Three Kingdoms

Fei Qian said that a thief would arrive within three days, because it was impossible for thieves lurking around to store too much water. In fact, the third day did not arrive at all. In the middle of the night of the second day, with the moon hanging high, When we were on the sand dune, countless black heads popped up on the dune.

This made Xu Chu once think that so many thieves came here because Xihai City was lost. However, after the battle, Xu Chu discovered that this was not the case at all, because these thieves were ordinary herdsmen, or just ordinary horse thieves and sand thieves. , after all, whether you know martial arts or not, whether you have been trained for a long time, you can't tell on the surface, but you will naturally know the difference very clearly after a fight.

As long as Fei Qian is in a safe position, Xu Chu can let go and fight.

Behind Fei Qian is the baggage rear camp.

The craftsmen looked ahead with wide eyes, sweating on their heads, and extremely nervous. Compared with the craftsmen, Fei Qian's soldiers were very calm, and some even moved slowly, which made the craftsmen anxious.

Slowly take the arrow and miss it, slowly aim, and then slowly shoot out...

In night battles, bows and crossbows are the key.

The rockets used for lighting were shot onto the sand dunes, making it impossible for the thieves attacking on the sand dunes to hide their whereabouts. Even if the thieves tried to stamp out the rockets, it was already too late. By the time the rockets pointed out their traces, large areas of Missing arrows also follow.

As the continuous screams sounded, these thieves, who were like groundhogs emerging from the sand, let out what was perhaps the last roar of their lives, and collided with the heavily armored guards led by Xu Chu regardless of their own safety. Together.

This made Fei Qian, who was watching the battle from the back line, feel like he had to admire his courage...

Perhaps it's because Fei Qian's location is the most obvious, or the sand bandits also know beheading tactics, or some other reason. Nearly half of these sand bandits came for Fei Qian, but unfortunately it was like they were bumped head-on. Just like the steel wall, his head was broken and bloody.

After Xu Chu cut down more than a dozen people in a row, he put away his sword and stood behind the soldiers in the front row.

The tactics of these thieves are simple.

The sand thieves lurking in the sand were to disrupt the queue, while the horse thieves hiding far away waited for the sand thieves to attack and spread, then deepened the damage, and then attacked the entire army commanded by Fei Qian. However, the sand thieves did not complete their mission. They did not consume much physical energy from Fei Qian and others, and they were not able to persist until the horse thieves attacked.

After killing these sand thieves and only a few of them escaped into the black sand dunes, Xu Chu and others even had time to sit down and take a breath, replacing those who were accidentally injured and letting them clean up quickly. Disinfect and bandage the wound with strong alcohol. You can eat something and drink some water to replenish your physical strength...

Near dawn, when the black sky gradually turned into blue-grey, an obvious black line appeared on the Gobi Desert.

Xu Chu got on his horse and shouted loudly: "The enemy is attacking!" southwest! Line up! Get ready to attack! 』

The horse thieves came very quickly, but they also slowed down just as quickly, perhaps because they found that Fei Qian's queue was not chaotic at all, which was completely different from what they expected...

The horse thief hesitated a little, and the formation naturally became chaotic.

Upon seeing this, Xu Chu immediately gave the order to attack, completely losing all suspense in this battle.

When the cavalry gives up speed, it is equivalent to giving up victory.

The horse thieves quickly dispersed and even fled faster than they came.

After Xu Chu chased the horse thieves, Fei Qian no longer paid attention to the battle situation, but went to the camp to see the injured unfortunates. Most of these guys were having their wounds cleaned with strong alcohol by doctors, and they were screaming in agony.

"Wash it twice more," Fei Qian not only did not feel sympathy for the screams of these people, but further asked the doctor to be stricter. "In addition to avoiding the wound being contaminated with sand, we must also be careful of these thieves." The blade is poisoned..."

Immediately, the doctor's expression became serious. Not only did he pull at the wounds of the injured more and more heavily, but he also verbally cursed these unlucky people, "The Qiusi told you to be careful a long time ago. Damn it." Have you forgotten? Stretch your hoof over and pull it by yourself! If he screams again, he will use his own underwear to gag his mouth! 』

Fei Qian walked around and found no seriously injured people. In other words, as long as these people could get past the wounds, there would basically be no problem in the future.

It also means that the last resort of the Western Region Allied Forces has failed.

This is in line with the conclusion reached by Fei Qian and Jia Xu, and also in line with Fei Qian's own speculation about the Western Regions.

Previously, Lu Bu cleared the line from Xihai City to Yumen Pass. On the surface, there were no horse thieves, but in fact it was just like pouring boiling water on an ant spot, and the horse thieves were not actually wiped out.

A very important reason for uneven regional development is caused by different geographical environments, rather than biological differences in humans themselves. The geographical environment of different regions affects the production activities of ethnic groups in different regions. The ethnic differences between the Western Regions, Guanzhong, and Shandong are also the differences caused by production activities. Therefore, it is impossible to use the methods of suppressing bandits in Guanzhong or Shandong to deal with these people in the Western Regions. What's more, if banditry cannot be isolated in Shandong, who can say that it can be used in the Western Regions? Have all these sand and horse thieves been cleared out?

In Fei Qian's view, the entire change in the Western Regions will take at least ten years. Otherwise, there is no way to truly incorporate the Western Regions into the territory of the Han Dynasty. Moreover, in this process, more methods are needed to educate the Southern Xiongnu. It needs to be more detailed to filter and sift again and again, and finally get real gold.

The "traditional" strategy is, of course, immigration.

Maybe after twenty or thirty years, or even forty or fifty years, when the population of the Central Plains expands to the point where it can no longer be accommodated, immigration will do more good than harm. And like the current situation in Chang'an where there are not enough manpower and there is a labor shortage. , wouldn't it be better to use one point of manpower from the Western Regions than to use one more point of the Han's own strength?

Xu Chu did not pursue the horse thief desperately, but came back after a while. When Xu Chu came back, the sun had just emerged from the horizon, representing the strong man's forehead.

"According to the Lord's instructions, destroy their water storage places..." Xu Chu gestured to the water bags hanging on the horses' buttocks, "However, there may be other places where the horse thieves hide water, so we cannot eliminate them all." 』

Fei Qian waved his hand and said, "The water may not be clean, but it can be used for washing." The water bag is replaced with newly filtered water, and the baggage is carried after insertion. Were there any live captures? 』

Xu Chu nodded, and then asked: "Most of the intruders have no armor... This decapitation technique..."

Fei Qian pondered for a while, "Ten strategies are universal." 』

Xu Chu was overjoyed and immediately announced the matter, which triggered a burst of cheers from the soldiers.

Normally speaking, those with armor can be regarded as serious beheadings, while those without armor cannot be counted at all. Just like opening a card pack, decapitation is like a legendary level, while ordinary thieves without armor can only be regarded as blue sky and white clouds.

Therefore, most of the time, being able to count as an ordinary beheading skill is already very satisfying for the soldiers.

And the real top decapitation power is like Guan Yu's beheading Yan Liang, when the enemy takes off his clothes in shame among thousands of troops, it is the uproar and the golden legend...

But the next news is not so "legendary".

Because among the corpses left by the sand bandits and horse thieves, a bald donkey was found, and it was also a painted bald donkey.

alive.

Perhaps it shouldn't be called Bald Donkey, because this is a nickname given by the Chinese to internal Buddhist monks, and this type of monks should be called Fan Seng.

When Monk Fan was discovered, he was pinned down by several corpses that looked like guards. Perhaps he fainted when he fell, or maybe he was crushed by those guards. Anyway, when he started to clean the battlefield, Monk Fan If he didn't wake up, of course he wouldn't have time to run.

When the soldiers saw his appearance, needless to say, they knew he was an important person, so they immediately tied him up and sent him to Fei Qian.

It is also strange that the monk was struggling at first, but after he arrived in front of Fei Qian, he became quiet. He looked at Fei Qian deeply with his eyes, as if he wanted to engrav Fei Qian's appearance in the depths of his mind, and It didn't feel like there was much hatred, just curiosity and doubt.

Fei Qian looked at the patterns on Fan Monk's chest and back, and a name jumped out of his heart, the original shaman, or they called themselves "Benz", and their code name was...

Fei Qian forgot what that word should be called, so he reached out and pulled out the sword from the guard on the side.

The monk looked calm, as if the shining sword didn't exist at all. He knelt on the ground, but tried his best to straighten his waist, raised his head, and looked at Fei Qian, neither sad nor happy.

"interesting. ” Fei Qian did not slash Fan Monk with his sword. Instead, he drew the shape of two “Swastikas” stacked on top of each other on the ground. Then he looked at Fan Monk’s suddenly trembling body and asked in Hun dialect, “Do you know this?” 』

Fanseng did not respond.

"Do you know how to speak Xianbei dialect?" Fei Qian switched to Xianbei dialect.

Fanseng still didn't respond.

"Tsk..." Fei Qian finally said in Qiang, "Do you know Qiang?" If I don’t understand anymore, there’s nothing I can do about it. 』

Monk Fan looked up at Fei Qian: "Qiang language...I, I know a little bit." 』

"very good. Fei Qian turned around and sat down, looking into Monk Fan's eyes. "Let's play a game. From now on, neither you nor I can lie. I ask you questions. If you can answer them, it's your turn to ask me." , if you can't answer, or can't say, then I will continue to ask the next question, until you can answer, it will be you who asks the question. Answer, ask, cannot answer, cannot ask, lying is equal to the end of the game. understand? 』

"Is this the first question? My answer is, yes. ” Monk Fan smiled slightly, his eyes shining with the brilliance that only intelligent creatures can have, “Now it’s my turn to ask questions, right? 』

Fanseng deliberately caught a small loophole in Fei Qian and gave Fei Qian another one.

Fei Qian laughed loudly, "That's right. Okay, you belong to this sect, right? 』

Fei Qian pointed to the two "Swastika" symbols stacked on the ground.

Monk Fan nodded, then shook his head, "It was before, but now we believe in Buddhism." Are you the Great Master Siming Fei of the Five Gods? 』

Fei Qian hummed, "It should be me." Did you poison the water? 』

"Yes. ” The monk’s eyes were filled with the light of seeking answers, “Didn’t you drink the water here? 』

Fei Qian smiled and said, "Drink." you……"

Fei Qian was halfway through speaking, but before he had time to ask, Fan Seng got angry and said, "You lied!" None of you were poisoned! You didn't drink! 』

"Take him to see it. Fei Qian ignored the furious Fan Seng and signaled his guards to escort him to the filtration and cleaning equipment next to the water source.

Soon, Monk Fan looked around and even saw with his own eyes a soldier filling up the filtered water. His expression became completely sluggish, as if half of his soul had been taken away in an instant and returned to Feiqian again. In front of him, he was slumped for a long time before he raised his head and said to Fei Qian: "Please tell me why it can detoxify...I can exchange it for everything you want to know..."

Fei Qian was silent for a moment and nodded, "Use cloth, sand, sawdust, charcoal and other materials, compact them in multiple layers, use wooden boards as intervals, add lime to the filtered water to drive away the poison, that's it." 』

Fei Qian did not go into detail, and even intentionally or unintentionally omitted the very important heating link. However, this still shows that what the monks thought was a great method was no longer effective among the Han people.

The light in Fan Monk's eyes disappeared little by little, and finally he lowered his head.

Fei Qian stood up and motioned to the guards, "Ask them how they got here, if they have any means of contact, and if they have any follow-up plans..."

The guards took the order and took Fan Monk to the side for interrogation.

Fei Qian stood with his hands behind his back, looking in the direction of Xihai City, and said after thinking for a long time: "We need to speed up." 』

Xu Chu glanced at the monk, and then asked: "The Lord means that this monk is actually the last resort of the Western Regions Allied Forces. After the Western Regions Allied Forces know that this method is ineffective... Oh, so to speak, the Western Regions Allied Forces are really Damn it! He actually used the Western Sea as bait! In fact, he wants to plot against the lord! 』

"Why should Zhongkang be angry?" In the battle formation, it is only a matter of life and death. ” Fei Qian laughed and said, “If what I expected is correct, this monk must have had someone contacting outside. Seeing the disadvantage, he immediately fled... I’m worried that the Western Region Allied Forces will soon collapse... It seems to have dispersed. They fled to every corner of the Western Region like insects and rats..."

The Allied Forces of the Western Regions used Xihai City as bait, so why didn’t Fei Qian also use the Western Regions as bait?

War itself is full of evil, and the only criterion for distinguishing right from wrong is to see where the butt is.

If it is hanging on a tree and cannot reach the sky or the ground, then there is nothing we can do...

Xu Chu frowned, then looked back at Fan Seng.

"If we are poisoned, then the Western Region Allied Forces will naturally come in force and take advantage of our weakness..." Fei Qian said with a smile, "It's a pity that I didn't think of this earlier, otherwise I would have to let people pretend... Now there is some trouble..."

Fei Qian said so, but in fact it would be very troublesome to pretend to be poisoned, unless Fei Qian spared some lives and let these people really drink the water directly...

In fact, for humans, the most terrifying way for disease transmission is not water, but the characteristics of the Western Region make water sources a rare thing, so naturally more attention is paid to this aspect.

After a while, the guards came to report. It was exactly what Fei Qian had expected. In addition to Fan Seng's troops, there was also a small group of men and horses. After seeing the sand bandits and horse thieves damaged, Fei Qian and other Han people did not After being poisoned, he had already escaped...

"The order is passed down, the cavalry and infantry will separate," Fei Qian said in a deep voice, "The infantry will escort the craftsmen and the baggage and move slowly according to the original plan... As for the cavalry, Zhongkang will lead two thousand as the vanguard, and the rest of a certain command will form the rear, and march straight to the West Sea. city! 』

Xu Chu can lead the troops, and then the soldiers immediately take action, prepare and line up.

The monk looked at it and suddenly burst into laughter. He shouted something in a gibbering voice, but it was probably in his own language, and he couldn't understand it at all.

Fei Qian walked up to Monk Fan and asked, "What, are you laughing at us for being too late?" Don't worry, although it may not be possible to surround everyone, some important people can still be captured. For example... Busen? 』

When Fei Qian said the word Chusen, the smile on the monk's face froze for a moment, and then he forced himself to say: "General, you are wrong, our leader is Taksa..."

"No. Fei Qian shook his head and smiled, "You lied." you lose. Before killing Busen, I will ask someone to tell him that it was you who told the secret, and let him curse you... Then we can know whether the power you believe in has any effect... Are you ready to choose to accept it? Which result? 』

If the monk is really dead, it proves that the Buddha can be deceived. If the monk does not die, it can also be used to prove that the curse of the Buddha is useless.

Fan Seng seemed to have figured out the problem, and he struggled angrily, but was immediately pushed to the ground, twitching like a dying fish. After a moment, he started to cry and hit his head on the ground. The sandy soil, his eyes no longer had the previous brilliance, only blank despair remained.

"If one day, without holding a sharp blade, you can make someone happy with a word, and make someone sad with a word..." Fei Qian said slowly, "Only then can we call it a good command..."

"Don't hold a sharp blade? Xu Chu asked, "It's better to hold it." 』

Fei Qian smiled and said: "But you must hide the blade behind your back, otherwise you will be fighting here for hundreds of years!" 』

"century? ” Xu Chu raised his eyebrows and said, “Master, don’t joke, this mere Western Region can be completely wiped out in ten years at most! 』

Fei Qian glanced at Xu Chu, "So Zhongkang thinks we have ten years to spend here?" 』

"Uh... this..." Xu Chu was stunned for a moment, then bowed his head and said, "Subordinate Meng Lang. 』

"It doesn't matter. Fei Qian waved his hand and said, "Not only must we think more and know more than these people, but we must continue to do so...otherwise, they will not despair or surrender." The purpose of marching into the Western Regions was not to show how powerful the Han Dynasty was, but to let all Han people learn from the Western Regions and know that if they fall behind, they will be beaten. 』

Xu Chu lowered his head in response.

Immediately the army took action and divided into two parts: cavalry and infantry. Fei Qian and Xu Chu led the cavalry to Xihai City at noon on the third day.

The situation was similar to what Fei Qian expected. During the period when he and Xu Chu arrived at Xihai City, the Western Region Allied Forces had no time to organize a second sneak attack around the back, and there were no additional ambush arrangements, which made Xu Chu somewhat useless. Depressed.

However, something unexpected happened to Fei Qian only after he arrived at Xihai City...