Chapter 21: The Valley of Wuming

The shape of the Luntai defense zone is irregular, with an arc on the west side, a little flattened by the Khitan on the east side, and a cavalry extending out on the north side, making it impossible for the main force of the Uighurs to go to the Khitan to successfully meet. Although Satuk and Yelu Shuogu had sent troops to contact each other several times, they still did not have a situation of unity.

But the weather is getting colder and colder.

Most of the grass on the grassland has withered, leaving only roots buried in the gradually frozen land. The endless Beiting Plain seems more and more bleak at this time.

But at this time, a not-very important news came from the cavalry in the north. If Luntai City extends northward with Luntai City as the central axis, there will be a valley east of the line, and there are actually a large area of ​​grass inside.

Although the northern border is vast, it is not endless. The valley detected by the cavalry is strange. The valley estuary is facing south and the valley is sunken in obliquely. There is a mountain in the north that seems to be about to fall down to block the north wind. Spring comes late and winter arrives late. It is a bit wet in summer and not a comfortable place. But now it still retains vitality when the grass outside witheres.

This valley has not been in the past, but it is not a strategic place here. The valley is not stable and the valley mouth is narrow. Although the inside is not small, it has no resources and is not suitable for living. It is just that some herders are here to shelter from the wind in winter, so they didn't care much. But this season, it didn't expect that it would be a month later than the outside, which made the forage in this valley a little attractive.

The military leaders made an insignificant decision on this, which was to send a force to cut the grass there. The task fell on Chai Rong. They brought horses and several large carriages, and secretly set out without the Khitan army noticing it. They entered the valley under the cover of a mansion and barracks. The main force of mowing grass was nine hundred young slaves, and Chai Rong's two teams were supervisors, but like the past month, Chai Rong took the lead in working, allowing the young soldiers and young slaves.

The clerks worked together. In the past few days, some young slaves were more cooperative or moved by Chai Rong's kindness. Chai Rong promoted them to be the leader and suggested to the team that they would get rid of their slaves. This suggestion was actually adopted. Therefore, there were more than 30 more than 900 young slaves who had already got rid of slaves. Chai Rong also promised them that they would be recruited to the army if they had the opportunity in the future, which gave some people hope.

Under Chai Rong's leadership, the forage was harvested very quickly. In addition to the forage, there were some wild fruits growing in the valley. Under the identification of some slaves familiar with local fruit trees, these fruits were also packed. After the forage was harvested, the forage was bundled into piles. According to the requirements of the upper peak, each piece was placed with a fire-induced object - why should it be placed with a fire-induced object? The strategic goals of the top leaders of the Tang army were very clear. The reason why they attached more importance to this valley was to cooperate with the recent "saving" call of the governor. Harvesting the forage and transporting it back was also a statement. But on the other hand, if there was an accident, then even if these materials were destroyed, they could not be left to the enemy!

A thousand teenagers were busy in this valley where the cold wind had not yet arrived, and soon harvested all the forage. Looking at it was too late on this day, Chai Rong said to Hu Yanzhao: "Going on the road at dusk, the sun sets soon after. It's dangerous to rush back at night. I can't go back tomorrow."

I fell asleep in the valley at night, and when I was half asleep, someone suddenly shouted: "Who is it!"

Following someone around him, he naturally would not have any guards when he was sleeping at Chai Rong's level, but a few close soldiers took turns to watch. Suddenly, they found someone approaching and screaming, and then took down the approaching person. The man did not resist. Chai Rong woke up and vaguely identified his figure in the dark, recognizing that it was the one who had beaten him before!

Shi Octopus said: "Deputy Team Chief, this guy must be here to assassinate you! He is going to take revenge!"

But Baye said, "Don't talk nonsense! I'm not so sneaky! Even if I want to take revenge, I will settle the score with you!"

Shi Octopus said: "You are not here to assassinate, why are you here to do so late?"

Bano said: "I have something to say to the deputy team leader alone."

Where would Shi Octopus, Chen Fengxiao and others let him and Chai Rong be alone? Chai Rong thought for a while and asked, "Did you find out if there are any weapons on him?"

Chen Feng smiled and said, "This...is not."

Chai Rong thought to himself: "Since there are no weapons, I'm probably not here to assassinate me."

Then he asked Shi Octopus and others to go away first, "I'll hear what he has to say." Shi Octopus and others refused, and Chai Rong said, "He has no weapons on him, but I have a knife in my hand. Even if he wants to do anything to me, he is not my opponent."

Shi Octopus waited for a while, but refused to go too far, and said, "Deputy Team Chief, if there is anything strange about this kid, just call me, and we'll come here right away!"

"Okay, okay!" Chai Rong smiled and said, "I am your leader, not a child!"

The boys walked away a little, and Baye whispered: "I have something to tell you, but you have to promise me a condition first."

"What's the matter?" Chai Rong was a little curious.

"You have to promise me first."

"That won't work," Chai Rong said: "If you don't say what's going on, how can I promise you?"

Baye hesitated for a while before saying, "Okay, someone is going to run away."

Chai Rong yelled, and the stone octopus in the distance shouted, "Deputy Team Chief, what's wrong?" He was about to come over, Chai Rong hurriedly said, "It's okay!" He asked Baye again, "Who is it?"

"I can't tell you this!" Baye said, "I'm here to ask you not to sue them, but to stop them. Unless you promise not to offend them first, I won't tell you even if I die!"

Chai Rong pondered and said, "Okay, as long as they haven't escaped, this matter will end with me. I will take it as nothing and will not tell the team. But if they have taken action, I can only act according to the military rules."

Baye then said, "Well, if someone else can't believe it, your words...maybe trustworthy...I tell you that there is another way out for this valley, but that road is a bit remote, so you don't know these days. But among us, the bunch of people..." The " bunch of people" he said was a young slave, "but one of them grew up nearby. After he passed the news to his close friends, more than a dozen people discussed going to escape and pulled me up, so I knew about this."

Chai Rong said: "Since that's the case, you can run away with them, why do you want to tell me?"

Baye is one of the more rebellious young slaves. Although he has a lot of prestige among slaves, he refuses to surrender to Chai Rong as the leader. He has always been a key target of Shi Octopus Chen Fengxiao and other key supervisors.

At this moment, the young man snorted coldly and said, "If we want to escape, we can't take too many people away. If we take too many people, you will find out. But if more than a dozen people escape by themselves, the brothers with us will be held in a row. In order to escape from more than a dozen people, at least dozens of people must die. I didn't want to see this situation, so I advised them to give up their thoughts, but they refused, so I came to you."

Chai Rong was a little stunned when he heard this, but he didn't know that Baye had such loyalty. He admired him a little, respected him, and asked, "What are you going to do now?"

Baye said: "Since I came to find you tonight, they must be regarded as traitors by them when they turn back, but I don't care. I will go back, so you send two people to follow me. Once I go back, they will know that the news is leaked and they dare not move. After tonight we left the valley and then pretended that nothing happened. Of course, you can also break your promise and investigate and uproot us... Humph, that's even if I saw you wrong!"

Chai Rong snorted, "What are you saying? Since you value and trust me, how can I do such a thing that goes against my word? I just said that this matter will last for me. As long as they don't escape tonight, I will pretend that it is unknown."

Baye said, "Okay, I hope you really keep your promise!" Sure enough, he went back. Chai Rong sent a few people to follow him and arrived at the small tent where he was sleeping. The slaves sleeping around him woke up, secretly guessing what was going on.

But nothing happened that night.

The next day, it was dark, and Chai Rong ordered many young slaves, not a few, but there was a group of people who were originally very close to Baye, but they were all far away from him at this time. Chai Rong guessed that it was caused by what happened last night.

He pretended not to know and ordered the valley to go out. The group of people walked to the entrance of the valley with the forage. Suddenly, an ominous wind blew out from outside, followed by a loud sound, and then the sound of killing sounds. The soldiers guarding outside the valley sent a person in and said, "No! Khitan cavalry came outside!"

The young soldiers' team was facing Chai Rong and said, "I'll go and see! You'll wait!"

The shouts of killing became louder and louder! Geng Xin, who had learned to listen to the ground, lay on the ground and listened to the horse's hooves. The more he heard, the ugly his face became, and he said, "This... I'm afraid there are not thousands of people... why did so many people suddenly come!"

This place is not a strategic location, and it is extremely unusual to suddenly see thousands of cavalry coming! The Tang army guarding outside the valley has only one battalion, and facing ten times more people, it is very bad even if they are good at fighting!

"How is it? How is it?"

The young soldiers were all at a loss, and Chai Rong shouted, "What are you doing! Line up! The more dangerous it is, the more calm you need!" In fact, he was also afraid, but what happened in the past year has accelerated his growth.

After another meal, a bloody Tang army soldier rushed into the valley and whispered from a distance: "Hurry! The captain gave an order! Prepare to burn the forage!"

Chai Rong shouted: "How are our generals and soldiers? How are our team doing?"

The soldier was still more than ten steps away from Chai Rong and shouted: "I'm surrounded, surrounded! We..."

Suddenly, a wolf-toothed arrow shot over and penetrated the throat of the informant! Then several figures appeared in the morning light - they turned out to be Khitan cavalry!

The boys seen in the valley exclaimed in unison, and Shi Octopus and others did not react slowly. They jumped to the entrance of the valley with a dozen people and set off their bows and shot arrows! The Khitan cavalry blocked their shields and urged their horses to approach.

Suddenly, more than ten people came out, but this time it was the Tang army, and Chai Rong's boss was among them! They desperately intercepted the Khitan cavalry rushing inward, but hundreds of Khitans rushed over behind them!

Hu Yanzhao led his troops to rush up to pick him up, and the team was shouting: "Don't come, don't come! No chance! Arong! Hu Yanzhao, go and burn the grass! We will die if we die, and we cannot give it to these barbarians even if we have a bundle of grass!"

A one-eyed Khitan general rushed towards him and cut off the arm of the team with one sword. The team saw no luck, shouted and hurriedly hugged the Khitan general and wanted to die with the other party. Unexpectedly, the one-eyed Khitan general was so powerful! He actually cut off the head of the team with one sword! He was about to rush forward with the troops!

The team treats all the young men very well. They are both bosses and teachers. They usually get along like the fathers of the young men. Seeing that he was killed by several young men crying in pain, Hu Yanzhao Shi Octopus was furious and wanted to take revenge. Chen Feng Xiao Gengxin was calm and wanted to take people to burn the grass. Chai Rong suddenly shouted: "Don't move around!" Then he said: "Shi Octopus! Strike arrows to block the enemy! Feng Xiao, Gengxin! Pile the grass at the entrance of the valley! Block the road!"

His loud shouts were very majestic in the chaos! Shi Octopus and more than ten people immediately shot arrows to force the approaching Khitan. At this time, there were still more than a dozen Tang soldiers who rushed back to the entrance of the valley to resist - they wanted to use their last lives to buy time for the young people in the valley!

Taking advantage of this, Chen Fengxiao, Gengxin and others piled up trucks of fodder at the entrance of the valley. These grasses were not stones. Once the battle outside the valley was over, how could it be possible to stop the Khitan cavalry? Gengxin thought to himself and asked, but his actions did not stop.

"Don't ask!" Chai Rong said: "Do work!"

Later, the grass piled up more and more, and finally the entire valley was filled with the mouth, as if it was a grass mountain. The stone octopus and other archers had to climb up grass mountain to shoot arrows. Unless the grass mountain was pushed down, the horses could not enter.

The shouts of killing outside the valley entrance became weaker and weaker, and finally the last Tang army soldier was also martyred for the country! The one-eyed handsome general brought people to approach, looked at Caoshan at the valley entrance and laughed, saying, "Silly thing, want to rely on this to block our iron hoof? Little guys, come out quickly and carry the forage back to the camp for the uncle. I can also let you have a way out!"

He could actually say Tang Yan, but with a muddy northern accent, Chai Rong jumped onto Caoshan and shouted: "Are you going to kill all of us or to feed?" He was speaking Khitan, but with a clear Hedong accent.

The Khitan general frowned slightly and smiled, "You can actually speak Khitan. Are you a Khitan? Good boy, these haystacks can't stop me. Help the old man to move these haystacks back. I will reward you with some benefits!"

Chai Rong spat and said, "These forages are not too much, but it is not too little. It is easy for you to ask for them, but you can see that there are many things that cause fire everywhere! As long as there is a little fire, it will not be stopped if it is burned to ashes!" He said, and suddenly lit the torch and said, "Get back quickly! Or I will burn this grass mountain!"

The Khitan general was stunned and then said angrily: "Silly thing, what are you doing? Are you going to burn yourself?"

Chai Rong said: "You have thousands of people, but we are only two teams. If we had known that we would not have the chance to break through the siege, our life would be no longer my own! You should retreat quickly, otherwise I will ignite the fire immediately and you will get nothing - at most we will drag our bodies away!"

The Khitan general was furious and was about to step forward. But when he saw Chai Rong approaching the torch, he resisted and retreated. The Khitans who had walked closest discussed for a while and retreated, but the cavalry were still patrolling the valley entrance.

Chai Rong breathed a sigh of relief, put out the torches, sat down on Caoshan Mountain, and Shi Octopus and others cheered, but after only two cheers, they became a little weak. Hu Yanzhao stepped forward and said, "Arong, look... can we guard reinforcements?"

Reinforcements?

Although Chai Rong was young, he was still alive. He knew that this place was not a strategic location. He was not far from Beiluntai City, nor was he close. He collected a lot of materials in this valley, but not much, and there were only a hundred young soldiers, plus nine hundred young slaves, among which there were no important people in the Tang army. In short, no matter whether it was a place, supplies or people, it was not worth sending elite troops to take risks. If reinforcements came, it would be very slim...

However, Chai Rong didn't say it out loud. At this moment, the young soldiers were approaching despair, so hope would be very important. He had to calm down, and at the same time he had to calm the young soldiers and figure out a solution, so that he could find a glimmer of life!

"I'm afraid this grass mountain won't be able to stop it for long..." Shi Octopus said.

In fact, everyone knows that the value of this Caoshan is not as high as that the Khitans dare not act rashly. Once the other party loses patience, they may shoot a rocket to burn the Caoshan to level it!

Just when this thought flashed through Chai Rong's mind, a Khitan knight had already stepped forward and said loudly: "Listen to the haystack mountain and the bastards behind the haystack. Come out quickly and listen to the orders of the old men and move the hay back to the old men. At that time, the old men can still give you a way out, otherwise... the rockets will serve you!"

More than twenty Khitan warriors opened their bows and arrows, and all the arrows lit up!

"Along the way, the old men burned Caoshan first, and then rushed in and slaughtered you all!"

Suddenly someone shouted: "Don't cum, don't cum, we're down!"

He saw a few young Uighur slaves slipping down from Caoshan and rushing towards the Khitan army. The Khitans laughed and were very proud. The stone octopus was furious and shot the escaped young slaves one by one with more than a dozen young archers.

The Khitan warriors saw the young slaves being shot to death and did not help, but just stood by and watched. A dying Uighur boy climbed to the feet of the one-eyed Khitan general, but was kicked away by the one-eyed general and sneered: "Useless thing! Get out of here!"

I saw the wilderness on the grassy mountain and felt a chill in my heart.

He said to Chai Rong again: "That young man, you have some chances to change. Come on, as long as you surrender, I will accept you as your adopted son!"

Some Uighur slaves showed envy and begging on their faces. Yanxian was envious and Chai Rong had such a good opportunity, and begging was begging Chai Rong not to miss this opportunity.

Chai Rong said coldly: "If you want to shoot arrows, shoot arrows quickly, but I still say the same thing. If you want to rush up, I will burn these forage!"

The Khitan general was furious, but there was no way for a moment. After a while, he said, "Okay! I will give you a day to consider it. If you are stubborn tomorrow, I will let this grass mountain turn into ashes and bury you with me!"

As he said that, he led the Khitan cavalry to retreat, but the valley entrance was still tightly sealed.

"Is it before sunrise tomorrow?"

Chai Rong thought about it in his mind, and knew that when the main force of the Tang army found that this group of troops had gone but never returned, they would probably send people to inquire. If they found that there were abnormal movements in the soldiers here, they might send cavalry to intervene. Of course, the sent people would be to expel or attack the Khitans nearby, and not necessarily to rescue their two teams of young soldiers.

On the huge battlefield of Beiting, the two sides invested hundreds of thousands of troops. If hundreds of people on one side were lost for some reason, the main force generally would not send large troops to support this - Zhang Mai and Khitan and Uighurs were both good players in surrounding points to fight and aid, and they were both afraid that the other party would use this move!
To be continued...