"Xiao Dilu? Do you have an official status now?" Li Shaorong sat on the horse with a proud look on his face.
"I am the chief minister of the eighth rank of Tingwang Sicong." Xiao Dilu bowed respectfully and replied.
"Young official Sesame." Li Shaorong laughed and said, "Do you know what you want to do now?"
"It all depends on the general's orders."
"I'm a warrior, you don't have to play with these frivolous things with me. You're a Khitan, how can you think as much as Mao Aizi?" Li Shaorong said dissatisfied: "The first priority now is to send people to collect the scattered Shushan people.
Secondly, ask the fleeing herdsmen from various tribes to surrender. Don’t worry, the king’s army will not die if he doesn’t want to kill.”
"Yes." Xiao Dilu responded.
Li Shaorong rode his horse, and when he passed by Xiao Dilu, he leaned over and whispered in his ear: "Leave Shuluping and his family to me."
Xiao Dilu raised his head in surprise. It seemed that General Li was not as bold and passionate as he spoke.
Words and deeds are different, appearance is different, alas, people are really complicated.
"I have sent people to guard it, and I will leave it to the general. But..." Xiao Dilu hesitated for a moment.
"What are you thinking about?" Li Shaorong glared at him and said, "There is still a shortage of female officials in the Saint's Palace. If my sister enters the palace, she can support herself. Otherwise, who will raise the three children?"
"General, you have thought very carefully." Xiao Dilu saluted again.
Li Shaorong nodded with satisfaction and entered the north building under the escort of a large group of sergeants.
The Shushan Army had a strength of 20,000, but some of it was taken away by Abaoji, leaving more than 10,000 people, mostly in the north building.
In the previous battle, they captured about three to four thousand people, and more than three thousand people in the city surrendered collectively. Apart from the two thousand people they killed, there were about seven or eight thousand people fleeing in the wild.
It is the right way for Xiao Dilu to come forward and send people to appease them. It is better to control as much as you can and control it in your own hands, rather than being taken in and rectified by the Khitan people and then fighting them in turn.
Since the beginning of the war, he has killed Yelu Zhanlie, captured Shulu Porun alive, captured more than 100,000 old and weak women and children, and more than a million cattle, sheep, horses and camels. He has made great achievements in war. With this, he can actually get a title, but if you want to impress the saint even more
If there are some, then you have to think of other ways.
"Report victory to Commander Liang, the saint." After entering the city and seeing his own soldiers taking over every corner, Li Shaorong was determined and immediately ordered.
"Yes." After the messenger accepted the order, the nine people were divided into three groups, one group went to the way they came from, and the other two groups went to Helong Palace.
Nine people brought more than fifty horses and galloped all the way. They could present the eucalyptus head of the Holy Saint in three days at the latest - if they were not intercepted along the way.
Li Shaorong personally entered a house again to confirm whether Shuluping himself was intact.
The woman sat there with an expressionless face, instructing the three children to sew furs.
Li Shaorong looked at it for a while and thought to himself: "It is not a good thing to have long nights and dreams. When the Feilong Army arrives, we will send this woman and her family away. If we lose the credit we have gained, we will really regret it."
After that, he turned around and left.
The atmosphere in Beilou City was a little uneasy. Especially after some people learned that the superiors had opened the city to surrender, they subconsciously resisted and were suppressed on the spot. Others tried to escape, but were also captured, and their heads were hung everywhere as a warning to others.
.
The number of cavalry troops was too small. More than 2,000 people were left outside the city, and only 900 combat troops and 1,000 auxiliary troops entered the city. As a last resort, Xiao Dilu was ordered to lead the Shan army to assist in the suppression.
He just needs to survive tomorrow. At the latest tomorrow night, the Feilong Army will arrive, and by then the North Tower will no longer be able to cause trouble.
As for where to go next, that depends on what Liang Hanyong wants.
Information has just come in that the men, women, old and weak of the Khitan retreating north are roughly divided into three groups.
The road with the largest number of people is the Beilou that they are currently raiding. There are about more than 200,000 people, including the Uighur Shulu tribe, the Khitan Pin tribe, the Chute tribe, the Yaonian clan's own tribe, the first and sixth tribes of Diela.
Xi and other vassal tribes.
Secondly, the route led by Yelv Xema Ge to the Miaojie Prefecture was dominated by the Khitan Yishi, Wukui, and Nila tribes, plus the Diela tribe and vassal tribes, with about 100,000 people.
In addition to these two routes, there is also a group that retreats north to the Shiwei boundary, mainly composed of Tuju, Tulubu and Diela tribes, plus vassal tribes, with a number of nearly 100,000.
The specific locations of the other two groups of people are not yet clear because they have had very few previous contacts and have been moving slowly, making it difficult to pinpoint them.
But it doesn't matter, just search slowly. You can even let the Khitans deceive the Khitans themselves and capture as many cattle and sheep as possible.
Without the old, weak, women, children, cattle and sheep, the Khitan cavalry would be like water without a source and would be easily destroyed.
****
"Take as much as you can, don't delay." Abaoji ordered decisively.
Yuwen and others responded excitedly and went down to give orders.
They had just defeated a Xia people's grain transport team and killed two thousand state soldiers. A large amount of grain and military supplies became their spoils of war.
But this kind of work gradually became unbearable.
One is because the Xia people began to mobilize more manpower to follow the grain transport team. Especially those useless cavalry, which could not catch up with the Khitan cavalry archers on the grassland, but when guarding the grain team at close range, they first hid behind the infantry and waited for the Khitan
When the strength of the light horse was exhausted, the troops charged and killed them, causing heavy losses to them.
Only the Khan's personal army could barely cope with this type of cavalry, which was good at conflict. Neither the Great Falcon nor the Little Falcon could cope with it, let alone those tribal herdsmen.
If you continue to rob, you won't actually make much money, you can even say you will lose money.
Another reason is that they found that the Xia people's food routes did not seem to be affected much.
They stockpile as little as more than 100,000 and as many as 200,000 dendrobium of grain and beans in each city. If you attack a few grain transport teams at once, the impact will be up to 30,000 dendrobium. The Xia people will coordinate and send more grain transport teams later.
Send guards and that's pretty much the solution.
A city that stores grain is like a reservoir. When there is a drought, the gate is opened to release water, and when it rains, more water is stored, which plays a role in regulating the food supply.
Based on these two factors, Abaoji judged that there would be no results if the fight continued and the Xia people's food route could not be cut off, so they had to retreat without interruption.
Haili led the horse and stood aside, worried in his heart.
His thoughts were similar to Abaoji's: the plan he made before was a bit taken for granted.
The Xia people divided their troops into four groups to attack the Khitan.
According to the latest news, the Bohai Kingdom has been completely defeated. There is also big news. The leader of the Bohai Kingdom, Da Wei Jing, died of illness. His son Da Xi ascended the throne before his death, and ordered Wang Shu Da Shu Xian to lead the army.
This road has completely lost its threat.
Along the way to Liao River, the Xia people had few soldiers, and their people were also very few, so they were not worth mentioning.
The real trouble is over the flat pine forest.
Can Yelu Huolu hold Yikun Prefecture and prevent the Xia people from protruding? Haili is most worried that Huo Lu can't help but fight the Xia people in a decisive battle, 60,000 versus 50,000. It seems that he has a military advantage, but he suspects that he will be defeated in one fell swoop.
Defeated, that would be the end of it.
As for the front, everyone knows it can’t stand it.
The Xia people advance step by step. As long as they are not in a hurry for success and stick to their current step-by-step strategy of building fortresses every hundred miles or so, there will be nothing Yelvushulu can do.
Now - it's time to adjust your tactics.
"Let's go!" Seeing the herdsmen taking off the leather harnesses on their horses and stacking the grain bags one by one, Abaoji ordered to leave without delay.
"Is there any news from Xia Li?" he asked suddenly before leaving.
Yeluxiali led his men to fight with the Shatuo cavalry, and then they fought and walked to the northwest. They were shielding Abaoji and others from the sword. Of course, he had to be concerned about it.
"Not yet." Haili replied.
"What day is it today?"
"It's June 11th."
"First go east, confuse the Xia people, and then go north." Abaoji nodded and got on his horse.
"Is the Great Khan going to Helong Palace?" Haili frowned and asked.
"No." Abaoji shook his head and said: "Shao Shude is the most treacherous thief. Judging from his military skills, he rarely falls into danger easily. Helong Palace is only a few feet away from Yingzhou City, and there is a hiding place for fine cavalry.
It's not difficult. If I go, I will be trapped in a tight siege, and I have no idea where some people are. The key to using troops on the grassland is lightness, speed, and agility, and try to avoid head-on confrontation. Now I'm worried that Huolu won't be able to hold on and will be defeated by the Xia people.
Break through."
"Where does the Khan want to go?" Haili asked.
"Let's meet up with Alu Dun in Yue first." Abaoji said, "We'll take a look on the way to see if there are any fighter planes."
Lightness, speed and flexibility are the advantages of the Khitan cavalry.
Being as thick as a mountain and charging bravely are the advantages of the Xia army's cavalry.
First trade space for time, lengthen the supply line of the Xia people, let them divide their troops everywhere, and then use the characteristics of mobility and flexibility to form a local strength advantage, eat up the bulky and slow Xia people, accumulate small victories into big victories, this is the Khitan
The fundamental strategy is also their only feasible strategy.
Now it seems that the execution is not very ideal.
So far, they have only eaten three Xia people's food transport teams, killing and injuring thousands of people. But once they encounter a serious problem, they can only watch them arrive at their destination calmly, and let go of no less than ten teams.
Food team.
Heading north to look for fighter planes? Haili is not very optimistic.
What we encountered next was not the state soldiers and native regiments. This battle was really difficult.
On June 18th, Abaoji, who was returning north, met Yelu Yuzhi who was returning with troops to harass the Xia army. He was speechless for a long time when he learned that Yikun Prefecture had been captured by the Xia people on June 13th.
Huolu persisted for twenty days, but finally couldn't resist anymore...
****
On June 17, Wansheng Huangtou Army endured "buzzing flies" all the way and arrived at Jingfan Village with difficulty and determination.
There was a mess outside the city, with corpses everywhere - only human corpses, not horse corpses, which might have been eaten.
Shi Junli had people collect the corpses of both the enemy and ours and bury them hastily.
"Why is it three days late?" Ma Sixun, the commander-in-chief of the Black Army, looked at Shi Junli, Li Congke and Li Congzhang angrily and asked.
"Isn't it normal for the thieves to suddenly attack our headquarters regardless of casualties and arrive three days late?" Shi Junli frowned with a gloomy look on his face, but Li Congke couldn't help it and responded directly.
"Do you fucking want to watch us starve to death?" Ma Sixun spat and cursed: "If someone surrenders, no matter how sinister they are, I will definitely report it to the Privy Council and the Saint. Let's see how you explain it!"
Shi Junli strode away, not wanting to argue too much with this mad dog.
In fact, it's not that I can't understand Ma Sixun's anger at all.
They arrived a few days late. Firstly, the Datong Army that took over the defense of Toad Village arrived a day late. Secondly, as Li Congke said, the Khitan people went crazy and caused a huge delay at the cost of thousands of casualties.
The speed of their advance has slowed down. Do you blame me?
"Repair the walled city again." Shi Junli walked around and ordered.
The military academy took the order and left.
Shi Junli climbed up again and looked at the north.
He had just received news that the northern front had been broken through, Yikun Prefecture had changed hands, and tens of thousands of people from the West Route Army were advancing eastward. The Khitan people should be unable to withstand it.
To be honest, Jingfan Village is probably less than 800 miles away from Yikun Prefecture. In terms of the vast grassland with sparsely populated areas, it’s really not that far away. From this perspective, they really went deep into
In Khitan territory.
According to Zang Shuai's order, the next step was for the army to continue heading north, heading towards Longhua Prefecture (today's ancient city of Ximengjiaduan Village, Naiman Banner), which is about 170 miles away.
According to the news, there are thousands of strong men guarding the military state under the head of Abaoji, and the number of civilians may be 30,000 or 40,000. Taking this place, even if the Khitan cavalry cannot be captured, their years of efforts will be in vain, and the number of people will be increased.
The internal conflicts in the Great Khitan caused them to split.
Even if there is no split, it’s nothing. The eight Khitan tribes, let’s go back to nomadic pasture!