On this night, somewhere in the Mobei grassland, there were dozens of figures galloping across the grassland in the dark night. The dozens of people in this group were all lightly armed, and they did not need to light torches when marching at night. It seemed that they were well-trained troops who were good at night fighting.
But there were only a few dozen people in their group, so what could such a team do? The answer is to detect the enemy's situation. Yes, the dozens of people in this group are the sixth team of the Shuofang Army's Scout Battalion led by Ye Qingcheng. There are a total of fifty people including him and Huan Chenyu Baiquan.
The main task of their team is to bypass the Xishou surrender city and penetrate directly into the enemy's rear from the Mobei no-man's land to explore the enemy's situation, including the opponent's grain and grass distribution, troop distribution, etc. For the general scout battalion of the border army, this kind of mission is usually very dangerous. If you are not careful, you will encounter heavy enemy troops. Fortunately, many scouts are very cautious and usually lurk when they find an enemy that they cannot defeat. The key is whether they will be discovered by the herdsmen. This is the key issue. Once discovered by the herdsmen and reported, there will be a large number of enemy troops to search for them. At that point, death is inevitable. Usually, in order to avoid being caught and tortured by the enemy, scouts usually bite their tongues and commit suicide when captured. Of course, there are also those who are timid and cherish their lives. At that time, it will have a great impact on the entire battle. Therefore, such missions of deep investigation behind enemy lines are usually very rare. Even if there are, the military governors will only send trustworthy people there. Obviously, Ye Qingcheng and his team belong to this kind of mission.
The key reason why the Northern Yi kept the border all the year round but could not make the Northern Expedition was that their horses were kept free for a long time and the grass they ate was relatively fertile. In addition, the horse breeds were better and could not be compared with the horses from the Central Plains. In other words, the cavalry of the Northern Yi is much stronger than the cavalry of the Central Plains, but they only have this advantage. They can run fast and have strong cavalry. This is the only advantage.
Although there are four types of horses commonly used in the Tang army, namely Sanhe horses, Kazakh horses, Yanqi horses and Weirle horses. Especially the latter two are more common in the Tang regular army, but they are still inferior to the horses of the Northern Yi, and they are not All Tang troops are equipped with them.
The Tang army is different. The general Tang army is fully armed. Here, take the cavalry led by Ye Qingcheng as an example. They are usually equipped with major weapons and equipment such as horses, horizontal swords, bows and arrows, and because they are among Shuofang's army, It is composed of elites drawn out, so everyone is equipped with Dawan horses, which are rare in the Tang army. This kind of horse is good in shape, very obedient, and much faster than the other four kinds of horses, so it is usually equipped with mobile troops. Ye Qingcheng and the others had just one horse each. Because of this, the soldiers in the scout camp all cherish their horses very much, as if they are their own lives. If they are unfortunately captured by the enemy, regardless of whether they commit suicide or not, they will reluctantly kill their beloved horses before being captured. Let them fall into the hands of the Northern Yi and crossbreed them into new breeds of good horses.
Therefore, although the Northern Yi people have always coveted the Dayuan horse, which Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty called the "sweat-blooded horse", they had no choice but to do so. However, the country of Ningyuan, the origin of the Dayuan horse, was too far away from them, and they did not have it at all. The reason for doing business with you nomads is not to offend the Tang Dynasty for the slightest benefit. Not to mention that the king of Ningyuan State also married Princess Heyi who came to have a marriage marriage, and became closer to the Tang Dynasty. It was even more impossible to give them the Dawan horse, which had a low output.
After more than ten days of trekking, they were already relatively close to their destination, the Songmo Dudu Mansion. Although the Songmo Dudu Mansion was set up by the Tang Dynasty to manage the Khitan, in fact, the Khitan people did not live here. Many of them live near the Liao River basin. Despite this, the Songmo Governor's Mansion is still an important town for the Khitans. A lot of their food and weapons are stored here, and they also raise a lot of horses and livestock. It can be said to be a logistics base for them. Because of the importance of this place, the Khitans have always stocked up heavy troops here and are on guard day and night.
The purpose of their trip was to find out how many Khitan defenders were stationed here and how much supplies were piled up in the warehouse. They and the Xi tribe's coalition forces had already headed to the Sanggan River Basin to prepare for a battle with the Tang army. This was what they were trying to capture. The Khitan scouts living here knew about it, but they just didn't know if any of the defenders here had been transferred.
Before leaving, he had just learned from Li Zheng that the purpose of Li Longji's nominal attack on the Xi tribe was actually to attack the Khitan, and he understood it. Although he no longer had a good impression of Li Longji, he was still determined by this determination. He is quite in favor of it. Whether it is for military or political reasons, the Khitan seems to be a serious threat, and Xi, who is timid, has always been led by the Khitan. Defeating the Khitan can protect this area for ten years or even several years. Ten years of peace.
At the front of this group of people was naturally Ye Qingcheng, the leader of the team, and his two fire chiefs Huan Chenyu and Bai Quan. The three fire chiefs who were originally there followed closely behind, and the rest were ordinary Tang troops.
In the first three days of training, the three of them have integrated into this group, got to know the other team members, deepened their relationship with each other, and gained their recognition at the same time.
But now, the eyes of the Tang soldiers behind them were looking towards the three of them in front, filled not only with admiration, but also with a kind of fear, not for anything else but because they had seen the actions of Ye Qingcheng and the others. Although I haven't witnessed it with my own eyes, I can still feel something with my imagination.
A few days ago, when they were bypassing a herdsman's camp, they encountered a cavalry patrol of one hundred people. Seeing that there were fifty of them, the other party did not rush to fight, but quickly retreated. Calling for reinforcements was a wise decision. Moreover, on such a wide grassland, there was no place to hide. They would undoubtedly be exposed to the pursuit of large enemy troops, but their horses could not catch up with them.
Under that situation, this small team suddenly fell into a state of extreme panic, and in their opinion, no matter how fast Huan Chenyu and Bai Quan were, they would not be able to catch up with the running Khitan cavalry at that distance. In fact, Huan Chenyu and Bai Quan were really panicked at that time, because they really couldn't catch up. With such a mortal body, no matter how fast he is or how good his body skills are, he really cannot catch up at such a distance.
At this time, Ye Qingcheng only did one thing. He recited a poem... no, he recited a mantra, and pulled out two things that looked like talismans from the inside of his clothes. What happened next, but They were even more stunned than when they saw Bai Quan take action before.
