Handan.

Since the beginning of the Warring States period, it has had the reputation of being a rich crown in the sea and a famous capital in the world.

In the endless southern Hebei Plain, nearly 10,000 Hun war horses roamed in such a grand manner, bowing their heads from time to time to eat some tender grass that had just grown in early spring.

The surrounding Hun cavalry patrolled the group of horses pulled out for a walk from time to time, seemingly on alert, but there was not much defensiveness on their faces.

Since they went south into the border of the Han people, it has been smooth sailing along the way. Not only did they plunder many rare utensils that were not available in the desert, but they also enjoyed the Central Plains food that the Han people would meet.

Although he had fought with the Han army not long ago, he dispatched only 8,000 cavalry and drove the Han army back to the camp.

Since that battle, the Han army has been shrinking to the camp at the foot of the mountain in the west, and does not dare to fight at all. And the delicious grassland around Handan has become a delicious meal after the Hun war horses.

After surviving a winter and not gaining much weight, not only did the Hun horse begin to gradually gain weight, but even his mood became restless.

The Huns who put the horses knew very well that these war horses were in estrus.

It is precisely because of this that they need to pull out the war horses to vent, otherwise they will be blindly locked up in the camp, and the irritable Hun horses will probably do something that they are not allowed to ride.

As for finding a mare nearby for help, the Huns were reluctant.

After all, the bloodline of war horses is the same as the bloodline of human families, which is very important, in other words, the Huns really don't look down on those ordinary mares of the Han Dynasty.

Anyway, horses have intermittent estrus periods, which can last for months. Such a long time is enough for them to wreak havoc in the Han Dynasty and then return to the Northland.

The Huns were very comfortable with their horses, but some people were very uncomfortable in the Han army camp more than ten miles away.

Liji!

As the commander of the army attacking Zhao on the North Road at this moment, the pressure on Li Ji's shoulders is not ordinary.

First, at this time, Li Ji was no longer as young and strong as when he was in Zhulu in the past, and he led the army at an advanced age, and many times he was more than willing but not enough.

Second, Li Ji was the core hero of Zhu Lu in the past, but he was not completely willing to help, but was coerced by Zhou Bo and others, and had to trick his friend Lu Lu into handing over the military power. Although there is a dragon merit of Emperor Fuwen succeeding to the throne, the practice of 'betraying friends' has actually been stigmatized.

However, the last and most important point.

Li Ji is old, and there is no need to wade into this troubled water, and Chang'an is not no one who can be qualified to command this way. But because of a woman, Li Ji needs enough merit to propose to the Son of Heaven.

The old woman who is old but has an extraordinary identity is the mother-in-law of Emperor Liu Qi of the Han Dynasty at this moment, the mother of the imperial concubine Wang Huan, and the grandmother of the future Emperor Liu Che.

Zang'er!

When this twilight love began, no one knows.

But Li Ji is such a bad old man, and he actually wants to be the father-in-law of the emperor of the Han Dynasty, which can be regarded as a bold precedent. But the old man is working hard for this, thinking hard all day long about how to break the enemy, and his gray hair is almost gone.

Staring at the map in front of him, Liji's gaze gradually locked on the middle reaches of the Yellow River.

If so, if there is no other way.

The old man can only be a sinner through the ages once, digging a river and flooding the city.

"In June, there are still 100 days."

"Before the summer, if you can't conquer Handan, the old man can only make dangerous moves."

For a moment, it seemed that he remembered the past forty years ago. Zhou Bo threatened his father's life and forced him to make a choice that he was unwilling to make but had to make.

In order to save his father back then, today it is only for Zang'er.

The old man has been infamous for thousands of years, and he is not afraid of adding to the sins of flooding Handan and burying 100,000 people.

Thinking of this, the old man, whose eyes were already red, secretly made a decision in his heart.

Although this determination was not so easy for him.

But just as he made up his mind, there was a sudden sound of footsteps approaching outside the big tent, and then a person opened the tent curtain and walked quickly: "General, our army has a good way to break the enemy." ”

The guy who walked in was in a hurry, and what he said was even more clueless.

Li Ji frowned and was about to scold, but when he turned around and saw that it was Jin Qiang, he couldn't help but lower his tone: "Doesn't the Marquis of Fenyang know the situation of our army?" The Huns dared to release their horses in front of the camp. ”

This is also Jin Qiang, who has a comparable status, and he definitely doesn't have such a good temper in another person. He will be worried about how to destroy the enemy, he really has a good prescription, he has already used it.

Jin Qiang knew that the old general in front of him was upset, and immediately spoke: "General, you don't know, just before a group of horse merchants from the south arrived outside the camp, and they also brought a good recipe to break the enemy. ”

"Horse merchants? What are they going to do? ”

"They're here to bring us horses."

"Send horses? How many horses can a mere horse trader have? Forget it, give them some money and let them go back. Li Ji waved his hand, not at all interested in the horse merchants and the like.

But Jin Qiang's next sentence made him open his eyes suddenly: "They are big businessmen, and they brought a full 2,800 horses. ”

Two thousand?

Hearing this number, Li Ji was also moved, but then he thought about it and shook his head with a wry smile: "There are only more than 2,000 horses, I'm afraid it's not enough for you and me to compete with the Huns." ”

"General, the horses they brought are not war horses, they are all mares."

"Not a war horse? That's not a blind beard."

Li Ji originally wanted to scold when he heard the first half of the sentence, but when the words came to his mouth, he suddenly stopped: "What did you say?" Brought nearly three thousand mares? Is this serious? ”

"Absolutely." Of course, Jin Qiang would not joke about this kind of thing, and nodded categorically at the moment.

"Quick, get that big merchant into your account."

Li Ji spoke with an unexpected joy, and then immediately added when he thought of something: "No, I'll go with you, let's go see the horses." ”

After speaking, the two generals left the Chinese army together.

As soon as I arrived at the front camp, I saw dumb and perch waiting on the side, as well as nearly 100 yellow-maned horses next to them.

"The two of you are the horse merchants that General Jin said?"

Li Ji came to the front camp, first glanced at the horses that were quite good, and then walked to the perch and Dumb: "I heard that the two of you have brought thousands of mares to our army after these hard work?" ”

"I can't talk about twists and turns, I'm just entrusted by others."

Dumb and perch discussed it at the end of the day, this time the horse sacrifice was mainly Dumb, at this moment he stepped forward with his fists and immediately replied: "We came quickly, and we only brought more than 100 horsemen, and more than 2,000 horses are still in the northwest of Wei County, and we still need a large army to go to meet them, after all, this is already a war zone, and our guards are not enough to protect thousands of horses from approaching." ”

"When you think it through, I'll send troops to respond." Li Ji didn't delay any longer, and directly turned his head to Jin Qiang and said, "This matter is very important, and you have to go there in person." ”

"Don't worry, I'll take care of this."

Before Jin Qiang sent a message to Li, he already knew that this horse was sent by the lord to them, and he had to keep an eye on it whether it was public or private.

nodded in agreement at the moment, and turned around to dispatch his generals from the Marquis of Fenyang.