Suddenly, it was late autumn in the blink of an eye.

The autumn wind swept past Guo Tao, who was wearing half-body armor, and his breath condensed into a cloud of white mist, reflecting his slightly astringent but somewhat strong and serious cheeks in the red light of the rising sun.

The surrounding morning fog was like rolling and tumbling silver waves, and under the morning sun, the armor of the soldiers, horizontal swords and spears shone brightly. In the ever-increasing morning light, the silver waves extended in all directions, the sky gradually became brighter, the frost on the ground sparkled in the red sun, crystal clear, dawn came, and a new day began.

The white mist gradually dissolved, the heroic posture of the soldiers gradually revealed, among the thousands of troops and horses, there were generals wearing cloaks, and there were soldiers holding spears.

In front of this huge camp is a platform made of stones, and behind the platform is a black rock brick, which is the Yanshan section of the Great Wall. The entire Great Wall is like a giant dragon winding over the high and undulating Yanshan mountains.

After a few days, on that day, His Royal Highness the King of Qin ascended the platform, and the shouts of the soldiers of the three armies when he reviewed the division of the Northern Expedition still resounded in Guo Tao's ears.

At the military parade that day, Guo Tao and his companions of the Young Soldiers of the Reserve First Army shouted the slogan "Long live our king" in the middle of the parade with excitement and fanaticism, and this voice still echoes endlessly. At first, he couldn't remember who shouted this slogan first, but he was sure that no one had discussed the matter beforehand. Some young soldiers couldn't help but shout the first sentence, and then someone quickly shouted. After Guo Tao heard it, he quickly shouted. Not only shouted himself. He also asked his 1,000 brothers in the front of the Reserve First Army to shout together. In the end, the entire youth army called on the entire 6 armies of 30,000 young soldiers to shout 'Long live my king'!

Then, on the plain under the Great Wall, countless swords and guns waved the country in the air, and the 150,000 troops gathered here cheered in unison, and the cry shook the sky on the field that stretched for ten miles. One army formation after another shouted, and the entire army fell into a frenzy of shouting.

The cries of "long live" have come and gone. The roar of the field soared into the clouds.

Afterwards, as the first young soldiers to raise the call for impropriety, the Northern Expedition camp verbally ordered a reprimand, but in fact there was no actual punishment. On the contrary, three days later, early this morning, the camp issued a military order, especially commending the outstanding performance of the junior army officers, including Guo Tao, and giving them promotions and awards.

Guo Tao, the commander of the front of the First Army of the Juvenile Reserve Army, was specially promoted to the deputy commander of the Sixth Army of the Independent Cavalry of the Juvenile Reserve Army and the commander of the front chamber. Not only all at once from the command envoy. Promoted to the rank of Duzhi soldier and horse envoy, and from the master of the infantry army. Suddenly promoted to the deputy commander and head of the cavalry, this step is an important step. Although, this is only a position in the junior army.

In this Northern Expedition, a total of 30,000 personnel were selected from various military academies and boy military academies, and six corps were formed to participate in the Northern Expedition. This was also an important test of the actual battle, and the young soldiers were only thirteen or fourteen years old, and the oldest ones were only seventeen or eighteen years old. I have been training and studying at the military school for two or three years, and this is the first time I have participated in combat. Although the camp may not actually put them into battle, it is also an extremely rare opportunity.

The 30,000 Cadet Corps was formed into a separate army, with only a few instructors and officers dispatched by the General Staff Academy, and the rest were all junior soldiers holding positions at all levels. But in any case, this group of people is also the star of the future, and if they can be promoted to the deputy commander of the youth army today, and officially enter the war army when they become adults in the future, the starting point will never be low.

Guo Tao was holding a scimitar in his hand, and the snowflake pattern on the black knife immediately revealed that this was an extremely valuable Damascus scimitar. Because this knife is made of Uzi steel, it is extremely rare, and what is even more rare is his crafting process, although the Qin Army Armory Workshop has already had this casting process, but the output still cannot be increased. Every Damascus knife is a fine product, and the Qin army has long stipulated that Damascus knives are designated as medal knives, and only honored soldiers can be allowed to wear them.

Next to Guo Tao, several young people in the front compartment of the Sixth Army who were slightly older, about seventeen or eighteen years old, were also interested, and looked at the newly awarded sword in his hand with envy. This time, the Daxing Battalion commended the 18-year-old young officers, of which Guo Tao was one of them, who was not only rewarded and promoted, but also received a Tiger Medal. This is a special medal of the sixth class that is one level higher than the Order of the Eight Horsemen, even if it is only the lowest of the sixth class, it is not a big deal. There are two types of medals in the Qin army, one is the commemorative medal, after every battle, the soldiers who participated in the battle can get a commemorative medal for the battle, which is very honorable. The other kind of medals are the Eight Cavalry and Six Special Medals, which are extremely difficult to obtain in ordinary times, and each recipient represents great glory, and can also obtain a sword, as well as the corresponding medals, to become a glorious nobleman.

Guo Tao is only fourteen years old this year, a young soldier officer who is still in the reserve army, but he has already won countless Tiger Medals, which are envied by the generals in the soldiers, and has been given a sword, become a knight, and immediately become a little nobleman.

"This sword is really beautiful, Anlan, borrow a few of us and wear it for a few days."

Anlan is Guo Tao's word, boys are generally twenty and crowned, but in today's era, wars are frequent, and men have to bear many responsibilities earlier, and now early marriage is also advocated. Generally, before getting married, it is necessary to add a crown and take the word. This also makes the crowning age more and more advanced, the crown prince of the royal family can be crowned at the age of twelve, and the children of princes and ministers have also begun to be crowned at fifteen. The same is true for the people, Guo Tao and others are orphans and juvenile soldiers, so these juvenile soldiers generally begin to be crowned around the age of fifteen, and then given the words by the division commanders.

Guo Tao is only fourteen this year, and he has not yet reached the age of crowning, but this time, he was awarded, received medals, and even together with the other seventeen honored teenagers, he was given the word "Anlan" by the king of Qin, and even the king of Qin presided over the collective coronation ceremony with eighteen of them.

"This is a sword given by the prince of Qin, and the person is in the knife, and he will not leave his body an inch." Guo Tao is not a stingy person. Opposite. He is usually very generous in the army. Otherwise, he would not have been promoted continuously in the past two years, and now he has been promoted to the deputy military master. Even if this is only a temporary military position in the reserve army, it is inseparable from his ability and character.

Guo Tao replied with a chuckle, looking at the Great Wall looming in the distance.

After the military parade, the 150,000 troops gathered here already had their vanguard troops leave the camp and leave the customs first. 150,000 troops. 30,000 reserve youth troops, in addition to 30,000 elite soldiers and cavalry, in addition to 100,000 township soldiers, including 20,000 cavalry. The entire Northern Expeditionary Army had 50,000 cavalry and 100,000 infantry troops. However, the 30,000 youth army, this time is more of an experience and insight, they are more responsible for the duties of the army's auxiliaries, escorting heavy grain and grass, and observing the battle.

The first unit to leave the day before yesterday was Guo Chongtao, the former general of Shatuo, who had just surrendered. Now the current commander of the Xiaowu army, he has 2,000 Shatuo light cavalry under his command, and another 1,000 Han cavalry. Among the 100,000 township troops, they were the stronger troops in the Zhuxiang army, as were Liu Rengongding's army, which also had 2,000 Uighur cavalry and 1,000 Han cavalry. This time, Guo Chongtao and Liu Rengong took the initiative to ask for help, and even the former generals of Lu Long also took the initiative to ask for battle. However, after the last day, Lu Long's Sixth Army was transferred to Jianghuai, Shandong, and only Guo Chongtao and Liu Rengong were included in the Northern Expeditionary Army. Guo Chongtao was the first batch to go out of the customs as the vanguard of the pathfinder.

Guo Tao's eldest brother Guo Wei, who has just been promoted and transferred to the Xiaowu Army, served as the deputy military master and the head of the Xiaowu Army, commanding a thousand Han cavalry, and now he has also left the customs. Guo Tao's second brother Guo Wei, who is now stationed in Xuzhou, failed to perform in the battle of Xuzhou, and has made military achievements, and now he has also been promoted to battalion commander, with 500 infantry.

The three brothers of the Guo family performed very well in the army, the eldest brother became the deputy military master, and the last knight was awarded the founding county, and the second brother also won a flying horse medal and became a medalist, even he won the Tiger Ben Medal and became a knight. Just thinking that the three brothers were all in the army, far away from his parents and sisters at home, he couldn't help but feel a little depressed.

In this Northern Expedition, King Qin wanted to solve the Khitans in one fell swoop. But the Khitans were not weak, they had just ended the civil strife, and they had destroyed the Yinshan Tatars and Xixi. Now that they have conquered Dongxi, and the Mobei Murwei Tatars, plus the Khitans have also united the Shatuo people and the towns of Hebei, this is not a negligible enemy. According to the war report, the Khitans now have 200,000 elite control cavalry, and they can still have all the soldiers, and they can arm up to 500,000 cavalry. In addition, the Xi and Mobei Murowei have become Khitan vassals, and the two tribes can also support 100,000 cavalry for the Khitan.

It can be said that the Khitans have always dared to argue with the King of Qin, because in Mobei Liaodong, they are indeed the head snakes of the land, and they have extremely strong power. It's just that the Khitans didn't have a strong center in the past, plus internal strife, so they couldn't challenge the King of Qin. But now, the more they fight, the stronger they get. The eldest brother came out first for the striker, and he stayed in a Shatuo army, and the Khitan and Shatuo people were allies, Guo Tao was really worried about his eldest brother. The sister-in-law gave birth to a son and a daughter for the eldest brother, and the two little nephews and nieces are so cute

"This time, we have to behave well, show our hands, and strive for a medal and a sword." Several other teenagers couldn't help but say that their Sixth Army was the only cavalry unit among the 30,000 junior troops, and there were 5,000 young cavalry, which was definitely a big deal. As long as they can seize the opportunity, it is indeed possible for them to establish military merits.

At the beginning of October of the sixth year of Tang Qianfu, Li Jing, the king of Qin, gathered an army of 150,000 under the Shanhai Pass and attacked the Khitan in the north.

Li Jing did not have a lot of troops at his disposal, in addition to guarding against Jianghuai and Hebei, Li Jing could recruit another 300,000 soldiers and horses to attack the Khitan on a large scale. However, Li Jing did not do this, and the more soldiers and horses he had, the more he mobilized. The more likely it is to have flaws after the worst, either the logistics drag across the army, or the various armies cannot be closely moved between them, and the most difficult ones are broken by the enemy forces individually.

In particular, this battle was an expedition to the Khitan outside the Saiwai, and the Khitan was still a nomadic and democratic grassland tribe, and supply was the biggest problem in the vast grassland. The more soldiers and horses, the more unfavorable the action. In that year, Yang Guang conquered Liao and used more than one million soldiers and horses at a time, but he was defeated and returned. The famous Battle of Weishui in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Battle of Chibi in the late Han Dynasty were all like this, with more than 500,000 troops fighting and rarely winning.

Li Jing only mobilized 150,000 horses this time, including 30,000 boys' troops as auxiliaries and some township troops. What Li Jing really used to fight was the 50,000 cavalry and tens of thousands of elite infantry. This battle man and horse have to deal with hundreds of thousands of Khitans, which seems to be a little less, but Li Jing insists on his own battle plan. This time, although Li Jing ostensibly shouted that he would fight a decisive battle with the Khitan, he would destroy them once and for all. However, Li Jing knows in his heart that this is difficult to do. In fact, Li Jing's real purpose in sending troops this time was not the Khitan, but the Dongxi and Mobei Murowei of the Khitan.

Remove the branches and leaves first, and then cut down the main trunk after the most decorated.

War is always a contest of tricks, Li Jing released the rumor that he wanted to smash the Yellow Dragon and go deep into the grassland to fight a decisive battle with the Khitan, but it was just to disrupt the public and the public, and the real purpose was to win the Xi master. Xi is in the north of Yanjing, and now Li Jing regards Yanjing as the political and military center of the Qin Domain, but although there are three barriers here, such as the Yanshan Mountain Range, the Military Capital Pass, the Shanhaiguan Pass, and the Lulongsai, the defense is still a little weak and lacks strategic depth.

Especially with Chengde in the south, Li Keyong in the west, Khitan and Xi in the north, the situation in Yanjing is not good.

To stabilize Hebei, Youzhou is of paramount importance. To stabilize Youzhou, then the first thing to bear the brunt of is to strengthen the depth of the Yanshan Mountain Range.

In the south, west, and north directions, Li Jing directly aimed at Xi in the north first. He is the weakest of the enemies around Yanjing, and if he pinches the pestle, he has to pick the soft one.

"Sound east and west, can we really win Xi this time?" The deputy commander of the front compartment asked Guo Tao.

Guo Tao nodded, his eyes full of light, "The Khitans thought that we were going to find him this time, according to the Khitan people's practice of fighting with the Central Plains, they will definitely move the tribes back immediately after knowing the Dao, so as to clear the wilderness with a strong wall and increase our logistical burden." At the same time, they will send cavalry to hide somewhere, and wait for a sneak attack to ambush us when the critical time comes. If you miss, you'll be away again. This is the usual trick used by the Khitans, and even the entire steppe tribes, to fight against the Central Plains. But this time we don't go directly to them, we want to fight Xi, so what kind of result do you say? ”

The other teenagers couldn't help nodding, and they were humane: "Then what if Li Keyong and Wang Jingchong take advantage of our Northern Expedition to suddenly attack Li Quanzhong, or attack Hebei?" ”

A smile flashed across Guo Tao's mouth, he stroked the sword in his hand, and said lightly: "I'm afraid that they won't come!" (To be continued......)