Aru Dun Yueyelushulu sat calmly in the tent, eating wine and food.
People outside the tent were shouting and making a lot of noise.
There were the groans of wounded soldiers, the curses of chiefs, worried discussions, and spirited conversations and laughter.
Shi Lu has received a lot of news.
Thousands of cavalry from the Sudden Division charged directly at the vanguard of the Xia Army and were defeated. Later, they were pursued by Yingzhou herdsmen. They lost more than a thousand people. Hundreds more cavalry were in a panic and did not know where to go. In short, this time,
The temptation failed.
Of course, Shi Lu thought it was not a complete failure.
Testing, originally, was to find out the enemy's true combat power. Now that we can see it, this is the successful side.
Some people have succeeded.
Shuli from Liubuxi successfully defeated the Yingzhou Fanqi who followed the routed troops of the Suju Division and killed more than 300 enemies. This was also a success.
At this time, they were the ones talking and laughing in the camp. Shilu had allowed them to keep the captured horses and weapons as rewards to encourage them to continue fighting bravely in the next period of time.
Except for Suju and Liubuxi's people, most of the chiefs are still in a state of indifference. They know that the Xia people are not weak in combat, but their side may not have no chance of winning. There is never a sure win on the battlefield.
, if they follow the traditional grassland hunting tactics, they may still succeed.
"Yu Yue!" Yelu opened the tent and walked in.
Shi Lu looked up and said, "Let's sit down and have something together. We have to fight at night, and we have no strength."
After that, someone poured a bowl of wine for Ou Si.
I was not polite even if I thought about it. After eating a few pieces of meat, I picked up the wine bowl and drank it all in one gulp.
"Alas, this battle actually brought you out." Shi Lu responded with a bowl and said with a wry smile.
"There are fewer and fewer of us old guys." Ou Si also sighed and said, "Ku Gu only ran away. How many years do a lot of old people have left to live? I don't know what he was thinking.
"
They are about the same age, but I think they are a few years younger. It's just that one comes from a straight lineage, and the other comes from a virtuous and solid lineage.
The power of the Khitan Die La Tribe has been lingering between the Tela Clan, the second son of Salade, and the Yun De Shi Clan, the third son, in recent decades.
Occasionally, I think that Guzhi, Huidi and others are all from the Tiela family, while Shilu and Abaoji are from the Yundeshi family.
At the very beginning, the Tie La Clan was very powerful and suppressed the Yunde Shi Clan. However, the Tie La Clan had great internal conflicts, and its jurisdiction was suppressed by Kui Guzhi for a long time, secretly collaborating with the Yunde Shi Clan.
Together, they took away the position of Yu Yue from Guzhi.
After fighting over and over again, Guigu defected to the Xia Kingdom and recruited many people.
Haidi and Shilu changed from cooperation to confrontation. After all, they couldn't pee in the same pot. After Abaoji became khan, Haidi's Yili Jin's position was still retained - it was because of elections.
Abaoji has no power to appoint or remove those who came up - but in fact he has been ousted, and his power has been greatly reduced.
This time, he was appointed by Abaoji to lead a partial army alone. How successful he can be depends on his luck.
"Ji Gu is still brooding about what happened back then." Shi Lu smiled and said, "Let's not talk about him anymore. How is the situation outside?"
"Overall, it's okay." Osi said, "It's just that many people have doubts and are reluctant to consume their own troops. If there is a slight loss, it will be very distressing."
"It's already this time, and I'm still making my own little calculations." Shi Lu said in a slightly mocking tone: "If the Xia people defeat the Eight Divisions, nothing can be saved. The city, the pastures, the farmland, the cattle, the sheep, the money, etc.
Which of the people can be saved? Isn't it better to take what you ask for? The worst case scenario is that the Lord of Xia will conscript all the people and drive them to the hot places in the south to fight with the feudal towns over there. In the end, how many people will be able to go back?
"
"Actually, they are not that selfish." Ou Si was a little embarrassed because he had already asked Yangtuo Xema Ge to lead his men to retreat in the direction of Mo Jie Mansion.
Of course, this was also approved by Abaoji.
Mojie Prefecture is a land developed by the Bohai Kingdom during the years when it implemented the strategy of advancing north. It is an extremely vast area. Although it is cold, there is water, mountains, and grasslands. The Khitan people have no problem living there. In fact, the eight tribes have moved there last year.
Some people went there, not to prepare for a rainy day, but to occupy this newly acquired land - if the Bei Tower had not been built earlier, Minzhou would be the location of the Bei Tower and become the core hinterland of Khitan.
"I am still willing to fight now. If the losses are too great, the fighting spirit will fade away." Shi Lu sighed and said: "It is because I see this that I support Abaoji's reform. The Khitan as it is now cannot do it, but it is a pity that there is no such thing."
It’s time.”
Thoughtful in silence.
In fact, he also has the same view. Otherwise, do you think he, a nobleman from the Tiela family, would support Abaoji so wholeheartedly? Ou Si firmly believes that Abaoji is a dragon among men and can bring more benefits to Khitan. As a
As one of the top leaders of the Die La Department, he can also get more benefits from it, far beyond the current benefits.
"Don't think too much, just have a good rest. We have to fight at night." Shi Lu put down the wine bowl and said.
It was his mission to try every means to delay the Xia army. Charge, harass, dig holes, cut off food, etc., any method could be used, as long as it could effectively delay the enemy.
Tonight he will personally lead the team and harass the Xia people's forwards at night. I hope it goes smoothly.
****
Shao Shude sat in Helong Palace, staring at the huge map on the wall all day long.
The painters have finally made some progress, and the pictures they draw are finally no longer so abstract, and the proportions are much more coordinated.
His eyes glanced up and down, sometimes even reading military reports, and then he stepped forward to make some gestures and make various deductions.
Today is May 21st. As the vanguard, the Wansheng Huangtou Army has defeated the enemy once east of Tuhe River and beheaded more than a thousand people.
Tuhe is the Mangniu River in later generations. In ancient times, the Tuhe River and the section after it merged into the Daling River were collectively called "Tuhe". Tuyuhun originally lived nearby.
After they crossed the river, they did not rush forward, but cut down trees to build a camp. To be more precise, they built a large warehouse city to store grain and grass.
The main force of Wansheng Huangtou Army also built a camp on the west bank of the river and continued to expand.
After the completion of these two warehouses, they will be able to store about 200,000 dendrobium of grain, which can feed an army of 100,000 people - two months.
"One hundred and forty miles away from Yingzhou, the camp has been overhauled. Zang Dubao fought in the war, so he learned my true story." Shao Shude said.
Chen Cheng looked at the saint's face and understood. He just heard him say: "Your Majesty, Yelu Shilu went south from the Khitan Yamen, which is quite suspicious."
"Where is the suspicion?" Shao Shude asked.
"Since the rise of the North Tower, the West Tower, and the South Tower, the Khitan Yazhang is no longer the center of the Khitan. It is said that when Khan Dejin was alive, he mostly lived in the West Tower and occasionally went to the South Tower. The Khitan Yazhang was only an empty city.
The merchants who have been there all say that the city wall is low and fragile and cannot withstand the attack of a large army. Shi Lu went south from the Yamen tent, perhaps to confuse the king."
Shao Shude lowered his head and thought for a while.
Generally speaking, people who go to Khitan to do business would rather go to the West Tower and the East Tower.
The West Tower is where the Khan resides, so there is no need to say more about it.
The East Tower is located in Longhua Prefecture, which is the base of Abaojitouxiajunzhou. It is densely populated and relatively prosperous. In the fourth and fifth years of Jianji, Abaoji sent slaves to expand the East City. Now there are two east and west cities.
It is almost the largest city in Khitan, larger than the city of King Yue in the military state under the leadership of Yelu Shilu.
"Your Majesty, the Yue King's City is to the west of the Khitan Yazhang, Longhua Prefecture is also to the west, and the West Tower is even more to the west. What is the intention of the Khitan people in diverting our army to the east?" Chen Cheng asked.
"To cut off our army's food route?" Shao Shude thought thoughtfully.
Going north to fight on the grasslands is sparsely populated and the distance is long, so the supply line will of course be very long. If the Khitans want to make a fuss about this supply line, it is not impossible.
For them, it was a life-and-death national war. Naturally, the entire population was mobilized, and most of those who could fight would go into battle. It would not be a problem to raise more than 200,000 cavalry.
If you use partial divisions to contain other directions and concentrate the main force to attack all the way, it is indeed a good strategy to lure the enemy deeper.
First, it can lengthen your supply lines and increase your transportation costs.
The second is to consume the physical strength, energy and morale of your soldiers.
The third is to force you to divide your troops to guard the nodes on the supply line, disperse your troops, and create opportunities for him to defeat the smaller ones with more troops.
In this process, the Khitan might suffer huge losses, for example, the military city under the nobles' heads was captured by the Xia army, but the Khitan had no better way.
Moreover, since the time of the Huns, the prairie people have rarely faced you head-on in battles. They adopt the tactics of hunting with prairie wolves, delaying, harassing, and constantly tiring the enemy, and then bypassing and intercepting the grain road, seriously weakening the enemy's morale and physical strength.
, after gathering energy, initiate the final decisive battle.
Shao Shude sat back in his chair and slowly recalled.
In his inherent impression, Abaoji was not a hero at all, but even a bit cunning.
In history, Shi Wei sent people to Youzhou to ask for help. Liu Rengong sent his adopted son Zhao Ba to lead tens of thousands of elite troops to rescue. It turned out that the messenger turned out to be a Khitan spy, and led the elite Yan army into the Khitan ambush.
The whole army was wiped out.
He conquered the Dongxi rebellion. The Xi people defended themselves in danger and could not be defeated. Abaoji was able to relax and send people to surrender. He offered a lot of good words and promised many conditions, and successfully won the Xi people to surrender. What was the result? After the fall, he settled the score.
.
He became brothers with Li Keyong, and then professed his vassalage to Zhu Wen. By the time of Li Cunxu, the Hedong forces had been threatened by this "uncle" and even fought two decisive battles. His nephew Li Cunxu defeated his uncle A Bao.
After a heavy beating, the north became more peaceful.
Abaoji doesn't have the courage to fight me head-on.
"Your Majesty, Shi Lu did this probably because he wanted our army to mistakenly think that the Khitan Yamen was very important, so as to attract the main force of our army there, and then he would go south in a big way and directly attack Yingzhou and Dragon Palace." Li Tangbin, who had never spoken before, spoke.
, and as soon as these words came out, the sound shocked everyone.
"Abaoji knows I'm here?" Shao Shude asked.
"It doesn't hurt to give it a try." Li Tangbin said: "If Zang Dubao can't do it, and he hears that Helong Palace is besieged, and rushes to rescue him, won't the opportunity come?"
Helong Palace has city walls and is stationed with five thousand silver saddles.
Outside the city, there are mountains of grain and grass stored in various camps, guarded by thousands of state soldiers from within the pass.
Opposite in Yingzhou City, there is also the Yingzhou Prefectural Army.
The cavalry cannot attack the city, but it can create panic. As Li Tangbin said, if Zang Dubao cannot withstand the pressure and sends people back for reinforcements, it may create opportunities for the Khitans.
The Huns, Turks and other steppe peoples like to use this tactic.
"How is Luhe Town?" Shao Shude suddenly asked.
Luhe Town is a former Tang military town, located on the southwest coast of Jinzhou, where military supplies were stored.
"There are already a thousand state troops and three thousand native regiments to guard the city. The Cangcheng has been built and nearly 100,000 hu of grain has been stored." Chen Cheng replied.