Just when Xu Youchang led his three thousand pioneer battalion soldiers to wander around the Ghost Desert of Western Xinjiang, looking for his good brother Li Jiangyao, Li Jiangyao was setting off from Metasequoia City to Daban where enemy troops gathered.
Lin Feng and Du Jian wanted to go with him before, but they were forced by Li Jiangyao to stay and guard the Metasequoia. At the moment, Metasequoia City is a valuable base that cannot be lost. Only with the two of them firmly guarding this place, can Li Jiangyao go out to explore the enemy's situation with peace of mind. With no choice, Lin Feng and Du Jian had no choice but to follow the captain's order and stay temporarily.
However, out of concern for Li Jiangyao's safety, they still risked being scolded by the captain and carefully selected 500 soldiers from the troops on hand to accompany him.
And half of these people are from the Pegasus Scout Battalion.
The elite scouts have been following Captain Li Jiangyao for a long time, and they are impeccable in terms of loyalty and combat effectiveness.
The other half of the troops were selected from the ranks of the Metasequoia garrison.
They are all natives of Metasequoia and have clean family backgrounds. After successive battles, especially after witnessing Li Jiangyao leading his troops and horses to the company camp, everyone regarded him as a god. Everyone feels extremely honored to be able to serve as his personal soldier this time.
Li Jiangyao had not planned to set off with so many people. After all, this time he was going to reconnoiter the enemy's situation, not fight. It was really inconvenient for a team of 500 people to move. But Lin Feng firmly stated: Either let these elites follow, or seal the city gate, and no one can go to Daban City.
Facing this handsome but tough-tempered subordinate, Li Jiangyao felt helpless. He had no choice but to set off with the largest scout cavalry team in the history of the Zhenjiang Protectorate.
The soldiers are elite soldiers and the generals are good generals.
Whether they were Pegasus scouts or local soldiers who had been trained by Lin Feng, the entire team showed a high degree of combat literacy. They followed Li Jiangyao all the way, sneaking and moving as fast as the wind. It took only a few days to arrive secretly. After arriving in Chechi, the heavy town reached Dabancheng.
When they arrived at the place, Li Jiangyao first selected a secluded mountain and forest area to allow the troops to establish their positions, and at the same time sent out warning posts in all directions. Then the seven most skilled Pegasus scouts and three local soldiers formed a reconnaissance team and followed Li Jiangyao to spy on the enemy.
However, they never expected that their careful operation was actually completely unnecessary.
The reason is simple. The enemy's army has already left Daban.
According to local people, starting from noon four days ago, various legions gathered in Dabancheng began to move north one after another.
First, the Turkic Iron Pigeon Army and the Ghost Alliance Horse Bandits opened the way, and then came the 80,000 Shule Army that had just arrived. Waiting until the early morning of the next day, the 100,000 Loulan Army also set off on the road.
The size of the enemy's army was astonishing, with swords and guns like a forest, and flags covering the sun. The troops marching on the road could stretch for dozens of miles, and even from a high place you couldn't see the end of the enemy at a glance.
After hearing the news, Li Jiangyao couldn't help but frown. He thought about it for a while based on the map in his hand, and roughly figured out the enemy's direction. He immediately decided to lead five hundred cavalry and take a shortcut to chase the enemy.
These actions of the other party obviously indicate a larger plot. He must collect more valuable intelligence as soon as possible so that he can promptly notify the senior officials of the Protectorate or nearby friendly forces to assist them in counterinsurgency operations.
-
Xu Youchang's pioneer battalion marched westward for two or three days. They saw that the food borrowed in the past few days was about to run out, and everyone was faced with the crisis of running out of food.
At this time of year, the ghost desert in Western Xinjiang is so cold that not even a small animal can be seen. Even if you want to hunt, you can't satisfy your hunger.
With the rise of rebels in various places, more and more countries and towns in Western Xinjiang have gradually fallen into a state of disorder. People escaping from the war have either sneaked into the ghost desert to hide, or moved to Liangzhou to save their lives, no matter where they go. , almost all ten rooms are empty.
Xu Youchang and his men were already exhausted, and they didn't know where to go next.
As they were walking aimlessly, a scream for help suddenly came from not far in front of the team.
Although everyone was exhausted, the Xuanjia Army was the top elite of Shengtang after all. When they heard something strange, the soldiers reacted immediately. The leading soldiers responsible for exploring the path immediately took up their positions and were on full alert without waiting for the general's order. At the same time, two small teams rushed out from the left and right to implement a pincer outflank.
When they got closer, they saw clearly that it was a group of fleeing people who unfortunately encountered horse bandits.
Those thieves were obviously not regular troops of the rebels, but stragglers with unknown origins. At this time, they were planning to take advantage of the rare opportunity of the chaos in Western Xinjiang to come out to kill people and steal goods. Now they suddenly saw a large number of Shengtang officers and soldiers appearing here. How could they have the courage to draw their swords against them? They immediately abandoned the refugees in front of them and fled in a hurry.
Xu Youchang ordered his men not to chase the bandits but to seize the time to treat the injured.
What surprised him was that among these refugees who had narrowly escaped death, he actually saw an acquaintance.
A person who makes Xu You think about him day and night and keep him awake at night.
Anya!
Or to be precise, it is Hesijia, Princess Yingyang of the Turkic Empire!
Xu Youchang looked at his beloved girl in disbelief, and Hesijia also looked in disbelief at General Xu, who had an unshaven beard and a vicissitudes of life on his face.
The two of them exclaimed in unison: "Why are you here?!"
It turned out that the last time Shen Lie and his Nilin Division exchanged hostages with the Turkic Kunli Mingtai at Zijin Pass, Hesijia, as the princess's maid, was left in the woods not far from the exchange place.
At that time, Shen Lie did not know the true background of Hesijia, but because Yinas was overly concerned about the safety of his little maid, which aroused Shen Lie's doubts, so as a back-up, he temporarily separated the two girls.
Later, the two sides discovered the misunderstanding about the fake princess and started fighting on the spot. Shen Lie chased Lao Jianhua and disappeared all the way, while the Nilin Flying Cavalry devoted all its efforts to deal with the Turkic Blood Guard, trying to snatch Yinas back. No one cared to pay attention to the little maid anymore.
Taking this opportunity, the resourceful Hesijia broke away from the rope and escaped from the woods.
Since she couldn't ride a horse, she had to rely on two legs to escape on foot. In addition, it was difficult to see clearly at night. The little girl stumbled and did not know which direction she was going. She just ran wildly and entered the territory of Yarkand in a daze.
Two days later, Hesijia, who was hungry and tired, finally couldn't support her body anymore and passed out on the roadside. She was rescued by kind-hearted villagers.
She did not dare to reveal her identity, so she had to lie and claim to be the daughter of a Turkic businessman. She was robbed by horse bandits and separated from her family. The villagers saw that she was pitiful, so they took her in temporarily, thinking that after a while they would meet the Turks who came here to do business, and then let Hesijia go back with them to find her family.
Later, the rebels in Western Xinjiang launched a large-scale rebellion.
The Kingdom of Shache was swept away by the Shule army, and the villagers fled one after another. Hesijia could only move with everyone, but unexpectedly she encountered horse bandits halfway. Fortunately, Xu Youchang's pioneer battalion passed by here, otherwise this disaster would have been difficult to escape.
Xu Youchang had already learned Hesijia's true identity from Shen Lie at this time, so he bluntly told the other party his tragic experience, and at the same time asked Hesijia if the situation was really what Shen Lie said.
Hesijia had no idea that the general Xu in front of her would be so unlucky that he was almost tricked to death by his boss, and she never expected that her situation would already be under the control of the other party. Now that the matter was over, Hesijia had no intention of hiding anything anymore, so she told Xu Youchang the whole story frankly.
After hearing this, Xu Youchang sighed softly: Princess, we are both from the end of the world. It seems that God has destined us to come together. It is all fate.
Hesijia's pretty face turned red and she rolled her eyes at him: General, you are really greedy and lustful. What about fate? Let’s save our lives first.
Xu Youchang nodded helplessly and asked where the Yarkand refugees planned to flee. The fellow villager leading the team replied that they were going to Metasequoia City. It is said that that city is still in the hands of the Shengtang Town Protectorate, and many people nearby have taken refuge there.
After hearing this, Xu Youchang immediately became energetic and quickly ordered the team to bring the refugees and quickly move towards the Metasequoia.
The whole team traveled day and night for seven or eight days. At the last moment when they were hungry and about to collapse, they finally saw the city they had longed for.
Due to the sudden appearance of a large number of unidentified cavalry troops outside the city, the entire Metasequoia City immediately entered a state of alert.
The alarm bells were ringing on the top of the city, as if they were facing a formidable enemy.
In order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, Xu Youchang quickly ordered to blow the unique liaison horn of the Shengtang army to identify himself to the defenders.
After a while, a group of soldiers and horses galloped out of the city, and in a blink of an eye they rushed to the vanguard camp of the Xuanjia Army.
Xu Youchang took a closer look and saw that the leader of that team of soldiers and horses was none other than Du Jian, a junior from the Pegasus Scout Battalion of the Zhenjiang Protectorate. At first, Lao Du had a fight with the Xuanjia Army because of the robbery of the spoils. In the end, Xu Youchang intervened to calm it down, so Xu Youchang knew that the other party was Li Jiangyao's subordinate.
"General Xu?! Why are you here?"
Xu Youchang almost hugged Du Jian and kissed him twice, and said tremblingly: "Are you that... that... what are you doing?"
"The humble position is Du Jian, have you forgotten?"
"Yes, yes, Du Jian," Xu Youchang burst into tears with excitement and said incoherently: "You are Li Jiangyao's subordinate, I love you to death!"
Du Jian looked slightly embarrassed: "Don't do it, General Xu. It's not good to have a humble position."
Xu Youchang ignored him and asked anxiously: "Where is your master? Is this place under his control?"
"Yes, my lord is the highest military commander of Metasequoia." Du Jian explained: "But your lord is not in the city now. He went to investigate the enemy's situation."
Xu Youchang nodded happily: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. I'll just wait for him slowly. Let's talk about it first in the city. Lao Du, you don't know, I'm starving these days!"
Du Jian hesitated for a moment and did not rush to move. He just stretched out his big hand in front of Xu Youchang: "General Xu, please show me your military orders, military symbols and marching orders!"
-
In the city guard's mansion of Metasequoia City, Lin Feng and Du Jian were having a heated argument, while Ma Mu and Situ Wushou were sitting on the sidelines, watching helplessly.
Xu Youchang's troops did not have military orders or marching orders. Du Jian did not dare to let them into the city immediately, but ran back to discuss with Lin Feng.
According to his original intention, can he let the Xuanjia Army enter the city and settle down first? Everything will be discussed after Li Jiangyao comes back.
But Lin Feng firmly disagreed with this idea.
Western Xinjiang is now in a special period, and the situation in the entire Ghost Desert is extremely complicated. It is too dangerous to allow an army of unknown origin to enter the city at this time.
What's more, this is not in line with Shengtang's military system.
"How can it be said that the origin is unknown? That General Xu is the sworn brother of our captain. If you do this, be careful that the master comes back to look good on you!" Du Jian said angrily.
Lin Feng snorted coldly and said tit for tat: "I'm not afraid! If you want to punish me, then let him punish you."
Ma Mu quickly smoothed things over: "I said you two should calm down and stop arguing for now. It doesn't matter whether you punish or not. What matters is how to arrange it in the most appropriate way. To be honest, the three thousand armored troops have been left hanging there. It’s not a big deal.”
Situ Wushou smiled: "Brother Lin, Brother Du, this matter is not difficult to say. No matter what, General Xu is one of our own. How about this? Just let him bring his soldiers into the city. Rest, the rest of the large group of people will stay outside the city for the time being, and we will seize the time to provide them with some food and grass. Look at the appearance of those people, they are so hungry that they are about to eat people!"
