The weather on the grassland in May is suitable, and the wind blowing from the southeast direction of the Bohai Sea is moist and mild, and it does not make people feel cold even at night.

After today's one-day battle, the main force of the Xiao cavalry guard, while paying a small price, made the Xianbei and Wuhuan people, who have always prided themselves on their superb riding skills, suffer a lot and paid the lives of thousands of young Zhuang people. However, this tactic of luring the enemy in this kind of movement really tested the physical strength of the cavalry and the foot strength of the war horses, if it was not for the high-quality essence fed to the war horses before the battle, and the expensive beef was eaten by the knights, I am afraid that the results of the battle would not be so significant.

When the team arrived at the rear camp, it was already tired and tired, but Xia Houlan couldn't take a break, and immediately organized the people waiting in the camp to help brush the horses' mouths, feed the horses, and boil water and cook for the soldiers who went out to fight.

At this time, the numerical superiority of the logistics baggage team was fully reflected. Although the cost of 10,000 people was very large, the various supplies they carried were sufficient, and they moved quickly when they set up camp, and when the soldiers and horses returned to the camp, they could be immediately and carefully cared for. Among them, there are good hands at feeding horses and raising horses, as well as men who boil water and cook, blacksmiths who know how to change horses' shoes, veterinarians who treat horses, and healers who treat people.

A roaring bonfire was lit, and the soldiers who received the food gathered in one place to hurry up and eat according to the Shiwu, while the soldiers who did not receive the food wiped their bodies and soaked their feet with hot water with mosquito repellent and anti-epidemic herbs. Although the camp was busy, it seemed orderly, reflecting the strictness and norms of Xiahou Lan's army.

In the tent of the Chinese army, several cavalry captains and several military commanders stood in front of Xiahoulan, who were listening to Xiahoulan's latest orders and instructions.

"Tonight, you must not be negligent, you need to strictly prevent Yan Rou from leading the army to attack the camp! For the night defense, I have made specific arrangements. Your task is to organize your subordinates to rely on the camp to counterattack after discovering the enemy attacking the camp, so as to prevent the soldiers from panicking and pacify the people to hide in the camp. ”

"Humble duty, obey General Xiahou's orders!" All the subordinates received the order in unison.

"Dare to ask the general, if the enemy army fails to attack the camp, can the soldiers be organized to pursue?" A bold lieutenant asked.

"If it's late at night, you don't have to send troops to chase them, just let the soldiers rest and replenish their strength! If it's dawn. Then he obeyed the order to pursue, and did not let go of any Hu people! ”

After receiving the order, the subordinates left the big tent of the Chinese army and acted separately.

To the east of a small hill more than thirty miles away from the Han camp, Yan Rou asked his cavalry to stop, and after confirming that the Han army had not caught up, Yan Rou ordered the troops to rest in place.

"My lord, are we just going to let go of the cavalry of the Han army?" A Xianbei tribe leader asked Yan Rou in a hateful voice.

Yan Rou shook her head and said, "Of course not!" In today's battle, although we have suffered a lot of losses. But I also figured out the tactics of the Han army, and I will now send scouts to find the camp of the Han army, and if the Han army does not ambush the army, we will attack in the early morning. ”

"Your Excellency, this is a clever plan. Even if the Han army can escape again, once they hide in the camp, they will become shrunken turtles, and we will be at the mercy of the slaughter! Another Wuhuan leader agreed.

Yan Rou sent a horse to circumnavigate from the north. When they came to a distance of ten miles from the Han army camp, they were blocked by the Han army scouts cruising in this area, and they vaguely saw the light of the fire in the distance. Therefore, it was preliminarily determined that the Han army had indeed set up camp in this area, so he got rid of the entanglement of the Han army's scouts and returned to report to Yan Rou.

Yan Rou suffered a loss during the day, and was very jealous of Xiahou Lan's methods, so he came up with a strategy to exhaust the enemy. He asked several Xianbei tribal leaders to lead 3,000 cavalry to attack the Han army's camp, only to shout and run around the Han army's camp from afar, and if the Han army sent troops to chase, they would leave immediately and not engage in a real battle with the Han army.

These Xianbei leaders received Yan Rou's order, led the tribal soldiers who had not yet recovered their strength, and came at the ugly time with torches, and they shot arrows at the Han army camp from a distance, but they did not approach, just to disturb the Han army in the camp to rest.

After receiving the report of the enemy's attack, Xia Houlan was not so surprised, and only asked the soldiers on duty in the battalion to stick to their posts, and did not send troops to drive the enemy away. Seeing that there was no movement in the Han military camp, the Xianbei people gradually became bolder, and they forgot Yan Rou's reminder and approached the Han army's camp.

After the enemy troops outside the camp were closer, Xia Houlan immediately gave an order to the crossbowmen guarding the camp, and the long-range crossbowmen who were already ready to shoot at the same time, shooting large crossbow arrows with a very long range out of the air.

These Que Zhang crossbows were inspired by Liu He's attack on Nanpi City's Liyi Xian camp, and specially let the Macheng Armory Workshop make them, which were originally intended to be rationed to Xian Yufu's troops, but because of the temporary use of troops against Yan Rou, they were lent out by Xiahou Lan first. Although this crossbow cannot be used on horseback, it can be used to defend the camp and is a super weapon to prevent small groups of enemy troops from attacking and harassing.

In the darkness of the night, only the shrill whistling sound of the feather arrow breaking through the air was heard, and the heart-rending wail of the Xianbei cavalry after being hit by the arrow, and the mournful scream of the wounded war horse......

After one round of arrows was fired, the crossbowmen in the battalion calmly loaded the crossbow with arrows, and then waited for the order to fire a second round.

The Xianbei people, who had suffered losses, did not dare to approach the Han camp again, so they left the bodies of their companions and hurriedly evacuated eastward.

After returning to Yan Rou's station, the Xianbei people who were in charge of harassing the Han army's camp were embarrassed to say that they were repelled by the Han army's crossbow arrows, but lied that they had completed the first round of tired enemy tasks.

Yan Rou then sent several Wuhuan tribal leaders to lead 3,000 cavalry to raid the Han army camp for a second time, but Xiahoulan still sat firmly in the Chinese army and did not send troops to intercept it.

The Wuhuan people were more obedient than the Xianbei people, and they remembered Yan Rou's reminder, so they didn't get too close to the Han army's camp, but just turned around a few times five hundred steps away from the Han army's camp, shouting and screaming.

The officers and soldiers at all levels in the Han army camp had already received orders from above, and they knew that these Hu people outside the camp were just bluffing, and in order to deal with these nasty guys, the soldiers on duty did not need to plug their ears with cloth balls. Continue to fall asleep.

If you change the troops with no combat experience, in the face of this situation, the soldiers from the main general to the bottom are afraid that they are not in the mood to sleep, but the Xiao Cavalry Guard is a strong army that has grown up from the sea of corpses and blood, they have experienced a series of bloody battles on the banks of the water, and they have also experienced the fierce collision at the Weishui bridgehead, so they have forged a temperament that is as quiet as a mountain and moves like a lion and tiger, so they did not put the thousands of enemies attacking outside the camp in their eyes at all.

After the 3,000 Wuhuan cavalry who came to exhaust the enemy had enough of making a fuss, they returned to the garrison to report to Yan Rou, and boasted about how their 3,000 sons were brave and fearless, and conscientiously carried out military orders.

Now. Three quarters had passed, and there was still more than an hour before dawn.

Yan Rou saw that the strategy of two rounds of exhaustion of the enemy had worked, so he led more than 10,000 main forces that had been resting and replenishing his strength to attack the camp of the Han army with him.

After the Han army scouts scattered around the periphery discovered that the main force of the Hu people was dispatched, they immediately rushed back to report to Xiahoulan. Xia Houlan then ordered the soldiers who were still resting to get up immediately, check their weapons and horses according to the requirements of their usual training, and prepare to meet the enemy.

Although the soldiers were still a little tired, after almost a night's rest, their physical strength had basically recovered, and the horses had returned to their daytime state after being fed and rested.

"General Xiahou, the three thousand soldiers of the heavy cavalry battalion have been prepared!" A sturdy lieutenant drove his horse to Xiahou Lan's side. Loud reports.

Xia Houlan nodded and said: "Today's battle, mainly the heavy cavalry battalion, must let the Hu people on the grassland see the majesty of my Han iron cavalry!" ”

"Heavy Cavalry Captain Tang Meng takes the order!"

"General Xiahou. The 3,000 soldiers of the Wuhuan Battalion have been prepared! A bearded captain Wuhuan came to Xia Houlan and reported loudly.

"Late Tiger, Ben will ask you, the big war is imminent. There are many Wuhuan people of the same clan as you among the enemies, what should you do? ”

Lu Chihu replied loudly: "Back to the general, there are only the eldest prince and Xiao Cavalry Guard in his heart. There are no tribes and clans, and if I encounter an enemy in Wuhuan, I will definitely not show mercy! ”

"Good! The general ordered you to immediately lead the 3,000 Wuhuan battalion to withdraw from the camp gate on the south side, and march east close to the White Mountain, preaching to the tribes you pass through along the way that our army will not kill or torture prisoners, try to win over all the Wuhuan tribes, and then lead the army to wait for Yan Rou on the bank of the Lishui River! ”

"For the Wuhuan people north of Baishan, I thank the general for not killing!" The high-ranking general of the Xiao Cavalry Guard, who had grown up from the Wuhuan cavalry, gave a loud order, and then led 3,000 Wuhuan light cavalry to quickly withdraw from the south side of the camp.

Although he was born in a tribe of Wuhuan in Baishan, he was only a lowly ranger in the clan at that time, and was later forcibly transferred to Liu He's southward team. Over the years, Lu Chihu has been fully integrated into the collective of Xiao Cavalry Guard, he has stepped from an ordinary soldier to the high position of cavalry captain, and there are not a few Gongsun Zhan cavalry, Xiliang cavalry, Xianbei cavalry and Wuhuan cavalry who died under him, so the sense of identity with Wuhuan people has long been indifferent to the point that it can be ignored.

Xiahou Lan was not worried that Lu Chihu would take these 3,000 Wuhuan cavalry to rebel, because one thousand of the 3,000 cavalry were brought out by Liu He from the Juyong Nalou tribe, and the other 2,000 Wuhuan cavalry had already placed their families near Macheng, Ningcheng and Guangning, drawing a clear line with the Wuhuan people on the other side of Baishan.

Besides, the order that Xiahou Lan gave to Lu Chihu this time was not to slaughter the Wuhuan people north of Baishan, but to ask him to recruit and pacify, and at the same time cut off Yan Rou's escape path to the east, so the situation of accidents has been minimized.

So, why didn't Xiahou Lan send the Tiger to divide and disintegrate Yan Rou's troops before the war?

The reason is very simple, the Hu people in the north have a bit of a problem with their brains, they like to reason with their fists, and they will not easily follow the well-intentioned advice, if the Xiao cavalry guards can't kill the arrogance of these Xianbei and Wuhuan people, the division and surrender are simply delusional. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the reward of the book friend "Book Mountain to the Secluded Place"!