The Lanzhou army happily escorted the grain wagons back, and with this batch of grain and grass, it was not a problem for tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians to survive the winter safely. Wu Yingying rode his horse in the Ya military camp, also smiling.

After traveling for a few hours, seeing that he was about to reach the Lou Annoying Pass, he heard the sound of horses' hooves behind him, and the generals' faces turned gloomy, and they said in their hearts that it was not the Liao people who rebelled and sent soldiers to catch up and chase and kill. The lieutenants of each battalion did not wait for orders, and gathered the grain wagons together to be guarded by the baggage battalion, and the Ya military camp and the Jinfan battalion set up a formation to cover the baggage battalion, and the 3,000 cavalry formed a cavalry formation in front of the infantry formation, waiting for the coming road.

On the grassland, the chasing army came very fast, and after a short time, the horses were stationed outside Lixu, and the banner was the Daizhou Jianxiong Army, and they chased to the territory of Liao for this batch of grain and grass.

Although the chasing soldiers are also about 3,000 horsemen, Wu Yingying, who has seen the amazing combat power of the Jianxiong Army, does not think that he can retreat in front of Liu Jiye with more than 4,000 steps, but looking back at the heavy grain bag on the grain cart, Wu Yingying is reluctant to abandon the car and retreat.

After the Jianxiong army finished the formation, they were not in a hurry to attack, but while resting their horsepower, they sent an envoy to gallop to the front of the formation, and shouted: "The Lanzhou regiment training envoy Wu Yingying is here, and Lord Liu invites him to speak before the battle." ”

Seeing that the Jianxiong army didn't want to provoke a conflict, Wu Yingying's heart was slightly settled, he stretched out his hand to stop Chase who wanted to follow him, and rode alone to the middle of the two armies.

"Wu Yingying, you are so reckless!" Liu Jiye reprimanded first, "Colluding with the Khitan and robbing the grain and grass of the imperial court, do you want to rebel and cause chaos?"

Wu Yingying's face was ashamed, and he arched his hand and said: "Liu Jiedu, the imperial court cut off my Lanzhou military and civilian winter food, and De had no choice but to make this decision, if not, Lanzhou is afraid that tens of thousands of people will not starve to death this winter, and I hope that Liu Jiedu will have the virtue of a good life in heaven, and let the Lanzhou military and civilians have a way to live." He can only rely on the comments of later generations to say that he bet that Liu Jiye has the benevolence of loving the people and will not save the people of Lanzhou.

Liu Jiye received his letter to borrow grain, also hesitated, and finally because the imperial court strictly ordered not to borrow grain, for this has been depressed, today led the army in front of the Yanmen Pass to receive the winter grain lent by the Liao State to the Northern Han Dynasty, pointing out that the amount is not enough, the Liao general Xiao Zhen said casually that the Lanzhou army has received a batch in the middle of the road. Hearing this, Liu Jiye was really shocked and angry, shocked that Wu Yingying actually did such a domineering thing, how different from the late Tang Festival Town, but the anger was that he colluded with the Liao people, the Lanzhou army robbed grain outside the Great Wall, if there was no agreement with the Liao people, it was impossible, seeing that the Liao soldiers who escorted the grain and grass were all in good clothes, Xiao Zhen was also calm, not as if he had used force, and confirmed Liu Jiye's speculation, he led troops to protect the border Han people for most of his life, and the party, The Khitan tribe fought against the army, and the most hated thing was that the Han people fought for the tiger and took refuge in foreign races to kill their compatriots, so they hurriedly picked up three thousand fine horsemen and chased forward, and finally caught up with the Lanzhou army in front of the Loufu Pass.

"Lanzhou is short of food, you can find another way, the Khitan Hulu has been spying on China for a long time, and it has harmed countless Han people, do you know that you have committed the crime of collaborating with the enemy?" Liu Jiye stared at Wu Yingying and rebuked unceremoniously.

Wu Yingying smiled bitterly and explained: "Liu Jiedu, if Lanzhou can get grain and grass from other places, he will never violate the taboo of the imperial court and rob grain without authorization. Since the grain and grass borrowed by the imperial court from the Liao State, why can't I borrow it, the Lanzhou army is a good man, and the grain and grass used this time is the military grain owed by the imperial court to my Lanzhou, and there is no ulterior collusion with the Khitan. Neither promised to help the abuse, nor did he give up an inch of Han land, a Han people. He said this quite sincerely, and said in his heart Liu Jiye, if you don't believe it, even if you are a national hero, the Lanzhou army has to fight with you in order not to starve to death.

Liu Jiye seemed to see through his thoughts, was speechless for a while, and sighed: "Your subordinates are all my Chinese heroes, if the two families of Lanzhou and Daizhou fight each other, let outsiders see the joke in vain, do you understand?"

Wu Yingying nodded and admitted: "I also know that this is the plan of the Khitan people to kill the three soldiers, but I hope that Liu Jiedu will understand the hardships of the military and people in Lanzhou." ”

Seeing that he frankly admitted that Liu Jiye also believed that Lanzhou had not yet taken refuge in the Khitan, but was just taking risks in order to survive, and he was also a festival town, he originally sympathized with Lanzhou in his heart, pondered for a long time, and said: "This matter is over, but it can not be done again." Before Wu Yingying could thank him, he said in a deep voice: "Wu Yingying, Brother Changqing has great expectations for you, I hope you will not fail him, nor the many good men who follow you." "Changqing is the word of the late Tuhun army commander Wei Wei, this person and Liu Jiye were both important generals of the Northern Han Forbidden Army, and had a great friendship, and before his death, he entrusted the Tuhun army to Wu Yingying.

Wu Yingying arched his hand and said: "Although virtue is shallow, I dare not forget that I am a Han man all the time, and I will never act as a tiger and betray my compatriots in my homeland." ”

Liu Jiye glanced at him with complicated eyes, and said in a deep voice: "That's good, if you eat today's words, even if the veteran polishes his ten fingers, he will cut off your head with his own hands to pay tribute to my brother Changqing's spirit in the sky." After speaking, without waiting for Wu Yingying to answer, he turned his horse and galloped back into the formation, and the cavalry of the Yang family turned around and left with him, and the army wandered in the autumn wind grassland, revealing a sense of pride and desolation.

Wu Yingying stood on the ground for a long time, and then galloped back into the formation, and after ordering the whole team to pull out, he rode his horse and pondered silently, and Yang Wuying's serious words were like a thousand catties of boulders pressing on his heart. When Wu Yingying led the army to escort a large amount of grain and grass back to Lanzhou, it coincided with the evening, and most of the households who went out to chop firewood and dig wild vegetables returned to the city. Seeing that a large number of grain trucks had entered the city, the military households and civilian households were extremely happy, although the lieutenants could conceal the fact that Lanzhou was short of grain, but there was no shortage of grain in any town, and more than 15,000 households in Lanzhou were added, although they only received one liter of rice a day, which added up to a huge number. Everyone is a little taboo to talk about the topic of wintering grain and grass on weekdays, seeing that a large number of grain and grass have entered the country, all of them are smiling, and there are more mouthy military households to detain the imperial court, and the command envoys and other people have taken great risks to rob grain from the hands of the Khitans.

The grain and grass were put into storage, but Wu Yingying couldn't take a breath, and returned to the command embassy to sit down and instructed the captains: "These stored grains must be saved and withdrawn, and the rations of the households will not increase for the time being, in addition, the sheep purchased from the Khitan will be delivered one after another, and each household in the city can divide thirty sheep, but they cannot be slaughtered privately, I plan to leave half of it for next year for seeding, and immediately go out of the city to collect firewood and grass, in addition, each battalion organizes households to repair sheep houses for the winter." He explained in detail the rules for the construction of the sheep barn, and put Chase in charge of supervising the battalions, and if more than half of the wintering sheep froze to death and starved to death, the lieutenant was to be punished.

At this time, the herdsmen of all ethnic groups outside the Seychelles were nomadic herders living in pursuit of water and grass, and many of their livestock died of freezing and starvation during the winter, while the Han people in the interior were increasingly dependent on agriculture and did not raise livestock on a large scale. This place has been in war for a long time, and there are few people in the land, which is suitable for semi-farming and semi-herding. In addition to growing grain, the households also planted a variety of pastures to increase the proportion of meat in the food of the military and civilians in Lanzhou.