Chapter 1258 War Horses Stay in the Snow

Mongolian guide Xu Yelu finally understood why Lan Yu dared to speak so arrogantly and said that he would reach Qingzhou in three days.

Lan Yu's subordinates are more like a nation on horseback than the Mongolians who retreated to the grassland.

Xu Yelu heard from the old man that when their ancestors followed Genghis Khan to conquer the world, they often had to march long distances. When there were empty horses to change, they had to march for more than ten days before they could rest. Therefore, all Mongolian men had to train themselves to eat and sleep on horseback. They could not get off the horse for two days and two nights, and their endurance was qualified.

He always thought it was a bit exaggerated, at least those of them who returned to the grassland halfway could never do it. But now seeing Lan Yu's subordinates, he realized that what the old man said was true.

The Ming army set out before dawn every morning, and basically did not stop during the journey. They ate and fed the horses on horseback. They would not stop to rest until it was completely dark, and they would march continuously for at least eight hours.

In just four hours of camping time, they also have to take good care of the horses, cut grass for the horses, feed them beans, brush the horses and take care of the horseshoes. If they find that the warhorse's back is rubbed, they must immediately cut the hair and clean the wound with herbs. It takes an hour to do all the work.

Excluding the time for digging snow pits and building camps, they only sleep for two hours a day. These are ordinary soldiers, and the scouts have to be on guard all night. They will set up outer beds three or five miles away from the military camp and rest on the wild boar skin Hulu.

Through the wild boar skin Hulu, the scouts can hear the sound of horse hooves within a radius of thirty miles, providing early warning for the army. They almost don't sleep all night, and when they march during the day, they have to take turns to be on guard outside. Xu Yelu couldn't figure out where they got such terrible endurance?

But the Ming army under Lan Yu had such terrible endurance. They relied on super long marches and marched almost two hundred miles a day.

They marched day and night for two and a half days. Although the soldiers were exhausted, no one complained, and no one fell behind. They all gritted their teeth and persisted silently.

At dusk that day, the snow was a little lighter. Lan Yu was taking a nap on horseback when he suddenly heard a burst of hurried horse hooves.

He suddenly raised his head, and the Ming army who were taking a nap in the team also raised their heads, and saw the scout captain who was exploring the way ahead galloping in front of him.

"Report, a camp was found 20 miles ahead, and there are signs of many people and horses inside." The scout captain came to Lan Yu, clasped his fists and said in a deep voice: "From a distance, there should be thousands of people."

"Oh?" Before Lan Yu spoke, Zhao Yong, the Marquis of Nanxiong, spoke first: "Have you arrived in Qingzhou?"

"It's not a city, just a camp." The scout captain shook his head.

"Well, it should be about 70 to 80 miles from here to Qingzhou." Lan Yu had been estimating the distance in his mind, and said in a deep voice: "Did you see clearly whether it was a barracks or an ordinary tribe?"

"It's hard to distinguish." The scout captain shook his head again. All the Mongols were soldiers, and there was no uniform military uniform, so it was difficult to distinguish between the civilians and the army.

"Call Xu Yelu." Lan Yu ordered.

After a while, Xu Yelu was brought in. After listening to the captain of the scouts, he said with certainty: "That should be the station of Chaganmulun Qianhu Suo. Ordinary herdsmen will not set up camps on the side of the road. That would be too dangerous."

"Chaganmulun Qianhu Suo?" Lan Yu's expression brightened when he heard this and said: "We have reached the outskirts of Qingzhou?!"

"Yes." Xu Yelu nodded and said: "This Qianhu Suo was specially set up by Nahachu sixty miles south of Qingzhou to patrol and guard against Ming army raids."

"The old guy is quite vigilant." Zhao Yong spat and said: "But I didn't meet any of his scouts along the way, which shows that he is not really vigilant."

"Who would have expected you to attack in such heavy snow?" Xu Yelu muttered.

"Okay, go." Lan Yu asked about the details of the Qianhu Suo again. Seeing that Xu Yelu knew nothing, he waved his hand and asked him to leave.

"I'm going to take down this Qianhu Suo!" After Xu Yelu left, he said to Zhao Yong in a deep voice.

"Yes, it is necessary." Zhao Yong nodded in agreement and said, "If we don't take it, the plan to raid Qingzhou City will easily fail. Besides, we know nothing about the situation in Qingzhou City, so we need to understand it first."

"Yes." Lan Yu put his hands in his sleeves and said in a deep voice: "It is not difficult to take down this Qianhu Suo, but no one must be let go alive."

"Yes." Zhao Yong agreed.

"Let's divide the work, one goes in to dig out the nest, and the other is outside to surround it." Lan Yu said, "Which one do you want to choose?"

"I'll do a simple one, I'll take people in." Zhao Yong smiled and said, "Please trouble General Yu to surround it for me outside."

"General, you are so handsome." Lan Yu cursed angrily: "That's it, the whole army will go ten miles to rest, and go over to dig out the nest after dark."

"Yes, sir." Zhao Yong replied in a deep voice.

~~

The Ming army soldiers followed Lan Yu's instructions and went forward another ten miles, then stopped and rested as a whole. Let the horses eat some grass, and the officers and soldiers eat something to rest, so that they can have enough energy to fight hard at night.

Lan Yu did not stop to rest, but took Zhao Yong to the thousand households several miles away and used a telescope to personally scout the enemy situation.

While scouting, he took out the hardened fried noodles from his arms, ate a mouthful of fried noodles and a mouthful of snow, and devoured it like a feast.

It was impossible to make a fire in the ice and snow, and it was impossible to make a fire to avoid being exposed. From him to all the soldiers, this is how they filled their stomachs these days.

But Lan Yu enjoyed it very much. War was the greatest enjoyment for him. On the contrary, when there was no war, he was still very irritable even if he was well clothed and surrounded by beautiful women.

After finishing today's meal, Lan Yu also completed the investigation and whispered to Zhao Yong on the side: "It is said to be a thousand-household camp, but there are only two to three hundred people in it, not more. There are only two camp gates in the front and back. , surrounded by walls, it shouldn’t be difficult to catch turtles in the urn.”

"This kind of forward post must have warning objects such as beacons and smoke. Don't let them light them up." He also warned him: "Also, try not to release people. If you are blind, you will run away."

"Yeah, I'll try my best." Zhao Yong nodded.

"..." Lan Yu thought for a moment and said decisively: "I decided to take action as soon as it gets dark, not waiting until midnight."

"Ah? So urgent?" Zhao Yong said in surprise.

"If we start early, we can get to Qingzhou before dawn, and maybe we can have a double ring." Lan Yu explained in a deep voice: "If we start in the middle of the night, we will never be able to reach Qingzhou City before dawn. The night is long and the dream is many. , If we can’t guarantee what will happen tomorrow, we’d better take action as soon as possible!”

"Okay." Zhao Yong quickly ordered his subordinate Qian Hu to bring the troops to his side.