During the conquest of the Volga Bolgars and the conquest of Tianzhu, Zhao Lei had led troops to participate in the war, experienced dozens of large and small battles, and was injured countless times, but he never led the troops to fight alone, but this time it was the first time that Zhao Lei fought alone as the main general, and also commanded 50,000 soldiers and horses, and the strength of the entire plateau army was three times that of the general standing army corps, that is to say, the plateau army was equivalent to three army corps, and every decision and every order had to be considered again.

After a day's march, the army crossed the border, which meant that it came to enemy territory, everything had to be done carefully, and it was not so easy to get support.

Crossing the border also means that the plateau officers have to solve the grain and grass materials on their own, and this matter is in charge of Zamu, who has 3,000 people to solve the grain and grass problem, how to solve it? It is to let the local residents forcibly apportionment in the occupied area, and if they do not pay, then they can only "take" it themselves.

"Don't be in a hurry for the time being, after we capture a few small towns on the way to Zalebao, you will send people to find the local landlords and wealthy merchants to apportion, if they don't cooperate, you won't be too late to do it, for those ordinary local civilians, we can not offend them, don't offend them, besides, they themselves can't eat, how can there be extra money and food?"

Zhao Lei's words temporarily dispelled the idea of looting, and Zamu said: "Okay, since the general said so, then we won't trouble the common people, and then go to those landlords and wealthy businessmen to apportionment after conquering a few small towns." But we'll have to find a few guides first! ”

Adjutant General Wu Tielin also agreed: "Yes, General, although there is a route on the map, we still have to find a guide in the local area, not only so that they can take us to march according to the route on the map, but also to collect information about the local landlords and nobles along the way. What other nobles, whether these nobles have slave soldiers, etc., we can all get news from the guide! ”

Zhao Lei nodded, "Okay, then find a guide first!" ”

After speaking, he shook his head to Lei Xiaosheng, the captain of the scout battalion: "Put on the big food merchant we brought, go to the nearby village to find someone, find one or a few residents who are familiar with the road and the local situation, and let them take us to Hudal!" ”

"Yes, General!" Lei Xiaosheng just hugged his fists and agreed, beat the horse and left quickly.

In this era, the population of all parts of the world is sparse, coupled with perennial wars and low social productivity, the population is even less, and it is also in the environment of the Iranian Plateau, which is a desert and desert everywhere, the population is even less, and it is not uncommon to see people for hundreds of miles, and it is not uncommon to enter a strange environment, and the language is not understood, and finding a guide is the best and most effective way.

This was an easy way to settle the matter, not far from the small town of Hudar, where almost all adult men had visited to buy or exchange goods. In the face of the plateau army, not everyone in the local area is willing to be a guide for them, only those who are greedy and always think about speculation will not let go of this opportunity to make money and get ahead, and such people always exist everywhere.

The small city of Hudal is garrisoned by less than a hundred large food soldiers, and it is a ragtag army, the weapons and equipment are rusty, and the city walls are all made of some mud, which cannot be called a city wall at all, it can only be regarded as a wall, where can such a city block the attack of the plateau army? Before Zhao Lei came with the main force, Lei Xiaosheng, the captain of the scout battalion, led the scout battalion to kill more than 100 stragglers of the big food army who were defending the city, and officially occupied the small city of Hudal, and then Zhao Lei led the army to enter smoothly.

The walls of the city and the buildings in the city were in a mess, but the city lord's mansion in this small city was built very atmospheric and exquisite, which naturally became Zhao Lei's temporary residence, and he strode to the front hall of the city lord's mansion to summon the deputy generals, generals and some generals below to assign affairs.

Zhao Lei didn't have time to put a lot of furnishings in the city lord's mansion, and said to the generals who came to discuss the matter: "Lord general, we can't stay here for a long time, we still have to capture a lot of towns along the way, we have to rush to join the king's army, we can only stay here to rest for a day, during this day, we have to collect some grain, grass and materials, this is mainly the responsibility of General Zamu, everyone else is in charge of their own soldiers, take a good rest for a day, don't make trouble everywhere, do you understand?" ”

The generals saluted and agreed: "Yes!" ”

This guy is a very discerning person, if Zhao Ziliang hadn't accepted him as a servant general, and let him be a deputy general after the establishment of the Plateau Army, this guy not only has eyes, knows his position, knows what he should do, and he will never be soft when he should be ruthless, the advantage of such a person is obedient and easy to use.

Zhamu knew that collecting grain and grass materials along the way was the most critical thing for this march, which was the premise of all wars, and only by stockpiling enough food and war materials could the battle be possible, and the soldiers would not have the strength to fight if they did not have enough to eat.

In just one day, Zamu raised an army of 50,000 in the small city of Hudar and the surrounding villages for half a month's worth of food and some supplies, in addition to a sum of valuable property, which were apportioned by the local landlords and wealthy merchants and nobles, of course, there were also those who did not cooperate, for these uncooperative landlords and rich merchants and nobles, Zamu had a ruthless and murderous side of the front, he ordered all these people and their families to be killed, confiscated all their property, and declared that their fields were free for the locals to cultivate, The first to cultivate gets first, and he also collected the slaves of these people and let the slaves transport grain and grass materials, and the army is short of coolies to work!

After a day's rest, Zhao Lei left a hundred men to garrison here, and the army continued to march northwest along the planned route. Over the next two days, the army effortlessly captured the small cities of Lasker and Salba on the march, and Zamu collected large quantities of grain, supplies, gold and silver in succession, leaving two more centurians to garrison the two small towns.

On October 19, Gao Yuan's army arrived at Zalebao under the leadership of Zhao Lei, Zhamu, Wu Tielin and Jin Zhanpeng. This is also a defensive castle, the scale is far less than Behedashir Castle, which is stationed with a thousand large food troops, and this castle is the largest defensive fortress in southern Sistan, its role is not only to guard against the Western Qin, but also to deter ordinary civilians and bandits around.

Zhao Lei looked at Zalebao on the mountainside a few miles away, frowned and said: "It seems that although this Zalebao is only a small fort with only a thousand people stationed, it is not easy to fight!" You see, the terrain around here, large-scale forces cannot be deployed at all, our superiority in strength has no effect in the face of such terrain, if the food, water and defensive equipment stored in this Zale Fort are sufficient, we are afraid that it will not be a matter of a day or two to take it! What do you guys think? ”

Jin Zhanpeng, the overseer, said: "Prince, we can't be dragged here for too long, the king is still waiting for us to meet, we must find a way to take Zalebao as soon as possible!" ”

Wu Tielin observed for a while, and said to everyone: "This kind of terrain attack is bound to suffer heavy casualties, it would be much easier if the Huya Army had men and horses here, they can easily climb the cliffs that we think are impossible to climb and surprise the enemy, but none of our soldiers have undergone similar training and are not qualified for such a way of fighting!" ”

Zamu thought for a while and said to Zhao Lei: "General, I think it's better to persuade Zalebao to surrender first, if they are stubborn, we will organize men and horses to carry out a tentative attack, see their defensive strength and means, and then formulate the corresponding siege method, calculate that no matter how difficult it is to attack this Zalebao, we must also take it, we can't leave it here, right?" In that case, our rear route will be cut off, and even though we have no logistical supplies, a retreat from the back of our butt will always make the soldiers fearful, and their morale and combat strength will be damaged."

Zhao Lei thought for a while and then instructed Wu Tielin: "You send someone to persuade you to surrender, let's see the results of persuasion!" ”

"Understood!" Wu Tielin agreed, turned around and arranged.

Zhao Lei said to Zamu again: "General Zamu, if the Great Food Army in Zale Fort does not surrender, we are only afraid that we will attack the city, but even if it is only a tentative attack, there will definitely be a lot of casualties in this terrain, how do you think we can minimize casualties?" ”

Zamu took off his helmet and grabbed his bare forehead, and suddenly slapped his head and said to Zhao Lei: "General, we can let those slaves go to attack the city, these people are all killed and robbed by those disobedient landlords, rich merchants and nobles, they have been transporting grain and grass to us, these slaves can not only work, but also fight, as long as they are given weapons, they can fight!" It's better to send these slaves to siege the city than to let our own men attack it! ”

Zhao Lei hesitated a little: "It's good, but these slaves are afraid that they won't work hard, right?" Besides, this is a war, it is to die, and they are not fools, can they be willing to die for us? ”

Jin Zhanpeng, who was standing next to him, supported Zamu's method, and he said: "Prince, I think General Zamu's method is very good, these slaves will definitely not work for us, but as long as we can afford to make them happy, they will definitely work hard!" ”

Zhao Lei thought for a while, nodded and said, "Okay." In that case, Zamu, if you can't persuade them to surrender later, you can go and tell the slaves to let them attack Zaleburg, and we will issue them weapons, if they kill a soldier of the Great Food Army in battle, they will get five silver coins, kill a Centurion will get twenty silver coins, kill a centurion will get a hundred silver coins, kill the Zalebao garrison will get a thousand silver coins, if they don't want the silver coins of our Western Qin, I can give them the silver coins that are common to the Great Food Country, One Xiqin silver coin for five dirkhans (the silver coin unit of the Great Food Country), whoever first attacked Zalebao can get two thousand dirkhans, and all slaves who participated in the battle can be restored to the status of free men after this battle, they can continue to choose to fight for us, or they can leave with a reward! ”

Zamu immediately clenched his fists and said: "General, under such a heavy reward, the last general believes that those slaves will definitely attack Zalebao without fear of death!" ”