In the grassland outside the Saiwai in early winter, the cold wind that swept the earth carried countless cold fine sand and small stones, splitting the head and covering the face, and ripping every piece of human skin exposed to the air. From time to time, the dark clouds dissipated, the wind stopped, and the sun hanging obliquely in the sky stretched out countless tentacles, emitting dazzling light without hindrance, illuminating people dizzy.

The soldiers of the Han army, who were cautiously hiding behind a large shield more than one person high, shook their sleepy heads vigorously, trying to keep themselves awake at all times. Because even the illiterate ordinary soldier clearly realized that in the face of a Turkic cavalry archer who came and went without a trace, even the slightest carelessness would lead to irreparable and terrible consequences. What's more, they are at the forefront of the entire large array composed of 5,000 Han troops, known as the "Dangya Battalion".

The general who led this group of restless soldiers was just thirty this year, and he was still a young general in terms of age, but his face was full of deep but unreservedly reflected his extraordinary experience, thus making a pair of eyes deeply embedded in the sockets even deeper. It was such a pair of eyes, staring at a faint black attached to the distant horizon—that was the wolf-like Turkic cavalry.

The Turks were dressed in animal skins, and the sun was scorching hot, and the wind was howling without feeling cold, so that they could concentrate on the battle in front of them. The leading Turkic leader was not very old, but he was also battle-hardened, and the scout's report that "there were not many Han cavalry, so there was nothing to worry about" gave him every reason to believe that today's battle would be another one-sided and simple massacre.

The cold wind swept unimpeded and criss-crossed the grassland next door, and suddenly turned to the south and swooped down on the Han camp. The Turkic leader glanced at the carved feather that adorned his armor, smiled at the corner of his mouth, held the longbow in his hand, and commanded left and right: "Blow the horn and attack with me!" ”

The melodious sound of the horn rode the wind and reached the general's ears, which actually made him a little intoxicated. Before he could distinguish it carefully, the big green horse under his crotch suddenly became manic, and his four hooves trampled on the grassy and sparse earth. The general hurriedly patted the mount's neck with his hand to appease him, and spat out a few words like a self-muttering voice: "Is it finally begun?" ”

The Turkic cavalry, which was still far away in the sky, was close in the blink of an eye. The Turks have lived in water and grass since ancient times, and they have not yet been civilized, but they will not be stupid enough to launch a direct charge against thousands of Central Plains heavy infantry. Instead, the Han army was a hundred paces away, driving the horses head to tail to form a huge, constantly moving circle, turning to attack the Han army, turning to the back to open the bow and arrow to prepare to shoot, and so on, endlessly, endlessly. This kind of terrifying formation, which imitates the eagle circling and prey, and can attack the opponent without stopping, thus gradually eroding the opponent's strength and fighting spirit, is the ancestral "Eagle Ring Array" of the Turkic people.

The Han army had no more active countermeasures, so they could only set up soldiers with huge shields in front of the large array to block the Turkic bows and arrows, which is the origin of the word "dangya battalion". However, this was always a kind of passive defense, and only by praying that the Turks would run out of arrows and retreat on their own in the war could they seek a draw, and the tactical backwardness made the Han army always lose more and win less in the battle with the Turks. Of course, the arrows released by the Turkic archers could not penetrate the heavy iron shield weighing fifty catties, but the Turks were skilled in bowing and sniping, and they specialized in finding a gap between the two shields to snipe—the bows and arrows rode the wind, pierced through the copper walls, and pierced into the human body one by one—and the Han army suddenly erupted in screams. The gushing of breath in the throat, the muffled sound of broken bones and muscles, and the crisp sound of metal striking constantly emanated from the dying flesh, making the breath survivors feel creepy.

Standing beside the general, the strategist couldn't help but become anxious: "Lord Wang, it seems that the reconnaissance was wrong, the number of Turkic cavalry far exceeded 1,000, I am afraid there are as many as 3,000." For the sake of today, it is better to retreat quickly and stick to the city. ”

The general gritted his teeth and said, "Retreating at this time will lead to a rout, so let's see." ”

The usual rigorous training has finally come into play. Although the casualties of the "Dangya Battalion" were increasing, the soldiers were still able to stick to their posts with expressionless faces, and the gradually thinning defense line never took a step back, let alone show the slightest sign of collapse. Now it was the Turks' turn to worry, and the leading Turkic leader saw that nearly half of the arrows he brought had been used, and he could not win for a long time, but he had no choice but to lead his subordinates to continue to shoot in turn. However, the leader is still full of confidence, after all, his own people are fast, even if they can't win, they can quickly get out of the battle and remain undefeated.

As the heavens seemed to change their minds, the wind turned due north without warning.

The Han general, who was sitting on the horse with a solemn expression, instantly flashed with a flash of inspiration in his eyes, drew his sword, and ordered sharply: "Crossbowman stand up, shoot a salvo with the wind!" "The strength of the Han people was far inferior to that of the Turks, and the distance of shooting arrows with bows was less than half that of the Turks, so in order to seek the balance of power in long-distance attacks, they invented a crossbow machine with a foot to pull the string, which was equivalent to the range of the Turkic archers. It's just that the preparation of the crossbow machine is slow, and it is defenseless in the preparation process, so it can only be set behind the heavy infantry, and cannot be placed in the first row. The 1,500 strong crossbowmen who were crawling behind the "Dangya Battalion" heard the order, stood up "suddenly", and took advantage of the wind to fire at the Turkic "Eagle Ring" formation. The arrows fired from the heavy crossbow are short and powerful, and it is difficult to pull them out when they penetrate the flesh, and a single hit is enough to destroy the enemy's combat effectiveness. The Turks were fierce in nature, and although they could continue to fight after being hit by arrows, they were seriously injured after all, and the arrows they shot became softer and softer, some of them could not shoot the Han army at all, and some could not penetrate the heavy armor even if they were shot. The short arrows fired by the Han army's heavy crossbow still flew into the sky like locusts.

The tide of battle has been fully reversed.

A rare smile appeared on the face of the Han general, and with a wave of his sword in the air, he ordered with a cheerful tone in his mouth: "The infantry in the middle lane is advancing slowly!" The winged light cavalry is outflanked! ”

Seeing that the Han army's crossbow arrows were gradually engulfing the Turkic warriors, and the opponent's battle formation, which had never been moving, was quickly ready to attack. "Bastard!" The Turkic leader secretly scolded twice, although he was not convinced, he could only accept the reality, and gave the order to let his subordinates retreat as soon as possible.

The more the Turkic light cavalry fought, the less confident they became, and when they heard the order to retreat, they all turned their horses and gradually retreated to the north. The leader was about to withdraw after the break, and suddenly caught a glimpse of the main general of the Han army, the golden armor and red robe, the commander Ruoding, the fire spewed out in his eyes, and he actually rode the horse back again, used the longbow to open the arrow, saw the opportunity, drew the bow to the full moon, and the arrow shot towards the Han general.

An arrow shot was very different, the arrow feather cut through the headwind, "snorted", ran through the Han array, and flew straight to the center of the Han general's eyebrows. The Han general, who is called "the prince" by his subordinates, looks at the overall situation, how can he notice a small life-threatening cold arrow? Just as his life was at stake, a personal guard next to him stopped in front of the Han general in an instant, and shouted loudly in front of the waiter: "The prince is small-". Before the word "heart" could be blurted out, the cold arrow had already shot into the back of the guard's skull, penetrated the brain marrow, and penetrated a few inches from the right eye before stopping, and the tip of the arrow cluster almost pierced the nose of the Han general, but the mixture of the deceased's brain and blood had already sprinkled the face of the living. Seeing this tragic situation, General Han's eyes turned black and he almost fell off his horse.

"Lord Wang, Lord ......"

What sounded in the ears of the Han general was not a sensational sound of broken bones and tendons, but a soft voice around the fingers. The prince gently wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead, calmed down slightly, and just wanted to speak, the soft words sounded again: "Prince, after so many years, are you having that nightmare again?" ”

The prince nodded, shook his head again, and said to the person next to him with a smile: "After fighting for decades, I am still having nightmares like a child, which is really ridiculous and generous." ”

The princess next to the pillow was over thirty years old, and her charm was still there, half leaning on her husband's chest, and said, "Where is it? Thanks to the prince's defense of the northern frontier for more than ten years, the Turks could not step into the Central Plains, which is known to women and children all over the world, who in the world dares to laugh at the prince? ”

As the words were spoken in the heart of the prince, his mood suddenly improved, and he suddenly sighed again: "How many people have come back to fight in ancient times?" Those soldiers who died on the battlefield are more qualified to enjoy the praise of the world than me......" After a few seconds of silence, the prince asked, "What time is it?" ”

The princess intently discerned the sound of the slap in the distance, and said with certainty: "It's time for the dawn." ”

"Well, it's almost time for this king to get up." As he spoke, he lifted the brocade quilt and raised his voice slightly, "Someone! ”

Youyan King Zheng Rong is the younger brother of the current emperor Zheng Yong, Mao Sui recommended his eldest brother to guard the northern Xinjiang for 12 years, and he is also under the baptism of Saibei Shuofeng.

After Zheng Rong finished changing clothes, washing, and eating, he walked to the back hall of the palace yamen, and when it was just the hour, the strategist Zhong Likuang was already waiting there. Zhongli Kuang was young, and he was promoted as a teenager, but he failed to pass the Jinshi exam for a long time. According to the law, if you don't get into the jinshi, you can be an official after a few years, but Zhong Likuang has a lonely and arrogant temperament, is unpopular, and can never be successful. It wasn't until he gradually learned the destiny of heaven that he was hired by Zheng Rong, who was eager to be talented, to become a staff member, and it has been ten years. In the past ten years, Zhong Likuang has had good insights in both government affairs and war planning, and has become the most important strategist of Youyan Palace, but his gloomy personality has never changed.

King Youyan himself also attached great importance to Zhongli Kuang, and as soon as he entered the back hall, he first bowed slightly and greeted: "Mr. Zhongli has worked hard. ”

Zhong Li Kuang naturally replied: "Since you are funded by the prince, of course, you have to worry about it, so why bother?" ”

"Hey~ This king and Mr. are both Han courtiers, loyal to the country, and ask for life for the people, how can Mr. be said to be hired by this king?" Zheng Rong smiled and said, "Okay, may I ask Mr. Youyan Quandao what government affairs do you need to ask this king about?" ”

"Nope." Zhong Likuang replied very simply.

Zheng Rong was a little unhappy on his face, and asked: "Youyan, tens of thousands of soldiers, and many people in Li, how can it be okay?" ”

"Youyan's wealth is second only to Jiangnan in the world, there are 500,000 households, and 2 million Dingkou, of course there will be some things. However, in recent days, there have been no floods, locust droughts, earthquakes, fires, or streams thousands of miles away, and there are no punishments above the top. The court has a yamen, and the palace has staff, so I can do it myself, if these trivial things have to bother the prince, what do you want me to do? Zhong Li Kuang's words were aggressive, but everything was reasonable, and Prince Zheng could only continue to say it by him, "But this matter has to be handled by the prince himself." As he spoke, he took out a letter from his sleeve and handed it to the prince.