Although the exact location was not found, as it was getting late, the Xiliang Iron Rider still camped by a river.The soldiers went to the nearby woods to gather dead wood to make fires, and each of the chiefs carried the flint that was lit on the fire, and beat it on the iron tools to make sparks.Because the wood was soaked with snow, it was difficult to grow, and after it was easy to light it, everyone gathered around the campfire and took turns drinking warm soup.The cook put the iron pot on his back to the temporary earthen stove, and began to cook hot food, and the weather did not care whether the enemy would see the fireworks, so it was important to make sure that his own people did not freeze to death from frostbite.The climate of the Western Regions is completely different from that of the Central Plains, where snow can fall in August and September, and snowflakes fall on the plains after entering the summer calendar in October, and in the depths of winter, there is no room for people in the wilderness.The soldiers were optimistic, looking forward to another victory like the Battle of Akaya Castle.Because they have too much confidence in the Marquis of Xi'an, even if they go around the neighborhood, it must be part of the Marquis's plan.And in the main account, Ren Hong himself is a little big.The scale of the map produced by the subject country is too large, and it can only know the approximate location of each state, and it cannot be used to find a way, and this area is a place that the Han people have never set foot in, and it is an adventure to lead an army to come.Where is the enemy?
I don't know.Where are the allies?
I don't know.Where is our army?
I don't know.I don't know what to do, and the Wusun guide only timidly said that the place he was going to was "not far", and then complained that the snow was really not easy to find.The scouts sent out were also confused, the heavy snow covered all their whereabouts, the huge basin was deserted, and the continuous wars made the herdsmen of Wusun and the Xiongnu run away to other places, and they couldn't find a fellow to ask for directions, and only occasionally caught a Hun deserter but the other party also ran away and stayed here.Yang Yun, who was trembling in his coat, was relieved to Ren Honglai: "The Marquis of Xi'an doesn't have to be sad, getting lost is a common thing in the Han army, General Li won't say it, even Zhang Qian, the Marquis of Bowang, who is known as the living map, was also cut off because of the delay in the war!"
”Although Yang Ziyou's mouth was not good, he still suffered hardships, and he didn't want to stay in Chigu City with his injuries to recuperate, so he insisted on following here, and said that he had meritorious service in battle, how could there be no military Sima.But it didn't comfort Ren Hong at all, he thought that he had taken Wei Huo's script, but when he opened it, he realized that it was Li Guang's!
It's really laughing and crying.Yang Yun is still saying: "The rest of the generals also often have things that go wrong, after all, the enemy territory is vast, and Han Zeng, the father of the strong crossbow general Han Zeng, said that because he never lost his way when he attacked the Xiongnu and Dongyue, Emperor Xiaowu specially sealed him in Yidao County, and took the meaning of meeting the road on time." ”Ren Hong's worry is not about the crime of abandonment, he has successfully completed the task assigned by General Pu, galloping thousands of miles to rescue Chigu City, and cutting the mud, going north is his own choice, and because of this, in the absence of an agreed meeting place with Zhao Chongguo, he can only follow the traces of the Huns, once lost, it will be difficult to do.In the end, Ren Hong made a decision: "Don't look for traces of the Huns camping." ”"Go only east by the water."
Tens of thousands of Xiongnu horses consume a lot of water every day, this thing is heavy and not easy to carry, so the march and camp should be by the water, although the climate north of the Tianshan Mountains is drier than the south of the mountain, in fact, there are only a few rivers, as long as you follow the river, follow the creek to find the big river, maybe you will catch up with the Huns again.The next day, everyone pulled out the camp and set off again, and went down the stream, and sure enough, they found the big river, and went down the river, although there was still no trace of the Huns, but they came to a big lake, and the good news was that when they came here, their guide was finally able to determine the direction, this is Chaoyang Lake, Abby Lake, the largest saltwater lake north of the Tianshan Mountains.The bad news is that they are nearly 100 miles north of the expected route, which is really outrageous.The Xiliang Iron Cavalry should have crossed the Shiqi River to the south and marched eastward, because Ren Hong estimated that the Han army and the Xiongnu would meet and fight in Wusu City, Xinjiang.By this time it was too late to turn south, and the weather began to deteriorate again, and a cold sleet prevented the army from going anywhere, and had to stop and camp on the relatively dry hills on the shore of the lake.The terrible rain and snow lasted all night, hitting the face like a knife, and no matter how stubborn an army was, it was impossible to march under such circumstances.Ren Hong was more nervous than when he encountered the enemy army, and patrolled each song with a felt hat to make sure that the fuel was sufficient, the camp was dry, and no soldiers had frozen their feet.And the next day, after the rain had passed, something dramatic happened, and Zhao Han'er, who was in charge of cruising more than ten miles around, sent a scout to report: "Junhou, there are a large number of Huns in the southeast of the lake!"
”"Coming here, you can be regarded as throwing off the Han army, right?"
When they ran to the shores of Lake Abbey in the cold and rain overnight, the sages were sure that they were finally safe.Although the cost was nearly half of the attrition, many people couldn't bear the cold rain and snow and stayed in the middle of the road, and there were also Xiao Wang and Qianqi Commander who were separated from them and found their way to survive.The battle on the bank of the Shiqi River the day before yesterday, the process was actually lackluster, the Xiongnu and the Han army fought too many times, and the advantages and disadvantages of the other party were clear.Sent more than 100 warriors to challenge Zhao Chongguo to shoot several people with a rhubarb crossbow, and he was not angry, only relying on the mobility advantage of light cavalry to constantly cruise and harass repeatedly, and rarely impacted and exchanged blades.And the Han army is also as stable as a rock, no matter how the Xiongnu lure, he just didn't rashly order an attack, and Xin Wuxian wanted to attack several times, but Zhao Chongguo asked Zhao Guanghan to watch him in the past.In this way, when the Huns were gradually showing fatigue, Zhao Chongguo suddenly ordered the array to move forward, relying on the charge of Han Zeng's subordinate Guo Zhong, and defeated the Huns with a 10,000-strong wing!
And Xin Wuxian and others also circled the left and right flanks, and there was a great tendency to completely annihilate the Huns.Then the rest of the Huns more than 70,000 horsemen fled decisively, for the Huns, running away is the ability to take care of the family, the advantage is to advance, the unfavorable is to retreat, not ashamed to escape.It is by virtue of this traditional art that they have been at war with the Han for decades, fighting more than 100 battles, large and small, although they have been defeated repeatedly, not to mention the big single Yu, the left and right Xian kings, and the left and right Gu Li kings have never been beheaded by the Han army in the war.For example, after the battle of Henan, in the fifth year of Yuan Shuo, Wei Qing and others went out of Shuo to attack the right place, and surrounded the right Xianwang at night, and the right Xianwang at that time decisively ran away with hundreds of horses.In the Battle of Mobei, after the Han army gained the advantage, Dadan Yu Yizhi drove a cart pulled by six mules, came to a mule cart to drift, and took the opportunity to slip from the northwest by taking advantage of the wind and sand.The Huns thought that Yi Zhixian was dead, and also chose a new single Yu, but dozens of days later, Yi Zhixian appeared unharmed, and the Great Huns were indeed never destroyed.And in the same war on another battlefield, Huo Qubing faced King Zuo Xian, and King Zuo also played to his strengths, and after the battle was unfavorable, he ran more than 2,000 miles in one go, and Huo Qubing didn't catch up with him when he went to Wolf Juxu Mountain.On the contrary, all kinds of Xiao Wang are not so alert, and they have been captured and killed repeatedly.It is conceivable that the bigger the king in the Xiongnu, the faster he runs, and the first to run away in the battle of Shiqi River is Tu Qitang, the right virtuous king as the commander-in-chief.The other kings were naturally not far behind, or followed Tu Qitang to slip away, or followed the sages to retreat westward, and their speed was so fast that the Han army who dismounted and fought on foot caught off guard, and hurriedly mounted their horses to pursue.Yesterday's rain and snow helped the Huns a lot, although I don't know how many little kings were captured by Zhao Chongguo, and I don't know what happened to the right Xian Wang and Xing Weiyang who evacuated to the east, anyway, the ancestors Shan side, in addition to the lineage of the headquarters is still intact, plus the two Puyin kings and Lu Tu kings who accompanied him, a total of more than 10,000 horses escaped.The Huns were cold, hungry, and depressed, and in just one month, they went from a great victory in the destruction of Wusun to the situation they are in today.They planned to go north, cross the Alashan Pass, go to the other side of the mountain range, and then go to Jiankun and Hujie for refuge, and make a detour back to the Xiongnu.This also means that Xianxian Shan is going to completely leave the Western Regions, a land he has struggled to operate for more than ten years.Looking back at the Tianshan Mountains that were getting farther and farther away, the sages were unwilling: "Although my royal court was burned and all the people were lost, as long as the sages are still alive, they will rise again!"
”This thought disappeared when a Han cavalry suddenly appeared on the west side of the lake and rushed towards the more than 10,000 defeated soldiers, and all that left to do was to continue running.The Huns were like a group of antelopes drinking water by the lake, but were frightened by the wolves, each hurriedly mounted their horses and fled in the direction where there was no enemy, while the sage Shan hugged the horse's neck tightly and led his troops to the north, leaving only surprise in his heart: "Zhao Chongguo is worthy of being a famous general of the Han family, and he actually left an ambush here in advance!?"
”The Huns couldn't figure out why Zhao Chongguo was like a god, so they arranged an ambush in advance on the retreat to the north.Ren Hong's forward scouts didn't understand why the Huns, who they couldn't find for a long time, were sent to the door."
Maybe the war has ended, and General Zhao defeated the Huns and just happened to bump into us."
This is Ren Hong's judgment, no matter what, they are now like encountering something and coming to the door by themselves, they can't think about it, they only have time to intercept it.But the Huns didn't even fight, they were frightened by the more than 1,000 horsemen who arrived at the lake first, and they exploded with a bang, and they were directly divided into four strands, except for the lake in the east, the rest of the directions ran everywhere.This scene, in the rough words of Han Dangdang when he recalled this war afterwards: "At that time, I wanted to open the circle, and suddenly tens of thousands of pigs snorted and rushed out, the speed was fast, and I could take care of this head is to lose the other one, and it is not to chase either side, it is really difficult to die." ”When the news reached the Xi'an Hou in the rear, he hesitated for a moment and then waved his hand: "Siqu scattered and chased!"
”Xin Qingji took Longxiqu to the southeast, Zhang Yaoli and Gan Yanshou's Tianshuiqu chased to the northwest, Han Dangdang chased due south, and Ren Hong and Zhao Han'er's Hexiqu stared at the Huns to the north.The Huns are like frightened birds, they are determined not to look back to fight, this is a pursuit battle that tests horsepower and horsemanship, the Huns rout, there are constantly horses that lose their front hooves and throw off the riders, they are naturally captured by the Han army that came from behind, Ren Hong asked Zhao Han'er to ask, only to learn who he was pursuing."
King Li, the sage Shan!"
A few years ago, Ren Hong had the opportunity to capture the king of the right valley, but at that time, he wanted to make him and the king of the right sage turn against the siege of the iron gate canal plow, and let him go from the iron gate, but he was picked up by the sages who were still the king of the day at that time, and the king of the right valley was dedicated to Da Shan Yu, and got the king name of his subordinates, becoming one of the four corners.He was in the Battle of Loulan, he was in the Battle of the Iron Gate, and he met this person again today!"
The Han Dynasty has fought fiercely with the Huns for decades since the time of filial piety, and there have been nearly 100 large and small confrontations, not to mention Da Danyu, and he has never captured the four-cornered king."
Ren Hong asked the soldiers to chase after him immediately, and said to Yang Yun, who was struggling to follow the team: "Ziyou, do you know that there will be five virtues?"
”Yang Yun hugged the horse's neck and gasped: "Of course I know, wisdom, faith, benevolence, courage and strictness." ”"Yes, but there is one more thing that is essential, which can be described as the sixth virtue."
Ren Hong was lost before, and he secretly felt that he was unlucky, how could he be the same as Li Guang who was a stranger, but at this moment, the haze in his heart was swept away, and he pointed to the sage who was running towards Alashankou and laughed: "That's luck!"
”