The grassland in late winter, under the gentle brushstrokes of the setting sun, presents a tranquil and profound picture.
The sky was gradually dyed with a mixture of orange-red and lavender, as if it were the most delicate brushstrokes of nature, slowly outlined on the vast sky.
Sitting on the horse, looking around, the entire grassland is covered with a layer of light golden color, echoing the sunset on the horizon in the distance.
The snow shimmers softly under the setting sun, like a jade blanket covering the world, adding a bit of fantasy and mystery.
There is still a chill in the air, but it is also mixed with the unique fresh smell after the fine soil is soaked in snow water.
General Zhendong took a deep breath, looked up at the eastern sky, and couldn't help but sigh:
"If the Grand Sima were here, he would not be able to recite good prose, but we are not good at writing, so we can only say something good."
In the distance, several low hills have clear outlines, shrouded in light snow and mist, and appear even more clear-cut in the dusk. They are layered on top of each other, like an exquisite ink painting.
In such a beautiful ink painting, there are two waves of people fighting fiercely at an inappropriate time.
Warm blood was spraying freely, and the remaining snow that had long been trampled into mud by the horses' hooves was splashed with warm blood from time to time.
The residual snow, blood, and soil mixed together, making the muddy water not only strange in color, but even a little sticky.
The cold in late winter was unable to prevent the ground from becoming muddy, which shows how brutal the war was.
The blood of human beings gives this exquisite ink painting a somewhat poignant beauty.
Compared to General Zhendong who was relaxed and carefree, Tuoba Liwei was much more irritable.
"Dou Bin, you bastard! You are a cross between a field rat and a vulture, you are worse than livestock!"
"I want to penetrate your mother! I want to peel off your skin, I want..."
Although he knew that yelling and swearing would not help, Tuoba Liwei still couldn't control his arrogant mood and barked like a mad dog.
But the fact is that in the eyes of Tuoba Liwei, who barks like a mad dog, Dou Bin and the tribesmen he brought here are the mad dogs of all sizes.
They are simply humanoid rabid dogs!
As soon as the two sides met, Dou Bin immediately sent a large army to rush over.
There is no probing, no probing, no foreplay, just a prancing horse and a gun, just step up and do it!
Although Karasuma King Ku Xian bought him time and made him more prepared.
But in fact, Tuoba Liwei was almost caught off guard by Dou Bin's unconventional behavior.
Fortunately, the Tuoba tribe is the largest alliance tribe on the grassland.
There isn't much else, but there are definitely plenty of manpower.
There was originally a ditch where Suo's head spent the winter, which was usually used to guard against wolves - and also in case of a sneak attack.
After learning about Dou Bin's attack, Tuoba Liwei had someone dig up another one.
Finally, it was learned from Ku Xian that Dou Bin was assisted by the Han army, and Tuoba Liwei urgently asked people to dig another trench at the outermost edge overnight.
In fact, the extra trench was dug mainly to deal with the Han army.
War on the grassland is not as varied as in Southern Xia.
Because there is no city, the terrain is flat, and both sides are mainly cavalry.
Therefore, if you learn to use the terrain and dig trenches to stop the enemy, you can already surpass most tribes on the grassland.
Don't look down on the simplest civil engineering work of digging trenches. As long as it is deep and wide enough, it is enough to make the prairie cavalry miserable.
The Qinzhi Road from Jiuyuan to Chang'an was artificially dug out in the early Later Han Dynasty. An important reason was to prevent harassment by the barbarians in Henan (i.e. Hetao).
After Feng Dasima resettled Henan, he repaired the Qinzhi Road, which was also the work that the Han Dynasty had never stopped over the years.
No way, at the end of the Later Han Dynasty, some dangerous places on the Qin Zhidao were dug out again...
It can be seen from here that digging trenches seems simple, but it is a powerful weapon against cavalry.
But now, the trench dug overnight has been filled in by Dou Bin.
It was filled with corpses, both human and horse corpses.
One can imagine how crazy Dou Bin was opposite.
It seemed that he didn't care about the casualties of his troops at all, and simply drove his troops to fill the ditch with their lives.
Enter his mother's!
When did Lu Huibu become so brave?
It doesn't mean that there are no fighting styles like Dou Bin on the grassland.
But such a situation of disregarding casualties and wishing to put the last bit of family wealth on the line is basically only when the tribe faces the final moment of life and death.
If not, even if they win, it will be a tragic victory. With their vitality severely damaged, they will be hunted by other tribes' mantises and oriole behind.
That would really mean defeat without defeat.
And if you lose, it will be even worse, and you will not even have the chance to come back.
When Tuoba Liwei attached himself to Dou Bin, he often led his tribe to follow Dou Bin and fight against the Xianbei tribesmen in the west.
The worst defeat was when Dou Bin was almost caught by the opponent - if Tuoba Liwei hadn't given Dou Bin his war horse in time.
Even so, Dou Bin escaped back to his clan and rested for a few years, and he could regain his breath.
If anything, if Dou Bin was as crazy as he is today, he would have been devoured by others in those years without any bones left.
Where is the Wuluhui tribe, which is the second largest tribe in the grassland now?
"It's cold and you should be calm and don't be impatient. There are only about 20,000 people who can't control the strings without the Luhui tribe, and there are only about 10,000 people who can charge into battle on horseback."
The black-clothed deacon who followed him like a shadow waited for Tuoba Li to yell and curse slightly and was breathing heavily before he said in a deep voice:
"People like Dou Bin are so unorganized and only focus on driving the warriors of the clan into battle. Even if they rely on their temporary bravery, they will not last long."
Tuoba Li exhaled a little forcefully, stared ahead, and tried hard to calm down his tone:
"How could I not know? What I am angry about is not only Dou Bin's betrayal, but that he secretly colluded with the Han people and came to attack us!"
Doesn’t he know what Xianbei in the west is like now?
Didn't he see the plight of Kebineng, Xie Guini and others from Xianbei in central China?
He actually dared to collude with the Han people, and the person he colluded with was Feng Wen, who was notorious on the grasslands for eating people without spitting out their bones.
It’s simply asking for death!
Tuoba Liwei didn't believe that Feng Wenshen would be so kind to help.
It's just that Dou Bin is seeking his own death, but his purpose is to drag the Tuoba tribe into trouble. How can this not make Tuoba Li Wei lose his temper?
This bastard who repays kindness with vengeance!
I wish I could join all the women in that clan!
The horse should not have been given to this old beast back then. He should have been caught and killed by the Western Lord!
However, if I hadn't saved the old beast that time, I'm afraid there wouldn't be Tuoba Xianbei now...
Tsk!
Tuoba Li thought about this for a moment and couldn't help but cursed:
"I wish I could enter his mother!"
"Ke Han, we are facing a powerful enemy, so don't act on your own initiative."
When the black-clothed deacon saw that Tuoba Liwei refused to listen to his repeated advice, he almost wanted to say something like "Mother of the Cold" in his heart.
Just thinking about it, Tuoba Liwei's mother's surname is still Han, so I can only give up.
As if he heard the anger in the black-clothed deacon's tone, Tuoba Liwei finally restrained himself:
"Don't worry, deacon. I've already sent people around from the north. As soon as we see movement on the left rear of the opposite side, we can launch a charge from the front."
Filling a ditch is nothing.
Aren’t there two more items?
As long as the cavalry sent out to look for opportunities from the opponent's flanks can harass the opponent's rear, it will be fine.
Cavalry in different eras have different uses.
In the pre-Qin era, they were mostly used for guerrilla raids, cutting off food routes, chasing defeated armies, etc. There was not much room for use on the frontal battlefield.
But by the time of the Chu-Han struggle for hegemony, cavalry had begun to be used in frontal battles.
I don’t know when and who initiated the cavalry frontal assault strategy, but to carry forward this strategy, it is inseparable from one person.
Xiang Yu.
When Chu and Han were fighting for hegemony, Liu Bang was driven to ecstasy by Xiang Yu's cavalry.
Therefore, it is not unusual that cavalry began to be used in frontal battles from the Pre-Han Dynasty.
The former Han Dynasty opened so many horse farms in border counties and raised hundreds of thousands or even millions of war horses. It cannot be said that they were all used on the flank battlefield to assist the infantry, right?
As for the Huns of that era, in terms of cavalry use, compared to the Han army, they were rubbish.
Tens of thousands of cavalry surrounded 5,000 Han infantry on the grassland, but they themselves suffered more than 10,000 casualties.
In the end, the Han army had to rely on geographical advantages to stop the Han army from advancing, and this was enough to completely defeat the Han army. This shows that the Huns cavalry did not have the ability to charge head-on at that time.
In the Later Han Dynasty, the "Tuqi" under Emperor Guangwu played a huge role in reviving the Han Dynasty.
As the name suggests, the cavalry are sharp cavalry used to clash with enemies.
If it hadn't been for the intrusion of a certain country rogue, the cavalry would have reached its peak a hundred years later - the armor and cavalry equipment.
The Xuanjia Army under Li Shimin is equipped with armor and riding equipment.
But the armor and riding gear are not without their weaknesses.
Its biggest weakness is that it is expensive, very expensive, extremely expensive.
Once used, if it cannot be decisive on the battlefield, its cost performance will become extremely low, and it can even be said to be a blood loss.
Therefore, both the Tang and Yuan Dynasties had a large number of cavalry, but the light and heavy cavalry were used in conjunction, and it was not said which one was focused on.
Even during the Great Sending between the two dynasties, due to being beaten out of experience, they were able to develop tactics to restrain the cavalry.
As a result, the heavy cavalry such as the Guaizima in the north were once again reduced to flanking battlefield units.
Of course, due to the illegal crossing of a certain country turtle, a complete set of armor and cavalry equipment was developed in advance, allowing the heavy cavalry to enter its peak era ahead of schedule.
In this era, the productivity of both Wei and Wu was at least one generation lower than that of Ji Han.
As for the tribes on the grassland, let alone that.
Tuoba Liwei fought Dou Bin in the front, and at the same time arranged a cavalry group to go around the flanks, looking for flaws, waiting for an opportunity to launch an attack, disrupting the opponent's flanks and rear.
There is nothing wrong with this - although in the past, he would send one to the north and one to the south, but now, half of the elite cavalry in the clan are still wandering around.
But he was wrong. He misjudged his opponent and did not understand his opponent at the same time.
"General, Xianbei Hu has a cavalry army coming around from the north."
Zhao Sanqian, who raised his telescope, took the initiative to assume the responsibility of the lookout and reported the situation to General Zhendong.
Taking the initiative to rush to the enemy's preset battlefield, there is no way to choose the commanding heights in advance, and you can only have people temporarily set up a command post.
General Zhendong stood on the command platform with his hands behind his back, seeming to be admiring the picturesque scenery of the grassland, and not paying too much attention to Zhao Guang's latest discovery of the enemy.
Of course, in his eyes, there was nothing worthy of paying too much attention to his opponent in this battle.
There was no other way. The opponent took the initiative to weaken half of his strength in advance, which undoubtedly allowed General Zhendong to crush him easily.
He just said yes to show that he heard it.
Then he raised his chin again and asked:
"Where's the front?"
"Dou Bin has broken through Xianbei Hu's first line of defense and is continuing to advance,"
After a pause, Zhao Guang lowered his voice a little and said, "General, from General Yimo's point of view, the situation without Lu Huibu seems to be a bit not good."
Although he couldn't see the specific situation clearly, Zhao Guang could see from the telescope that the formation without Lu Hui's troops had become a bit messy.
And this mess has continued and has not been restored.
This is not normal for a team that just won a small round.
Zhao Guang is not good at anything else, but he still has some experience in leading troops.
At this glance, he could guess something:
The troops without Lu Hui were probably exhausted and had no energy left.
At this time, Dou Bin actually dared to continue leading the troops forward, which was probably in danger.
It can be seen from the telescope that although Tuoba Xianbei lost a line of defense, the formation at the rear is still neat and the flags are not disordered.
Comparing the two sides, Tuoba Xianbei is indeed much better than Wu Luhui.
Under such circumstances, if Tuoba Liwei saw that Wu Luhui's troops were at the end of his might and organized a counterattack, Dou Bin might not be able to stop him.
"Oh?" General Zhendong's eyes finally moved from the distant scenery back to the front of the formation, and an indifferent arc appeared at the corner of his mouth:
"Dou Bin didn't send anyone to ask for help, so don't worry about him."
"What if there is no Lu Hui tribe's defeated troops to counterattack?"
"Inform Tufa Kheli and others so that they can be prepared at any time."
After obeying the instructions, Zhao Guang smacked his lips with some pity, "With this kind of attack, too many barbarians will die."
That’s a lot of money for one laborer!
"not enough."
"Um?"
Zhao Guang turned around in surprise and looked at General Zhendong.
General Zhendong's eyes were solemn and his face was cold, "Not enough people have died."
"Tuoba Xianbei is a big tribe. If we can destroy them as planned this time, we will have at least 200,000 to 300,000 laborers."
"Coupled with the fact that there are no deer to return to the tribe, I am afraid that we will not be able to harvest nearly half a million barbarians this time."
Even though Zhao Guang had been with leader Feng Laoli for many years, he still couldn't help but swallowed when he heard this number.
Too much……
General Zhendong exhaled, "But this is deep in the grassland. Even if we include the Hu Qi Yi Cong, we have less than 50,000 people."
Shaking his head, "How can 50,000 people watch 500,000 people on the grassland?"
Even if all the hemp ropes in the army were used, so many people would not be able to be tied up.
Because this time we went out to the fortress, the staff department's deduction was that it was already the limit to be able to recruit 200,000 to 300,000 people.
Not to mention countless horses, cattle and sheep.
"Although the Luhui tribe is currently fighting fiercely with Tuoba Xianbei, they are in-laws after all. If something unexpected happens after the war, then our previous efforts may be wasted this time."
Hu people cannot be trusted.
"So I can only rest assured if we let them have a blood feud."
How can it turn into a blood feud?
Of course, more people on both sides will die.
Compared with making money from selling heads, General Zhendong paid more attention to the arrangements after this battle.
This battle went so smoothly that General Zhendong had some new ideas.