From now on, no one is allowed to come close without my order! "
Li Siye suddenly said.
"Milord …"
"Those who disobey will be executed!"
Li Siye slashed with his right hand. The giant WuZi Steel sword in his right hand emitted a beam of sword energy that slammed into the ground with a boom. Rocks and dust flew everywhere, leaving a deep sword mark on the ground. In an instant, everyone was as silent as cicadas out of fear, subconsciously backing away.
"Yes, Milord."
Someone said in a low voice.
Li Siye would never deliberately put on airs, but if he was serious, it meant that this matter was very serious. At this time, no one dared to provoke him.
"Young Master, is this the key to the war you told me about?"
Li Siye said to himself.
At this time, he already understood why Wang Chong had left this box for him. Sheep plague rarely occurred on the grasslands, but when it did, it was a disaster. Unlike the people of the Central Plains, the people of the grasslands did not know much about medicine or prescriptions. When sheep died of the plague, they did not know how to bury the corpses like the people of the Central Plains.
Coupled with the herds of the grasslands, the number of cattle and sheep could reach tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, or even more. So when sheep plague occurred, it was a large-scale disaster.
For the people of the grasslands, this was absolutely a matter that would make them pale.
But the grasslands had always been hostile to the Central Plains. Moreover, cattle and sheep fed on water. After eating one place, they would move to another. Their mobility was especially high, so sheep plague rarely occurred on the grasslands. Many herdsmen did not even know what sheep plague was. This also allowed the nomads of the grasslands to be taken advantage of.
The significance of this thing that Wang Chong had prepared was self-evident.
In the past, Li Siye would have vehemently opposed it. But now, the 180,000 elites of the Protectorate of the Southwest had been routed, Li Zhengyi's 60,000 reinforcements had been ambushed, and the Tang Dynasty had opened its gates to the southwest. Nearly a million people had no shelter and were completely exposed to the allied forces of Mengshe Zhao and Ouzan. At this time, if he was still soft-hearted and cherished his reputation, he would be pedantic.
Kindness to the enemy is cruelty to oneself.
"… But, is this really useful?"
Li Siye sighed in his heart.
Even if he understood the purpose of these things, Li Siye still didn't understand the purpose of Wang Chong's arrangement. Whether or not the sheep plague could cause any harm was a matter for the future, but the crisis of the southwest army was right before their eyes. Moreover, even if he completed his mission, Ouzan's army would not suffer any losses.
Was this really going to work?
"Coming, bring me a bag of food!"
Li Siye took a deep breath and suddenly said.
"Yes, my lord."
Soon, a soldier came over with a bag of soybeans and rations. Li Siye did not let anyone participate. He mixed the bag of soybeans, peas, and rations into the mix.
"Buzz!"
After doing all this, Li Siye suddenly flicked his wrist, sending out a burst of Stellar Energy that slammed the lid shut. He then raised his head and looked into the distance.
Looking from here, herds of cows and sheep could be seen wandering in the dense grass in the distance. They were like clouds, vast and boundless, everywhere. If one looked carefully, one could even see shepherds in the midst of the flock. Their highland steeds were tall and sturdy, and as they stood in the midst of the flock, they were extremely conspicuous even from a great distance.
Only the shepherds of Ü-Tsang would be able to ride these horses to herd their livestock.
"In a war between two armies, since you dare to help the army, you are our enemy. Don't blame me for everything!"
Li Siye stared at the distant shepherds, his eyes flashing with cold light.
"All soldiers, hear my order! Don't let a single Ouzan person go!"
Li Siye restrained his aura, his entire body suddenly turning icy cold.
"Yes, Your Excellency!"
With the order, the army responded loudly. In the next moment, more than a thousand elite cavalry sped up, stirring up clouds of dust as they charged into the distance.
"Ah! — "
"It's the Tang people!"
"Let's go!"
…
Waves of screams came from afar. The shepherds of Chilechuan were in a panic. Many shepherds drove their flocks of sheep away in an attempt to escape, but it was already too late. At this moment, the two countries were at war. How could Li Siye give them a chance to escape?
"Rumble!"
The sound of horse hooves became even more urgent!
Along with the sound of horse hooves, no one knew that behind the Ouzan army, another 'war' had already begun.
"Before the troops and horses move, the provisions and fodder move first." This was a principle that had never changed since ancient times, and it was also recorded in military books and strategies. However, this was only the military books and strategies of the Central Plains. For the Ouzan people and the other tribes of the grasslands, this had never been a problem.
Wang Chong had once researched and discovered that the logistics of the Ouzan people were completely different from the logistics of the Central Plains.
For a large-scale war, the Central Plains needed two to three years to prepare, and this long period of preparation could only last for a few months. Once three or four months passed, the war could no longer be fought. When the Tang dynasty was first founded and Emperor Taizong was still on the throne, the Tang dynasty was at its peak. However, in the war against the Goguryeo Empire, the Goguryeons had fortified their defenses and cleared the fields, and the Tang dynasty's logistics were unable to keep up. After four months of fighting, the Tang dynasty was forced to retreat due to a shortage of food, ending this war that had involved so many troops and consumed so much of the country's resources.
However, these four months were already the longest battle in the history of the wars between dynasties in the Central Plains. And for this reason, the Tang dynasty had even stockpiled food for three years in advance!
For the dynasties of the Central Plains, this sort of war was not something that could be easily carried out.
But the people of the Ouzan and the Turks were different. If they wanted to wage a war, they could move over a thousand li at any time without worrying about logistics. If they were like the Tang dynasty, subjected to so many restrictions and had to prepare so many years in advance, the people of the steppe would have long since lost the ability to fight, and it would have been impossible for them to become a threat to the Tang dynasty.
In the end, it wasn't that the people of the Ouzan and the Turks didn't have food problems, but that their eating habits were completely different from the people of the Central Plains.
The people of the steppe mainly ate meat, and eating meat for every meal was no problem at all. But for the people of the Central Plains, if they ate meat for every meal without any other staple food, they would definitely be very excited at the start and eat to their heart's content, but after three or four days, they would immediately get sick of it, and after a month, their army would no longer have any fighting strength to speak of.
The staple foods of the people of the Central Plains were rice, chestnuts, millet, sorghum, and other such foods, so their habits were naturally different. And the storage, transportation, planting, and cooking of these foods were all extremely troublesome and time-consuming. Not to mention that the people of the Central Plains were particular about matching meat with vegetables. They cooked, boiled, steamed, deep-fried, and scorched various cooking methods.
There was only rice and no meat. There was no taste in his stomach, and he would be soft when fighting.
Therefore, when the people of the Central Plains fought, they always had the habit of having a big feast before a big battle. There was a saying, "Only when you are full will you have strength!"
The people of the Central Plains were used to this. Regardless of whether it was the God of War, the Saint of War, or the ancient grandmasters of the Path of War, none of them could do anything about this situation. They could only go with the flow. That was why there was a saying in the books of war, "Before the troops and horses move, the food goes first." This was their nature, and how could they change it?
However, the people of the grassland were different. Their eating habits were far less complicated. It was fine as long as it was cooked, and it didn't even matter if it was raw.
When the army moved out, the Shepherdians followed behind. The army became the Shepherdians' solid support, while the Shepherdians drove herds of cattle and sheep in the rear to provide rations for the army. Cattle and sheep graze on grass. They don't need ploughing, plowing, or a large amount of water. They don't need several months to mature.
More importantly, the cows and sheep would never go moldy, and there was no need to worry about food storage.
Wherever the army moved, the cattle and sheep would follow. There was no such thing as stale, damp, or moldy food. As long as there was grass, the army would never lack rations.
Moreover, the army of the grassland people came from the Shepherdians.
They were now logistics officers and shepherds, but in the future, they would be the army. Because there were too many cattle and sheep, the people of the grassland could even butcher them and make jerky, which they only needed to rub salt on.
This was the case for both the top-notch experts and the ordinary herdsmen!
In this world, the only things that could truly affect them were the extreme winters and frost!
Wang Chong had once thought about it carefully. Of all the options for war, only logistics happened to be the one that the people of the grassland needed to worry about the least. It was the same for the Turks, and it was the same for the Ouzan.
In terms of logistics, the agricultural people and the nomadic people were naturally unequal!
Therefore, the nomadic people didn't have the weapons and equipment of the dynasties of the Central Plains, nor did they have as many people. They didn't have as brilliant a culture, and they didn't know any military books or strategies. However, they could still become a threat to the dynasties of the Central Plains. In the history books of the dynasties of the Central Plains, it was always recorded like this:
In a certain year, the Turks invaded the border, or in a certain year, the Ouzan raided the border and left after reaping the rewards, or in a certain year, the border of Ying Continent, Youzhou, or some other place was invaded by bandits!
Such records could be found everywhere in the history books, and there would never be an end to them.
… …
But this aspect of the nomadic people of the grassland could still be exploited.
If they could circle around the army at the front and reach the herdsmen at the back, killing all their sheep, they would suffer a heavy blow. Under normal circumstances, this would be impossible to achieve. The people of the Ouzan would never give the Tang dynasty such an opportunity. But now, the people of the Ouzan were all drawn to Lion City.
Li Zhengyi had already been eliminated, and the pass was guarded by the armies of the Ouzan in three places.
For the people of the Ouzan, the rear of the army was already impregnable, and there was nothing that could threaten them. This gave Wang Chong the best opportunity.
And these sheep that had died of plague were the best gift that Wang Chong had prepared for the people of the Ouzan.
The flock of sheep of the Ouzan was simply too large. Unlike the people of the Central Plains, no one ever said that they had a few sheep, or a dozen, or even dozens of sheep. The nomadic people had always herded hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, or even millions of sheep. This was something that the farming people of the Central Plains could never imagine.
Moreover, the nomadic people had another characteristic, and that was that they lived in tribes. When herding sheep, they naturally lived in tribes.
Therefore, there was no such thing as how many sheep a person reared. It was all about how many sheep a tribe reared.
And this number had always been extremely large.
When the number reached a certain level, sneak attacks would become useless. The shepherds could even ignore everything and leave the sheep to be slaughtered. Hundreds of thousands of sheep stood there motionlessly, and even if they killed them from dawn to dusk, they wouldn't be able to kill them all. And when Li Siye and the others left, the shepherds could come back at any time.
At that time, all they had to do was turn the slaughtered cattle and sheep into jerky.
— — This kind of sneak attack would lose all meaning!
To deal with the people of the Ouzan and attack the sheep in their rear, ordinary methods would be useless. Therefore, they had to take an unconventional approach.
And these sheep that had died of plague were the gifts that Wang Chong had prepared for them.
When a sheep was infected, it would quickly spread to the entire flock. From one tribe to the rest of the tribe. More importantly, the people of the grassland didn't know how to deal with the sheep plague, and didn't have the habit of burying it. This meant that an independent matter could easily turn into a huge disaster in the end!
When dealing with the enemy, one couldn't just be superficial. One had to make them feel pain that reached deep into their bones! Only then would they learn their lesson.
War wasn't just a battle of military strength, nor was it a battle of fists against flesh, or blades against swords. It was a war of strategy!
At this moment, other than Wang Chong, even Li Siye himself didn't know that if his plan succeeded, what awaited the people of the Ouzan would be a huge disaster that would last for years, or even decades!
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