"It feels a little bad!" Li Xiang looked at the deserted towns around him. This was supposed to be a small town under the rule of the Ma family, but now the town was empty.
Zhou Niao is uninhabited and looks desolate and bleak. The surrounding residents should have been taken away by the Ma family, otherwise they would not disappear, so let's do it completely.
Only the ruler of a place can do such a thing, and the Ma family responded very well.
Li Xiang sent out his cavalry first, and the distance between the cavalry and the infantry square was a hundred miles away.
The cavalry did not carry much food. They originally planned to build a place to capture it and obtain the required food from the captured place, but they did not expect that the surrounding towns had already been led away by the Ma family's army.
Now it is difficult for them to find a place where they can plunder food. Due to climate reasons, spring is farther away in Liangzhou than in the northwest.
Farming has begun in the northwest. Of course, farming does not count as a seasonal change. With the help of farmers in Xiliang, the common people in Xiliang, the northwest, can plant crops all year round.
Therefore, farming does not represent a seasonal change, but it can be seen that Liangzhou is more difficult than the northwest.
"There are no people around my lord!" The scout leader quickly ran back to the area around the target: "The villages we saw were all deserted. The surrounding residents should have been taken away by the Ma family, and food and other things have also been taken away.
They’ve all been moved!”
"How long can the food we carry with us last?" Because Li Xiang has space treasures, he stores a large amount of food in his space treasures. This food is a lot for one person, but for the 15,000 he carries,
As far as cavalry is concerned, the most it can do is feed the army for a day.
"The food we have on us can last for about seven days!" The Xiliang cavalry will bring enough food before each battle because they don't know when they will be able to return to the infantry phalanx.
Therefore, they try to bring as much food as they can. Anyway, if they can't finish it, they can re-store it when they return to the infantry square. Otherwise, on the battlefield, due to some reasons, they cannot return to the infantry square in time.
The army was short of food.
The consequences of this are good, so it's more troublesome than it is, and the food you bring won't be wasted anyway.
"Seven days!" Li Xiang knew that this period meant that when Xiliang soldiers had enough to eat and drink, how could they fight on the battlefield because they didn't have enough to eat or drink.
If you eat more frugally on these seven days of food, you can live for more than ten days, but this is a bit unreliable in a fierce war.
The fierce war caused the soldiers to consume a lot of physical energy. Without sufficient food to satisfy their hunger and replenish their energy, how could they defeat the enemy on the battlefield?
"If we rush back at full speed, how long will it take to get back to the infantry square?"
The scout said: "If we rush back at full speed, it will only take about six hours. Even if the road conditions are better, the speed may be faster!"
Because the snow in Liangzhou has just melted, the ground is muddy. It would be better if it were grassland.
"That's enough!" Li Xiangda took out the map drawn by the Xiliang scouts. On these three maps, small villages, towns and cities were accurately drawn.
Also marked is the distance to the other party.
Li Xiang looked at the map. There were three or four small towns ahead of them. After passing these small towns, they would come to a city.
This is no longer Fufeng County, but the county occupied by the Han family, which is located in the northernmost region of Xiliang.
This time, Li Xiang wanted to capture not just Fufeng County, but the entire Lanzhou, so the large army seemed to be preparing to attack Fufeng County from the north.
In fact, the real intention is to defeat the Han family first and capture the county occupied by the Han family.
Anding County!
The city in front can be said to be the gateway to Anding County occupied by the Han family. It is a medium-sized city that connects Zhangye County and Anding County.
It is built on a plain, with a big river flowing from it not far away. It is built along the water. Because it is close to the water, the city has a dock.
However, because the ice on the river has not melted yet, ships cannot yet reach this small city.
The Han family thought that Xiliang was going to wipe out the Ma family in Fufeng first, and sent all their elite troops to Fufeng County, leaving only a large number of second-line troops and newly trained recruits placed around Anding County.
They are very clear about the reason why lips are dead and teeth are cold. The three families have ruled the land of Liangzhou for many years, and the three parties know each other well. Although there are some minor conflicts due to some reasons, they are facing the fierce dragon of Shangxiliang together.
.
They need to unite. If they don't unite, they will be defeated one by one by Xiliang. Zhangye County is a good explanation.
Because there was no help from the other two families, the Ma family's army was retreating steadily when facing the army of Upper Xiliang, without much resistance, and finally lost Zhangye County.
At the same time, they also allowed Xiliang to penetrate directly into the heart of Liangzhou. With the Xiliang army firmly established in Zhangye County, they could send troops everywhere to fight.
Because the territory of Zhangye County borders Anding County and Fufeng County, and is not far from Tianshui County where the Pang family is located, Xiliang only needs to capture one of the counties, and they will no longer be able to fight against Xiliang.
At this point, the only thing facing the organizers is a battle with Xiliang, driving Xiliang back, giving them a chance to breathe, and transforming the newly trained army into an elite force on the battlefield.
Taking advantage of the time gap after repelling the Xiliang army, important passes in various places were re-fortified.
They only need to repel the Xiliang army and wait until the real spring begins, when the northern grassland tribes will help them.
Over the years, the weather has become colder and colder. On the grasslands north of Zhangye County, life is not easy for those grassland people.
In the past, they often went south to hunt down the autumn wind, plundering some herdsmen and farmers who were not protected, and several big families just turned a blind eye to this.
As long as those grassland tribes do not attack their family's territory or city, they can turn a blind eye to these things.
They don't want to really fight with the grassland people. They don't have that much energy and military strength. Their real focus now is on the Central Plains.
It's a pity that Xiliang is here, and the arrival of the New Year has suppressed them, the three evil wolves of Liangzhou.
The Ma family had their bones broken by Xiliang, but now that the three families have united, their strength exceeds 3 million, and Jiangxi Liang, not to mention Jiangxi Liang, can drive them out of Liangzhou.
It is not difficult to hold on to the place conquered by our ancestors.
Xiliang's strength is very strong. Although their strength is not weak, the top-level military force of Western Alliance can crush the three of them.
None of their three families has a grand master until now, and now it is known from the data that there are at least five grand masters in Xiliang.
Li Xiang, king of Xiliang, is also one.
Their three major families only have four grand masters at most. The gap between the top military forces of the two sides is much larger than the gap between ordinary troops. As long as the top military forces are not balanced or have the ability to compete.
There is no need to be afraid on the battlefield, because the army's military formation can suppress the Grand Master. What they are afraid of is the decapitation action of the opponent.
For a top grand master to assassinate someone who is not yet at the grand master level, it would be a piece of cake, and it couldn't be simpler.
It's basically like seeing an ant on the roadside and killing it easily.
What they were afraid of was a situation like this. The Grand Master master from Asiliang saw that the situation on the main battlefield was not right and took action to kill the senior officials behind them.
If such a situation really occurs, there is nothing they can do.
But now there is an opportunity in front of them. It may be because Xiliang is too high-profile, which has caused some of the top powers in the south to be dissatisfied with it.
So experts were sent to help them, which is why they dared to fight in Xiliang this time. There were quite a few great masters who came to help them this time.
Not to mention being able to suppress the Grand Master masters from Xiliang, it would at least prevent the other party from killing their senior officers, allowing ordinary troops from both sides to fight each other on the battlefield.
As long as the Grand Master doesn't take action and the ordinary troops fight, the three families are sure to repel the Xiliang army.
In the small city connecting Anding County and Zhangye County, it was just past noon, and black smoke was rising from every household. Because the cold weather had not passed yet, the people in the city were still nestled in their small houses.
When they wait for the spring in Liangzhou, they will go out to find sources of income. Some will go to the grassland to graze, and some will go to the farmland not far away to cultivate. Although the yield of the food they grow is very low, they can still make do with it.
Make ends meet.
Others serve the Han family and do some hard work in the dock area of Dahe. This is the source of income for most families in this small county.
There are only 5,000 soldiers stationed here. This is because there were so many soldiers after Zhangye County was occupied by Xiliang. Otherwise, the number of soldiers usually in this city would be 1,000 at most.
To support such a large army, the food consumed every day is astronomical, plus a month's military pay and equipment for the soldiers.
Without an independent arsenal and high financial resources, there would be no army at all.
The three major families worked hard to save their money and each recruited nearly a million troops, almost consuming all the family's savings of hundreds of years.
Now, for the sake of money, they are vigorously developing various minerals in their territory. If there are no minerals, they will work hard to develop animal husbandry.
Groups of cattle and sheep are slaughtered and turned into beef, mutton, sheepskin, and cowhide, which can be used as hard currency.
It is a best-seller at any time, especially in this era when the weather is getting colder and colder. Beef and mutton are very easy to handle. They only need to be placed in the freezer and transported to the imperial capital.
Everyone in the world knows how to make ice. The only thing that is a bit wasteful is that freezing the meat will make the taste much worse, and the price will be lower than the current slaughtered beef and mutton.
But the three major families no longer care about this, they just want to get a lot of money now.
As a result, a large amount of beef and mutton sold by the three major families was purchased to the northwest.
What Li Xiang lacked most was all kinds of meat. When the beef and mutton sold by the big family arrived in Shanshui City, most of them were purchased by Xiliang and brought to the northwest.
Then the meat was digested by the soldiers. In most cases, the soldiers in Xiliang headquarters ate the meat of ferocious beasts, while the ordinary troops only ate beef and mutton. They only got ferocious beasts during some festivals.
Animal meat.
With good food and drink, coupled with daily drills, the combat effectiveness of Xiliang soldiers is much higher than that of troops from other forces.
Even if the second-line troops are assigned to these local forces, they will be used as first-line troops. However, in the Xiliang army, they usually serve as cannon fodder or bait on the battlefield.
If the enemy did not have a real battle with the Xiliang troops, it would be easy for them to regard these troops as the main force of Xiliang.
Boom, boom, boom!
The hooves of the war horse trampled across the grass quickly, very fast, and entered the city in a flash.
He went straight to the city lord's palace, with two yellow flags planted on his body, causing the soldiers who wanted to stop him to retreat to two places. There were basically not many people on the street, so naturally no one stopped the horse from running.
He rushed to the gate of the City Lord's Mansion, got off his horse, and rushed straight into the City Lord's Mansion with two yellow flags on his back.
The soldiers guarding the gate outside the city lord's palace didn't dare to intercept the man in front of them. This was because the scout intelligence was urgent, and no one dared to intercept him.
The soldiers who saw the scout thought one after another, could there be some major problem ahead?
Only when there is a problem ahead, the scouts will rush on their way carrying two yellow flags.
"What happened?"
The city's guard happened to be in the hall. This was the time when he was handling government affairs. Because it was a war, the city's guard also held the position of city lord.
"Report, general, they are a hundred miles away from our city." The scout clasped his hands and bent down and said: "We found a huge number of Xiliang cavalry, and the flag they raised seems to be the flag of the king and Prime Minister of the West."
brush!
The guard who was holding a scroll suddenly loosened his grip and the contents fell to the ground.
"Are you sure it is the flag of Xiliang King Li Xiang?"
The scout affirmed: "The flag of King Li Xiang of Xileng is made of a bloody wolf head with the word "Li" added to it. My subordinates will definitely remember this."
Scouts not only need to be extremely skilled, but also need to memorize the flags of all forces and the characters represented by those flags.
"Shouldn't we go south?" The guard was very flustered, but he quickly calmed down: "Have you sent this news to Anding City?"
"Already sent!"
"Okay!" the guard said to the scout: "Go down and rest now!"
"Come here, call the centurions and above in the city immediately!"
