This ambush on the steppe cavalry was a complete victory. When cleaning the battlefield, Yang Erxi, who killed three enemies and injured two, obtained the qualification to select the spoils of war on the dead enemy first.

The wealth looted by these cavalry naturally had to be handed over to the imperial court for unified disposal, and the so-called spoils of war were nothing more than armor and weapons.

It's just that the leather armor used by the steppe cavalry, in the eyes of these former regular Tang troops, is like a tattered fig leaf, and no one is really interested, so the target can only be those swords and arrows.

Yang Erxi wanted to change a knife.

The pitchfork is sharpened and can kill people, and after many battles, he has used it very easily, but after all, it is a farm tool used to hoe grass, and it is still a little inconvenient.

Before leaving the barracks, the people of the Tang Dynasty can use their years of military service and daily merits to obtain the glory of bringing their weapons home, and no one will be willing to leave the weapons that have been with them for many years, and the vast majority of people will choose to exchange, and finally it has become a tradition of the Tang Army.

Yang Erxi was known for his good archery in the army, so he chose to bring the boxwood hardwood bow back to his hometown and leave the saber in the army, and now he found that his companions were holding knives brought home from the barracks, which was a little uncomfortable.

So he wanted to change a knife.

The two steppe cavalrymen who were shot and killed at the beginning did not know where the saber beside him had been lost, so he asked his companions to leave the last man to him.

Yang Erxi thanked those empathetic companions, picked up the scimitar from the corpse of the steppe cavalry, and pulled a knife flower, although he was still a little unaccustomed, but he felt that it was much better than the pitchfork.

With the knife of the sharp lamp, it was a little clumsy and ugly to look at the pitchfork, but after thinking about it for a long time, he was still reluctant to throw it away, and continued to carry the pitchfork to his shoulder and walked into the forest.

A moment later he came out of the woods, and a black thing was swinging on the pitchfork, and when he looked closely, he found that it was the pork leg he had brought with him when he left home, and only a pig's trotter had been eaten.

The companions watched it for many days, and finally they couldn't stand it anymore, and they teased one after another: "I said Erxi, what are you doing by either taking this poor pig's trotter to eat it, or throwing it away, and hanging it on a pitchfork all day long?"

Yang Erxi won't listen to what they said: "The daughter-in-law gave it, eat it slowly, put a lot of salt in the cavity, and use pine and cypress branches when it is scented, not afraid of spoilage." ”

The companions burst out laughing, and absolutely no one had any interest in the poor pig's trotter.

Yang Erxi felt that there was movement around him and turned to look, only to see a small hand gently pulling the corner of his clothes, it was the little girl who was almost hacked to death by the grassland cavalry before.

Looking at his dirty little face, he remembered his daughter and comforted him: "Don't be afraid, we will drive away all those bad guys tomorrow." ”

The girl had not come to talk to him, and there was no fear in her eyes, but a shiny glow, and a translucent saliva trickled down from the corner of her lips.

Yang Erxi followed her gaze and found that she had been staring at the pig's trotters hanging on the pitchfork.

The girl's longing eyes kept moving with the swing of the pig's trotters, cute and pitiful.

After thinking about it, he took off the pig's trotters and stuffed them into the little girl's arms.

The girl laughed happily, wiped the saliva from her mouth, bowed to him in thanks, and then jumped up and ran towards her grandmother, shouting something as she ran.

A companion walked up to Yang Erxi and said, "Her whole family was killed, so the two grandparents hid in the cellar and survived." ”

Yang Erxi looked at the little girl's back and didn't say anything.

They left half of their rations for the refugees in the village, and then drew a simple map, telling them that seventeen miles southwest there was a temporary yamen of the imperial court, which was responsible for collecting the refugees and retreating.

After doing these things, they pulled two dozen horses that were not injured and left the village.

In the early morning of the next day, these retired Tang troops converged with the main force.

“

Yang Erxi, yes, I got a knife so quickly. ”

A cavalryman looked at him and said.

Yang Erxi said proudly: "This is nothing, mainly when I killed those three barbarians, it took some effort, if it wasn't for my lack of fighting, the two who were seriously injured by me should also be counted in my account." ”

The cavalryman laughed and said, "Chengcheng, I won't forget to report to the commander to give you credit." ”

"Don't forget, I'm a border soldier in the second year of the Apocalypse, what kind of attitude do you have?"

Yang Erxi scolded with a smile, carried a pitchfork, and followed his companion towards the mountains and forests.

The horseman took his horse's belly lightly, and went down another road, and came to a hillside, and came to the commander's mount, and whispered the military information that had just been obtained.

Liu Si, the commander of the Xiao Cavalry Battalion, nodded solemnly, raised his hand to signal the ranger to leave, and then looked at the middle-aged man beside him and said, "Longqing has sped up, just missed us." ”

The middle-aged man was dressed in green clothes, his expression was quiet, and he stood out among the hundreds of iron horses in the Xiao Cavalry Camp full of a solemn atmosphere, and it was Chao Xiaoshu.

Chao Xiaoshu said: "Longqing seems to be too anxious, and the defense of the state and county is too weak. ”

Liu Si said: "The state and county army can be used to fight on foot, but against the grassland cavalry who have been on the battlefield for many years, there is really no way, they fought very badly, and they did their best." ”

He said to Xiaoshu, "I don't mean to blame. The soldiers of the state and county are actually still counting the real combat power of Gushan County, and Huashanyue, the head of the Sanzhou town army, is not bad, but most of his soldiers are transferred to the northern camp to resist the Golden Horde court going south, so we can't count on him. ”

Liu Si was a little depressed, he followed Chao Xiaoshu with the Xiao cavalry battalion of 800 elite cavalry, out of Chang'an to Dongjiang, the road was difficult and dangerous, and he also fought several battles with the grassland cavalry, but he could not fundamentally change the situation.

Because their numbers were so small, they didn't even dare to meet the main cavalry of Longqing.

Chao Xiaoshu said: "Don't think too much, although you can only harass and pursue, but at least you can make those brute horses dare not be too presumptuous, and the people of Eastern Xinjiang can also suffer a little less tea poison."

After saying this, he looked at the volunteers who were walking towards the mountains and forests, and his figures were gradually disappearing, and said with admiration: "If it weren't for them, the situation would really be out of control." ”

There are many people like Yang Erxi.

Many farmers left their fields and their homes, and went to the far east with their own travel expenses, luggage, and knives or bows and arrows that they had brought back to their hometowns from the army.

At that time, the imperial court's conscription order had not yet arrived in their hometown, so they set out in advance, which was logically irrational, because they were not organized and did not even know where the battlefield was.

But this war is different, this is a war related to the survival of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the news of the invasion of foreign enemies is a military order, that is, a conscription order, and when you meet a person on the road or in the mountains and forests, you can see the old knife or old bow on his waist, you can confirm that it is a companion, so you can organize it into a powerful force.

As for where the battlefield is, where the enemy is, there is a battlefield.

This is what Yang Erxi thinks, and it is also the thoughts of those of his companions.

According to post-war statistics, more than 20,000 retired Tang soldiers in the central states and counties of the Tang Dynasty alone spontaneously joined the war against the invaders in eastern Xinjiang before the conscription order arrived.

This group of Datang's earliest and cutest counterattackers, less than half of them were able to return to their hometowns in the end.