"Lord, there is news from the front that the prairie army has retreated."
Li Xiang pulled the reins of the horse and looked at the soldier: "Aren't you going to attack Pearl City? Why did you go back?"
The soldier who carried the order said: "The grassland people attacked Pearl City for the supplies inside Pearl City. But when they attacked the small cities around Pearl City and harvested a large amount of supplies from those small cities, they began to prepare to retreat.
.”
"At the same time, the grassland people also took away a large number of people from the cities around Pearl City. Now the grassland army is heading north, along with a large number of captured people."
"Because of the cold weather, a large number of captured civilians died in the cold!"
"Are the supplies in those cities enough for the grassland people?" Li Xiang frowned.
The soldier in charge of delivering the message said again: "Master, according to our investigation of the Han family, we found that before the Han family's army was defeated, when Anding County was besieging the city, the Han family moved most of the surrounding materials to Pearl City.
.”
"The supplies that were plundered by those grassland people are probably the supplies that the Han family transported from around Anding County!"
Li Xiang became a little uneasy when he heard this: "Does it mean that all the materials accumulated by the Han family over the years are now given to those grassland people?"
The soldier in charge of delivering the message nodded: "There is a 50% chance of that, but those precious supplies should be in Pearl City, and they should not be placed in the surrounding small cities. What should be in the small cities should be food, weapons and equipment, etc.
.”
"I'm not paying attention to those gold and silver jewelry!" Li Xiang said helplessly: "Things like gold, silver and jewelry are of no use to the grassland people, because now we no longer trade with them, no matter how much they have,
Gold, silver and jewelry can’t buy food, weapons and equipment.”
"On the contrary, after they take away food, weapons and equipment, they can recruit more people on the grassland. After tasting the benefits, they will recruit more people to kill them in the coming year."
Li Xiang knew very well the hearts of these grassland people. In their eyes, life and death were not important. Didn't they go south for supplies? Having already tasted the benefits, they would never let go of such benefits.
In the past, they could only rob some people and some food, but now they got weapons and equipment and enough food for their tribe to use for a long time.
You can herd sheep, herd cattle, and train soldiers with peace of mind. When the horses and sheep are fat in the next autumn, they will send their troops southward.
Don't think that Xiliang can scare them. As long as there are enough benefits, these grassland people will definitely go south to plunder.
Thinking about it now, it is impossible to stop the entire grassland army. People from the east and west grasslands can take it away, but the population must stay.
Thinking about it, Li Xiang raised his head and said to the soldier who was delivering the order: "Order the people in the front to pay attention to me, keep an eye on those teams carrying a large number of prisoners, and report their movements to me at any time!"
Those people are all under Prime Minister Li. They can take away the supplies accumulated by the Han family over the years, but these civilians have to be left behind by him.
We can't let the grassland take these people away!
"Also, have someone send me a message to the guard general of the Han family in Pearl City. If you want to survive, go and recover the civilians who were plundered by the grassland people now. If he is still guarding the city in Pearl City,
Now, he doesn't have to think about surrender. Just wash his neck for me and I'll take it off later!"
In Li Xiang's mind, how could the grassland people plunder the population so unscrupulously? The robbery of supplies must have been indispensable without the indulgence of the Han family's troops around Pearl City.
Without the laissez-faire of the Han family's army? Would the grassland people dare to plunder supplies so unscrupulously?
It can be seen from the news that the Han family army has only two to three hundred troops in those small cities. In the castles where their family members are located and in some rural villages, the number of guards reaches two to three thousand.
It can be seen from this that they have no idea of protecting some small cities at all. They would rather give the materials accumulated in those small cities to the grassland people than use these materials to arm the young adults in the cities.
.
As long as they are willing to give a little, the people in those small towns can arm an armed force of one or two thousand people.
Even if it can't resist the attack of the prairie people? At least it can make those prairie people pay some price.
Faced with the various choices made by the Han family, he really couldn't complain.
"promise!"
The soldier who delivered the order responded? Then he galloped on his horse and delivered the news to the front line as quickly as possible.
Li Xiang looked at the map. He was still about a day away from Pearl City, and the heavy snow still had a great impact on them.
If it weren't for the thick snow, he would be able to rush to Pearl City tonight, and he wouldn't have to rush to Pearl City now. Instead, he would rush directly to the grassland troops.
The soldiers who were responsible for delivering orders at night had already arrived at Pearl City. The soldiers who were responsible for delivering orders were all light cavalry, and they had two horses per person? Their speed was naturally several times faster than the speed of the army.
The head of the Han family received news from Xiliang Xizuo. This was a letter written by a Xiliang soldier on behalf of Prime Minister Li. There were only a few words in it, but it made the head of the Han family feel a strong murderous intention.
After reading it, he burned the envelope. He who was in the city didn't know what was going on outside the city. In other words, he didn't want to know what was going on outside.
If the army really gathered around Pearl City, it would be able to gather around 100,000 to 150,000 troops. However, he divided these troops into various key points. He could only say sorry to the surrounding small cities.
He is really unable to take care of those small cities, so he can only abandon them to protect big cities and important places.
"Go and call General Han Shande here for me." After thinking about it, the guard general of the Han family said to the soldiers guarding outside.
From the information collected about Xiliang King Li Xiang, it can be seen that Xiliang King Li Xiang is a person who does what he says. If he doesn't do anything, the other party will probably come and kill him.
Cut it down.
In the eyes of others, he may be a very useful person, or a very important person.
But this person definitely does not include Li Xiang, the king of Xiliang!
So for the sake of his own life, he decided to send some people to chase the civilians who were captured.
He is still very young, and he doesn't want to move his head so early. He has acquired so many treasures from his master's house and has not fully enjoyed the resources. If he dies so early, all these things will belong to others!
When Li Xiang led the Xiliang cavalry to approach the grassland troops, the scouts from both sides began to fight. The scouts were the eyes and ears of the army. When the scout troops of both sides collided, it meant that the two armies were very close.
The Qiang scouts also quickly reported the news to the Qiang Great Chanyu and said: "Reporting to the Great Chanyu, our army found the Xiliang scouts 30 miles behind. The opponent's army is less than 50 miles away from our army. It is expected to be in
Catch up with our army tomorrow!"
"Did Prime Minister Li take the wrong medicine?" The great chanyu of the Qiang tribe was speechless: "The areas around Mingzhu City that were plundered by our army are now waiting for him to collect them. Instead of collecting some cities, he pursued our army instead.
That’s right!”
"Apart from our army, have the Xianbei people been pursued?"
The Qiang scout said: "Because the Xianbei army has no slaves, it is much faster than our army. After they have run out of Anding County, it will be difficult for the Xiliang army to pursue them."
The Xianbei tribe left quickly after the spoils were divided. Their tribe was a bit far away from Anding County, so they did not bring slaves with them.
Give all the captured slaves to the Qiang people in exchange for more supplies.
Because the Qiang people had too many prisoners, their marching speed was not very fast. The prisoners all walked on foot and carried a large amount of supplies.
It's still snowing heavily now, and the entire grassland is covered with snow. How can the weather improve so quickly in such an environment?
"The big Chanyu and the small one feel that those slaves should be abandoned. The weather is cold now and the snow is too deep. We can't increase our marching speed with them at all. The soldiers are returning home with a lot of plunder.
We have no supplies, and in terms of combat, we are simply not as good as the Xiliang army."
"If we are caught up by them, we will have to abandon a lot of supplies in order to escape." The great military advisor on the side suggested: "And now that the Xianbei army has gone far away, our army will be unable to support itself. We will keep these prisoners and come back next year.
So does plunder."
From the beginning, he was reluctant to bring a large number of captives to the north, but the senior leaders of the clan wanted to take these captives back to demonstrate their martial arts skills and attract the tribal leaders who did not come south with them.
They are envious and jealous.
But the real problem is that carrying a large number of prisoners, the march north is very slow. If the season is good in late autumn and there is no snow at that time, the marching speed can be increased.
But now it's winter, the snow is falling heavily, the snow on the grassland is getting thicker day by day, and they are also carrying a large amount of captive supplies.
It's okay if the enemy doesn't pursue them, but if a large number of troops pursue them, they can only escape by abandoning their supplies and prisoners.
The Great Chanyu did not make a decision immediately, but looked at the scouts and asked: "How many are the Xiliang troops, and what are their weapons and equipment? Can they be detected?"
The scout replied: "The other side's soldiers are all wearing heavy armor, and they are no faster than our army. They number between 20,000 and 50,000, and they are all heavy cavalry!"
"They are all Xiliang heavy cavalry!"
The Xiliang heavy cavalry is not only famous in the Central Plains, but can often be heard in the ears of prairie people like them.
The Xiliang heavy cavalry are very powerful. Many people think that they can be compared with the Liangzhou cavalry, the prairie cavalry, and the Forbidden Army cavalry.
The Xiliang heavy cavalry did not get their name by relying on publicity. They became stronger and famous through step-by-step fighting.
Xiliang war horses can carry heavy cavalry for long-distance marches. Xiliang heavy cavalry basically does not need to dismount as long as they mount, which makes their logistics and supply much simpler.
Because most of the heavy cavalry requires a large number of manpower, including horses responsible for transporting armor, raising horses, and wearing armor...
Behind a heavy cavalry will be 2-3 auxiliary soldiers. Their existence is to assist the heavy cavalry.
The Xiliang heavy cavalry does not need so many manpower. They only need to wear heavy armor, and then they can ride around on their horses.
People from all the major forces wanted to buy Xiliang war horses to use as horse breeders, and some people thought of stealing and robbing them to get a few horses.
I managed to get a few horses by stealing and robbing them, but I was caught by the Xiliang people after only a few steps.
I have never heard of any force getting war horse breeds from Xiliang.
"As you said, let people go and talk to the senior officials. Except for a few people who are left to take away, all the rest will be abandoned and killed!" The Qiang chief chanyu said with a ruthless look on his face: "These people
Their relatives have died in our hands, if we let them go back, they will join the Xiliang army and then fight against our army, and we will be the ones who suffer such misfortune!"
"So we have to do our best and tell them to kill as many as we can!"
"yes!"
The Grand Military Advisor also agreed very much. This was in his heart. Some of these people died at the hands of the Qiang people, and there was already a deep and indestructible hatred between the two sides.
This kind of hatred cannot be resolved through other methods, so the only way to solve the problem is to kill them all through killing.
The civilians who were still working tirelessly to transport supplies were walking numbly on the snow. They didn't know how long or how far they had to walk, and they didn't know when they would fall.
They were walking slowly like zombies on the snow-covered land, and the whips hitting them could no longer make them react.
Death may be liberation for them.
However, among these numb people, there are still some with burning blood in their hearts, and the ropes on their bodies and the materials pressing their bodies cannot suppress their hatred.
They are biding their time, waiting for the time when they can escape.
The cold night was their last chance to escape. If they couldn't escape around here, they would lose all hope of escaping once they left the territory of Anding County and reached the vast grassland.
They didn't know that a bloodthirsty order had spread among the prairie people's army, and what kind of night awaited these civilians.
Li Xiang led the Xiliang cavalry in a desperate pursuit. He thought of something bad. The grassland people knew that he was pursuing them. The other side would have two choices. One was to abandon these civilians, or to kill them all and speed up their retreat.
There are many opponents, so even if he bites them, he can retreat calmly. After all, there are no civilian prisoners to drag him down.
The other is that the army will turn around and fight them. This possibility is basically zero. The prairie soldiers just want to go home now and will not stop and fight with them.
