On May 12, a delegation under the banner of an envoy set out from the east bank of the lower reaches of the Volga River to cross the river to the west bank.
However, it was quickly discovered by the Khazar rangers patrolling the river.
This delegation consisted of more than 200 people. , there were fifty envoys and followers, and the remaining one hundred and fifty were all cavalry of the Western Qin Army.
The one who led these cavalry of the Western Qin Army was A school captain, he is Zhao Ziliang's eldest son Zhao Lei, who took the initiative to serve as the mission's guard chief.
Zhao Lei's martial arts skills are better than his younger brother Zhao Ting.
Zhao Ziliang is not too worried about his inability to protect himself, so After respecting his request and agreeing to him, the young eagle will eventually grow up and soar into the sky alone.
When the mission just landed ashore and moved a few miles southwest, they were stopped by a dozen Khazar cavalry.
The leader of the Khazar cavalry, Jili Gulu, a captain in command of the Khazar cavalry, accused the mission and his party with a scimitar in his hand and shouted: "You guys Who is he?"
In addition to the leading Khazar captain, other Khazar cavalry also aimed their bows and arrows at the envoy.
Not to be outdone, the escort cavalry led by Zhao Lei took out their bows and arrows and pointed them at the dozen Khazar cavalry, making them very nervous.
Regardless of the individual combat strength, the difference in numbers was too far.
The envoy of the mission was named Hong Yi.
He had led business groups along the northern Silk Road to trade with the West for a long time.
He was familiar with the languages of the khanates and tribes along the northern Silk Road.
He was a rare talent.
Facing the Khazars' patrolling patrol, Hong Yi did not panic.
Instead, he loudly said: "We are the envoy of His Highness the King of Western Qin of the Tang Empire.
I am an envoy personally appointed by His Highness the King of Western Qin.
We I was ordered to go to the Khazar army camp to pay a visit to the Khazar Khan King Habir.
This is my official’s scepter, don’t you recognize it?”
Of course, Captain Sa could not admit that he did not know the scepter, otherwise it would be equivalent to saying that he was ignorant.
He quickly said: "Of course I know the scepter, but it is best to ask clearly.
Why do you come to see us to answer the question?"
Hong Yi shouted: "You are just a little captain of ten.
Is this what you should ask?
Take us to see your Taqihan quickly.
If it delays the important event for both of us, I'm afraid you, the captain of ten, will suffer."
Can’t afford the crime” The commander-in-chief of the Khazar army could not bear the fear and was frightened on the spot.
He hurriedly sent people to report to Khabier, and then led the remaining people to guide the envoy.
The large group of people moved towards the camp of the Khazar Khanate army.
Not long after the mission set off, a group of Western Qin Army cavalry also set off from the camp and headed southeast.
There were two thousand cavalry in this army, all riding Mobei ponies.
Their combat sprint speed was not the fastest.
But riding such a Mobei pony horse can march for a long time without rest.
This kind of horse has extremely strong endurance.
The mission this time was to return to Atyrau on the north coast of the Caspian Sea to establish a material transfer station.
The time was not too urgent, so Duan Xiushi did not want the soldiers to be too tired, so he ordered to stop and rest after half a day of marching.
The soldiers all sat on the ground in even units, letting the war horses graze beside them.
Duan Xiushi was no exception.
He sat on the blanket spread by the soldiers, drank the fresh mare's milk that the soldiers had just squeezed out, and hummed a song from time to time. .
At this time, a tall soldier came over with a sword in his hand and said with a smile: "General Duan, please be in good spirits."
This voice seemed familiar.
Duan Xiushi turned around and was shocked.
He quickly stood up and clasped his fists and said, "General Nuer, why are you here?"
Nuer smiled and said: "General Duan is asking me why I got mixed up in your army.
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Come with me.
The king is here too.
He wants to see you."
"How could the king do this?"
Duan Xiushi was dumbfounded, looking at Nuer's back holding the waist knife and turning away, and quickly chased after him.
After a while, the two came to an open space.
An extremely tall and powerful man wearing an ordinary set of cavalry armor was sitting on the ground, munching on a leg of lamb.
When he walked in, he saw that it was not Zhao Ziliang.
Duan Xiushi said quickly: "The general will pay homage to the king."
Zhao Ziliang stopped and pressed his hands: "General Duan must be surprised, come on, sit down and talk."
After saying this, he threw a leg of lamb.
Duan Xiushi took the mutton leg and sat down, and Nuer also sat on the floor.
The three of them sat down together, eating the mutton and talking.
Zhao Ziliang wiped the grease from his mouth and said to Duan Xiushi: "This time I ask you to bring two thousand cavalry out.
Setting up a material transfer station near Atyrau is only your second task, so before that you must follow This king is going to complete the first task, and this task is your first priority."
Duan Xiushi clasped his fists and said, "Please give me your orders, Your Majesty."
Zhao Ziliang waved his hand, and a soldier standing guard sent over a sheepskin map.
After taking it, Zhao Ziliang spread it out on the grass, pointed at the map and said: "Look, this is our army camp, where we are now. here , this should be the current camp of the Khazar army, and Atil, two hundred miles southeast of their camp, is the summer resort of Khazar Khan King Habir.
Now there is a group of Eastern Roman Empire support in Atil.
Ordnance and supplies of the Khazar Khanate, There are 300,000 arrows in this batch of ordnance supplies that our army is in urgent need of.
Two days ago, Zheng San told me that our arrow reserves are insufficient.
If we want to defeat or even destroy the Khazar Khanate, we will have too many arrows left.
The arrows we fired were not enough to last us through the fight.
For this battle, it will take at least more than two months to transport ordnance supplies from Hengluosi.
Our army is afraid that we cannot afford to wait such a long time.
If we make a long-distance attack here and snatch these arrows, Then we can solve the urgent problem."
Only then did Duan Xiushi understand the real purpose of sending him and the two thousand cavalry and the real reason why Zhao Ziliang appeared here.
He clasped his fists and said: "General, I understand.
Please give the king an order.
General, leave and let the soldiers gather and set off."
Zhao Ziliang smiled and waved his hand and said: "No matter how urgent the matter is, it is not urgent.
In this moment, you have something to eat, and let the soldiers eat something and take a rest.
In two quarters of an hour, all the soldiers will be gathered together.
I will give you a lecture before setting off." " "promise"
Zhao Ziliang was chewing on the leg of lamb while looking at the map.
It was about 800 miles from here to Atir.
Atil was located at the mouth of the Volga River, close to the Caspian Sea.
There was a trade route on the northern line of the Silk Road from Atir.
The Mu River flows down to the Aral Sea and around the northern shore of the Caspian Sea. , passing through the Sarakan Valley at the mouth of the Ural River, reaching Atil at the mouth of the Volga River, this trade route then goes from Atil up to Salai, then down the Don River to Rostov on the Azov Sea, and from Rostov Tov sailed directly across the Black Sea to Constantinople in the Byzantine Empire.
This trade route has a history of one or two hundred years.
Due to the rise of the Arabs, they controlled the traditional Silk Road and levied heavy taxes on Greek merchants and Sogdian merchants.
Later, Greek merchants and Sogdian merchants in Central Asia developed this trade route.
There is a northern Silk Road, which is not under Arab control.
In fact, the Khazar Khanate has also benefited a lot from this trade route, because it is an important transit point for this trade route.
The Khazars obviously would not stop paying close attention to this trade road and sent out a large number of rangers to investigate.
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Therefore, Zhao Ziliang decided not to sneak attack Atil along this road, but to take another route.
There are no fixed roads on this prairie.
You can walk however you want, as long as your whereabouts are not revealed.
Xuan Shiba, the commander of the Huya Army, came over and clasped his fists: "Your Majesty, it's almost time."
Zhao Ziliang nodded, put away the brush and handed the sheepskin map to Xuan Shiba and said: "The army will set off soon.
The Huya Army will send out outposts to the front station.
Follow the newly drawn route and try to avoid the Khazars' patrols. , if you really can’t avoid it, deal with them directly, but you must not let anyone go, so as not to reveal our whereabouts and identity.
If the Khazars find out that we attacked Atil, the mission will be in danger."
"The general will understand."
Xuan Shiba took the map and left to make arrangements.
Zhao Ziliang nodded to Duan Xiushi and said, "Let's get started."
"Yes, Your Majesty" Duan Xiushi immediately gave the order for the entire army to assemble.
After a few short trumpets sounded, everyone quickly packed up their things, mounted their horses, and quickly lined up.
The whole process only took three minutes.
This speed of assembly would allow even an enemy to suddenly attack.
You can also take it in stride.
After the gathering was completed, the number of people was counted, and everyone was present, Duan Xiushi immediately stepped forward and shouted: "Soldiers, our previous mission was to return to Atyrau to establish an ordnance material transfer station, but now we have a new temporary mission.
Moreover, the king will personally lead us to complete this task.
The king has come to our army just now.
Now please give us a lecture."
"Ho, ho, ho" The soldiers beat their armors with their weapons and stood up and roared to express their joy and welcome to Zhao Ziliang's arrival.
Zhao Ziliang stepped forward and raised his hands.
Everyone stopped shouting and became quiet.
"Soldiers of the Guards, the new mission is not a good job.
It is about fighting and a long-distance attack."
The officers and soldiers of the Western Qin Army were not afraid of fighting.
Many people were very excited when they heard that there was a battle, and their morale was very high.
The soldiers once again collectively roared: "Hoar, roar, roar" Zhao Ziliang continued: "There is a Khazar settlement on the other side of the mouth of the Yeli River in the southwest direction from here, eight hundred miles away.
It is called Atil.
There are thousands of Khazars living there, and there may be more Other foreign businessmen, the purpose of our raid is The mark is that long-distance raids are familiar to many of our soldiers.
I have fought many battles in my life, and there are also many long-distance raids.
During the Tubo, Mobei, and Beiting periods, I have led troops.
Went on long-distance raids, long-distance raids The most important thing in a long-distance attack is to go fast, faster, faster, so fast that the enemy can't even think of it, so fast that they don't understand how they died until they die.
But to complete a long-distance attack, the soldiers must be far beyond ordinary people.
It will take days and nights to have a strong will During this period, we could only eat, drink, and sleep on horseback.
We did not rest.
The distance of this attack was 800 miles.
The attack lasted 800 miles in three days.
After arriving, we immediately launched an attack.
The soldiers were able to do this.
Tell me, can you do it?"
Everyone shouted: "Can, can, can":