Hanhou

Zhao Jia was so anxious that he rode fast all the way, with his horse's belly sticking to the ground, and when he arrived at the county town, he had already thrown a large part of the flying cavalry away.

During the autumn harvest season, most of the border residents are busy in the fields, but the number of Hu merchants entering and leaving the city has not decreased, and there is still a long queue in front of the city gate.

The gatekeepers lined up in two teams to strictly check the passing business travelers.After the caravan going out of the fortress lost contact with Yun Zhongqi, the prefect's mansion issued two consecutive orders, and the inspection of entering and leaving the county became more stringent.

Zhao Jiace rode up to the front of the team and took out the wooden official seal.After checking by the army, it was confirmed that it was correct, and they immediately gave way to pass.

Guessing that the person on the horse is a Han official, Hu Shang continued to line up honestly without daring to show any dissatisfaction.It's just a surprise in my heart, this Han official is too young.

Walking in front of the prefect's mansion, Zhao Jia got off his horse and handed the reins to the riding boy.Without the need for a healthy servant to lead the way, he walked quickly through the front yard and came to the study where Wei Taishou and his subordinates discussed matters.Because he was walking too fast, he almost collided with a secretary.

Zhao Jia cupped his hands to apologize, but the latter did not dare to say anything, the two passed each other in a hurry, without stopping for a moment.

In the study, Wei Shang's brows were furrowed, and Master Wang and the others were also full of expressions.

Jian Servant informed Zhao Jia to see him, the door opened, and he could feel the solemn atmosphere without going close.

"I have met the envoy." Zhao Jia stepped forward to salute.

"Ado is here." Wei Shang nodded, signaling Zhao Jia to sit on the right side.

After Zhao Jia sat down, everyone began to discuss what regulations should be adopted next.

Sending people out of the fortress is a must. In order to prevent the Huns from going south, the fortress must also increase its troops.The army in the county is limited, and young and strong must be recruited.During the autumn harvest, every household needs labor.The reason why the change of service was set in July was to avoid spring plowing and autumn harvest.However, the sudden change came, and no one would have thought that the situation would deteriorate to this point.

The scouts hadn't returned for many days, the caravan and Yun Zhongqi lost contact one after another. Everyone's eyes were smeared and they knew nothing about what happened on the grassland.

The unknown is the most frustrating thing, especially in the current situation.

"According to the news sent back before, the caravan should have arrived five days ago." Master Wang said solemnly.

"The third son has only sent back one scout since he left the fortress, and there has been no news since then."

"Li Shijun's eldest son went out of the Great Wall together, and it is reported that he also lost contact a few days ago."

"This matter must have been done by the Huns."

Based on the current situation and referring to past experience, everyone came to the same conclusion: not only the caravan, but also the cavalry going out of the fortress must have had an accident!Was it dragged, trapped, or... No one present dared to say easily.

While everyone was discussing, Zhao Jia remained silent, but his mind was spinning rapidly.

Something happened to the caravan.Whether it was an accident or an ambush, they were all trapped in the grassland, and their life and death were unknown.The cavalry who went out of the fortress lost contact, and it was also uncertain.

Although Yun Zhongqi is strong, the grassland is the home of the Huns after all, and it is difficult to tell the winner with an equal force. How many times or even ten times?

According to the king's book, Wei Yue led two thousand soldiers out of the fortress without any auxiliary soldiers.With the strength of the above counties, Li Danghu's troops will not be too many.Even if the two join forces, the situation will not be good if they meet the main army.

Hu Qi has a large number of people, and Han Qi lacks support. In this case, even if the Huns use their lives and consume people, they can exhaust the energy of Han Qi.

What worries Zhao Jia even more is whether the main purpose of the caravan going north has been exposed, and the Xiongnu ambushed midway, using it as bait to lure the Han to ride deep into the grassland?Conversely, Yun Zhongqi and Shangjun cavalry are trapped in the grassland. Will they take the initiative to attack in order to break the situation?

But there is one thing that doesn't make sense. If you take the initiative to attack, you should send a message back to Bian County anyway, so that the county can prepare.Unless the situation was too critical and it was too late to send scouts, otherwise, the Xiongnu had already been prepared to intercept and kill them halfway.

Thinking of this, Zhao Jia's expression changed slightly.

"Your Majesty, Jia has something to say." After several back and forth in his mind, Zhao Jia couldn't keep silent, and immediately got up and cupped his hands, Daoming thought.

After listening to his words, the room fell into a brief silence.

After a while, Master Wang looked at Wei Taishou and said, "My lord, what Zhao Xianwei said is reasonable."

If they encountered the Huns army, with Wei Yue and Li Danghu's temper, it might not be impossible to take the initiative to fight.So here comes the question again, where are the caravans going north? Could it be that they were all killed by the Huns and died?

"My lord, please come out of the fortress!"

Zhao Jia knew very well that the defense of the fortress had already been arranged, and he was not needed for the time being.He has Ah Jin to help him, so he is the best candidate to go abroad.

He has been to the grassland before, and he is not a stranger along the way.There is no need to dispatch the main pawns, the young and strong pawns in the livestock farm and the pawns trained in July are enough to form a team and go north with him to find people.Bring enough poisonous chimneys, and if you don't confront the Xiongnu head-on, even if you can't win, with your youth and strength, you can still find an opportunity to retreat.

Zhao Jia explained the reasons in detail, Wei Shang pondered for a moment, discussed a few words with Wang Zhushu, and agreed to his request.

"The pawns have never been in battle, so the troops in the fortress must not be moved lightly. Two hundred pawns will be dispatched from the city."

"Respect!"

Zhao Jia was in a hurry to go north to find someone, and he couldn't help him much in the next matter, so he simply resigned early, took Wei Shang's warrant to transfer people to the barracks, and was guided by the treasury officials to get the poisonous smoke tubes and weapons from the county arsenal.As for the horses and harness, they are all equipped in the barracks.If the quantity is insufficient, you can go to the racecourse in the county to find it.

In addition to the poisonous smoke tube, Zhao Jia received an extra batch of arrows.

Time is short and it is impossible to make all poisonous arrows, so we can only bring them back to the livestock farm first and hand them over to the medical craftsman. Taking advantage of the time to gather more pawns and young adults, we can count as many as we can make.

The two hundred soldiers are all veterans who have experienced bloody battles. They are burly and have a vicious aura.

Line up in the camp, each person hangs a piece of leather armor in front of him, and then puts on two pieces of armguards.A long halberd is carried on the back, a short knife is worn on the waist, a strong bow and quiver are hung on the horse's back, and a palm-length dagger is tied to the thigh.This way of carrying weapons arose from the livestock farm.The generals have seen it several times and thought it was useful, so they spread the word in the barracks.

After the team assembled, Zhao Jia took the lead and led the crowd to the livestock farm.

At that time, Uncle Xiong was leading people to rush to harvest in the field, beware of sudden rain.Hubo led more than [-] servants to plow, and waved flails in the grain drying field to thresh the millet.Mrs. Sun and the women drove the rough horses, pulled the mill and the millstone, put the hulled millet and wheat into sacks, and sent them to the warehouse.

The teenagers are responsible for taking care of the cows, horses, camels and wild boars, while Wei Qing and Ah Zhi lead the children to herd sheep and feed chickens and ducks.

The golden eagle caught a fat hare in the field and was feasting on it.

Suddenly, billows of smoke and dust billowed up in the distance, and loud whistles came along with the wind.

The golden eagle chirped in response, flapping its wings and flying.

The leftover hare was thrown on the ground and was bitten away by a big dog.Several weaned puppies chased after the big dog, barking childishly, hoping to get a share of the pie.When the big dog threw a piece of meat, the puppies changed their cute looks, bared their teeth, and started fighting fiercely.Judging by the posture, it is almost the same as a wolf cub.

Zhao Jia stopped in front of the wooden fence, wrapped his forearm tightly with animal skin, and caught the flying golden eagle.

The sharp claws were stained with blood, and there was still a trace of flesh and blood on the bird's beak.Zhao Jia frowned, and rubbed the bird's beak with his thumb, causing the golden eagle to scream dissatisfied, and the feathers on the back of the neck were fluffed up.

Wei Qing and A Gu ran after the golden eagle, saw Zhao Jia, and immediately opened the wooden fence.

When two hundred riders entered the livestock farm, a few gazelles outside the pen were frightened, jumped over the fence, and quickly hid in the flock, as if they could gain a sense of security in this way.

Uncle Hu got the news and handed over the matter to Uncle Chang, without caring to wipe off the sweat from his face, he hurried all the way to Zhao Jia.

"Lang Jun is back."

"En." Zhao Jia got off his horse and informed Uncle Huber of his decision to leave the fortress.

Knowing the seriousness of the matter, even though Uncle Hu was worried, he did not dare to hesitate. According to Zhao Jia's order, he quickly dispatched manpower from the livestock farm to open the warehouse to distribute strong bows and arrows.

For the next two days, everyone in the livestock farm was mobilized. The young and strong servants did not care about farming. The teenagers and children had to help the healer every day, collecting specific types of herbs, helping to cook soup, and soaking arrows.

Zhao Jia asked the county magistrate to help and summon a group of soldiers as soon as possible.At the same time, the county arsenal was opened to take leather armor for 50 people, and short knives, shields and harnesses for a hundred people.

The caravan lost contact with Yun Zhongqi, and the matter was no small matter.

In order to resist the Huns going south, all counties are recruiting young and strong.When Zhao Jia arrived at the official temple, a group of young men happened to arrive, and among them were Geng pawns who had just returned home.

After recording the list, Zhao Jia summoned two more civil servants and prepared to take them out of the fortress together.

The civil servants didn't feel the danger at all, but were overjoyed.Bathed in the envious eyes of colleagues, prepare your bags as quickly as possible, ready to go at any time.

Knowing that Zhao Jia brought them north, he must be in charge of logistics, the two discussed it and reported to Zhao Jia that it would be best to bring a few more minor officials.

The proposal was adopted and announced in the official temple.In order to fight for the places to go north, the small officials in the official temple almost broke their heads.In the end, the six minor officials came out on top by helping out in the military camp.

When preparing the military rations, the civil officials suggested preparing a few more carts and recruiting a group of businessmen and sons-in-law.

Zhao Jia shook his head and vetoed it.He is here to find someone, time is precious, there can be no delay.Carrying a big car is too cumbersome and too conspicuous.

However, the rations that should be prepared are always prepared.

In order to reduce the burden, Zhao Jia ordered the opening of a granary, and made all the stored wheat into fried noodles, and distributed them to the army going north.

There are already soybean oil and sesame oil in the livestock farm, but the quantity is not much, women are still accustomed to using boiled oil.When frying flour, bone marrow oil is used, which has a more intense fragrance.

The first batch of Fried Noodles was made, and Zhao Jia made a bowl with hot water. Even with very little sugar, the taste was extraordinarily sweet.After letting it cool down, distribute it to the army. Most of them did not rinse with water, but they were picked up and chewed dry, and half a bag was eaten in a blink of an eye.

In addition to fried noodles, Zhao Jia opened the warehouse again, took out most of the stored dried meat and sausages, and handed them over to the civil servants for inventory and distribution, so as to ensure that after the army arrived, each of them would have enough rations for five days.

What about after five days?

Faced with the doubts of the civil servants, Zhao Jia smiled slightly. Since he went north to the grassland, he would follow the method of the grassland to kill and rob!

Everything was ready, Zhao Jia gathered 400 people, not enough for one song, but time was limited, no delay was allowed, and he had to set off as soon as possible.Civil officials and minor officials also wear leather armor and are equipped with weapons. When encountering a war, they must charge and kill with the army.

"set off!"

Zhao Jia raised his right arm, and the four hundred Han troops rode their horses northward, crushing the ground with the sound of rumbling horseshoes.

A cold wind rises from the ground and swirls in mid-air.

The golden eagle uttered a loud cry, like a sharp arrow, soaring into the sky and flying to the grassland with wings.

In the depths of the grassland, the caravan of hundreds of people was broken up, the goods were scattered behind them, and tens of thousands of cattle and sheep were also divided and looted by the pursuing robbers.

Amid the sound of breaking wind, several Han riders were hit by bone arrows, and their speed was forced to slow down.They found that there were hundreds of Hu Qizu chasing them. In order to buy time for their comrades, several of them turned their horses' heads at the same time, drew out their long knives, and charged forward.

"go!"

Similar situations happened several times along the way.All the Han cavalry who turned around died under the sword of Hu Qi, and none of them survived.

The leader's eyes were bloodshot, even though he gritted his silver teeth with hatred, he didn't turn around, but kept waving his horsewhip, and continued southward with the remaining Han cavalry.

There were no figures of Wei Qing'e, Wei Xia, and Wei Qiu in the team.As early as when the Xiongnu army suddenly attacked and the caravan was broken up, the three girls were separated from everyone.Now trapped in the grassland, life and death are unknown.

No matter how anxious the team leader was, he couldn't find him.It was the headquarters of the Xiongnu who attacked them, and the number far exceeded imagination. What's more, the Huns showed signs of going south.The matter is no small matter, even if there is only one breath left, the news must be sent back to Bianjun!

After a certain distance, another cavalry figure appeared in front of them.

Thinking it was being flanked by the Huns, the leader's eyes were red and he let out a low growl like a trapped animal.The quiver had already shot empty, Han Qi didn't need to order, and at the same time drew out his long knife and decided to fight to the death.

When the distance was close, the cavalry on the opposite side suddenly raised the Han flag.

These cavalrymen were covered in blood. Even though the leather armor and weapons were damaged, the evil aura on their bodies was astonishing, as if they had just rushed out of a sea of ​​blood from a mountain of corpses.

Recognizing Wei Yue and Li Danghu in Xuanjia, the team leader let out a roar, and turned around at the same time as the remaining twenty Han cavalry, with red eyes, and rushed towards the chasing Hu Qi.

"kill!"

The trumpet sounded, and the banner was fierce.

More than a thousand Han cavalry rushed over, like a hurricane, tearing the target to pieces in an instant.