In early March of the second year of the Han Dynasty
Liu Ling led 60,000 elites to leave Youzhou and marched slowly to Linhuang Mansion in Shangjing, Liao Kingdom. The scene they saw after leaving the North Great Wall was too horrific to behold. Last year's fires had already destroyed the grassland.
The two heavy snowfalls after the beginning of winter sprinkled a pinch of salt on this huge wound.
Liu Ling knew that his strategy against the Khitans was too cruel, but if he had not done so, the once powerful Liao Empire would not have declined so quickly. If enough Khitans did not die, Saibei's
The threat will become even greater.
If the Liao Kingdom was simply allowed to perish instead of the Khitan clan, the nation without imperial power would become more scattered and wild. In order to survive and to have a better life, the Khitan people would cross the North Great Wall like locusts.
, gnawing away the land in the northern part of the Central Plains until it was completely bare.
But no matter what.
It's really too cruel.
Looking at the dead bodies, human and animal, that keep appearing along the road, Liu Ling feels a faint sense of guilt in his heart. What can be seen on the surface are corpses, but what is hidden behind may be extremely desolate stories. Yi Zi
As for eating, cutting meat to feed the mother, the more I think about it, the more I feel like there is a knife stabbing into my heart, causing corpses to be strewn across the field and rivers of blood to form.
People died, cattle and sheep died, war horses died, coyotes were fattened, wild dogs were fattened, and vultures were fattened.
You can see the raptors sitting on the human bones still pecking at them, and it seems that they can tear off bloody pieces of meat from the bare white bones. After eating human flesh for a winter, coyotes, wild dogs and bald dogs
The eagle will no longer be afraid when it sees people. Even if a large group of Han troops pass by, those beasts will stare at the Han soldiers with glaring eyes, and even try to kill those who are still alive in the army.
The Han army used bows and arrows to teach the beasts the principle of the weak eating the strong. They rushed over and just added a bite of meat to the Han soldiers. However, after more than ten days after leaving the customs, some people could not help but be disgusted by the tragic sight in front of them.
He kept vomiting. The military doctors accompanying the army prepared a large amount of decoction for the Han soldiers to drink, because no one knew whether the plague had begun to spread.
The miserable scene is unbearable to watch. One does not know how long it will take for those white bones to turn into loess and nourish a small piece of pasture. One does not know whether cattle and sheep will chew out a mouthful of blood in the future when they eat the weeds.
Fortunately, spring has come.
Although the weather in Saibei is bitterly cold, in early March, dots of green have sprouted on the earth. The ashes of last autumn will turn into nutrients this year, making the pastures more lush. When summer comes, it should be
It is a beautiful scenery with boundless green fields. However, the water on the grassland is beautiful, the land is fertile, and the grass is abundant, but there are fewer cattle and sheep. Perhaps within a hundred miles, it is rare to see horses and sheep waving whips.
prairie man.
In order to achieve his own goals, he killed millions of people directly and indirectly. Is this really right and there is no need to feel guilty?
Liu Ling didn't know, he just knew that his heart had turned into a solid stone when his brother raised the butcher's knife against him that year. There were times when this stone was hot, but it was definitely not on the battlefield.
Determining success or failure, this stone is not only hard but also covered with a layer of frost.
If the fire burns for a few more years, I'm afraid the grassland will no longer have the beautiful scenery of wind-blown grass and cows and sheep, right?
Liu Ling smiled and realized that she had really changed.
The army left Yuyang and walked more than 200 miles before encountering a small grassland tribe that could not even be considered a village. The total population was less than 200 people, most of whom were women, and there were very few elderly people and children.
When the young scout discovered this small tribe, beside the dirty felt tent, several Khitan women were carefully digging out the grass that had just sprouted from the ground, and then holding it in their hands to feed them.
Give them seven or eight skinny sheep that are dirtier than a felt tent. When they feed them, their expressions are solemn, as if they are on a pilgrimage, and they seem to be suckling their own children.
The small tribe of more than 200 people only had two horses, eight sheep, one cow, and more than 400 eyes that were frightened and panicked after seeing the Han army. There was not even hatred in those eyes. They were dark and thin.
The women, who looked like skeletons emerging from the ground, tightly guarded the animals behind them. No one would doubt that as long as someone touched their animals, they would bite them with their teeth like she-wolves guarding their cubs.
enemy.
This is not about hatred, but simply about maintaining the hope of survival.
The Han army scouts did not enter the tribe. They looked at this sad place from a distance, and then turned back. Seeing the dozen soldiers with bright armor leaving on the high slope, the women slowly loosened their grip.
fist, at that moment, some people even fell softly to the ground.
However, before they could put their hearts down in their throats, several flaming red war flags flapping in the wind appeared again on the high slopes in the distance. Before the Khitan people's frightened wails could be heard, hundreds of
The cavalry had already jumped down from the hillside. It was like a pool of black water pouring down from the grassy slope, covering the dots of new green. The waving flags and the dragon above seemed to be wandering and flying, in the eyes of the Khitan people
It looks like a skull with its mouth open and capable of swallowing everything.
The crowd began to run away, but they did not forget to pick up the sheep and take them with them.
Even if they weren't hungry or afraid, they still couldn't outrun the Han army's horses. Hundreds of cavalry separated like two strong arms and stretched out, carrying back the surviving Khitan people.
"Don't run away, I won't hurt you."
Some soldiers who were proficient in Khitan shouted loudly and patted their chests to assure themselves that they meant no harm.
Liu Ling urged his horse to come closer and silently looked at these tenacious herdsmen, who were like grass sprouting from the ground. He had seen before that the seemingly disorganized Khitan herdsmen actually maintained a kind of order when they were running for their lives.
It was a sad formation. The old people spontaneously stayed at the end, holding wooden clubs and daggers to try to block the oncoming cavalry. The strongest women ran at the front holding sheep and children, and women with empty hands kept leaving spontaneously.
The team ran elsewhere in order to attract the black-armored cavalry to their side.
The Han army scout took out an oil paper bag from his arms and opened it. In the crisp spring breeze, the fragrance seemed to float into the noses of every Khitan people. It was a large piece of braised beef, which they had not seen for three months.
This thing.
Stuffing beef into a child's arms, the Han army scout smiled: "I just wanted to ask how far it is from Linhuang Mansion."
The child drooled and stared at the delicious food in his hands. Unable to resist the temptation of braised beef, he lowered his head and bit into the stiff beef like crazy. A Khitan woman rushed over, snatched the beef and threw it away.
On the ground, he held the child tightly in his arms and yelled hoarsely: "Please leave! Don't hurt our child!"
She was talking about us, not me.
The Han soldiers tried their best to maintain a gentle tone and pushed the horizontal sword to their backs to show that they had no ill intentions. But those dirty Khitan women, who exuded a sense of divine motherly love, held hands to protect several children.
Center. What cannot be concealed on their faces is fear, but what cannot be concealed is strength.
"Go all the way northeast from here. If your horses run fast enough, you can see the city wall of Linhuang Mansion in seven or eight days. I beg you, leave here as soon as possible."
A white-haired old woman crawled at the feet of the Han army scouts, kissing the Han army soldiers' mud-stained riding boots.
Liu Ling led the people away from the small village, leaving nothing behind except the piece of braised beef that fell on the ground. It’s not that Liu Ling was cruel and unsympathetic, he left several hundred kilograms of food to help these herdsmen tide over the crisis.
Spring is actually nothing, but Liu Ling has no intention of doing that. No one knows whether the Han army's trip will go as smoothly as expected, leaving hundreds of kilograms of food for the Khitan people. Maybe it will also be a lifesaver for the Han army soldiers at the last moment.
Food.
This is not a cruel choice, and it will not affect Liu Ling's state of mind.
In his opinion, no matter how pitiful these herdsmen are, they are not as important as the soldiers under his command. He is not a good person or a great man. It can be said that he is even very narrow-minded and despicable. Because if he sees these victims in another place, in Hebei, in
The choices made by Jiangnan and Liu Ling will not be the same as today.
The old woman said that if the horse was fast enough, it would take another seven or eight days to reach Linhuang Mansion.
Although not all of the 60,000 elite troops Liu Ling brought this time were cavalry, everyone had a horse. For elite teams such as Shura Heavy Cavalry and Kuangtu Heavy Armor, each person even had three horses. But the army does not march alone.
The horse was riding like crazy, so according to speculation, it would take at least twelve days and up to half a month to reach Shangjing in the Liao Kingdom. Therefore, Liu Ling did not feel that his behavior of leaving no food was cruel. It would take two days to go back and forth from Youzhou to Shangjing.
Even if there is enough food and grass, we should use it sparingly, because no one knows what dangers there may be in this vast grassland.
With an army of 60,000, 10,000 auxiliary troops, thousands of carts, and grain carried by tens of thousands of horses, the 70,000 people would need supplies for at least three months.
In this way, they walked for another ten days. Liu Ling ordered the army to be stationed, and then sent Xu Xuan to lead a small banner of cavalry to explore the way. The vast grasslands all looked the same. Although there was a guide, they met the surviving Khitan people along the way.
He could still ask for directions, but Liu Ling didn't want tens of thousands of troops to get lost and drive himself to death. This was the first time the Han army set foot on the grassland, and Liu Ling didn't want any accidents to happen. This would be an opportunity for the Han army to get out of seclusion.
The battle left its mark. In the future, perhaps because of this battle, the Han people will establish absolute confidence.
After the army camped and rested for four days, the scouts sent by Xu Xuan returned to the camp covered in dust.
Linhuang Mansion is not far away, and less than two hundred miles to the northeast is the location of Daliao Shangjing. General Xu Xuan sent people back after seeing clearly the Khitan wolf flag flying on the city wall, but... Linhuang
There seems to be something wrong with the house. (To be continued)
