Sand grains hit his face with the strong wind, and Zhu Biao couldn't help but squint his eyes. ◎Literature Hall, is this still the prairie in his impression? The wasteland is not this "waste" method!
It’s not like I had never seen wasteland during the Yandong expedition. The wasteland in front of me was no different from that wasteland. The vegetation growth and coverage rate were almost the same. There were not even a few grains of dust in that wasteland. How can I feel it here? Sandstorm?
The phenomenon that completely goes against natural common sense is causing Zhu Biao a headache at this moment. The strong wind will not stop tomorrow, and the five thousand Hedong Jingqi, which has been greatly slowed down in the wind and sand, are half a day late. This also means that water is needed. The time was extended by half a day.
Due to geographical reasons, it would have taken Zhu Biaojun at least two days to cross the eight hundred miles of wasteland.
Two days is not long, and food is easy to carry. What about drinkable water? Not only people drink it, but horses also need water. Horses are not camels!
Zhu Biao did not study how much water a horse needs every day when running at high speed. Even if his riding skills are over 100, he has no idea how much water a war horse needs. Even the veteran cavalry in the army don't know how to talk about this issue.
In the end, the only way to test this problem was through practice. Fortunately, when Zhu Biao received Ye Fuheng's letter, he was still six to seven hundred miles away from the entry point to cross the wasteland, so the experiment was fully in time.
After proving the amount of water required for a day's rapid march with three men and horses, each of the 5,000 elite and 15,000 war horses that entered the wasteland had four large water bags. But the wasteland is not as good as the grassland. How much water does this have? Zhu Biao was not sure whether it would be enough.
But now, he can say to God for sure: there is not enough water.
Are you going back home? Zhu Biao did not make this choice. After passing through this 800-mile wasteland, the team can directly reach a place less than 500 miles southwest of Yanran Mountain. It only takes one day for Zhu Biao to make it. You can visit Yanran Mountain again.
Of course, he would not attack. Unless it was a God-given opportunity, Zhu Biao, who only had 5,000 cavalry with him, would not rush headlong into the honeycomb.
However, even so, the sudden appearance of Zhu Biao outside Yanran Mountain was enough to shock and inexplicably shock the royal court of Uwetuo. Eight hundred miles of wasteland is as difficult to cross as a thousand miles of vast sea. It takes only 800 miles of wilderness to travel at the speed of a cavalry. The time is enough to bypass the wasteland and walk to the grassland where there is no shortage of drinking water, and the trouble will be much less.
But it is precisely because of this that the sergeants crossed the 800-mile wasteland so suddenly, unexpectedly, and unexpectedly that they were unprepared. This shocked the newly restored royal court of Yanran Mountain in one fell swoop, and they must It can greatly mobilize Uweituo's military strength to the south, thus having the effect of 'supporting' the Hexi Army. Perhaps, even the Luozhou battlefield can be supported.
"Huh..." On the leeward side of a hill, Zhu Biao reined in his horse. He couldn't leave. The wind would be stronger in the next two or three hours, and the wind and sand would naturally be stronger in this damn place.
Yellow dust hit his face, and Zhu Biao opened the Gangsha body protection. Of course, nothing happened, but what about the soldiers? They might not even be able to open their eyes. If they kept walking, someone might get separated and fall behind.
The sparse green grass seemed to be covered with a layer of khaki gauze. When Zhu Biao stepped on it, he felt like he was walking away from the snow.
"Here... almost..."
Walking halfway up the hillside based on his feeling, Zhu Biao seemed to be able to hear the silent sound of water flowing through him.
After swiping away Zhu Zhong, Dou Bing and others, the soldiers scattered and opened up a large empty circle with a radius of ten feet. Two shovels were lifted in Zhu Biao's hands, 'whoosh...' The shovels dug deeply into the soil.
Never got past the point.
‘Whoosh…’ Two more strokes.
‘Whoosh…’ Two more handles. Finally, two more handles.
There are eight handles in total, octagonal and circular, pierced into the soil. The center position is where Zhu Biao stands.
Jumping into the air, a spear eight feet long fell into Zhu Biao's hand. In mid-air, the spear flew out and penetrated with one strike. If it was a spear like an arrow, the power attached to it was by no means just 'piercing through'.
Through such a thing, after the spear was poured into the center point where Zhu Biao originally stood, a churning power burst out instantly——
All the surrounding soldiers could clearly see that in the one-foot-wide circle defined by the eight shovels, the soil was surging and rolling like boiling water, as if there was an earthquake or something stirring underground.
A large cloud of dust splashed out like a fountain, and Zhu Biao struck it down with another palm in the air. The loess rolled up, and a large pit with a radius of one foot and a depth of three to four feet appeared.
When the dust cleared and everyone opened their eyes and patted the dust on their armored heads, clear groundwater had begun to quickly collect at the bottom of the pit.
"Water, water..."
The shouts of surprise made every Hedong soldier ecstatic.
The corner of Zhu Biao's mouth curled up slightly. He had already reached 76 geographical points. He didn't care about anything else but found a place with water to dig a well. That was reliable.
It's just that there are too few "treasure places" where water can be drawn from only three to four feet deep. Zhu Biao wandered around for half an hour and only found four places.
Four wells are not too few, and they are enough to handle hundreds of people and horses, but Zhu Biao's team has 5,000 people and 15,000 horses. It is a drop in the bucket!
In three days, Zhu Biao led his troops out of the 800-mile wasteland. During this time, it was almost enough to take the grassland route at the speed of the Hedong cavalry. The army's fatigue exceeded 60 points and they must rest!
But after just one night, five thousand hungry wolves showed their bloodthirsty minions to the peaceful hinterland of the grassland.
"Bastard!" Uwetuo picked up the wine bottle on the table and threw it on Hu Jietan's head. The rising star he valued most had now put his royal court in danger again.
Hujietan's performance disappointed him deeply. He had 50,000 standing cavalry and 50,000 tribal armed forces. Half of the troops he asked for from Wuji were given to Hujietan, so that he could unite with Yanran Mountain to have the strength to guard against it.
Hedong Army, focus on suppressing Hexi Army.
As a result, there was such a result that Zhu Biao led his troops to rush to the foot of Yanran Mountain again.
Hujietan is a rising star who has great expectations from the public. However, Uwetuo now feels that he is the taller one among the short ones and that he is the stick!
Don't blame Wuweituo for 'forgetting' Hu Jietan's previous military exploits. It was purely because Zhu Biao's sudden appearance at the foot of Yanran Mountain brought too much pressure and excitement to him. At this moment, Wuweituo's mind could not accept such a fact.
, is a bit messy. Naturally, there is no hope that he can remember Hujietan’s past achievements at this time.
Uwetuo, who was supervising the battle in Luozhou battlefield, rushed directly to Hujietan's tent. He was full of anger and panic, and naturally he vented it out first before calming down.
Hujietan knelt down in the tent and let Uwetuo scold him. He admitted that he was not doing his job well.
"I see you only have a troop of ten thousand cavalry here. Where are the rest of the troops?"
Uweituo roared for a while and then became quiet. He no longer had the intention of pretending to be the king, so he directly spoke to me.
"I left two teams of ten thousand cavalry to guard the line of Yinshan Mountain in Hexi Province, and the remaining eighty thousand troops have all withdrawn to Yanran Mountain."
"Okay, then you continue to guard Yinshan here. If Ye Fuheng from Hexi also appears in Yanran, I won't say what to do."
…
"You can't even go around in circles?" There are at least one hundred thousand Hu cavalry. Although a considerable part of them are white-haired young men, there are also three thousand golden wolf cavalry, right?
The five thousand fine cavalry behind them are not enough to compete with. But they can't fight head-on, so they can fight guerrillas. Who in the world can run as fast as the Hedong cavalry?
Zhu Biao still endured the skill of Shenxing and it was useless.
"Let's all run. Let's run..."
…
Along the Yinshan Mountains in Hexi.
Time passed day by day, although there was still no movement from Hu Qi on the opposite side, the Hexi Army did not dare to slack off at all. Under the auspices of Wang Ziteng, the newly added Hexi Fort city defense was increasingly strengthened. In addition to building artillery carriages, Wang Ziteng was also busy. There is one thing. That is, outside Hexi Fort, behind the moat, about two to three feet away from the city wall, there is another "sheep and horse wall", which is only one foot to three feet high and about one foot thick at the base. A group of three "pin"-shaped shooting holes were dug. Behind the sheep and horse wall, another trench was dug, and then a wall was built. The Hexi Fort formed an obstacle zone of two trenches and three walls.
For such a huge project, Ye Fuheng recruited a total of 30,000 Hexi civilians. Fortunately, Wang Ziteng had his full support, otherwise it would be extremely difficult for other generals to do it.
In addition to operating Hexi Fort and several larger entrances along the Yinshan Mountains in Hexi Province, the Hexi Army also built fortresses, stationed troops, and even started to open up wasteland. It was completely like forcing the Yinshan Mountains and marching thousands of miles north. Look.
This handwriting is much more ambitious than Zhu Biao's.
Hexi is well prepared, and Hedong is not idle either.
After Zhou Ziang and Chen Mengren led the team back to Hedong, although the capture of a golden man offering sacrifices to heaven in the Baishan Royal Court made the entire Northern Han Dynasty cheer, the imperial court would not send a single soldier to reinforce Hedong.
Zhu Tong, together with Yang Yanzhang and other generals, immediately discussed military affairs. His sixth brother went to stimulate Uweituo's tragic incident again. He was really afraid that Uweituo would get mad and, like last time, would not return to fight Zhu Biao. Send troops to attack Hedong.
At this military meeting, although Zhu Tong did not announce a comprehensive war mobilization order, he also warned generals such as Xia Yunzhuo, Yang Yanzhang, and Hu Yanqing that the situation was unpredictable and dangerous. If Hu Qi moved south in a large scale, the main line of Izuyunkou could be defended. It's good to stay there, but if we can't hold it, Hedong must be prepared for a full-scale battle.
The Izuyunkou Fortress is the first barrier to the northeast of the river, and there is really no room for error! Otherwise, the huge expenditure in the east of the river will be in vain! Zhu Biao, who is wandering around Yanran Mountain, will also lose one of his best and most important A safe escape route.
The Hedong Army suffered heavy losses this time. The 20,000 soldiers who left the fortress, not counting the 5,000 Zhu Biao took away, only had a total of more than 6,000 troops who returned safely. If a large proportion of the wounded were deducted, the Hedong Army would have lost as much as Thousands of employees were reduced.
All parts of Hedong are vigorously recruiting and training new soldiers all the time, but such a loss method is also harmful to the Hedong army, which has a total strength of only 60,000 to 70,000 troops.
Although the capture of the second golden man worshiping heaven made the enthusiasm of the soldiers and civilians of the Northern Han Dynasty even higher! The call to expel the barbarians across the board resounded throughout the ten states!
On April 12, Zhu Tongzai watched the "test artillery" with Gao Xie and Li Panlong. As of today, sixty-seven thunderbolt vehicles with various ranges have been deployed in the north city of Izumokou Fortress. The base, and the craftsmen are still working on it, because this thing has a wear rate. If you want the chain not to drop at a critical moment when the war starts, you must have a spare in stock. Not to mention more, there must be at least one equipped with a thunderbolt in each position. car.
Arriving at the head of the north city of the fortress, overlooking the Pili Chao position in the city, the generals could clearly see the towering giant beasts without a telescope. Li Panlong introduced to everyone: "There are sixty Pili chariots here. There are seven turrets. The first 35 are directional turrets and can only be fired to the north. The rear 32 are directional turrets and can be fired in both north and south.
There are forty-six large thunderbolt chariots, eleven medium-sized thunderbolt chariots, and ten small thunderbolt chariots. There are nearly a thousand officers and soldiers. They can attack targets between 300 and 100 steps outside the city in sequence.
In conjunction with the crossbows and crossbowmen at the top of the city, the distance of 500 steps outside the city wall is all within the coverage range."
Following Li Panlong's instructions, Zhu and others looked outside the city again and saw that the three moats and corresponding sheep and horse walls outside the fortress were nearly completed. The number was one more than that of Hexi Fort, but the quality was inferior. Not comparable. Hundreds of steps away in the wilderness, soldiers had marked the general range with wooden poles, waiting for a "test firing".
Li Panlong nodded to a military prince who had already stood on the top of the city and ordered: "Bombard the place 200 steps above and to the left."
The military commander leaned against the wall and looked at it for a moment. Then he turned to face the city and waved the red flag in his hand. The man in the artillery robe below the city saw the situation and moved. Two strong soldiers carried a stone bullet weighing about a hundred kilograms. Put it into the leather sheath of the Thunderbolt Car, and several other soldiers took their positions. Two of them drove up the attached scalpers, and the winch turned easily. The counterweight bucket was lifted high!
All preparation measures were completed and the time did not exceed 200 breaths. Although this was because it was a drill and not a real combat. It was also because it was the first bomb, not the tenth or twentieth bomb.
Each Pili chariot has a length. Ten Pili chariots are Yidu. A group of Pili chariots, most of which are six to ten, is headed by Yidubo.
First, a uncle waved his hand and released the hook. The counterweight bucket fell heavily, and the ladle-like cannon bar violently bounced up. The large stone weighing a hundred kilograms was thrown high into the air, roaring across the city. head!
The generals at the top of the city saw only a few black shadows passing over their heads. Everyone present was not a courageous person, and they couldn't help but shrink their shoulders subconsciously. They heard a loud noise. Those stone bullets were falling on the city gate. On the upper left side of the building, each of them smashed a big hole in the ground, and rolled forward and plowed out furrows more than ten feet long. Although it was not very accurate, if it hit someone There was so much flesh and blood in the pile.
"Okay!" A burst of cheers sounded at the top of the city. The Pili car can achieve such accuracy. Zhu Tingtong and others looked at it with smiles on their faces, and Li Panlong also smiled with pride, feeling that he had lost the people in the previous battle. Finally, some face was saved. Beicheng had such a sharp weapon, no matter how many cavalry they used to attack the city, they would never gain half a cent!
Li Panlong couldn't hide the look of pride on his face, and Zhu Tong poured cold water on him at the right time: "General Li, if we hold on for a long time, if the bullets run out, won't these artillery carts become decorations?"
"Haha, you don't have to worry about that. Not to mention that I have prepared a lot of stones, but they will be used up one day. The cliffs on the left and right are the quarries. If Hu Gou comes, I would like to take a look. Can it hollow out the Yinshan Mountains with flesh and blood?" Li Panlong said loudly. Not everyone agrees with his arrogant attitude, but you have to admit that he has this invincible momentum. It's really exciting.
On the 14th and 15th, eagles appeared outside the Hexi Fort one after another, peering into the city defenses. Wang Ziteng led 30,000 Hexi troops who were preparing to leave the fortress, and deployed defenses in the main city, with two trenches and three walls, ready to stand ready. At noon on the 16th, the entire Hexi Fort seemed extremely quiet. All troops were already in fighting positions, wearing armor, carrying long bows, and holding swords and guns. There were many soldiers preparing for war.
Wang Ziteng was dressed in military uniform, and as usual, he led only two soldiers to the top of the city. The veteran Zhang Qingsheng was in charge of this area. However, it was seen that both the officers and soldiers stood at their posts in an orderly manner.
The sky was extremely dark. It was just after noon, but it was like evening. The black clouds pressed over the city, giving people an invisible sense of depression. The Hexi soldiers who had stood for a long time couldn't help but take a deep breath. They climbed up the tower. , without looking at it first, you can tell how noisy it is outside the city just by your ears. The sound is like bursts of muffled thunder, getting closer and closer. Although it is not loud, it is breathtaking!
Looking from the city, there are crowds of people thousands of steps away. There seem to be thirty or forty thousand Hu cavalry, coming from all over the mountains and plains. Wang Ziteng doubts whether Hujietan really has such a large army, but the dust is so thick that it is difficult to judge by visual inspection alone. The specific strength of the opponent's troops could only be seen in the wilderness to the north of Hexi Fort, which was completely filled with barbarian cavalry.
"General, it's really strange that Hu Jietan is coming. We were about to leave the fortress when they came to kill us. This is a perfect time." Zhang Qingsheng came to Wang Ziteng's side and said softly.
Wang Ziteng raised his head and looked at the increasingly dark sky for a while, then chuckled and said, "But it doesn't matter. We are building a city here, and Hu Gou will be here sooner or later. But...it seems that we can't fight today..."
"It's a coincidence that the rain came!" Zhang Qingsheng said with a smile. His tone was different from his previous doubts, but only funny.
Wang Ziteng is also a veteran who has been on the battlefield for a long time. He is naturally full of doubts about Hujietan's 'offensive'. He suspects that Hujietan is bluffing and playing tricks. But everything, with the coming heavy rain, will come to an end. Canceled.
"Let's wait and see. Anyway, as long as we stay at Hexi Fort, Hugou wants to enter? Humph." The prince raised his hand to support the wall, with a sneer flashing across his face.
A group of soldiers and horses rushed out from the cavalry, which was as dense as a sea and lake. They stopped five or six hundred paces away, looked at it for a while, and then turned their horses' heads to the east.
"Hu Jie Tan." Zhang Qingsheng said with a smile.
He couldn't laugh or cry, he couldn't laugh or cry. Hu Jietan was so confused in his heart that he didn't know whether to cry or laugh. He came over to 'attack' with a pinch of his thumb, but he was so stubborn in this kind of weather...
