It was the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, and a heavy snow fell on Youzhou City, dyeing the entire border city into pure white.

The howling cold wind left people indoors. Now the whole city can still be seen outside are either patrol officers and soldiers or civilians who have worked hard to transport food.

Li Ling sat behind the case and listened to several subordinates reporting the transfer of military rations for the past two days one by one. Although everything went well, his expression was not relaxed and he would frown and ponder from time to time.

Of course, he was not worried about how to transport grain to the north. During these days, everything had already been on track. There were also experienced traders from all over the world to help coordinate and run around, and there were still Wanlangs in front of him. Therefore, there was almost no trouble in transporting grain deep into the grassland. Some of the grain had been sent to the hands of the Northern Expedition Army.

So as long as you continue to deepen according to the established route and send additional personnel to keep the logistics route firmly, everything will be in his control. The only thing you need to consider is to ask for some men and soldiers from the Central Plains, otherwise if this continues, you may not be able to have enough garrisons in Youzhou.

But this is not a problem. With his current authority, it is entirely just a matter of asking for some troops from the court. After all, it is related to the situation of the Northern Expedition, and both the emperor and the court officials will strongly support it. What really makes Li Ling feel uneasy is the front-line war. It has been several months since then. Apart from the so-called battle reports that swept away tribal garrisons at the beginning, there was no decent battle reports coming back.

This made him more and more uneasy as time went by. He was really worried that the army, which was lured by Gui Rong, would suffer a great loss on the grassland, or even...

After a sudden shock, Li Ling quickly shook his head and drove this bad idea out of his mind. Then he asked again: "What is the situation of the military and civilians in the city now? They have not suffered from hunger and cold because of the war?" Although Youzhou is no longer the front line, it is still very important and nothing can go wrong.

"Don't worry, sir, we have divided a lot of clothes, quilts and food. As long as we are tight, we can allocate things to the public and the soldiers. "

"Well, that's good, you go busy." Li Ling raised his hand and said, while rubbing his eyebrows a few times. He seemed to be in the back without having to experience any risks, but in fact, the pressure on him was not as light as that of the front-line general. After a few months, he was really exhausted.

Just as the subordinates bowed and left the door, before they could help him close the door, a soldier guarding outside helped one of them stumbled along the corridor, and came to the front of the door and shouted: "Sir, the north, the north are here to report the battle!"

Li Ling, who was still rubbing his eyebrows, stood up as soon as he heard this, and his eyes immediately fell on the face of the soldier in front of the door, who seemed to be unable to stand even if he could not stand. He opened his mouth but couldn't speak. This was a sign of confusion in his heart, but he quickly calmed down and asked in a low voice: "How is it? Is my army defeated the Northern Expedition?"

The soldier struggled to cross the threshold, then saluted Li Ling, and said with difficulty: "Sir, our army won a great victory. In the Rongshan Mountain, we defeated tens of thousands of ghost Rong, and then wiped out the settlements of several tribes and killed tens of thousands of enemies..."

Li Ling felt his mind relaxed, and quickly put his hands on the desk to stabilize himself, but his face couldn't hide his ecstasy: "Are you telling the truth? Prince, did he really lead the troops to defeat the main force of the Ghost Rong? And, did he wipe out their main tribe?"

"That's true, sir, please read, this is the military newspaper in front!" The military soldier stumbled and handed over a close-fitting cloth bag. Li Ling took it and saw that the hot lacquer seal on his head was complete, using Sun Bi's handsome seal. This made him completely believe in this good news and made his emotions even more aroused.

He couldn't even wait to pick the hot paint with a knife, so he tore it with his hands, pulled open the cloth bag, and then reached out to touch it. Not only did he take out the good news, but there was also a private letter written by Sun Bi to him. Like the previous military newspapers, in addition to the formal documents, Sun Bi would also give Li Ling a more detailed letter.

Li Ling looked at the military newspaper first, looked down at him with a glance, and his eyes lit up: "It's really a victory, and it's an unprecedented victory. He actually killed the head of the Guirong Chief Tie Lezhen... Okay, it's such a great news. I want to report the victory to the court and His Majesty!"

Li Ling said, let out a long breath, and then said to the other party: "Brother, you have worked hard, hurry up and go and rest. Come and take him to a good bath and rest, and then prepare wine and good food for this brother!"

After the soldier who reported the victory thanked and retreated, Li Ling excitedly took the private letter. After opening it, he read it carefully and word by word.

The content in the battle report is actually quite simple. It just briefly talks about the relevant sequence, and it is more about how many achievements were made and the final result of the battle. But what Li Ling is more concerned about is the battle process. He was obviously worried that they would be besieged by Gui Rong before, but why did he become a great destruction of the enemy after a period of time?

After he read all the thick letters, he truly understood the wonders of Sun Bi's use of troops this time and the dangers of using troops.

"Is it because he used himself as bait to attract the main force of Gui Rong to attack, and then let the army come back and work together to defeat the enemy?" Li Ling couldn't help but exclaim. To be honest, this move was very similar to the previous battle in Northern Xinjiang. He used himself as bait to attract the main force of the enemy and then looked for an opportunity to defeat the enemy.

However, there are also quite different things, and the biggest difference lies in the location.

At that time, Sun Bi was on the risk of the Greater Vietnamese border, so even if he took risks, he still had room for rescue. But this time they went deep into the hinterland of the grassland, which could be said to be isolated and helpless, and the geographical advantage was in the control of the enemy. In this case, they dared to take risks as bait, which was enough to show how brave Sun Bi was. He was really betting on the entire army and his life.

If he was in the army at that time, he would have tried his best to dissuade him. But from the result, he had bet right. With just this battle, he would have eliminated the possibility of Gui Rong's resurgence and at least he could maintain peace in the Central Plains for a hundred years. And if the follow-up plan he wrote in his letter would be considered a failure forever.

"He actually thought of using this move, it was really cruel." Looking at the second half of the content, Li Ling took another breath. As early as when he set up this plan, Sun Bi had already guessed that the grassland tribes were hiding in groups because they were afraid of the killing of the Vietnamese army, and at the same time, the combat forces of these tribes must be with them.

In other words, when Gui Rong was trying to gamble on the Vietnamese army, the battlefield they chose would inevitably be not far from the settlement of their family members.

So Sun Bi asked the other two men to take charge of one side. Since the Jinzhou army came to rescue and defeat the enemy, the Jizhou army naturally had to find the hiding place for the Gui Rong, the elderly, weak, women and children. The facts proved that his judgment was quite accurate. In the valley dozens of miles north of the battlefield where he named Juerong Mountain, there was a gathering place for more than ten tribes of Gui Rong.

After finding this area, the Jizhou army launched a fatal storm against these old and weak foreign tribes who had only a little resistance. In the end, in less than half a day, they massacred all of these people. Then they set up an ambush outside. When Tie Lezhen and his men came back with the defeated army, they were attacked again, and they followed their tribe to hell.

What is a plan to lose the family? This is a real plan to lose the family. Whether it is a Gui Rong soldier who can fight on horseback, women and elderly people, or even hungry children, they are ruthlessly massacred by the soldiers of the Vietnamese army, which completely cuts off the possibility of these tribes resurgence in the future!

This is also something that the Central Plains dynasty rarely did in the northern expedition of the grasslands in the past. No matter in the Han and Tang dynasties, even at their peak, they also uphold the virtue of living and not over-slaughtering, especially the elderly, weak, women and children. But Sun Bi did not think so this time, because he knew very well that those frontal ghost soldiers were indeed the enemies at the moment, but for the entire Central Plains, those women and children were the biggest threat to the future.

Because even if you kill all their soldiers, it is difficult to guarantee that their descendants will not rise again in many years. Just like when the Dayue rose, they destroyed all foreign tribes such as the Liao and Jin dynasties and drove them out of the Central Plains, but decades later, weren’t they still become a border trouble for the Dayue again?

Since that's the case, it's better to slaughter it cleanly and do it once and for all!

As Li Ling, who had the thoughts of later generations, was somewhat uncomfortable when he saw such a battle result. He felt that killing everyone regardless of age was indeed contrary to humanity. However, when he thought about the harm caused by the Guirong invasion to the soldiers and the people on the frontier, he felt relieved.

As the saying goes, one retribution is returned to another. Since they always think about invading the Central Plains, they should also think of such consequences. What is to repay grudges with virtue is just a wishful saying by sour Confucians and corrupt scholars. As generals, they should repay grudges with directness and stop killing!

Another thing Li Ling cares about is that Sun Bi now really gives him the feeling of a true emperor. Perhaps only the future emperor can be able to take it out. If someone else has changed to someone else, he would not dare to have such a determination because he would cause material discussions.

Behind the letter, Sun Bi also mentioned that he would not return to the south for the time being, because he would continue to lead his army to sweep the grassland and remove the small tribes that were like fish that were missing one by one, so as to truly eradicate the roots. Therefore, Li Ling still needs to be responsible for the subsequent supply of the army.
Chapter completed!