In the seventh year of Zhenguan, early winter.

Hejiang.

The Lujiang River converges into the mouth of Panlong River, a village on a flat jungle mountain. The southern army led by Qin Lang penetrates from the mountain valley upstream of the Jinjiang River to the southwest, entering the Lujiang River Valley, an upper tributary of Panlong River, and then sweeps the barbarian villages along the river valley, and goes southeast to this jungle mountain.

Qin Lang was interested in the flat terrain here, especially when it was connected to the upper and lower reaches of Panlong River and could connect to Jinjiang through Lujiang River. Therefore, he decided to set up Hejiang Prefecture here early to garrison troops and cultivate land.

In this wild mountainous area, the key point to control barbarians is those river valley channels, and the key point to control these channels is the intersection of rivers that can connect several crossroads.

The unique scenery of the rivers and rivers are like paradises, with beautiful mountains and rivers, isolated from the world.

There are both terraced fields in the mountains and the cultivation of dry rice on the hillside with slash and fire. In this small jungle valley, several barbarian tribes live in each of them, and they are skilled in rectifying and cultivating the terraced fields on the hillside. There are also Juchengman who likes to directly cultivate slash and fire. Some streams and barbarians like to mine and smel, while others like to hunt and fish, and they do not interfere with each other's well water.

In the fields, women are often seen.

"Why do some people open terraced fields to store water to grow rice, but some people burn mountains to plant dry rice?" Standing on the dry stairs in the village of Hejiang, looking at the scene outside, many soldiers from Central China were puzzled.

"In fact, it is related to the geographical climate. You should also know that the weather in Annan is actually very different from that in Lingnan, Guangdong and Guangxi. The rainy season is obvious here, and there is no distinction between the four seasons as obvious as the Central Plains. When the rainy season comes, there will be continuous rainfall, so even on the mountain, you can still plant rice. Those hillside dry rice grown by Jucheng or Jiaozhou are just to set fire to a mountain, then poke a hole in the burned hillside with a wooden stick, and then sprinkle a few rice seeds into it, without even covering the soil. The burned trees and grass ash can provide nutrients for rice seeds, sufficient rainy season precipitation can ensure the water they need, and they don't even need to be taken care of. Just wait for the rice to mature and harvest."

The cow was shocked to death, "Is there really dry rice? Slash-and-burn planting?"

Someone said happily, "Then how about we bring this rice seed back to the Central Plains, especially Guanlong?"

"You are stupid. Haven't you heard that you can plant dry rice on the mountain here because of that rainy season here? Guanzhong is lacking. If you plant rice on the mountain, how can you survive?" Niu Jianhu said disdainfully.

Qin Lang nodded, "It's true."

Some people think it's wrong.

"Since that's the case, why does Heman want to build terraces? Isn't that thankless?"

"Although the hillside dry rice planted with slash and fire is magical, it is just a special rice seed cultivated by these barbarians for a long time. Although this rice seed also has many advantages, it also has disadvantages, that is, the yield of this mountain rice is actually not high."

"The barbarians like to build terraces is actually due to their previous habit of moving south from the Central Plains. After all, from Longyou to Jiannan to Yunnan and then to Nanzhong, many places do not have the conditions to build mountain dry rice, neither the rice seed nor the climate at that time, so they still have traditional rice cultivation, but they only migrate south. Good plains have long occupied them, so they can only move into mountainous areas, and even live on the hillsides in the mountains, without the plains, so they build terraces on the hillsides.

It has been passed down from generation to generation, so the Heman people have very excellent terraced rice cultivation technology, especially here, with sufficient rainfall, which is more suitable for building terraced rice. The glutinous rice grown by the Heman people has a soft and delicious taste and is also suitable for brewing wine.

Of course, more importantly, although the construction of terraced fields is more complicated and harder than slash-and-burn farming, the harvest is also higher. The mountain rice grown by slash-and-burn farming is not as good as stone per mu, but the yield of glutinous rice grown in terraced fields is even far higher than the rice field output in the Central Plains.

In other words, I actually mastered advanced rice terrace planting technology with the barbarians.

"Impossible, can Heman be better at farming than us Han people?"

"What's impossible? They have been farming for generations after all, and don't forget that they are a tribe that is constantly migrating. They have constantly learned and integrated the farming techniques of other tribes and adopted the strengths of many families. Of course, this is also related to the weather here. If you go to Guanzhong, Longyou to build terraced rice, it will definitely not work."

Niu saw the tiger and was dissatisfied, "I remember Sanlang, there were a lot of terraces next to Chang'an?"

"This is true, but look at where my terraces are? They are all reclaimed and rectified in some riverside ditch valleys, close to the water source. Only by setting up water trucks and building ditches to divert water and irrigate, can the profit be guaranteed."

There is actually no real rainy season in Annan. Linyi, Zhenla Funan and other places south of Annan have the real tropical monsoon climate. There is a distinct rainy season and dry season. But Annan is also close after all, so the climate is relatively close.

From the beginning of autumn to early summer next year, it is a season of drought and rainy, while from summer to autumn, it is a season of continuous rain.

Now this winter is actually a good season to conquer the Southern Barbarians. Because the weather is cool and drought is low, it is conducive to marching. If it is dragged to the rainy season, although this side is not as powerful as the south side, the climate will become humid and stuffy, with continuous rain and rivers. At that time, marching and fighting is definitely a nightmare for the Central Plains soldiers.

Especially in this season, northern troops are often prone to many outbreaks.

In May of the Central Plains, there are names for evil moons, and there are traditions such as drinking realgar wine to drive away epidemics. In Annan, it is certainly more difficult for people in northern China to adapt.

The strategic plan formulated by Qin Lang is to attack in a line-like manner and then set up a point-shaped trench fort, but he never thought about solving the problem at one time.

Instead, we will open up several transportation lines, build fortresses and fortresses at each node, and then cultivate land and train troops. We must adapt to the climate here, and prepare for long-term quarantine and siege to suppress the rebellion, and we will not be in a hurry.

The ultimate goal is to not be satisfied with defeating, but to truly carry out direct and practical rule.

Of course, some people have raised doubts about Qin Lang's plan.

Now that the army is launching together, the climate is cool and dry, it is quite good.

But what if the rainy season begins next year, the army retreats, and the soldiers in the fortresses who stayed to guard, the migrant families, the prisoners and slaves who were entrusted with the army, can they maintain it?

Can they truly adapt to the harsh climate and environment at that time, especially the plague and diseases, and the counterattack of the barbarians?

Qin Lang still thinks it can be a try, as long as you make more preparations in advance.

If you want to live a large army once, you will make all the barbarians surrender. This is not realistic and impossible. You can only deceive yourself.

Not to mention anything else, even if you visit all the barbarian villages in these deep mountains and forests, it is probably not something that you can't do in a few years.

In that inconvenient mountain, looking at the mountain, looking not far away, the two barbarian villages seemed to be able to hear a loud shout, but if you really wanted to go over, you might have to cross mountains and ridges, or even go around left and right. Those continuous mountains and deep valleys will make you miserable, and you may not be able to go over for seven or eight days.

This is the current situation of barbarian land.

Although Qin Lang and the others were divided into three armies, and the three armies were divided into left and right sides, they could only advance along the main river valley roads and used troops for some big villages, but they were temporarily out of reach for other barbarian camps that deviated from the main roads.

This can only be done step by step.

So far, since Qin Lang sent troops from Gaoping Fort, the progress has been quite smooth. The main force of Jucheng fled in panic. The Jucheng barbarians in the mountains and some other tribes were no longer able to effectively resist the Tang army.

The dragons have no heads and are in chaos.

Qin Lang advanced along the main channel and defeated many villages, but there were more villages behind him that had not even seen them.

However, some major nodes in the plan were successfully won and construction has already started.

Hejiang is one of the seven new states planned by Qin Lang. It is a very important point. A guarding fortress will be built here.

After a brief rest here, they will leave some auxiliary soldiers, and the civilians will build fortresses with some of the barbarians summoned here, and then take the soldiers up the Panlong River and go straight to the nest of the Juchengnong clan.

It’s just that the plan will never keep up with the changes.

The Hejiang Fortress had just begun to lay the foundation, and the soldiers who had been marching for several days were still very tired. As a result, a team of light cavalry came from the southwest and they sent Li Daliang's latest military newspaper.

Not long ago, Zhang Bi, the governor of Aizhou, Annan Protectorate, led 8,000 troops to pursue the Juchengman to the bank of the Nongren River, and the entire army was gone.

The entire army of eight thousand soldiers was gone, not the Ascon Barbarian Army that bound the Manzhou Province, but the regular Tang army under the Annan Grand Protectorate, including two thousand light cavalry.

The eight thousand well-equipped Tang army even had two thousand light cavalry. This was definitely a lateral force in Annan, but it was wiped out in the barbarian land.

Although these eight thousand people also took away nearly 20,000 troops of Juchengman and Heman with blood and swords before they died in battle, this still shocked Qin Lang and others.

The Nong Sanniang once again created a miracle. She brought 20,000 young men from Jucheng to form a formation on the back of the water to block the Tang army's pursuit. In the end, not only did it not be destroyed, but instead annihilated the eight thousand Tang troops.

The eight hundred barbarian cavalry and eight thousand young men brought by Meng Guju of the Heman tribe were very important. The two barbarian tribes who came one after another gave the Tang army the last blow.

Not supposed to be.

Niu Jianhu and others looked incredible. They all thought that the barbarians were barbarians, and Tang Jun should beat ten of them one by one.

"Even tigers can't stand the wolves!"

Qin Lang carefully reviewed the battle, and finally had to shake his head. The most important thing about Zhang Bi's defeat was that he underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly. He had pursued the entire army for seven days and seven nights before, exhausted the pursuit of the entire army. Originally, there were tens of thousands of auxiliary soldiers and civilians behind him, but in order to pursue the enemy, he left those behind hundreds of miles behind.

Li Daliang's troops, who should have kept a distance and supported each other, were also left too far by Zhang Bi.

Of course, if Zhang Bi can give up the battle decisively when the Heman tribes attack, lead his army to retreat slowly, and let go of Jucheng, then even if he is injured, he will not be able to be wiped out.

He thought he could defeat the two barbarians, but in the end he was defeated and defeated.

Zhang Bi fought hard enough in this battle, but he made many fatal mistakes. Of course, it was unexpected that the barbarians could fight back against the enemy in such desperate situations. I guess other generals would not think that the barbarians had a chance to win, and they all thought they could win.

That Nong Sanniang is really unexpected everywhere.

When he heard that Nong Sanniang's eldest son died in front of the formation, Niu Jianhu and others applauded, but Qin Lang understood the woman more.

This battle is not the last time when Jucheng invaded Tang Realm. This time it was a desperate battle on their way to escape. If they didn't fight to the death, they would die. If their homes were gone, their parents, wives and children would die. They were fighting for their lives, and even for their relatives and for their ethnic groups.

Those people have too much anger in their hearts. When they all burst out, it is terrible, especially when they are under a commander with extremely amazing fighting spirit and determination.

After losing Zhang Bi, the powerful general and the eight thousand elite troops, Li Daliang quickly led his troops north, but he was unable to stop the two barbarians who fled south in Baping City.

The two sides started a big battle on Bapingbazi. Nong Sanniang wrapped her forehead with a white towel, wore a white robe, and charged forward with her son's sword. She joined forces with the great ghost master Meng Wuke and the fierce Heman soldiers to attack.

After all, Li Daliang came from afar, and the soldiers were exhausted, especially after losing Zhang Bi's army, Li Daliang only had a few thousand soldiers.

After a day of bloody battle with the barbarians, they could not stop the shocking momentum of the barbarians.

Li Daliang's army lost 3,000 yuan and had to retreat into Baping City. In the end, he could only watch more than 100,000 barbarians helping the elderly and young, passing by Baping City in a mighty way. The barbarians passed by the city for three days and three nights.

Although Li Daliang went out of the city several times to attack, he was eventually repelled by Nong Sanniang and Meng Wuhuo, and had no results.

"Duke Wei, please order the troops to be sent to pursue." Niu Jianhu and other generals asked for orders.

Qin Lang just put down the letter and slowly shook his head.

Everyone has run away, why are you chasing?

After the two barbarians rushed through the Baping City, no one could stop them when they went south. They headed south, and there was the base camp of Heman, more than a dozen tribes of Heman, and countless barbarians were still in strength.

Li Daliang is now injured. If it weren't for some of the navy's troops supporting him, he would have to worry that Heman would take the opportunity to go down the West Dao River and take straight to Jiaozhou.

"Since the war has been completed and the barbarians have also run away, so don't worry about them for the time being. Let's clean up the mess later."

"Before the rainy season comes next summer, I hope to reach Nanpanjiang in the west, Xidaojiang in the south, to the north, and to the east, to the thousands of miles of barbarian land in Gaoping, all of which will be conquered."

"Non Sanniang and Meng Wuxue killed our 8,000 soldiers and brothers, just let it go?"
Chapter completed!