The Yellow River flows from the Qiang land and winds its way north around the edge of Longxi County in the Qin State. On both sides of the river, it nurtures patches of lush grassland.
A black-armored army of tens of thousands of people was stationed on a wide grassland east of the river.
There were camps all over the place, and cavalry were sent out from time to time to patrol and guard along the line of the Yellow River.
"unlucky!"
General Pi Qiang You cursed and walked out of the camp. The summer sun fell on his head, burning Qiang You's face brown.
"What a general, what a partial force to block the way back, and the main force to defeat Helan. I think Zhao Tuo is specifically targeting me, Qiang Yu!"
General Qiangxu was very irritated and turned his head to look in the direction of the Helan Grassland to the north, his eyes somewhat resentful.
He had the desire to kill the enemy with meritorious service and be promoted to an official. He was a military commander in the Qin court who strongly advocated external expansion.
Although he and Zhao Tuo had some disagreements, when Zhao Tuo proposed that the emperor attack the Hu people in the northwest, Qiang Xu still supported him with both hands, and was successfully appointed as the commander-in-chief of the partial division.
Qiang Yu was very excited, thinking that Zhao Tuo's next battle arrangement would be for the three armies to advance together. Three hundred thousand Qin troops surrounded the Yueshi in the Helan Mountains, drove out all the barbarians, and took all of Henan, so that Qiang Hu could also make a contribution in this war.
After a while of gearing up, Qiang Yu found that the situation was different from what he thought.
After the official war, Zhao Tuo put aside his superior troops and instead tried to show weakness to the enemy and lure the Yuezhi people to take the initiative to attack the main force of the Qin army.
For the sake of the An Yuezhi people, the order they received from the two partial armies was to hold their troops still in the early stage, so that the Yuezhi people thought that the main force of the Qin army was alone and they could go and confront the main force of the Qin army with confidence.
Then came the news that the main force of the Qin army defeated the Yuezhi coalition and captured two Xihou on the spot.
While Qiang Yu admired Zhao Tuo's fighting skills, he was also very dissatisfied.
Because the order given to him by Zhao Tuo was to have Qiang Fu station his troops on the important crossing road on both sides of the Yellow River.
One mission is to guard against Yuezhi reinforcements coming from Hexi.
There is also the Yuezhi Royal Court and two tribes of Yuezhi in Hexi. After receiving the news that the Qin army is attacking Henan, there is no guarantee that they will not come east to rescue their compatriots.
Zhao Tuo asked Qiang Yu to prevent the rescue of the Yuezhi people in Hexi while also blocking the passage for the Yuezhi people in Henan to escape to Hexi, and try to capture and kill these defeated Yuezhi troops who were defeated by the main force of the Qin army, so as to prepare for the Qin army's future capture. Reduce resistance in Hexi.
These two tasks sounded very important, but in fact they were things that were difficult to get credit for, which made Qiang Xu very annoyed.
Zhao Tuo defeated the Yuezhi coalition forces and captured two Xihou. He also planned to raid the Helan Grassland. It can be said that the Qin army basically won this war.
The battle was all fought by the main force, and there was no need for their side troops to take part in the battle. How could General Qiang make meritorious deeds?
After the master returns this time, can he, Qiang Yu, be promoted to a noble title?
A war horse galloped over in the distance, and behind it was a young man.
"Uncle, the cavalry we sent to Hexi to investigate came back and found no movement of the Yuezhi army. The captured Yuezhi herdsmen said that the Yuezhi King was still stationed in the pasture hundreds of miles away and did not report to him. Intention of rescue in Henan."
Qiang Ren got off his horse and reported to Qiang Hu.
He was Qiang Yu's nephew. He was about in his early twenties. He was cared for and promoted by Qiang Yu. He served in the Qin army and was trained by Qiang Yu as his successor.
Of course, what Qiang Yu originally planned to train was not Qiang Ren, but another descendant named Qiang Dagger.
It's a pity that when Qiang Dagger was in Wei, he happened to be Zhao Tuo's subordinate, and he was killed by Zhao Tuo during his army training. This made Qiang Dagger sulky for a long time.
Therefore, when he re-trained his descendants, he did not dare to let them out again, but kept them with him to avoid being used to establish authority again.
At this moment, after hearing Qiang Ren's report, Qiang Yu's face turned black and yellow.
"knew."
Their partial division has missed the decisive battle of the main force. If they still want to make a contribution in the Qin army's capture of Henan, they can only hope that the Yuezhi King in the west of Hexi will bring troops to support him, so that Qiang Yu can just block the key point. You can have a battle with the Yuezhi and have a chance to make meritorious deeds.
However, King Yuezhi didn't know if he had horse urine in his head. He sat back and watched his own people being attacked by the Qin army without any intention of coming to help. This made Qiang Yu very depressed.
If the Yuezhi people in Hexi did not come to the rescue, then Qiang Yu would lose the last hope of making great achievements, and he would feel depressed.
As for the task of intercepting the Yuezhi's defeated army, Qiang Yu didn't take it seriously.
Two of the three Xihous of the Yuezhi in Henan were captured alive by Zhao Tuo.
There is also a Jihou who is currently leading the army in the Helan Grassland. His tribe's grazing land is further north, so it is impossible to run to him.
In Qiang Yu's view, this interception task was boring.
He directly handed it over to his subordinates. After all, he couldn't catch Jihou. No matter how many other ordinary Yuezhi people caught, they wouldn't be able to make him achieve great achievements, so why bother.
"It's better to drink!"
"Come on, have a few drinks with me before we talk!"
Qiang Yu snorted, grabbed Qian Ren's hand, and pulled him into the tent.
Before entering the account, Qiang Yu took another look at the direction of Helan in the north, feeling very unhappy.
"When those Confucian scholars said that people with the same surname should not marry, I spoke for you Zhao Tuo. I didn't expect that they would bully me like this now."
"Zhao Tuo Shuzi, you just won't let me make meritorious deeds!"
…
On the side of a small river south of the Helan Grassland, nearly Qianyue clan cavalry were resting here, letting their horses drink water and eating separately.
Sujatha stood by the river, with green grass under her feet. The breeze blew across her cheeks, and a few strands of hair fluttered in the wind, adding a touch of softness to her three-dimensional facial features.
Her eyes were looking in Helan's direction.
There were footsteps behind me.
"Thanks to your lady, we have hope of escaping back to Hexi."
Xiumi Xihou came over.
He had already gotten over the guilt of abandoning his tribe and escaping alone. He only wanted to escape from the encirclement of the Qin army as soon as possible and return to Hexi, which belonged to their Yuezhi.
Xiumi Xihou looked at the woman in front of him with some obsession.
If Sujiasha hadn't persuaded him to flee south and take a detour to the south while the Qin army's cavalry was attacking Helan, he would have been blocked by the main force of the Qin army after he went north to join the Xiumi tribe.
In the end, they became prey together and were hunted by the Qin people, without even a glimmer of hope of survival.
Now that he thought about it carefully, he admired Sugatha's wisdom very much and even felt dependent on her.
Marquis Xiumi is not an independent person, so he hopes to find a wise and independent wife.
"After returning to Hexi, I want to marry her."
Xiumi Xihou thought to himself.
However, the first words Sujatha said after turning around surprised him.
"Do you think that after the Qin people seize this land, they will continue to cross the river, march westward, and wipe out the entire Yuezhi."
Sugatha's eyes were a little red and her face looked a little tired.
Marquis Xiumi was startled by her words, swallowed his saliva, and said, "Probably not. The Qin army is a farming people, and the food they eat needs to be transported from distant places in the fortress. This time the Qin people attacked Helan, it's a thousand miles of transportation along the way. If they want to cross the river again to attack our Yuezhi, how can their logistics support us?"
"And it should be enough for the Qin people to capture such a large grassland, whether it is for grazing or for other uses. The Qin people's ambitions should not be so big that they want to capture even Hexi, right?"
When Xumi Xihou said this, he seemed to be comforting himself.
"It is not easy to destroy our Yuezhi. This time we just fell into the Qin people's scheme and were defeated. Now we have the equipment of the Qin people to fight on horses. As long as we can bring it back, our warriors of the Yuezhi It will definitely become stronger. On the west side of the river, there are still Wang Ting and two Yueshi, and we still have nearly a hundred thousand troops!"
Looking at the appearance of Marquis Xiumi, Sugasha nodded slightly.
What Xumi Xihou said made sense, but there was still a hint of disappointment in Sugatha's eyes.
At the same time, she seemed to have made up her mind.
She said: "The general of the Qin State is very cunning. In addition to the main force, they also have two partial divisions that were not sent to the battlefield. I estimate that the Qin Army's partial division in the south should have occupied it. If you want to go back smoothly, Marquis Xi must be careful."
"Perhaps you can give your red robe and golden crown to your subordinates to wear, and let them lure away the Qin soldiers and horses, so that you can have a chance to escape back."
Marquis Xumi nodded, but he immediately realized the hidden meaning in Sujiasha's words.
"My lady, won't you come back to Yuezhi with us?"
Half an hour later, a team of a hundred people separated, turned around and headed north.
Sugatha sat on the war horse and looked firmly into the distance.
This is her gamble.
