Cai Xudong was a small leader in the Tang army, with about twenty men under his command. They were under General Li Chengyi. The pre-war mobilization had already been discussed, but after marching under the scorching sun for six days, the morale of the brothers was inevitably affected.
There are brothers here who came from Hebei. It is cooler there. The temperature here is around 30 degrees every day, and it becomes freezing cold in an instant at night. It is not easy to persist.
Apart from the logistics on their horseback, the rest probably depends on personal willpower. If your personal willpower is not strong enough, no matter how awesome the things you carry are, you probably won't be able to get through.
Li Chengyi divided his army into two groups. One group rode camels and they were going to cross the desert. If they relied on war horses to cross the desert, it would be impossible. The other army walked on the edge of the desert, but this side was also a Gobi Desert and there was no good road.
"Sir, we have arrived at the location where the weather balloon will be launched."
The scouts in the team looked at the sun. According to their speed, it should be time. The regulations stipulate that a sounding balloon must be released every twenty miles. If it is a sunny day, they can just lead the balloon forward, but the wind is a little strong today.
"Raise the flag and be on alert."
Releasing balloons every twenty miles is a strict order. Although it is a little troublesome, it can ensure the safety of the entire army. If you want to take shortcuts, then you also want to take shortcuts for your own safety.
A thin soldier was tied up, and then a well-protected balloon was taken out from the huge carriage at the back, carrying the soldier slowly into the sky.
When he reached a certain height, he took out his binoculars and looked ahead and to the left and right. He would not have looked behind him, but the surroundings were too desolate. What if we got lost and the enemy ran behind us? He had to find a way to look behind him.
After a few breaths, the black-clad cavalrymen were no longer seen around, so the soldiers above waved the flags in their hands. Cai Xudong and his men below also saw it, so they prepared to collect the people in the sky and continue to advance twenty miles.
"Wait, Xiao Si has something to say..."
Cai Xudong felt that something was wrong with the rope in his hand. It turned out that Xiao Si in the sky was shaking the rope vigorously, which meant that he had discovered something fatal. Cai Xudong immediately called the flag signalman to his side. The air flow in the sky was too strong. If you rely on your throat, even if you shout your throat out, I am afraid that no one will know what he is saying.
"Black-clad camel soldiers spotted twenty miles to the left."
The flag signalman already knew what Xiao Si in the sky said and translated it word for word.
"The number is about a thousand and continues to increase. The request is for an increase."
After hearing Xiao Si's words, Cai Xudong observed the wind direction around him and found that he could still rise five meters. You know, from his position, if he continued to rise five meters, he would be able to observe at least several thousand meters more.
"Notify the entire army to prepare for war."
If there were only more than a thousand people, Xiao Si would not have issued such a warning. This means that after the attack, we found that the number of enemies was too large. We didn't expect that we encountered the main force of the enemy not long after leaving the headquarters.
Cai Xudong immediately began to wave the main flag. Some officials behind him also saw it and immediately ordered their soldiers to form a defensive posture. The artillery and musket teams also took their positions immediately. Special personnel immediately went to notify Li Chengyi.
The main flag has been used, which means that many enemies have been discovered.
Li Chengyi was currently writing a memorial to Li Xiang, recording everything he had seen and heard over the past few days.
Because the land is barren, there are indeed not many people. Apart from some sheltered places, there are no gathering places in other places. It is even more desolate than the Central Asian region we occupied.
There is another sentence that this guy didn't dare to write down, which is that you don't want these broken places even if they are given to you for free, but Li Xiang knows how precious these places are. You can refuse them now, but if you go to modern society, you won't exchange these places for anything, and you will find black gold with just one shovel.
"Report to the general, the enemy has been spotted."
The sound came from far away. Li Chengyi calmly wrote a few words, then handed the memorial to Li Xiang, then put on his sword and went out to meet people.
"I've had a feeling for a long time. The first shot must be fired by our people. Notify the scouts to immediately conduct reconnaissance on the people ahead. The other troops should prepare for battle."
After listening to Cai Xudong's report, Li Chengyi immediately ordered his men to attack. Isn't this the moment we've been waiting for? Although we don't know how many enemies are there, we can handle any number of them. When there were only a few thousand people before, Li Chengyi was not afraid. Now with a full 20,000 troops, what is there to fear?
If you need people, you need guns; if you have guns, you need cannons; on this battlefield in southern Central Asia, Li Chengyi is not afraid of anyone.
According to the current map, it should be within the territory of Afghanistan, where many nomadic peoples live.
When they heard that this army was coming to attack the Arab Empire, some people immediately resisted, but some people were very happy. The taxes imposed on them by the Arab Empire were too high. Although they all had the same faith, they also wanted to overthrow the rule of the Arab Empire. In their eyes, the caliph there was too greedy and wanted to take away all their daily necessities.
"We've been discovered."
It is almost impossible to hide an army of more than 10,000. After our scouts set out for a while, the people of the Arab Empire also discovered us. They began to change their formation, and the army behind them also began to speed up.
Li Chengyi had also sent a signal to the nearby troops, asking them to move forward quickly.
However, judging from the current situation, it should be useless. If it were the armies of other countries, it would take at least a stable amount of time for them to discover each other. But the Arab army is different. As long as they discover the enemy, their attack will probably come in half an hour at most, without any delay.
