Most of the dividing lines of territory are based on the naturally formed mountains, rivers and rivers, ranging from the national lines of the Sui Dynasty and Goguryeo, Khitan, Xi, Turks, and Western Regions, to rural boundaries. This is the case in the central part of the Great Lakes Region.

And the southern border is no exception.

To the west of the intersection between the central and southern parts of the Great Lakes region is the Gobi Altai Mountains. This is a branch of Jinshan Mountain, like an arm extending from Jinshan Mountain. It extends for hundreds of miles from northwest to southeast, and ends at the crossflow of the Zhaer River.

In one section, the mountains are covered with lush forests. The Yudujin Mountains to the east of the junction are in the shape of a "(", so this grassland is squeezed into a narrow area.

Due to the crossing and collapse of many rivers, the Gobi Altai Mountains have formed dozens of passes of various sizes. These passes have become natural passages for pedestrians. Among them, Altai, Han Shoujiang City, and Bayan in the east of the mountain range

Bu, Zara is the most famous.

Among the many cities and passes that stretch across the grassland, the most worthy of mention is undoubtedly the Han Shoujiang City located east of Altai and west of Bayanbu: This seemingly inconspicuous rammed earth city is a glorious city with a long history.

The City of Triumph was built by the Han Dynasty to accept the surrender of the Xiongnu Captain Zuo. After the city was built, Captain Zuo and his subordinates came here to beg for surrender. This also made it one of the many familiar surrender cities.

The only surrender city built to accept the enemy's surrender was the farthest surrender city from the Central Plains.

Up to now, the walls of the city where the Han surrendered have long been incomplete, but among the herdsmen tribes within hundreds of miles, there are still some myths and stories related to the Han army; and the glorious deeds of the Han army have been told by the herdsmen for generations.

According to legend, it has long been deified.

The remnants of Murong Bei's troops were heading towards Han Shoujiang City. This area had high mountains and steep slopes, and was dotted with Gobi deserts. The four cities were all easy to defend and difficult to attack. After some thought, he seized Han Shoujiang City, which was located to the north of the grassland, and built it for A.

Shnatli set up a large army to enter the central Great Lakes region to provide convenience. Although he also knew that Altai, Bayanbu, and Zara in the south were equally important, his troops were seriously insufficient and he did not dare to divide his troops to occupy them, so he could only watch.

A small group of Sui troops occupied them one by one.

Murong Bei experienced a series of failures and was deeply hit. In just a few days, he became haggard and haggard. He was sitting in the hall of the city lord's palace in Han Shou surrender, thinking silently. When he thought of the bleak situation,

When looking at the prospect, I couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

In total, it has been less than two months since Yang Ji's Northern Expedition, but during this period of time, he was like riding a "roller coaster". Before Yang Ji's Northern Expedition, he dominated the Great Lakes region and was not weak in strength.

With Xue Yantuo, Qi Bige was stunned. He was only one step away from unifying the Great Lakes region. However, this short-lived glory did not bring him any benefits. Just because he had disobeyed the Sui Dynasty and paid allegiance to the Eastern Turks.

Yang Ji's crusade and revenge.

In just over a month after that, he was beaten back to his original shape by Yang Ji. Murong Bei was too lazy to care about or think about his family members and relatives who had fallen into the hands of the Sui army, but his ability here

The number of soldiers in the battle was less than four thousand, and their morale was sluggish and their morale was disorganized. The lack of food and the capture of their families made the soldiers full of pessimism and despair.

Murong Bei's ambition to dominate the Great Lakes area is dead. Now he just wants to keep this army intact as much as possible on the premise of guarding the surrendered city of the Han Dynasty, because he knows that as an outsider going to the East Turks, if there is no one

It is impossible for soldiers and horses to gain a good foothold.

"Great Khan!" Murong Sheng entered the hall with a serious expression, saluted Murong Bei, and said nervously: "According to the report from the scouts: more than 20,000 elite cavalry led by Li Jing have appeared two hundred miles away; he obviously

It was because he was worried that Altai, Bayanbu, and Zara would fall, so he did not rest yesterday but marched all night."

"What?" When Murong Bei heard the news that Li Jing's army was approaching, he felt very nervous. He jumped up from the bench and asked anxiously: "Is the news credible?"

"Very credible!" Murong Sheng replied with certainty, and suggested to Murong Bei: "Great Khan, the morale of our army is in turmoil, food is coming, and there are no reinforcements from outside. If we continue to defend, we will definitely be defeated. I

I think the best way out is to abandon the city and go south before Li Jing’s army arrives.”

Murong Sheng knew that Altai, Han Shou surrender city, Bayanbu, and Zala were arranged in a "human" shape, and Han Shou surrender city was located at the top of the "human" character; after the other three cities were occupied by a small group of Sui troops, they

They were surrounded in Han Shoujiang City. If Li Jing's army came from the north again, they would be unable to fly.

What's more important is that the military rations are only enough for the army for one day. Their best way out is to concentrate all their troops and go south, and then capture Altai in the southwest. In this way, they can not only escape from the encirclement, but also supply the army with Altai food.

Otherwise, they would be doomed before Ashina Lifushu's army arrives.

But Murong Bei's idea was different from Murong Sheng's. Although there were not many Sui soldiers in Altai, Bayanbu, and Zara, he could indeed abandon the city and flee south. But if he couldn't even defend a key strategic location

, what face will he have to meet Qimin Khan in the future? How will he gain a foothold in the Eastern Turks? Therefore, for the sake of future glory and wealth, he must not retreat, he must defend here until Ashina Qilifu sets up a large army.

But in this case, he must divide his troops to occupy Altai, and then feed the army with Altai's food, while also leaving an escape route for himself.

Murong Bei thought for a while and asked: "How many Sui soldiers are there in Altai?"

"About 1,500 people." The army had been resting here for a day and a half. Murong Sheng knew the surrounding situation very well. After listening to Murong Bei's question, he immediately gave a more accurate answer.

"Fifteen hundred people?" Murong Bei pondered. This place is about forty or fifty miles away from Altai City in the southwest. A round trip is less than a hundred miles away. However, Li Jing's main army is three hundred miles away.

, that is to say, they still have time to capture Altai.

Thinking of this, Murong Bei asked again: "By the way, how far away is the army of Ashina Chirifushe from here?"

Murong Shengxu replied: "The 30,000 elite soldiers led by Zhi Shihao are already three hundred miles away in the south, and they are almost the same as Li Jing."

Murong Bei's eyes lit up and he quickly ordered: "Let someone hurry him up. And explain to him the importance of Han Shou's surrender. As long as he understands the strategic value of Han Shou's surrender, he will definitely speed up the march."

After hearing this, Murong Sheng knew that Murong Bei was determined to defend the city from the Han Dynasty, but in order to get an accurate answer, he couldn't help but ask: "Great Khan, have you decided to defend the city from the Han Dynasty?"

"Exactly!" Murong Bei nodded and said to his cousin: "To the north of this city is the Gobi Desert, which is unfavorable for fighting. No matter how many troops Li Jing has, they will not be able to spread out in the north city. We can definitely defend the Turkic army. Moreover.

Judging from the distance between Li Jing and Zhi Shihao and the march speed, we only need to fight hard for half a day at most. As long as we hold on to the end, it will be a great achievement; if we cannot hold on, we will be useless after we arrive in East Turkestan.

"

Murong Sheng was silent for a while, and then said with some embarrassment: "Although the Great Khan's idea is good, we only have enough food for one day. What should we do after eating?"

"So I decided to give you two thousand soldiers. You must capture Altai in the shortest time, and then transport the food in the city here, and at the same time let the herdsmen come to help us defend the city." Murong Bei looked at Murong Sheng and said solemnly.

: "We, Murong Xianbei, have fought until now, and there are only more than 3,600 people left in the city. Our fate, and whether we can rise again, now all depends on you."

"I understand!" Murong Sheng gritted his teeth and made a serious promise to Murong Bei: "Please don't worry, Khan, I will definitely capture Altai City."

Murong Bei looked at the dim sky and said, "Go and prepare. You will go on the expedition early tomorrow morning."

"Yes!" Murong Sheng exited the hall and ordered two thousand elite cavalry to prepare for the expedition.

........

The river originates from Jinshan in the west and is the most important irrigation river for Hanshoujiang City and Altai. The southeast of the river is endless pastures and fields. Between Hanshoujiangcheng and Altai, there are more than 40 small tribes of different sizes.

Some of the thousands of families fled to the two cities before the Sui army arrived here. In the past two days, the Sui army's forwards seized the time to mobilize the remaining herdsmen and let them move to Altai City.

In the early morning of the next day, a large group of herdsmen supporting the elderly and young appeared in the white fog. They drove their cattle, sheep and horses towards the Altai City in the south. Among the dense crowds and livestock, there were also trucks loaded with grain.

Carriage, as time goes by, more and more people join this southbound team.

Next to the long southward migration team was a convoy of thousands of Sui army cavalry. They had received news of Murong Sheng's southward movement last night. At this time, they were urging the herdsmen to speed up while watching every move around them vigilantly.

The leader of this Sui army was Xue Ju. He and Achi were ordered by Li Jing to go south with three thousand elite troops each. The two rushed here and quickly captured Altai, Bayanbu, and Zala, which were close to the Turkic army.

Three hundred soldiers were left in the surrendered city to appease the herdsmen.

But what they never dreamed of was that Murong Bei, who had suffered a thousand cuts, would have left the battlefield early in the morning, but because he was hiding in Tibet, he ended up behind them. When Murong Bei arrived, they were unable to rescue him.

In the end, Han Shou surrendered and the city fell into the hands of Murong Bei. However, compared with the massive and approaching Turkic army, Murong Bei's remnant army seemed insignificant.

While Xue Ju and A Chi asked Li Jing to send elite troops to annihilate the bastard Murong Bei, they took the time to do two things based on the fact that the Turks were not good at attacking cities: first, they mobilized herdsmen to repair the walls of the three cities and build fortifications;

The second was to adopt the tactic of fortifying the walls and clearing the fields, moving all the surrounding herdsmen into the city, forcing the Turkic troops who had plundered nothing to attack the city.

As long as they have a "strong" city to contain the main force of the Turkic army, the Sui army can allocate sufficient troops to do other things.

Xue Ju considered that Bayanbu and Zala, where Achi was in charge, were far away from the surrender city of the Han Dynasty, but closer to the Turkic army, and the tasks were more arduous, so he assigned half of his troops to Achi, who was in charge of Zala City, while he took the

The other half of the troops were stationed in Altai and were tasked with monitoring Murong Bei.

As for the "immigrants" in front of them, it was also the largest group migrating south in recent days. In order to prevent Murong Bei from attacking, a thousand fine cavalry were used to protect them. Although they were only more than thirty miles away from Altai City at this time

, but the southward migrating team was dragged down by the slow flock of sheep and moved very slowly.

Looking at the team that was as slow as a snail, a team member said to Xue Ju anxiously: "General, at this rate, it will take us at least a day to reach Altai City. We might as well let the herdsmen abandon their flocks."

"No!" Although Xue Ju was also anxious, he still rejected the team leader's suggestion and explained: "These sheep will be the food for us and the herdsmen to defend the city, and we must not give up."

"The general also knows what the general said. It's just that the speed is too slow." The captain smiled bitterly and said: "They dragged us here, which directly affected the construction of Altai city defense. If we abandon the sheep, we will at least have more

It takes half a day to repair the city defense,"

Xue Ju nodded in agreement. He looked carefully and found that these herdsmen seemed to be worried about losing their livestock, so the whole team showed that each tribe occupied a section of the road, and each tribe's team showed the appearance of cattle and horses.

In the front, the sheep are in the middle, and the motorcade is in the back. In addition, there are many women on horseback driving the animals forward. He ordered to the team: "Take people to find each leader and ask them to divide the team into three

Part: Let the women drive the cattle and horses forward first, and a group of young and strong men, old and young, with the grain cart in the middle. As soon as they get to the city, the women and this group of young men will go to build the city defense. The remaining group of young men will drive behind.

Flock.”

"The general also has a way!" After thinking about it for a moment, Li Zheng realized the beauty of this method. Women are not as strong as men. Once the grain truck sinks into the ground, they have to disassemble the goods, which wastes a lot of time; so

Xue Ju asked them to drive the fast cattle and horses ahead, and when they arrived in the city, they could carry wood and stones. But the men and the convoy were different. If a car sank into the ground, they could work together to pull it out and continue moving forward.

There is not much time to waste. As for the men responsible for herding sheep, they can also help the Sui army in the battle.

"Go!" Xue Ju said.

"Follow your orders!" The team was rushing towards the team with its own soldiers, and separately went to lobby the chiefs of each department.

Each chief asked the team to stop and walked separately according to Xue Ju's method. Soon after, the front team and the middle team left, and they soon left the "sheep team" far behind.

Just when Xue Ju breathed a sigh of relief, there was a rumble of horse hooves from the north, and a group of scouts rushed over. The leader Huo Chang shouted from a distance: "General Xue!"

Xue Ju turned the horse's head and asked in a deep voice: "What's the matter?"

Huo Chang came closer and whispered: "General Xue, Murong Bei's army has been discovered in the north!"

Although Xue Ju knew that the enemy army was coming, he was still surprised by how quickly the enemy army came. He quickly asked: "How many people are here, and how far away are they from here?"

The fire chief said quickly: "There are about two thousand cavalry, and they are about ten miles away from here."
To be continued...