him, looked into the distance for a moment, and shouted: "Stop in place, defend, protect the Song envoy." ”

Five hundred Khitan cavalry immediately dispersed, protecting a thousand Song troops in the middle, the Song army saw that these Khitan soldiers were only five hundred, but they protected them in the middle like women and children, they were also heroic men with horses under their crotches and guns in their hands, how could they be so despised, the commander of the army made Zhang Tongzhou immediately step forward and said to Yang Hao: "My lord, they only want to protect us with only five hundred people, there is an enemy situation, but we are not allowed to use force, it is too much to see no one, right?" ”

Yang Hao said with a smile: "Commander Zhang, don't be impatient, this is their duty, we are the envoys of the imperial court, and now that the situation is unknown, naturally there is no need to use a knife or a gun?" ”

He glanced at Zhang Tongzhou and said with a smile: "You can set up another defense in the inner circle to ensure safety." ”

"Yes!" Zhang Tongzhou got the order, immediately ordered loudly, the Song army acted urgently, these well-trained soldiers quickly set up a circle formation, behaved in advance and retreat, neatly drawn, for a while swords and guns were lined up, bows and crossbows were wound, and the military appearance was neat, especially better than the five hundred Khitan soldiers, this is the elite of the forbidden army, although there are only a thousand people, thousands of people are the same, the power is naturally extraordinary, this small is also colored, immediately attracted the attention of those Khitan soldiers.

"What's going on?"

Feng Biwu asked loudly to the scout who was galloping back.

"Lord Feng, I found a sentry in front of me, at least a thousand people up and down, galloping towards here, and my subordinates fired arrows to warn, they are coming unabated, but the speed is faster, it seems that they have bad intentions."

"What kind of banner did the people come to?"

"There are so many flags that it's hard to guess where they're coming from."

Feng Biwu couldn't help frowning when he heard this, at this time, the hoofs in front of him were like thunder, and a cavalry had rushed quickly, Feng Biwu shouted: "Warning, don't stop, report your identity, bow and arrow waiting!" ”

Looking at the people in front of him, Feng Biwu turned his head and said to Yang Hao: "Lord Yang don't worry, the banners of the comers are scattered, the formation is not neat, it looks fierce, but it is difficult to cooperate with each other, it will not be an army, nor will it be a strong tribe's soldiers, if you really have bad intentions, you will make this rabble never come back!" ”

Seeing that the enemy was only in front, he ordered loudly, and the Khitan soldiers changed their formation, leaving 200 people to protect the flank of the Song army, and the other 300 people had already ridden forward, forming a sharp arrow array, and immediately the knights took their bows and arrows, and the arrows rose and were ready for battle.

The warning arrow was shot, and the people rushing in front did not pause at all, but shouted and began to sprint, Feng Biwu's face changed slightly, looking at the team with teeth and claws, gritted his teeth and laughed: "It's horse thieves, they are so bold, let go of the arrow!" ”

A row of sharp arrows shot out, the horse thieves who came wildly rushed to the scene of chaos, some were busy taking leather shields to cover, some came to hide in stirrups, and some fell off the horse with arrows, and then they also came with colors, countless sharp arrows roared, the Song soldiers immediately raised their shields to protect themselves, Yang Hao took the leather shield from the hands of the guards, and looked at the enemy in front of him.

Although the other party is numerous, but it is just a horse thief, it is brave to deal with ordinary tribes and merchants, but a regular army like Feng Biwu may not take them in his eyes, seeing that the enemy is coming quickly, only shooting three sharp arrows, the other party is about to rush to the horse, Feng Biwu immediately shouted: "Rush up, tell him to be a son of a bitch, don't have long eyes, and slaughter them!" ”

Three hundred Khitan warriors immediately shouted and rushed forward, when the two sides approached less than a hundred paces, they slapped the horse's stock with the back of their swords, and sharply increased their speed, their feet were pedaling, their buttocks were half off the saddle, the horses were as fast as arrows, and the steel knives were shining.

The two sides collided violently, blood and broken flesh and bones were stirred in the air, and the Khitan soldiers were already like a sharp knife, highlighting the ranks of horse thieves. The cavalry must charge quickly to show their power, even if they enter the enemy formation, they are non-stop, rushing forward without stopping, if they hold the reins and fight in place, then their power is not as good as the foot soldiers, both sides are well versed in this principle, Feng Biwu led the people to wave the steel knife to split the horse thieves, like an arrow from the string to rush forward, they want to rush through the horse thief team, turn around and rush back and then rush back to kill, the horse thief team that was torn in half is also a moment of non-stop, and they staggered, all the way to the weapon exchange, Somerously pounced on the Khitan soldiers and Yang Hao's subordinates who were on standby.

Seeing them rushing to the front, the two hundred Khitan soldiers were like challenged wolf dogs, roaring and pounced, at this moment, a horn sounded, whining straight into the sky, from the back of the road another team to kill, the number of at least a thousand, one by one teeth and claws, calling out.

If you can't give full play to the advantages of your cavalry, let the enemy pounce in front of you, then you can only let someone slaughter, Zhang Tongzhou saw it, and immediately ordered the rear team to be on guard, ready to wait for the enemy soldiers to rush to a place close to a stone's throw away, and then launch a counter-charge like a Khitan soldier, Yang Hao saw it, and suddenly felt a little bad in his heart.

What do horse thieves do when they attack themselves for profit? If they mistakenly think of themselves as a caravan, they should know that they are not soft persimmons that are easy to pinch, why are they still so desperate? In particular, this team of horse thieves actually divided their troops into two ways, first led away the Khitan soldiers, and then raided their own headquarters, obviously prepared, and even their whereabouts and numbers have been investigated, I am afraid that they are not just horse thieves.

At this moment, countless sharp arrows suddenly shot out from the reed-like lush Xiji grass, shooting many people over the Song army who were waiting for the enemy behind with bated breath, and then a group of men and horses slammed out, with a person in front of the head, holding a snow-bright three-strand steel fork in his hand, burly, wearing a black blindfold in one eye, but it was a one-eyed dragon.

He waved his steel fork and roared loudly from afar: "Kill Song envoy Yang Hao, kill!" Kill! Kill! ”

"Sure enough, it's for me! Grandma's, others are envoys, that's the advantage and the difference, why do I always have to fight and kill the messengers? ”

Yang Hao sighed, Huo Di pulled out his sword, and shouted: "The whole army, kill!" After saying that, he led the pro-army, and rushed out first. He was not rushing behind or on the flanks, but the horse thieves who were fighting with the Khitan soldiers in front.