The high and cool autumn is the season of harvest in the year and the most pleasant season for the northern grasslands. In the past, the herders were busy fattening the livestock so that the livestock could survive the cold winter. At the same time, people were also preparing food for the winter. In addition to the output on the grassland, they often traded to exchange grain from the Han people for storage. These are essential things for winter.

However, this year's northern grasslands did not have the pleasure of autumn, but became murderous. A group of Song cavalry ran wildly from the grasslands. In front of them, a tribe of Dangxiang people was fleeing desperately. In order to escape, they had to throw down cattle, sheep, carriages, etc. from the tribe, hoping that the Song cavalry could stop and pick up these spoils, so as to win their chances of escape.

During this period, the Song army has been sweeping the grassland. Generally speaking, if they encounter the Song army with average military discipline, they will definitely stop and pick up the spoils. After all, the Dangxiang people are not easy to kill now. If they really reach a desperate situation, the Dangxiang people can also cause certain casualties to the Song army. However, if they encounter the elite Song army, they only have one goal in their eyes, that is, killing people.

It is obvious that the Dangxiang tribe was not lucky. They encountered the elite cavalry of the Song army. This team of about 500 cavalry didn't even look at the surrounding spoils. When they even encountered cattle and sheep blocking the road, they simply chopped and killed them. Although the Dangxiang people also rode horses, there were too many old and weak women in the tribe and they couldn't escape at all, so they were soon caught up by this murderous cavalry.

"No one left!" The young general in charge immediately roared, took the lead in cutting off the head of an old Dangxiang man, and then rushed into the Dangxiang man with one horse. He slashed and slashed. Seeing his leader's magical power, everyone was fighting for the first time, like a group of hungry wolves slaying into the flock of sheep, with rolling heads and splashing blood everywhere.

The Dangxiang people also forced their ambition to die in this desperate situation. An old Dangxiang leader roared and summoned all the warable people in the tribe to turn and kill the Song army. However, the tribe was not large in number, and the men, women, young and old were only a thousand people, but only two or three hundred people were fighting. Facing the Song army armed to the teeth, their counterattack seemed so powerless. In just about an hour, the tribe of about a thousand people was killed.

"Sweep the battlefield!" The young general led by the army glanced at the killing field coldly, and then gave another order. He saw that his body was covered in blood, almost dyeing the entire armor red, and these blood were almost all enemies. After all, the armor on his body was not vegetarian. The armor of the Song army has always been known for its excellence, and it is difficult for ordinary Dangxiang people to break the armor.

With the order of the young general, the Song cavalry immediately started to work. All the valuable things that could be taken away were looted, most of which were found from dead people, and war horses were also concentrated. All the cattle, sheep and other livestock that were inconvenient to take away were cut and killed, which was cheaper than the wild wolves on the grassland.

The young general also jumped off his horse at this time, and there was a small river next to it. He came to the riverside to take off his helmet, and then washed his blood-stained hands and face. If Li Zhang were here, he would definitely recognize that this young general was Cao Qi, one of the martial arts graduates, and that one of the legendary Eight Immortals. However, Cao Qi only has murderous aura on his body, but there is no immortal aura at all.

After washing his hands and faces, Cao Qi immediately took out a bag from the horse. The dry food was actually the roasted jerky. I don’t know if it was beef or mutton, and of course it might be horse meat. After all, since they defeated Dangxiang, there has been no shortage of meat in the army, and the dry food has changed from cakes to jerky. They have also changed from seeing cattle and sheep that they were afraid of life, and they have become killing them if they can’t take them away. After all, if these cattle and sheep are kept, they may be cheaper than other Dangxiang people.

After chewing a few bites of dried meat and drinking a few sips of water from the kettle, Cao Qi felt much more comfortable. Today, in order to chase the tribe, they ran almost hundreds of miles, and finally the horses were almost at their limit before they caught up. Fortunately, they seized many war horses, so there was no need to worry about lacking horsepower.

Cao Qi had made military achievements when attacking Xingzhou City before. He has now been promoted to commander of the battalion, and he is also an elite cavalry battalion with a total of 500 people. This also made him become a middle-level general in the army, and the chief general is also qualified to express his views when discussing matters.

It is precisely because of his high position that Cao Qi was more clear about the court's plans. For example, he knew that the reason why the court kept sending troops to harass Dangxiang people was actually a trick to exhaust the enemy. Dangxiang people could not be out of business, and the Song army had no concerns in this regard. Therefore, as long as the weather conditions allow, they could send troops in any season, such as the Spring and Autumn Period, which was the season for the Dangxiang people to produce. The successive dispatch of troops in the Song Dynasty had greatly damaged the Dangxiang people's vitality. It is said that Li Yuanhao was preparing to ask for help from the Liao Kingdom.

However, the situation in the Liao Kingdom was not very good. Since the Empress Dowager Xiao took power, the Liao Kingdom has become a mess, and even the generals of the army have been cut off by her. Then, she used her family slaves to act as generals in the army. For a time, the people of the Liao Kingdom actually fought to be the slaves of the Empress Dowager Xiao, which is a great wonder.

Of course, with Cao Qi's position, he could not have access to the news about the Liao Kingdom, but who asked him that his surname was Cao, Cao Ma was his cousin, and the Cao family was the most prominent family among the generals, so he could also find out a lot of important news.

"Retreat!" At this moment, the Song army had already cleaned the battlefield. Cao Qi immediately turned over and then shouted and led his subordinates to roar away. The remaining corpses were naturally cleaners on the grassland, that is, grassland wolf, to clean them. Generally, it only takes a few days for these corpses to turn into a pile of bones, and this year, the wolf disaster may break out again.

After Zhao Zhen led his troops to capture Xingzhou City last year, this year he attacked Baima City, which is close to the Weifu Army Division of Heishan, which is also an important town in Dangxiang. However, Li Yuanhao did not seem to intend to fight the Song army to the death here, and there were not many troops stationed, so the Song army easily captured Baima City.

So Zhao Zhen moved a large number of cavalry to Baima City, and from time to time ordered the cavalry in the city to kill the grassland and sweep the Dangxiang people on the grassland. If they can kill people, they will kill people, and if they cannot kill people, they will steal things. Anyway, they will weaken the Dangxiang people's strength as much as possible. In this year, although the 20,000 main forces in Li Yuanhao's hands did not suffer much, the affiliated tribes suffered. Without these tribes, no one would provide Li Yuanhao with food and horses, which greatly weakened Li Yuanhao's strength.

Cao Qi's cavalry set out from Baima City, but he did not lead his troops back to the city because they were too far away from Baima Road and it was impossible to rush back before dark. But it didn't matter. They often stationed on the grassland and had no fixed camps. Sometimes they even killed all the tribe and lived directly in the tribe's camp.

The order Cao Qi received was to sweep back and forth along several exact routes, and these routes were also the places where Dangxiang people were most concentrated. However, the closer they were to the Heishan Army, the more dangerous it was. Because Li Yuanhao also knew the plans of the Song Dynasty, he also sent cavalry to intercept the Song army and achieved some results. For example, a cavalry encountered the interception of the Dangxiang army some time ago, and the entire army was wiped out.

With the previous lesson, Cao Qi did not dare to be careless. He led his subordinates to try his best to rush towards Baima City, because the tribe they were chasing was already very close to the Black Mountain Military Division, and the closer they were to Baima City, the safer they were. After all, Baima City did not only send their cavalry, but also several battalions were released to move freely.

It was not until dark that Cao Qi finally came to a hill three hundred miles away from Baima City. He had camped here before. Although it was still a bit far away from three hundred miles, Dangxiang people generally would not come here, so after coming to this hill, Cao Qi and his soldiers were relieved.

Now Cao Qi came to the location where he had camped before. This was a valley with hills surrounding it, so that the wind on the grassland could not be blown in. Although it was only autumn now, the cold wind at night could make people feel cold, so it was still necessary to choose a place to shelter from the wind.

Without Cao Qi's instructions, the soldiers under his command immediately started to work. A team of soldiers found some marks on the ground familiarly, and then dragged out a few large boxes from several holes, which contained tents and other items. Because these things were too bulky and inconvenient for cavalry to carry, they stored these things here, and there were several other storage places. The cavalrymen knew that they could use them.

The tent was set up and the fire rose. The cattle and sheep I brought back were peeled and washed, then cut into large pieces and threw them into a large pot for cooking. There was not so much in the army, and there was no spice to remove the fishy smell in the pot. After it was cooked, it was taken out, then brushed in a salt bowl and then ate it directly. Finally, I drank a bowl of thick broth, and all the fatigue seemed to have disappeared throughout the day.

Other soldiers quickly lay in the tent and fell asleep after dinner, but Cao Qi recorded today's war under the lamp. Not only did he record the merits of the soldiers today, but he also recorded the casualties. Dozens of soldiers were killed in battle today, their bodies were also taken back, and some were injured, so tomorrow he would also go back to Baima City to arrange the casualties.

He was busy until midnight, and Cao Qi would lie down to rest. He habitually put the quiver under his head. This was a habit he had developed when he was a scout, because he could hear the sound of horses running in the distance when the horses were running, and thus warned in advance.

Cao Qi was also exhausted. He snored as soon as he lay down. However, just as he was sleeping, he was suddenly awakened. Then a subordinate rushed in and reported loudly: "General, a large number of cavalry are coming here five miles away from the north!"
Chapter completed!