Smelting and Exploding the Heavens

Chapter 232 The Beginning of the Expedition
He Lubu took the order and left, and the generals began to arrange troops after listening to the order.

Although a large number of grassland herdsmen joined, the main backbone is still the original Xiaojie army, and the herdsmen do not belong to the same group, and there is no bond between them, so the formation is very smooth.

Everyone here knows how to ride a horse, even the former infantrymen know how to wield a saber to fight on horseback, so Fan Zhuoyuan is all cavalry.

Seven thousand soldiers, one man and two horses, if the horses are not enough, they will be replaced by pack horses, just to carry weapons and equipment, dry food and water.

He Lubu, Chang Fu, Gu Huaizhen, Zhang Jin, and Wu Yu each unified a thousand riders, while Fu Yan was still a military judge, adjudicating law enforcement and military exploits, commanding a thousand riders, and Fan Zhuoyuan led a thousand riders himself.

The newly joined counselor Xiao Zhonggong followed Fan Zhuoyuan's central army. Since he had no military knowledge, he was in charge of the army's supplies, various paperwork, and subsequent distribution of spoils.

There are hundreds of people from the Yingui sect joining, all of them are martial arts masters, they act as stragglers in the army and cooperate with the scouts to fight together.

After five days of preparations, Fan Zhuoyuan led the crowd to set off early in the morning, headed for the northeast!

Seven thousand Han cavalry galloped into the depths of the grassland. According to the marching rules of the cavalry of the Song Army, they usually rode for ten miles, then dismounted and walked for ten miles.

I only walk fifty or sixty miles in a day. This is to ensure that the horses have the ability to make a surprise attack when encountering an enemy suddenly.

But Fan Zhuoyuan now has two horses per person, so he didn't use the marching method of the Song army. Naturally, he rode all the way, changing horses every fifty miles, and marching a hundred miles a day.

This is not very laborious on the vast grassland. From here to Huangshui Canyon, the distance is [-] miles, and it only takes five days to march.

Apart from the grasslands along the way, there is a large desert, which is really boring.

But it is just good for marching and training, honing the formation and various cavalry tactics.

Occasionally, you will encounter the Zubu and Shiwei tribes all over the grasslands. These two grassland peoples gradually became the Mongols as time went on.

However, they are still relatively weak in this era. When Fan Zhuoyuan's troops are so powerful, none of them dare to go forward and provoke them casually.

Fan Zhuoyuan would not take the initiative to attack either, and there were many Shiwei and Bubu people in his army, so Fan Zhuoyuan asked them to go forward and persuade this group of grassland peoples to join him and go to the Kingdom of Jin to rob.

These tribes just smiled at the envoys, and after entertaining them with kumiss, they were unwilling to join.

Fan Zhuoyuan didn't take it seriously at the beginning, and he could exchange a lot of cattle, sheep and even war horses with them with only some rough pig iron and tea leaves.

These tribes were also willing to trade with Fan Zhuoyuan Xiao Jiejun. After a few days, Fan Zhuoyuan discovered that a large group of nomadic tribes followed behind his tail.

At this point, he became vigilant and ordered the entire army to slow down the marching speed, save horsepower for emergencies, and make everyone ready to fight at any time.

The grassland has always been a place where the weak prey on the strong. In the eyes of the nomadic tribes, a group of outsiders like myself are like sheep that have entered the wolf's den.

After they had seen the equipment and supplies of the Xiao Jie Army, they naturally felt malicious in their hearts.

The more nomadic tribes gather, the greater the possibility of fighting. The critical point is when the other party feels that they can overwhelm their own side with their numerical advantage, and the war will come!
Fan Zhuoyuan maintained a loose outer and inner tight posture. At the same time, the envoy kept communicating with them, pretending to be very friendly and willing to trade.

He himself even went to meet with the leaders of various ministries, and once again invited them to jointly attack the Kingdom of Jin, but was still rejected by these leaders.

Later, he repeatedly arranged for Xiao Zhonggong to go to persuade him, but he was still refused with laughter.

Now that it's over, there's nothing more to say.

Tomorrow, if you march another day, you will see Huangshui, and along Huangshui to the east, there will be a canyon that is more than a hundred miles long.

Fan Zhuoyuan didn't have the patience to continue entangled with this group of nomadic tribes.

That night, Fan Zhuoyuan ordered the whole army to camp formally, and called the generals, gave them some instructions, and then sharpened their knives in the tent.

Feiyue suddenly broke into Fan Zhuoyuan's tent, she was still barefoot and slender, as beautiful as an elf.

"Do you know that there are more than [-] Zubers and Shiweis gathered behind us, which is extremely rare on the grasslands."

Fan Zhuoyuan polished the tip of the dragon-slaying knife with gravel, and he wanted to grind out a reverse edge.

"The scouts have been trained well, and I am very aware of the movements around them."

"Then I see you don't seem nervous at all!"

"There are too few people, and killing is not fun. We need to gather a lot, and killing can be deterrent, and more tribes are willing to cooperate with us."

Feiyue opened her eyes wide and said, "These days you've been pretending to show those nomadic tribes?
You sold so much tea, coarse salt and ironware, just to confuse them, thinking that you are here for business? "

"I never lied to them, and I personally invited them to go to the Kingdom of Jin to rob together. Unfortunately, they don't believe it. What time is it?"

"It's about time!"

"Well, you can still sleep for two hours, Yinshi remembers."

Feiyue returned to her tent suspiciously, and meditated until Yinshi, when she suddenly heard footsteps outside the tent, she went out and subconsciously glanced at the sky.

The grassland is very vast, and the sky and the earth meet. It seems that the galaxy is spreading from the end of the horizon. It is so magnificent and bright that it almost makes people wonder if they can reach the origin of the galaxy if they keep running towards the horizon.

The bright starry sky shines on the earth, even if there is no torch, it will not affect people's vision.

At this time, there were many people outside, and the soldiers in each military tent got up in a hurry under the urging of the military law team.

The various ministries are moving in an orderly manner, seemingly hectic but extremely organized.

Feiyue wanted to find Fan Zhuoyuan, but happened to run into Fu Yan who was supervising the army to maintain order.

"Mr. Fu, are you gathering troops?"

Fu Yan said with a smile: "Yinshi is the time when people are most sleepy and vigilant. Our scouts have knocked down the nomadic scouts scattered around before that, and now they are gathering to give them a surprise attack. "

Feiyue looked at the soldiers coming and going. They had rested most of the night, and their mental state was not bad. They rubbed their faces with cold water to restore their spirits, checked their weapons and equipment, pulled up their horses, and tore air-dried meat in their hands to accumulate energy. I will feed some beans to the horses that are about to charge.

Most of them have very good military qualities, but they just obeyed orders and acted silently, and they didn't whisper to each other.

Not long after, seven thousand soldiers and horses were ready for battle.

Fan Zhuoyuan came to the front on horseback, and at some point, the suzerain of the Yingui sect also came to him and walked side by side with him.

Fan Zhuoyuan said: "Sect Master Yun, pick a weapon. Fighting in battle is not like fighting in the rivers and lakes. If possible, it is best to wear armor."

Yun Long shook her head slightly, "No need, commanding operations is your business, I'm only responsible for your safety."

Fan Zhuoyuan didn't take it seriously, he really met a strong enemy, the sky was full of arrows, it was uncertain who would protect who.

He rode his horse and passed in front of the cavalry formation of all the troops, came to a corner, held up the Dragon Slaying Saber, and pointed at the nomadic tribes camped in and out.

There was no shouting, only the soldiers trotted silently on horseback, until they approached the enemy camp, and then three horns sounded!

Immediately, the swords and guns were raised horizontally, the torches were unfurled, and thousands of horses galloped forward!
The earth seemed to be shaking, rumbling, beating the hearts of the sleeping nomadic herdsmen.

They couldn't help being startled, and of course Yeqi and the sleepy scouts found Xiao Jiejun first. Although they called the police, it was already too late!

Seven thousand fine riders were on a rampage, killing anyone they saw, and setting fire everywhere.

The camps of the various tribes were destroyed in an instant, and a few people mounted their horses and did not dare to resist. They fled after riding their horses, full of panic and panic.

Occasionally, some warriors intend to counterattack, launch guerrilla riding and shooting, and want to kite to win the victory.

But many Khitans in Xiaojie's army are good at riding and archery, dozens of horsemen rushed up immediately, and dozens of arrows arrived, no matter how strong the grassland warriors were, they had to be shot with arrows all over their bodies.

Fan Zhuoyuan commanded the ministries with a vibrating voice in the front. After crushing the largest nomadic tribe in the center, he ordered [-] cavalry to disperse into seven teams, each scattered to charge the smaller nomadic tribes around.

Attacked in the dark, although these grassland peoples are large in number, they cannot organize to resist effectively.

They were not a regular army at all, and they were divided into multiple nomadic tribes, who were disobedient to each other's orders, and the most powerful and prestigious Khan of the Bubu tribe was captured alive by Fan Zhuoyuan in the first wave of attacks.

Now it is even more difficult to concentrate their strength, and they are completely caught in a one-sided massacre.

Yunlong and Feiyue followed Fan Zhuoyuan, and they didn't experience any of the brutal fights they imagined. They basically accompanied the charge, and ended up getting close if they got close. It felt like an outing.

Sometimes the kills are so slippery that they don't even dispute their identity, and Fan Zhuoyuan is so tired that he has to stop him repeatedly.

After all, some bosses are quite useful and cannot be killed casually.

The attack continued until dawn, and half of the more than [-] nomadic tribes following Xiao Jie's army collapsed.

Another seven or eight thousand surrendered on the spot and were driven to the center, including the chiefs of various ministries, and the entire army could be regarded as annihilated.

However, the Xiaojie army has reaped a lot, looting tens of thousands of cattle and sheep, and tens of thousands of horses, including coarse salt, tea, pig iron and other materials traded with them during this period, and basically returned to their hands, and their own losses negligible.

The nomadic tribes of this era were once suppressed and beaten by the Khitans on the grasslands, and most of them were guarded by the Khitans, and they were divided for a long time. Not to mention their combat effectiveness, they even lacked decent bows and arrows. The arrows they used were made of wolf teeth and bones.

Only a few chiefs and warriors could use iron weapons, and many herdsmen could only fight with sharpened wooden sticks or stone axes. It was really the age of bones.

Fan Zhuoyuan moved a horse and sat on the grass, kneeling in front of dozens of prominent leaders from various ministries.

The translator in the army stood aside showing off his power. Most of them were once exterminated tribes on the grassland. Seeing these majestic figures kneeling in front of him at this moment, he felt a sense of elation.

The tribal khan captured by Fan Zhuoyuan was called Hurza Qilie, who was originally a descendant of one of the eight Khans of the Beidoubu Kelie tribe.

At this time, he shouted in horror: "This Han general, we followed your army just to do business, why did this happen?"

After the translation, Fan Zhuoyuan rubbed his chin and said, "This is your fault."

The captives were confused. Although they gathered together, they were afraid of the military appearance of the Xiaojie army. Before they could show hostility, they were beaten up by the Xiaojie army and wiped out. Now they still say that they are wrong?

"General Han! Why are we wrong?!"

Fan Zhuoyuan said with a blank face: "We Han people have a saying that there are no more than three things. I have invited you three times to cooperate with me and go to Liaodong to rob gold people, but you have rejected me three times!

I am already very sincere, but you all disregard my sincerity and are unwilling to reason with me, so I can only use sabers and blood to let you understand that what I say is for your own good! "

Even the translation of this sentence is extremely weird. Is this trying to reason with others?Is there such a reason?
Yunlong Feiyue and other members of the Yingui Sect also heard it extremely strange, obviously you were the one who acted first, but instead accused the other party of not wanting to listen to your reasoning?
Only Xiao Zhonggong smiled with his beard, feeling that this general has grasped the essence of the grassland.

There is never any reason here, the only reason is whose knife is sharper!
The captives were stunned when they heard this. The chief of the Kelei tribe knew the principles of the grassland well. He was a little stunned for a moment and then he understood Fan Zhuoyuan's meaning. Let's go to Liaodong together to punish those golden men! I hope the general will give us another chance."

Fan Zhuoyuan was very happy. He didn't expect the reasoning to be so easy. He stood up and said, "Yes, I would like to give you another chance. You stay by my side first, lead your troops to follow us, and then send envoys to your respective tribes to summon more people." There are a lot of people coming. Don't worry, with us leading the team, the main force of the Jin people has gone to Handi again, and I will definitely lead everyone to grab a lot of money!"

The matter ended so easily, Yunlong and Feiyue watched the group of diviners and Shiwei happily go back to summon the young and strong of their respective tribes among the captives.

They have no interest in taking a second look at the thousands of dead bodies still lying on the nearby grass.

The Xiaojie army also sent people to look for particularly powerful warriors among the prisoners of war, and selected them to break up and add them to the Xiaojie army as formal soldiers. In the future, they would teach them Chinese and gradually assimilate them into their own people.

Of course the chiefs have opinions on this, but their opinions are not important, as long as the Xiaojie army does not dislike it, and the selected warriors do not dislike it, no one will care what the chiefs think.

It took a whole morning to complete the reorganization of various departments. After counting the troops, they reported the numbers to Fan Zhuoyuan's side, and then continued to set off after lunch at noon, as if the battle that happened in the early morning did not exist at all.

Even Fan Zhuoyuan gave each of these leaders a pair of paper armor and a set of swords made of fine iron, and they were happy and grateful.

Feiyue has been in Middle-earth for a long time, so she has no experience in such things.

She felt that their Demon Sect was perverse enough to act against Chang Lun, but what she saw on the grassland now clearly far exceeded her understanding of the Three Views.

She galloped to Fan Zhuoyuan's side, walked side by side with him, and couldn't help asking: "Aren't you afraid that these tribes on the grassland will retaliate against you and give you a cold hand?"

(End of this chapter)