Meilizhai is a very special place, which is the watershed between Maling Water and Huluchuan. After passing here, you leave the Maling Water Basin and enter the vast sea. From this time on, Xu Huaide's army will face the difficulties of lack of water and difficult roads. It is also from here that the Song army entered the bitter and cold semi-desert area, and the environment it faces suddenly becomes harsh.

A thousand years later, an army fought the last battle in this place and completed the 25,000-mile Long March. They moved around this land, and the place they fought was exactly the land where the Longyou Army had begun to exert force, attacked Huizhou and turned to Tiandu Mountain. It was from the attack on Tiandu Mountain that the situation on the Western Front suddenly became clear, and a great battle completely defeated the Dangxiang army. The last battle against the periphery of Lingzhou will be completed by Xu Huaide's army in the Qingyuan Army.

Xu Huaide rode on the horse, wearing military uniform, his face was as heavy as water. The wound on his back was slightly scabbed, itchy and painful, making people feel extremely uncomfortable. In front of the army, he could not let anyone see it, endured the pain and moved forward.

The ruins of the war forty years ago can be seen everywhere. The clusters of arrows half hidden and half exposed in the sand and the piles of bones beside the road all remind the soldiers on the road what they are facing.

Xu Huaide rode on the horse and saw a soldier with a baby face walking while constantly wiping his tears. The veteran next to him looked idly, and occasionally patted the young soldier on the shoulders, with kindness and helplessness on his face. Perhaps this is a father and son, such a father and son in the imperial guards, many brothers go to the battlefield together, and the older the old military troupes, the more they have. Recruiting recruits is given priority to recruit soldiers, while the father and son who recruited try to arrange for them to be in the same military camp, live and fight together.

Using family affection to strengthen the cohesion of the army is a legacy of the Five Dynasties, perhaps from tribal traditions, or from the ingenuity of some generals. Continuing until now, it shows that this tradition is useful to the imperial guards. Although family affection seems fragile and full of life's helplessness, it always gives the soldiers some motivation to fight.

Hundreds of miles of sea are the best defense line for Lingzhou City. The Song army abandoned Lingzhou not because of the swords and guns of the Dangxiang people, but because of the endless vast sea. It was extremely difficult to transport food and grass to Lingzhou through Guanzhong, and the price was daunting. To attack Lingzhou from here, it not only requires the strong will of the army, but also the firm determination of the country.

The imperial guards did not have the strong will of steel. Apart from Gan Zhaoji, who was supervising the war, they did not know how determined the country was.

Xu Ping did not let Xu Huaide go here to attack Lingzhou, but they only needed to occupy the Qingyuan army and cut off the road to Weizhou. However, Xu Huaide did not believe it, and everyone in his army did not believe it.

The general who was interested in fighting thought that Xu Ping did not tell the army in advance, but was like a legendary trick. When he arrived at the Qingyuan Army, Gan Zhaoji, who was supervising the war, took out a trick and shouted: "The guardian's trick, the army goes north to attack Lingzhou to obtain military merits." This is the wisdom of the commander, a trick to stabilize the morale of the army, and Xu Ping protects the guardian's trick.

And those generals and soldiers who had no intention of fighting and were jailed to the execution ground were despised from their hearts. Using this trick of cheating children to lure the army into a dead end, Xu Duhu was really inhumane. No wonder he could lead the army to win so many battles before.

Among the army led by Xu Huaide, there were few people who were willing to fight and many people were taken to the execution ground. What could he do?

When an army is used to deceiving and being forced to fight, they will not believe it no matter how you say it. They are forced to enforce any kind of military order. People have no desire to fight, and their delusions have combat power, so the requirements are too high.

The bones on the roadside remind every soldier who passed by were always reminding everyone that they had a dead end, a road without going back. Nine out of ten times went to the army, and the soldiers stepped onto the battlefield and still wanted to return home safely? This is not the farmer carrying a hoe to remove weeds, shed a few drops of sweat, and when he returned home, he had the food he had prepared for his family. He was going to fight, but he didn't want to die, so why would the enemy on the opposite side want to die? There was always someone who died, who knew which one died?

It took thirty miles a journey, and before dawn, I set off when the sky was clear. I no longer rested on the road, no longer ate, just took a sip of water occasionally. In this long yellow sand, raise my feet, take steps, and walk like this.

The Qingyuan Army was at the mouth of the mountains, blocking the gate, and traveled out of nowhere, deserted and vast seas deep in the vast sea. However, Weizhou was full of big stones, which could build cities but could not build moats. Moreover, the city lacked water sources, and the wells were far away, and were firmly killed by the Qingyuan Army, which occupied the Sweet Water Valley fifty miles away. The Qingyuan Army, in the deep hinterland of the vast sea, is a strategic location, but the vast sea is really difficult to move.

The scorching sun was reflected on the rolling yellow sand on the roadside, which made the pedestrians panic. The soldiers in military uniforms were heavy and not far from Meili Village, and then they began to sweat. After walking for a few miles, they felt unbearable. They had to drink water when they were thirsty, but the well water in Meili Village in the kettle was bitter and astringent, and they felt even more thirsty after drinking.

There is not absolutely no water in the vast sea. There are still some rivers and springs, but most of them are bitter and undrinkable. In the words of Xu Ping’s previous life, the water in this area is too salinity. A slightly normal water is called sweet water. Therefore, there are many places named after sweet water in this area, sweet water valleys and sweet water wells, which give the pedestrians on the road infinite imagination. In fact, these so-called sweet waters are difficult to swallow in the mainland, but here is sweet rain, and it is extremely happy to drink a sip.

After leaving Meili Village, there will be no villages, no people, and even no cities, all full of yellow sand.

The sun was still high in the west, and the army stopped and began to camp. This is an ancient road. Although there is no city, there are basically fixed camping places. There are only one or two places where there is a drinkable water on this road.

Xu Huaide asked his personal soldiers to calculate the distance and let out a secret breath. Today, he finally walked thirty miles and there was no accident. He was able to die unjustly after violating the limit two days ago. Once, the herdsmen on the hillside on the roadside accidentally rushed into the army, causing chaos. The commander of the army was brave and killed the herdsmen and robbed the sheep. The army was delayed by a small matter and did not walk thirty miles. If Gan Zhaoji had not followed, Xu Huaide would let the army slaughter the sheep, and everyone would have a good meal of mutton and go there. The army marched, and a herdsman did not hide from afar and dared to let the flock rush into the team. Isn't this asking for death? But this commander did violate Mingwen's military discipline. Gan Zhaoji looked at Xu Huaide and had to behead him.

The next day, the tiger rushed out of the road and disrupted the commanding ranks again. In order to fight the tiger, the entire army was blocked there, and finally missed Cheng Yan again. It was all accidental accidents and trivial matters. Xu Huaide felt that he was extremely unlucky.

Don’t think it’s incredible how delayed a large army by such trivial matters. The imperial guards mechanically execute orders and have limited ability to respond to emergencies. Without military orders, few people in the army dare to act privately.

The army in Longyou marched, and they all deployed scouts in front of each other, starting from the city, layer by layer. Their cooperation may not be skilled enough, but they always have this awareness, because the army comes and goes like the wind. Not to mention the flock of sheep and tigers, even if they suddenly rushed out of an enemy army, they could not disperse their marching formations. The imperial guards gathered closely together and did not dare to separate too much when marching. Even the scouts in front were not many, all sent by Xu Huaide, and were responsible to him.

Now Xu Huaide only knows the situation within one or two miles in front of the army, and he doesn't know how far it is. He knows nothing about the Qingyuan Army now, how many garrisons Dangxiang has, and how powerful it is.

Who doesn't know that this is not good? He also wants to distribute scouts, and he also wants to pull the team apart, but he can't do it. If you dare to let the army be dispersed a little, you will have a sudden accident that you can't control. This army is entirely controlled by him alone.

They gathered together tightly, and the army set up camps, like a temporary castle.

Xu Huaide arranged military affairs, returned to his tent, asked his personal soldiers to help him remove the armor, grinned and took off his clothes, and put on medicine again. If this had happened before, he would have been full of complaints and cursed. But now he didn't dare to say a word. Although Xu Duhu was hundreds of miles away, he always felt that there were eyes looking at him coldly behind his back.

What he hopes most now is that the Dangxiang army will rush out as soon as possible, and everyone will form a formation and fight. This kind of marching in the vast sea is a torture and a test for the army. This torture is sometimes more terrifying than fighting in battle formations. When the two armies are fighting in a row, at least the soldiers will no longer think about it. Just look at the flag and listen to the drums.

If you march for another day tomorrow, you will be at the Qingyuan Army. As long as you think about the fear of the people in the army, he will feel cold sweat. The most difficult thing now is not to go to the Qingyuan Army, fight against Dangxiang and not be able to beat them, but to suffer from the last thirty miles of the army.

After leaving Huanzhou, many people wish that this road would have no end and they would never fight with the Dangxiang thieves. Now, many people only hope that this road would be faster and die quickly.

It’s not that they are really not afraid of death, but another fear temporarily overwhelms the fear of death. When death really comes, they will still be as scared as before.

After changing the medicine, Xu Huaide put on his military uniform again, held his waist knife in his hand, and sat at the door of his handsome tent. His face was gloomy, looking at the continuous military camps shrouded in the sunset. Now, as soon as this army left his sight, he was panicked. He would not have done this before. Who in the army dared to cause trouble, he cut off his head with one word. Now, he was even more worried about his head.
Chapter completed!