Bactria inherited the frontier policy of the previous dynasty of resettlement and immigration. Prisoners who do not commit crimes to death can be exempted from their crimes as long as they have a local neighbor to protect them, and they can also apply to the local county government for a trip to the central plains. The land was distributed to the court according to the capitation, and agricultural tools and seeds were provided free of charge. Land has been the lifeblood of farmers since ancient times, and despite the severe cold climate and frequent wars on the Shuofang front, the number of prisoners of voluntary migration and the poor people of the Central Plains have increased over the years.

The day after Wei Su summoned Yang Zhi, there was a long queue of people who went to Shuofang Mansion to collect seeds for farm tools. Weisu, who had been unable to hold out, sent 10,000 Shuo troops to fight the Turks in two ways. For the hundreds of thousands of heavy troops that both sides have assembled inside and outside the city, this is more like a tentative warm-up before the big war. Geng Chao also convened his subordinates for the first time in Shuofang on the same day, and there was only one central topic: preparing to leave the city.

Many generals knew that the soldiers had already sharpened their knives and had been holding back for more than a day or two, and when they heard the news, they were both nervous and excited. Unexpectedly, Geng Chao poured a scoop of cold water on his head again: "It's to let you prepare to go out of the city and walk around, not to go to war." After leaving the city, you must try to avoid confrontation with the Turkic cavalry, and even if you meet, you must not take the initiative to attack or pursue. ”

Everyone was in an uproar, and the partial general Dong Jian was Geng Chao's confidant, and he came out and shouted: "General, when you see the Turks, you won't be allowed to fight, so why are we people still coming to Shuofang?" ”

"Are you afraid that you won't sit in a sedan chair when you become an official? You should go out of town and see the scenery. Geng Chao sank his face and said: "Those who violate the military order will be killed!" ”

Geng Chao's intention in doing this is not difficult to understand. The raid legion was formed from the selected cavalry of the forbidden army, and more than ninety percent of the soldiers came to the frontier of the border fortress for the first time, just to let them feel the atmosphere of the battlefield before the battle and familiarize themselves with the environment and terrain outside the city. At this time, of course, it is not advisable to show the strength of the Shuofang army too early, so as not to expose the true strategic intentions. After calming them down, most people thought so, but Yang Zhi always felt that it was not that simple.

Weisu sent 10,000 Shuofang soldiers out of the city in two ways for six consecutive days, as if just to amuse the Turks, and the two armies did not fight to the death. Wei Su has been guarding Shuofang for more than ten years, and the Turks know that he is extremely cautious in his use of troops, and he does not understand what else he has behind, so he does not take the liberty of chasing and attacking this 10,000 Shuofang army.

On March 22, the 25th year of Wucheng in the Xia calendar, the Shuofang army, which routinely went out of the city every day, was finally replaced by Geng Chao's raid corps, which was still divided into two routes, and did not play the "Geng" character general flag. However, this day was destined to be a day that the Turks would never forget. Because the 10,000 Xia troops who went out of the city first were no different from usual, they were still touching away, but behind them were the 100,000 Shuo Fang troops led by Wei Suqin!

Geng Chaocheng's general order before the city was to quickly break away from the entanglement of the Turks after leaving the city, and take advantage of the gap between the two armies to strangle together, and quickly rush to assemble twenty miles west of the city.

It wasn't until the two groups of men and horses joined forces as planned that Geng Chao summoned the generals and told them the battle plan jointly formulated by Wei Su and him: "From the beginning of seven days ago to today's discharge of such a big battle, everything the general has done is to confuse the Turks and cover us to fight out of the city. The strength of Shuofang's army and horse warfare was far inferior to that of the Turkic cavalry, and it was already at its limit to be able to attack 300 miles outside the city. Although it is not a loss to take the Turks by surprise today, the Turks will fight back with all their strength when they come to their senses, and the general can still only lead the army to retreat to Shuofang. ”

"In order to relieve the siege of Shuofang, we must go around behind the Turks and attack the generals before they can react. After stabbing them, turn around and kill him in the grassland desert and turn him upside down! We only have one day and night at most, otherwise the general's hard work will be wasted! Order: After traveling forty miles to the west, the front team will become the rear team, and the back team will become the front team, and advance east at full speed! ”

He asked in a puzzled manner: "General, since the military situation is urgent, why do you have to travel forty miles west and then turn around to the east?" Wouldn't that be a waste of time? ”

What he said was exactly the question in everyone's hearts, Geng Chao sneered: "I have been fighting with the Turks in Shuofang for eight years, and I can tell where a few grasses grow within a radius of hundreds of miles with my eyes closed. You will soon understand that these forty miles have not been wronged. Open up! ”

The whole army went all the way to the west, and although they did not encounter the Turkic cavalry, the soldiers saw another bloody scene.

The land west of Shuofang was relatively barren, but it was relatively less disturbed by the Turks in normal times. In March, Saibei has already reached the solar term for planting wheat millet, and many border residents who have received agricultural tools and seeds are afraid of missing the key agricultural time of the year, so they risk dying to cultivate land and sow seeds. However, Wei Su's painless provocations in the past few days have also aroused the anger of the Turks, and they have all vented their brains on those border people who have a fluke mentality, and mercilessly slaughtered them!

The corpses that fell to the ground were horrible to see, either with different heads, or disembow......eled, and some were even eaten by wild wolves, leaving only the white bones vaguely adhered to the flesh and blood! Together with Yang Zhi, the soldiers all saw that their scalps were tight, but their blood was full of grief and indignation.

Geng Chao rode his horse and approached Yang Zhi and said mockingly: "Yang joined the army, didn't scare you, right?" Since you joined the army under my account, you haven't set up a plan or offered a plan, which seems a little incompetent!"

Yang Zhi said coldly: "You knew it would be like this." It can also be said that the general and you pretended to the Turks and sent these innocent people to their deaths, right? ”

"That can't be said, there is already a notice in front of the yamen of Shuofang Mansion about when to plant and cultivate. War is always cruel, and there will always be sacrifices. Geng Chao squinted his eyes and asked: "I believe that there should be a lot of people who died at your hands, do you know what it was like for me to follow the general to the battlefield for the first time?" ”

"The first time I went to battle, I killed six Turks, and my mind was blank, like a beast with red eyes, and the only thought was: kill! Kill! Kill! But after collecting the troops and returning to the city, my hands trembled when I ate, and I couldn't even grasp the chopsticks steadily. I had nightmares for months, and as soon as I closed my eyes, I remembered the hot, sticky blood that had splashed on my face, and my mind was full of the fierce and unwilling eyes of the Turks before they died. …… I was only sixteen years old. ”

Geng Chao's words brought Yang Zhi's thoughts back to his distant past life, and he had to admit that Geng Chao was right. I can't help but think of the widely spread and more cruel legend in my previous life, the "seal man" created by the Vietnamese army in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam!

Seeing that Yang Zhi was silent, Geng Chao said coldly: "Our Da Xia Erlang never needs to boost morale, but we must stimulate their blood, or beast nature, of the same enemy. They must be made aware that the Turks are ferocious wolves. To fight with a jackal, you must be more ferocious than a jackal! ”

"General, you are wrong about one thing. I haven't made a plan so far, not because I'm incompetent, but because you're very competent, and it also proves that the emperor knows people. ”

"So you're still alive, and you're still in charge of this army." Yang Zhimu said: "Also, I want to remind you that General Wei and Ling Zun have not been able to become Great Xia Concubines, but they still have become great generals." ”