Hua An carefully observed the terrain of the valley, thought for a moment, and said softly: "The fangs are guarding the mouth of the valley, if our army is attacked, it will inevitably suffer a lot of losses, the valley is surrounded by cliffs, if you can find a path to climb to the top of the cliff, and then launch a surprise attack from a high position, you will definitely be able to exchange the smallest loss for the greatest result." ”

"What the eldest brother said is reasonable, but the cliff is so steep, can the army really climb it?" Tie Niu was skeptical of Hua'an's idea.

"Whether you can find a way to climb to the top of the cliff, it depends on the will of God, send five hundred people to find it, whether you find it or not, you must come back safely before dark." Hua An opened his mouth and ordered.

"Yes, big brother." Iron Bull said as he turned and walked back.

Soon, the five hundred soldiers under the command of Tie Niu, with ropes and other tools, divided into multiple roads and ran towards the cliffs on both sides of the valley to find a way to climb to the top of the cliff.

After the soldiers who explored the way left, Hua An ordered Tie Niu to deploy the main army in front of the mouth of the valley where the fangs lived, so as to launch a strong attack on the valley in the event that the path finding was fruitless.

Dealing with these fangs who were almost in a primitive state, Hua An was confident of victory, and although the losses from a frontal attack might be greater, he had no choice.

If Hua'an can't completely eliminate these fangs who dare to offend and recapture the robbed cattle and sheep, the Northern Expeditionary Army will become weak in front of the Shu generals, as the main general of the Northern Expeditionary Army. Hua'an's prestige will also be damaged, and even, the morale of the entire army will be completely reduced.

Therefore, in order to maintain his prestige and the morale of the Northern Expeditionary Army, Hua'an had no choice but to launch a fatal blow to the fangs who dared to offend and recapture all the robbed cattle and sheep.

In accordance with Hua'an's order, Tie Niu transferred 4,000 men and horses under his command and laid out a defensive formation outside the valley mouth where the fangs lived. As long as Hua'an gives an order. to attack the Fangmen.

Such a large-scale troop transfer naturally attracted the attention of the fangs, who sent scouts out of the valley to investigate, and soon discovered the main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army in formation.

Learned that he was surrounded by the Northern Expeditionary Army at the exit. The fangman suddenly became nervous. In the direction of Taniguchi, hundreds of fang-man warriors gathered at once.

They were shouting and deliberating about something. Subsequently, led by a fangman chieftain, thousands of fangmen warriors. With improvised weapons and armor, he walked out of the valley and prepared to attack the Northern Expeditionary Army.

Seeing that the fangman was going to take the initiative to attack, Hua An showed a smug smile on the corner of his mouth, with the fangman's equipment and training level, taking the initiative to attack was simply self-defeating.

"Oh oh oh ......" Under the leadership of the fangman chieftain, more than a thousand strong fangmen rushed from the mouth of the valley with a roar and killed in the direction of the iron bull army.

The team of the fangs has a preliminary formation, at the front of the team is the shield hand holding the vine, and the back is mainly spearmen and archers, so to speak, this is completely equipped with the rudimentary form of the army, but the weapons in the hands of these fangs are relatively simple, and the formation is not very tight, so they attack the main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army, which is tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg and killing themselves.

Tie Niu, who was standing in the middle of the formation, looked at the fangs who were rushing towards him, smiled slightly at the corners of his mouth, and after the fangs entered the range of the bows and arrows, he ordered loudly: "Archers prepare, release arrows." ”

"Whoosh...... thousands of archers of the Northern Expeditionary Army simultaneously fired at the fangs.

The armor of the fangs was relatively rudimentary, and after a few rounds of arrow rain in the Northern Expeditionary Army, half of the warriors who were shot dead and the remaining half were mostly injured.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the fangren chief hurriedly led the remaining warriors and retreated in the direction of Taniguchi.

On the way to the retreat of this group of fangs, the Northern Expeditionary Army rained several rounds of arrows and killed many of the retreating fangs.

"Big brother, the fangs are defeated, whether our army will pursue them." Tie Niu asked Hua'an loudly for instructions.

Hua An looked at the gate set up by the fangs at the mouth of the valley, shook his head, and said, "Don't worry, let them go first, let them live for a few more hours." ”

"Yes, big brother." Tie Niu nodded and obeyed Hua'an's order.

After the defeated Fangren chief ran back to the valley mouth, he found that most of his warriors were killed in battle, and the warriors who followed him back to the valley were only more than 300, and the remaining nearly 700 men and horses were all killed by the arrows of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

Before engaging the enemy, they suffered such huge losses, which made the fangman chieftain a little unacceptable, and the fangs in the valley were also very panicked, they did not expect that they had robbed some cattle and sheep, and they would be retaliated against so strongly.

The frightened fangmen did not dare to attack the Northern Expeditionary Army outside the valley mouth, and the fangman chieftain ordered his men and horses to prepare a large number of stones in the valley mouth and prepare to transport them to the direction of the walled gate to strengthen the defense at the valley mouth.

At the back of the Northern Expeditionary Army's military formation, Hua An looked at the corpses of fangs on the ground in the distance, and sighed with emotion in his heart.

There is a saying that if you are backward, you will be beaten, and the fangs in front of you are obviously fierce and abnormal, and the reason why they can't resist the arrows of the army under their command is mainly because the equipment is too simple, and at the same time, it lacks the corresponding formal training, otherwise it will be a terrible force.

And Hua'an believes that the army under his command can be described as well-equipped when facing the fangren, but if it is facing the Zhao army in the Central Plains, it has no advantage.

The Central Plains is vast and densely populated, there are many talented people, when the Jin Dynasty crossed to the south, all kinds of skilled craftsmen who were reluctant to leave their hometowns became the manufacturers of Zhao Jun's equipment after many years, therefore, the equipment of the Zhao Army was generally stronger, especially the equipment of its cavalry, which was significantly higher than that of the Jin Army.

For this unchangeable fact, Hua'an was often anxious, and the northern expedition of the army had to enter the Central Plains, and the terrain of the Central Plains was flat, which was very suitable for the mobile attack of the cavalry.

In the plains, the cavalry of the Zhao army came and went like the wind, and the battle was brave, which would be a nightmare for the future Hua'an Northern Expedition, for which Hua'an had to build a team strong enough to fight against the Zhao cavalry.

In terms of mobility, no class of troops can compare with cavalry, therefore, the cavalry construction of the Northern Expeditionary Army is urgent, and under the premise that the war horses, soldiers' physical qualities, and cavalry equipment are all weaker than those of the Zhao army, Hua'an must improve one by one in order to comprehensively surpass the Zhao army's iron cavalry.

The problem of war horses is the best to solve, and now, he has arrived in Liangzhou, and Liangzhou is very close to the Western Regions, as long as he is willing to spend money, he can introduce high-quality horses from the Western Regions, and gradually improve the Su zhì of the war horses of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

The essence of the soldier's body naturally needs to be achieved with high-intensity training, and the people of Liangzhou are fierce, and a group of new recruits with strong bodies and diligent training will inevitably be able to train a heroic division that is proud of the world.

As for the cavalry equipment, it is nothing more than saddles, bridles, stirrups, horseshoes, vests, as long as a special research and development team is set up, and a considerable amount of silver is invested, Huaan believes that it will be able to manufacture the best quality war horse equipment in the world, so as to further improve the combat effectiveness of the cavalry of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

"Big brother, the fangs are strengthening Taniguchi's defenses, and it seems that they are going to fight our army to the end." Iron Bull looked in the direction of Taniguchi and said loudly.

"The fangs are fierce and savage, do you expect them to surrender voluntarily? Even if our army is willing to persuade them to surrender, they won't understand! Wang San followed.

The conversation between the two disrupted Hua An's train of thought and brought Hua An's mind back to the matter in front of him.

"You don't have to worry, the five hundred men and horses sent out by our army will definitely find a way to the top of the cliff, and the eldest brother is completely sure of this." Hua An smiled and said softly.

"Big brother, how can you be so sure." Wang San and Tie Niu were a little incredulous.

Hua An smiled at the corner of his mouth and said: "Because this valley is very large, such a huge valley, the surrounding cliffs stretch for dozens of miles, such a long cliff, the terrain is complicated, how can there not be a road to the top of the cliff?" Don't worry, there will be, you have to believe in the big brother. ”

"Well, as long as it's the eldest brother's words, we believe it." Wang San and Tie Niu said in unison.

Soon, the sky darkened, and the five hundred soldiers sent around the valley to survey the terrain had returned one after another, bringing back their own news.

However, to Huaan's disappointment, most of the bad news was not found, and the few news that were discovered were not the news that Huaan wanted.

At this time, more than 400 of the 500 men and horses have returned, and only a few dozen people have not yet returned, if these dozens of people still have not found anything, then Hua'an has to order the Northern Expeditionary Army to attack the valley.

According to the terrain at the mouth of the valley, and the level of defense and equipment of the fangs, the Northern Expeditionary Army of Hua'an will have to pay the price of at least a few hundred soldiers killed before it is possible to forcibly enter the valley, and after entering the valley, they will have to start a bloody battle with the fangs who are familiar with the terrain in the valley, so it will inevitably kill hundreds of soldiers.

Although the death of hundreds of soldiers was bearable by the Northern Expeditionary Army, every soldier was brought by Hua'an from Jiangnan, as long as there was a slight possibility of reducing casualties, Hua'an was unwilling to let the soldiers under his command sacrifice more, which was the responsibility of a general and the conscience of the person who led the troops.

"General, General, the Admiral has found a way to the top of the cliff." Just when Hua'an was a little lost, a battalion owner under Tie Niu ran back with a few soldiers.

"Oh, tell me in which direction and what the road conditions are." Hua An was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly asked.

The battalion master took a breath, pointed to the southwest direction, and reported loudly: "General, in that direction, according to which there are about five miles, that road is extremely hidden, and very narrow, it is not a road at all, the cavalry will definitely not be able to pass Guò, only the infantry can pass Guò one by one." (To be continued......)