Three Kingdoms

In the early morning, a white drizzle enveloped the surrounding fields, spreading among the treetops and shrubs. Some small animals stuck their heads out from the wet rain leaves and grass, and then quickly seemed to have noticed something, and hurriedly Shrank back.

I saw a group of cavalry suddenly breaking through the rain and fog and appearing at the edge of the forest. The leader was Gan Feng.

In the Han Dynasty, Xiliang still had some vegetation, unlike the Gobi Desert in later generations. Perhaps it was because of the advent of the Little Ice Age that the freezing line pressed south, which on the one hand led to the nomadic people becoming more aggressive and on the other hand It also led to the large-scale felling of trees by the settled population in Guanzhong and even the Western Region of Xiliang for heating, which ultimately led to irreversible severe soil erosion and desertification.

Gan Feng wiped the rain off his face, then turned to stare at the woods and shook his head to signal.

After running for such a long distance, I needed to make some repairs. Although I brought two horses, it was raining after all. For the war horses, the energy consumption was greater, so timely adjustments were naturally necessary.

Several Flying Bear soldiers understood, jumped off their horses, carried their swords and entered the woods. After a while, they returned to report that the forest was safe.

Gan Feng nodded, and then signaled his men to go into the forest to take a rest. As for the marks of the war horses' hoofs, there is no need to pay too much attention. As long as such rainy days continue, the rain will naturally smooth out the marks...

This road has already passed Shanggui and is heading to Qishan. Of course, if we want to defeat Han Sui stationed in Qishan, Ganfeng's 20-man Flying Bear Army alone will certainly not be enough. There are other things on this trip. His will.

Rainy days are not suitable for horse racing. Basically, anyone who knows a little bit about horse breeding will know this. In addition to the fact that rain will take away the physical strength of the horse, it is also because the muddy water will stain the fur of the horse and even stick to it. If the nostrils and eyes of the war horse are not treated in time, the eyes of the war horse will become inflamed and difficult to treat.

Therefore, when we go into the forest to repair, in addition to taking a breather, the more important thing is to tidy up everyone first and wipe away the mud and eye mucus stuck in the corners of the mouth, nose and eyes...

The Flying Bear Army who followed Ganfeng were all old warriors, so they didn't need any additional instructions. Once they entered the forest, they took out a dry and warm Gebu from their arms and wiped their companions around them first. That long, big face stood up.

"Colonel Lieutenant!" A flying bear soldier on guard at the edge of the forest suddenly warned in a low voice, "Someone is coming! It's a Xiliang scout!"

On rainy days, both sound detection and visual observation were somewhat disturbed. Therefore, when the Flying Bear Army noticed someone coming, they no longer had enough distance to avoid it.

"If they don't enter the forest, forget about it..." Gan Feng said immediately without any thought, "If they stop, just pack them up! Get three crossbows ready!"

On rainy days, bows and arrows are useless, and even crossbow arrows are not very easy to use. Even crossbows with iron strings cannot be exposed to the rain for too long. After all, wood also absorbs water. This is just to prevent Otherwise, you still need to use it when you need to use it.

Immediately, three flying bear soldiers with good archery skills took the oilcloth bag from the side of the horse, then took out the crossbow and started to cock it. The other few people, like Gan Feng, took out their weapons and hid behind the tree.

The wind and rain were blowing, making a rattling sound on the leaves and treetops.

Soon, there was some noise outside the forest. A group of Xiliang scouts came to the edge of the forest one after another. A voice rang out: "Damn it... the rain is getting heavier and heavier. Boss, we need to Why don’t you take a break?”

It seemed that Shi Chang said: "That's it... that's fine... let's go into the woods to take shelter from the rain..."

The ten Xiliang scouts dismounted with a clatter and began to pull their horses toward the forest one after another.

Gan Feng hid behind the tree and winked at the men around him.

"How long!" Suddenly, a Xiliang scout pointed at the ground and shouted, "Look! This is..."

"Do it! Leave no one behind!" Before the Xiliang scout could finish his words, Gan Fengfeng, who understood that his whereabouts had been exposed, shouted and rushed out first, stabbing the chief with a knife.

"Kill!" Several Flying Bear soldiers also rushed out and slashed at the Xiliang scouts.

The commander of Xiliang roared angrily when he was suddenly attacked. He turned sideways to avoid Gan Feng's knife, pulled out his sword and slashed towards Gan Feng's side!

"Click!"

The long and heavy sword not only failed to hit Gan Feng, but because the movement was too big, the sword hit the tree fork that grew out of the tree and got stuck.

Gan Feng took a step diagonally, taking advantage of the moment when She Chang's knife could not be pulled back, he lightly slashed the knife. The light of the knife passed between She Chang's neck, and the blood "popped" in the rain and mist. A hazy red circle splashed out, and along with the cold light, it sank into the chest and abdomen of another Xiliang scout.

Different moves are needed in different places. Perhaps on the battlefield, slashing with all your strength is the most effective way to kill the enemy, but when there are many branches in the forest, slashing with all your strength will naturally become the most effective way to kill the enemy. The way to death.

Soon, all the Xiliang scouts who stepped into the forest were killed. However, the two Xiliang scouts who were still on the edge of the forest and had not yet walked in saw that something was wrong and immediately climbed onto their horses and turned around and ran away!

The first task of a scout is intelligence, and then killing the enemy. What's more, even the commander has been damaged here, so there is no point in trying his best.

But the fate of these Xiliang scouts was already decided the moment they stepped into the forest.

"Boom! Boom!"

The sharp arrow of the crossbow drew a transparent straight line in the rain, and then sank into the backs of two Xiliang scouts who were fleeing on horseback...

…………………………

Tianshui suburbs.

After being defeated and fleeing, Cheng Gongying learned that Tianshui had gathered the tribes of Xiliang, so he fled here. He originally thought that he could rely on the power of the tribes of Xiliang to defeat the Guanzhong reinforcements of General Zhengxi, but he did not expect that he would encounter Tiangong. Unfortunately, it started to rain.

Raining is a normal thing, and it has not rained for a long time. Now some rain will also help Zhuanghe grow ears before the autumn harvest, which is a good thing for farmers, but for adults For Gong Ying, this is quite a headache.

God is going to rain, and no one can do anything or stop it.

"Going to fight?" Duan Yan looked at the rain outside the tent with a serious face, and then said, "Is General Chenggong playing tricks on Yu? How can we fight with such rain?"

After Duan Yan finished speaking, Zhang Heng echoed: "That's right, in such weather, the horses can't run, so why not fight with a ball... Is it possible to abandon the horse and fight on foot? Haha, haha..."

Although the other Xiliang tribes did not express their stance clearly, they laughed along with Zhang Heng. Apparently they did not agree with going out to fight in the rain now.

Cheng Gongying looked at everyone and said patiently: "Everyone, everyone, it is precisely because everyone knows that this kind of weather is not conducive to horse fighting, so the Zhengxi cavalry will not be prepared, and there are many of us, as long as the general If they are surrounded and trapped here, they can definitely win in one battle!"

"Ha!" Liang Xing mocked unceremoniously, then turned his head to the side and said to Cheng Yi beside him: "Brother Cheng, I heard that you went hunting in the mountains when it didn't rain two days ago? The harvest was good, right? ?Have you hunted anything good?"

Cheng Yi laughed: "Just some hares, pheasants and the like, nothing big..."

Liang Xing nodded and said: "Brother Cheng is being humble. This hunting requires an experienced hand. At least he won't catch even a single hair. Instead, he will lose a lot of people and horses, right?"

Cheng Yi raised his head and laughed a few times. He knew what Liang Xing meant, but he didn't continue to talk.

Yang Qiu spread his arms, raised them to both sides, gestured, and said: "General Chenggong also has good intentions. You might as well listen carefully, at least let someone finish what he said..."

Ma Wan said: "Yes, General Chenggong, please continue..."

Cheng Gongying thanked Yang Qiu and Ma Wan with his hands, and then did not look at Liang Xing, but continued: "Now that the Zhengxi Cavalry is divided into two places, it is a great opportunity. If we can work together to destroy the Zhengxi Cavalry, , then you can reach Dingguanzhong in one fell swoop, and then you will naturally..."

"Of course there is nothing."

Zhang Heng said with an expressionless face, "Anyway, the ugly story is mentioned earlier. A certain soldier went to Guanzhong several times, with no credit and hard work, but so far he has not gained any benefits. On the contrary, he has lost a lot of soldiers, horses, food and grass... "

Cheng Yin frowned and said, "Brother Zhang, that's too much to say. We are all brothers. Isn't it interesting to talk about this benefit and that benefit all the time?"

The candidate also said: "That's right, there are benefits all day long, it seems like you can't live without benefits..."

Zhang Heng slapped the table: "Who the hell are you talking about?!"

The candidate also slapped the table: "I just said what's wrong with you?!"

As they talked, the two people bared their teeth and claws and were about to start a fight. Others nearby quickly stepped forward to dissuade them, and while they were trying to persuade them, they pulled them away from the tent.

Duan Yan watched with cold eyes and did not try to dissuade him. He waited until everyone left the tent and then sighed slowly and said, "I'd better go and have a look to prevent trouble. General Chenggong has resigned..." After finishing, he cupped his hands and Shi Shiran also left.

"Why……"

As soon as Cheng Gongying stretched out his arm, wanting to retain Duan Xuan, Ma Wan stood up and shook his head and said, "General Cheng Gongying, it's not me who said this. I've already reached this point, so I just hope that something will be used." Beautiful words...Oh, you'd better think about it carefully before you say it..."

Yang Qiu also stood up, cupped his hands, but said nothing. Following Ma Wan, he also left the tent, leaving Cheng Gongying alone in the middle of the tent, with his arms raised in the air, but mute. Speechless.

"Hi!" Cheng Gongying stomped his feet angrily, but helplessly turned his gaze to the south. Why didn't he know that it would be better to talk about something practical? But the problem is that he is just a general under Han Sui. How big can he be? that power?

Han Sui didn't authorize it, so what could Cheng Gongying promise?

"General! General..."

Cheng Gongying let out a long sigh, then shook his head, looking up at the continuous rain falling all over the sky.

…………………………

"The way to set up a camp is to choose the land first. A good land has grassland on the left, flowing springs on the right, dangerous mountains on the back, easy access to the plains, and access to wood logs. This is called the four preparations of the camp. Gongming built this chariot camp. It's quite organized..." Li Ru and Fei Qian stood in the camp, looking at Xu Huang organizing manpower to reinforce the camp in front of them, and couldn't help but praise, "The team went out from the car, linked up outside the camp, the cattle and horses were among them, and the horses were kept out. , set up pits on the left and right compartment doors, and spread antlers widely... It's a pity that God is not kind, otherwise the ground will be dug into a trench, which will be more solid..."

"Gongming has the style of a general..." Fei Qian nodded and said, suddenly thinking of something, he said, "Wenyou, you have lived in Longyou for a long time. How are the soldiers of the Xiliang tribes?"

Li Ru said: "The tribes of Xiliang seem to be powerful, but in fact they are not. Most of them focus on recruiting soldiers. Taking Han Wenyu as an example, they can be divided into three tribes, with a total of about four thousand, divided into Han, Chenggong and Yan. In the hands of three people, there is another rear army stationed in Jincheng, most of them are refined, about a thousand people."

So Han Sui only had 5,000 people?

No, how could Han Sui have so few people?

Before Fei Qian could ask a question, Li Ru continued: "...the rest of the soldiers were all recruited... For example, Ma Shoucheng's wife is a Qiang girl. Naturally, most of her tribes follow the Ma family, and the same is true for Han Wenyue. . The Qiang people are Huqi, who tend to herd on weekdays and recruit during war. Han Sui has a friendly relationship with the Gangjie Qiang and Shaodang Qiang, and recruits more Qiang people from their tribes as soldiers. If they are all used up, there will be more than 30,000 people..."

"Most of the tribes in Xiliang are like this. They usually have only a thousand people. If they recruit relevant Hu cavalry, they can number tens of thousands. If they join together, they can number up to a hundred thousand..." Li Ru said, " However, Xiliang is suffering after all. If too many people and horses gather, food and grass cannot be afforded, so..."

Fei Qian nodded and understood.

Why did the Han Dynasty court use troops against Xiliang again and again, but never suppressed the Qiang rebellion? Even warlords like Han Sui were helpless. In addition to some of the reasons for the generals and officials themselves, this recruitment system actually also had some problems. relationship, even if they defeated Han Sui and other Xiliang tribes, they did not give a heavy blow to the most important core part. It was like cutting off part of it with an earthworm without damaging the most critical essential part. The severed earthworms can still survive and come back next time.

"So..." Fei Qian looked ahead, in the direction of Qishan Mountain, and said thoughtfully, "If we hadn't defeated him in one fell swoop and killed his leader, this Xiliang..."

Sometimes life is so strange. In fact, the structural system of the Xiliang tribes, which was mainly composed of refined private soldiers and supplemented by raised barbarian regiments, was actually first used by Li Ru under Fatty Dong at that time. But then it was also used by various tribes in Xiliang, but now unexpectedly it has become an obstacle to Fei Qian.

Li Ru smiled hoarsely, and did not say anything more about this system, but said: "...Han Wen agreed to choose Qishan to fight, which is also the general's luck...Qishan is a land that is connected in all directions, but in fact Otherwise... if the general stays for a few days, it will be Han Wen's death date..."

"Really?" Fei Qian was a little confused as to what kind of medicine Li Ru was selling in this gourd.

"Of course." Li Ru said, "But at the moment, we need to be careful about Han Wen's appointment to attack the camp..."

Fei Qian looked up at the rain and said, "Wen You means, Han Wen is going to send troops in the rain?"

"We are stationed here. If Han Wenyue has other plans, we will definitely send troops to test..." Li Ru nodded and said, "There will be a battle within three days..."

At this moment, a group of scouts suddenly came running from outside the camp. They came to Fei Qian and took out two tattered leathers from his arms and said, "For the general information, my subordinates will follow the general's instructions and go over the mountain to the West Han River." , but unexpectedly found this thing by the water..."