The plateau army discovered by Ma Chao's scout was a large army organized by the Pufan tribe. The commander of the army was the eldest son of the Pufan tribe, Gildege, who was the eldest son of the Pufan tribe, Kysan Huqitu.

Gilledeg is 33 years old this year. As early as more than ten years ago, Gilledeg had been promoted to a master warrior. In addition, Gilledeg is quite talented and has great prestige in the entire Pufan clan. It can be said that he has long become the best candidate for the next Pufan clan.

At this time, Gilderge was riding a war horse in the middle of the team, and the few people following Gilderge were all Gilderge's confidant generals.

Gilderge suddenly turned his head and asked a capable middle-aged general, "Garu, how far is this place from Xinglong City?"

Galu immediately said respectfully, "Young clan leader, you can reach Xinglong City after walking about 180 miles."

Gilledge nodded slightly, "I ordered you to walk twenty miles today and then set up camp. Let's try to arrive at Xinglong City the afternoon of the following day."

Xinglong City is the largest city in the eastern border area of ​​the Eastern Man Protectorate, and it is also the county town of Xinglong County of the Eastern Man Protectorate.

Galu hesitated and asked, "Young clan leader, based on the information we have obtained, the Yanguo Zhennan Army in the Dongman area is very powerful. In addition to the Dongman Protectorate, he also controls a wider territory. He is the first prince of Yan and has millions of troops. Can we really force the Zhennan Army to agree to our request this time?"

Gilledger shook his head and said, "I don't know either, but if you don't get enough food, maybe one-third of the population on the plateau will be reduced before this autumn harvest, and maybe more."

It turned out that Jilledge led the army of the Pufan tribe to Xinglong County, the Dongman Protectorate, to go to the Zhennan Army to ask for food.

Galu said with a wry smile: "Young clan leader, I think it is impossible for Zhennan Army to agree to give us 50 million stones of food at once."

Jilledger's face showed a fierce light, "Instead of starving to death, it's better to give it a try. If the Zhennan Army does not agree to give food, then our Pufan tribes and other ethnic groups on the plateau will have to enter the Dongman area to grab food at all costs!"

After pausing, Gilderge continued, "I actually don't expect the Zhennan Army to give so much food, otherwise we would not have gathered 1.2 million troops from various tribes this time. As long as the Zhennan Army rejects our request, we will start from Xinglong City and fight one city by one until we get enough food!"

The information obtained by Yunshe from the prisoners was not very accurate. The Pufan clan did have thousands of tribes of all sizes, but the population of the Pufan clan, which combined more than 20 million, but more than 30 million.

If dozens of other ethnic groups on the plateau are added, the entire plateau will have a population of 45 million.

Due to the harsh plateau environment, people of all ethnic groups on the plateau have also cultivated a tenacious and fighting character. Almost all tribes on the plateau are soldiers, with a population of 45 million, and even an army of up to 15 million can be gathered.

So Gilderge easily collected 1.2 million Pufan troops, of which about 500,000 cavalry, and the remaining 700,000 were infantry.

There are two types of cavalry on the plateau, one is the light cavalry riding a plateau horse, and the other is the heavy cavalry riding a plateau cattle.

Plateau horses are a kind of horses that are specialized on the plateau. They are relatively short in size and naturally stand on the top of their heads at a height of only about one meter and three meters. Adult plateau horses can only reach 250 kilograms by carrying weights. However, plateau horses have good endurance, are not afraid of the cold, have extremely strong vitality, and can survive in difficult and harsh conditions.

Plateau cattle is a kind of wild buffalo that lives on the plateau. Its whole body is generally dark brown, with hair on both sides of the body, chest, abdomen and tail long and dense, with short and thick limbs. The adult plateau cattle is about one meter and four meters tall and weighs about one thousand kilograms. This plateau cattle has extremely strong weight-bearing ability and can carry things that exceed their own weight, and can also survive in difficult and harsh conditions.

However, on the plateau, the number of plateau cattle is not large. Among the 500,000 cavalry gathered by Gilderge this time, only 30,000 were heavy cavalry riding plateau cavalry, and the remaining 470,000 were all light cavalry.

The heavy cavalry riding the plateau cattle can be said to be the most elite army of all races on the plateau. Each heavy cavalry is wearing two or three layers of leather armor, and the plateau cattle under his crotch is also wearing a layer of leather armor.

Previously, the tribes of the plateau sent cavalry into the eastern border area of ​​the Eastern Barbarian Protectorate to rob. The light cavalry were dispatched, including the tens of thousands of plateau cavalry who were intercepted by Ma Chao before, and all were light cavalry riding plateau horses.

That night, Gilledger was sleeping in his felt bag when he was suddenly awakened by a noise.

Immediately afterwards, Galu opened the felt-packed door curtain and rushed in, "Young clan leader, something is not good! A large number of cavalry from Zhennan Army appeared, attacking our camps!"

When Gilledge heard this, he couldn't help but look a little surprised. You should know that this place is still a plateau area, and the combat effectiveness of the troops outside the plateau will inevitably decline a lot after entering the plateau area. How could the cavalry of the Zhennan Army appear here?

Gilledge was not panicked, "Help me wear armor! He ordered all troops to guard the camps and organize cavalry to fight back as soon as possible!"

The situation was much worse than what Gildege thought. The Zhennan Army, which was launched tonight, was the six heavy cavalry brigades of the Eighth Imperial Guard led by Ma Chao.

Although the six heavy cavalry brigades only had more than 40,000 heavy cavalry, the heavy cavalry of the more than 40,000 Zhennan Army were invincible among the camps of the 1.2 million Pufan army, and set fires everywhere among the many camps.

Even the heavy cavalry of the Pufan clan riding the plateau cattle were not the opponents of the Zhennan Army's heavy cavalry. After all, compared with the two, the heavy cavalry of the Zhennan Army was almost armed to the teeth.

The only advantage of the heavy cavalry of the Pufan clan is that the impact of the plateau cattle is stronger than the Dongman horses equipped by the heavy cavalry of Zhennan Army.

Unfortunately, in this night attack, the impact of the heavy cavalry of the Pufan clan was not exerted at all, and the heavy cavalry of the Zhennan Army was disrupted. Until the end of the night attack, the heavy cavalry of the Pufan clan did not organize an effective counterattack.

Of course, the army of the Pufan clan was still very tough on the battlefield. If the general army was repeatedly rushed by more than 40,000 cavalrymen in the camp without any preparation, it might have been blown up the camp long ago.

However, the Pufan army forced Ma Chao to end the attack early by relying on his own life-and-death battle, and led his heavy cavalry troops to withdraw from the many camps of the Pufan army.

When the camps that were far away from the Pufan army, the sky was already bright, and Ma Chao immediately counted the number of people, and couldn't help feeling a little painful.

The night attack may have only been more than an hour, and the six heavy cavalry brigades led by Ma Chao almost killed one and a half, losing about tens of thousands of heavy cavalrymen.

Ma Chao smiled wryly and said to Yang Lun, deputy commander of the Eighth Imperial Guard, “These Pufan armies are much more tenacious when fighting than the Logazhe clans we encountered before.”

The Luzhe tribe is also a nation on the plateau. If the Pufan tribe is excluded, the Luzhe tribe is also a large race among the dozens of ethnic groups on the plateau, with a population of more than 400,000.

The plateau cavalry with tens of thousands of people who were intercepted and killed by Ma Chao before belonged to a large tribe of the Luozhe tribe.

Yang Lun looked at Ma Chao, whose armor was stained with blood, and said with a smile: "The Pufan tribe is the largest clan on the plateau after all. Relatively speaking, the Lushe tribe is just a small clan with a population of hundreds of thousands on the plateau. Although our Eighth Imperial Guard suffered a significant loss this night attack, the Pufan tribe must have suffered greater losses, and when we attacked the camp, we did not forget to set fire! Grandmaster, you are covered in blood, aren't injured?"

"Not hurt, these bloods belong to the enemy."

"Master, will we still stay on the plateau next?"

"After this army of the Pufan tribe suffered this loss, they should not dare to be careless on the plateau. It will be difficult for us to attack again. Let's go home first and wait for this army of the Pufan tribe to come to their doors, and then continue to teach them a lesson."

After the army of the Pufan clan counted the losses, Gildeg, as the commander, suddenly felt like he was crying but not crying.

During the night attack of the Zhennan Army, the army of the various tribes of the Pufan tribes lost about 130,000 people in total. This loss is barely enough to withstand the Pufan army of the 1.2 million.

The problem is that during the night attack, most of the food in the camps was burned down by the heavy cavalry of the Zhennan Army. In order to ask for food from the Zhennan Army, Gilderge finally raised enough food for one.2 million troops to eat for three months.

In fact, if Gildeg could raise more food and grass, he could lead more Pufan troops this time to ask for food from Zhennan Army.

It took almost a month to rush over the road and consumed one-third of the food and grass.

There was already enough food and grass left for 1.2 million troops to eat for two months, but this time the Zhennan Army attacked the camp, burned more than three-quarters of the remaining food and grass.

Even if Gilledger has only one million and seventy thousand troops left, the remaining food and grass is only barely enough for them to eat for half a month.

Garu looked at Jilledge with a gray face and asked carefully: "Young clan leader, are we still moving towards Xinglong City?"

Gilledge waved his hand with some annoyance, "Send a quick horse to deliver a letter to my dad! The Zhennan Army easily cost more than ten times the cost of more than 10,000 people this time, causing more than ten times the loss to our Pufan clan. I believe that even if I brought the remaining more than one million troops to Xinglong City, the Zhennan Army would not agree to give us food."

After pausing, Gildege continued: "Now our Pufan tribe can only make a desperate move and gather more troops to put pressure on the Zhennan Army, or directly attack the Dongman area controlled by the Zhennan Army."

"Young clan leader, then we are now?"

"Let each department rebuild the camp, we are here to wait for my father's decision!"

A few days later, the messenger traveled day and night to deliver the letter written by Gilderge to the hands of the Pufan clan Kezhuqitu.

After reading the handwritten letter from his eldest son Gilderge, Huqitu couldn't help but feel a hint of melancholy on his face, and then handed the letter from his eldest son Gilderge to Sulermo, the eldest elder of his tribe.

The tribe of the Pufan clan praised Huqitu, which is the largest tribe of the Pufan clan, with a population of more than 600,000. The elder Sulermo, who is now in his seventies, can still praise Huqitu's uncle according to his seniority.

"It's a pity that the southern army of Yanguozhen is a fierce tiger. In front of the southern army of Yanguozhen, our Pufan tribe is at best a hungry wolf, and a hungry wolf cannot defeat a tiger!" The great elder Sulemo said with a little sadness.

"Uncle, even if the southern army in Yanguozhen is a tiger and our Pufan tribe is a hungry wolf, we can't retreat at this time. If we cannot get enough food, we will not mention other ethnic groups on the plateau. Just our Pufan tribe will likely reduce one-third of the population in the next six months. That is the lives of ten million people, and this is just a conservative estimate." Hu Qitu said gritting his teeth.

The great elder Sulemo shook his head, "How wonderful, although you didn't tell me some things, I already know that the Zhennan Army of Yanguo now controls twenty-three prefectures and three PRDs. Among them, the land area and population of the Southern Barbarian Protectorate and the Western Barbarian Protectorate are even greater than the Eastern Barbarian Protectorate adjacent to the plateau. Moreover, the Zhennan Army not only has tens of millions of regular troops, but also tens of millions of rural soldiers. These tens of millions of rural soldiers can be transformed into regular troops of Zhennan Army at any time."

Hu Qitu's face changed slightly, "Uncle, who told you this?"

The great elder Sulemo sighed and said, "It's a pity, it doesn't matter who told me, but the Zhennan Army of Yan State is obviously a behemoth. If our Pufan tribe provoked this behemoth, it would probably cause great trouble."

Hu Qitu pondered for a moment and said, "Uncle, although the Zhennan Army of Yan State is a giant, the Zhennan Army is now fighting with three countries. Moreover, because one of the countries has a powerful maritime fleet, it has blocked most of the Zhennan Army's army from the other side of the sea. As long as we, the Pufan clan, can make a desperate bet, there is still hope to force the Zhennan Army to hand over the food."

"What if Zhennan Army just refuses to give it?"

Hu Qitu said decisively: "Then I can only lead tens of millions of troops from all races on the plateau to enter the Dongman Protectorate Mansion to find food by myself."

The great elder Sulemo sighed again and said, "It's a pleasing. In fact, even if our Pufan tribes have reduced one-third of its population, it will not shake the foundation of our Pufan tribes. Maybe it will take less than thirty years to make up for this third of our Pufan tribes. Why bother..."

Before the Great Elder Sulemo finished speaking, he was interrupted by Hu Qitu, "Uncle, I have been in the position of Kyprinz for more than 30 years. I finally increased the population of our Pufan clan from more than 20 million to more than 30 million. I don't want my efforts to bet on this one after the past 30 years. I have to gamble this time!"

:.:
Chapter completed!