The journey was windy and rainy, and the transportation of baggage greatly slowed down the march of the army.
Although most of the baggage was pulled by oxcarts, they could still barely maintain a distance of two hundred miles a day.
This road to Shuofang City is a full two to three thousand miles, and it takes half a month to catch up.
This is considered a lucky day, and it didn’t rain.
If it rained, the muddy official road would probably delay it for nearly half a month. half speed.
Li Jing rode a horse and patrolled with several personal guards, shouting and encouraging the soldiers.
To prevent the morale of the army from being lowered, such a long-distance march will do great damage to morale.
It has not been more than seven or eight days, and after walking less than half the distance, most of the soldiers have begun to show signs of fatigue.
The continuous rush put their physical strength and endurance to a great test.
During these seven or eight days, the song "Jiujiu Tangqi" was sung by the entire army, and the song resounded in all directions along the official road.
As it was sung along the way, countless people in the Tang Dynasty remembered this song and remembered it.
With this army, They are going to fight the Turks and avenge the Tang Dynasty.
These are all good men, so countless people gathered on both sides of the official road to see off their warriors and wish them a great victory and wash away the scourge of the Weishui River. shame.
At the same time, I also send them simple blessings and hope that they can return safely.
Amidst the blessings of these people all the way, the army passed through the land of Guanzhong and entered the border of Shanxi, which was close to the Turkic border.
Although the journey was hard, the blessings of countless people these days made all the soldiers burn with a fire in their hearts.
The fire was turned on, and the raging fighting spirit began to burn.
The blood in my heart never cooled down.
Morale is high and military discipline is strict.
There was no trampling on farmland or bumping into people along the way.
This made Li Jing very happy.
In the past, marches would cause more or less friction with the people.
This was also a headache for their commanders.
Dealing with soldiers is the most basic.
If the local officials are unyielding, they commanders may be reprimanded afterwards.
With such a blatant march by the Tang Dynasty, the news must have been blocked, so Jieli on the grassland had already learned that the Tang Dynasty had begun to send troops.
Prepare to attack yourself.
But there was nothing he could do.
This year, the grassland was plagued by disasters.
There is drought in spring and summer, and there is not enough grass on the pastures for cattle and sheep to eat, so countless herdsmen have to move around to chase water and grass.
This also caused countless Turkic warriors to scatter in all directions.
It was very difficult to gather together at once.
Moreover, it is only mid-to-late August, and there have already been two heavy snowfalls.
Looking at the weather, the third heavy snowfall is about to come.
This has also brought great inconvenience to the gathering of Turkic troops.
At least those Turks who are alone are I can't keep up with this war.
They cannot travel alone or in a group of people through the vast snow-covered grassland.
The dazzling white snow reflecting the sunlight can damage one's vision.
The Turkic soldiers all have to cover their eyes with animal skins with holes punched in them.
The endless grassland makes it very difficult to identify the direction in this dark cloud-covered weather.
Let people get lost in that snow-white world.
Therefore, Jieli's rallying horn had been sounded for more than half a month, and the number of Turkic troops gathered in the king's tent was only 50,000 or 60,000.
It was still far from the 100,000 string control people he expected.
Although there has been no war between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks in the past few years, the secret fighting has never stopped.
The Turks constantly plundered the merchants from the Western Regions, especially the Hu merchants from the Western Regions.
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From these people, the Turks obtained countless goods, which they then exchanged from the Tang Dynasty for the food and cloth that were lacking on the grasslands through their own secret channels. , ironware and other items.
The Tang Dynasty was not without action.
Since Li Er received the remonstrance from Pei Ju, an old minister who was very familiar with the Western Regions and Turks, in the first year of Zhenguan, he began to secretly carry out the plan formulated by Pei Ju.
In recent years, results have been achieved.
The originally unified Turks were split into eastern and western parts.
The leader of the eastern Turks was Jieli, while the leader of the western Turks was Jieli's younger brother Tuli.
This also greatly weakened Jie Li's military strength and influence, so Jie Li only estimated that he could summon 100,000 warriors, instead of the 200,000 string-controllers who had previously gone south to attack the Tang Dynasty.
Jieli is waiting, waiting until the Turkic army is assembled, and then leads all the troops southward, trying to catch the Tang Dynasty by surprise.
He will not attack Shuofang City this time.
Although Shuofang City can be driven straight in after defeating Shuofang City, there is no one this time.
If you open the city gate for yourself again, it will definitely be difficult to conquer.
It is better to penetrate directly through the gaps at the boundaries.
Although they are all small roads, you can still gather again after crossing the border.
Just when Li Jing led the army to the border, Zuo Wuwei also arrived.
Li Xiaogong led Zuo Wuwei's 30,000 soldiers all the way from Longyou, opening roads across mountains and building bridges across rivers, and finally successfully joined forces with You Wuwei led by Li Jing.
The 70,000 troops of the Tang Dynasty for this expedition were all assembled.
Li Jing once again held a symposium of senior generals and communicated with the generals.
Then we discuss together how to fight this war, who will be the vanguard and who will be responsible for the logistics.
These must be clearly determined, otherwise there will be no rules and ordering the second door will lead to chaos.
Just when the generals and other big shots were vying for a spot as a pioneer, an uninvited guest came to Li Kuan's camp.
He was wearing linen clothes, with messy hair, eight feet tall, carrying a long bow on his back, and a Mo Dao. .
The soldiers guarding the camp stopped him and saw that this man had a full beard and an oversized Mo Dao in his hand, as if he was holding a straw.
The soldier's pupils shrank.
He was a master. , a master who is not inferior to their previous leader, General Duan Zhixuan.
These soldiers guarding the camp were only selected into the Xuanjia Guard after the first year of Zhenguan, and they did not recognize the people in front of them.
If the old Xuan Jiawei old man were here, he would definitely recognize this person at a glance.
This person is Xue Wanche, one of the only two fierce generals under the former Xi King Li Jiancheng.
It's not surprising that Xue Wanche appeared outside Li Kuan's camp, which is not far from the Taihang Mountains where he currently lives.
It's just his outfit and the purpose of his appearance that are worth pondering.
Not everyone can hold the Mo Dao in their hands.
Although the Tang Dynasty did not implement weapons control, most literati wore swords.
Weapons like the Mo Dao that are only used in the military are still relatively rare. .
Carrying a long bow and carrying a Mo knife, he appeared in front of the military camp, so he must have joined the army.
But why did Xue Wanche come back to Li Kuan?
The relationship between Xue Wanche and Li Kuan cannot be said to be friendly.
There is still a grudge between them. , this person can't take refuge with Li Kuan, and Li Kuan is just a small Yunhui captain.
What can he do under his command?
With Xue Wanche's talent, it is simply the ultimate in condescension.
Although the soldiers are an elite division, there are too few of them.
There are many generals in the entire military camp, and most of them are old friends with him.
If he goes to those people, he can directly take over a battalion of soldiers, and even directly bypass the rank of captain and become a captain.
Generals such as partial generals and favored generals.
When Li Kuan comes here, he will probably only be able to serve as a military commander, and he will be a military commander together with Liu Wei.
"A certain family is an old friend of your captain, and we invite him to come out and talk about it," Xue Wanche said loudly.
"Excuse me, what is your name?
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Otherwise, our captain would not know who you are."
The soldier guarding the gate asked.
"You only need to tell him that an old friend from Xue's village on Taihang Mountain is visiting, and he will know about it," Xue Wanche replied.
"Then you wait here, I'll go and report it to you."
The soldier saw that Xue Wanche spoke in a Guanzhong accent, which was very authentic.
It was unlikely that he was a Turkic spy, so he was ready to help him report it.
Besides, even if he was There was only one Turkic spy, and there were hundreds of brothers in his camp.
How could he be afraid?
He should inform the captain first, and the soldiers marched towards Li Kuan's camp.
"Report, there is a person at the door who says he is your old friend.
He comes from Xuejiazhai on Taihang Mountain.
I wonder if you have summoned him," the soldier reported to Li Kuan.
"Oh Xuejiazhai" Li Kuan pondered for a moment.
When he heard the name of this place, Li Kuan thought of Xue Wanche, but what was he doing here now?
After he brought his news to Xue Wanren two years ago, he stopped paying attention.
I've heard about him, but now he's here.
What does that mean?
"Let him come in, forget it, I'll go there myself."
Li Kuan thought for a while and went out by himself, just in time to call back the little Huihui who was having fun on the grassland.
On the day of the border, this big dog was Keep it on the grassland by yourself, from time to time The grassland with a radius of dozens of miles has now become the territory of this big dog.
A group of prairie wolves that were originally entrenched here were actually subdued by this big dog and became its younger brothers.
This also made Li Kuan feel happy.
Got some different ideas.
When he arrived at the camp gate, Li Kuan saw Xue Wanche opposite him, clasped his fists and said, "I didn't expect General Xue to show up here.
I don't know why I'm here."
"People of the Ming Dynasty don't tell secrets.
Xue came here for this war.
I think of serving under His Majesty the King of Chu.
I don't know if it's okay."
"General Xue has many acquaintances in this army, right?
Why do you want to come to Xiao Wang?"
Li Kuan was surprised.
"It is precisely because I am familiar with them that I have to go to His Majesty the King of Chu's tent to beg for food," Xue Wanche replied somewhat bitterly.
"Uh" Li Kuan was choked by his frankness.
It was really like this.
The two people who were originally the same name now want him to work under another person.
It's really hard to say with Xue Wanche's pride, but Li Kuan is different.
Well, he had been defeated by Li Kuan before.
Now Li Kuan's subordinates have said it, and Xue Wanche also wants to use Li Kuan to return to the army.
As long as he protected Li Kuan in this war, it would be easy for Li Er.
Xue Wanche was just following orders, and there were no casualties among Li Er's family members.
It is not something that cannot be revealed.
Reconciling this past incident is the biggest purpose of Xue Wanche's trip.
In the past few years, he has built a small village on the Taihang Mountains by himself.
Most of the people inside are his subordinates during the previous war.
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The widows and young sons left behind after the soldiers died were the people he slowly searched for after leaving Chang'an.
Xue Wanche suffered a lot for these people in the past few years, and it wasn't until Xue Wanren contacted him that things got better
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