The Jagged Cavalry of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 454 Chapter 453 West Wind (20)

Unlike Ma Teng and Ma Chao's armies, which were victorious, Zhang Yan's army encountered a serious problem from the very beginning, that is, the desert.

Because Zhang Yan wrongly underestimated the vastness of the desert, Zhang Yan, Xu Chu, Tai Shici, Pang Tong and others were still wandering in the desert for several days.

The weather in July was already very hot, coupled with the fact that it was in a scalding, hot and water-scarce desert area, which further increased the ability of Zhang Yan's army to march.

Up to now, Zhang Yan's army has the opportunity to move forward at a speed of one hundred miles per day. Zhang Yan is almost fed up with this slow speed.

Moreover, the war horse lost its unique advantage in the desert area, which made them fall into this predicament now.

Therefore, Zhang Yan decided to rest during the day and march at night, but at night the sight is not good, and it is impossible to distinguish the direction.

But now, all the drinking water brought by the army has been drunk, the horses are sticking out their tongues, and the lips of the soldiers are all chapped and covered with skin. Even people and horses may die of thirst in this desert.

In the temporary tent, Zhang Yan was very anxious. If they hadn't replenished all the water in the water source area before entering the desert, they would have died of thirst by now.

Zhang Yan sent out many scouts to look for water sources in different directions.Because he firmly believed that there must be an oasis in the desert.

As for where Zhang Yan is currently living, although he has a map in his hand, he has already lost his way, so for the past few days, he has been walking in one direction, hoping to get out of this desert as quickly as possible.

In the evening, the scouts sent out finally came back one after another, but what they brought back was disappointing news, none of them saw the oasis.

But no matter what, Zhang Yan must not sit here and wait for death. He suddenly remembered the story of looking for plums to quench thirst, so he regrouped the army, and under the afterglow of the setting sun, he kept motivating the morale of the entire army. Inside and outside, there is a big oasis with a freshwater lake in it. As long as we persist to reach there, we can get out of this desert.

The soldiers all believed it was true, and everyone worked hard. In order to reach the oasis, in order not to die of thirst in this desert, they embarked on the journey again.

After the sun went down, the army was walking in the desert without the scorching sun, and the soldiers rode on their horses one after another and galloped forward.Together with the horses under their seats, they seemed to feel the power brought by the water source. They walked unswervingly in the desert at night, advancing towards the water source area at the fastest speed.

During the march, Pang Tong said to Zhang Yan in puzzlement: "His Royal Highness, the scouts obviously did not find the water source. Why do we lie to these soldiers that we have found the water source? What if they insist on walking for two hundred miles and still do not see the water source?" , wouldn’t they blame us for deceiving them? At that time, the morale of the army may be on the verge of collapse, I’m worried..."

"We have been walking in this direction for a long time in the past few days, and we have never seen the end. No matter how big the desert is, there will be an end. The location the scouts are investigating is only fifty miles away. I believe that if we really come back If you walk two hundred miles, you will definitely come across a source of water. And didn’t you see that the soldiers were very energetic when they heard that there was a source of water. Maybe they can walk 150 miles in one night tonight. If it’s not possible , I can only kill the horse and let the blood out, and drink the blood of the horse to quench my thirst." Zhang Yan said.

Pang Tong said: "However, what if we still haven't walked out of this desert after two hundred miles or so?"

Zhang Yan frowned, looked up at the night sky, and said, "If it really comes to that point, we can only resign ourselves to fate."

Pang Tong stopped asking, and secretly prayed to the sky in his heart. This expedition was his first, but he didn't want it to be the last. He prayed that the army could walk out of this desert and find the water source smoothly.

Xu Chu, Tai Shici and the others were all veteran generals in the army. They knew very well what Zhang Yan meant by doing this, but none of them knew what was going on psychologically. The vast desert.

However, as Zhang Yan predicted, the soldiers' expectations for the water source had already aroused their inner desires, and they marched at night, much faster than before.

Moreover, God seemed to be taking care of this team, and there was a constant cool wind blowing at night, which made the heat of the day disappear.

However, the only problem is that horses are not very good at walking in the desert. It is very difficult to walk with a deep foot and a shallow foot, and there are cavalry and some luggage on their backs. Not only are they walking at full speed, but they are also a little overwhelmed. .

In the middle of the night, the army had only traveled fifty miles, and only a quarter of the two hundred miles away, and three quarters of the distance was waiting for their challenge, but at this time, the horses had already I was so tired, and I didn't drink water during the day, there were about five or six hundred horses with weak physical strength, foaming at the mouth of the tired ones, and after a short time, they lay motionless on the ground , I was exhausted to death.

Zhang Yan then ordered the dead horse to be bled, and the soldiers came to drink the horse's blood one after another.Horse blood is relatively dry and hot, and not everyone can drink it, but in order to survive, the soldiers bit the bullet and drank it. The blood of more than 600 horses was all drained. People who drank horse blood , It's not easy, some can't adapt to the heat and become restless, and some vomit directly, but no matter how retched, nothing can be spit out of the mouth.

After a short rest, Zhang Yan let the army set off again. This time, in order to reduce the pressure on the horses, all the soldiers marched forward, putting heavy objects on the horses' backs.

After walking about [-] miles forward, the soldiers walking in the front suddenly found a bonfire surrounded by a circle of camels, about [-] or [-] of them, which looked a bit like a caravan.

So the soldiers reported the situation to Zhang Yan. Zhang Yan hurriedly led people to the caravan and asked the owner of the caravan where they were, how to get out of the desert, and where there was water.

The businessman told Zhang Yan that they had already reached the territory of Zhangye's vassal state, and then walked about [-] miles northwest to Juyanze, which was the only oasis in the desert, and there was another residence near Juyanze. Yancheng, but the people living in the city are not Han people, but Xianbei people.

Zhang Yan gained a lot from this important news, so he bid farewell to the businessman and headed towards Ju Yanze with the army.

The merchant saw that Zhang Yan and others were in difficulty on the march, so he took out a water bag for Zhang Yan to drink water.But he was rejected by Zhang Yan, and told the businessman that the desert in front of him was very vast and it was difficult to get out, so he suggested that the businessman go his own way instead.

The businessman said with a smile that he had gone back and forth on this road countless times and had never had any problems. Although the desert is large, there are no horse thieves or other thieves. His caravan is relatively safe, and all he brings are camels. He didn't drink water for several days, and he walked quickly in the desert. The water he brought was also very sufficient, enough for him to get out of the desert.

Reflecting the light of the fire, the businessman suddenly became interested in Zhang Yan's horse, and asked: "The general's horse is a bloody horse?"

Zhang Yan nodded, admiring the businessman's unique gaze, and asked how the businessman saw it.

The businessman said that he was from the Western Regions. Because he often traded on the Silk Road, he was proficient in Chinese and many other languages. He once passed by Dawan and saw Dawan's bloody BMW with his own eyes, so his memory is still fresh. .

The soldiers passed by near the bonfire, and Zhang Yan chatted with the businessman, and learned from the businessman that there was a civil strife in Dawan a few years ago. , so the powerful enemies all around want sweaty horses.

However, Dawan's hard-earned BMW production is small, and the powerful enemies of the Western Regions are not enough, so they often bully and squeeze Dawan.The people of Dawan Kingdom were overwhelmed, and the royal family of Dawan Kingdom liked sweaty horses very much, so the people rebelled one after another. The rebel army invaded the capital of Dawan and massacred sweaty BMWs.

The royal family sent troops to suppress it, but the rebel army defeated the royal family's army, rushed into the palace, and killed the royal family together.However, only the prince of the Dawan Kingdom escaped from the clutches of the rebels with a pony of the sweat-blooded horse. Since then, the Dawan Kingdom has never seen the sweat-blood horse again.

This news not only made Zhang Yan startled, because the white dragon horse under him was a purebred horse, and beside him was a groom named Ayub. Coincidentally, Ayub came from the Western Regions. Yes, he was holding the white dragon when he came here, and then wandered to Liaodong. Then Gongsundu, the prefect of Liaodong, gave this horse and Ayub to Zhang Yan, and it became Zhang Yan's mount.

If what the merchant said was true, and Zhang Yan contacted Ayub and the origin of the bloody BMW, it was not difficult to deduce that Ayub should be the prince of Dawan Kingdom.

Zhang Yan bid farewell to the businessman, stepped on the white dragon horse, and galloped quickly to the front of the army. Along the way, he kept looking at his groom Ayub. The little prince is average.

Zhang Yan never inquired about Ayub's true origin. He suddenly heard such explosive news, and he became very interested in Ayub. When he marched into the Western Regions, Ayub's identity was very useful to him.

But for now, Zhang Yan just pretended that nothing happened, and waited until he got out of the desert and severely injured the Xianbei people.

(End of this chapter)