[Yo ho, 900, how far is it from 1000? If you have a ticket, you can go farther! 】

"No, I'm about to vomit, it's a stewed lamb with radish beans every day......"

"If you can't do it, you have to eat, otherwise you can't bear it at night, and if you want to eat the others, you have to be able to transport it, and you have to get used to the three things when you are a soldier in the Western Regions: radish, mutton and beans."

"When I joined the army, I heard that there was meat to eat every day, and I thought at the time that it was a heavenly day, and now my father and mother and the people in the village want to know that I eat these until I vomit, and I don't know how to count them, I don't know how to cherish them, but ...... Vomit...... I really want to throw up! ”

"Don't talk about your father, I want to shoot you to death, fresh mutton can only be enjoyed by the soldiers in front of us, and those garrisons in the rear only have salted meat to eat, and the salted meat ...... Tsk, the weather is as hard as iron right now, and it can definitely kill people when you pick it up. ”

Wei Zhenhua chatted with his boss Wang Louguan for a while, taking these words as a meal, and pressed himself to finish the dinner. The hot radish and mutton soup, soaked in beans and rice, is nothing in the mainland, but in Shaanxi and Gansu, it is a luxury delicacy that poor families dare not think of. But just like Wei Zhenhua said, they were already eating and vomiting.

After years of hard work, Yinghua has established a spacious and safe communication line from Xi'an to Luntai. Hundreds of large and small fortresses and outposts cover this transportation line, and military and civilian material resources are continuously sent into the Western Regions through this transportation line.

However, this transportation line can only meet the minimum demand in terms of food security, which hinders the problem of freshness. In addition to basic supplies such as rice and beans, the officers and soldiers of the Western Regions could only replenish other kinds of food nearby. Fortunately, the Western Regions are dominated by animal husbandry, and the supply of mutton is very sufficient. Officers and soldiers on the front line can eat it every day.

It's just that in the battlefield environment, the chefs of the troops naturally do not put much effort into the taste like restaurants and restaurants, and the mutton that officers and soldiers eat is always full of vigor. At the beginning, there will be a serious food refusal like Wei Zhenhua, and only a veteran like Wang Louguan whose stomach has been inclined to the Mongols can get used to it.

As Wang Louguan said, fresh mutton is only available to the front-line troops, and the rear troops can only eat salted meat transported from thousands of miles away. Although there is also pork in these salted meats, and even a lot of bacon from Sichuan, the salted meat purchased by the logistics department of the Privy Council is obviously not the kind that goes to the people's table. I don't want taste at all, I just want to keep it for a long time. Wrapped in oiled paper and packed in wooden barrels. It is said that it will not deteriorate for forty or fifty years.

It has only been a few years since the Anglo-Chinese army entered the northwest, and it is not fortunate to enjoy many years of bacon for the time being, and it is common for the troops stationed in the Western Regions to eat the bacon of twenty or thirty years ago after a few decades. Compared with Europa or Yankee in the same period or even a hundred years later, the British and Chinese officers and soldiers were still happy, and they would never encounter bacon with a history of 100 years......

Wei Zhenhua endured the discomfort in his stomach and forced himself to swallow the food, but he was stunned when he saw Wang Louguan who was shaving. Not only did his eyes straighten, but his face began to deteriorate.

Thinking that Wang Louguan was not good, Wei Zhenhua was about to make fun of it, but he heard his boss spit out the food in a mouthful, and said with a cold breath: "Something is wrong!" ”

The boss threw himself on the high-powered telescope on the stage. Looking carefully ahead, Wei Zhenhua's action of shaving also stopped abruptly, far away to the west, at the turn of heaven and earth, the faint dust line that I thought was wind and sand rose higher and higher......

A moment later, a crisp trumpet sounded on the sentry platform, and the Luntai City, which had been like a silent gear, turned violently.

"Forty or fifty miles away! Densely spread, if not 100,000, there are 50,000! ”

"Yes! Send a report to the rear! ”

Wang Louguan talked nervously to the Luntai guards under the stage through the brass pipe, and Wei Zhenhua on the side felt that the mutton soup just now was flowing in the veins, and the whole person was slightly dizzy. …,

"Send a report! What are you doing! ”

Wang Louguan roared, Wei Zhenhua came to his senses, and shivered and ripped off the canvas behind him, revealing a strange-looking thing. Like a lampstand, nine lanterns larger than ordinary household items are lined up in three or three, but they are covered by a circle of covers, and the inner layer of the cover is a mirror with a face.

Wei Zhenhua first covered the front hood mouth with a baffle, which was a full width of one person, and then lit the lamps one by one with a fire sickle, and the nine lamps were lit, and the bright light was refracted by the prism inner layer of the lampshade, even if it was only the light that leaked from behind the baffle and the lamp stand, it had already reflected the high platform as if it were day.

"Send a report! The main force of the enemy army has arrived at Luntai! ”

Wang Louguan ordered in a deep voice, Wei Zhenhua shook his head in fear, this is the first time he has been on the lampstand, how dare he make such a major military intelligence report!?

"Useless guy! You're still the champion! ”

Wang Louguan scolded unceremoniously, and then pressed the handle on the side of the lampstand, the clicking sound continued, the baffle of the hood opened and closed, and from a very long distance, there seemed to be a bright star above the wheel, which was flickering with inexplicable regularity.

The night was already dark, and the Dzungar Great Khan Gardance stepped on the rough lookout, looking east, the brightly lit Luntai City was at the turn of heaven and earth in front of him, and looking to the left and right and the rear, the tents like a forest, the neighing of boiling horses and the noise of people had covered the earth.

"Great Khan, the Angi warriors who were lying in ambush outside Luntai City did not see the Han people out of the city, but only saw the lights on that strange tower flickering on and off."

Da Celing, whose sideburns had turned gray, ascended to the high platform and reported to Gardance.

"The Han people know that we are coming, they have been waiting for this day for a long time, and the light should be a signal......"

Gardanzer said calmly, with a hint of tiredness and relief in his tone.

Hearing the gloomy meaning of Galdan Tseling, Da Celing said eagerly: "What is the Great Khan still worried about? The 200,000 troops of the Han people have been scattered everywhere, and the only ones available in the hands of the Wu Demon are the two armies of Yulin and Dragoon, and they are still in Altay, thousands of miles away in the north, and it will take at least half a month or even a month to arrive here, this time is enough for us to capture Luntai City, and then wait for the work, and the elite duel with them from afar, the victory must be ours! ”

Galdanzer chuckled and said, "Da Celing, I'm very pleased that you can stand firmly on my side, but ...... Is this what you mean by yourself? ”

Da Ce Ling was stunned for a moment, and then listened to Gal Dan Ce Ling Yu said: "Capture Luntai." Fight against the Wu devil again? What was the battle of Juyan going on? We, the Dzungars, are also going to repeat the mistakes of Mobei Mongolia? Luntai City is different from the ancient cities and Turpan that we have conquered before, and when the city was repaired last year, Wu Motou mobilized 50,000 troops to protect ......"

He sighed deeply: "Actually, you and I are in the same mind. Dead or alive, it's this battle, you can fight everything. But I can't, the fate of all Dzungars is on me. ”

In Da Celing's sad gaze, Galdan Tse fell into memory: "In the past two years, we have won a lot of battles, don't ...... Thanks to you, last year's victory in Hainuk City was the first time that we defeated the Han reds, and the Rakshasas no longer forced us to join hands to fight the Han people, and it was also earned by that great victory. ”

"But these victories did not change the fate of our Dzungaria. The Han people not only did not retreat, but became more cautious. How many Han Chinese have died in the Western Regions in the past two years? No more than 20,000, but how many of them are there? 150 million ......"

"What about us Dzungars? Less than two million, how many warriors are there to fight? Less than 200,000 [1]. In the past two years, we have won many victories, but each victory has come at a high price. In the battle of Yinding Temple in Hainuk, the Han Chinese lost less than 6,000 people. What about us? A third of the 50,000-strong army was lost! Turpan and the ancient city, which victory was not won by our Dzungars with two or three times the casualties of the Han Chinese? ”…,

"This is still a victory, not to mention a defeat like the Immortal Dun, in just two years. In our Dzungar clan, there are nearly half fewer warriors who can fight. Today, among the clansmen who are behind me, the young man who can barely hold the bow and the woman who can hold the musket steadily, they are also here to go to the battlefield! ”

Men gathered to listen to their Great Khan's account.

Galdan Tse glanced at everyone, and his tone became more and more sad: "Da Celing, our army of 70,000 is the last essence blood of the Dzungar people, all the tribes, all the Dzungar people have stood here, and they want to defend the freedom of our Dzungar people with blood and life!" This is the last battle, it is the decisive battle! We came here to let the Han people, let the Wu Demon see our determination, we have to fight with dignity, even if we still lose in the end, we Dzungar people will die standing and dying! Luntai City, we don't fight! ”

There were hundreds of Dzungars surrounding the high platform, and with tears in their eyes, they raised their arms and shouted: "Great Khan! We, the Dzungars, will not succumb to death! This is our homeland, no one can take it away, and no one can make us bow our heads! The Rakshasas can't do it, and neither can the Han people! ”

Gardan Tseling also stretched out his arms and said, "That's a good point! Freely...... This word is still spoken by the Han people, and no one can take away the freedom to fly in the sky like a goshawk! ”

The shouts were like a tide, Da Ce Ling didn't speak again, just sighed in a low voice, the Great Khan was clearly timid, and he was unwilling to fight with the Han people in the city's strong Luntai. Although the Great Khan's scruples are very reasonable, if the attack on Luntai is unfavorable and the main force of the Han people arrives, it will repeat the old events of the Battle of Juyanbao. It seems to be wishful thinking to expect the Rakshasas to work closely together to complete a series of difficult moves and realize the complex plan of the Great Khan.

Thinking of this, Da Celing's gaze fell somewhere in the audience. A group of people in fur hats, breasted coats, and sabers, dressed markedly different from those of Dzungaria, gathered there, crossed their arms, and watched indifferently as the Great Khan agitated his people. He was familiar with the man in front of the line, the Rakshasa envoy, Cherreh, who had been the Overseer of Earlmouth.

Seeing the Rakshasa people, Da Celing felt that his heart was full of bitterness, and he even regretted betraying the Han people in Hainuk last year.

Although the Rakshasas suffered defeat in Beihai and lost all their strongholds in Beihai such as Erkou, they were still able to put tens of thousands of heavy troops in Tangnu Wulianghai to resist the attack of the Mongol tribes in Mobei. At the same time, he also went south from the direction of Altay and sent 6,000 Cossack cavalry to join hands with the Dzungars to deal with the Han Chinese, and this time the Great Khan led the combined army of Dzungar and Rakshasa .

According to the Rakshasas, if it weren't for the endless fighting with the Ottoman Turks, the Rakshasa might have been able to send 100,000 troops to the war against the Han Chinese. Twenty-five years ago, Dzungar's victory at Lake Yamesh,[2] just like the previous victory at the Silver Dome Temple, did not change the balance of power between the two sides in the slightest.

Both the Rakshasas and the Han are behemoths, and when they set their sights on this land, it would be naïve for the Dzungars, with a population of only a million people, to think that they could still maintain their independence on their own.

The Dzungars are like children with gold, or they are guilty of their crimes. Then again, when the Dzungars drove out the Kazakhs and Turks, they occupied their pastures, didn't they see them the same way?

Therefore...... The Dzungars can only fall to one side, but unfortunately, it seems that it is a little late to realize this truth. He had already betrayed the Han people, so he could only catch the hand stretched out by the Rakshasa people and follow the Great Khan to the black, but compared to the Han people, the Rakshasa people were almost demons, and he really didn't dare to think about where this road leads.

Da Celing's bitterness comes from this understanding, in addition to the bitterness, he is extremely envious of Xiao Celing. Xiao Celing's tribe obtained pastureland in the area of Balikun and Hami, and also led his troops to follow Zhang Hanwan to fight in Tangnu Wulianghai to obtain more land for his people.

"It's come to this, there is only one battle! The battle of Yinding Temple also proved that the Han people were not invincible. As long as the Rakshasas don't stab the knife in the back, they can do something to some extent, and the Dzungar Rakshasa people are full of 80,000, so I don't believe that they can't clean up less than 30,000 Han people! ”

Bitterness is at its peak, despair is at its peak, and hope and confidence rise from the depths of my heart. At this time, Cherrech noticed Da Celing's gaze and gave him a friendly chest salute, which also made Da Celing's heart even higher. (To be continued)