Whew!

Gusts of autumn wind whistled by, and the drizzle swayed with the wind, fluttering and falling slopingly.

Click, click, click!

To the north of Shuofengkou Fortress, on the grassland a hundred miles away, five thousand war horsemen escorted more than forty carriages slowly forward, all the way to the north.

In front of the team, four people and four horsemen walked side by side. Wearing hats and armor, they rode their horses against the autumn rain, looking relaxed, not in a hurry, and whispering from time to time. Obviously, they were the Han army that sent the baggage to the soldiers in front, because the three hundred miles of grassland north of Shuofengkou are now under the control of the Han army, so this line of baggage troops will be so unhurried and leisurely, without fear, without the slightest fear that the baggage will be robbed by the barbarian army.

It was the third day after the Battle of Wolf Valley ended.

Late at night on the day of the battle, the wind suddenly rose, and the weather changed abruptly, and it began to rain heavily in the second half of the night. Heavy rain followed for two days until the next evening, when the rain subsided slightly and turned to drizzle.

The sudden onset of heavy rain forced the originally prepared army of the Shuofengkou battalion to postpone for two days until the rain had subsided before setting off.

The rain in autumn and spring in the north seems to be very spiritual, and whenever a living creature falls, it will always rain to see off the dead soul. Regardless of race, good or bad, no one is treated equally, and the drizzle is like a tear of farewell slanting down, deep and long, endless.

It is because many people think that this is the sky has eyes, the way of heaven is fair, and they have mercy on the common people.

Perhaps in the eyes of the Han people, the barbarian army invaded the border every year, burning, killing and looting, and did all kinds of evil; But in the eyes of the alien people, raiding is also a way of survival, just like the wolf on the grassland, the weak eat the strong. The ability to rob and loot is also a skill, and there is no good or bad thing. This is the law of survival of the grassland, plundering is instinct, and the strong are respected.

In the battle of the Green Wolf Valley, the 110,000 barbarian army controlled the strings and almost wiped out the whole army, nearly 60,000 grassland warriors were buried in the valley, more than 30,000 barbarian soldiers were captured, and less than 20,000 barbarian troops fled for their lives in a hurry, but unfortunately there were 30,000 Han army cavalry chasing and killing along the way. On the night of the battle, the Han army, led by Zhang Liao and Xu Chu, pursued and killed for hundreds of miles. It wasn't until it rained heavily. In the pursuit, the Han army took advantage of the situation to capture the rear camp of the barbarian army, which caught the more than 30,000 barbarian troops who stayed in the camp by surprise. Each panicked and fled.

After the war, only 8,000 of the 110,000 barbarian troops who participated in the battle in the Blue Wolf Valley escaped with their lives. The remaining 100,000 were either captured. Either they were beheaded and buried in the valley, and few survived. Most of the 30,000 barbarian soldiers who stayed in the barbarian army camp became prisoners of war, and all the grain and grass fell into the hands of the Han army, and then the barbarian camp became the camp of the Han army, and the soldiers pointed directly at the Xiongnu royal court.

The fluttering autumn rain washed the grassland and swept away the red blood. Drowning the footprints of the killing, and dissipating the bloody anger that has been stagnant like substance.

This heavy rain was fair to both sides of the war. The Han army, which had won a great victory, needed time to digest the results of the battle and rest its troops and horses; The brute army needs this time to lick its wounds and soothe its soul. Think about the future direction and where to go.

It has been two months since the barbarian army invaded Beidi County, and the previous overwhelming victory has become a memory, following the fiasco of Chiyang City, the barbarian army in the first battle of the Blue Wolf Valley was almost completely wiped out. In the past two months, the barbarian army has won more and lost less, but the only two fiascos have buried more than 100,000 people in the entire Saibei barbarian tribe.

In the first battle of Chiyang City, the barbarian army lost more than 50,000 soldiers and horses, and tens of thousands of horses scattered and fled, nowhere to be found. In the battle of the Green Wolf Valley, the barbarian army regrouped on the basis of the remaining soldiers and horses, and gathered a total of 140,000 troops, but the result was a complete defeat and the entire army was annihilated. In these two battles, at least 100,000 barbarians were killed, the remaining tens of thousands of barbarians were captured, and the remaining men and horses fled for their lives sporadically, either fleeing back to the tribe, or hiding and surviving.

It was the battle of the Green Wolf Valley that completely destroyed the strongest combat power of the barbarian tribe on the Hetao grassland, causing its vitality to be greatly damaged and falling into a desperate situation of collapse. The Qiang tribe in the north had only 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers and horses, and after the defeat, the tribe's fighting strength was exhausted, and they were already powerless to resist, and their demise was imminent. The 60,000 warriors with the most combat effectiveness in the Southern Xiongnu royal court were all killed, the old king of the Xiongnu was executed, Yu Fuluo and his son were seriously injured and escaped, there were only 20,000 or 30,000 people left in the tribe, the people's hearts were scattered, and they could not be afraid all day, just waiting for the Han army to send troops, and they could be destroyed overnight. Xianbei in the west, which is entrenched in the area of Yanmen and Wuyuan, sent more than 40,000 troops twice before and after, and less than 3,000 people escaped after the war. As for the remaining scattered tribes, they are just a group of people who took advantage of the fire to rob, and this robbery failed but was punished, and they could not turn over the big waves, and then they only needed to send troops from the counties and counties to clear them up, and they could be destroyed.

In the face of such a big and good shape, the Han army marched on the grassland fearlessly, unhurried and slowly forward, accompanied by the breeze and drizzle, indescribably relaxed and freehand.

"Husband, the concubine really underestimated Zhou Yu before, I didn't expect him to have such great ability, and it is really incredible to destroy hundreds of thousands of barbarian troops in one battle!" This is the first time Li Li has heard Dian Wuflawless admit his mistake, and he also said it calmly in front of Ma Yunluo and Li Zhi, which is really unexpected.

As soon as he thought of this, Li Li smiled knowingly, shook his head and said, "The matter has passed, you don't have to mind." The war was not going well a few days ago, not only you were worried, but even I was worried, worried that the Northern Expedition would lose and affect the overall situation. Below me, there must be many generals in the army who question Gongjin's ability to command the army to fight, and there are even many generals who jointly request a change of general. This is all a reasonable thing, everyone is thinking about our army's war affairs, and it is understandable that they are right about things and not people. Now that the battle situation has been decided, and hundreds of thousands of barbarian troops have been wiped out, it is a good time for our army to fully dispatch troops to recover the lost territory in Hetao! ”

"Well, what the husband said is very true." Ma Yunluo nodded happily and continued: "My sister and I were worried that Zhou Yu was too junior and had insufficient experience in commanding troops, so we didn't distrust him, nor did we doubt his loyalty to my husband. After all, he first joined the army, and he had never heard of him leading a large army to fight before, and he served as the chief general on the first expedition, commanding tens of thousands of troops to fight, which inevitably made people feel at ease. Therefore, we built a man to fight in person, so as not to delay the war and lose the army.

Now it seems that my sister and I are really worried. The husband has been fighting for many years, has been on the battlefield for a long time, and has never entrusted the war to others before, and has always personally led the troops to fight. Even Teng Xiao, Xu Rong and other generals stationed in Sili only defended the border and did not take the initiative to attack. This time, the husband set a precedent and sent Zhou Yu as the chief general to preside over the battle ahead, which is indeed somewhat unexpected. Facts have proved that the husband has traveled all over the country, read countless people, and knows people well, and it is indeed a wise move to use Zhou Yu to lead the troops to go on the expedition! ”

"Hehehe!" Li Li smiled heartily and said happily: "Now our army is strong and strong, with as many as 400,000 soldiers and horses, occupying the land of the three states, whether it is soldiers and horses or geographical territory, it is very different from the past. Therefore, it is imperative to use a large number of capable and responsible generals to take charge of the situation, and Zhou Yuqi's victory this time is a good start. In the future, there will be more generals who will take charge of one side and defend one side, hoping that they can all be like Zhou Yu, calm in the face of trouble, not impatient or impatient, plan and then move, and defeat the enemy. ”

After a pause in his voice, Li Li said thoughtfully: "After all these years of strife brewing in the states of the world, the princes of various towns have risen one after another, recruited troops and horses, and wantonly strengthened their strength. Nowadays, although there are many princes today, the really powerful princes have gradually emerged, and the world has entered a period of fierce annexation. The Han world is so big, it is categorically unable to accommodate so many princes and stand in the world, and at present, some powerful princes are getting stronger and stronger, and they are bound to annex the small princes around them. This is an era of retreat if you don't advance, it is useless to blindly defend, and only by constantly forging ahead can we survive. Therefore, the stable days of our Xiliang Army in the past two years have come to an end, and then we must send troops on a large scale to conquer the city, expand the territory, and strengthen the strength.

Fortunately, the problem of grain and grass that has been plaguing our army has been solved, and there is no need to worry about the shortage of grain and grass for at least half a year. As long as the northern Xinjiang is pacified, our army will no longer have any worries, and it can completely let go of its hands and feet, send troops to the Central Plains, and fight with the princes of the towns in the Central Plains! ”

After hearing this, Dian Wuflawless frowned slightly, and said suspiciously: "It is imperative to send troops to the Central Plains, but the husband said that our army has no worries, and the concubine thinks otherwise." Even after the pacification of northern Xinjiang, there is no need to worry about the Western Regions for the time being, but there are still hidden dangers behind our army. ”

"Sister is talking about Hanzhong Zhang Lu?" Ma Yunluo is worthy of being a general who has lived in Liangzhou for a long time, and when he heard the string song, he knew the elegant meaning, and immediately expressed his worries.

Dian Wuflawless nodded in response and affirmed: "Exactly." Hanzhong is located in the hinterland of Liangzhou, and guarding the throat road from Liangzhou to Yizhou is really a problem for our army. If Zhang Lu is not removed, our Xiliang will always send heavy troops to garrison, so that it will drag down part of our army's strength and make it impossible for us to concentrate superior forces to attack the Central Plains. ”

Li Li bowed his head lightly and said in a deep voice: "I am determined to win the land of Hanzhong. However, at present, Zhang Lu has sent heavy troops to strictly defend it, and the strict precautions have made our army have no opportunity to take advantage of it, so he will be allowed to survive to this day. Moreover, the army must be famous in Hanzhong, so as to convince the people of the world, because now is not the best time to capture Hanzhong. What's more, things in the world do not turn according to what we think, some things can't be avoided, and the current situation in the Central Plains is strange, and an unprecedented war began to brew as early as when the Fuluo barbarian army invaded the territory. Therefore, if you want to capture Hanzhong, you must first inflict heavy losses on the princes of the Central Plains, so that our army can turn to exterminate Zhang Lu. ”

After speaking, Li Li looked up at the sky, and then waved his hand and ordered: "Speed up, be sure to rush to the camp before dark, and reward the whole army!" ”

―――――――――――― (To be continued)(To be continued......