The scenery of the North, thousands of miles of ice, thousands of miles of snow,
The garrison fortified Wuchuan to rest and recuperate, but it was difficult to relax. They held the yellow on the left, held the blue on the right, wore brocade hats and mink furs, and thousands of horses rolled up the hillside.
The idle cavalrymen started hunting competitions in the vast snowy grassland, and also exercised their muscles to avoid boredom.
Haidongqing hovered in the sky and howled.
Master Li smiled and said, "We have caught the yellow sheep, they are over there."
"Chase!"
The Youzhou generals galloped away with Wu Huaiyu.
Snowy days in winter are also a good time for hunting. After the snow, pheasants with gorgeous feathers look for food in the snow in groups, and hares will also poke their heads around in search of food.
At this time, the fluffy fox will also lurk in the grass and snow, waiting for the opportunity to attack the pheasants.
But when the mantis stalks the cicada and the oriole follows, and the foxes stare at the pheasants, the big cat lynx, with its long and muscular limbs, will stare at the foxes.
In addition to them, there will be wolves on the grassland, and they are the overlords.
Today, a large group of yellow sheep broke into the quiet grassland, frightening the pheasants, rabbits, foxes, lynxes and wolves.
Several seaweeds are hovering in the sky,
Lock the direction of the yellow sheep herd for the Youzhou generals in the distance,
The woodchucks were awakened and came out of the hole very curiously. They were fat and fat, standing upright and looking around, with their big and cute eyes.
Wu Huaiyu galloped on his horse,
Soon he caught up with the yellow sheep,
This herd of yellow sheep is very large. The Youzhou Army drove many small yellow sheep groups together to form a huge loose herd of yellow sheep, with as many as a thousand animals.
Under normal circumstances, yellow sheep flocks are usually small groups of twenty or thirty. In spring, they often form groups of one to two hundred. In early summer, yellow sheep flocks become larger and more mobile, constantly
Due to the fusion and dispersion, sometimes there can be tens of thousands of loose yellow sheep in an area.
Yellow sheep are always moving and have very strong endurance. They can run for thirty miles continuously at extremely fast speeds. It only takes about ten minutes to run thirty miles at a stretch. They move at least forty miles every day, and they are migrating.
It can move up to six hundred miles in a day,
Even in the summer, pregnant ewes will gather for a calving event, and they even have traditional calving areas.
Li Keshi is a clever hunter and knows the habits of yellow sheep very well. He told Huaiyu that the natural enemies of yellow sheep are prairie wolves.
In winter, the clever wolf king will even lead the wolf pack and drive the yellow sheep into the glacier. The yellow sheep dare not go ashore, and sometimes they will freeze directly in the glacier, and the wolves will not rush to eat these frozen sheep.
, but just keep it until spring when food is scarce, and then share these reserves with the newborn wolf pups.
If herdsmen on the grassland see these ice sheep, they can take some, but not all, otherwise they will inevitably attract revenge from the angry wolves.
In fact, every autumn on the grassland, nomadic herdsmen will transform into hunters. They will hunt the yellow sheep when they are fat, especially when they migrate in large groups. The meat of the yellow sheep is very delicious, and the skin is also good.
thing,
Compared to marmots and marmots, which like to dig holes everywhere on the grassland, herdsmen actually prefer to hunt yellow sheep.
"This herd of yellow sheep is so big. It's very rare. Don't let it go." Master Li laughed on his horse.
There are many yellow sheep on the grassland. Every year they go from Mobei to Monan, and from Monan to Mobei. Their breeding speed is also very fast. One lamb can give birth to one or two lambs. By May, there will be
Little yellow lambs are everywhere,
Herdsmen only hunt yellow sheep in autumn and winter, and stop hunting yellow sheep once spring begins. At that time, the fur is not good and the sheep are thin. Summer is the lambing period for sheep.
If you only hunt in autumn and winter throughout the year, you don’t have to worry about the yellow sheep being hunted in the winter.
When the Youzhou army went out to hunt, foxes, wolves, rabbits, marmots, pheasants, and other things were not as attractive as the yellow sheep. They were large in number and had a lot of meat. A yellow sheep weighed fifty or sixty pounds, which was larger than the sheep that were raised, and the meat was better.
More beautiful.
Nowadays, a large number of soldiers and horses are still stationed in the grassland. Sheep hunting can not only train troops but also provide supplies. The leather is also a good thing.
With the sound of trumpets,
The Youzhou Army surrounded the thousands of yellow sheep in various directions. What followed was a hunting scene where everyone showed off their skills, and finally returned with a full load.
The wolves could only watch from a distance as their prey was being hunted by this strange group of humans. Some of the wolves who did not care about life and death wanted to get closer to snatch the yellow sheep, but they were shot down by the Youzhou cavalry's arrows and taken away together.
Wolf skin is a very good cold-proof leather. Although it is not as good as mink and fox skin, the processing is the same. It can be used to make a wolf skin mattress for marching and fighting. When the conditions are inconvenient, it can be spread to prevent moisture and keep warm.
Sunset,
The Youzhou Legion returned with a full load of prey. They not only hunted thousands of yellow sheep at one time, but also hunted rabbits. By the way, they also hunted many curious woodchucks, clumsy hares, and beautiful pheasants. They always like to grow up.
packs of prairie wolves,
There are even solitary foxes and lynxes,
The soldiers would not be polite to them. They would treat them equally and take them back if they encountered them.
Even if you encounter a tiger, you will be taken away.
Arriving at the Black City,
When they met the Bingzhou and Dingxiang groups, their harvest was far less than that of Wu Huaiyu and others. Although they also hunted yellow sheep, they only had one or two hundred, which meant they hunted only a few small groups.
"Are you raiding the Yellow Sheep's lair?"
"How many yellow sheep have been hunted?" Li Ji couldn't help but sigh,
"Our Governor Li is a first-class hunter. The few sea greens he tamed and the Guanzhong fine dogs are even better helpers for hunting. We found many groups of yellow sheep and drove them for several days.
, drove them into a fight, and finally they all hunted." Wu Huaiyu criticized Li Keshi and proudly said to Li Ji.
Li Ji smiled and said, "Then Xianggong Li has suffered a big loss. His own brother is working in the camp in Youzhou."
Li Jing laughed and didn't care.
In the evening, we had stewed yellow lamb, which was delicious, and even pheasant.
A group of Northern Expedition generals were sitting in the Black Castle, munching on lamb chops and pheasants, followed by a bowl of chicken and goat with dried prairie mushrooms and a pot of fresh soup. It was so satisfying.
The whole army also had extra meals.
"Teacher, Mr. Cao Guogong, it seems that the Chinese New Year will be here in half a month. It's not a problem for us to stay here all the time.
Now that all the Turkic tribes have surrendered, I wonder if they should also start to withdraw their troops, at least part of them first? With so many people and horses gathered in the north and south of Yinshan Mountain, it will consume a lot of people eating horse chews, not to mention that there is no war and everyone wants to go back.
Isn’t the family getting together for the New Year?”
Li Jing was not in a hurry to express his position. Regarding the matter of class teacher, he must follow the arrangements of the court.
Li Ji supported Wu Huaiyu's opinion, "I also think we can withdraw some of them first, and we can each leave some cavalry."
"Well, by the way, you can also give a share of what you capture and let the brothers take it back."
Since we have to withdraw our troops, we cannot let everyone go back empty-handed.
Wu Huaiyu's opinion was that after hundreds of thousands of miscellaneous animals were captured and more than 200,000 Turkic men and women were captured, they couldn't be kept in captivity and raised like this every day. It would also be a waste of food to open their mouths like this.
"It's very hard for the brothers to go to war. I think the captured livestock and the captive population will be distributed among the soldiers. Everyone can take them back and have a happy and prosperous year. We don't have to take care of them anymore. We don't have to.
It will waste more food and grass.”
Li Ji chuckled and said, "This is a good thing, but you have to ask the imperial court for permission first."
"It's thousands of miles from Wuchuan to Chang'an. Every time I come back, the New Year is over," Huaiyu said.
Cui Dunli ate chicken stewed with mushrooms with relish. Although Wu Huaiyu and the others just got the pheasant and yellow sheep today, he still reminded Wu Huaiyu, "It is a mistake to share property privately."
"How can this be called private distribution of property? Aren't we following military practice? The soldiers are called out to fight, and if they seize anything on the battlefield, they will be rewarded."
Wu Huaiyu insisted on dividing,
Of course not entirely.
For example, the good things seized from Jieli Khan's Court in Dingxiang City, such as gold, silver, jewelry, etc., can be packaged and sealed and sent to Chang'an for the emperor.
Among the captured livestock, half of the war horses were handed over to the court, half were divided among the three camps, and the other horses were distributed among the soldiers of the three families.
Some of the cattle, sheep, camels, etc. were kept for the court, and the rest was divided among them.
Of the two hundred thousand prisoners, a few tens of thousands of young men and women were left for the imperial court, and the rest was divided among them.
As for other tents, vehicles, pots and basins, and various other odds and ends, they can also be auctioned off by the army at a discounted price, either to the merchant groups accompanying the army or to the soldiers.
In short, Wu Huaiyu still felt that everyone had worked so hard and fought such a great victory. It should not only be a victory for the court, but also a gain for everyone.
Those who are rewarded by the imperial court will be rewarded by the imperial court, and those who are rewarded based on their merits will be discussed later.
The three of us are going to camp. Let’s divide it among ourselves first.
After the division is completed, the infantry of the three camps will be withdrawn home. Fanhu's vassal servants can also withdraw. Each of the three families will leave some cavalry, leaving about 20,000 is enough to control the situation.
Those who have returned home take the trophies back, and those who have not returned home also take them back with them.
The cavalry units that remain behind should be given more subsidies.
In short, everyone is happy and satisfied.
Tang Jian still reminded Wu Huaiyu, "This is inappropriate, it's too much."
Moreover, he believed that the two hundred thousand captives could not be directly sold into slavery and divided up privately. Although most of these people were from Jieli's headquarters and were defeated and captured, since they surrendered, they were also the people of the Tang Dynasty. Emperor Shengren
Mercy, this matter needs careful consideration.
"Is it possible that according to Duke Tang's wishes, all the Turkic prisoners who fought with us with swords and guns before should be released, and even their livestock, tents, food and grass should be returned to them?
I won’t talk about how they invaded our Tang Dynasty again and again in the past. Let’s just talk about our six-pronged Northern Expedition this time. We dispatched more than 100,000 elites. How many ordinary people are behind the scenes to help?
The Tang Dynasty lasted for three years. How much food did it cost?
Even in this Northern Expedition, we desperately fought for time, braved the wind and snow, how many horses died of freezing and exhaustion, how many soldiers suffered frostbite, and even how many soldiers fought on the battlefield in the ice and snow of the North.
Was your death in vain?"
Tang Jian was refuted, but still said, "I am also doing it for the good of Duke Yi. Don't just commit the great task of destroying the country and then turn around and be impeached and imprisoned."
Wu Huaiyu just laughed a few times after hearing this, "What I mentioned is just in accordance with the practice in the Tang Dynasty army. It is not that Wu and I embezzled property, so what crime is there?"
Li Ji chuckled on the side.
Li Jing finished the stewed yellow lamb ribs on his hand, put down the bones, and glanced at Tang Jian, Cui Dunli, An Xiuren, Li Ji, Zhang Gongjin, Dou Jing, Su Lie, Li Keshi, and Xue Wanshu.
"Gong Yi Guo is not only the general manager of the Heng'an Road Camp, but also the deputy commander of the Northern Expedition. He is also the Minister of the Ministry of War, and he has made great achievements in destroying the Turks this time.
As the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition, I feel that Wu Huaiyu’s proposal is correct. Seventy or eighty thousand soldiers cannot stay in the northern part of the Great Wall forever, and so many prisoners certainly cannot return to the mountains.
Just follow Duke Yi's suggestion and divide the prisoners, livestock, etc., and then arrange for the soldiers to regroup one after another, leaving only 20,000 horsemen."
