(The rewards from the league, book friends are very excited! The new week is a good success, give up.)

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The huge sandstorm caused huge losses to the 12th Division, with more than 100 missing people; more than 200 war horses were lost, and dozens of camels were buried or swept away; more than 80 vehicles were damaged, and many were buried deep at the bottom of the dunes, and they wanted to dig it out for a day or a half. As for the losses in food, drinking water, weapons, armor, ammunition, etc., it is difficult to estimate. And less than half of the injured camps far away from the army tens of miles away...

Such losses are no less than a moderately intense battle for the 12th Division - in fact, this is a battle, but the one who is fighting is not man, but heaven and earth.

Faced with this heavy loss, even the most violent Xu Qing just silently digged sand and digged trucks with the soldiers, looking for scattered items. Finally, he buried his comrades with his own hands...

But, however, this is not the worst case. The really bad thing is that the army was lost. And it was only after two days that I realized that I was lost.

When he first heard the news, Xu Qing, who was almost injured, finally broke out: "What did you guys do? The guides of more than a dozen people, with more than twenty eyes, couldn't even figure out the direction! He actually took the army around in circles, missing the opportunity to fight! Believe it or not, Grandpa cut you all, and use the military method to correct the military!"

The Khitans and Mongolian guides, with their faces as if they were earth-colored, kowtowed like pounding garlic. They were whispering in their mouths and talking difficult languages. Xu Qing was even more irritable and almost wanted to draw his sword.

As the leader of the guide team, Sun Zhangong looked ashamed and apologized to Yue Fei: "General, if we had not encountered this damn storm, we would never have lost our way. It is really... my subordinates are willing to accept military sanctions."

Yue Fei said silently, and after a while, he said: "Although it is understandable, it is indeed a dereliction of duty. I temporarily remember twenty military sticks and wait until I walk out of the desert before I execute it."

Sun Zhan was grateful and bowed deeply: "Thank you General."

Wang Gui, who was standing beside him, asked: "What's the moment? Can you find the original path?"

Sun Zhangong discussed with the guides in Khitan language for a while, turned around and looked embarrassed. He wanted to speak but stopped.

Yue Fei said quietly: "It's time to come, and it's useless to think too much. Commander Sun, it's okay to speak out directly."

Sun Zhangong gritted his teeth and said, "Because the terrain changes too much, it is difficult to identify the direction. Therefore... Therefore......"

Wang Gui's heart sank, looked at Xu Qing, who was about to roar beside him, reached out to hold his shoulders and shook his head. Xu Qing let go of his hand holding the hilt of the knife and punched him hard on the sand.

Direction? Yue Fei keenly noticed the keywords Sun Zhangong said. He said in a deep voice: "The commander Sun's intention is that as long as the direction is correct, you can find the right path?"

Sun Zhangong focused on the key points: "That's right. It's just that the clouds are very thick recently, and it's difficult to see the sky, and the guidance of stars may not be accurate; the direction of the sun and the moon also changes with time. Except for the old experience guides, it's difficult to find the correct direction based on this."

Yue Fei suddenly smiled and said, "Let me show you the direction, and you will lead the way."

Sun Zhangong was stunned, Wang Gui was surprised, Xu Qing was stunned - When did this elder brother know how to observe the celestial phenomena?

If possible, Yue Fei wanted to tell his brothers and subordinates, so he "understood" to observe the celestial phenomena since he came back from Chang'an.

It may be difficult to teach Yue Fei to look at a watch, but it is extremely simple to look at a compass. In the Song Dynasty, there were actually silos and compass, but the former was huge, while the latter was inconvenient to use, with general and vague instructions and poor accuracy, making it difficult to be used as a tool for marching, especially in harsh environments.

Such an exquisite compass is definitely a powerful marching weapon. Originally, Yue Fei was also suspicious, but after repeated experiments, he even ran to the deep valley of Zhongnan Mountain for a long time and finally came to the conclusion that it was indeed reliable.

This desert march, because there was a guide team to recognize Lao Ma, he didn't use a compass very much, so Yue Fei almost forgot about this weapon. It was not until now that Sun Zhangong said the direction and it was difficult to tell, Yue Fei remembered that he had such a treasure in his hand.

The army set off again. This time, Yue Fei sat on the hump and led the way before the entire army. Sun Zhangong and his guide actually did not believe in the direction indicated by Yue Fei. It is important to know that this is not a simple general direction. If there is a slight deviation, the army may be led deeper into the desert. The so-called "a slight mistake can lead a thousand miles of mistakes" is the current situation. But they have no better way. There is no other way except to believe that Yue Fei, as the commander of the first division, will never lead the troops to the dead end.

Wang Gui, Xu Qing, and even Yue Yun didn't believe it very much... However, when they saw the general constantly instructing and correcting the direction of the army's marching, they looked calm and confident. The most surprising thing is that whenever the general gave instructions, they did not look up at the celestial phenomena, but frequently lowered their heads and played with a shiny gadget...

The miracle appeared three days later, and Sun Zhangong was surprised to report, and they returned to where they were before being attacked by a sandstorm - that is, they could finally re-proofread the route and move along the familiar business road.

The whole teacher was filled with joy, as if he was in a desperate situation that day.

Due to the large number of vehicles, the army was originally sufficient in terms of food and water storage, but it suffered from natural disasters and constant difficulties and caused great and small losses each time. In addition, many days of lost travel, it consumed a lot of precious food and drinking water, resulting in less and less storage. As people ate and chewed by horses and continued to consume, the army set out for about twenty days and became tight in drinking water.

When camping that night, the quarantine officers of the thirty-five and thirty-sixth brigades reported to Yue Fei the food and fodder situation of the brigade: "Report to General, our brigade's military food can still last for seven days, and the horse feed will be five days, but the drinking water will be less than three days."

"What's the situation with the 34th Brigade?" Yue Fei recruited the brigade's military officer.

"Report to General, our brigade has suffered a little loss, and the military rations and horse materials can be supported for ten days, and drinking water can last for seven days." The quarantine replied.

"Divid the food and drinking water of the three brigades evenly." Yue Fei said decisively, "The collected rainwater and pool water can also be consumed by people when necessary, but it must be boiled."

Wang Gui was a little worried: "The soldiers were tired and marched slowly, and they could not travel thirty miles a day. It was April now, the military situation was urgent, and the food and water were worrying. General, if this continues, I am afraid..."

"Does our army still have a choice now?" Yue Fei looked directly at the brother-in-law, his eyes as firm as ever, "There is only one who can go on! You can only go on! No, you can go back, head!"

In order to say "can't look back", this army of 10,000 people experienced a series of hardships such as water cut off, killing horses and drinking blood, accidentally drinking sewage, and surge in injuries. Especially when the army passed by a sandy dunes, they found a pool of water. The soldiers rushed forward and leaned over to scoop up and drink water buffalo. Sun Zhangong and others were unable to resist. In this way, they fell ill, vomited and diarrhea, severe dehydration, high fever did not subside, and some were even in danger of life.

The doctors who followed the army were afraid of causing a plague, so they had to propose to Yue Fei to set up a separate camp to isolate them. Similarly, this patient camp will gradually fall behind the army and survive in the desert. One ten survivors will not survive.

This is the price, the price of war, you have to pay something before success will wave to you.

On April 13th, when this army that had lasted for several miles was exhausted and walked around a long canyon, the guides who were walking at the forefront suddenly looked excited, and rode a camel and ran forward.

Three miles away, reeds were shining and water was gurgling, and a clear and gentle river appeared in front of you.

"Camel River! It's Camel River!"

Sun Zhangong screamed like a crazy person, rolling from the hump to the sand, regardless of the broken skin and blood seeping of his hands and face, rolling and crawling out dozens of feet. He knelt heavily on the ground, spreading his arms and howling, "It's here! We're here! Hahaha..."

On April 13, the second year of Tianjian, after nearly one month, the 12th Division finally crossed Mu Usu and arrived at the Luotuo River, a tributary of the Yellow River. The most difficult and difficult journey on the Western Expedition was over.

...

On April 14th, at night, at the strong request of Sun Zhangong, Yue Fei agreed to lead fifty heroes to raid the Shangwei City, which is the upper reaches of the Camel River.

This city is a fortress belonging to the Shun Army Office of the Right Chamber of Xia State. It is also the only fortress in the central and western regions, if large, in Henan. The task of this fortress is a checkpoint, which collects taxes from merchants and travelers from south to north. Although it is a fortress village, its defense level, military combat power, etc. are far from comparable to the fortress on the border of the southeastern line of Xia State. As for alertness, vigilance, let alone guarding, the guard is useless.

Sun Zhangong had only one assault and killed all the more than 60 Xia soldiers guarding the city, without even making any noise, and easily occupied Shengwei City.

Subsequently, the provincial city became a place where the 12th Division recovered its vitality. The army took turns to enter the city to rest, replenish water sources, repair vehicles, recuperate diseases and treat injuries, and adjust and recover.

Yue Fei knew very well that "sharpening a knife will not delay chopping wood". If soldiers, war horses, and morale of the army are not well recovered, a tired army will not be able to win a battle. This time, crossing the desert, the 12th Division did damage its vitality. At least one thousand soldiers were killed, injured or sick, and lost their combat effectiveness. The loss of war horses was 500, accounting for 20% of the total. The losses of other weapons and ammunition were also a considerable number.

However, as the emperor said, as long as you successfully cross the desert, capture the target, and achieve strategic goals, it is worth it even if you lose half of your troops.

This rest lasted for five days, until the entire army was in a hurry to eat. Yue Fei ordered the north to seize the important Keyimen in Xia** Town. There was the right-wing Chaoshun Army stationed in Xia State. According to information, there were 3,000 troops stationed in Xia State, including nearly 800 soldiers and more than 2,000 soldiers. The military rations and military supplies of the garrisons here were the most urgently needed by the 12th Division. Keyimen must be conquered. This is an important springboard to achieve the established strategic goals.

On April 20, in addition to more than a hundred injured and sick people who were unable to recover for a while, they stayed in Shengwei City to continue recuperation and left a team of mixed infantry to protect them, the entire division had 10,500 soldiers crossed the Yellow River overnight with rafts and sheepskin rafts, and rushed to Keyimen, a major Xia army town, 70 miles away.
Chapter completed!