Before the warriors of the Sixth Army set off, 20,000 infantrymen from the Third Army took over two new grassland cities located in the Huchuquan and Chiwule territories. The importance of these two new cities is self-evident and must be firmly established.
With them firmly in his own hands, Liu Xin could not safely hand them over to the Huns.
In order to wait for the 20,000 infantrymen of the Third Army, the cavalry of the Sixth Army set out a few days later. But they moved very quickly. After a day and night of rapid march, they had arrived at the Mobei Grassland.
Different from the last attack on the Xiongnu grassland, now is the nomadic season. All tribes on the grassland have returned to their own pastures. Herder families of the same tribe are scattered to the corners of the pastures. Different tactics are adopted in different situations. Zhao Yun will
The 50,000 cavalrymen were divided into teams of one hundred people, and each group communicated with each other through bugles and fireworks. Each team received a road map, starting from Heyun, Weishan, Zhuoxie Mountain, and Junji Mountain at the same time.
Set off and sweep eastward, not sparing any tent or group of cattle or sheep that we encounter, whether they belong to the Xianbei tribe or other small tribes. This is a large-scale cleansing like a dragnet.
This time, Liu Xin issued a death order to carry out the most thorough attack on the Xianbei people and turn them into a small tribe on the grassland again. In order to let the soldiers unburden themselves, he also specifically announced that if there are soldiers
If you kill Xianbei civilians in battle, you will not be held accountable by military discipline. The tribes on the grassland are all soldiers. Even a woman or half-grown child may draw a bow and shoot an arrow. At this time, kindness to the enemy is
Cruelty to oneself.
The soldiers of the Sixth Army have been stationed in Prairie New City for more than a year and have learned many survival skills on the grassland.
During this expedition, they carried almost no other supplies except water bladders and a small amount of nutritious fried noodles specially made by the Han army, and emergency food such as maren candy. Each soldier was equipped with two war horses, both of which were mothers who gave birth to cubs.
Horses. There are excellent pastures everywhere on the grassland, which can provide sufficient mare's milk. Although the mare's milk has a bit of a smell, the soldiers have been completely adapted to it after living on the grassland for so long.
In addition to mare's milk, the cattle and sheep raised by Xianbei or other tribes encountered along the way will become their delicacies. Just like the grassland people, they adopt the strategy of fighting to support war and do not need logistical support.
Behind them, there were 20,000 young Huns.
A long time ago, Xianbei was just a small tribe attached to the Huns' tent. As the Huns were defeated by the Han, their inherent pastures were gradually eroded by Xianbei. Many Xiongnu tribes even relied on the Xianbei people to survive.
The Huns dreamed of being able to ride on the Mobei grasslands again one day, and the Han people's campaign against Xianbei gave them this opportunity.
Hu Chuquan and others unanimously requested to participate in the battle against Xianbei. Although Zhao Yun did not allow them to rush to the front line, he finally agreed that they would send 20,000 young men to follow them to take in the prisoners and escort the loot. Zhao Yun also had a purpose in doing so.
The meaning of killing the chickens to scare the monkeys made the Huns understand that there would be no good outcome in fighting against the Han. In fact, it is more accurate to say that killing the monkeys to scare the chickens is more accurate, because the current Xianbei is much stronger than the Huns.
Ma Chao, who had just been promoted to deputy commander of the Sixth Army, personally led a team of 100 people to the front. He set off from Heyun and arrived at a lake at noon that day. The map indicated that it was called the West Sea, and there was a small river called Ganwei River.
Winding eastward here, it is surrounded by lush water and grass, and herds of cattle and sheep. It is an important pasture in Xianbei.
Ma Chao waved his iron gun and shouted in a deep voice: "Kill!"
This piece of grassland now belongs to the Jianman tribe. Since Kuai Tou took over the throne, the Jianman tribe has been squeezed out and driven to the grassland closest to the Xiongnu grassland, which means that they will directly face
Threat from the Xiongnu in the west. Because this is the border between the two ethnic groups, in order to prevent being attacked, more than 30 families of herdsmen set up tents together so that they could take care of each other.
However, all the adult males in their family were recruited by the leader to go to the Han Dynasty. Now the only ones left at home are the elderly, women, children and the slaves they captured. The prairie people are brave by nature, and even half-old children can draw a bow.
Arrows are released, and women can also go into battle to kill enemies. Therefore, even if there is no male master in the family, slaves do not dare to resist easily and can only work and herd obediently.
There are six slaves grazing the herds of cattle and sheep, belonging to three herdsmen families. Slaves are easy to distinguish from herdsmen. Most of the slaves have various patterns tattooed on their faces to show where they belong. Moreover, slaves cannot carry weapons, especially
It was a bow and arrow. These slaves had nothing but a riding crop in their hands. When they saw the large group of cavalry approaching, they immediately shrank to the side, not daring to make any resistance.
According to the rules on the grassland, in battle, any man taller than a wheel will be killed. Not resisting is the wisest choice for these slaves. But this time Liu Xin’s order was extremely thorough, and a Han cavalry rode from
Those slaves passed in front of them, and with a wave of their hands, a slave's head flew into the air. Dozens of cavalrymen behind them raised their sharp sabers and pounced on the slaves.
Just when the remaining five slaves thought they were going to die, they suddenly heard a young general shout loudly: "Wait a minute!"
Long-term training has long made Han soldiers have conditioned reflexes to orders. At Ma Chao's order, the half-struck saber stopped abruptly, and the war horses neighed in a circle, surrounding the five slaves.
Ma Chao pointed his iron gun at the slaves and shouted in a deep voice: "Let them lead the way to the camp!"
Among these five slaves, there was one Han, one Huns, and three Xianbei. They were all young children captured during various tribal wars or raids on the Han territory. They grew up with these Xianbei families. But
They have been forced to do all kinds of dirty and tiring work since they were young. If they disobey the slightest bit, they will be beaten severely or even beaten to death. Many of their companions who were captured with them died before reaching adulthood. Even though
They were able to survive by chance, but their lives were also extremely miserable. In addition to working, they also ate very poorly, not even as good as a hound raised by their master. Of course, the master was even less likely to marry them, and they were destined to die alone.
.
When facing ordinary herdsmen, these slaves did not dare to resist, let alone facing this group of aggressive soldiers, several slaves walked in front obediently.
Although the grassland is vast as far as the eye can see, the grassland is too big and the grass grows extremely high. Without a guide, it is not particularly easy to find the tent, so Zhao Yun adopts a dragnet-style investigation strategy. Now with these slaves
With us leading the way, everything became much easier, and soon dozens of felt tents appeared in front of us.
"Kill!" It was not easy to encounter so many tents at once during the nomadic season. Ma Chao even suspected that this was a camp for the leader of the Xianbei tribe. He couldn't help but get excited and rushed towards the end with his gun drawn.
Front.
It's time to eat now. The old, weak, women and children in the camp are staying in their tents, enjoying the delicious roast mutton and buttered mare's milk. Suddenly they feel the trembling of the earth, and even the tents are shaking. The year-round grassland
Life soon made them alert, there was a cavalry coming here.
The one who reacted quickly quickly grabbed a bow and arrow and rushed out of the tent, but before he could see the figure of the incoming person clearly, he heard a "swish" sound and was pierced through the throat by an arrow. More people rushed out of the tent one after another.
, either fell under random arrows, or were chopped into two pieces. Without the young and middle-aged men, they had no power to fight back in front of the fully armed Han cavalry, and became a group of lambs waiting to be slaughtered.
Everyone in the camp was driven out of their tents and gathered at the Ganwei River next to the camp. A large cart was pushed over. As people living on the grasslands, they naturally understood what these Han soldiers wanted to do.
.Several slaves screamed in fear and unwillingness, and some of them spoke Chinese.
Ma Chao's heart moved, and he suddenly pointed his hand and said: "Bring it here!"
It was a Han slave with black hair and black eyes, but his original yellow skin had turned dark due to long-term exposure to the sun. The Han slave told his tragic experience in tears. His name was Luo Xiang, from Juyan, Liangzhou.
In the winter when he was seven years old, a Xianbei cavalry attacked his village. All the adult men in the village were killed, all their property was stolen, and the women and children became slaves of the Xianbei people. More than ten years passed.
Luo Xiang is already in his thirties, and he doesn’t speak Chinese that fluently, but his heart is still for the Han people. He doesn’t want to die like this. He is willing to pick up swords, guns, bows and arrows to help the Han army fight the Xianbei people.
.
Ma Chao laughed and said: "You don't need to pick up swords, guns, bows and arrows, you can just use your own weapons to help us."
Luo Xiang said with a confused look: "But this slave only has one riding whip."
Ma Chao waved his hand and said: "Your weapon is your body! Luo Xiang, let me ask you, do you want a woman?"
Although he has lived for thirty years, Luo Xiang has never touched a woman in his life. After hearing Ma Chao's question, Luo Xiang couldn't help but blush, and muttered: "I thought about it, but I'm just a slave.
How dare you have such extravagant hopes, you can only do it in your dreams..."
"Listen, I will give you this opportunity now!" Ma Chao waved his hand, pointed at the group of men and women being escorted to the river, and asked, "Which ones belong to your master's family?"
If those who captured them were the Huns or other grassland tribes, Luo Xiang would not dare to say anything or move anything. But now that those who captured them were his own compatriots, Luo Xiang became bolder. He walked to the river and shook his head with his hand.
They pointed at the men and women. Anyone pointed by Luo Xiang was immediately picked out by Han soldiers.