"Grandmaster"

Sun Xiurong quickly arrived at the western edge of Fengzhou with the Talas brigade.

Here, at this time, since the Yellow River originally flowed northward, when it encountered a highland like Langshan, it naturally turned to the east. However, the Yellow River channel adjacent to Langshan was not formed in one day. Over the past thousands of years, the Yellow River had been diverted many times when it turned to the east, so a large area of ​​swamps formed in the areas north of the Yellow River, south of Langshan, and west of Bayannur City in later generations.

A swamp that is somewhat similar to the Yili River Delta, this swamp is crisscrossing with Hubo, desert and oasis. In spring and summer, if the herdsmen who are familiar with the path lead the way, if they unfortunately step into the puddle, they will definitely be doomed.

But there is no such risk in the middle of winter.

Due to the oasis and the existence of Hubo, there is still a large amount of hay here in winter.

When the Talas Brigade arrived here, it immediately set up a camp around a Tamsui Lake with an ice thickness of half a meter.

The person who is reporting to Sun Xiurong is Sun Xiaoke.

Su Xijie, deputy lieutenant of Renyongdu, had already gone north to meet the luck of the Turks. The original Central Camp Captain Geng Sidu and the current Central Camp Captain Ma Lin were the most suitable to serve as those who would follow Sun Xiurong to wait for orders at any time, but Sun Xiurong still asked him to get the young man from Hu Luju's tribe from the Bow Moon tribe, and the flag bearer Sun Xiaoke took on this task.

"According to the prisoners, there are only a few Azou tribe Tiel people stationed in herds in this swamp. It is winter now, and the large group of people walked straight to the southeast for about a hundred miles to Kujiesha."

(Kujiesha, later Ulanbuhe Desert, at this time, the Yellow River channel was on the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain, Fengzhou and Youzhou, and the dividing line between Xiazhou was Kujiesha, Youzhou, later Etok Banner, Xiazhou, later Ordos Jingbian County)

(The Yellow River channel did not roughly overlap with the later river channel until the Baotou area)

At this time, Sun Xiurong had discovered that about 3,000 tents of Xueyantuo tribe had arrived at Huyan Mountain. In another ten days, they would be able to reach the southern part of Langshan, where there were Bai Xiaode Five Hundred Light Barracks and others. With the power of Xueyantuo tribe, it should be ensured that there is no harm.

Geng Sidu (Sogdian Han), Su Xijie (Turkish), and Sun Xiaoke (Bongyue), these three were all trained by Sun Xiurong. The relationship between them and Sun Xiurong is far above others. In the eyes of these three, Sun Xiurong is their "lord".

If you have been trained by Sun Xiurong himself, you will be familiar with Chinese language.

"The city closest to Kujiesha is Fengzhou, which is about twenty miles south of the desert. The Tang Dynasty set up a prefecture city here. In addition to suppressing the Turks to the north, it also means suppressing the tribes south of Kujiesha..."

"oh?"

"The Grand Governor, among the prisoners, there was an injured Han man who took care of the baggage for A Duo Liangchen. The Tang Dynasty set up the Huyan Governor's Office in the western part of Fengzhou and appointed officials to serve as Sima and other positions. This person happened to be the Sancao Records under the jurisdiction of Sima of the Huyan Governor's Office, and had close contacts with the Datang counties and counties in Yongfeng, Fengzhou and other places."

"According to him, the governor of Fengzhou is currently served by Guo Ziyi, but Guo Ziyi's base camp is in Yongfeng. In Fengzhou City, there is a salt and iron magistrate, the Grand Governor, south of Kujiesha. There is a famous Huluo Salt Pond, which produces 15,000 stones of fine salt annually, and is specially used by the military and civilians of the Suicheng City. In addition, there are several other salt pools, plus the smelting floors in the Zhongshucheng area, all of which are under the jurisdiction of the Promotion Officer."

"In other words, this person is actually a civil official in Fengzhou."

"This person is a fellow townsman with the Promoter. Of course, these two people are of the same age but have different identities. Naturally, it is because the Promoter is from a Jinshi, and this person used to be just a staff member of Guo Ziyi."

"Oh, who is the name of the proclaimer?"

"This person was a Jinshi from last year, named Yuan Zai. He was originally sent to a county lieutenant. It is said that this person had heard about the incident in the Western Regions that the Grand Governor took the initiative to apply to Fengzhou to serve as a salt and iron prosecutor. In addition to being in charge of litigation in Fengzhou, he also also took charge of the salt and iron affairs."

"All this person knows is what Yuan Zai said. According to his statement, after the Tang Dynasty destroyed the Western Turks, in order to stabilize the four towns of Anxi, some of the nine surnames of Zhaowu from the four towns were moved here, and the six prefectures of Hequ were set up near Youzhou to resettle these Hu people."

"The Hu people rebelled many years ago and were suppressed and moved to the Jianghuai area. However, in the current prosperous Tang Dynasty, those Hu people who moved to the Jianghuai area kept writing letters. The Holy Emperor also felt compassion and let some Sogdians move back."

"There are about a few thousand households, most of which are semi-herderly and half-agricultural in Yanchi Prefecture, northeast of Lingzhou."

"The places in Xiazhou are mainly Dangxiang Qiang and Tuyuhun..."

"Tuyuhun?"

"Yes, Xiazhou is mainly occupied by the largest Tuoba tribe in Dangxiang Qiang, but to the east of Tuoba tribe and west of the east sujiangcheng, it is occupied by the Tuohun tribe that migrated here."

"The leader of the Tuoba tribe was Tuoba Shouji. He was about forty years old and was named the governor of Xiazhou and Duke of Xiping. He had about five thousand tents under his command. He had a son named Tuoba Chaoguang, who was similar to the governor of the Grand Commander. When he was young, he was a magistrate in Chang'an. He was both civil and military, and he was quite capable."

"The leader of the Tuyuhun tribe in the Yinzhou area was named Helian Wei. He was named the governor of Tuyuhun and Duke Dongping, with about 3,000 tents under his command."

(Tuoba Shouji, the ancestor of Li Yuanhao of Western Xia, Helian Wei, the ancestor of Helian Duo, the governor of Yinshan who fought with Shatuo and Li Guochang and his son in later generations)

"The Tang Dynasty had a small number of Han soldiers in the above-mentioned places, and the main focus was on several salt ponds, and the remaining ones were the ranches of various departments."

"did you mean?"

"Grandmaster, Bai Xiaode has now defeated the Qiang tribe west of Helan Mountain. It is said that the intercepted property is filled with five hundred horses, and the Xueyantu tribe has also arrived at Huyan Mountain. It will definitely be able to arrive here within ten days..."

"oh?"

"Grandmaster, you have seen this person Yanduo. In fact, Yanduo has always followed the leader of the Xue tribe. Both of them claimed to be Yan's descendants. In fact, they were all from Xue Yanduo. The leader of the Xue tribe called Hu Yan Weiguo, but in fact they were called Xue Huaizhen."

"There are at least three or four thousand miles to the junta. It would definitely not work if they drove cattle and sheep, let alone in winter when there was a lack of water and grass?"

"These two people were very determined and did not wait and see at all. Instead, they decided to follow the Grand Commander early in the morning. They killed all the cattle and sheep and made them into cured jerky meat, leaving only horses and camels. Since Yanduo's troops have been in charge of Baowenshan for many years, they have stored a large amount of food and salt, but they are not short of food and salt."

"In this way, their pace will not be slow. The Xueyantuo people are famous for raising camels. They hang two large frames on the Bactrian camels, which contain old, weak, women and children. Young and strong men are all leading horses, and their speed is not slow at all..."

Sun Xiurong was a little confused, "What kind of virtue is this governor..."

Sun Xiaoke smiled and said, "Somehow, the news that the Grand Governor and Ashinashi became sworn brothers reached Xue Huaizhen's ears. Also, although it was not well received in the Han area, peach blossom stones were widely circulated in the nomadic tribes..."

Sun Xiurong's mentality was furious, "Has the incident of getting the peach blossom stone from Bian Lingcheng been leaked?"

Sun Xiaoke quickly said, "I asked Xue Huaizhen that they only knew that the Peach Blossom Stone was taken back by the Grand Governor from the Tubo people. As for the whereabouts of the stone, they don't know, but..."

“But it’s okay”

"Yes, the Grand Governor, just the department's thinking, this person probably thought so. The Grand Governor immediately rose to prominence after leaving Hunu Town. If there was no peach blossom stone protection, they would not believe it, so..."

"Who else knows about this?"

Sun Xiaoke felt nervous, "I don't know, but not many people know about this stone in the Han area, and I don't care about it. The Hu tribe is also a descendant of the great nobles who have inherited it. Xue Huaizhen was the descendant of the former Xue Yantuo Khan, so this..."

"Forget it, let him go. If Bai Xiaode and the others arrived, how should I walk? Do you have any plans?"

"Ahem, Grand Governor, this is what the ministry thinks. According to the captives, the Fengzhou Army envoy Guo Ziyi is an extremely meticulous person. Most of the news of our arrival here has reached his ears."

"At present, the governor of Shuofang, Wang Zhongsi, was in the middle of the city of Jiangcheng and confronted the Turks. He could not take care of us. The one who could free up his hands was Guo Ziyi. However, for them, Fengzhou is the direct jurisdiction of the Tang Dynasty. If he took action in Fengzhou, he would be unable to escape the world's long mouth."

"So, for them, it is the best way to respond to all changes. Since this is the case, we will walk along the northern edge of Kujiesha. The people of the Ministry of Judiciary and Renyongdu have already arrived there with makeup. There is still hay in the north for war horses to eat."

"A large number of troops in Fengzhou are in Zhongshoujiang City and several key military towns in Langshan, Yongfeng County, and there are not many military forces in the south. Therefore, we are walking openly on the north edge of Kujiesha on the south side. It is said that Kujiesha has a width of 150 miles north and south, which is a natural barrier."

"At this time, we must wait fast. After about 200 miles, the Yellow River channel will be there. At that time, we will walk along the north bank of the Yellow River. If the situation changes, we will immediately step onto the ice surface of the Yellow River. With the horseshoe nail cover, no matter how many enemies there are, there is no way to do anything."

"It was not until Dongshoujiang City that it was about 500 miles away before it stepped back on the north shore land."

"Li Guangbi from Dongshoucheng will probably have the idea of ​​making our troops and the North Bank's Angryu troops fight each other..."

"Do you think the Nurji troops are better than the Tang army?"

"Of course, the three defeats of the Nurji tribe at Li Guangbi were the weakest time, and the fact that our Nurji was attacked by the four Nurji in Huyan Mountain was mostly reached by Xi Nurji's ears. At this time, there was no reason to create another enemy..."

"Where are the Turks in Black City?"

(Heicheng, near Hohhot in later generations)

"The Grand Governor, it's not that he is worried about it. Since the Grand Governor has already become sworn in Ashinashi of the Basilian tribe, in the eyes of the Asina royal family, you are already their enemies. For some reason, you have to appoint Su Xijie to go north..."

"You don't need to ask this section, and you don't think about it. The Turkic Khanate had just experienced a huge civil strife. Khan was killed, and Wang Zhongsi led his army to intimidate him at Jikou. What reason do they have to be enemies with me again? If I can become sworn in Ashinashi, can't I become sworn in Gladuo?"

(Grado, the son of Usumi Shi Khan, the great khan of the Turkic Khanate, is stationed in Heicheng with Pugu Huaien, the son of the chief of the Pugu tribe.

Such grassland politics is naturally something that Sun Xiaoke, a young man who was a slave to Hu Luju's tribe a few years ago, could not understand.
Chapter completed!