Northwest of Dahan, Liangzhou.

Under the scorching spring sun, looking at the boundless yellow sand wilderness, looking at the water bladder with less than a mouthful of clear water left, Li Ru unconsciously added a pupted lip, he has never hated those rebellious Qiang people as much as he did at this moment, in order to stop the western expedition of the Bingzhou army, they left rotting corpses at the wells and water sources along the way, destroying all the living people and things they could see.

With a knife, Li Ru looked at the road that seemed to have no end in the distance, his vision began to blur, he knew that his physical strength was exhausted, but he should have approached Jincheng County, maybe soon he would be able to see the village, in the distance, raised the dust that covered the sky, and a scorching wind blew in his face, knocking Li Ru to the ground with staggering steps, and fell into the hot gravel, Li Ru's eyes stared at the looming ' in the smoke and dust. Chen's always indifferent heart beat violently in an instant, and he struggled desperately from the ground, tearing open his throat and wanting to shout, but his voice was extremely dry.

Gritting his teeth and unscrewing the water bladder, and drinking the last of the water in one go, Li Ru waved his hands and shouted and rushed towards the Bingzhou army that was still far away.

Chen Qi, who served as a scout of the whole army, saw Li Ru in the distance, and was immediately overjoyed, he grabbed the belly of the horse, and led the ten iron horsemen around him to run out like arrows.

Looking at the Bingzhou Iron Cavalry running towards him, Li Ru shouted, "General Chen"

"Sir, where have you been lately? Let General Gan be easy to find", Chen Qi came to Li Ru on a horse, and saw that Li Ru had chapped lips and thin yellow muscles, presumably because he hadn't eaten for a long time, so he hurriedly took off the dry food and water bags on the horses and handed them to Li Ru.

Li Ru was already dry at this time, and his stomach was empty. Seeing the dried meat and water handed over by Chen Qi, where did he take care of the image, he took it and gobbled it up, swallowed the dates, and then poured two sips of water.

After Li Ru had eaten and drunk enough, Chen Qi brought a war horse for Li Ru to ride. Then he took Li Ru and galloped towards the rear army.

At night, Li Ru, who had changed into clean clothes, came to the big tent of the Chinese army, Gan Ning was discussing the military with Chen Qi, Yan Xing and other generals, and when he saw Li Ru coming, Gan Ning immediately greeted him: "Sir, in the future, just listen to the enemy situation and let the scouts do it, if something happens to you, how can you represent the main bus?" ”

Li Ru grinned and motioned to Gan Ning not to worry. Then he told Gan Ning about his departure, it turned out that when Lu Bu recalled Gan Ning, Li Ru concluded that Lu Bu would soon use troops against the Qiang people, so he quietly sneaked into the Qiang realm to find out the news, thinking that most of the water sources along the way were thrown by the Qiang people to rot corpses, and immediately said: "When I came, the villages along the way were destroyed by the Qiang people. They also left carrion in the well, and they also gathered heavy troops in Dayun Valley. They threw carrion in the wells, both to slow down the march of our troops, and to force us into the ambush they had set up on our own. ”

As soon as Li Ru's voice fell, the expressions of everyone present became heavy, if there was no Li Ru to explore the enemy, they would probably fall into the trap of the Qiang people. The road with clean water leads to the Dayun Valley.

Chen Qi broke out in a cold sweat, in the past few days, on the way, they passed through several destroyed villages, wells were thrown by the Qiang people to carrion, and finally he sent scouts to find clean water. Changed the road to march.

"Sir, what shall we do now?" Gan Ning looked at Li Ru, at this time he had lost his usual steady, and the Qiang people's strategy was too vicious.

"It's very simple, let's divide our troops and let General Chen's scout battalion go first, follow the path left by the Qiang people, and enter their ambush circle. The army followed, as long as the baggage team could withstand the Qiang attack, and waited until the army arrived. Li Ru said it very simply, but Yan Xing knew that these few words of understatement meant that Chen Qi would fall into a bitter battle when he was ambushed by the Qiang army, and it was very likely that before they arrived, the entire army would be wiped out.

As the commander of the army, Gan Ning finally gritted his teeth and adopted Li Ru's strategy, and now he can only do it according to this Li Ru's words, because no one can come up with a better strategy, but he replaced Chen Qi with Yan Xing, not that Chen Qi is not good at martial arts, but compared with Yan Xing, he will lose in less than thirty rounds. All the generals had no objection to Gan Ning's arrangement, after all, this was a question of whether the Bingzhou army could win, and everyone did not dare to act rashly.

On the dilapidated official road, the baggage team of the Bingzhou army moved forward slowly, Li Ru, who was sitting in the cart, looked at the accompanying Bingzhou army, with a calm face, which made Yan Xing, who was riding a horse on the side, feel a lot more at ease, in short, after this scribe who looked too yin took the initiative to move forward with the baggage team, Gan Ning and the others who divided the troops were greatly impressed by him.

Li Ru was actually not as easy as he seemed on the surface, although he deduced that the Qiang people had set up an ambush and waited for them, but the specific strength and ambush location of the Qiang people, he did not have the bottom in his heart, and it was also a big question whether the Bingzhou Iron Cavalry, which was three days behind the baggage team, could deceive the Qiang scouts.

The scouts scattered at the front returned to Yan Xing's side, their faces were gloomy, the number of villages destroyed by the Qiang people along the way was increasing day by day, and looking at the horrific corpses of the people, the anger in their hearts was almost uncontrollable.

The rotting corpses were still thrown in the well of the village, and the clean water source was still in the direction of the west, Li Ru, who was listening carefully with Yan Xing, looked at the map in front of him, and it was to the west, what did these Qiang people want to do? Looking at the Dayun Valley that was getting closer and closer, Li Ru's eyes fell on the map, and suddenly his attention was attracted by a canyon marked on the map.

"General Yan" Li Ru shouted after Yan Xing, pointing to the canyon road on the map, "There is a great possibility that the Qiang people have set up an ambush here, and I hope to send a scout to investigate." ”

Yan Xing nodded silently, and along the way, the Qiang people's intentions were obvious, and they were brought to the west again, "Go in person, and leave it to Mr. here." After Yan Xing selected fifty Bingzhou iron horsemen who were good at shooting, he handed over the command of the team to Li Ru.

"Come out after nightfall." Looking at the surrounding wilderness, Li Ru stopped Yan Xing and ordered the team to slow down their advance.

In the distance, behind the yellow gravel, a small group of Qiang cavalry led their horses, looking at the marching troops of the state army in the distance. There was a bit of greed in their eyes, they knew that in addition to the grain and grass loaded in the cart escorted by the Han soldiers, there were also exquisite weapons and arrows made of steel that each of them longed for, and the middle-aged man in this team of Qiang cavalry thought of the Han people who had killed countless warriors in the past few years, and the hideous scar that crossed the entire face from his forehead moved like a poisonous insect.

"Keep an eye on them for any change. and immediately come back to report it. The middle-aged man said viciously, this time the Xiqiang subordinates have made a bloody investment, and the tribe has exhausted their clansmen, this time they have to fight with the Bingzhou army to break the net, since Lu Bu wants to destroy the Qiang people, they are not muddy.

At night, Yan Xing led his horses out of the camp with fifty iron horsemen, and marched in the faint moonlight towards a place called Muyu Valley two hundred miles away. It wasn't until he walked out thirty miles away that Yan Xing took his subordinates on the horse.

A few days later, Yan traveled to the Muyu Valley, and along the way he and the scout camp went out day and night to avoid the Qiang scouts he might encounter.

"I was right by Mr. Li Wei." In the dawn of dawn, Yan Xingyuan looked at the tents with various flags erected in the wide valley and muttered to himself.

"You take ten people back to report it." According to the number of tents of the Qiang people, after calculating the strength of the Qiang people. Yan Xing handed over the general terrain of the valley he had drawn to his lieutenant, and he planned to take forty people to stay. Let's see if we can find a way to catch a few live mouths, when he was a general under Han Sui's account, he didn't know how many times he fought with the Qiang people, and he also had unique insights into the Qiang war.

When Li Ru got the news from Vice General Yan Xing, the entire baggage team was already less than fifty miles away from the valley. During these four days, Li Ru controlled the marching degree of the team at forty miles a day, walking for half a day and resting for half a day.

"Give the order to the whole army, stop and camp." Li Ru issued a military order. He had thought that the Qiang were planning to lure their baggage army into the valley, but now they were stationing their army in the valley, apparently trying to use the advantage of cavalry to encircle them on the plain.

"Build the stronghold strong." After three consecutive days of abnormal marching, some generals and colonels of the state army understood that there might be Qiang rebels nearby, and now Li Ru's order seems to confirm their guesses, but most of them are former Han Sui's generals, and they have fought a lot of battles with the Qiang people, so they naturally know how to defend against those Qiang people.

Looking at the Bingzhou army busy under the command of the officer, Li Ru looked at the valley in the distance with a cold gaze, where there were about 20,000 or so Qiang people, seven times his own strength, and he had to rely on these Bingzhou troops to hold out for three days on the plain that did not occupy the land.

After nightfall, Yan Xing came back with forty cavalry of the Yulin Army, they guarded all day, and did not wait for the lone Qiang people, they could only come back first, everyone knew that maybe tomorrow, the two armies would fight.

After summoning all the generals and colonies, Li Ru pointed to the map hanging in the Chinese army, and told the generals and colonels of the Bingzhou army who did not know the inside story their current situation and said with a smile, "The Qiang people don't understand the art of war, if they are ambushed in the valley, it will undoubtedly put us in a dilemma, but now they are stationed in the valley, and they are just a group of unscrupulous savages with many soldiers." ”

Seeing Li Ru talking and laughing, the generals present let go of their hanging hearts, and even Yan Xing, who knew the reality of the enemy army, couldn't help but admire Li Yu's eloquence and bearing, and the 20,000 Qiang people were said as if they were not worth caring about.

"Do you remember the main army that left a few days ago? In fact, they have always been behind us, and we only need to stay here for three days, and then they will arrive. Speaking of this, Li Ru laughed, "When you defeat the Qiang people, you will be a meritorious servant, and then the reward for the promotion of Wenhou will be indispensable." ”

Li Ru's words made those generals and colonels excited, and they held on for three days, which is not too long, and the vans in the baggage can be used to form a car formation, and when the time comes, they should be able to resist those Qiang people by relying on strong crossbows.

"Don't tell the soldiers about this news yet, let them recharge their batteries tonight." Li Ru looked around at the generals who were moved by Lilu, they would be the courage of the soldiers, as long as these people could have the confidence to hold on, the soldiers' problems would not be too big: "Tomorrow, wait for the soldiers to get up, and tell them that the whole family will not worry about food and clothing if they are brave in battle; Those who are cowardly in the face of the enemy shall be severely punished by military law. ”

"General Yan, whether we can win this battle or not is all up to you." After the generals dispersed, Li Rucai looked at Yan Xingdao, "Although the Qiang people are good at fighting, they don't know how to cooperate, and the thief chieftains are often filled with bravery, and they must go into battle in person in every battle. ”

"What does Mr. mean, Yan Ming understands, it is not the first time that he has fought with the Qiang people, although Mr. can rest assured" Yan Xing replied in a deep voice, he knew that although those generals and colonels of the Bingzhou Army were boosted by Li Wei's words, once they fought, they still had to rely on the achievements of him and his personal guards to inspire the soldiers.

In the Muyu Valley, the Hao chiefs of the forty Qiang tribes that formed the coalition army gathered together, and the Han army's baggage troops were marching more and more slowly in the past few days, letting them know that the commander of this team had probably seen through their strategy.

"Attack tomorrow, as long as we win this baggage team, I'll see what Gan Ning will do to fight us." A big man with a bearded face took the lead in roaring with an urn, the sound was like a bell, and it was deafening.

His name is Nuo Haobo, this time in the army of 20,000 people, his troops accounted for 4,000, according to the rules of the Qiang people, he is the leader, commanding the whole army, he looked at the other thirty-nine people in the tent, turned around and said, "Tomorrow, who wants to take the lead in the battle?" ”

With Nuo Haobo's questioning, the chieftains of several small tribes all stood up and scrambled, only by grabbing the position of this vanguard army, when they divided things in the future, their small tribes could have much more benefits.

"Dajiawa, tomorrow's battle, you go first!" Nuo Haobo didn't pay attention to the chiefs of the small tribes, but looked at the middle-aged man with a hideous scar on his face and said, Dajiawa was the bravest person among the soldiers on this expedition.

"Follow the orders of the Great Lord." Dajiawa replied quietly, he knew that Nuo Haobo, a careerist who had read Han books for a few years and thought he was superior, had always wanted to annex his tribe, and this time he was afraid that he wanted to use the hands of these state armies to weaken his own strength, and if he went to war tomorrow, I was afraid that he would not send others to help, but it didn't matter, it was just a mere five hundred and state troops, and he Dajiawa and his two thousand warriors would let Nuo Haobo know how stupid his decision was today.

Just when Ganning and Xiqiang in the northwest were about to clash, Lu Bu also led the army to Shicheng, as early as the time of Luoyang, he and Huang Zhong divided the army into two roads, with Huang Zhong and Xu Huang leading the way as the vanguard force, first exploring the reality of the Qiang people, and he personally led the battalion step by step, slowly advancing.

"Enlightened lord, there is a letter at home!" Just when Lu Bu and Gao Shun were discussing the military, they saw Cheng Lian walk in and handed the letter in his hand to Lu Bu.

Lu Bu unfolded it, stared at it, and slapped the letter on the case viciously: "Xiaojie, gather the army immediately!" ”

Gao Shun frowned, he hadn't seen Lu Bu send such a monstrous anger for a long time, as long as Lu Bu was so angry, it was usually related to his relatives, if he was angry with the enemy, he would generally show cold stars in his eyes, suppress his anger in his heart, and take advantage of the opportunity of Cheng Lian to go out to pass the order, Gao Shun secretly glanced at the letter on the table.

"What do you think?" Lu Bu took a deep breath and said coldly to Gao Shun.

Gao Shun shook his head: "If the eldest lady is in this army, then it will be fine, the last general is worried about whether they will be in Hansheng's army, if so, I am afraid that Hansheng has already taken over with the Qiang people at this time." ”

When Lu Bu heard this, his face became extremely blue, and he turned his head to Zhang Xiu and roared: "Bojin, you go to General Huang's headquarters quickly and bring Lu Lingqi and Huang Wudie back for me!" ”

Zhang Xiu was stunned, no wonder Lu Bu was so angry, it turned out that the daughter of the eldest lady and General Huang quietly went out with the army, he knew the importance of Lu Lingqi to Lu Bu, and he didn't dare to slack off at the moment, and immediately surrendered his promise: "The last general takes the order!" ”

An hour later, the army had been assembled and standby, Lu Bu rushed to the school field non-stop, and began to carefully check one by one, but in the end he did not find Lu Lingqi and Huang Wudie, Lu Bu was furious, and immediately ordered the army to march, and entered the Qiang realm, preparing to fight with Huang Zhong. (To be continued......)