"Here comes someone." Huo Ling put away the letter silently.
"My subordinate is here!"
"Order the Yongqi Battalion to leave the fortress tonight!" Huo Ling's eyes fell on the vast grassland. "He led three thousand cavalry to bypass the Benlu Station and attack the tribes behind them at will, mainly with destruction."
The military advisor next to him was surprised and quickly reminded: "General, we don't have that many cavalry in our hands."
Xiliang was determined to attack eastward, regardless of human life or material, and the Yankui Fortress, which fought tooth and nail to defend itself from the enemy, was the first to bear the brunt.
Now there are almost only one third of the combatants in the entire fortress left.
The cavalry who were good at long-distance raids were even more desperate, and those who were still alive were almost sent to intercept the Xiliang people's food supplies.
The brave cavalry battalion of Gu Datou and Lu Youtian only returned to the fortress in the middle of last year, but there were only less than two hundred people left.
It took them nearly a year to reorganize their team.
It can be said that the thousand men of the brave cavalry battalion are almost the only cavalry that the fortress can mobilize.
Although other cavalry battalions that were disabled or wiped out are also being reorganized, the time is too short after all, and for the time being they can only call for soldiers who can ride horses.
"Cavalry," Huo Ling's gaze slid to the south of Yanchuo Fortress, "we have it."
Last year Emperor Changxing transferred two legions to the west.
The Yanhui Legion coming from the north has always followed Xingji City's lead. Emperor Changxing asked them to stay wherever they were told. Tian Hongyan of the Yanhui Legion would never let the army take one more step forward.
But the Yingling Legion is different.
Yingling County, like Jiuyuan County, is one of the three major horse farms in Yunchui.
This time when Xiliang moved eastward, the Angel tribe sent a large army to attack the Yangguan Ancient Road early, with the target being Yingling Racecourse.
If Xia Bang hadn't sent the main force to block the way for the Dingxi Commandery, otherwise the Yingling Legion's hometown would have been taken away by the Xiliang people.
In addition, the princes were sent to various frontiers for training.
Even though he knew that civil unrest was occurring, the pampered eighth prince still flirted with women between Yingling County and Tianshui County, and ended up dying at the hands of the unrest.
Emperor Changxing had many sons, so the death of one or two was of no consequence.
But for the sake of the royal family's face, Yingling County and Tianshui County were brutally bloodbathed by the court.
Civil unrest broke out, and the people of the two counties were already in dire straits. With this incident, the population of the two counties was reduced by almost half.
These are the roots of the Yingling Legion.
At that time, the general of the army who was guarding the border in other places was so angry that he cursed his mother, but he could only endure it.
Generally speaking, among the five border defense legions, Xingluo, Central, Yanhui, Yingling, Donghai Barrier, and Yunchui, the Yingling legion is too weak to be at the bottom.
But in the recent battle outside Peishi City, they were extremely brave after holding back their anger for several times.
The cavalry all over the mountains and plains almost came out in full force and attacked the Xiliang people who were attacking the city without hesitation, until the sky was dark and the earth was dark.
It can be said that the Huo Yun in the city and the people who took the initiative to help were indispensable for the defense of Stone City this time, but the Yingling Legion outside the city also accounted for a large part of the credit for their deadly attack.
Before the war was over, Tian Hongyan from the Yanhui Legion found Kong Chunhui from the Yingling Legion.
"General Kong, the people of Xiliang are determined to conquer Dingxi County. You and I still have strength, so we should know how to advance and retreat..."
"Go away!" Kong Chunhui shouted violently, "My surname is Kong and my first name is Chunhui. I don't understand any nonsense about advance or retreat. I only know that there is a saying that a favor must be repaid."
In order for Xia Bang to guard the Yangguan Ancient Road for his hometown, he would guard the Peishi City in front of him for Xia Bang.
"And our Yingling Army is the border guard of the empire. Guarding the border is our bounden duty. If the Xiliang people invade our border and kill my people, we will kill them like crazy. Even if the whole army is killed in battle, we will never retreat...
…”
After repelling the siege of the Xiliang people last month, Kong Chunhui knew that the Yanchuo Fortress was short of men, so he simply placed some of his cavalry at the edge of the Yankui Fortress and allowed Huo Ling to dispatch them.
Guarding the general's mansion, the military advisor breathed a sigh of relief.
"General, with the cavalry of the Yingling Legion, the number should be enough. But if we send three thousand cavalry deep into the hinterland of Xiliang, we may not be able to supply enough food and grass."
Cock-clop-clop.
Huo Ling slowly clasped the table and looked at the iron box on the left, "I didn't prepare any food for them."
The map of Xiliang drawn by Ren Ning is not very detailed, but the settlements, people, water sources and pasture locations of large and small tribes along the way are all marked.
The grassland is vast and it is easy to lose your way. But as long as you find the corresponding marking points, you can find your location.
Gu Datou, Lu Youtian and their party had experience in causing chaos in the grassland. This time they were sent in with a map, so there was no need to worry about them not being able to find food.
Three thousand cavalry, more or less, is definitely a lot.
It is basically impossible to attack large tribes like Angel and Blood Moon; but it is definitely not a problem to defeat small and medium-sized tribes like Luoxi and Benlu.
These tribes specialized in raising cattle and sheep and then sent them to the east for food. As long as one group was killed, the rest would be fearful and would not dare to send things to the east unscrupulously.
The situation in the fortress and Dingxi County is likely to continue or even improve further.
The military advisor understood and said, "After hearing what the general said, we can give it a try. I hope they can come back alive like last time."
"Definitely." Huo Ling nodded heavily.
Soon Gu Datou, who had been promoted to Qian Commander, received the order to advance.
"That's great." He could already understand the words above, and he patted his thigh happily, "I stayed in the fortress for a whole year and almost suffocated me to death."
"Hehe, finally the day has come for our brave cavalry battalion to go into battle."
Lu Youtian was brushing the fur of his beloved war horse carefully. Hearing this, he smiled and shook his head.
"General Ren often said that it takes a thousand days to raise an army, but it takes a while to deploy it. Although we have been nesting in this fortress, we are not lying around and rusting. Looking back, if it hadn't been for this year's training, there would have been such a murderous and forbidden army.
Team?"
"That's right." Gu Datou chuckled, stroking his bald head.
That evening, the fortress gates opened wide.
Gotta get.
There is the sound of horse hooves.
A team holding up the word "brave" left the fortress and disappeared to the south.
————
Peishicheng, southern suburbs.
It has been almost a month since the last attack on the city, but there is still a strong smell of blood surrounding Peishi City.
There are many wounded whose wounds have not yet healed.
The Yankui Fortress is currently short of medical treatment and medicine, and the situation of the Xiliang people outside Peishi City is not much better.
Hearing the moans from all directions and smelling the disgusting smell, Xue Yue Yingxiang was very anxious in his heart.
He climbed up to the tall watchtower with a few personal guards and looked at the Stone City from a distance.
It was getting late now, and he could only see a few lights on the top of the city, but couldn't see anything else clearly.
"Is there any news from the west?" Xueyue Yingxiang suddenly said.
"Young Patriarch," one of the guards lowered his voice, "The Patriarch asked you to focus on fighting the war, and he will take care of the rest. However, my subordinates still secretly got some information."
secretly?
Xue Yue Yingxiang frowned, "It's bad news. Let's hear it."
The guard hesitated for a moment before speaking: "Yanjie Fortress is trying to intercept our supply of food and grass in the west at all costs. Now there is not much food and grass in the army."
Xueyue Yingxiang glared at him fiercely, "That's all?"
After all, he is also the leading general, and the Blood Moon tribe is one of the main forces. Naturally, he is aware of the lack of food and grass in the army.
"Also," the guard's voice was even lower, "I heard that the Luoxi tribe's water source is running out."
Although Luoxi is a weak tribe on the grassland, the tribe's geographical location is advantageous.
As long as you go east, you will almost always pass by their territory.
When an army moves forward, in addition to food and grass, drinking water is also extremely important.
Therefore, in recent years, almost all of the more than ten large water sources in the Luoxi settlement have been occupied by Xiliang armies or livestock moving eastward.
If these water sources are gone.
The veins on Xue Yue Ying Xiang's forehead were pulsing.
The team heading east must either take a big detour to drink water elsewhere, or prepare water before setting off...