Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

Walking through the dry desert full of yellow sand, the beauty of the oasis gradually appeared in front of the men.

Perhaps only on the edge of the extremely harsh desert can there be such an otherworldly paradise. Clear streams, luxuriant vegetation, the fragrance of flowers wafting in the wind, the green oasis grassland stretches as far as the eye can see, and the white birds are flying over the water, just like a fairyland!

"Haha..." The children around laughed loudly, and the soldiers rushed to the stream happily, scooping up spring water and pouring it on their faces. The smiling faces in the splashing water made Li Chuyun and others smile.

Li Chuyun watched the large land under the blue sky and white clouds for a long time, smiled and stroked the beard under the red face, and praised loudly: "Feng'an, Feng'an, both plump and peaceful."

The shouts of generals came from a distance, and the soldiers rode their horses and waded across the stream one after another. On the quiet and beautiful oasis, the wet horses' furs were smooth and smooth, and the vigorous sons laughed and shouted. The place was soon enveloped in a warm and noisy atmosphere.

A group of people in the Chinese army rode their horses slowly through the creek, watching the beautiful scenery along the way with great interest.

Not long after, a ruined wall came into view, and the accompanying deputy privy envoy Wei Renpu suddenly got off his horse, threw the reins to the attendant who led the horse, and walked to the grass to pull up the weeds.

Li Chuyun and others reined in their horses one after another, looking at the broken stele that Wei Renpu found. Wei Renpu said without turning his head: "The monument erected by the army of the Sui Dynasty..."

Wei Renpu's voice was a bit strange, and Li Chuyun couldn't help looking at his back, and said casually, "It must be more than three hundred years."

"Today we are back again..."

Li Chuyun was stunned for a moment, because Wei Renpu's voice was completely out of shape at this time, choking with sobs, and his eyes were red again.

Among the wild grass, there are broken walls, and the walls are covered with soot burned black by the herdsmen, and there is no one in front of them. But when he looked back, a large number of galloping cavalry were moving forward, with the sound of powerful hooves and the rough howling of horses... "Yes, we are back!" Li Chuyun was also slightly moved.

He gradually understood Wei Renpu's mood. What he nostalgic for was not the remnants of stone steles and ruins, nor the place of Feng'an, but the magnanimity of the dynasty and the prosperity of the world!

Standing in front of the stele, Wei Renpu touched the Chinese characters on the old stone with tears in his eyes, thinking for a long time. Perhaps for a big man with a heart, the hometown is not the one-acre three-point land in his hometown, but the entire China and the vast land that the Han cavalry once set foot on.

Li Chuyun waited for a while, then rode away and recruited the generals to deploy the camps of the various armies, where the army would station and build the fort.

The army was stationed in separate camps, and the deployment of the tens of thousands of cavalry that arrived in batches was not completed until dark. The Chinese army was within a piece of earth wall. At this time, the bonfires on the grassland were brightly lit, and the firelight in the dark night made the wilderness and mountains even more prosperous.

Li Chuyun, Shi Yanchao, Wei Renpu, Zan Jurun and other top officials stayed in a tent and cooked broth around an earthen stove.

Several people looked at Wei Renpu a little strangely, probably because of the trivial incidents that happened during the day, but he had recovered his composure at this time. In the light of the fire, two soldiers unfolded the rolled thick paper sketches in the tent.

Wei Renpu walked over, looked at it himself first, turned around and said, "When Zhang Qian was an envoy and the Sui Emperor visited the west, he went to Ganzhou (Zhangye) through Dadoubagu (Biandukou). But now most of Longyou is in the hands of the Tubo people, and we rely on the Lingzhou grain road, so the army has to go north when entering Hexi."

He pointed to the yellowed picture, "Now Feng'an here, and the old city of Naowei (Jingtai County) to the west, two fortifications are built, one is to store the army's food needs along the way, and the other is to have strongholds to maintain the smooth flow of food roads.

After the Dangxiang tribe fled, if the Tubo people came to see them, they would discuss peace and appease them so that they would not act rashly. The main conquerors of our army are Liangzhou, Ganzhou, and Suzhou in Hexi. During the period of building the fort, secret envoys can be sent to the west to contact the Guiyi Army, and they can make an appointment with the Guiyi Army to attack from east to west. "

Zan Jurun pondered and said: "Vice Envoy Wei's plan is very clever, but the leader of Liangzhou is from Gamo, and he has the Liugu tribe of Tubo. Can Daxu's army attack the Tubo people in Liangzhou, can they appease the Tubo tribe in the south?"

The ethnic groups in the northwest are very complicated, and even Li Chuyun didn't quite understand it. He only understood after listening to the civil servants that the Gamo people were the natives of Liangzhou... They used to be slaves of the Tubo nobles, and there were not only Tubo people, but also Han Chinese and other slaves.

At this time, Wei Renpu said: "Yanmo is a native, and the Tubo tribes don't care about them at all. Although the Liugu tribe is a Tubo tribe, the Tubo tribes have already split|divided. As long as they deal with each other properly, they can still appease the Tubo tribes living in Qingtang, Lanzhou and other places."

Zan Jurun bowed and said, "What Vice Envoy Wei said is absolutely true."

After finishing speaking, Wei Renpu bowed to Li Chuyun and said, "What does Mr. Li think?"

Li Chuyun said: "Deputy Envoy Wei's plan is very good, the party members along the road can be expelled to Qingtang and other places, so as to prevent them from attacking and disturbing the grain road in anger."

Wei Renpu turned to look at Shi Yanchao again.

Shi Yanchao was stunned: "What are you looking at me for? Do whatever you say!"

Wei Renpu said calmly: "'Expelling' party members will surely cause innocent casualties. It is not a glorious thing. Shigong had better not go. Wait for Feng Jiye to arrive in Feng'an another day. It would be good to ask Feng Jiye to go."

Shi Yanchao snorted, noncommittal.

The soldiers stepped forward and stirred the soup boiled in the iron pot with a spoon, and they stopped after they had said the same thing. Li Chuyun walked out of the tent and couldn't help but look up.

The sky in the northwest was clear and the sky was filled with bright stars, and Li Chuyun immediately felt a sense of vastness. At this moment, it seems that the earth is not so solid, like the illusion of floating in the sky. In the vast land, people seem extremely small in it.

At this moment, a horse neighed from the gate of the Chinese military camp in the middle of the two broken walls. Li Chuyun came back to his senses and looked in the direction of the sound. The knight on the horse came in a hurry, the mount stopped suddenly, and its front hooves flew into the air, and then there was a noisy sound of inquiries.

Li Chuyun then stood outside the tent and waited for a while, and after a while, the soldiers came over with a man leading a horse, and reported: "Commander, this person is a messenger, and he came from Lingzhou, bringing news from Tokyo."

After hearing this, the messenger clasped his fists and said, "The young one pays homage to the founding father and Li Gong, the commander-in-chief of the Hexi Army." Then he delivered the lacquer-sealed letter.

Li Chuyun glanced at Qifeng, turned around with the things in his hands, and took the money. A soldier's voice came from behind: "You wait here first, if there is no invitation, we will take you to settle down."

Li Chuyun walked into the tent, sat down behind the wooden table in the north, and pulled out a knife to open it. Seeing this, Wei Renpu immediately turned his head.

"The letter from the Privy Council." Li Chuyun said, he read it first, the more he read it, the more he frowned.

Wei Renpu inspected it, stepped forward and asked, "What did the Privy Council say?"

Li Chuyun handed over the letter paper. After Wei Renpu looked at it, his expression was also ugly: "The Liao army dispatched troops to the northeast, might they invade the bandits?"

The other two also hurriedly took the letter from Wei Renpu and circulated it.

Wei Renpu murmured: "The Liao people have fought in Youzhou many times, with a lot of losses, and they were defeated in Wudinghe. I heard that a young boy is now the leader of the country, and dare to send troops to the south?"

Li Chuyun stroked the thick black beard on his chin, and said nothing.

Zan Jurun was looking carefully at the traces of the lacquer seal and the stamped letter on the letter paper, of course there was no fake. Wei Renpu is a member of the Privy Council, if the letter is fake, any clues will be seen through.

Zan Jurun said: "It is said that Li Yiyin is in the coalition army of the Dangxiang tribe. This guy has already colluded with the Liao people. This time, the Liao army is attacking west and coming prepared?"

Wei Renpu didn't say a word, and Zan Jurun was a little embarrassed. Shi Yanchao just scolded: "Damn, we came all the way here, can we still fight in the west?"

Zan Jurun took the opportunity to turn his head and talk to Shi Yanchao: "The letter from the Privy Council didn't mention it, only the news."

At this time, Li Chuyun finally made a final decision: "Make a memorial to the strategy discussed tonight, and present it to the court. Before receiving the military order, act according to the plan."

Wei Renpu nodded and agreed: "The duty of Mr. Li and the Qianying Army Mansion of our department is to go west, and we can't control the affairs of the Northeast. However, it is necessary to contact the Tokyo court as soon as possible. If the court fights on two fronts, our strategy must also consider risks. At the same time, write to Wang Shijun (Wang Pu) and ask him to tell the news of Bing Cao Si as soon as possible. We have to find out what happened to the Liao army."

Li Chuyun said: "Is it just a bluff that the Liao people mobilized people in the northeast?"

Wei Renpu said: "I can't say for sure, it's hard to predict...Although the Liao Kingdom lost the clouds, the cavalry is still strong, otherwise the situation would not be what it is now, and the grasslands would have been chaotic!"

At this time, the attendant came up, took a bowl to scoop up the broth, and brought a basket of dry wheat cakes that were hot on the fire. Everyone began to eat and drink in a "speechless" manner. They rode horses every day when they were away on an expedition. Even the civil servants had a good appetite.

The only sound left in the tent was the splashing of soup and the sound of chewing, and it became quiet and dull.

Li Chuyun has followed Guo Shao for many years, and he has rich experience in the Southern and Northern Wars. At this time, he felt that something was wrong. He couldn't explain why, but he just relied on his intuition...

At this time of war, the intelligence of the scouts is not very accurate, and many things have to be guessed. Li Chuyun is not a pure reckless general who can lead troops on his own for a long time. His sense of smell is very sensitive, otherwise he would have been caught in many battles.

There was a "squeak" sound outside the tent, and a gust of cool wind poured in from the door, blowing the fire under the iron pot so that the flames swayed and sparks flew.

Li Chuyun was stunned for a while in the uncertain light and shade of the fire, then he took a sip of the bowl as if nothing had happened, and then tore off a piece of wheat cake and chewed it in his mouth. The military rations were very difficult to chew, but after chewing for a while, the taste was sweet and not unpalatable.

Wei Renpu threw the bowl on the ground, stood up and said: "As soon as I borrow Li Gong's pen and paper, I will write the memorial now, and send a fast horse back to Beijing early tomorrow morning."