Rebirth of Tao Yao

Yan Li led the soldiers and horses into the grassland for several months, and it went from midsummer to late autumn in the blink of an eye.

The Hu people live as nomads, almost all grew up on horseback, and their strength is cavalry.On the other hand, the infantry of the Liang Kingdom was at a too obvious disadvantage against the cavalry, let alone such a thing as going deep into the grassland.So in the two Northern Expeditions, six out of ten good horses in Liang State were conscripted, and Yan Li led the troops into the grassland with one man and two horses.

Under the premise of having a replacement horse, the marching speed of the cavalry is very fast, and a few months is enough for them to fight back and forth on the grassland.It was indeed a back and forth, because no matter how well prepared, for those who are not familiar with the grassland, they still get lost.

There are gentle hills all around, and green grass and trees are everywhere in sight, and the places where the horseshoes step are easily covered by green grass again...God knows how these people living on the grassland discern their orientation. After setting foot on the grassland, they will Even Liang Guo's most elite scouts became restrained when they explored the road, and the Hu merchants who were threatened and controlled set foot on the grassland had another face.

It has to be said that there were more emergencies during the Northern Expedition than Yan Li expected, and they were much more troublesome.

In addition to getting lost, they were intercepted and killed by Hu soldiers, experienced acclimatization, and even soldiers were poisoned by drinking poisonous water by mistake.But compared to these, what was more important was that half a month after they entered the grassland, the supply of food and grass in the rear was cut off.

Fortunately, Yan Li had expected it. Before the food and grass in the army ran out, the days of supporting wars began directly. Tens of thousands of troops entered the grasslands, facing small tribes with only thousands or even tens of hundreds of people. Looting and massacres are all ruins.And on this vast grassland, the most numerous are these small tribes dotted around like a chess and card, and the tribes that are really big enough to make tens of thousands of troops need to fear are very few.

Looting and killing began to be staged continuously on the grassland.The green grass was stained with bright red, just like what Hu Bing did to the people of Liang State when they went south to plunder in the past hundred years. Those tragic scenes that happened in the fields will eventually repeat themselves on the grassland.

Tribes were destroyed one after another, and one by one Hu people fell in a pool of blood. Among them may be Hu soldiers who had gone south to plunder, or maybe they were just ordinary herdsmen who herded horses and sheep on the grassland.However, no one had time to distinguish, and everyone was annihilated in this sudden war... It was more than a month before Wang Ting got the news of Liang Jun's rampage on the grassland, and there was no trace of Liang Jun for a while.

In the evening, Yan Li was standing by a small lake with a map in his hand.She looked down at the crude map in her hand, then looked up at the calm lake in front of her, and finally turned her head to ask the people beside her: "Look, Dashan, is this lake the one on the map?"

Gao Dashan followed Yan Li all the time, he ignored the smell of blood in the air, and he didn't look at the messy ruins behind them.He probed over to look at the map Yan Li pointed at, and then at the clear and beautiful lake in front of him. He nodded after thinking for a while and said, "It looks a bit like this, it should be here." After speaking, he glanced at the map again, his gaze It settled on the circle of cinnabar not far from the lake.

The Hu people live by water and grass, and the migration of tribes is common. Even the royal court will not be fixed in one place forever like a city.And this circle of cinnabar was written by the new emperor himself, and I don't know how much he paid to get the current position of the royal court.

Yan Li pondered for a moment and put away the map.Months of exposure to the sun and rain made her look a lot more haggard than before the expedition, but her eyes were always extraordinarily bright with a frightening brilliance.Taking the map casually on Gao Dashan, the young general turned around and walked towards the army who was cleaning up the mess and arranging the spoils: "I hope we don't make mistakes this time."

Grassland maps are hard to come by, but a map that is too crude is a shame for whoever uses it!

After losing Hu Shang as a guide, they have been deceived more than once by the unknown mountains, rivers and lakes on the map, went in the wrong direction, and even wandered around in the depths of the grassland a few times... I just hope that this time there will be no more mistakes .

Yan Li took out the purse in his arms and touched it, frowned at an angle that no one could see, and sighed rather melancholy—no matter how economical he was, after tossing back and forth in the grassland for a long time, he would still eat the candy prepared by his wife Almost there.If she finds the wrong way again, she will have to hold the medicine bottle to see things and think about others next time. It makes me even more sad to think about it!

****************************************************************************

From midsummer to late autumn, and then from late autumn to early winter, half a year had passed in the blink of an eye when Yan Li set off on the expedition.

It is not easy to deal with the enemy in the depths of the grassland, but waiting at home thousands of miles away is also worrying and exhausting.Especially 30 years ago, the old general Yan Yan failed in the Northern Expedition, and the lessons learned from the past are still in front of us. Even if the people in the border town trusted the Yan family more, this time it was inevitable that they were worried and uneasy.

When Wen Ziran woke up in the morning, he casually tied a knot on a thin rope beside the bed, and saw that the thin rope was densely packed with knots—this is a knot for keeping a date.Wen Ziran didn't know how to use these in the past, but this time she remembered from the day Yan Li left, she knew how many knots there were without counting, but she still got used to counting them every day.

There are hundreds of knots, it doesn't take much time to fumble and count them all. After Wen Ziran finished counting, his fingertips landed on the biggest knot on the thin rope.This different knot is in the very front. It was the day when the army ran out of food and grass, and the frontier city lost the news of the Northern Expeditionary Army. After that, there were already nearly a hundred knots, and she also lost nearly a hundred news of Yan Li. It's day.

Even with the success of the previous life as comfort, Wen Ziran, who hadn't heard from him for a long time, couldn't help becoming more and more anxious.

A moment later, there was a knock on the door, and the voices of Wen Qing and Mo Yun sounded outside the door.The two little maids have gotten used to Wen Ziran's regular work and rest in the past few months. Every morning, they will prepare hot water for food, and while taking care of the young lady, they will also clean up the house.

The two of them spent the loneliest years with Wen Ziran in the previous life, and she was not unaccustomed to taking care of the two of them. These days, they got along better than when Yan Li was at home—the little general was always jealous, I can't wait to stick to my daughter-in-law all day long, and at the same time I can't wait to drive everyone away from her--so I put away the string, and let the two enter the door after a simple tidying up.

Wen Qing and Mo Yun came in with their things, and after putting away the familiar ones, Wen Qing reminded, "It's getting colder today, Madam should wear two more clothes, so as not to accidentally catch a cold in the wind."

Wen Ziran got up and sat by the bed, and couldn't help laughing: "I'm not a porcelain doll, why am I so fragile?"

After hearing this, the two little maids stared at her twice more. Seeing Wen Ziran's delicate figure, pale complexion and gauze tied eyes, they really wanted to ask: Ma'am, even if you look like this, you are not porcelain. Baby, isn't it fragile?

Of course, it's fine to think about it in your heart, but the two little maids dare not say it out loud, even to comfort Wen Ziran not to think too much.The two of them just put more effort into taking care of Wen Ziran, even today they only blew a few more cool breezes, and Wen Qing also wanted to remind Wen Ziran a little bit, and then prepare thick clothes for her, lest she accidentally get sick.

A quiet environment is always more conducive to thinking or divergent thinking. After Wen Ziran joked, thinking about Wen Qing's words, he couldn't help but lost his mind a little.After a while, he murmured: "The weather is getting cold, it's really winter." After finishing speaking, before Wen Qing and Wen Qing could respond, he raised his head and asked them, "There shouldn't be as much snow this winter as last year, right?" ?”

Wen Ziran doesn't remember whether there was a snow disaster in her previous life, because the houses in the border towns are strong enough to deal with snow disasters, and she can't see it. At most, she can feel that the weather is colder. Two more charcoal pots need to be burned, but how long has the snow accumulated? Thick she is ignorant.

Wen Qing and Mo Yun were both stunned when they heard her question this time, and their faces were not very good after looking at each other. They obviously thought of the snow disaster that they experienced on the grassland last year—they had never seen it with their own eyes. , but even the Hu people who had settled down in the north for many years could not bear the wind, snow and cold. The two of them couldn't imagine what would happen if the army with insufficient supplies met them.

Early in the morning, Wen Ziran asked him a question that made his heart sink. Before Wenqing could figure out how to answer, Mo Yun said anxiously: "Ma'am, don't say that! The general will win the battle and kill those barbarians." Don't stay, maybe they are already on their way back now, and they won't be trapped in the grassland for the winter!"

The little maid was straightforward, and her words were a little blunt.Wen Ziran didn't mind her offense at all, but nodded in agreement and said, "Well, you are right, they will definitely come back before the snow falls and the winter falls."

The atmosphere in the room was not up or down, and it was not until Wen Ziran finished speaking firmly that the solemnity in the air was somewhat relieved.The three of them didn't say much, and the two little maids didn't help much except tidy up the house, so Wen Ziran tidied herself up conveniently.Finally, she walked to the dressing table and carefully opened a jewelry box, but inside was not gold, jade and precious stones, but a box full of wooden hairpins.

The wooden hairpin was kept neatly by the master, and there were similar crabapple flowers carved on it. Although the workmanship was exquisite, it looked really simple, and it was somewhat inappropriate for Wen Ziran to wear it as the hostess of the general's mansion.But she didn't dislike it, picked up a handy hairpin and tied the bun with her own hands, and finally touched the crabapple flower on the head of the hairpin, touching it carefully with her fingertips with nostalgia.

At this time, Wen Ziran didn't think that this day would be any different.She thought it was another ordinary morning, followed by an ordinary day, and she would still spend it waiting and worrying about Yan Li.Unexpectedly, as soon as Wen Qing and Mo Yun packed up the house and left, an unexpected visitor appeared in the yard.

The visitor gave Wen Ziran a small wooden carving, and said to her, "Madam, the general is waiting for you."