Han Shizhong and Liang Hongyu led the 50,000 cavalry of the Fifth Army to the front, exploring the road while guarding against dangerous situations. Hu Sanniang led the death squads, with the production and construction corps in the center, and the first three divisions of the death squads.
It's from the back
The army keeps moving forward like this, with more than 600,000 soldiers and horses, and countless supplies, it is like a moving city.
That afternoon, they encountered a dense forest ahead. The area of the dense forest was so large that in the end the army had to detour from the south. It took a full day. It was only this evening that they bypassed the dense forest.
In the next few days, there were more and more dense forests. There was snow everywhere in the dense forest. Even the cavalry did not dare to enter the dense forest at will. They were afraid of getting stuck in and having difficulty getting out.
It was not until February 25 that the army arrived in a large area south of Huining Mansion.
After Huining Mansion was burned down by Han Shizhong, and then occupied by the Jurchens last year, Huining Mansion was only in ruins. The Jurchens occupied it without any meaning. They just stayed there for a period of time and then left. Now the place is also desolate.
The army kept moving forward without seeing a single person along the way.
They started to move west from here, and now they have entered the snowfield that Han Shizhong once entered. But now that the weather has warmed up, the danger of the snowfield has been greatly reduced, and Liangshan is very well prepared this time. They are setting off
Many guides have been found before, and these guides will lead them smoothly into this snowfield.
The road is still difficult, especially for some women. Although these women do farm work every day and are strong, they are now exhausted. Under this situation, many warriors gave up their horses to those women, and they walked long distances.
OK
For the Liangshan Army, caring for women is also part of their style, not to mention these women are their comrades-in-arms.
In the evening, the army rested in the snow. Among the hundreds of thousands of people, there were quite a number of young people who were proficient in talents. These young people performed for everyone, and the whole camp was full of laughter.
"Do you think the Mongols have gone south?" Hu Sanniang, Sister-in-law Gu and several generals were sitting together. Sister-in-law Gu couldn't help but ask.
"No, they have to wait until spring to go south. At this time in the grassland, the environment is still extremely harsh. Unless they don't care about their own people, they will not go south," Hu Sanniang said with a smile.
"Are there some Mongolian tribes that are migrating with all their tribesmen?" Sister-in-law Gu asked again.
"This is impossible. The tribes in Mongolia are different from our death army and production and construction corps. We are an army. There are many civilians among them, many old people and children. We have a lot of supplies in our hands. They Mongolians are poor.
"They don't have much supplies at all. They don't know how many people will die during such a long journey," Hu Sanniang said.
"That's true." Sister-in-law Gu thought about it and couldn't help but laugh.
"When we reach the grassland, we will definitely encounter an attack by the Mongols, and we will be in danger then." Han Shizhong was also here, saying
"Then don't be afraid that hundreds of thousands of us are here. The number of troops has almost reached 200,000. We have taken absolute defensive measures. No attack can defeat us," Hu Sanniang said
Han Shizhong nodded and agreed in his heart, but he also felt that doing so was a bit negative, but he also understood that such a negative method was the safest way. They went to the grassland, not seeking merit, but seeking no faults, as long as they were safe.
"The Mongols may move south at any time, so we have to speed up our march. We want the soldiers to move faster," Hu Sanniang said
"Commander Hu, our Fifth Army is responsible for exploring the road. Let's go further forward," Han Shizhong said
"Okay" Hu Sanniang nodded.
Starting from the second day, Han Shizhong and Liang Hongyu began to move forward faster. They were two to three hundred miles faster than the large group behind them.
The marching speed of the army behind also began to speed up. At this time, they had basically arrived on the Mongolian grassland. There were plains everywhere and the roads were much easier than before. Now their daily marching speed has reached about a hundred miles.
While resting late at night, Hu Sanniang was studying the map with several division commanders of the Death Army.
"This is Burhan Mountain, this is the Onan River, this is where the Qiyan tribe lives, and it is also the place with the richest water and grass on the entire grassland. To the west of the Qiyan tribe, at the foot of this mountain, here is the life of the Kele tribe.
However, after the Kele tribe was defeated by our Liangshan tribe, their tribe has moved. According to the information sent back by Duan Jingzhu and the others, this place is now occupied by the Naiman tribe. One Qiyan tribe and one Naiman tribe. This is the grassland.
The two largest tribes in the world are also the most
They may be the tribes that sent troops south, so these two tribes are the focus of our containment. The Tatar tribe is still in the west. If they want to go south, they have to pass through this area, so the direction of our march is also here. The station I chose is the Onan River.
In an area 300 miles away in the south, the Qiyan tribe, the Naiman tribe are in the north, the Tatar tribe, the Hongji Ci tribe are in the west, the Merqi tribe, and the Wanggu tribe are in the east. They are stationed here, which is enough to contain the troops within a radius of more than a thousand miles.
"The major tribes," Hu Sanniang said
"It's also a good place there, Commander. There should be grassland tribes there too?" Xie Zhen said.
"That was originally where the Klei tribe lived. Now the Naiman tribe has not occupied all of this place. There are at most some small tribes here. We can just drive them away. Tomorrow, we have to continue to speed up the march," Hu Sanniang said
On the second day, the army continued to move north. From a distance, it looked like a mobile fortress. Occasionally, there were wolves and wild horses. When they saw the endless human beings, they immediately left in fear.
******
At this moment, Duan Jingzhu is still here in the Mongolian beggar tribe more than a thousand miles away. Seeing that spring is coming, the snow on the grassland seems to be melting, but he still has not left.
A few days later, Cheng Guan, Lu Junyi and others also came back. The faces of these people were not very good. After they arrived at other tribes, many tribes were bribed by the Jurchens. Some of these tribes even openly said that they would go south into Liaodong.
"Jingzhu, you still haven't found out Hebulehan's attitude?" Cheng Guan said.
"He didn't say going south, and the Qiyan tribe didn't see any signs of going south. But, I always feel something is wrong," Duan Jingzhu said
"The Mongolians are ambitious and must be guarded against," said Cheng Guan
"I have written down everything that happened here and submitted it to the military headquarters. The military headquarters will definitely be on guard," Duan Jingzhu said.
"There is no point in us continuing to stay here. Why don't we leave and walk around the grassland to carefully observe the situation of a large tribe?" Lu Junyi said
"Okay" Duan Jingzhu and Cheng Guan both agreed.
That night, Duan Jingzhu and others asked to see Hebul Khan
Hebulkhan was in a very good state of mind during this period. He had actually begun to mobilize his people. It was very simple for the Mongols to take their people south to mobilize the army. There were not as many things as in the Central Plains. They only needed the people to take them.
Beef jerky, get the milk wine, they can go south at any time, but before going south, he must make complete arrangements for the begging department, and no mistakes can be made in the begging department.
In addition to these, he is also uniting with other tribes, discussing with the tribal leaders the time to go south together, and even discussing the possible distribution of benefits in the future.
Hearing Duan Jingzhu and others requesting to see him, Hebulehan smiled slightly and immediately let these people in.
"Great Khan" Everyone bowed down and saluted
"My friends, you all seem to be a lot haggard," Hebul Khan said with a laugh while entertaining everyone.
"Great Khan, we are here to say goodbye to you," Duan Jingzhu said.
"Oh? Why don't you stay a little longer? This year, your Liangshan will start a war against the Jurchens?" Hebul Khan asked.
"Whether there is a war or not, this requires our military to make a decision," Duan Jingzhu said
Hebulehan nodded. He didn't care whether Liangshan launched an attack on the Jurchens this year. Regardless of whether Liangshan attacked the Jurchens, he would go south this year.
"Great Khan, can you tell the truth, has your begging department reached an agreement with the Jurchens?" At this moment, Lu Junyi suddenly asked
Hebulehan smiled and said nothing. He did not deny it. Suddenly everyone understood what he meant and everyone's expressions changed.