Hearing that Yang Qiu said he was willing to lead Chen Cheng to attack Linrong, Cheng Yi blurted out: "Are you crazy?"
Yang Qiu sneered and said, "This is what I dislike about you Cheng Yi. You don't dare to gamble at the critical moment."
He raised his head and said proudly: "A certain family was originally just a small soldier in an army. The reason why it was able to lead tens of thousands of troops and march rampant within three years of raising an army. That's because a certain family was cowardly when it should be cowardly, but when it should be desperate
I can risk my life even when I am in trouble! When I sent out troops to encircle Wu, if Ma Teng hadn’t come to rescue me, Wu Wei would have been in my possession long ago!”
Cheng Yi sneered and said, "Dream on, even if Ma Teng doesn't come, Zhang Heng's 5,000 black-armored troops have already arrived to show off their beauty, and Cheng Yin's army is also on the way. Can you beat the three of us joining forces?"
Yang Qiudao: "Success or failure is still unknown!"
Chen Cheng coughed, interrupted the argument between the two, and said, "Prefect Yang said you are familiar with the geography of Shuofang County?"
"Yes, the Huns have always been a big problem in the north. I have already sent people to secretly find out the location of the oasis in the desert, just to prevent the Huns from coming out of the desert and taking Lingzhou directly." Yang Qiu said with a smile.
: "Of course, we also thought about going to the Huns to grab one if we have the chance."
Chen Cheng smiled and said: "Prefect Yang is very brave!"
He then said to Cheng Yi: "Prefect Cheng, if General Yang and I leave, will you be able to defend this place?"
Cheng Yi thought for a while and said: "I can hold it within fifteen days, but beyond fifteen days, it's hard to say."
Chen Cheng made the final decision: "Fifteen days is enough. Linrong is only six hundred miles away from here. If we hurry up, we can reach a hundred miles in one day, which is enough for the news that Linrong was breached to be sent back."
He said to Yang Qiu: "This matter cannot be made public. You pick out 300 elite cavalry and say you want to go back to Fuping to bring reinforcements, and then go to Lingzhou with me first."
Chen Cheng has killed two to three hundred enemies in the past few days, and has moved up one level again. This time, the attribute points are added to "Intelligence", and the two skill points are two levels of "Investigation". "Investigation"
"Every time the skill is upgraded to one level, you can get information about the surrounding area within ten miles, including the geography of mountains and rivers and the location of enemy and friendly forces. Two levels of "reconnaissance" skills can ensure safety within twenty miles, that is, ten kilometers.
It was because of this advantage that he dared to attack Linrong. However, he planned to rely on his ability to avoid the reefs on the back of a boat. Now that Yang Qiu proposed crossing the desert, he felt that it was not impossible to go by land.
Riding a horse can ensure the initiative in the battle, unlike riding a boat, which is a one-time death assault.
The Yellow River is a big river. It is easy to float along the river, but it is difficult to go back against the river. Chen Cheng has always been kind-hearted and does not deal with people. No matter who he is, as long as what he says makes sense, he will accept it.
There are many skills in "Mount and Blade", and he doesn't know how effective some skills are until he uses them. For example, the skill "Trading" is said to reduce trading losses. Chen Cheng wondered if he could still lower the price to others.
Is it below the cost price?
Originally, he wanted to max out the "Strong Attack" skill first, but he was surprised by being outflanked by the Huns before, so he tried to activate the level 1 "Reconnaissance" first, and found that the effect was very good, so
Another skill point was added.
This skill is so useful that even if you don't use it for fighting, you can still use it to find mineral veins.
General Chen Cheng called all the lieutenant generals in, and then announced in public: "There are too many Huns. Although we can win with our current strength, there will be many casualties, so I decided to go to other princes in Liangzhou for reinforcements. Everyone.
Please hold on to the camp and refrain from fighting for fifteen days. While I am away, Lu Fang and Zhao Yun will handle military matters together, and accept the command of Governor Cheng Yi."
Lu Fang and Zhao Yun stepped forward to receive the order, and then Yang Qiu returned to his own camp and announced the same order.
In the Chinese army's tent, the generals left one after another. Chen Cheng said to Zhao Yun: "Master Zhao stays here. I have something to say to you."
Lu Fang paused, glanced at Zhao Yun with jealous eyes, and thought to himself, "Although I am the deputy general, the lord trusts Zhao Zilong more. Unfortunately, he met the lord earlier than me, and this cannot be forced. If so,
If you want to surpass this person, you have to achieve extraordinary feats!
Although the large Huns army retreated, there were still many small groups of cavalry wandering on the ground within tens of miles, firstly to cover their movements, and secondly to detect the military situation in the south. These two things are actually
Above is one and two, two and one.
Of course, when the opportunity is right, they will also attack passing couriers and grain transport teams.
Regarding the Huns' actions, Chen Cheng and the others had no good solution. They could either reduce the control area of the machine room, or send more light cavalry squads to compete with the Huns for control of the battlefield.
Chen Cheng looked at the small map with a radius of twenty miles of the expanded road. There were more than a dozen red dots gathered together on it, which were the sentries placed around by the Huns. He whispered to Zhao Yun: "Yang Qiu and I are here
This time I left, not to move reinforcements, but to prepare for a surprise attack on Linrong through the desert."
Zhao Yun was shocked, but his face remained calm and he just looked around.
Chen Cheng continued in a low voice: "I don't have to worry about this, but after taking out 700 cavalry, the troops here are too few. If the Huns attack with all their strength, they may not be able to defend it."
Zhao Yun said with emotion: "Don't worry, my lord, I will definitely protect the camp."
Chen Cheng originally had many things to say to Zhao Yun, such as persuading him to remain useful when the camp was really undefendable. But now he felt that saying those words was just an insult to Zhao Yun. He was silent for a while
, then patted Yu’s shoulder and said, “With your words, I feel relieved!”
In the evening, a total of one thousand cavalry from the two camps poured out and ran towards the ferry. After seeing this situation, the Huns scouts in the distance quickly separated out several people and passed on the news.
Go back. But this news did not attract the attention of the Huns. It was just a mere thousand cavalry, so what effect could it have? They already didn’t know how many thousand casualties they had suffered.
The ferry and fishing boats went into battle together and worked until nightfall to transport the thousand people across the Yellow River. This was only possible after hundreds of horses were left at the ferry. If you want to transport all the horses, then
It will have to wait until tomorrow morning.
Then Chen Cheng and Yang Qiu spent some time leading the troops into Lingzhou City. Yan Zhong had been busy for a day and was about to take a rest. When he heard that Chen Cheng had returned with his troops, he thought that there was nothing going on on the other side of the Yellow River, so he jumped out of bed.
He got up, rode his horse and rushed to the military camp. When he arrived, he found that Xu Chao had also arrived.
"Your Majesty," Yan Zhong turned pale and said calmly, "there is a natural danger in the Yellow River, and the Huns cannot defeat it."
Chen Cheng was stunned for a moment and said: "Bo Dao, what are you talking about? We have not been defeated."
Yan Zhong breathed a sigh of relief, his whole body became relaxed, and asked: "Since you have not suffered a defeat, why did the prince suddenly return to the east coast?"
Chen Cheng looked to the side and said to the soldiers: "You guys go out first."
After there were only two of them left in the tent, he revealed his plans for a surprise attack on Linrong. Yan Zhong's expression changed slightly, he lowered his head and thought for a while, and said: "I am not good at making decisions on the spot. I am just a prince.
Have you thought about it? The journey to Linrong is far away. In addition to the desert, we may encounter Huns tribes at any time along the way."
Chen Cheng said: "I have made up my mind!"
Seeing that he had made up his mind, Yan Zhong asked, "Is there anything that County Magistrate Xu and I need to do?"
"Prepare more dry food and water bags," Chen Cheng said, "recruit at least 500 war horses and 2,000 draft horses."
Xu Chao immediately said: "Dry food and water bags are not a problem, but most of the war horses in the city have been transported to the other side of the river. There are less than 300 horses, but there are still many draft horses."
Chen Cheng said: "Three hundred horses are enough. We will prepare them tonight. Let's rest here for one night and set off before dawn tomorrow!"
That night, the city was noisy for a while. Yan Zhong assigned men and Xu Chao went into battle in person to prepare the mounts and supplies Chen Cheng needed. They worked until late at night, and after finishing everything, they went back to sleep.
The next day, at the third watch, a thousand cavalrymen in the military camp in the city had already gotten up, made food to feed their horses, and after having breakfast, they went straight out of the north gate before dawn. There were a thousand cavalrymen in total.
Three thousand horses, Chen Cheng was prepared to lose more than a thousand horses.
They moved very quickly. In just one day, they traveled more than a hundred miles and arrived in the desert. The temperature in the desert during the day was obviously much higher than outside. They took advantage of the darkness and ran for more than 30 miles.
Until the horses began to lose their support, they stopped and repaired for two hours.
After the soldiers hurriedly fed the horses, they ate some dry food and then wrapped themselves in blankets and fell asleep on the sand. Chen Cheng squinted his eyes and rested for a while. He felt that he had only slept for five minutes when someone called him.
Got up.
Yang Qiu said: "Your Majesty, it's almost dawn. If we don't take advantage of this time to march, we won't be able to leave when the sun gets stronger."
Chen Cheng knew this, so he wiped his face vigorously, and then said loudly: "Let's walk for two hours first, and then rest when the sun rises in the sky!"
The soldiers got up from the ground, tidied up, and while the weather was still cool, they accelerated towards the north. After walking another twenty miles north, the sun was already strong, and the sand on the ground was scalding hot. Chen Cheng naturally
I didn't feel anything, but everyone else was already sweating profusely and their mouths were dry.
Chen Cheng thought: Marching in the desert is so difficult!
He had brought a lot of food and water in advance, and at least one-third of the "inventory" contained well water in wooden barrels, but one person's use and a thousand people's use are completely different concepts. If the top
Marching under the bright sun will consume a lot of extra drinking water. People can carry it, but horses cannot resist it for too long. As a last resort, we can only find a place to pitch a tent under a sand dune for the horses and soldiers to hide in and rest.
.
In order to avoid excessive non-combat casualties, a lot of drinking water was distributed to the animals and soldiers. This desert is only more than a hundred miles long, and there are several places where drinking water can be replenished in the middle, so there is no need to treat the soldiers too much.
