The wind and snow in Hetao did not get smaller with the passage of time, but became bigger and bigger.

The unusual climate made both the Ming Army and Huo Luochi feel strange, but at the moment they were not in the mood to pay attention to it.

Late at night on the 21st of the first lunar month, Huo Luochi led his troops across the frozen Yellow River carefully, and then chose an open area as a place to rest.

This kind of place is not an excellent camp for the Han people who are mostly infantry, but it can be said to be an excellent camp for the five major tribes who are now as frightened as a bird.

After sending out sentries far enough away, Huo Luochi and the others also fell asleep overwhelmed. The strange thing was that no one came to pursue them until they slept until noon.

"Didn't the Ming army come after them? Where was the Ningxia Ming army last night?"

When Huo Luochi woke up from his sleep in a daze, he had only slept for three hours, and his eyes were full of bloodshot eyes caused by exhaustion.

In response to his question, Qianhu from the tribe also said: "It's strange that the Ming army didn't come after them. I'm afraid they retreated."

"From this point of view, the Ming army is not that terrifying. Zhu Youjian and Man Gui should be the elite and main force." After hearing Qianhu's words, Huo Luochi didn't think much about it.

There was a reason why he thought so. The four northwest towns were not valued by the Ming court, so it was common for them to be short-changed.

If there are too many vacancies, there will be problems in defense.

Therefore, since Huo Luochi recorded the incident, the Ming court's defense in the northwest for nearly half a century can be said to be almost non-existent.

Except for Wanli's three major victories in Huangzhong and his three major campaigns in Ningxia, the four northwest towns in the entire northwest could pull out less than 20,000 troops.

This also led to Huo Luochi often leading his soldiers and horses back and forth across Hexi, and no one dared to stop him.

If the Ming army had not transferred troops and horses from outside, the troops and horses in the three towns of Ningxia, Guyuan, and Gansu would have remained the same as before.

"Now we just need to avoid Zhu Youjian and Man Gui."

Naturally, Huo Luochi felt that the Northwest Ming Army was still the same, so he didn't think much about it, and he became a lot more relaxed.

"Is it still snowing outside?"

After relaxing, Huo Luochi also heard the whirring sound of wind and snow outside the tent, so he couldn't help but ask.

"It's still down, and it's much bigger than the previous few days. It's probably that the Ming army in Ningxia was also afraid of being attacked when they left the fortress, so they retreated and didn't go north."

Qianhu reported back, and Huo Luochi nodded slightly after hearing this, and explained:

"I will sleep for a while longer. If there is any trace of Man Gui or Zhu Youjian, immediately notify the five armies to break camp and break out to the northwest."

"Yes!" Qianhu agreed, and Huo Luochi simply lay back on the bed.

After Qianhu left, he quickly fell into sleep again.

In the dream, soldiers and horses under the banners of Zhu Youjian and Mangui were marching hobblingly in the snow, and the journey was difficult.

Such a scene brought a smile to Huo Luochi's sleeping face...

"Fire-flavored sheep head and hooves, salted drum and mustard sheep tripe plate, garlic vinegar sheep blood soup, yuan juice sheep bones, spicy sheep kidneys, haggis soup, military grain rice..."

"What are you doing? Is it a festival?"

When Huo Luochi thought that the Ming army was enjoying the wind and snow, in a leeward valley of Langshan Mountain, Zhu Youjian was sitting in the big tent, frowning at the dishes being served in front of him.

He looked at the imperial chef who was constantly wiping sweat in front of him, and the other party said helplessly:

"Your Highness, these sheep were brought by General Cao when he was marching south from Houtao. There are more than 600 sheep, and the whole army can eat them. You can eat them with confidence."

"..." Hearing that the whole army had something to eat, Zhu Youjian's brows gradually widened and he could only wave his hands and said:

"I know, let's go down."

"Yes..." The army cook wiped his sweat to avoid being caught by the wind and snow when leaving the camp.

After he left, Zhu Youjian also looked at the whole sheep feast in front of him and was speechless.

Naturally, the entire army could not eat as well as he did. Most of the soldiers probably only had one or two pounds of roasted or stewed mutton.

If the entire army were to eat according to this standard, it would be estimated that the army would have to be followed by more than a dozen cartloads of food other than sheep.

After calming down, Zhu Youjian picked up the kuaizi and started eating.

To be honest, the military grain rice does not have any other flavor other than filling the stomach, but with the dishes of the whole sheep feast, this meal is still the best meal Zhu Youjian has eaten since the fourteenth day of the first lunar month.

He had a rare appetite and ate all the dishes on the table. He couldn't help but miss the dishes of the palace and the Royal Horse Prison.

[To be honest, I have been using Yeguo to read and catch up on books recently. I can switch sources and read aloud with many sounds. www. Android and Apple are available.]

"This battle is almost over. Although I can't return to Beijing, I can still rest."

Wiping his mouth, Zhu Youjian thought in his heart, and the next second Cao Wenzhao's voice came from outside the tent.

"Your Highness, I will finally report something."

"Come in." Zhu Youjian wiped his mouth and said outside the account.

As soon as he opened his mouth, Cao Wenzhao also opened the tent and walked in. He shook off the snow on his body and then said:

"Your Highness, the snow is getting heavier and heavier. It's really a ghost."

"In previous years, there has never been such heavy snow even in the twelfth lunar month. I don't know if it is easy for the back cover to snow."

"Well..." After hearing Cao Wenzhao's words, Zhu Youjian nodded slightly.

If others didn't know, how could he not know? He was more prepared than anyone else for the upcoming Xiaoglaihe disaster.

Let alone heavy snow now, he wouldn't be surprised if there was a sudden drought tomorrow.

"Where are Sun Chuanting's soldiers and horses?"

Zhu Youjian asked, and Cao Wenzhao also said: "We have already detoured northward from the north of Helan Mountain to Langshan, and set up ambushes at the mountain passes where we can break out of the encirclement."

"According to Tang Qi's report three hours ago, they should be less than a hundred miles away from here."

"One hundred miles..." After hearing this distance, Zhu Youjian calculated that unless Huo Luochi abandoned his troops and led his troops to break through, he would not be able to attack three hundred miles in two days.

Moreover, in such a snowy day, even Shangzhi, one man and four horses, were not sure that they could cover 300 miles in two days, let alone Huoluo Chibu.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian was very relieved and did not have too many worries in his heart.

For him, it was only a matter of time before Huo Luochi was captured or killed.

Even if they could successfully break through the encirclement, the Ming cavalry had prepared ten days of dry food in the vast desert sea. How much dry food did they prepare that they could carry with them?

Not to mention that Mei Zhihuan and his four men are heading north to attack Juyanhai and Yibulashan.

Therefore, at this time, Zhu Youjian was sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai without any panic.

Not only him, but also Sun Chuanting, Man Gui, Yang Zhaoji and many other generals who braved the heavy snow did not panic.

The simple reason is that it is too easy to do multiple sets in one battle.

Originally, all the generals thought that Su Nang would be the final opponent, but they did not expect that Su Nang would be captured alive by Zhu Youjian three times, five times and five times twice.

This feeling is like following Li Jing in the Tang Dynasty when he sent troops to fight.

To put it simply, everyone thought that Zhu Youjian was going to struggle with Su Nang for a while, and the final battle would determine the outcome, but in the end, he went up and took Su Nang away.

This not only makes people think that Zhu Youjian won easily, but also makes people doubt Su Nang's ability.

"ha……"

Zhu Youjian, who felt a little cold in the tent, breathed a sigh of relief, and then looked at the northwest map on his desk, his brows were furrowed with no sign of relaxation.

Upon seeing this, Qianhu, the Jin Yiwei guard in the tent, asked boldly: "Your Highness seems to be worried about something. Is he worried about Huo Luochi?"

"Huo Luochi has nothing to worry about..." Zhu Youjian pinched the roots of the mountain with his hands, closed his eyes and pondered, and said:

"I'm really worried about the people, as well as the people in Hexi, Shanxi, and Shaanxi."

"The heavy snow fell so suddenly, no one knows how long it will take to stop."

"If it continues, it will delay the spring plowing season, and people will have to wait until next year to move to the Hetao and start reclamation."

"It shouldn't be possible, right?" Qianhu said cautiously, obviously he was also a little worried.

The strange thing about this snowfall is that only Hexi, Shaanxi, Hetao, Datong, Shanxi, and Taiyuan were affected. Xuanfu and Beizhili further east were completely fine.

Even in Liaodong, which is known to be bitterly cold, the sun is shining brightly and the snow has melted.

Thinking like this, Zhu Youjian looked at the tent with some worry, not knowing what he was thinking, and the wind and snow in the northwest became more and more serious with his worry...

Time passed little by little, and soon the sky gradually became dark, and Huo Luochi, who was on the bank of the Yellow River, also began to lead the five major troops to break out toward the northwest.

Based on his previous encounter with Ningxia Ming Army Tangqi, Huo Luochi was a little worried that the Ming Army would send troops to set up an ambush at the mountain pass in the south. As for the north, his Tangqi ran fifty miles north without seeing any Ming soldiers.

Tang Qi, this made him feel at ease a lot.

It can be said that the wind and snow helped Zhu Youjian. It covered the traces of the Ming army very well, and things that were easily exposed, such as horse excrement and human excrement, were also actively buried by Shangzhi soldiers and horses.

Compared with them, Huo Luo Chi's five major tribes seemed not to be so careful.

There was human and horse excrement all along the way. If it was Zhu Youjian who was chasing them, they might not be able to run more than 200 miles before they would be surrounded and annihilated.

This is also the bad war habit of the grassland nomads.

However, they were running away now, and they were confident that the Ming army did not have as many horses as they did, so they had no intention of covering up and continued marching northwestward with abandon.

Perhaps due to the existence of Langshan Mountain and Helan Mountain, most people who broke out felt that the west coast was much warmer than the east coast, so they felt relieved.

However, if you look carefully at their number and team length, you can still see that they have suffered a lot of attrition due to their rush in the past few days.
To be continued...