Also in the early morning, a hundred miles away from Usha Castle.
The soldiers, led by Zhao Xuan, held a simple funeral.
Yesterday morning, Zhao Xuan led his men and had a fight with the Kangli cavalry who were chasing after them. The two sides had never fought before. Zhao Xuan lacked understanding of the Kangli people's cavalry tactics, and he did not expect that the tall horses from the Western Regions ridden by the Kangli people were so capable of sprinting over short distances.
His battlefield command inevitably made mistakes, so the soldiers suffered a lot of losses. More than forty people were killed on the spot. Later, when they retreated in a hurry, more than a dozen seriously wounded people died.
When the soldiers and horses were in a daze, it was impossible to bring the body back to Jinshan intact. So when they camped that night, the soldiers gathered firewood, built a fire, and burned the bodies of the sacrificed soldiers. Then they collected the bones, put them in special clay pots, affixed a seal with their names, and carried them with them by a designated person.
Military Chinese documents, letters home ghostwritten in advance before the soldiers went off to battle, and the relics of the fallen soldiers were also placed together.
Before the bodies of some soldiers could be collected, they burned their robes and belongings and sealed them in clay pots for sustenance.
Among the soldiers who died, there were Shi Moye's subordinates, so he was busy in front and back.
Sukhbaru, Bilig and other Mongolian officers accompanied him quietly, looking a little ashamed, a little embarrassed, and a little confused.
These six thousand households were the first group of people to rebel against the Mongol Ulusei, and they were usually treated favorably by the Zhou Dynasty as role models. After purging the vacillating people, their families were generally confident and felt that they could at least compete with the several thousand households directly under the Golden Family. Perhaps he could unscrew Belgutai's head with one hand, which is unknown.
After the two sides fought, they did have the advantage at first. But later, they discovered that the Golden Family was still very confident, and the troops transferred from the Western Regions were even stronger.
Those cavalry from the Western Regions were beaten up by Genghis Khan thousands of miles away. After being transferred to the grassland, they had no way out. They were probably holding back their energy to show off in front of their new masters. They simply didn't care about casualties and frequently launched offensives with the scale of ten thousand cavalry. . However, Sukhbalu and others' family resources were very limited and they gradually could not support themselves.
As the leading general, Zhao Xuan should not have personally led his troops to fight with others. Yesterday, it was entirely because the Mongols failed to intercept the heavy cavalry of the Kangli people that crossed diagonally that Zhao Xuan was in danger for a time, and his subsequent retreat was somewhat embarrassing.
However, in order to dispose of the remains of the soldiers, Zhao Xuan lit many fires in the field, which would definitely attract the attention of the pursuers. If Kangli's cavalry comes in hot pursuit, how should we deal with it tomorrow?
Sukhbalu and others thought that although the war was unfavorable, they had nothing to worry about because they had Zhou Dynasty at their back. As long as we slowly move south to join the army launched by His Majesty the Emperor, this battle will still be easy to fight. Judging from Zhao Xuan's command in the past two days, he walked eastward along the boundary trench for more than two hundred miles.
Go east, what's there?
It's a bit far to get closer to Taizhou from that direction. The ones available for support are the Zhou troops in the Jinlianchuan area. In addition, I heard that the emperor's brother-in-law is gathering Han slaves in Wusha Castle. Many thousand-household tribes throughout the eastern part of the grassland are also moving closer to Usha Castle, vowing to recapture the escaped slaves and lost livestock.
Most of the thousand households in the eastern part of the grassland are not among the 95,000 households that were established in Mongolia, but they have more or less strength. If twenty or thirty families gather together, there may be tens of thousands of men and women! What should we do if we bump into each other?
Let's get closer, and the Western Region Cavalry will arrive immediately. The situation will only become more dangerous!
Sukhbalu struggled with this matter for several days, but Zhao Xuan always looked confident and didn't seem to worry about it at all. Everyone was inevitably a little confused, but they didn't dare to ask.
This time Sukhbalu wanted to ask clearly, but Zhao Xuan was busy with the funeral affairs of the sacrificed soldiers, and he did not dare to disturb him. He could only find something to talk about, and praised the Zhou court's compensation for the dead in the war to his companions. Rich, by the way, let’s find out what the legendary Han family temple is like where sacrifices have been made for generations.
He felt that Zhao Xuan's subordinates had suffered considerable losses, but their morale was still high, and no one became depressed due to fatigue from the long journey or unfavorable conditions in the war. This is obviously inseparable from treatment such as pensions and sacrifices.
In contrast, Mongolian taxis
Feeling a little down.
After several fierce battles, the two sides continued to fight, charge, transfer, and mobilize for a day, a night, or even longer. The war horses can take turns to rest, but people cannot relax at all. When the war horses are tired, they have to lead the horses for a walk. They cannot eat or drink well when they are hungry or thirsty.
These are the daily lives of the Mongols. Even if they seek refuge with the Central Plains court, they will not lose their tenacity and resistance to war. But they couldn't stand the waves of enemies rushing out from the depths of the grassland. After continuous fighting, they still showed slackness.
By this time hundreds of cavalrymen had fallen behind. Some are injured and cannot persist, and some have lost their fighting spirit. On the vast and sparsely populated grasslands, a single Mongolian can make a living simply by shooting and hunting. There is no need to worry about them, as long as they return to the camp before it snows in winter. The problem is that some of them may have wavered again and left the team to return to the grassland!
Bilige murmured: "Actually, I can't blame them. It's just a fight, but there is no chance of looting. After all, it's not the same as before."
"Does the imperial court need a group of thieves?"
Sukhbalu would not make a mistake in this matter. He immediately said sternly: "The imperial court will not let the Mongols use force. Those who are truly useful will be admitted into the army sooner or later, and they will fight for their lives with military pay! Now is just the beginning!"
Bilige frowned and was about to argue when he suddenly saw light flashing deep in the wilderness.
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"There's fire!"
He yelled, jumped up and pointed. The people around him were all moved when they saw him following his instructions.
Apparently they were the Kangli cavalry spies who were following him! They may have thought that the fire was dazzling here and they could not notice what was happening in the distance, so they were not too careful when lighting the torch in their hands and raised it slightly higher. In this way, his whereabouts are exposed.
So, why is this spy so anxious to start a fire? Who did he hold up the fire to show?
Don't think too much, the cavalry from the Western Regions are not far behind!
Sukhbalu didn't care to disturb Zhao Xuan, and rushed over with his horse: "Defense envoy, the Kangli people's spies have caught up with them, and they even lit torches! I will send people back to investigate, and everyone should make preparations for departure quickly. Bar!"
"The soldiers are all tired."
Zhao Xuan raised his eyes and looked in the direction of the fire. His face was inevitably haggard, and his eyes were bloodshot, but he said calmly: "The Kangli people can't do it for one person and two horses. Their large team cannot move so fast. We might as well rest for another hour."
"An hour?" Bilige shouted: "Half an hour, right? No more!"
Shi Mo also said first: "Further east, there are two small rivers to cross, and there may be swamps. The pursuers may take the opportunity to approach... The defenders, the horses from the Western Regions charged at short distances very fast and fiercely, It's better to stay far away so that everyone can deal with it calmly."
"Hmm..." Zhao Xuan followed suit: "Then just half an hour."
On the third day, we crossed two small rivers and crossed a salt marsh. The two families fought several more times on the road, with the pursuers still hanging behind.
When Sukhbalu sent hunters to the bushes behind the salt marsh to catch badgers and yellow sheep of all sizes for barbecue, many knights rolled down and dismounted to rest. Some of them were wounded and exhausted due to excessive blood loss. They lay half-lying on the ground and immediately fell asleep.
This sense of exhaustion is also related to the frustration caused by continuous retreat and escape.
The few Kangli spies probably felt they had the upper hand, and they didn't even hide their presence.
They reined up their horses on the high ground and looked at them carelessly. It was not until Shi Mo also personally led people to drive them away that they left leisurely.
Shi Mo also sent dozens of extra riders to drive the spies as far away as possible. He came back angrily and suggested that he could lead some elite subordinates to set up an ambush, but Zhao Xuan stopped him.
"It's best if they follow us like this."
"Just let them follow you? They are waiting for an opportunity!" Bilige rarely spoke to Zhao Xuan in such a loud voice, and he was a little impatient.
"That's natural."
Zhao Xuan smiled and said: "We
In the previous few days of fighting, they had been beaten hard several times. In terms of casualties, they were much more numerous than us. I guess they were eager for revenge, so they would not let go. "
"Defense envoy, we can't go on like this." Bilige frowned and said, "My subordinates, ahem... after all, are not as good as the imperial government's masters. Hundreds of them have become separated in the past few days. Many of them have I’m asking, what are we going to do if we keep going east?”
Zhao Xuan pondered for a while, stared at Bilige and said, "These separated people don't know what they have given up. They will regret it, and they will regret it for the rest of their lives."
Bilige took a deep breath, not knowing what to say.
Zhao Xuan turned to look at Sukhbaru and the other Mongolian officers behind him: "Even if some of your subordinates escape, why do you care? Those who escape are not worthy of serving me, Great Zhou."
"But……"
"I'm so tired that I'll rest for half an hour as usual." Zhao Xuan waved his hand: "Then the ministries continue to set off, leading this group of pursuers to Usha Castle! Go, let's all rest now!"
Half an hour later, several particularly strong Mongolian horses had eaten their fill and were led to the pond, where they were carefully rinsed and given a sufficient rest. The spirit of the war horses tells them that they will have a long journey. Horses' instinct to gallop with abandon makes them very excited about this.
Several Zhou army scout knights under Tian Xiong's command jumped on their horses. The horses snorted and stamped on the grass with their front hooves.
Zhao Xuan pulled the reins and said in a deep voice: "I will take those Kangli people around twice more, and the main force of the Mongolian Golden Family will definitely arrive... Tell Tian Xiong, see you in Wushabao in two days!"
The scout cavalry nodded solemnly, urged his horse and left.
The horse's hooves flew, and the knight's figure disappeared into the shallow ditch behind the bushes. The sound of hoofbeats went from heavy to soft, and soon disappeared. Flocks of flying birds in the shallow ditch were frightened and hovered for a long time.
