On the flat and vast grassland, the originally green pastures were now slightly gray, and the ground seemed to be covered with a thick gray blanket, which looked particularly fresh under the sunlight. Not far away, the undulating mountains look like a wounded beast, with its tail buried in the grassland, revealing its bony back. Although the altitude is not high, it can still make people feel a sense of awe.
Next to the silent Gray River is the habitat of wandering cattle and sheep. They are scattered on both sides of the river bank, enjoying the last sumptuous meal of the year. On the lush grassland, a breeze blew through, lifting up layers of grass and dust on the ground, trying to disrupt the team who were enjoying the delicious food.
Not far from the cattle and sheep, an old man with a white beard was stroking his few beards, riding on a horse, observing his "property" leisurely and contentedly, and couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.
The old man's name was Morji. He was an aristocratic minor commander of the Loufan Kingdom and was once subordinate to the Commander-in-Chief of Tabu Tuoluohai.
In the past, the Loufan Kingdom was suppressed by the Xiongnu and Linhu in the north, and the Jin Kingdom was eyeing it in the south. Its sphere of influence has always been huddled in places such as Tabuduoluohai (today's Hohhot, Inner Mongolia) and Mato (today's northern Shuozhou, Shanxi).
After a storm, the situation in the various Xia countries suddenly changed drastically. First, three families were divided into Jin, and then the Tian family replaced Qi. The various ethnic groups of the Hu people in the north are also caught in the struggle for power. Loufan then took the opportunity to rise quietly. He Linhu drove the Xiongnu in the north and invaded the Zhao Kingdom in the south. In the following hundred years, Loufan Kingdom became more and more powerful, and its territory expanded from the initial area of several hundred miles to the present day, starting from Baiyun (Baiyun Mountain in Inner Mongolia) in the north. , southward towards the lush pastures of Guandi (Guandi Mountain, Shanxi) stretching thousands of miles.
The powerful Loufan State also learned from the advanced Central Plains culture of the Xia countries, learned from the Three Jins, established a military merit system, and divided regions to govern the people.
It was also because of his repeated military exploits when he was young and the preferential treatment he received when new policies were adopted that Melbourne was able to break away from the captaincy and rule under its own tributary.
Now that the Central Plains countries are at war again, and they have no time to look north, they, Lou Fanren, are able to take advantage of this opportunity and make some windfall fortunes.
Especially the aggressive war launched against Qin in the spring. Thanks to the cooperation of Zhao, Lou Fanren was able to bypass the Great Wall in the north of Qin and penetrate directly into the hinterland of Qin, thus achieving remarkable results.
Now when the Zhao State suffered from floods again, their great King Loufan decided to unite with the despicable Linhu people to invade the Zhao State.
It was unwise for Morji to invade Zhao State, not because Zhao State had lent them a road.
It's because of Zhao's own trade policy, especially for Loufan shepherds like him. As long as they have some cattle and sheep, they don't have to worry about finding good buyers in Zhao.
Especially in places such as Daixian and Weiwen in Zhao State, there were even special trading markets for the Hu people, which facilitated the Hu people to trade with merchants from all over the world. Every year there are giant businessmen from Handan, Daliang, Xinzheng, Linzi and other Xia countries, buying their top-quality cattle and sheep at high prices. Every year, Mexico can make a lot of money from this.
In fact, not only Melji, but also several lower-level nobles who were friends with him had corresponding attitudes. Along with the war with Zhao State, trade will inevitably be cut off, and Lou Fan's losses will also be heavy.
But their status was not high enough and they were not qualified to speak in front of King Lou Fan.
Now he can only pray and pray that his king will change his mind.
The old man, who was kneeling on the ground and praying earnestly, suddenly felt a slight vibration on the ground, and then he heard the rumble of horse hooves.
The sound was urgent and noisy, but in an instant, rows of black shadows appeared at the end of the sky. If you look closely, it was the army of Loufan Kingdom!
The old man stood up hurriedly, put away the cloth used for praying, and then stood aside, holding his chest with both hands and lowering his head slightly.
The restless cavalry galloped past him, causing gusts of fishy wind. A full quarter of an hour passed before the earth became quiet again.
Melji raised his head, glanced at the cows and sheep that had huddled up, then turned to look at the back of the army that was gradually disappearing into the sky, and couldn't help but sigh deeply.
…
…
Loufan's army, which had just crossed the Gray River, began to gather towards the most special unit in the middle, surrounding it like stars over the moon.
*
In the temporary king's tent, Wang Jibo of Lou Fan was sitting on the king's couch, looking indifferently at several ragged Lou Fan soldiers kneeling in the center of the tent. At this time, their bodies were covered with scars and their hands were scratched. He was tightly tied behind his back with a hemp rope, and his face was ashen as death, as if only his shell was left.
Ji Bo's face was ashen, and his already gray beard was trembling with the trembling muscles on his face. It was obvious that he was extremely angry at this time.
Several important Loufan ministers in the tent were too embarrassed to say anything for fear of offending the angry King Loufan.
"I want to ask you, who asked you to attack Guoyi? Tell me." Ji Bo pretended to be calm and said.
"Commander Tourt, it's Commander Tourt. He said he got the king's order." Several people kneeling on the ground immediately replied.
As soon as the few criminals finished speaking, the expressions of the commander-in-chief and Tu Li who were standing aside suddenly changed.
But he did not refute it out loud, because what the criminal said was true. His unsatisfactory son ruined his life because of greed, and now he has also brought shame to his family.
Everyone in the king's tent glanced at Tu Li subconsciously.
Ji Bo was silent for a moment, and then he said calmly to the guards on both sides: "Drag them down and show their heads to the public! Wives and daughters will be turned into camp prostitutes!"
"My king, spare your life, my king, spare your life..." After hearing this, several criminals immediately cried loudly and kept bowing their heads to beg for mercy.
The ministers could only watch helplessly as several people kept crying and begging for mercy, but no one dared to plead for them. After receiving Ji Bo's order, the guards who had already been waiting on both sides of the king's tent forcibly dragged the criminal's already limp body and strode out of the tent.
Then with a few slight 'pop, pop' sounds outside the tent, the world returned to silence again.
Seeing the silence in the king's tent, Ji Bo exhaled a breath, nodded with satisfaction, and then said quietly: "I wanted to mobilize my troops and generals to sweep the land with King Lin Hu, but today someone did not listen to my order. , acted without authorization, how do you think we should handle it?"
Just after Ji Bo finished speaking, everyone's expressions tightened, and then they all glanced at Tuli again with his eyes closed.
The former powerful commander's face turned red and his gray beard trembled. He was obviously on the verge of fear.
"Tuli!" Ji Bo said.
Tuli knew that he could not escape, so he sighed slightly in his heart, took a step forward, knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, I am guilty."
Ji Bo narrowed his eyes slightly, stared at Tu Li's face, and said slowly: "Turt is your son. I would like to ask you, do you know about his private plundering south?"
privately? Tu Li vaguely grasped these two words. "I don't know! I obeyed the king's order and have been actively restraining our soldiers to reorganize their supplies recently. I waited for the king's order to launch an attack with the Linhu people. However, when I ordered the troops the day before yesterday, I found that Tourt and five hundred cavalry were missing. I thought he was just going hunting, but I didn't expect that he dared to go south to rob the Zhao people privately. As a result, he disrupted the king's plan. I will die!" Tuli said word by word what he had planned for a long time. He answered, but his palms were already sweating.
Naturally, he had known for a long time that his son led an army to plunder the Zhao people. Without his acquiescence, how could Turt take away his troops so easily? What he didn't expect was that his son was too greedy. He not only plundered several towns on the border of Zhao State, but also attempted to capture Guo Yi of Zhao State. As a result, the war fell into a panic. When Zhao State's reinforcements arrived, another Just as the Dai Ling Lou slowly led his troops on patrol, Tourt bumped into the muzzle of the gun. He was caught in the act.
"Why don't you report it to Yugu immediately?" Ji Bo said excitedly.
"The incident happened suddenly. I didn't know about it at first. I reported it to the king after I was sure. But it was too late and it was too late to recall them." After Tuli said, he raised his head and glanced quietly. Take a first look.
After hearing this, Ji Bo closed his eyes slightly, as if he was thinking about whether he should believe what Tuli said.
After a while, Ji Bo slowly opened his eyes and focused on Tu Li's eyes again. He said calmly: "The matter has come to an end, and the war is about to begin. I will record it for you for the time being, and correct it for the crime of improper restraint." Punishment will be carried out later."
Tu Li was overjoyed. He knew that since Ji Bo said this in public, no matter how he was punished in the future, it would not endanger the Tu family's status in the building. The Tu family managed to escape this calamity.
Tuli immediately kowtowed heavily and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for giving me the opportunity to make meritorious deeds."
Ji Bo raised his brows slightly and said, "Get up. Originally, Gu and King Linhu agreed that our Loufan army would pass through Nao from the south and go to Daiwang City from the north. But now, due to Turte's greed, the Zhao people are on guard."
"Your Majesty, are you going to change your strategy?" Prime Minister Yakuto asked immediately.
Ji Bo nodded slightly: "The Zhao people must have deployed heavy troops in the Nao area now. It may be impossible to insert troops back from the Nao area." Then he stood up, walked to the Kanyu map, pointed to the Kanyu map and continued: " Gu wants to follow the Sanggan River and go north to Guping (Datong, Shanxi), meet with King Lin Hu, and use the troops of the two tribes to directly capture Weiwen (Yuxian County, Hebei), and then use Weiwen as the basis to sweep through Dai Dai."
"That side of Guodi..." Yakuto continued to ask.
Ji Bo glanced at Tuli and said slowly: "In order to prevent the Zhao people from discovering our intentions, Guodi will naturally divide its troops into a sheep attack... Commander Tuli, I will leave the responsibility of the sheep attack to you, how about it?" "
After hearing this, Tuli, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, immediately felt troubled again.
Obviously, although Weiwen is difficult to attack, if the armies of Loufan and Linhu are combined, and they use superior forces to defeat each other, no matter how difficult it is, they may not be unable to attack. However, Guodi has been exposed, and what they are about to face is likely to be the main force of the Zhao Kingdom. Maybe he will be able to deal with it here together at the end of the war. Moreover, once it falls, Zhao will penetrate directly into the hinterland of Erhu from Guodi, which may affect the frontal offensive. Therefore, the general who attacks with sheep is purely a cannon fodder who takes the blame.
But he also knew that this was the punishment Ji Bo gave him. So Yi Tuli bowed his head and said, "My lord, I am willing to share the worries of the king!"
Ji Bo replied: "Okay! Commander-in-Chief, don't let me live up to my expectations of you."
...At this time, Tuli still didn't know that his good son was not killed in the battle, but was captured alive.
Ji Bo would not have thought that the Erhu Clan's plan to invade Zhao had been informed to the Zhao people by the "hard-nosed" Tourt.
They would never have thought that Zhao Yong was about to conquer Dai Di personally.
...In fact, as Ji Bo and others said just now, the Erhu's invasion of Zhao was not provoked by anyone, but just because of the greed of the Hu people.
…
…
Dai Di, on top of the stone fort on Gouzhu Mountain (Yanmen Pass).
Since capturing Tourte alive in Guodi, Lou Huan has been reorganizing the defensive line at the border of Daidi non-stop.
Now that he knew that Lin Hu and Lou Fan were fighting together, he naturally couldn't just focus on the Lou Fan front to the west. On the contrary, the Lin Hu people who had not moved yet worried him even more.
In order to prevent the two tribes from joining together, Lou Huan sent an additional 500 troops to each of the two forts outside the pass.
Outside Gouzhu Mountain, there are two military fortresses of Zhao State, both of which were snatched from the two tribes during the period of Zhao Suhou.
One is called Yundong Fortress (today's Huairen, Shanxi Province), and the other is called Wuzhou Fortress (today's Zuoyun, Shanxi Province). They are pure military fortresses built only for war. Therefore, the two fortresses are easy to defend but difficult to attack.
And the fortress happens to lie across the middle line of the three kingdoms of Loufan, Linhu and Daidi. It can be said that if the armies of Lin Hu and Lou Fan meet each other, they will definitely not be able to hide it from Zhao Ren's eyes.
Unless... Lou Xiu thought of this and immediately ordered his military guards to unfold the map he carried with him.
The wind was slightly stronger above the Great Wall, and as soon as the brocade and silk drawings were unfolded, they were blown loudly.
Lou Huan carefully scanned every pass arranged by Zhao Guo on the drawing, and suddenly, his eyes focused on one place with concern.
"General, are you worried that Lou Fanren will go around from the northern plateau and then from the Hetao area to Guping where Lin Hu is located?" Zhao Qing, the captain of Dai County next to him, asked doubtfully.
Lou Huan nodded.
Zhao Qingyi said: "I think it shouldn't be the case. According to the information provided by Hu Chief Turte, Lou Fanren should be attacking from the direction of Guodi."
Lou Huan did not answer him, Gu Zi shook his head.
Even if Lou Fanren takes a detour from the plateau, he can't do anything about it. Who makes Zhao Guo side in a passive state now. However, the current generation was in short supply of troops, and he did not dare to arbitrarily lay off the garrison troops in any place before he knew the movements of the Linhu people.
Fortunately, he had received the news that the king was about to personally conquer the country. Now, as soon as the Handan army arrived, Zhao could switch from defense to offense and take the initiative to launch an attack on the Hu people.
Now, his most important task is to strictly guard the borders of Dai Land before the king arrives, and not to lose any pass. The honor of his Lou family must not fall on him, Lou Huan.
"Report! Captain Wei Wen has an urgent military order to send to the general." Under the stone fort, a guard suddenly shouted.
