In the end, Chuluo Khan could not bear the huge pressure and was forced to stop the siege of Shanyang County. The army immediately passed Loufan Pass and headed south. However, before the army headed south, in order to prevent the Sui army from cutting off its retreat, Chuluo Khan also made careful arrangements. He first divided the 170,000 troops in his hand into two groups. He led a 100,000 Turkic army south, and Kang Shuoli led a 70,000 army to stay in Mayi County.

At the same time, he ordered Kang Shuoli to move the south of Yangma City located in Zihe to outside Loufan Pass, in order to prevent being intercepted by the Sui army during long-distance transport of cattle and sheep. In addition, he set up a large camp in Qifubo, stationing 10,000 troops to be responsible for communicating the connection between Wang Ting and Bingzhou.

After deploying the defense of Mayi County, Chuluo Khan then led a 100,000 army through Loufan Pass and rolled to the south.

That afternoon, in the wilderness south of Yunnei County, an army of 50,000 people was marching north quickly. This army of 50,000 people was the northern expedition led by Li Jing. His army had been stationed in Yanmen County. He had been patiently waiting for the opportunity. According to the previous arrangement, once the main Turkic forces headed south, he would immediately lead the army northward and pretend to attack the empty Turkic king's court.

It was already dusk, and there were still ten miles away from Yunnei County. Li Jing ordered the soldiers to rest on the spot. This time, the Sui army was mainly infantry, but there were also eight thousand cavalry. The main force of the Sui army's cavalry was mainly deployed in Taiyuan County to prepare for a decisive battle with the Turkic main force.

Li Jing's army and Yuchi Gong's army were responsible for annihilation of the 70,000 troops left in Mayi County.

Li Jing was not in a hurry to go north. His formation was very large and he needed to let the Turkic army's patrol team discover him.

As night fell, the soldiers who had marched for a day were exhausted. They fell asleep early after dinner. They were light soldiers heading north without tents and other supplies. Each soldier only had a military blanket. He wrapped his body with a blanket and fell asleep on the grass.

In the only marching tent, Li Jing stood in front of a sand table and pondered for a long time. He first wanted to solve the problem of logistics food and supplies for 50,000 people. In fact, he knew very well that without strong logistics support, 50,000 people in the Northern Expedition of the Turkic King Court was actually unrealistic.

The reason why the Western Han army was able to defeat the Xiongnu army again and again was because the Western Han Dynasty used the power of the whole country to provide logistical support, so that in the late period of Emperor Wu, the entire Han Dynasty almost collapsed. With the current national strength of the Sui Dynasty, it was not realistic to destroy the Turks, but it was possible to wipe out the Turkic army that had invaded south.

Li Jing was calculating the food he carried. The dry food they carried could only support the army for ten days. Now three days have passed, and they must find supplies as soon as possible. Li Jing planned to wipe out the 10,000 Turkic troops stationed in Qifubo and seize their cattle and sheep materials.

It would take four days to go north from Yunnei County to Qifubo. He was a little worried that Qifubo's garrison would evacuate in time after discovering the Sui army, causing them to rush through the air. At that time, their dry food supply would only be three days left. It would be fine if a grassland tribe could be found, but if they could not find it, they would face the crisis of food cuts.

This was also the biggest risk in the Sui army's plan to go north, which made Li Jing hesitate. Of course, Li Jing also wanted to bring more food, but it was already the limit for the soldiers to carry dry food for ten days when they went north.

At this moment, soldiers outside the tent reported: "Report to General, we encountered four Sui soldiers on our outer patrol, and they said there was important information."

Li Jing was stunned and asked, "Where is the Sui army soldier?"

"It seems that the defenders of Zihe Pass were separated from their main force and were ready to turn to Yanmen County."

Li Jing immediately ordered, "Take them to see me!"

Soon, several ragged Sui soldiers were brought in. These people were Han Qianhui and others who had finally evacuated Zihe Pass. When they went down the mountain, they encountered a Turkic patrol patrol. A partner guard was injured. They dodged in the Zihe area for more than half a month before fleeing westward. They happened to meet Li Jing's army.

"Meet General Li in a humble position!" Several soldiers knelt on one knee and saluted.

Seeing that they were pale and thin, their skin and armor were broken, but they were barely like the Sui army, Li Jing asked, "Whose subordinates are you? Why are you here?"

Han Qianhui clasped his fists and said, "Report to the general, we are under General Zhang Zhenqiu of Zihe Pass. General Zhang was unfortunately killed. General Niu led his army to evacuate Zihe Pass and asked us to go up the mountain to light the beacon fire. We were separated from our main force. Later, we encountered Turkic patrols. We hid east and Tibet in the Zihe area. A few days ago, we stole three horses and then ran westward and happened to meet General Li."

Li Jing nodded. He heard Niu Jun retreating to Yanmen County say that Zhang Zhenqiu was unfortunately killed in battle when he was defending the enemy. The Turkic army was too powerful and they could not resist it, so they were forced to evacuate from Zihe Pass. These soldiers should be the soldiers who were separated at that time.

"What's the situation there now? Is the pass still there?" Li Jing asked again.

"The pass has been half demolished by the Turkic army, but there are Turkic defenders there."

Li Jing was stunned and asked, "How many defenders are there?"

"There were two thousand people originally, but a few days ago, more than ten thousand people came from the north, and now there are about ten thousand people."

Li Jing was shocked and asked anxiously: "Do you take the news seriously?"

"How dare the villain deceive the general?"

Li Jing quickly checked the map. He understood in his heart that this should be Qifubo's army retreating south to Zihe Pass, and he was preparing to go to Qifubo to annihilate the army. If the soldier had not told the situation in time, they would have lost their food to the north. It would be a big problem. The key is that their food can only be supported for seven days at most. It will take eight days to travel from Qifubo to the back and forth, and they will face the risk of food being cut off halfway.

Li Jing was sweating in a cold sweat on his back. He secretly thanked that he was lucky. Li Jing hurriedly asked, "Is there a Yangma City in Zihe Pass?"

"Of course, we survived by stealing their sheep and stole three war horses, probably one million cattle and sheep."

Li Jing was overjoyed. He thought for a while and asked again: "Did you come from Zihe and encounter a Turkic patrol?"

Han Qianhui bowed and said, "Report to the general, the Turkic army set up heavy notices on the south and east of Zihe River. We dare not walk from the south of Wuzhou Mountain, but instead detoured to the north of Wuzhou Mountain, and then headed south after departing to Yunnei County. We did not encounter Turkic patrols along the way."

Li Jing nodded and asked the soldiers to take them down to change clothes and rest, preparing to use them as the guides. He immediately ordered: "Send the whole army to set off for the fifth update!"

At the fourth update, a vanguard army of 3,000 people set out first with Han Qianhui and others as guides. One hour later, the 50,000 army continued to cross Yunnei County to the north, but they no longer went to Qifubo, but instead detoured to the north of Wuzhou and detoured to Zihe Pass to the west.

It takes two days to go from Yunnei County to Zihekou if it is a cavalry, and four days to infantry. This is still the time to go straight, but if it is a winding and curved line, it takes more time. The Sui army obviously knows this. They obviously speed up the marching speed and no longer stationed at night, but instead took an hour to continue traveling west.

Three days later, the army was still a hundred miles away from Zihekou. Li Jing ordered the soldiers to rest and have lunch on the spot. At this time, the vanguard army also slowed down, and was only thirty miles away from the main force behind, forming a pattern of echoing the beginning and the end.

Soon, a team of cavalry rushed over. They turned over and dismounted, and walked quickly into Li Jing's temporary marching tent with Han Qianhui. The captain bowed and bowed and said, "General, he is here!"

Han Qianhui hurried forward and knelt down on one knee to salute, "See General!"

He changed into a new dress and put on bright light armor. He was so majestic when he cleaned it up. Li Jing looked at him and smiled and said, "I heard from the forward General Ma that you are quite good at it, why are you just a small fire-headed person?"

Han Qianhui sighed for a while and said, "The villain dare not hide it from the general. We were originally soldiers who were trapped in the battle. They were converted to regular soldiers by General Zhang because they made contributions during Zihe defense. Therefore, the villain is just a fire chief."

Li Jing suddenly realized that they were all death row prisoners. He was even more interested and asked again: "What did you do before?"
Chapter completed!