The fine armor made of Beidi yellow cowhide with anti-rust steel sheets, the sturdy helmet formed by hydraulic die-casting, and the scarlet cloak to protect against wind and snow all made the Xia cavalry outside Zhuojun look particularly majestic.

Even the war horses under the crotch of the cavalry are covered with a layer of vest made of leather and cotton wool, which can not only effectively prevent the enemy's bow and crossbow shooting, but also resist the sharp wind and snow outside the plug, and also make these war horses have a lot less non-combat attrition.

The other horse that the cavalry did not ride next to them had a weapon hanging from it, a long weapon of free choice, a spear, a lance or other long weapon, and eight thunderbolts of relatively small weight, but all the soldiers had a musket on their horses that could shoot dozens of paces.

Although Ma Han, Fang Jiyan and others had long seen the exercises of the cavalry of the Xia Kingdom and knew the combat effectiveness of Ji Xiang's cavalry, when the cavalry troops of as many as 150,000 cavalry led by Ji Xiang came to the outside of Zhuojun City, they were still shocked.

The 150,000 cavalry that arrived was not simply composed of 150,000 people and 150,000 war horses, but one person and two horses, that is, there were as many as 300,000 war horses carried by Ji Xiang's cavalry alone.

In addition, the tens of thousands of reindeer and 5,000 large sleds pulled by the tens of thousands of reindeer driven by the tens of thousands of Xia National Guard soldiers who transported supplies for the 150,000 cavalry were also a very large number.

"General Ji Xiang, you have worked hard! I'm relieved that you guys arrived in Zhuojun! ”

Huang Rui greeted him with a big smile, he has always respected the old-timers and generals in the Xia army, these are all old people who are qualified to be the marquis and build the country.

"Haha, if we hadn't delayed a bit when we crossed the Great Wall to attack Anle County, we could have arrived yesterday! I can't imagine that these Sui troops are really a man, if they don't use gunpowder to collapse their city walls, I'm afraid they will have to delay! ”

Ji Xiang laughed and jumped off his horse, the seventy-year-old old general was still crisp and neat, so that the surrounding soldiers applauded loudly, although the cavalry did not participate in the attack on Zhuojun, but they were still excited to participate in this operation.

It turned out that at the same time that Huang Rui led the 100,000 troops of the first army of the Xia army to suddenly seize Zhuo County, which was empty of troops, from the sea route, Ji Xiang was ordered by Wang Ze to lead his 150,000 Xia cavalry from the upper reaches of the weak Luoshui River to the west through the source of Luanshui, bypassing the defense line of the Sui army and the Turkic coalition army.

After crossing the Luanshui, they suddenly crossed the defense line of the Great Wall, which was not defended by many troops, and the troops pointed directly at Anle County in the Great Wall.

Anle County is a county within the Great Wall, in the past, the main defense of Kumo Xi, after the destruction of Kumo Xi is to defend against the invasion of the Xia Kingdom, at this time, although the Sui army in the county has more than 30,000 people, and most of the soldiers are perennial elite border troops stationed in the north of Xinjiang, but the Xia army is more than five times their more sophisticated weapons and gunpowder.

The Sui Empire invented gunpowder, but under the idea of strong cadres and weak branches, gunpowder could only be firmly controlled by the Central Empire in its own hands, and remote cities like Anle County were not eligible for this kind of siege weapon at all.

Facing such a city, Ji Xiang led the cavalry who were not good at attacking the city, but after two days of firepower, the Xia army still quickly collapsed the city wall and captured Anle County, and more than 30,000 Sui troops defending the city also became prisoners of war of the Xia army.

At this time, Chen Yu's department, the third infantry army of the Xia Army, who came closely after Ji Xiang's department, also arrived on horseback, so Ji Xiang immediately handed over all the defense work of Anle County to Chen Yu, and then they rushed all the way to attack Yuyang County, which was not at all guarded, the next day.

After handing over the defense of Yuyang County to Chen Yu's department, he came to Zhuo County, which was the most important operation for the Xia State this time, and this would be the choke point for the Xia State to destroy the millions of Sui Empire troops.

"In this way, as long as we capture Beiping County in the lower reaches of the Luan River, then the back road of the million Sui army in western Liaoning will be completely cut off!"

Huang Rui said with a look of surprise, "Haha, that's good, even if the Sui Empire has forty or fifty million people, but this time the loss of a million troops, and hundreds of thousands of people, is still a big injury!" ”

"That's right! Who would have thought that we would have such a day! Ji Xiang stroked his gray beard slightly, and his eyes narrowed with a smile, "I will leave 100,000 cavalry here to assist General Huang to defend Zhuo County, and then you and I will each send 50,000 soldiers to attack Beiping County, so it can be regarded as foolproof!" ”

Although Zhuojun has gathered more than 300,000 Xia troops, but there are millions of stones of grain and grass left by the Sui Empire in Zhuojun City and mountains of military funds, these Xia troops don't have to worry about logistics at all, Yang Jian has already made selfless contributions to everyone, so at this moment, both Huang Rui and Ji Xiang are in a good mood.

"Report, General!"

A scout hurried to report, "There is movement in the Sui army of Shanggu County, about 100,000 people have attacked north from Shanggu County, and now they have crossed the Juma River, and they are still about 100 miles away from Zhuo County!" ”

"Hehe, my army has not yet established its prestige at the beginning of its arrival, I am afraid that I don't know how many families inside and outside Zhuo County will dedicate our heads to Emperor Yang Jian of Sui for meritorious service!" Ji Xiang's eyes opened at this moment, and a majesty was revealed, and even Huang Rui felt a great pressure.

Huang Rui admired that these old generals were really killed from the sea of corpses and blood, I don't know how many people they killed to have the momentum they have today, although they have experienced a lot of wars, they are still not as majestic as the old general Ji Xiang.

Ji Xiang looked around at the generals and said with a lot of anger: "Since some people are thieves who don't die, then today the old man will use this Sui army to stand up for power, and it will also open the eyes of some guys who are not long-eyed!" ”

Saying that, Ji Xiang looked at Huang Rui and said with a smile: "General Huang, today the old man will stand on his own and stand for a pass, and only send the cavalry under my command in this battle, after all, the soldiers are fast!" ”

"What did the old general say!" Huang Rui hurriedly said modestly, "The old general has followed His Majesty for decades, and fought hundreds of battles in the east and west, since the old general is in Zhuo County, where is there a place for me to speak!" ”

When Ji Xiang sent 50,000 cavalry to leave Zhuojun and go south, the Xia army scouts also found out the most detailed information, it turned out that it was not a Sui army general who led the 100,000 Sui army north, but Wang Jingren, the Hejian Taishou of the Great Sui Empire.

When Yang Jian fled all the way through Shanggu and Boling County, he also constantly sent edicts to the surrounding Hebei counties, asking them to organize the county soldiers to concentrate in Shanggu County, and then expel or eliminate the Xia army that attacked Zhuo County.

However, the combat effectiveness of the county soldiers of the Sui Empire has always been not very good, at most it is the level of the government soldiers, and it is not bad to maintain law and order in peacetime or follow the main army behind the main army to fight a tailwind battle, but it is simply impatient to attack the Xia army with extremely strong combat effectiveness.

Therefore, after receiving the order, many Taishou of the Hebei counties of the Sui Empire also went on the road slowly, and after finally gathering to Shanggu County, they were also unwilling to continue to go north under the pretext that the army was weak.

At this time, Shanggu County had gathered more than 200,000 Sui troops, and at that time, Zhuo County only had 100,000 Xia troops led by Huang Rui.

In the face of the county guards, Wang Jingren stepped forward angrily, and under his instigation and the oppression of the envoys sent by Yang Jian, he finally gathered 100,000 troops led by Wang Jingren as the vanguard force, if the combat effectiveness of the Xia army was really not strong, everyone would continue to follow up.

In the Sui and Tang dynasties, the division of civil and military officials was not obvious, and the county taishou had both the governance function of local civil administration and the function of commanding the army, but this did not mean that Wang Jingren was a qualified commander.

Under his spiritual encouragement, the 100,000 Sui army certainly crossed the Juma River and headed north, but when the 50,000 cavalry sent by Ji Xiang arrived, the Sui army was completely defeated with just a charge, and only a few thousand of the 100,000 Sui army were killed in battle, and the rest fled, while Wang Jingren died in the chaos.

After having such a typical lesson as Wang Jingren, the 200,000 Sui troops that had been gathered behind Shanggu County no longer dared to take a single step, even if Yang Jian successively sent a number of envoys to urge the troops, but those Sui troops in Shanggu County only took two steps and retreated three steps, and never crossed the Juma River to the north.

After annihilating the Sui army under Wang Jingren, the 50,000 Xia cavalry continued to march south to show off their might on the bank of the Juma River, and then collected their troops and returned to Zhuo County.

And the effect of Ji Xiang's annihilation of Wang Jingren's 100,000 Sui army was not only that, but the various forces in Zhuojun City that were originally ready to move suddenly disappeared, and no one dared to resist the authority of the Xia army, even if Ji Xiang only annihilated the Sui army composed of state and county soldiers who were not strong in combat.

Even from this day on, there were many wealthy families inside and outside Zhuo County who came to work in the army, and pigs and sheep continued to drive to the camp of the Xia army, and even some wealthy families began to ask if they could accept their disciples to join the army.

This does not mean that these wealthy families have completely fallen to the Xia Kingdom, but based on a spirit of two-sided betting, no matter which side of the Sui Empire or the Xia Kingdom wins, they are the winners, which is also a practice often adopted by wealthy families in ancient China.

If it weren't for Ji Xiang's age, these wealthy families would even be eager to send their young and beautiful daughters to his bed, but from this day on, Xia Jun's work in Zhuo County was carried out well.

The Xia army used a few days to recruit tens of thousands of ordinary people to build a large port at the mouth of the Hutuo River, as if they had settled here for a long time.

At first, the people were very resistant to this recruitment, after all, it was very hard to serve in the winter, but when they learned that this summer army was only hired, and each person could get five cents a day, or simply receive the corresponding grain, cloth and other summer products, the whole Zhuo County went crazy.

A good wharf means that the huge maritime fleet of the Xia State can bring many reinforcements at any time in the future, even if Zhuojun is inside the Sui Empire, but the Xia State is no longer afraid that the Sui army can take it back.

At the same time as the construction of a large port at the mouth of the Hutuo River began, a huge Xia army cavalry of 100,000 people quickly headed for Beiping County.