The Turks are really having a hard time.

Ever since the defeat of the million-strong army, the Turks have been on a downward spiral.

In the first few years, because the strength of the Xia State was not strong, the Turks could barely maintain the remnants of their steppe overlords, and although they lost a lot, they could also make up for their losses by exploiting small tribes such as the Tiele people, the Murowei people, and the Wuluohou people.

However, as time passed, the Xia State quickly became stronger, and entered the steppe with the power of defeating a million Turkic army, first to subdue the Murwei people, and then soon entered the Beihai region to subdue many local tribes, but the Turks were unable to fight against these small tribes who betrayed them, so the prestige of the Turks was further reduced.

And this situation is getting worse and worse with the development of time, and now the vast grassland occupied by the Xia State from the eastern part of the Beihai to Yangwu City lives at least five or six hundred thousand Xia herdsmen, and there are more than 200,000 Xia cavalry, which are always threatening the comfort of the Turkic tooth tent.

It is precisely because of the support of these Xia armies that many small tribes that were originally attached to the Turks often did not greet them, and suddenly moved to the grasslands occupied by the Xia State.

The resentful Dulan Khan wanted to conquer these small tribes who betrayed him, but he was afraid of provoking those extremely powerful Xia cavalry, because in addition to the more than 200,000 cavalry in the northeast, the Xia State also deployed 200,000 cavalry in the east of the Turks and Xiping County in the southeast.

When Dulan Khan was afraid that he would conquer those small tribes, the Xia army suddenly made a surprise attack and captured his lair, which was not what Dulan Khan wanted to see.

Dulan Khan, who was already in his fifties, stayed in his golden tent, sulking while drinking, and the night before yesterday, a small tribe was overwhelmed by the Turks' rampant conquest and suddenly disappeared, in order to avoid the Turks from discovering it, they even left hundreds of old men with broken wrists to continue grazing thousands of sheep and hundreds of cattle.

Moreover, they still had a lot of belongings in their tents, and they all stayed behind, and it took two days for the matter to be discovered by the patrolling Turkic cavalry.

According to estimates, these cattle and sheep tents left behind are enough to cover nearly half of the wealth of this small tribe, which makes Dulan Khan depressed, are these small tribes willing to give up nearly half of their wealth to go to the Xia Kingdom? Is Xia Guo really so good?

In addition to this uncomfortable news, what worried Dulan Khan even more was that the Xia Kingdom had been building cities in places with abundant water and grass over the years, and a large number of Han people had continuously crowded out the pastures of the Turkic herdsmen, and many pastures that could be grazing secretly had to be abandoned.

What's more, a very important factor for the Steppe Empire to fight against the Agrarian Empire is that the Steppe Empire can rely on the vast prairie to constantly maneuver, so that the Agrarian Empire, which is not good at action, cannot find the army of the Prairie people at all.

However, as the Xia State continued to build roads and cities into the hinterland of the grassland, the strategic depth of the Turks had been reduced by more than half, and the nearest city to the Turkic Tent in the Xia Kingdom was less than 2,000 miles, which meant that the Xia army could attack the Turkic Tent within a few days as long as they wanted.

This was simply unthinkable in the past, this was almost a matter of standing on the doorstep of the Turks, when would the Turks be forced to stir up trouble at the door of their homes? Thinking of this, Dulan Khan shook his head helplessly.

It would be nice if the Sui Empire could give itself some support, as soon as he thought of this, Dulan Khan felt a burst of anger in his heart, since he killed Princess Dayi and married the princess of the Sui royal family, Dulan Khan wanted to get a lot of support.

However, in addition to the batch of weapons that the Sui Dynasty supported at the beginning, in the next few years, it only gave itself tens of thousands of long knives, and there were no arrows at all.

Just when Dulan Khan was complaining, suddenly a Turkic general hurriedly walked into the big tent.

"It's not good to sweat!" The general who came in had a look of panic on his face, "The Xia army with a mask in the east suddenly gathered more than 100,000 cavalry, and more than 100,000 cavalry suddenly appeared in Xiping County of the Xia Kingdom in the southeast, and the purpose is not clear!" We judge that it is very likely that the Xia army is about to launch a new round of attack! ”

It has been nearly ten years since the last Xia State offensive, but no Turkic people will forget the scene at that time, after all, there are nearly 400,000 Xia State cavalry only known so far, if you add the Xia State cavalry in the northeast, it is nearly 600,000 cavalry.

Hearing this, Dulan Khan was bitter for a while, 600,000 cavalry!

When the Turks were the strongest, even if they mobilized a million cavalry, it was not a problem, but because everyone had their own small ideas, the Turks were devastated because of the defeat, and then weakened step by step, and now they are not only divided into two parts, but even more than 200,000 cavalry under their command, which is less than half of the current cavalry of the Xia Kingdom.

Although Dulan Khan knew that his cavalry would inevitably not be able to defeat the Xia army in a frontal battle, he was unwilling to fail so much, and soon he ordered all the Turkic tribes to prepare for war.

It is impossible for the Western Turks to sit idly by and watch themselves be wiped out by the Xia State, right? Dulan Khan had a little idea in his heart, and on the other hand, he asked for a letter from the princess, so that the envoy could come to the Sui Dynasty to ask for some support.

The news that the Xia army was coming to attack made all the Turks in the entire Turkic tent panic, and almost all of them slept day and night in their clothes, for fear that the Xia people would suddenly attack and they would not have time to escape.

In this way, after more than a month, a group of lost Turkic cavalry suddenly came from the northwest, and the Turks who did not see clearly at first suddenly panicked, but after seeing clearly, they found that this team of cavalry was actually the Turkic cavalry, but it was just the deployment of Daluo.

However, this cavalry did not bring good news to everyone, because the Xia army still moved, but they did not attack the Turks, but the Qigu people further west.

"Oh my God, the Bone Man!"

The Qigu people are the ancestors of the later Kirgiz, but at this time they still lived in the western part of the Beihai, in the upper reaches of the Jianshui (Yenisei River) basin, because the area where they lived belonged to the cold Siberian region, and the environment was even colder than the Turks, which made these Qigu people have a stronger will to fight.

In the past, when the Turks were at their strongest, the Qigu people had never taken refuge in the Turks, and when the Turks were at their strongest, they never dared to provoke these Qigu people easily, so after hearing the words of the defeated Turkic soldiers, almost all the Turks in the Turkic tent were shocked, and they started talking nonsense.

"The Qigu people are so powerful, the people of the Xia Kingdom still dare to provoke them?" These were the exclamations of some women.

"Now it's okay, if the Qigu people are willing to join forces with us, then our chances of defeating the Xia people will be much greater!" This is a certain superstition about the strength of the Turks, and they always feel that they can still succeed.

"It's useless, the Qigu people are not the opponents of the Xia people at all!" The Turkic general who fled shook his head and said, "Although the Qigu people are brave and good at fighting, their number is too small, and the army used by the Xia State this time is almost more than half of their population, so the Qigu people are not opponents at all!" ”

In April of this year (the 38th year of the Xia calendar), the Xia Kingdom, which had already built the gallop road to the shepherd city, mobilized more than 200,000 cavalry at the best time of the season in May and June to enter the western part of Beihai from the northern part of the Beihai after having sufficient transportation conditions.

Then launched an attack on the Qigu people who occupied the western part of the Beihai all the way to Jianshui, although the Qigu people were fierce and good at fighting, and there were as many as 100,000 people who controlled the strings, but after all, the number was too small, with a total population of less than 400,000, and after mobilizing almost all the old, weak, young and women, they could only mobilize more than 100,000 soldiers.

These ragtag armies with crude weapons were not opponents at all in the face of the well-armed and experienced Xia army, especially after the First Cavalry Army completed the musket equipment, more than 100,000 Qigu people suffered heavy casualties, and finally had to choose to flee in defeat.

This time, the Xia army not only defeated the brave and warlike Qigu people, but also occupied all the land east of the entire Jianshui (upper reaches of the Yenisei River) in one go, and the Qigu people had to move west to the Great Plains west of Jianshui to nomadically graze after serious losses.

At this time, there were less than 300,000 people left after a series of hard battles, if it weren't for the fact that the Xia people didn't know why they didn't continue to attack westward after capturing Jianshui, otherwise these poor Qigu people would have to continue to flee for their lives.

Hearing this Turkic general's explanation, almost everyone took a sharp breath of cold air, and the strength of the Xia people was too strong, but then they all reacted, "Since the Xia army is attacking the Qi Gu people, why did you come here?" Are you spies sent by Apo Khan? ”

As a person said this, almost all the Turks suddenly picked up their weapons and pointed at this group of Turkic soldiers, as long as they didn't say it right, they would all be cut to the ground, since the Xia people were slashed by the Qigu people, they would not threaten themselves in a short time, so Apo Khan was still an opponent.

Facing the guidance of countless swords and guns, the Turkic general turned pale, but said with a bitter face: "Where do we still use Apo Khan to shoot us as spies, Apo Khan has been killed by the Xia people!" After they defeated the Covenanters, they attacked and destroyed us! It only took three days for us to fail completely! ”

"That means we've been surrounded by the Xia Kingdom from at least three directions?" It was Dulan Khan who spoke, and he was extremely serious at this moment.

After Dulan Khan's questioning, everyone stared at the old department of Daluo in front of them, only to see him nod with difficulty, and at this moment, the bodies of all the Turks cooled down.