Hebule looked down on Baibuhua, that little brat.

He has no chance of sending troops. He is currently holed up in the Beihai area. In any case, the Song emperor will not attack him first. Even if the two sides eventually go to war, they will first wipe out the Naiman and Kereit tribes.

He didn't believe that the Song Dynasty emperor would conquer the northern border.

Venturing deep into the grasslands was an extremely dangerous undertaking. Even if the Song emperor didn't know this, the Song generals certainly weren't fools.

Although Baibuqa only had a few hundred thousand men, he had been around Inanchi since childhood and naturally knew that Khabul had not sent any troops at all.

He said, “Da Shi cannot be trusted. You are the king of the grasslands. Do not lose the trust that the various tribes of the grasslands have placed in you because of short-term gains or losses.”

Khabul said, "Therefore, I, the Khan, have sent 60,000 troops south to help you."

"Great Khan, don't you understand? This time it's a life-or-death crisis for the grasslands, just like the blows the Tang Dynasty dealt to them back then!"

"Hey kid, what exactly do you want? You wanted soldiers, and I gave you soldiers. Now you come here and lecture me with a bunch of high-sounding principles. What's the meaning of this? Do you think it's fun to mess with me?"

"Khabul Khan, I have no intention of playing you for a fool. However, the southern border is in imminent danger. If you truly wish to protect the grasslands, you must send troops immediately!"

"Alright, alright, I'll add another 30,000. You go back and wait for news!"

Bai Buhua was furious, but dared not retaliate.

"Thank you for your help, Great Khan."

Bai Buhua left and immediately returned to the south.

"Just as Father Khan predicted, Khabul was unwilling to send troops."

Yi Nanchihan sighed and said, "My grasslands are in danger!"

"Father, the dog emperor has already penetrated deep into the grasslands. I will now lead 100,000 troops and rush towards the Longyou Protectorate to join forces with the Qing Tang tribe and catch him off guard. Once the dog emperor hears the news, he will be hesitant to act rashly. You can then engage him on the grasslands. Once the Longyou Protectorate is captured, the dog emperor's army will be demoralized. I will then quickly return from the Longyou Protectorate and launch a pincer attack to catch him off guard."

"This is the only way."

"Khuzhahus must be getting restless now. That old bastard still has 150,000 troops at home. Now that the dog emperor is wreaking havoc on the grasslands, he will definitely be more willing to cooperate with us."

Bai Buhua continued, "Father Khan, the grasslands are our territory, and we are more familiar with them. Therefore, we should not engage the Song army in direct conflict, but continue to maneuver."

"Alright, I understand. Go and quickly conquer the Longyou Protectorate!"

"yes!"

Bai Buhua didn't delay any longer. That night, a large number of cavalry began to assemble and, under his leadership, quietly moved south.

Bai Buhua skillfully evaded Wu Jie's army and rushed across the grassland in a great hurry.

About two days later, in the territory of Shazhou.

As far as the eye can see, there is an endless expanse of yellow sand, a golden Gobi Desert, and the blazing sun hanging in the sky.

In the golden Gobi Desert, there is an oasis, and that is Guazhou.

During the Tang Dynasty, this place was called Dunhuang.

This place was once an important trading town on the Silk Road, where the civilizations of the Western Regions and China merged.

Yue Fei has been here for some time now, and he has been very low-key.

Numerous spies were constantly gathering information and intelligence in the surrounding area.

Finally, this afternoon, a scout reported that a cavalry force was approaching the abandoned Yumen Pass from the north at a very fast speed.

They were cavalrymen from the Naiman tribe.

Upon receiving this news, Yue Fei was somewhat surprised, not expecting that the Naiman tribe would actually employ the tactic of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao" in this battle.

"Wang Gui, go to the Protectorate of Longyou immediately and send a message to Commander Qian, telling him to make full preparations!"

"yes!"

Yang Zaixing asked, "So what do we do next?"

Yue Fei said, "Let them run for a while longer. We'll set off tonight, follow behind them, and make sure they don't spot us!"

Yue Fei then said, "Zhang Xian, you take 10,000 men and go to Yumen Pass to guard it. Make sure they don't run back to the grasslands!"

"yes!"

"Yang Zaixing, you and I will lead the main force into the Longyou Protectorate. We are going to fight a tough battle there!"

"yes!"

Yue Fei said resolutely, "Since they dare to come, we naturally cannot let them go back. Otherwise, everyone will think that our Great Song is easy to bully!"

Zhe Keqiu set off from Heishan and wandered the grasslands for more than half a month. The thing he did most often was to rob cattle and sheep on the grasslands and then roast and eat them.

He had killed people before, but he wasn't as ruthless as Zhao Huan.

Because of his gluttony, he was the last to arrive at the Naiman royal court.

After Wu Jie set off from Guazhou, he marched north, and the Lanyue Army was full of vigor. Some tribes on the grassland fled as soon as they heard that Wu Jie was coming.

Therefore, Wu Jie was the first to arrive at the Naiman royal court.

But when he arrived at the royal court, it had already been moved.

So Wu Jie set up camp there.

First, as agreed, we await His Majesty the Emperor and Zhe Keqiu's arrival to lead our troops.

Secondly, he had to wait for the supply train, which he had thrown a bit too far.

Two days later, the emperor appeared here with 130,000 cavalry, and he met Wu Jie.

"His Majesty!"

"Minister Wu, is it difficult to find red?"

"Your Majesty, please forgive me, but this place was already empty when I arrived."

Zhao Huan pondered, "It seems that Yi Nan Chi is going to play a war of attrition with us."

"Your Majesty, the vast grasslands are not conducive to a protracted war if Yi Nan Chi Zhen insists on fighting it out. This will be disadvantageous for our army."

"Then what should we do?"

"Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, we should arrest everyone we encounter and enslave them. This will not provide us with enough manpower and supplies for our troops."

Wu Jie's move can be considered a partial dismantling of the enemy's supply lines.

It means that we've done a great job on the grasslands, and we can't just stop doing nothing because the enemy has escaped.

On the contrary, there is still a lot of work to be done.

It would be a very good thing to enslave all the people of those Mongol tribes and make them do hard labor.

Wu Jie explained his idea, but Zhao Huan rejected it.

There are already few job opportunities in the Song Dynasty, so slaves cannot be used indiscriminately, as this would disrupt the existing economic system of the capital.

Zhao Huan was unwilling to accept this. He had personally led the expedition to the grasslands. If the emperor were to personally lead the expedition, it would be a waste of such a large-scale undertaking if he didn't destroy a country or something.

If he wants to force Yi Nan Chi Han out, he should start by killing the small tribes on the grasslands.

After slaughtering a small tribe, he would leave a few people behind and send them to deliver the message.

The message stated that as long as Yi Nanchi did not leave, the Song army would not withdraw.

Two days later, Zhe Keqiu also arrived at the royal court, and the three armies joined forces there.

Zhao Huan, after hearing Zhe Keqiu's plea for peace, said to Wu Jie, "Start the killing!"

So, what followed was this scene on the grasslands: every tribe that encountered the Song army was razed to the ground, leaving only a few people behind, who were responsible for spreading the word.