Chapter 400: Early to Sleep and Less Sleep for the Alliance Chief Operations Officer
Eagle Captain Department!
There are 1,200 men and 300 brave warriors. The brave warriors are wearing full armor and even have specially made rattan face masks by Luo. Although there are few people, war has never been a simple game of numbers.
Li Shimin was able to lead 3,000 Black Armored Army in a surprise attack and capture two kings at Hulao Pass, and Li Jing was able to lead 3,000 elite cavalry to attack and destroy the Turks. As long as the right thing was done at the right time, any miracle was entirely possible in ancient wars.
Luo Wuji looked up at the sky, then at the boundless grassland. At the end of the grassland was the Yin Mountain, and at the foot of the Yin Mountain were forests and lakes. The climate there was warm, and it was one of the sacred mountains for the Huns, raising countless children born in winter.
The reason why the Xiongnu had such a large population at this time was that the warm and fertile Hetao and Yinshan Mountains nurtured countless Xiongnu people. If they lost these places, the infant mortality rate would probably increase greatly, and those children born in winter would all die in the cold wind from the far north.
This is probably another little-known fact, that is, the grassland is not all endless grass, but there will be forests and lakes. The higher the mountains and the more snow there are, the more lakes and rivers there are.
It's not just the grasslands on the Xiongnu side, it's even more obvious in the Western Regions because of the terrain such as the Tianshan Mountains.
The spirit soldiers could not speak and only obeyed orders, but the brave warrior certainly had to ask clearly. The father of the brave warrior who followed Luo Wuji to the grassland this time was also a brave warrior. He followed Luo Zhongkan to the grassland and gave birth to him after returning to Zhaocheng. "Sir, this grassland is endless. Where can we find the Huns?"
Luo Wuji looked around after hearing this, then raised the whip in his hand and pointed forward, saying loudly: "I think there will be Huns in that direction, go and capture some locals to act as guides."
My power of thinking has always been reliable, Luo Wuji believes in it without a doubt. Although the warriors feel that it is a little unreliable, it doesn't matter. Even if we go deep behind enemy lines, we will accompany you to fight to the end. What Luo Wuji said was to capture some locals as guides. This sounds quite reasonable. With locals as guides, wouldn't we know where the Huns are?
As for the Huns’ unwillingness?
This is a joke. The Huns had the most primitive slave system. In the Huns' tribes, the distinction between nobles, herdsmen and slaves was very obvious. The hatred of the lowest-level slaves towards the Huns' nobles was much deeper than that of the Han people who were far away.
No one could ask a slave who struggled on the brink of life and death every day and led a life worse than death to protect the whereabouts secrets of a Hun noble.
As long as Luo Wu Ji gave them one or two full meals, those Hun slaves or the poorest herdsmen would rush to provide information to Luo Wu Ji, and even bring their own dry food to fight against the Hun Chanyu and take revenge. This was the reality.
In fact, it was the same in the Han Dynasty. Why did the royal family protect small landlords? Why did Han law protect small landlords? Because these people were the main force to maintain the stability of the Han Dynasty's rule and the main force to join the army. If these people returned home after completing their service and found that their land had been annexed by powerful people and their families had been destroyed by powerful people, and the royal family still did not care, then could these people still serve the Han Dynasty as usual?
Of course not!
The Han Dynasty had done relatively well in this regard. With the system of moving tombs strictly in operation, no large-scale land annexation had occurred. But it was different for the Xiongnu. In addition to the royal court, the basic base of Qilian Chanyu was the kings of various tribes. He relied on the strength of the royal court, the Chanyu system and his personal prestige to rule the Xiongnu Empire. He was even worse than the Zhou Emperor of the Zhou Dynasty, as he had no control over the internal affairs of various tribes.
This resulted in the Xiongnu Empire being extremely powerful once it was united, but without the summons of the Xiongnu Golden Sword Order, it could be said to be a loose group, and its system was extremely loose. After all, it was impossible to graze millions of livestock in one pasture; they had to be scattered one by one.
Wei Qing wanted to attack the Xiongnu's system. This was information he obtained after ten years of war with the Xiongnu at the cost of many sacrifices.
Now Luo Wuji's decision to find people on the grassland just suits the situation of the Huns. The scene of 1,200 people and nearly 3,000 horses galloping together is quite terrifying, and the smoke and dust raised are even greater.
Luo Wuji sat on the galloping horse, feeling the wind on both sides constantly caressing his cheeks. The feeling of pleasure was simply unimaginable. He immediately fell in love with the feeling of galloping on the grassland.
The army was marching at full speed when suddenly someone on a horse loudly asked, "Sir, what should we do if the army can't find us and can't provide logistics?"
Luo Wuji laughed out loud, "Why do we need logistics after entering the grassland? Bring some dry food and water. When we find the Hu tribe, all the cattle and sheep on the grassland will be our food. We can eat wherever we find them!"
Luo Wuji was joking here, but he didn't know that Huo Qubing had just said the same thing. Both of them gave up and had no intention of exploring the area around the army. They directly took their troops to find the Huns' tribe to kill people.
However, the grassland was indeed extremely vast. Luo Wuji observed the wear and tear of the horses and gradually asked everyone to stop and restore their horsepower. "Check if the horses' hooves are injured. Be sure to check them. This is a life-threatening matter."
In the era before horseshoes were invented, the main damage to horses came from injured hooves. Basically, after a major battle, the horses would be scrapped. This was still acceptable for nomadic empires, but it was unacceptable for the Central Plains dynasties. After all, the cost of raising horses was too high, and they were basically disposable consumables. In real history, the reason why Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, spent so much money to fight the Huns was largely because the loss of horses was too great.
Once a horse's hoof is injured and it is carrying an armored knight, it is very likely to fall off the horse. When the horse is galloping at top speed, it is really dangerous.
"I feel like we're not far from the Huns."
Luo Wuji looked up at the sky, used his power of thinking again, pointed to the distance, and said, "That must be the tribe of the Xiongnu people. I hope to meet a big guy, preferably the King of Aries or the King of Loufan. It would be even better if I could meet the Xiongnu King of Riju or even the King of Zuoyouguli."
But this is just a dream. The Han army has not yet penetrated deeply into the desert, so it is basically impossible to encounter the Left and Right Wise Kings and the Left and Right Guli Kings.
After some rest, Luo Wuzhi started marching again. To him, there was no difference between day and night. The brave warriors were all warriors with rich nutrition. Naturally, they would not suffer from night blindness which most people of this era had. That was why only elite soldiers were involved in the night attack on the camp. Those ordinary auxiliary soldiers could not even see anything, so how could they possibly take on the responsibility of a night attack?
…
The Han army’s central camp.
"General, Captain Piaoyao and Captain Yingyang are nowhere to be found. They were running all the way without saying where they were going. We can't deliver the military supplies. What should we do?"
Wei Qing frowned upon hearing this. Luo Wuji was easy to say, as he had known this would happen. Why did Huo Qubing disappear? He had just promised not to run around. "Captain Piao Yao is missing? Do you know where he went?"
The captain who came to report was embarrassed when he heard this: "I only saw Captain Piao Yao leading his troops out of the camp and then heading west. No one knows where he went."
Upon hearing this, Wei Qing cursed, "What on earth does this bastard want to do?"
In fact, the goal of Huo Qubing and Luo Wuji was only to stay a few hundred miles away from the main army. The two men were very clear that if they left the main army too far and went deep into the heartland of the Huns, they would not be making achievements but seeking death.
"General, what should we do now?"
After thinking for a while, Wei Qing still believed that Huo Qubing knew the seriousness of the situation, and immediately said in a deep voice: "What can we do? Attack Longcheng as planned and attract the Xiongnu troops from the south of the desert."
Wei Qing was a qualified commander, and these unexpected situations could not affect his judgment of the situation. After ten years of war, the Huns suffered a lot of losses, and the tribes closest to the Great Wall had all moved away. Therefore, the Han army would not be discovered as soon as it entered the grassland like Zhou Yafu did in the past.
Besides, no one would have thought that Wei Qing would dare to go straight to the Xiongnu's holy land, Longcheng. He had no worries about the interruption of logistics and food supplies, mainly because Mo Nan was too close to the border of the Han Dynasty.
Under such circumstances, even if a large amount of manpower and material resources were mobilized and non-war losses were minimal, the Han Dynasty was so wealthy that the grain stored in the treasury was more than enough for a major war in the south of the desert.
The main force of the Han army advanced rapidly towards Longcheng, while the Huns were still completely unaware.
Huo Qubing was leading his elite cavalry on his first expedition in the wild in his life, thinking of giving his uncle and uncle-in-law a big gift and giving the Huns a little shock of their might.
Luo Wuzhi led the brave warriors to gallop across the grassland, relying on his ability to search for the main force of the Huns.
Perhaps it was the blessing of the Su King, the spiritual soldier who went to investigate really brought back news about the Xiongnu tribe. Although the spiritual soldier could not speak, the news could be transmitted directly to Luo Wuji's mind.
Luo Wuji raised the whip in his hand and said excitedly: "My men, the Xiongnu tribe is ahead. There are only a few thousand people. This is the merit given to us by the King of Su."
Unless it is a big kingdom like the Chanyu Royal Court or the Left and Right Wise Kings, Luo Wu Ji would not take a mere few thousand people seriously. Three hundred brave warriors would be enough.
The brave warriors did not expect to encounter the Huns' tribe so soon. A tribe of thousands of people was not small, and they were basically all at the household level.
A group of people jumped on their horses, and Luo Wuji shouted: "Everyone, half-armored, don't worry about the formation, and move forward at full speed. When you are three miles away, put on full armor, change horses and charge again. We must win the first battle!"
“Yes!”
The sound echoed across the grassland, and the war and killing really began!
(End of this chapter)
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