Fenghou

Chapter 1178
The next day is New Year's Eve, which is a day for every family to have a New Year's Eve dinner and worship their ancestors. Chen Qing chose to come to Datong for inspection in December. One of the important purposes is to have a New Year's Eve dinner with the frontier soldiers. This is a tribute to the frontier soldiers This kind of attention is also to boost morale.

The army's New Year's Eve dinner is to light a bonfire, roast mutton and drink wine. Thirty thousand soldiers gathered in an open space of several hundred acres outside the city, lit hundreds of bonfires, slaughtered more than [-] sheep, opened thousands of jars of wine, and the soldiers gulped Eat meat, drink to your heart's content, and laugh.

Chen Qing and the generals sat together. In addition to Zhe Yanzhi and Yan Jun, local officials represented the prefect Yelu Qiyan, the judge Huang Zongyuan, the county magistrate Ding Kuang, etc., also participated in the bonfire night banquet.

Chen Qing guessed right. The generals came to toast one after another. Although each of them only had a sip, they couldn't stand the crowd. They drank more than [-] bowls of wine in just a moment. Before eating a piece of roast mutton, they got drunk , Personnel unknown, was sent back to the barracks tent in a carriage by the soldiers.

At four o'clock, Yao Mei returned to the barracks. She hurried back to the barracks after offering sacrifices to her ancestors. She was a little worried. His Highness had only been ill for a few days. He was prone to cold when he was drunk, so don't fall ill again.

The soldiers stood guard outside the tent, Yao Mei asked, "Is Your Highness drunk?"

The soldiers nodded slightly, and Yao Mei hurriedly entered the big tent, which was full of the smell of alcohol. When she entered the inner tent, she saw His Highness lying on a thick blanket, covered with a quilt, sleeping soundly, not even wearing shoes. None of them took off.

Yao Mei sighed, took off her shoes, put the quilt back on, touched His Highness's body again, her hands were cold, she took off her dress, put on only a thin underwear, got into the quilt and hugged Chen Qing.

Yao Mei said to herself, "Let me warm your body tonight! Don't get sick again."

On the second day of the first lunar month, the weather was fine, the sky was blue and cloudless.

The [-] cavalry were divided into two teams, each with two horses, carrying dry food and fodder for ten days, and dispatched troops to Daihai and Baishuibo respectively. In order to prevent accidents, Chen Qing organized another thousand carts full of food and grass. , also divided into two teams, as a logistical support.

The [-] troops were led by Yan Jun and Sun Liang respectively. This time, Chen Qing issued an order to exterminate all young and strong men except for the elderly, women and children. Although it is a bit cruel, this is war. If you can't live in harmony , then there is only elimination.

The [-] soldiers set off in two directions. In the distance was the vast snow world, and I saw a long black line moving on the snow, gradually going away.

Orihiko asked: "Your Highness, if the enemy's logistics supply tribe is wiped out this time, will it affect Kaichun's actions?"

Chen Qing pondered for a moment and said: "According to the information I got, the nomadic army may invade Hetao in the spring and establish a foundation in Hetao. I guess the original plan of these two logistics tribes is to migrate to the Hetao area after the spring. Elimination will definitely affect the opponent's plan, and it is very likely that the invasion plan in spring will be cancelled."

Orihiko was a little disappointed, "Your Highness, they won't come in spring?"

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "Maybe there will be no large-scale invasions, but there will still be small-scale harassment. The governor must always be vigilant and must not be careless."

"The humble job understands."

Chen Qing looked at the soldiers of the refugee militia who were training in the open space again, and said to Zheyan: "I originally wanted to move the people to Taiyuan in February, but considering the spring plowing, I decided that they would go south on the tenth day of the Lunar New Year. Ten thousand soldiers helped them go south along the way."

"Humble post obeys orders!"

Orihiko sighed and said: "Tens of thousands of people have left their hometowns and moved south, and the relatively prosperous frontier has become deserted again. The best way is for us to take the initiative to eliminate hidden dangers from the source. Does Your Highness have any plans for this? "

Chen Qing nodded, "I have this idea. The time may be next year. This year's task is to unify the south of the Yellow River. This is also an important reason why I came to Datong. I need to stabilize the border defense before I can fight in the Central Plains with all my strength."

"Please rest assured, Your Highness, Datong Mansion will be fine!"

Yan Jun led [-] cavalry on two horses and marched hard in the snow field. Just as Liu Dajiang judged, although the march was difficult, it was still possible to walk. The depth of the snow was only as deep as the horse's leg joints, not very deep.

Of course, you can’t gallop on horses, the marching speed is very slow, Daihai is located one hundred and fifty miles away, and the normal marching takes only one day, but now they have to walk for at least three days, mainly because the night is very cold, and the soldiers need to wrap thick blankets, and sleep huddled with the horses.

Daihai is called Ang'a Xiashui in the Liao Kingdom. It is a pasture with rich water and grass. A few years ago, several small Mughal tribes lived and grazed here. However, since the nomadic cavalry invaded the south last year, these small tribes have moved away one after another. Not only the property of the Han people was plundered, but the cattle and sheep of other small tribes would also be forcibly confiscated by the army.

The tribe beside Daihai belongs to the Tata tribe, with about [-] households and [-] sheep. They are indeed the logistics tribe of the Tata army. In the prefecture and Datong Prefecture, the logistics tribe provided more than [-] sheep.

At this time, it is ice and snow, and the lake is frozen. The herdsmen live in dome tents, and the sheep live in hundreds of large tents. Every day, the herdsmen have to feed the sheep with hay, water, and milk the sheep to make cheese, even though it is winter. , but still very busy.

This morning, a low-pitched horn sounded suddenly from a distance, and the herdsmen walked out of the dome tent one after another. They thought it was their own army marching south, but unexpectedly the army in the distance came from the south.

At this time, a herdsman cavalry came running wildly, shouting, "Run! It's the Western Army, the Western Army from Datong Mansion is here!"

The herdsmen were thrown into chaos. The man carried the child and his wife onto the horse, grabbed a piece of cheese, ignored the tent, and fled westward on the horse. Of course, they would not go far, which would be a dead end, but to the other side of the lake.

At this time, thousands of Western troops swept along the lake, and dozens of young herdsmen ran to stop them. They were shot and killed on the spot, and none of them survived.

The Song army broke into the tent living area, and many herdsmen were still packing up their belongings. It was too late to escape. The man shouted and rushed forward with a knife, but was immediately knocked over by the Western army and fell into a pool of blood.

Many women were also very tough, fighting desperately with the Western Army with spears, even though King Yong ordered not to kill women and children, but in this case, the Western Army still mercilessly executed them.

More than [-] families were dealt with in less than a quarter of an hour. Nearly a hundred young and strong men were killed, and more than [-] old people, women and children were captured, but many families escaped.

The Song army seized more than a thousand war horses and [-] sheep, and took away the large tent for raising the sheep. They also accidentally seized a lot of gold, but it was not cast gold, but natural gold, that is, dog head Gold, the herdsmen picked it up from nowhere, and it weighed more than three hundred catties in total.

"General, do you want to burn all the tents?" a general asked for instructions.

Yan Jun hesitated and said: "Burn the fodder tent, and don't care about the big living tent!"

Yan Jun was still relatively generous, he knew that if he didn't leave something behind, those herdsmen who fled would surely die.

Large tents filled with fodder were set on fire, and thick smoke billowed, which could be seen dozens of miles away.

Seeing that the originally clear sky had turned gloomy, Yan Jun was really worried, and immediately ordered: "Prepare to return!"

The Western Army did not spend the night by the lake. Adhering to the principle of a quick battle, they escorted the captives, sheep and horses back to Datong City that day.

It was faster to come back, mainly because the three thousand cavalry and six thousand war horses had stepped out of a snowy path, so they didn't have to walk in the snow, and even the sheep could follow them.

It took only two days, the next evening, the army saw Datong City,

At the same time, Sun Liang also wiped out the logistics tribes by Baishuibo, seized nearly [-] sheep, [-] horses, captured more than [-] old people, women and children, and executed hundreds of young and strong men.

Sun Liang's army is also returning to Datong City in mighty force.

The heavy snow in the first month came on the [-]th day of the first lunar month, and the wind was engulfing the snowballs, covering the sky and covering the earth. For two consecutive days, the sky and the earth were vast.

(End of this chapter)