It’s June, a time when the grass is green and the wild flowers are blooming.
During this season, the cattle and sheep will eat quickly to keep themselves fat, and the shepherds will make cheese, kumiss, and honey, and go out to catch fish, hunt, and store food.
What a wonderful time!
But war can happen at any time, regardless of human will.
For thousands of years, grassland people have always finished their busy farm work, prepared hay for the winter, finished hunting, and stored food for the winter before gathering together and heading south in a big way. As the saying goes, when the autumn is high, the horses are fat and the horses are hunting in the south.
But no one stipulates that war can only occur in autumn.
To guard against autumn, I will be on guard! Even if you are losing money, I will interrupt your life rhythm. In the busiest season of your farm work, I will attack you in one fell swoop and solve the hidden dangers.
The Khitan people were busy with farming at this time. Otherwise, in the cold winter, at least one-third of the more than 200,000 people would die, or even more.
The arrival of the cavalry caught them off guard.
Three thousand warriors were crisscrossing the pasture. Although none of them were wearing armor, they had the upper hand and used their skilled killing skills to chase the Khitan people who were running around. They shot with bows, stabbed with spears, or chopped with knives.
The entire pasture turned into a Shura field dripping with blood and littered with corpses.
More than two thousand auxiliary soldiers spread out to the two wings, fired arrows from a distance, and wantonly harvested the Khitan herdsmen who fled in panic.
The Khitan people were in a state of complete disorientation.
The women stopped milking the cows and called the children to hide in the tent.
The men frantically searched for bows, arrows, bones, and spears.
They knew exactly what a raid meant.
The slaves from the Shiwei, Tatar, and Ugu tribes who were captured and divided into various tribes are still there. How their tribes were destroyed, the Khitans know better than anyone else.
But it might be a little late...
Li Shaorong waved his mace, took the lead, and jumped into a camp on horseback.
Some Khitan herdsmen hurriedly mounted their horses, intending to stop them. Li Shaorong raised his mace and fell, invincible.
The five hundred riders following him were all veterans.
Someone used a riding bow to call out the Khitan herdsmen who rushed out, destroying any enemy who dared to resist.
Someone used a short blade to kill the fleeing enemies, taking the opportunity to harvest their lives to prevent them from resisting after they recovered.
Some people rushed to the camp and threw down lit torches to create chaos.
The raging fire burned, black smoke billowed on the grassland, and there was a mess of crying and chaos.
More than a thousand Shanshan troops on horseback rushed over from the west of the Hun River. Before they could figure out the situation, they let Li Shaorong lead his men to break through, and then chased after them and killed them without giving them a chance to distance themselves and fire arrows.
Of course, the cavalry can also play bows and arrows, and they are very good at it. But if they shoot with cavalry, they have completely given up their melee advantage and cannot amplify the enemy's melee disadvantage, which is not wise.
More than a thousand knights belonging to the Shan army were stopped and charged, and then chased and killed, and they collapsed immediately.
Li Shaorong replaced a Khitan horse with sufficient power in the air. He used a horned bow, a short spear, and an iron mace. After killing seven or eight people in a row, he rushed directly to the north tower.
"Whoosh!" The last bald-haired chieftain was shot off his horse by him.
The city gate slowly closed.
Li Shaorong rode his horse in a circle and laughed and said: "In the past, you and I rode against the Bohai Sea, Shiwei, and Tatar. Today I charged them, tit for tat, it's wonderful. But anyone dares to come out and fight?
Li Shaorong is waiting here!"
Outside the tall wooden buildings, there are extremely low earthen walls. There is no sheep and horse wall, no city emperor, nothing.
Li Shaorong wanted to laugh when he saw it. Is this also called a city?
The sage once mocked the houses where some barbarians lived as "rabbit holes" and said their cities were "earth cities built by cavemen."
Li Shaorong didn't know what a "caveman" was, but the earthen city in front of him was really bad. He almost wanted to let the cavalry dismount and attack.
There was no response from the city.
"There is not a single man in the whole city!" Li Shaorong spat and led the people away angrily.
They rushed to a wider grassland.
Look for enemy camps, burn, kill and loot.
Look for the enemy's troops that have not yet had time to assemble and destroy them in one fell swoop.
Look for the enemy's livestock to use for military purposes.
Of course, Li Shaorong wanted very much to break through the city and capture important Khitan figures. But he was very clear-minded and knew that his own troops were small and the Khitan people were numerous. At this time, he should continue to pursue and attack without giving the Khitan people time to react.
Without an assembled army, it is nothing.
****
Yue Liduo is taking her eldest daughter Zhigu, her eldest son has a sudden sexual desire, and her second son Yao Gu is making cheese.
She is a strict mother and has high demands on her children.
Her husband Abaoji is more concerned about the children's military strategy and martial arts, and Yue Liduo certainly supports it. But in addition, she also requires the children to be familiar with people's livelihood, so she often takes them to cut grass, feed horses, deliver calves, and tan leather.
, making cheese, kumiss, etc., and sometimes even teaching them how to grow millet.
When they grow up, they are all nobles and do not need to work by themselves, but you must know where these things come from. What is the production process like, and how much hard work farmers and herdsmen have to put in.
If you don't learn these things, you won't be a good tribal leader, because you don't know how every decision you make will affect the people below you.
Is it okay to order various clans and tribes to donate livestock during the cattle and sheep breeding season?
In the tense moment of preparing hay for the winter, is it okay for you to drag everyone out to fight?
Tribal leaders can be cruel, tyrannical, and spend time drinking and playing with women, but you must know your tribe's family background and know what you can and cannot do. If you understand these, you have already stepped into the threshold of a qualified leader.
Tu Xu has a bad temper and doesn't like these tasks very much. After doing it for a while, he becomes half-hearted and looks around.
In his opinion, if he had this time, it would be better to go to those Han officials to study and play chess.
He hated everything on the grassland, especially after listening to the Han officials telling many things about the Central Plains, his heart felt like grass growing, and he wanted to go out and see it.
Khitan is too poor, too barbaric, too backward, and not interesting at all.
His father was very pleased with his attitude, because he also loved the culture, regulations, and systems of Han Dynasty very much. But his mother didn't seem to like him very much, which made Tu Xu very melancholy.
"Sister!" Shulu Porun stumbled in, grabbed Yue Liduo's hand, and said: "The Xia people came in a surprise attack, and all the ministries suffered heavy losses. What should I do? What should I do?"
Yue Liduo was confused for a moment, and various complex expressions such as surprise, regret, and fear appeared on her face, but they quickly disappeared.
She shook off Porun's hand and asked, "How many Xia people have come?"
Po Run choked and said: "A lot."
"How much is a lot?" Yue Liduo asked.
Porun couldn't answer.
Yue Liduo ignored him and ordered his followers to fetch bows, arrows, swords, put them on one by one, and then left the yard.
Many Shulu, Chu Te, and nobles from the Pinbu had gathered outside the hospital. Everyone looked panicked, but they suppressed themselves and waited quietly for Yue Liduo's order.
"What's going on outside?" Yue Liduo asked calmly.
"The Xia people raided the grassland, and probably more than 5,000 tents were affected in the Hun River area. Looking from a distance, the smoke was billowing, and the damage was huge."
"Xia people also appeared in the west of the building. Duyu of the Yaonan clan was killed, and his followers fled back desperately, saying that thousands of their clan's tents were destroyed. There were tens of thousands of men, women, old and children, and I don't know how many people were left.
"
"I also saw some Xia cavalry rushing towards the swamp to the north, which is the pasture of our Shulu Department."
"Hinabu's ranch was also raided just now."
"What about the Shulu Department, the Pin Department, and the Chute Department? Now they are all in trouble. Let's think of a solution."
"There are two people out of three households, and most of the young people have been taken away. The remaining people were probably killed by a wave of charges. Now the only ones who can fight are the Shan army."
"The Shushan Army was also raided, and the losses were considerable."
"The Shan army's losses are nothing compared to us!"
"Why isn't it a loss?"
"What do you mean by this? Isn't the Shulu Department not the Khitan? Abao Ji Ke personally said that the Shulu Department is the ninth division of the Khitan. What, you want to see death without saving it?"
Originally, I was asking about the situation, but Chute and the nobles in the Pinbu became excited as they talked and talked without hesitation.
This is also understandable.
From their point of view, the strength of the Shulu Department is the most intact. Not only has Ding Zhuang not been transferred very much, but the main force of the Shushan Army is also here. This is Abaoji's preferential treatment to his wife's natal family, and it is also a plan for his future.
.
This kind of petty thinking is nothing in normal times. But now, various ministries are being raided and suffering heavy losses. How can people not be jealous?
"Enough!" Yue Liduo scolded.
The voices of the quarreling nobles became much quieter, but a few people were still chattering and pushing each other.
Yue Liduo cast her gaze over again.
The voices of those people became smaller and smaller and became inaudible.
"Porun!" Yue Liduo shouted.
"Sister!" Porun seemed to know what his sister wanted him to do, he sighed in his heart and was a little panicked.
"Take people out of the city, collect the soldiers of the Shan Army who are scattered everywhere, and come back to reorganize." Yue Liduo said, "After the reorganization is completed, the whole army will go out to fight the Xia people."
"Sister..." Porun hesitated.
Yue Liduo suddenly smiled and said: "I will personally lead people to fight. The Shulu Department is my family, and the Shushan Army was built by our brothers and sisters. If they are gone, I will not live alone.
"
There were more than 6,000 Shan troops in the city, and many generals came over. When they heard this, they all stood in awe.
After everyone dispersed, Porun's face turned pale. He tried to persuade her again, but was slapped by Yue Liduo.
"Look at you, you usually have five or six people, and you have a lot of followers, and you are so majestic." Yue Liduo scolded: "You have dozens of wives and concubines at home, so I ask you, you don't even dare to go into battle to fight for your life, what shame do you have?
Shrugging at a woman? Are you still a man?"
Porun was so scolded that he blushed and left in a hurry.
The city gate opened soon.
Shulu Porun took a deep breath and led three thousand cavalry out of the city. As expected, their movements attracted the attention of the cavalry army.
Horns sounded on the grassland, and hundreds of cavalry soldiers slowly gathered together.