At the northern foot of the snow-capped Qilian Mountains, a team of hundreds of camels is slowly marching westward in the snow. This team is a Tang Dynasty scout, with a total of one hundred soldiers, led by Cao Wannian's old servant Zhongshu.
As a guide, everyone rode on tall camels, and another two hundred camels carried various supplies.
After they entered the secret passage from Qiliansu to the south, they turned around and walked west. Below them was a plateau meadow, but it was covered with two feet of snow. Above them was a large alpine forest, full of eucalyptus branches.
Beyond the icicles and snow, you can reach the steep Qilian Mountains further up. The top of the mountain covered with ice and snow shines with a pale pink color in the sunlight, which is particularly mysterious and beautiful.
The soldiers were all wrapped in thick furs and fluffy hats, with only two eyes exposed. They also wore leather gloves on their hands, but everyone was holding a crossbow and looking warily at the woods above. Uncle Zhong
Tell them that there are wolves in the woods, and that Guo Shijun encountered them when he came back from Anxi.
"That's a wolf!"
A soldier suddenly pointed at the woods and shouted. The soldiers also saw skinny gray wolves appearing at the edge of the woods, staring at the Tang army with cruel eyes.
The camel team felt fear and began to run faster. At this time, the wolf king let out a low cry, and nearly a hundred gray wolves rushed towards the last few camels in the team. The soldiers of the Tang Army raised their crossbows and shot at them, and three of them were killed in an instant.
More than ten gray wolves.
But strong hunger still drove them to pounce on the camels. One camel's hind legs were bitten off by the wolf, and it fell to the ground with a scream. Hundreds of gray wolves swarmed up and tore the camel into pieces.
More than a dozen soldiers of the Tang Army drew their swords and wanted to kill them. Zhang Yun shouted sharply: "Quickly leave!"
Everyone speeded up and fled westward. At this time, another camel was dragged down by the wolves, and its throat was instantly bitten off.
The soldiers of the Tang Army shot one after another, and more than twenty gray wolves who tried to chase were killed. At this time, the wolf king on the edge of the woods raised his head and roared. The wolves stopped chasing and divided the two camels. The dried meat carried by the camels
They were also found and eaten.
For two days, the soldiers of the Tang army were very vigilant, but they never found the wolves following them.
At night, the Tang army lit several blazing fires. The soldiers grilled meat and cooked tea around the bonfire. Hundreds of camels gathered not far away, and soldiers stood guard outside.
Uncle Zhong took a sip of hot milk tea and said slowly: "These wolves have memories. Last time they were killed miserably by Guo Shijun and his men, with more than half of the casualties. This time your shooting reminded the Wolf King of the past.
, so it stopped the wolves trying to catch up."
"Uncle Zhong, didn't you say that wolves are very vengeful? They hold grudges very much." asked a brigade commander.
Uncle Zhong smiled slightly, "They are more afraid of death than revenge. Wolves have always been afraid of the strong. If you show that you are stronger than them, they will be afraid. I think the total number of them is much less than last time. They probably haven't recovered yet."
, this time more than fifty were shot and killed, and they were also scared."
Having said that, the Tang army was still very vigilant. They did not relax their vigilance against the wolves all the way west. It was not until eight days later that the Tang army basically eliminated the threat of the wolves.
On the tenth day, the westward-going scout team entered Shazhou.
The team walked through an Elaeagnus elegans forest. In front of them was a vast wilderness, all covered with snow. But Uncle Zhong could recognize this Elaeagnus elegans forest. He pointed to the distance and said: "There are actually two official roads below, covered with snow.
, Going northwest from here is Dunhuang County, and going due north is Mogao Grottoes. Dayun Temple is right next to Mogao Grottoes, and it is probably more than forty miles away."
"Uncle Zhong, will you return to the county seat now?" Zhang Yun asked.
Uncle Zhong shook his head, "I'll take you to Dayun Temple, and then I'll go back to the county. I have to tell the head of the family that you're here!"
After speaking, he waved to everyone, "This way!"
Uncle Zhong led everyone towards the north along the edge of the Elaeagnus arborescens forest.
Night enveloped the earth, the sky was clear, a crescent moon hung in the black sky, and the weather was extremely cold.
There is snow on the ground, which makes the night not so dark, and you can see the woods, villages and cities in the distance clearly.
Although the night was cold, the martial arts field in the military camp was full of murderous spirit. Several armies of 500 people each were fighting on the spot. They were divided into several fronts to fight. Although they used wooden swords, the intensity of the fight was not the same.
No less than a real battlefield.
Both sides held wooden swords and shields and shouted loudly. According to the rules, the one who fell to the ground was considered dead and exited, whether he was knocked down by the opponent or fell to the ground from exhaustion.
War drums rumbled around, motivating the two armies to fight for two hours. When the time expired, the one with more people on the battlefield would win.
Guo Song stood in the stands and watched the night combat training of the two armies. This night combat training started from ten days and mainly imitated actual combat. It was a severe challenge to the soldiers' night combat adaptability and physical strength.
Many soldiers were not knocked down, but paralyzed from exhaustion, especially the first battalion. After an hour and a half, 70% of the soldiers collapsed from exhaustion. Guo Song stared at Liang Wu with dissatisfaction, and Liang Wu looked ashamed.
He usually trained, but he didn't expect that his men's physical strength was so poor. It seemed that the training intensity was not enough.
He immediately bowed and said: "I promise to lead the troops to Ganjun Mountain for training early tomorrow morning and come back the same day, and continue to participate in night battle training in the evening."
Ganjun Mountain is located northeast of Zhangye, about 70 miles away. Soldiers have to wear armor, carry weapons, dry food and water bottles and run with heavy loads. A round trip on the same day is the most effective way to exercise their physical strength.
Guo Song said coldly: "I don't need any guarantees, and I don't care how you train. I only look at the results. This is the second time I'm warning you. If your men still can't be among the top five in the night battle after a month,
, then you will be reduced to a general!"
Liang Wu was sweating profusely and bowed: "I remember my humble position!"
The competition was over. Yao Jin's second battalion easily defeated Liang Wu's first battalion and won the first place with five wins from five battles.
Li Bing's third battalion won second place, with four wins from five matches, while Liang Wu's first battalion ranked tenth with one win and four losses from five matches. It has been ranked outside the top eight for three consecutive competitions. The key is that they
It is the first battalion, it should be the most elite first battalion, but it is mixed with the Liangzhou Army and ranks last in the Ganzhou Army. The fundamental reason is still lack of physical strength.
At the fourth watch, the lights in the commander's tent were brightly lit, and all the generals and middle generals were gathered together. Guo Song said sternly to everyone: "There is still one month until the spring begins. After the spring begins, we will launch a war. Judging from the current training situation, I
Still not satisfied. The morale is sufficient, but the combat effectiveness is still not strong enough. Our enemy will be the Tubo or Shatuo people. The Tubo are very powerful in close combat, especially because they have a lot of physical strength. They can fight continuously for four or five hours without any problem.
, and we here can only hold on for four hours at most, and most soldiers will end the battle in three hours.
The same goes for the Shatuo people. Like the Tubo people, they are brave and good at fighting and will not give up easily. This means that wars with them will last for a long time. If you have enough physical strength, you can survive on the battlefield. If you don't have enough physical strength, you can only be killed by the opponent.
, so starting from tomorrow, all soldiers will be involved in training, and they must come back at night within seventy miles to conduct night battle training, everyone heard it!"
"As ordered!" everyone replied in unison.
It was still dark, and armies quickly assembled on the martial arts field. Liang Wu, with a livid face, straightened his neck and shouted in front of the soldiers of the first battalion: "This is a great shame and humiliation. We are the first battalion of the Ganzhou Army, dignified
The golden sign is going to be smashed into our hands, I can’t tolerate it, can you tolerate it?”
"No!" Two thousand soldiers shouted in unison.
"We not only have to shout slogans, we have to take action, add physical strength, target Mount Ganjun, and set off!"
Two thousand soldiers wore armor, carried long knives on their waists, carried spears on their shoulders, and carried fifty arrows. They also carried dry food and water bottles, with a total load of thirty kilograms. None of the generals rode horses, and even Liang Wu carried equipment like the soldiers.
Run forward.
Outside the military camp was a vast world of ice and snow. The official road had been covered, and the snow was knee-deep. However, the soldiers still jumped and ran forward. After a while, their shoes and socks were soaked through, and their whole bodies were dripping with sweat. Liang Wu led his men
While shouting, he ran towards the vast snowfield.
Immediately afterwards, the second army also ran out of the camp, and soon the third and fourth
Fully 20,000 soldiers joined the march in the snowy field.