After noon, the fifty thousand soldiers settled down.
Today is August 15th, the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Liu Cheng ordered the slaughter of 5,000 sheep and 300 cattle captured, and used sheep bones and cow skulls to make soup and cook meat with the soup to ensure that each of the 50,000 soldiers could eat at least a pound of mutton, a bowl of broth, and There were a large amount of marinated haggis, sheep whips, and sheep kidneys, and a large amount of remaining meat was made into dried meat and distributed to the soldiers as dry food during the war.
The sheepskins were dried and stored together with the captured furs.
"The war is about to begin.
Let the soldiers eat and drink enough to build up their mental and physical strength.
Go ahead," Liu Cheng told Chen Qun.
Liu Cheng stood up and said to Li Ru and Guo Jia: "Wenyou and Fengxiao, are you interested in accompanying me to the Tushen Sea?"
Li Ru cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Ru Zheng has this intention."
Guo Jiadao: "Tu Shenhai was the place where General Dou defeated the Northern Huns and pursued the last battle.
Now that it is so close and unable to go, wouldn't it be a regret in life?"
Liu Cheng immediately walked out of the tent, got on his horse and ran out of the camp.
Guo Jia and Li Ru also rode to pursue him, and Ma Chao followed with his soldiers to protect him.
After riding for more than thirty miles, Liu Cheng and others finally arrived at the Tushen Coast.
They reined up their horses and stopped on the mountain ridge.
Below was a huge lake.
From a distance, they could see green grass growing on the lake. and some sparse and tall poplar trees.
Standing on the hill beside the lake, Liu Cheng and others looked around and could not see the end of the lake at a glance.
This area was definitely not small.
Guo Jia sighed: "With such a big lake, no wonder it is called the sea.
It is actually a saltwater lake.
It is unbelievable.
Since it is a saltwater lake, my subordinates are a little confused as to why there is so much grass growing beside the lake."
Liu Cheng smiled and pointed to the hills on the shore of the lake and said: "It's very simple.
After it rains, the rainwater flows down from the hills.
There are some low-lying areas by the lake, and the rainwater is stored in these low-lying areas.
The rainwater is not salty.
Here The soil was not salty originally, it was brought by the water of the Xiongnu River.
You see there are so many wild animals living on and around the lake.
They brought grass seeds, making the lake a green place."
Everyone dismounted and walked down the hillside on foot.
Soon they stepped on the green grass and arrived at the lake.
Liu Cheng squatted down, dipped his hand into the lake and put a little water into his mouth to taste it.
It was so salty and bitter.
"I don't know if there are any fish in here," Li Ru asked, washing his hands with lake water.
Liu Chengdao: "There must be fish in such a big lake.
The fish here should have adapted to the water quality of the lake long ago."
With the arrival of Liu Cheng and others, a large number of birds by the lake flew into the sky and circled on the lake.
Liu Cheng said: "Look, we seem to have disturbed their play."
Guo Jia laughed and said: "Why do I have the urge to write a poem, but I can't do it?"
Liu Cheng laughed: "If the long article was here, he would definitely be able to write it."
When everyone returned to the camp, many large pots were being set up in the camp to cook meat.
According to the regulations of the Han army's military system, usually one group has one stove and one pot.
Liu Cheng brought 50,000 troops this time, so there were so many people in the camp.
At that time, five thousand stoves and five thousand pots were set up.
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Pots and pots of mutton and beef were cooked fragrantly.
The soldiers gathered around the pots and drooled at the boiling broth and the trembling cooked meat.
When Liu Cheng and others passed by a pot surrounded by a group of people, they heard the group leader scolding his soldiers: "Look at how useless you all are.
Sooner or later, this meat and soup will end up in your stomachs." , everyone is so impatient and makes people laugh."
One of the soldiers retorted: "Commander, you can't stand and talk without pain in your back.
You go to the upper level for a meeting every day and you can eat a meal of meat.
We brothers can't smell the smell of meat for several days.
How do you feel about it?"
Try eating with us and see if you still say this."
The captain's face turned red when he was told that, and he said: "No big deal, no big deal, I won't eat this meal.
I'll share my meat with you.
I'll just drink the soup."
A soldier immediately said: "No, you are the leader of the group, and you will lead us to fight against the Tuoba Xianbei people tomorrow.
If you don't have the strength to lead the team to kill, and the brothers have no backbone, how can we fight this battle?"
"As for the captain, we are just talking casually and teasing you.
In fact, the food now is much better than before.
It's not like the brothers have never eaten meat.
Of course they can tolerate it, but they are all our own people and behave like this.
If you are greedy, no one will laugh at you.”
After hearing this conversation, Liu Cheng smiled and said to Chen Qun: "Tell the cooks that the soldiers will be well fed today, whether it is big cakes, meat or soup."
"promise" In fact, everyone knows why extra meals are needed.
In addition to today being the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is also because tomorrow the army will be divided into four to ambush at corresponding locations.
Once this battle starts, life or death will not be up to you.
If you can still survive, people with bad luck will most likely end up here this time.
Eat as much as you can.
The wars have continued over the years, and the soldiers have long been accustomed to it.
They have long known that since joining the army, this life belongs to them again, and they can lose it anytime and anywhere.
In the early morning of August 16th, the 50,000 well-fed and well-fed soldiers were divided into four groups and set out to set up ambush at the predetermined location.
Chen Dao and Yang Ding led 20,000 Qiang cavalry around Tushenhai to set up an ambush in the mountains and forests on the west coast.
Yan Xing and Li Ru led five thousand cavalry along the Heading to Yanran Mountain in the northwest direction along the east bank of the Xiongnu River, Liu Cheng, Ma Chao, and Guo Jia led 20,000 Hu soldiers along the Xiongnu River and the east bank for more than ten miles before starting to cross the river.
Yang Ru and Wang Shuang led the remaining Five thousand Han cavalry were ambushed on the east bank of the Xiongnu River.
The elite scouts sent by Ma Chao had already fanned out to the west to search and probe.
These scouts did not dare to run too far and stopped only when they reached about a hundred miles.
They looked for hiding places in the hills and forests and waited for expansion.
The return of the Xianbei army can only be seen further from a high place.
Liu Cheng, Ma Chao and Guo Jia led 20,000 Hu soldiers and hid in a valley near the Xiongnu River, about twenty miles away from the entrance of the Tushenhai River.
There was a river breeze blowing from the river in the valley, and it was quite cool for the soldiers to stay in the valley.
Liu Cheng asked Ma Chao to arrange sentries and secret posts so that the soldiers would do nothing but eat and sleep, and now It is the time to recharge and recharge, and the soldiers must seize every moment to recuperate their mental and physical strength to their peak state.
Liu Cheng would play chess with Guo Jia every day after dinner.
He was a bad chess player.
After two days, Guo Jia disliked his chess skills and was no longer willing to play chess with him.
It was not until the third day that the sentry finally came back with news that the Tuoba Xianbei army had arrived a hundred miles away, with about 80,000 troops and more than 50,000 prisoners, followed by millions of cattle, sheep, and horses.
Hundreds of carriages filled with gold, silver and jewels.
After Liu Cheng heard Ma Chao's report, he immediately ordered: "According to the size of their troops and their compromise, they should arrive around the afternoon of the day after tomorrow.
Send your horse quickly to tell Chen Dao the detailed information so that he can have an idea in his mind.
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Arrange the soldiers' work and rest time so that they can mobilize well."
"yes" "Wait a minute."
Liu Cheng stopped Ma Chao again, thought for a while and ordered: "Just in case, tell Chen Dao that more sentries and secret posts must be placed in the hiding place, and all the barbarians who are close to the hiding place must be detained."
Or kill them.
We must not let the news of our hiding here leak out.
In the past two days, we must pay special attention to the sentinels of the Tuoba Xianbei people from the west.
Do not do it unless it is absolutely necessary.
Kill them if you have no other choice.
We must not let the news out.
Leak out" "Yes, my lord" After Ma Chao went out to make arrangements, Liu Cheng issued another order to the army.
No one was allowed to walk out of the valley at will, and no one was allowed to shout loudly.
Anyone who violated the order would be punished by military law.
Facts have proved that Liu Cheng's caution was justified and not in vain.
In just these two days, no less than five small tribes wanted to drive their livestock to graze around Tushenhai.
Once they were allowed to graze here, they were allowed to graze.
If they leave, there's no guarantee they won't find any clues while grazing.
In response to this situation, Liu Cheng, Chen Dao, Yang Ru and others took decisive measures and killed them all.
If people continued to come looking for them, they would kill them one by one.
Starting from August 17, Tuoba Xianbei's forward sentinels have appeared within twenty or thirty miles west of the ambush area, but they have not yet reached the Xiongnu River.
It can be seen that although the Tuoba Xianbei people won the battle and captured Countless, but they did not get carried away and did not relax their vigilance.
There were countless small tribes living on this huge grassland.
No one dared to underestimate these small tribes.
They might attack late at night.
On August 18, the forward scouts of the Tuoba Xianbei people had arrived at the Xiongnu River.
They began to search along the river.
They gave up when they searched near the valley where Liu Cheng's army was hiding.
This made Liu Cheng, who was observing from a height, Fortunately, if he hadn't hidden far enough, he might have been discovered by the Tuoba Xianbei sentry this time.
Fortunately, they marched along the east bank of the Xiongnu River when they arrived, and only began to cross the river when they reached their destination.
If they had crossed the river at the beginning, it would have been difficult to cover up and remove the traces of the army's march.
Ma Chao lay next to Liu Cheng and looked at the retreating figures of several Tuoba Xianbei scouts and said: "Lord, they have gone far."
Liu Chengdao said: "I hope Chen Dao's troops are well hidden and will not be discovered.
Otherwise, the ambush will turn into a head-on confrontation.
Even if we win, we will probably kill a thousand enemies and suffer eight hundred losses."
Ma Chao comforted him: "Lord, we have thought of everything we can think of and done everything we need to do.
Whether we can hide it from the Tuoba Xianbei people depends on God's will.
And even if we have a head-on confrontation, we still have a big advantage.
They are long distance After the trek, we must be tired and exhausted, but our soldiers have been waiting for work and have been recuperating for a long time.
Our chances of winning are much greater
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