On October 23, Qin Dong led the 3rd and 5th Army Corps and 3,000 Guards Iron Cavalry across the Dniester River and marched in the direction of Balta.

All kinds of phenomena show that Deng Zhixike has already understood Qin Dong's combat intentions, otherwise it is impossible for the herdsmen tribes along the way to disappear, and they are likely to have moved away after receiving Deng Zhixike's order, or they may have been forcibly moved away by Deng Zhixike's order.

Qin Dong stood beside the pile of cow dung, looking at the footprints of a large number of cattle, sheep and horses on the ground, and in the distance there were several sheepfolds, cattle sheds and stables surrounded by wooden fences, followed by the commander of the Third Legion, Tolon, and the Fifth Legion Afard, and the herdsmen living here were gone.

Qin Dong looked into the distance and asked, "What is this place and what is its name?" ”

"It's supposed to be Balta!" Toron replied, but in order to confirm, he turned to the guard behind him and said, "Bring the map!" ”

The sketchy map drawn by hand was quickly taken, Toron threw the map on the ground, several people squatted down together, Toron pushed up the march route with his fingers, and finally stopped at the position of Balta, "We have just crossed the river, and the last general will remember that not far to the west of our crossing of the river is the confluence of two small rivers, the river is very wide, our current position should be here, and this is Balta, according to the current speed of the march, it will take two days to reach Oman, if the speed is accelerated." It will only take one day, and tomorrow at dawn we will be able to reach Oman and launch an attack".

Qin Dong's brows furrowed, since the intelligence showed that Deng Zhixik's main force appeared in Vinnia a few days ago, no trace of Deng Zhixik was found. But it can be confirmed that Deng Zhixik is not in Oman, because the spy hiding in Oman has sent a message, where is Deng Zhixik hiding with those 40,000 horses? This problem has always plagued Qin Dong, although this prairie is very wide, but there are not many places that can hide 40,000 horses.

The reconnaissance cavalry was sent within a hundred miles of the surroundings and did not find any trace of the enemy, which made Qin Dong's mood a little anxious, and he thought about it again and again. To Batu behind him, he said: "Give Su He an order to lead the first, seventh, and eighth army corps to advance to Vinnia, if he does not encounter the main force of Deng Zhixik in Vinya." Let him send 3,000 men to the west to pocket the territory left behind by Itur, 3,000 men may be a little small, and I am afraid that he will not be able to suppress the barbarians in that area. The generals who lead the troops can recruit the Xiongnu strong men on the spot. You can also recruit other barbarian strong men who are willing to join the army to expand the team, but the specific number of expanded troops must be reported to the Military Command Department, and Su He took most of the remaining men and horses to move closer to the direction of Oman, let him be careful, the terrain from Vinya to Oman is easy to hide a large number of soldiers and horses, and it is easy to be ambushed when marching, that's all, go! ”

Batu held the hilt of the knife and bowed, "Yes." King! ”

Qin Dong flicked his cloak and turned around and walked towards his mount, saying as he walked: "Continue to approach Oman at the current marching speed!" ”

Now the march is already fast. The Third Legion and the Fifth Legion are all cavalry legions, and the Guards Iron Cavalry is also cavalry, but there are forty percent of the heavy cavalry in these three armies, although the equipment of the heavy cavalry is carried by special mules and horses, this speed can not be faster, if the speed is doubled, there will not be much combat effectiveness when they reach Oman, people can hold on, but horses can't.

"Yes, King!" Tolon and Alfold agreed and chased after them.

The next morning, when the army arrived in the vicinity of Worui, Qin Dong followed the side of the team and rode on a high ground, took out the jerky and gnawed it, and then took off the mare's milk bag and poured it into his mouth.

At this time, he suddenly saw some birds hovering in the sky, this is a vulture? Qin Dong was shocked in his heart, the appearance of vultures is not a good sign, vultures have a very special ability, they seem to be born to predict where death will come, as long as there are vultures appearing, it will definitely be accompanied by death.

Qin Dong put down the mare's milk bag, stretched out his hand to wipe the corners of his mouth, and then turned his head to observe the surrounding situation, the direction of the team was a flat land, but there was a hill four or five miles to the left and right, and there were dense woods on the hills, although the leaves were almost lost in this season, the soldiers and horses could still be hidden in the woods, and each forest could hide at least four or five thousand horses.

If he hadn't stood on this high ground, if Qin Dong hadn't paid attention to the surrounding terrain, he wouldn't have found that this place was full of danger at all, this terrain was obviously suitable for ambushes, and there were vultures circling in the sky, all kinds of signs showed that there was danger ahead.

Qin Dong immediately decided: "Order the whole army to stop advancing!" ”

When the heralds received the order, they immediately rode their horses and galloped wildly, shouting along the sides of the procession: "The king has an order, and the whole army should stop advancing."

"The king has an order, and the whole army should stop advancing-".

After the shouts were heard, the huge cavalry contingent of tens of thousands of people suddenly stopped advancing en masse, and the men and horses stood still, and the war horses seemed to have a premonition that a big battle was coming, and they snorted from time to time, and their front legs also kicked the turf under their feet.

"Batuu!" Qin Dong shouted.

Batu rode his horse and came to Qin Dong's side and said, "Great King! ”

Qin Dong raised his horsewhip and pointed to the hills on both sides: "Draw out all the archers of your guards and iron cavalry and divide them into two teams, one to the left and one to the right, and launch a rush to the woods on both sides of the hills to shoot rockets!" ”

"Yes, King!" Batu agreed, and then rode his horse to his guards and cavalry, shouting: "All the archers of the guards cavalry are all out of line, and they will launch a rush to the woods on the hills on the left and right sides with battalions as a unit and shoot rockets, and after the shooting, the whole army will assemble at the front and stand by!" ”

Immediately after the order was given, someone shouted; "The first battalion of archers come with me!"

"The second battalion of archers comes with me!"

I saw many cavalry galloping out of the ranks, divided into left and right sides, and headed towards the hills on the left and right sides below the high ground, in the process of running. Each cavalry was divided into two columns, and the ranks were very neat, and the cavalry behind followed the cavalry in front of them to maintain their speed. At the foot of the hills on either side, the cavalry at the front stopped to make way and lit a torch, while the cavalry archers behind lit the flammable material from the arrows and moved forward without stopping.

"Whoosh" rockets kept shooting out of the hands of the archers and into the woods of the hills. At this time, it is the autumn weather, and the fallen leaves are yellow, and the woods are full of yellow leaves. These fallen leaves are extremely susceptible to fire, and rockets quickly burn whether they are fired at tree trunks or on the ground. In particular, a rocket fired on the ground immediately ignites the leaves, just like dry firewood meets fire.

In less than a cup of tea, a long cloud of green smoke rose from the woods on the hills on both sides. This green smoke stretches into the distance. The green smoke soon faded and turned into a raging fire.

The commotion of the crowd and the neighing of the war horses soon came from the woods on both sides, although Qin Dong stood on the high ground on a war horse and could not hear the sound from the woods on both sides, but he could see countless people and horses rushing out of the woods that had been on fire, and their bodies were burning, not only the war horses were burned everywhere, but the people on the horses were all surrounded by fire.

Although the enemy troops hiding in the woods were already in the fire, they could not control the panicked horses. But they still rolled off their horses wrapped in fire and rushed towards the side of Qindong's army with their weapons, this kind of bravery was indeed admirable.

Toron couldn't help but be a little worried when those who were on fire rushed over to attack his own army. Now Qin Dong's side has stopped marching directly, and has not set up a position until now, and it is a long snake formation when marching, if it is rushed by those enemy troops who are on fire, their own soldiers will definitely be afraid, and they will probably be scattered at that time.

"King, those who are on fire are about to rush over, and the last general still ordered all the archers of his legion to come out and shoot them with bows and arrows to stop them from continuing to rush over, right?" Toron said worriedly.

Qin Dong raised his horsewhip and waved: "Don't worry, at such a long distance, they can't rush over, even if they rush over, they will be burned to death, and our army is very disciplined, such a long time of training is not in vain, you have to believe in our soldiers, if this kind of small formation can't withstand it, then what's the use of such an army?" ”

Tolong thought about it for a while, nodded and said, "Yes!" ”

Sure enough, as Qin Dong said, all the enemy soldiers who wanted to rush over only rushed out a few dozen steps were burned to the ground and could not get up again, and finally the whole person was burned to charcoal, because the ground was also on fire, and the withered grass on the ground also burned after touching the fire.

And the burning of the dead grass was even more terrifying, as it swept like a prairie fire, burning from a few miles below the high ground to this side of the high ground, very fast.

The Guards Archers, who had just completed their mission at the foot of the mountain, had begun to panic when they saw the fire sweeping all over the ground, and Toron and Alfald's faces suddenly changed greatly, and Alfald shouted: "Quickly protect the king's retreat, retreat backwards!" ”

Qin Dong immediately shouted: "Don't panic, don't panic everyone, immediately send an order for all the men and horses below the high ground to withdraw up, and the soldiers at the rear of the whole army will light a fire on the ground, the fire is blowing to the south, and it will not burn us!" ”

It has to be said that the more disciplined the army, the more efficient it is in carrying out orders, and the more it can stabilize its position in the face of danger, the order is quickly conveyed, the iron cavalry archers under the mountain in the north of the highland began to retreat to the mountain, and the soldiers under the mountain in the south of the highland began to light fire on the ground, and the knee-deep dry grass on the ground quickly burned, and as soon as the north wind blew, the fire swept away to the south, and the dry grass did not burn, and burned out in a few seconds, and the fire kept rushing south like a wave, as for when it was the end, Then it can only be seen where there is no dead grass.

Qin Dong immediately ordered the rear army to change into the front army, and the whole army advanced to the open space that had just burned under the southern mountain of the highland, and the army carried out the order of Qin Dong, the orderly executor, before the fire burned to the high ground, the whole army finally withdrew to the south of the mountain that had burned the dry grass, and finally escaped the catastrophe.

When the fire was extinguished, Qin Dong found that his body had already been soaked with cold sweat, and then looked at the ashes of the grass and trees all over the ground, and couldn't help but feel sorry in his heart, it seems that this water and fire are really ruthless, and the fire attack is not something that can be used casually, if he is not careful, not only will he be burned to death, but even he will be burned to death. (To be continued......)