Du Hongsheng stretched out his hand to take the wine jug, Qin Xiao had already taken the lead in snatching it, and got up to pour wine for Du Hongsheng.

"Do you know, back then, the Southern Xinjiang Army negotiated peace with the imperial court and reached an agreement, and the imperial court gave Murong Changdu the title of King of Zhennan, hereditary replacement, and the Murong family wanted to call the court a minister and send hostages." Du Hongsheng smiled faintly: "Hostage, as long as it is a member of the Murong family, it doesn't have to be the heir of King Zhennan, so this is just a superficial article." In addition, the imperial court could appoint officials to southern Xinjiang, and as far as I know, at that time, Murong Changdu specially asked people to write the names of twenty counties, which meant that the imperial court could send officials to these twenty counties, and at that time, it was also to give the imperial court face so that peace talks could be reached as soon as possible. ”

Qin Xiao smiled faintly and said: "The imperial court can send officials to southern Xinjiang, and it can also tell the people of the world that southern Xinjiang still belongs to the Tang Dynasty, and this ability to deceive others is not bad." ”

"However, the county orders of only twenty counties naturally cannot satisfy the face of the imperial court. Moreover, these counties are the most barren and poor counties in southern Xinjiang, and they are all deep mountains and old forests. Du Hongsheng sighed: "Many places in southern Xinjiang are controlled by the tribal Tusi, among which the six Tusi in Southern Xinjiang are the leaders, and the power of these Tusi is deeply rooted in Southern Xinjiang. These twenty counties are almost all spread over the territory of the six Tusi, and the officials sent by the Murong family have no real power, and the officials sent by the imperial court are even more ornamental. ”

Qin Xiao toasted Du Hongsheng with a cup, poured him a glass of wine, and then asked, "Is that Xiangjun also controlled by the six Tusi?" ”

"At the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Xiangjun had a local secession regime established by Li Jiaroning and local tribes, and called itself Daning State." Du Hongsheng explained: "The Tang Dynasty was invincible in the conquest of southern Xinjiang, and only the Daning Kingdom relied on its geographical advantages to resist to the end, and it took several years for the empire to destroy the Ning Kingdom. However, although Li Jiaronin was killed, the remnants were not completely eliminated, and they were protected by those indigenous tribes, and the empire could not kill all the natives in southern Xinjiang, mainly to pacify, and set up the Southern Xinjiang Protectorate in Southern Xinjiang, and canonized the title of the leader of the six indigenous tribes, in fact, it was also to win over the six ministries for the imperial court to assist the Metropolitan Protectorate to control the entire southern Xinjiang. ”

Qin Xiao didn't know much about Southern Xinjiang, and even less about these past events, and after listening to Du Hongsheng's explanation at this time, he realized that Southern Xinjiang was much more complicated than he had thought before.

"During the time of Emperor Mingzong, Duan Guifang, the protector of the southern Xinjiang capital, established himself as the king and rebelled." Du Hongsheng stroked his beard and said: "Before Duan Guifang raised the army, he stayed in the position of the protector of southern Xinjiang for more than 20 years, but he was talented, pacified the territory and the people, developed production, and actively traded, and the relationship with the six Tusi was also very harmonious. Moreover, this person is good at drilling camps and bribing many officials in the court, so that many officials in the court speak for him, and Emperor Mingzong also feels that this person is outstanding and can appease one side, so Duan Guifang is as stable as Mount Tai in the position of the protector of southern Xinjiang. ”

Qin Xiao had already understood, and said softly: "Duan Guifang is ambitious, he buys people's hearts and accumulates strength in southern Xinjiang, just thinking that one day he can establish himself as the king. ”

"Exactly." Du Hongsheng sighed: "So after Du Guifang rebelled, it took the imperial court another three years to pacify it. After the recovery of southern Xinjiang, the southern Xinjiang capital was revoked, and southern Xinjiang was divided into Jiaozhou and Liuzhou, and each set up a thorn history, which was changed every three years. ”

"In that case, how can Murong Changdu become bigger?"

"Actually, it hasn't been too much of a problem." Du Hongsheng said softly: "However, when the first emperor ascended the throne, the local Tusi of Jiaozhou launched a rebellion again, and the Jiaozhou assassin was incompetent, and the rebels abandoned the city and fled, and the rebels directly occupied Mingcheng in Jiaozhou. The imperial court was about to send troops to quell the chaos, and Murong Sude, the guard of Cangwu County, did not want to Jiaozhou, summoned hundreds of soldiers, and gathered several Tusi who were loyal to the imperial court, quickly recaptured Mingcheng, and sent the head of the rebel leader directly to Kyoto. ”

It was really the first time Qin Xiao had heard of Murong Sude's name, and asked softly, "Then what is the relationship between Murong Sude and Murong Chang?" Father and son? ”

"Exactly." Du Hongsheng said: "The biggest mistake of the first emperor was to believe in the Murong family. The first emperor felt that the Tusi of Southern Xinjiang was so in awe of the Murong family, in order to avoid the gang of fierce local Tusi from making trouble again, he let the Murong family have been sitting in Jiaozhou, when Murong Sude was alive, he was quite loyal to the imperial court, but because of his management, the power of the Murong family in Jiaozhou has been deep-rooted, and even the tentacles have extended to Liuzhou. Murong Sude died of illness, and officials in the court played, thinking that it was the time to send another official to replace the Murong family, but less than half a month after Murong Sude's death, there was a rebellion in Jiaozhou, and the court had to let Murong Sude's son ...... That is, the current king of Zhennan, Murong Changdu, took over his father's position and quelled the rebellion, and Murong Changdu only took less than a month to restore peace to Jiaozhou. ”

Qin Xiao sneered: "Murong Sude passed away, and someone rebelled immediately, and it just so happened that Murong Changdu rebelled and took his father's place, so that the Murong family was still rooted in southern Xinjiang, and this rebellion really helped the Murong family a lot." ”

Du Hongsheng smiled faintly, the two of them knew each other, and they didn't say anything, Du Hongsheng continued: "The two states in southern Xinjiang, compared to Jiaozhou, Liuzhou is far from as far as the population and region, and Liuzhou is still a three-year history, and the influence of the Murong family in Liuzhou is much greater than the history of the six states. And because of commerce and trade, the power of the Murong family has long penetrated into Liuzhou, so after the sage ascended the throne and Murong Changdu raised troops, the first thing was to invade Liuzhou, and it took no effort to control the entire southern Xinjiang. ”

"Xiangjun in Liuzhou?"

"Yes." Du Hongsheng nodded: "And it is the most barren county in Liuzhou, full of indigenous tribes, the Murong family actually can't completely control Xiangjun, the court wants to be faced, and the Murong family just threw the position of Xiangjun County to the imperial court, but no matter who arrives in Xiangjun, it can only be an ornament, and the government decree can't get out of the county guard's mansion." ”

"I see." Qin Xiao suddenly realized, frowned, and said, "Wouldn't it be ..... Situ Butang to send you to Xiangjun?" Thinking that the wall had ears, although his voice was low, he still did not speak.

Du Hongsheng was calm and abnormal, drank with a cup, and said with a smile: "Back then, the officials sent me to Xiling Zhen County, and I stayed for eight years, and from that time on, I was destined to have no future. This time Zhen County fell into the hands of the rebels, although the imperial court pulled out Fan Wenzheng to take the blame, but I, the county guard of Zhen County, was also to blame, did not kill me, but just sent me to southern Xinjiang, which is already considered an extrajudicial favor. I was originally a decoration in Zhen County, but now I go to Xiang County, just to change places, it's not a big deal. ”

Although he smiled lightly, his tone was clearly clear.

"I leave this time to say goodbye to you, just because I know very well that if I say goodbye this time, maybe we will never see each other again." Du Hongsheng sighed lightly: "Although Xiling is windy and sandy, it can still be carried over. However, the humidity in southern Xinjiang is heavy, and the miasma rats and insects are also poisonous, and I was suddenly transferred from the west to the south, and I must not have adapted to the climate there, and maybe it will not take a year and a half to die there. Even if I adapt to the past, the imperial court will not think of me as the county guard of Xiangjun for ten or eight years, and if nothing else, Xiangjun should be my burial place. ”

"My lord, there are no absolutes in everything." Qin Xiao knew that Du Hongsheng was saying from the bottom of his heart, and when he was leaving, he treated himself sincerely, his mood was quite heavy, and he said softly: "Maybe there is a sudden change, you can leave Southern Xinjiang as soon as possible." ”

Du Hongsheng leaned forward slightly, lowered his voice and smiled: "You mean that the imperial court sent troops to attack southern Xinjiang?" Hehe, if this is the case, Murong Changdu will be the first to use my head to sacrifice the flag. Shaking his head and sighing: "In fact, over the years, I really hope that the imperial court can conquer southern Xinjiang as soon as possible, so that Xiling will have the hope of recovery." But I'm going to southern Xinjiang now, if the imperial court wants to attack southern Xinjiang, I will be the first to lose my life, Qin Xiao, do you think I should hope that the imperial court will send troops, or hope that I will never send troops? Now even I'm a little confused. ”

Qin Xiao didn't know how to answer.

Suddenly, I heard a knock on the door, and I heard someone say: "Lord Du, if there is nothing important, let's set off as soon as possible, and order us to leave the city today, if we delay leaving the city later, we won't be able to explain to the above." Naturally, it was the official who escorted Du Hongsheng to take up his post.

Du Hongsheng agreed, picked up the wine jug, poured himself a glass, held the cup in his hand, but did not drink it, looked at the wine in the cup, thoughtful.

Qin Xiao stood up, then turned his back to Du Hongsheng, took out the silver ticket from his arms, and took out two thousand taels of silver tickets, two thousand taels is of course a huge amount of money for ordinary people, but for Qin Xiao, who has hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, it is not a big deal.

He put away the other silver tickets, took two thousand taels of silver tickets, and stuffed them into Du Hongsheng's hand, Du Hongsheng glanced at them, and was a little surprised: "You..... What ..... are you? ”

"My lord, this trip to southern Xinjiang, needless to say, I know that when you returned to Beijing from Xiling, you couldn't bring anything out." Qin Xiao said in a low voice: "These silvers, you can also treat them as entanglements on the way." When I arrived in southern Xinjiang, with this bit of silver in my hands, many things should be easier to do. ”

Du Hongsheng smiled bitterly: "Thank you for worrying about me, but I can't accept .....!" About to push it back, Qin Xiao pressed his arm and said, "Let's be considered to be suffering together, so we don't have to be so clear, you take it, if there is a chance in the future, I will go to southern Xinjiang to see you." ”

"Okay." Du Hongsheng smiled, his eyes were a little red, and he patted Qin Xiao on the shoulder: "I'm waiting for you to go in Southern Xinjiang, I heard that there is also good wine there, I'll wait for you to drink." "I no longer insist, knowing that this trip to southern Xinjiang, everything is difficult, with this bit of silver in hand, many things will indeed be done much more smoothly, and I put it in my arms, and my face showed gratitude.