Liang Xiao received the message and immediately returned to camp to inform Lü Yi and others.
Lü Yi hastily convened a meeting.
"The Tianjiang River section is cleared, and our army will immediately send men and horses to cross the river to notify various places to transport grain, so as to avoid a shortage of supplies!"
The soldiers realized this, and were overjoyed!
As trusted generals of Liang Xiao and Lü Yi, they naturally knew a bit of intelligence.
In fact, the grain brought by the Da Qian army was only enough for a few months. After all, the barbarians had many cavalry, and they couldn't let millions of civilian workers risk transporting grain. They could only rely on tens of thousands of large and small grain transport vehicles, and let the soldiers carry some dry rations.
The great army blocking the northern gap of the Helan Mountains was also to seize control of the Tianjiang River.
As long as the Tianjiang River flowed smoothly, countless transport ships could safely deliver supplies from the western regions, northern regions, the capital, Shuofang, Yanzhou, and other places!
At that time, no matter how long the barbarians wanted to fight, the Da Qian kingdom could accompany them!
The barbarians clearly did not realize such a crucial point.
However, Liang Xiao's true purpose was not to fight a protracted war. The formation of the Da Qian army also indicated their readiness to attack the Helan Mountains at any time, otherwise they would not have set up camp so close and in such a dangerous location.
The real purpose was to occupy the Helan Mountains, and then seize other territories of the barbarians. If the climate was normal, they could take the opportunity to pursue the fleeing barbarian soldiers, go deep into the desert, and drive the barbarians out of the Mobei!
From then on, there would be no royal court in Mobei!
In the eyes of the generals, this was the grand strategy Liang Xiao had devised!
To inflict pain on the barbarians, Liang Xiao had made all the preparations, even calculating the time.
Taking advantage of the spring, summer, and autumn seasons, they would defeat the barbarians, pursue them in Mobei, sweep through the barbarian lands, and consider returning before winter!
However, only Liang Xiao and Lü Yi among those present understood that there was another goal in venturing deep into the desert.
To explore the treasure of the ancient Xiongnu King, a massive amount of gold, which must not be obtained by foreign races first!
This matter was extremely secret. Lü Yi had not even told Lü Changhe. Lü Changhe only knew roughly that his cousin had obtained a treasure and had become a truly wealthy woman…
And deep in the desert, a treasure-hunting team of ten thousand people was digging with shovels, spades, and other tools.
Leading them was the envoy sent by the Tianri tribe to visit the Right Virtuous King, Valentine!
"Lord Valentine, we have been searching for months, and we really cannot find it. We are almost out of food!" a golden-haired captain said, shaking his head.
Valentine frowned and said angrily, "Impossible! There must be treasure deep in this desert, perhaps the location is wrong! Are you sure it is here?"
"It should be here…" the captain said with a dry laugh. "By the way, Lord Valentine, where did this treasure map come from? You and His Majesty are so smart, how could you believe it…"
Valentine considered that this captain could not betray him, so he said in a deep voice, "It was the Queen of Guizi, who learned of it from the King of Guizi's sleep talk. Three treasures, the smallest of which is in the Western Regions, and was found by the state of Guizi, which is why Guizi could rise! Another is south of Yanzhou in the Da Qian country. The last one, and the most valuable, is said to contain more gold than the other two treasures combined, and it is deep in this desert!"
The captain was startled.
Valentine reminded him, "As long as we find the treasure, you will enjoy endless glory and wealth! The barbarians are quite cooperative, but the Da Qian country is different. Our Tianri tribe must invade Da Qian, obtain the treasure from Da Qian, and then rule this land, slaughter all Da Qian people, and let this place be filled with pasture, with cattle and sheep everywhere! This land, which could be plundered by the ancient Xiongnu King for so much gold, shows how prosperous it is!"
"Lord Valentine is rarely so serious. We can dig for another half a year. After half a year, I'm afraid the barbarians will no longer be willing to provide cattle and sheep…" the captain sighed, preparing to go back and direct the excavation.
"Just keep digging, I will handle the food! Horos, I must remind you, although there is no possibility of you betraying me and His Majesty, you had better not leak any information. Work hard and await promotion and enfeoffment, I guarantee it!" Valentine still did not feel at ease and reminded him again.
Captain Horos nodded repeatedly, "Understood! My family is in your hands, and I have also taken your special secret medicine…"
After Horos left, Valentine gazed into the distant desert and clenched his fist, "It's impossible that it's not here. Guizi did find gold, the treasure cannot be fake, and Herov would not have hidden the most treasure in the Western Regions! Therefore… the other two treasures must still be here, at least one of them is here!!"
No country can resist the temptation of enormous gold.
East of the Helan Mountain pass, the barbarians had grown accustomed to the close confrontation with the Da Qian army.
However, the Right Virtuous King and the Left Virtuous King were at a loss.
Since the Da Qian army set up camp, they had not launched any attacks. They were only prepared for cavalry battles, specifically intercepting some of the barbarian cavalry who went out to scout.
The main force responsible for intercepting the barbarian cavalry was the white-robed soldiers, who did not shy away from the task.
As a result, the barbarian cavalry found themselves in an embarrassing situation where they could not fight and could not escape. Every time they attacked, they were caught and slaughtered by the white-robed soldiers.
In more than ten days, the barbarians had lost over two thousand elite cavalrymen and had over a thousand warhorses captured…
The Right Virtuous King was still reluctant to give up probing, but his subordinates had no interest in harassing the white-robed soldiers anymore. They all pleaded with the Right Virtuous King to hold their ground and use the stored food in the Helan Mountains to wear down the Da Qian army.
"Do Liang Xiao and Lü Yi think that our army cannot hold out in the Helan Mountains for long and will retreat due to lack of food?" the Right Virtuous King frowned.
The Left Virtuous King narrowed his eyes and said, "If he wants to drag out the war, we will drag it out with him! As long as the Helan Mountains are under our control, our rear can graze freely, while their warhorses, after eating all the wild grass outside, will have to eat stored dry grass, and the amount of dry grass required is immeasurable!"
The Right Virtuous King nodded, "They have set up their camp in such a place, which can indeed prevent our army from moving out, but once they retreat, our army can quickly launch a surprise attack and kill them all. At that time, only the Da Qian cavalry will be able to escape!"
The Left Virtuous King reminded him, "Things are definitely not that simple! Liang Xiao is cunning and can launch a surprise attack on our army at any time. We must not be careless…"
The Right Virtuous King curled his lips, "This King wants to strike the enemy hard and atone for our sins with you!"
The Left Virtuous King gave a wry smile.
The barbarians had been threatening the northern border of Da Qian since the late autumn, and their losses had exceeded 220,000. Even if they had not been fundamentally crippled, they had at least suffered serious injuries…
In the Da Qian army camp, Liang Xiao and Lü Yi continued to train their troops daily, never relaxing their vigilance.
"Have any enemy scouts approached our rear?" Liang Xiao asked Lü Changhe.
Lü Changhe shook his head, "They don't dare to come anymore! However, even if they don't dare to come, we dare not give up patrolling! After all, we followed the Deputy Marshal to defeat the enemy, and we deeply understand the importance of scouts and vision. We will never let the enemy approach!"
Liang Xiao was then relieved.
The stalemate between the two sides lasted for another seven days.
As Lü Yi and Liang Xiao's military orders were conveyed to various regions.
A large number of transport ships in the western regions began to load.
At the same time, transport ships in Shuofang were also being loaded.
Yunzhou, Yanzhou, Hebei, Donghai…
Especially the transport ships in the capital area, sailing upstream along the stable Tianjiang River, were also loaded with a large amount of weaponry.
Sharp-eyed boatmen had already noticed that the rudders and sails of these capital transport ships seemed to be different from before. By operating the rudders and sails in combination, they could sail faster against the wind than before…