On the march, Han Xin could see at least one batch of Hongling envoys with small poles and flags behind them galloping from west to east every day, but in recent days, Hongling envoys have been able to see at least three batches a day.

Hongling Urgent Envoy is a kind of cavalry used by the Han army to transmit military information, and the number and color of the small pole flags planted behind them are different on behalf of the priority and urgency of the military information transmitted.

In fact, too, Han Xin's Qu was ordered to hurry by the rear more and more frequently, and the military orders again and again limited the number of miles that must be caught up in each day, and at the same time, in order to speed up the arrival of the fertile field, he also began to advance straight without following the old road opened up earlier by the vanguard regiment, but under the guidance of the guide, regardless of the terrain.

It can be imagined from this, whether those guides are really reliable or not is now impossible to count, but in order to just reach the destination at a faster speed, the partial generals of the division level are willing to take the risk of unreliable guides, Han Xin privately guessed that it is definitely the truth that is not far from ten, but his level is still a little lower now, and he has no right to know the battle reports that can only be watched by more high-level generals.

The garrison in the direction of Woye was very anxious for help, and the follow-up reinforcements from east to west were also desperately rushing with all their speed, and the one who walked in the front was still Zhong Liyi's song, followed by four songs from the same school, and the leader was the school captain Shen Tujia. Behind Shen Tujia's school were naturally the other schools of the 11th Cavalry Division, and the 12th Cavalry Division was with some improvised Chinese and Hu cavalry.

I have to admit that it is really much faster to be led by a Hu guide who is familiar with the terrain than to take the original road, and Zhong Liyi, who is walking in the front, has asked the guide that according to their current speed, they will arrive at Woye in three or four days.

"The guide said that we need to cross a desert in front of us, that desert is ten miles wide, and we will pass an oasis on the way, and then there will be a desert of twenty miles, and this desert will cross and turn northwest to the fertile field." Zhong Liyi was frowning when he said this. They've never crossed the desert before!

Han Xin was also frowning, he had seen the desert, but no one knew what kind of environment it was, and he didn't know what preparations he needed to make in advance to cross the desert.

Zhong Liyi asked, "When the king gave you a lecture, did he explain what you need to do to cross the desert?" ”

Han Xin almost amused Zhong Liyi, he shook his head: "The master didn't talk about this," paused as if to recall something, and after a while: "The master said that under the premise of not having any experience, if you don't understand the environment and situation you may encounter, you can't lead the army to crash into it at will." ”

Zhong Liyi asked again: "Do you think those Hu people can be trusted?" ”

How can you answer this called Han Xingo? He's not a polygraph. There is no mind reading technique, how can you know that those Hu people who have just been attached for a long time can not be trusted.

"Now we need to think about how much time we can save by walking in the desert compared to not walking in the desert, and whether the time saved is worth the risk." Han Xin still had a thoughtful expression on his face: "In addition, the desert area is something that the troops behind us can endure or can pass through." ”

Zhong Liyi suddenly became extremely strict: "It's decided, no matter whether the guide is reliable or not, we won't go to the desert area." ”

Know that they are the vanguard of reinforcements, the so-called vanguard. The troops that serve as the vanguard in the army are generally path-finding troops, and they need to do the work of warning the enemy, building bridges when encountering water, and opening roads in the forest. The troops behind will continue to follow the path they have walked, so once they choose a dead end, it will not only be planted in it, but also the troops that follow will suffer.

Han Xin agrees with Zhong Liyi's decision. Of course, it doesn't matter if they are the only ones, and it is not the vanguard to save a little time to put the entire army into a possible death.

The Hu guide swore an oath, and even committed suicide to prove that he had no evil intentions. Walking in the desert is indeed relatively fast, which can save more than a day.

Zhong Liyi naturally tried his best to appease the guides who could still be used now, and did not delve into whether the guides were really reliable. It was proposed to go around the edge of the desert and continue the journey.

Walking along the desert was a good choice, but Zhong Liyi was also careful, he asked a guide to explain what kind of preparations should be made to enter the desert, and then sent a team of fifty people to let them enter the desert under the guide's guidance.

Han Xin deeply agreed with this, if there was a chance, it was indeed necessary to accumulate experience in desert marching, but it was not appropriate for a large group of men to enter under the premise that the situation was unknown, and it was a very good test for a small group of people to try.

The Han army has been out of the fortress, and it is indispensable to deal with the desert in the future, and to understand what kind of environment the desert is beneficial and harmless as soon as possible, God knows whether the Han army will enter the desert in a big way in the future, and accumulate a set of experience as early as possible to be prepared.

That is, when the Han army on the western front was rushing in the direction of Fertile Field, the main Xiongnu force and the rest of the Hu people in the Ningxia region of the later generations were also facing a choice.

"There is indeed a Han army blocking the way in the north, the Han army continues to have cavalry teams south, recently more and more Han cavalry appeared around us, several tribes and Han cavalry fighting, our side suffered a big loss." Touman had a gloomy face when he spoke, and he could see how bad his mood was.

The faces of the leaders of the various tribes were not much better, especially those who had fought with the cavalry of the Han army.

"It is often necessary to pay the price of three or four people to kill a Han army, which is simply unimaginable!" The voice of the leader of the Xiu Xun tribe was hoarse: "What is the reason why the Han army, who live in the south and accompany the land, and who have been trained to ride on horseback after adulthood, are better at harnessing war horses than our warriors who have been with war horses since childhood?" ”

In several engagements, it was often three or four thousand Hu cavalry and one thousand Han cavalry fighting, but the Hu people with more people did not take much advantage, if the strength of both sides was appropriately increased, the more the number of troops in the battle, the more obvious the disadvantage of the Hu people.

"They call that the superiority of productivity and the auxiliary nature of the military formation, in short, the tools to make up for the shortcomings and the help brought by mutual cooperation," the leader of the Lutu tribe seemed to have some insight: "I have asked the warriors to pay attention to the difference between the Han cavalry and us, and some warriors have found that the Han cavalry seems to be able to make some movements on horseback under what tools are difficult for our warriors to do, compared to that tool that makes the Han cavalry, who is not a companion of horses since childhood, become able to control good horses." ”

In fact, there are really no absolute fools in the world, and the Hu people have suffered repeated losses because they naturally want to find out, and they will naturally observe what makes the cavalry of the Han army able to fight lightly on war horses. For example, the leader of the Tu tribe just let the warriors under his command observe, Touman and several smart tribal leaders have long ordered the Hu people under his command to check the corpses of the Han army, but the Han army's secrecy about the tools is quite strong, even if there are Hu people who can grab the stirrup, they will be targeted by the Han army to kill and snatch it back, and the Hu people have not been able to get the stirrup for the time being.

"Sooner or later, the secret of the Han army will be discovered," Touman, although he felt that discovering the secret of the Han army was important, but it was not the most urgent: "Now we are faced with the choice of continuing to retreat to the southwest and joining the Maudun side, or gathering forces and breaking through directly to the north." ”

Mao Dun has never stayed with the main force of the Hu people, and is free from the main force of the Hu people. He didn't have many cavalry in his hands, only about 10,000 troops, and he had been exploring to the west, as if he had decided that he couldn't continue his movement north?

Originally, Mao Dun had already made it impossible to go north more than once, thinking that since the Han army had left the Saiwai, it would definitely enter the Heshuo area, and it was obviously an irrational choice for them to retreat in the direction of Heshuo, and they should retreat to the grassland from other directions.

What happened later is also as Mao Dun judged, the Han army really appeared in the Heshuo area, you must know that the current Heshuo is not the world of the Hu people, the Qin State has mastered the Heshuo area for a period of time after defeating the Yueshi people, and there are generals and soldiers in the Han army who have adapted from the Qin army, so the Han army must also understand Heshuo, and the Hu people do not have any advantage in geographical cognition.

Whether it was Touman or the rest of the tribal leaders, they also knew that they could not defeat the Chinese army in a head-on battle, after all, the situation had been the case for generations, and no one had the luxury of expecting that their generation could defeat the Chinese army in a frontal battle. It's just that in their generation, the high-speed mobility advantage that the Hu people have has disappeared, and they can't fight as well as their ancestors, but they can't retreat calmly, which is really bad for them.

"No one knows how many Han troops there are in the north, so perhaps it would be a good choice to go and join Prince Maudun."

"Has Prince Maudun discovered the route to the breakout?"

"Let's go west, Prince Maudun has judged so much correctly, and I can't go wrong in the future."

"Yes, yes, it's better to meet Prince Maudun first, and then what should I do and then listen to Prince Maudun's construction."

Many tribal leaders are scrambling to express their opinions, but Mao Dun has been doing the right thing since he went south, and some judgments have been proved correct after the fact, and too many examples have convinced more and more tribes of Mao Dun's ability to judge things.

Touman's face became even more gloomy, and more and more tribal leaders were convinced that Maudun was not a good thing for him, which showed that those tribal leaders no longer trusted him! (To be continued......)