Sujube is not a single city, but a group of cities, with several small earth and stone cities as the core, surrounded by a slightly rudimentary bamboo and wood camp.

Several of the camps and earthen cities still show fresh traces of human activity, while others are already damaged to varying degrees. Several camps have been completely demolished, and the land has been plowed and planted with some crops such as soybeans and siads.

Beyond the city, there is the Siye Pingchuan, which is almost unimpeded, except for some artificially piled mounds of varying heights in the direction of the north leading to the Yellow River. Those mounds have long been covered by barren grass and trees, and have existed for a long time.

The cavalry of the Huainan Army was stationed in the southwest corner of the city group of Sujuo at this time, and more than a thousand cavalry plus even more superior war horses only occupied three or four of them, and as for the rest of the place, they only arranged some sentry posts to ensure that no one sneaked in quietly.

At this time, Xiao Yuandongji was sitting on the tower of Tucheng City, holding a green grass stalk in his mouth, and throwing it on one side, although his posture was slightly lazy, his distant eyes and slightly frowning brows showed that his mood was not relaxed.

Under the castle tower, the soldiers were driving hundreds of horses back to Tucheng, and the soldiers were in a relaxed mood at this moment, waving their horsewhips and howling jokes while restraining the horses into the city.

Xiao Yuandong was initially overjoyed about the fact that he was picking up sour dates, although he was only the owner of the cavalry, but the status of the cavalry commander in the Huainan Army was already higher than that of the ordinary infantry troops, and the owner of the cavalry was one level higher than the master of the infantry battalion. Therefore, Xiao Yuandong is also very clear about the war plan for the governor to go north.

It is a stronghold that is extremely important in the next step and even must be taken, and it is also the base camp where the Huainan army will gather and start a general battle with the Shikan army along the Yellow River. Originally, the plan was to invest tens of thousands of men and horses in the front, but now it was taken by Xiao Yuandong's thousands of cavalry outings.

Although there was no vicious battle, a great achievement was inevitable. Xiao Yuandong was also very helpless about this, he really walked in as he walked, and then occupied this empty camp.

But after rejoicing, Xiao Yuandong began to struggle. His troops were all light cavalry, and this time he came east only to disturb the enemy and block the news, and he had no intention of attacking and defending the fortifications.

When Xiao Yuandong led the crowd into the city, he collected a lot of missing grain and grass in some places, although it was not much, but there were also three or five hundred hundred, plus the military food and horse material carried by the team itself, it was more than enough to support five or six days.

Now that the governor is leading his troops to station in Huting, he will definitely lead the crowd to help after receiving the letter, even if the march is a little slow, at most four or five days can reach the sour jujube. Before that, if he wanted to defend the city, he could only rely on his thousands of men and horses to fight alone.

As for the use of weapons, as a light cavalry unit, the demand is not large, and there is no need for the heavy ordnance of the foot soldiers, and the most important thing that is lacking is arrows. Now there are only more than 6,000 arrows in the team, and they are evenly distributed to people's heads, and each person is less than a pot, and a charge can be consumed cleanly.

The enemy retreated in a hurry, although Xiao Yuandong couldn't guess why the enemy general retreated, but even if he used the city as bait, he couldn't turn a blind eye when he encountered this empty city that he had planned to take.

But now he was faced with a dilemma, if the enemy army came back again, should his men and horses be stationed in the city or should they go out of the city to fight?

As a cavalry general trained within the Huainan Army, Xiao Yuandong naturally knew the strength of the cavalry field battle, and if the men and horses were blocked in the city, the city might not be able to hold it, and it might be lost. However, if you lead your troops out of the city to meet the battle, you will have mobility, and you will not be able to defeat the enemy army in the field, but let the enemy army rush into the city, so that the city will be gained and lost.

"What a dilemma!"

Xiao Yuandong sighed melancholy, but he didn't know that if his melancholy distress was seen by other comrades in the Huainan Army, he was afraid that he would be even more disgusted with him. Picking up a great achievement for nothing, but still putting on a sad look, it's not too shameless!

At this moment, a group of people of considerable size appeared in the plains in the distance, approaching here. Seeing this, Xiao Yuandong hurriedly picked up the pocket and buckled it on his head, and jumped down from the head of the city, and then turned over and gathered more than a dozen cavalrymen, and carried the horse lance out of the city to rush towards the direction of the crowd.

Halfway through, it was clear that the group of people was a group of ragged homeless people, about 300 people. Behind the ranks of the displaced people were more than a dozen knights of the Huainan Army, one of whom was Fan Li, a soldier under Xiao Yuandong, who greeted him and said: "General, my subordinates were ordered to patrol and investigate to the north, and this group of wandering food was found in the forest on the hill twenty miles ahead, so they drove back to ......."

Xiao Yuandong nodded after hearing this, and the reins of the horse in his hand shook, and the war horse trotted around the team of homeless people. Stand out and answer! ”

The homeless people throbbed for a moment, and the ranks shrank even more, their heads bowed and shivering one by one, and no one dared to respond in response. This is a normal attitude of homeless people, but Xiao Yuandong faintly feels that something is wrong, because this group of homeless people is mostly strong, but there are few women and children, the old and weak, which is a little different from the ordinary homeless people who often have to drag their families and flee to the wilderness to avoid military disasters.

Xiao Yuandong frowned and groaned for a moment, then urged the horse to rush towards the homeless team, and the horse lance in his hand shook and went towards the homeless people. Seeing this, the homeless people suddenly let out a desperate howl from their mouths, and one by one they ran backwards in a panic, only to collide and fall together.

"General......

Seeing this scene, Fan Li was also shocked in his heart, he didn't know why the owner of the building wanted to kill, he opened his mouth and roared, and then saw that Xiao Yuandong had already reined in the war horse, and looked at the panicked homeless people, looking up and laughing, as if it was just an occasional joke just now.

Not to mention those wanderers who are staggering and unpossessed, Fan Li rode to Xiao Yuandong's side and whispered: "General, our troops are already weak and it is not easy to hold on, and there are still many war horses to take care of, which is quite labor-intensive. With these pleasure foods, you can also share a little......"

Xiao Yuandong nodded after hearing this, they rode away lightly, there were not many envoys in the team, and during the day, the soldiers were not only scouting to be vigilant against the enemy, but also raising and drinking a large number of war horses, which was really tired. Being able to find this group of homeless people in the wilderness can also relieve the lack of strength a little.

So the group of homeless people was driven to the banks of the stream outside the city, and one by one they took off their clothes and jumped into the cool water to wash themselves off, and then put on their old clothes and were allowed to enter one of the camps and settle down.

Since there was no leader for this group of homeless people, Xiao Yuandong directly assigned them, divided them into Wushi, selected more than a dozen leaders, selected most of the thin and weak people, and even simply appointed a rather old lame man as the temporary camp leader.

After settling down, the Huainan army moved out dozens of grains and ordered these homeless people to build stoves for cooking, of course, monitoring and interrogation were indispensable, but those homeless people were scared like quails one by one, and they really couldn't ask anything, and they even asked about their hometowns. This is not a strange thing these days, where there is endless fighting, and many displaced people have been on the move since birth, that is, they do not know where they are or where they were born.

In addition to the grain collected in the empty city, the Huainan army itself also carried military rations, which were much richer, in addition to cooked grains, there were also dried meat, fish and other meat, oil and salt full of flavor, stewed in a pot, rich aroma. When those homeless people were cooking on the fire, they kept twitching their noses and sniffing the delicious food, and they felt even more hungry, but there were Huainan soldiers on the side, and they didn't dare to taste it privately.

In the evening, the Huainan army finished eating. At this time, the leftover soup in the cauldron was the turn of the displaced people to eat. Just as the homeless people were about to rush up, the Huainan soldiers who were watching from the sidelines rushed in and whipped and scolded with their horsewhips, and only after these people were settled down did they order the Wushi leader and the camp owner to share the meal.

Those leaders were naturally not polite when they got such an opportunity, and they didn't care about anything else and filled their stomachs first, especially the lame old campmaster who drank three bowls by himself, and licked the remaining oil flowers along the edge of the bowls cleanly. As for the others, it is inevitable that they will not drink enough, and even take up a few bowls of water to wash the pot.

With the knowledge of the Huainan army, these homeless people began to cut horse feed, dig ditches, repair camp walls, etc., and the work was naturally light and heavy, all assigned by those leaders. So these yellow-faced and thin-skinned characters, who were originally bullied in the team, became arrogant at this time, anyway, they had the support of the Huainan Army officers and soldiers behind them, and whoever dared to oppose it under an order would be severely beaten.

It was not until late at night that the homeless people dragged their tired bodies back to the camp, and the Huainan Army only sent a dozen soldiers to guard outside the camp.

After a day's work, the leaders had established some authority, and naturally subconsciously gave themselves preferential treatment, and first chose the soft bed, and soon fell asleep soundly.

As for the other homeless people, some of them fell asleep at this time, and some looked at the sleeping leaders with resentment, and their eyes flashed fiercely in the night, but the night was all right.

After another day, the displaced people lived and worked as before. It was just before dawn when the night was at its deepest, there was a sudden strange sound in the camp, and the lame old camp owner who was snoring like thunder was sleeping soundly, when suddenly his neck was strangled by someone, and he struggled to wake up, and then saw more than a dozen strong men standing next to the bed, all with hideous and fierce expressions.

"This old dog really thinks of himself as the camp owner, and has completely forgotten what is going on here!"

One person tightly choked the camp master's throat, covered his mouth with the other hand, leaned into his ear and whispered: "Tomorrow to drink horses, you have to choose carefully, if you miss the lord's important matter, tomorrow night will break your old bones, understand?" ”

When the old camp owner heard this, a fine cold sweat was already pouring out on his forehead, and he blinked frequently to show that he understood.

After a while, the fish white in the east gradually dewed, and the sound of the Huainan army calling to wake up was already heard outside the camp. The rest in the middle of the night was not enough to fully replenish the physical strength consumed, but these homeless people did not dare to slack off, and one by one they dragged their heavy bodies to get up, and walked out of the camp tent to start a new day's work.

The old camp master walked out last, his right hand still kneading his still aching throat, and when he came out, he found that many cold eyes in the team fell on him, and he couldn't help but shiver. It was only after seeing the Huainan soldiers standing silently outside the camp that a glimmer of hope flashed in his cloudy eyes.

"Lao Yu, today I want to repair the earth city on the north side, the task is heavy, if you can't finish it, don't blame me for the ruthlessness of the horsewhip in my hand!"

A Huainan sergeant came over and said with a smile, and by the way, he raised his hand and patted the old battalion master on the shoulder.

"When it's done, it's done......"

The old camp master said with a smile on his back, and then he limped to assign work to the laborers. When everyone dispersed, he walked slowly at the rear, his lips open as if he was smirking, but his mouth frequently whispered: "The general save me, the general save me......"

However, the two Huainan soldiers behind him didn't seem to be aware of it, just talking to themselves, and gradually drifted away. Then one of the leaders found that the old camp owner was lagging behind, so he turned back and pulled him to ask for many instructions.

Until the evening, the old camp owner no longer had the opportunity to be alone, there were always people around him, so he was worried all day, and when it was time to choose someone to drink in the evening, more than a dozen people in the team clenched their fists and stared at the old camp owner. In the end, these dozen people finally got their wish and got the opportunity to drink horses.

These dozen or so people walked to the stable as usual, although it was only a short two or three days of labor, but many affairs of the Huainan Army were very organized, and they were used to it. After the stables were opened, seven or eight horses had just been brought out, when suddenly a knight galloped on the other side, and shouted, "After drinking the horses, add another horse feed in the night." ”

Hearing this, the soldier guarding the stables frowned and said, "Why do you need to add more horse feed?" The business reserve has long been out ......"

Speaking of this, the soldier suddenly closed his voice, waved his hand and urged the dozen or so forcefuls: "Go quickly, drink these horses first." ”

The expressions of those people changed slightly, and a few of them pretended to be Ma Song to untie their chest belts and took a few steps behind, and then they heard the two soldiers behind whisper: "The food is exhausted, the reinforcements are not coming, and the lord of the building is ready to abandon the defense and withdraw at dawn......"

More than a dozen people led a few horses out of the camp and walked to the stream, where seven or eight Huainan soldiers stood on the grass with bows on their shoulders. Suddenly, a strong man howled, which quickly attracted people's attention, and then several Huainan sergeants slowly walked over to investigate.

At this time, several strong men pulled the war horses and went in the opposite direction, and after leaving a certain distance, they suddenly turned over and got on their horses, and then galloped away from the horses.

"Someone stole a horse!"

"Look for death!"

After those people escaped, there were strong men shouting on the side, and the Huainan soldiers also roared loudly, but they roared while not moving under their feet, just holding bows and strings to shoot the remaining strong men on the grass to death.

At the same time, there was also an accident in the barracks, outside the camp of the force-soldiers, Xiao Yuandong suddenly led hundreds of heavily armed Huainan soldiers to surround the camp, and then two leaders suddenly jumped out of those force-fighting, pointing to a few strong men in the crowd and shouting: "He, he...... These are traitors intent on rebellion! ”

When the old camp owner saw this scene, he was immediately stunned, it turned out that he was not the only one who planned to inform, or even the first.