Li Yuanhao's face was so gloomy that he could bleed. He reined in his horse and stopped, watching the horse thieves gradually flee away in front of him.
The iron kite behind him, as well as the auxiliary soldiers, also reined in their horses and stopped.
The Iron Harrier is a heavily armored cavalry, so it seems a bit difficult to chase Zhang Yuan and his party's cavalry.
In order to catch up with Zhang Yuan and his party, Tie Yaozi had already taken off his armor with the help of the auxiliary soldiers while running.
The auxiliary soldiers would jump on their horses and sit behind them to help them remove their armor while they were running.
Tie Yaozi's auxiliary soldiers are all Tie Yaozi's blood descendants. When Tie Yaozi dies, they will put on Tie Yaozi's armor and become new Tie Yaozi.
Therefore, there is a tacit understanding between their blood relatives.
Taking off one's armor immediately is something that others think is impossible, but they can easily do it on horseback.
even so.
Li Yuanhao led Tie Yaozi, but still failed to catch up with Zhang Yuan and his party.
Although they encountered some broken soldiers who had separated from the team during their pursuit, the number was not large.
During the pursuit, very few horse thieves fell into their hands.
It wasn't until the explosion sounded that Li Yuanhao realized that he might have fallen into a trap. This war might have been a ruse from beginning to end.
When the horse thieves were escaping, they were very fast and concentrated. They did not have any panic when escaping, and they ran along a road with great purpose.
The horse thieves who scattered along the way were incomparable to those who escaped in groups.
Li Yuanhao guessed that the horse thieves who were dispersed might be abandoned sons.
They may not know the truth at all and have been blindly following the leader of the horse thieves.
But those horse thieves gathered together definitely know the truth.
"Damn..."
Li Yuanhao cursed in a low voice.
When the leader of the horse thieves abandoned the horse thieves, he not only abandoned them decisively, but also made use of them.
The explosions coming from everywhere are proof.
"Go away quickly and find our brothers..."
Li Yuanhao reined in his horse and stopped where he was, shouting in a deep voice.
The auxiliary soldiers at the back exchanged horses with Tie Yaozi, and Tie Yaozi sent out a hundred people to look for those Tie Yaozi who had already been sent out.
"Hahaha……"
"Li Yuanhao, no matter how powerful you are, you still have to drink my foot-washing water... If I'm to blame, I blame you for underestimating the enemy... You shouldn't have chosen to chase us..."
"..."
After Zhang Yuan and his men escaped from the pursuit of Li Yuanhao and his party, he laughed heartily.
"Chief, where are we going now?"
Behind Zhang Yuan, a thin horse thief asked in a low voice.
Zhang Yuan pinched the horse's back and said loudly: "Go to the camp where the cattle and sheep are divided..."
“Aren’t you going to Populus euphratica forest?”
"certainly……"
Zhang Yuan replied matter-of-factly, and led the horse thieves to the place where Kou Ji kept his cattle and sheep.
Poplar euphratica is just a piece of fake news sent by Zhang Yuanfang to those horse thieves who escaped.
The reason why I chose Populus euphratica forest is because there are three must-pass roads leading to the Populus euphratica forest.
Zhang Yuan buried all the invincible mine cannons assigned to him by Kou Ji in one breath on three important roads that he must pass through.
Those horse thieves who escaped were the bait to lure the iron kite into the ambush.
As long as they enter the ambush, no matter who is killed, Zhang Yuan will always be the winner.
Those horse thieves knew that they had been deceived by Zhang Yuan, so they would not give up with Zhang Yuanshan.
If they died under the invincible mine cannon, it would save Zhang Yuan a lot of trouble.
The task that Kou Ji gave him was to hold off Tie Yaozi for as long as possible, but not to let him fight with Tie Yaozi.
The iron kite goes from concentration to dispersion, and from dispersion to concentration.
There was a lot of running in between.
It will take a lot of time.
After this battle, Tie Yaozi had traveled many miles and spent a lot of energy.
You need to take a rest before you have a chance to return.
At least before noon tomorrow, the three iron kite brigades led by Li Yuanhao will not pose any threat to Kou Ji.
"drive……"
Zhang Yuan sat astride the horse and ran freely on the withered grass.
In the distance, Li Yuanhao was sitting astride a horse, his expression becoming even gloomier.
The iron kites he sent out have returned to him. More than 300 iron kites were sent out, but only 290 people came back.
Dozens of them were killed in the pursuit.
"How did they die?"
Looking at the somewhat damaged armor, Li Yuanhao clenched his fists and growled questions.
Bu Luo Mi Bu knelt down on one knee and said in a deep voice: "My soldiers were greedy for merit. After catching up with the horse thieves, they forced the horse thieves to surrender. They told them that the horse thieves would meet up in Populus euphratica forest, so they took the decision without authorization.
Chased out.
Then there was an ambush..."
"A bunch of idiots. I only ordered them to chase, but I didn't tell them to make their own decisions..."
Li Yuanhao roared angrily.
Since its establishment, Tieyaozi has never encountered such a big loss.
If the loss was in the hands of the Song army, or in the hands of the Qingtang or Liao army, he could barely accept it.
But it was hard for him to accept the loss in the hands of horse thieves.
A group of thieves who were not even soldiers in his eyes actually caused casualties among his most elite soldiers.
"Everyone deserves to die..."
"When I take Shazhou City and control the entire north of the Snow Mountain, I will crush them all to ashes."
"..."
Li Yuanhao promoted dozens of auxiliary soldiers on the spot, wore iron kite armor, and became the new iron waist.
At the same time, he ordered Iron Harrier to set up camp on the spot and recover his strength.
Just after Li Yuanhao ordered the iron kites to unload, Kou Ji led his troops and arrived ten miles away from Shazhou City.
There is a hill outside Shazhou City.
There is a river under the mountain.
The river is not spacious, but it is the river of life that the people of Shazhou depend on for their survival.
However, it is difficult to use the drinking water in this river now.
The Shazhou Uighurs, in order to cause trouble for the Xixia soldiers and horses, threw many dead cattle and sheep inside.
Many skeletal cattle and sheep that had been soaked or eaten by wild beasts were piled up on the shore, which looked very eye-catching.
After Kou Ji and his party arrived at Shanbao, Kou Ji issued strict orders to Liu Heng to control his men and told them not to hang out by the river or drink water from the river.
Why did the plague come and how terrible it is?
Kou Ji is far clearer than Liu Heng and others.
After occupying the hillock.
Kou Jice immediately reached the top of the mountain. There were some bushes on the top of the mountain that had been chopped down by the former army.
Kou Ji stood on the top of the mountain, looked up into the distance, and vaguely saw the shadow of Shazhou City.
Shazhou City had already become dilapidated under the successive attacks of Xixia soldiers and horses.
Huge gaps appeared one after another on many sections of the city wall.
The city was almost completely dark, making it difficult to see what was going on in the city.
There was only one place where some lights shone through.
Kou Ji guessed that it should be the palace of the Shazhou Uighurs.
"Our people are not living a happy life in Shazhou City..."
Kou Ji looked at Shazhou City in the distance and sighed.
Liu Heng rode his horse and followed Kou Ji, looking at Shazhou City in the distance, "How can you see it?"
Kou Ji said calmly: "Lamps are as bright as grain... If someone has neither food nor water, how can he still be qualified to light a lamp?"
"The only light in the city is..."
"The residence of Cao Xianshun, the governor of the Guiyi Army..."
"He has food...why not give it to my Song soldiers..."
"Then you have to ask him face to face..."
"..."
Kou Ji and Liu Heng chatted for a while, and Liu Heng said to Kou Ji in a deep voice: "Since we approached Shazhou City, my spies have encountered dozens of Xixia horses...
I'm afraid our whereabouts have been discovered by the Xixia people...
In addition, the scouts found traces of Iron Kites not far from here..."
Hearing this, Kou Ji frowned, "Li Yuanhao did not fall into the trap and did not send all the iron kites to deal with Zhang Yuan and his party."
Liu Heng nodded heavily, "It should be..."
“How do we respond?”
"As expected..."
Kou Ji sighed and whispered.
Liu Heng raised his eyebrows slightly, "You had expected that Li Yuanhao would not send all the iron kites to deal with Zhang Yuan?"
Kou Ji curled his lips and said: "Li Yuanhao is not a fool, and neither are Xixia's spies. They found no trace of us in the troops led by Zhang Yuan, so they will definitely keep a secret.
The biggest possibility is to split the iron kite in two.
After the announcement, the patrolling horse guards remounted their horses and all put on their armor and mounted their horses.
The patrolling horse guards and crossbowmen moved hundreds of tigers to this place.
Tell Kou Cheng to move all the artillery on the carriage here, clear out all the cannonballs, and send them here together.
Tell the Japanese soldiers to put on heavy armor and prepare to face the enemy.
If there are any extra weapons, distribute them to the civilians.
Tell them that if they kill the enemy one level, they will be rewarded with ten swords."
Liu Heng's eyes widened in astonishment, "Where did we get so much money?"
Kou Ji narrowed his eyes slightly and said faintly: "You will have it once you enter Shazhou City."
Kou Ji turned his head, his eyes fell on Liu Heng, and said in a deep voice: "Go down and prepare. After the cannonballs in my hand are used up, everyone will rush into the formation and rush towards Shazhou City."
"Force?"
"At this point, we have no other choice but to rush forward."
"..."
Liu Heng said in a deep voice: "I understand, I will tell them to prepare."
Liu Heng got off the hill astride his horse.
Passed on Koji's order.
After hearing Kou Ji's order, the patrolling horse guards, the Japanese troops, and the civilian husbands all knew that a tough battle would soon be fought.
They did not panic because of this, but were very calm.
In the past, when encountering war, civilians would become very panicked.
But this time it's different.
After experiencing the baptism of the Battle of De Shengchuan, the civilian husbands knew that nothing would happen if they followed Kou Ji, and they knew that Kou Ji had valuable weapons in his hands.
Not only were they not afraid, but they were somewhat eager to try.
A thief's head is worth ten guan, and if you chop off the heads of a few more thieves, that's a huge reward.
Worth the gamble.
Besides, they are not fighting on their own.
Each of them also controlled two prisoners of Huangtou Huihe.
Some smart civilians, after getting the weapons, got some sticks and other things for the captives of Huangtou Huihe.
He told the prisoners that as long as they could help him get the enemy's head, he would buy them meat and improve their treatment if he got the reward.
Some prisoners agreed under the temptation of meat, and some succumbed under coercion and inducement, but more prisoners had a very tough attitude and were unwilling to participate in the war.
In the end, when the peasants put the knife on their necks, they still chose to surrender.
Kou Ji saw everything and did not stop it.
If the civilian husbands were really capable of coaxing the captives of the Yellow-headed Huihe to work for themselves, it would be a good thing in his eyes.
Three lives are better than one life.
As for whether the prisoners of Huangtou Huihe would rebel during the battle, Kou Ji was not worried at all.
The civilians were not the main force in the battle, and the enemies they encountered were not the strongest.
Those who can rush in front of them must be some small groups of Xixia Rangers, and the number will not be too many.
It was difficult for the prisoners of Huangtou Huihe to escape from the swords of the civilian husbands with the help of Xixia's small group of rangers.
Even if one or two are lucky enough to escape, they will be strangled by other civilians.
The civilians were probably hoping that the captives from the Yellow-headed Huihe would defect.
Because as long as they defected, the people could easily pocket the twenty thousand coins.
Kou Ji's order was very clear.
It only says that the enemy's head is the basis for calculating money, but it does not say that the enemy's head must be a Xixia person's head.
As long as they get money that they can see and touch, people will become very smart.
Kou Ji and his party were halfway through setting up.
Xixia's cavalry had already appeared not far from the mountain.
Before the rangers were a group of prisoners.
Some escaped from Shazhou City and were captured by Xixia, while others were captured by Xixia soldiers and horses along the way.
When they fight, they always capture prisoners.
After capturing the prisoner, there is no need to talk about the woman.
Men will be sent to work as coolies for them.
Once the value of the prisoners is almost used, they will push the prisoners out and become cannon fodder to test the enemy's strength.
Not only Xixia, but also the Liao Kingdom was like this when they were fighting.
If you encounter someone who is sympathetic to the captives and is unwilling to kill them, you will suffer a big loss.
The Xixia Rangers drove the captives away and rushed up the hill crying and howling.
Kou Ji stood on the hillock and watched indifferently.
After the prisoners rushed to a certain distance, Kou Ji gave the order without hesitation.
"Order the Japanese soldiers to attack and kill them..."
On the battlefield.
Human life is like grass.
There is no room for any mercy.
Kou Ji would never do any kind act that would harm his soldiers.
"kill……"
"Ho ho ho..."
Gao Yi, wearing a walking armor, gave the order.
Two thousand Japanese soldiers formed a fish scale formation and pushed out.
The fish scale formation composed of two thousand Japanese soldiers was a complete and huge fish scale formation.
It is not like the separate fish scale array used by Xixia Iron Kites.
Judging from the fish scale formation recorded in military books.
The fish scale formation used by the Japanese soldiers can be regarded as the most formal one.
The fish scale formation used by the Xixia Iron Kites is a mutated formation that combines the traditional fish scale formation with wolf pack tactics.