The cold wind in September passed through the long Hexi Corridor, and it seemed that this chill could be felt from Wusheling to Guyumen Pass, but in this northern land, when it had not really entered the cold wind and wax moon, there were also many merchants and travelers who entered the Western Regions along the Hexi Corridor to find a gathering place for wealth.

In the hearts of the Chinese people, the Western Regions will always be full of hardships and mysteries, as the so-called Western Regions to filial piety and martial arts, the thirty-six countries, and then slightly divided to more than 50, are in the west of the Xiongnu, the south of Wusun. There are large mountains in the north and south. There is a river in the center, more than 6,000 miles from east to west, and more than 1,000 miles from north to south. The east is connected to the Han Dynasty, and the Yumen and Yangguan are bounded in the west, and the green ridge is limited to the west.

And on the land leading to the Western Regions of the Hexi Corridor, there is a place that can never be ignored - Xingxing Gorge, because this is the only place to enter the eastern frontier from the Hexi Corridor, and it is also an extremely dangerous pass, with peaks and peaks on all sides, and dangerous rocks and cliffs on both sides.

With the crisp sound of horses' hooves, I saw a caravan preparing to pass through the inspection of the defenders on the Star Gorge, and after opening all their suitcases, the next thing they could do was to wait in the cold wind, waiting for the end of the routine inspection, and seal a bag of silver.

This is just a very common scene in Xingxing Gorge, because every month many caravans pass by, selling some things that can be sold or can't be sold, and they come to Moxi with the intention of making a fortune, hoping to sell their things at a high price, and the local garrison Jungger soldiers will also get a piece of the pie.

However, I don't know what happened, the Jungar soldiers, who did not refuse to come in the past, began to pretend to really check their luggage at this time, and even repeatedly began to check the carriages, and searched the bodies of those caravans, as if they were impartially enforcing the law.

"My lord, we are some hard-working people, so it's hard to pull some goods over....... You have to raise your hand! ”

An old man with gray hair plucked up the courage to step forward and whispered in a language that he was not fluent in, having traveled the road so many times that he knew more or less Mongolian.

However, this time, the soldiers on the opposite side just glanced at them coldly, and replied directly in Chinese: "We are all young and handsome soldiers, not those Mongolian Tartars!" ”

The old man breathed a sigh of relief, in his opinion, since he was also Han, he should not be too embarrassed, and his face was full of smiles, and he also changed to a Chinese dialect.

"This lord, we are all fellow villagers who are close to the left...... Wasn't the Star Gorge guarded by those Mongolian soldiers in the past, we didn't see it clearly for a while, don't blame the wrong adult, I don't know which adult is headed here? ”

As he spoke, a man came from behind, wearing cotton armor and carrying a waist knife diagonally at his waist, looking at everyone with disdain.

"Hmph, you will recognize the Tartars, but you will not recognize this master! Today, I want you to know that Uncle Ben is the fifth year of the personal guard under the command of Nian Shuai, and he came to this Star Gorge to investigate Chu Rebellion spy! ”

The smile on the old man's face became brighter and brighter, he quickly turned around and took a small package from the hands of others, and then handed it to Nian Wu, and said in a low voice: "Lord Nian, we are not ignorant, this little caution and please accept it first, this will be a long time, a long time will be long!" Hahahaha......."

The fifth year of the year took the package handed over by the old man with a big smile, put it in his hand and weighed it slightly for a while, and then glanced at the carriage of this business trip, only to see that it was loaded with some ordinary commercial goods, so he smiled: "You are interested, uncle may as well tell you, today fortunately you met my five-year-old uncle, otherwise I thought about this Xingxing Gorge, but it is more difficult than climbing to the sky!" ”

The old man hurriedly nodded in thanks, and then smiled = asked casually: "I heard that now the handsome soldiers are strong and strong, and there are many firearms under his hands, is this about to fight back to our Ganzhou?" ”

Nian Wu smiled when he heard this, but he didn't have any doubts, after all, ordinary business travelers will pay attention to these things, so as to make profits in the chaos, seeing that this little old man will be a man, he whispered: "Hey, don't you dare to talk nonsense, haven't you heard, this Jungger front army has been defeated, even the Great Khan is dead, these Tartars like to show off their power in front of us in the past, I didn't expect this day...... Anyway, don't go again after you finish this trip, I don't know when the Fu Han army will come over, and I want you to meet you when the time comes, and if you don't do a good job, it will all be in vain! ”

It turns out that since Nian Qianyao took refuge in Zungar, although the two sides could still maintain a good face before, but after all, the Northwest Army and Zungar fought for a long time, and the hatred between the two sides has been a long time, so the small friction in private is also constant, especially in the eyes of the original Great Khan Gardance, Nian Qianyao and they are Han after all, so they are ready to completely solve this problem after the war, but they didn't expect that before the war ended, he himself died first.

Therefore, for the soldiers under the command of Nian Qianyao, they were full of hostility towards Ning Chu, but they also had a lot of anger towards Zhungeer, and they were not very polite in their words on weekdays.

The old man's kindness to Nian Wu was naturally fully accepted, he thanked and nodded while promising to come like this, and then moved the two Shu brocades on the carriage and left them for Nian Wu, and then led the caravan all the way through the Star Gorge, but at the moment before leaving, when he looked at the increasingly blurred figure of the guards on the Star Gorge, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

That's right, they are not the so-called business brigades, but intelligence officers stationed in the northwest by the Military Intelligence Department of the Fu Han Army, and his code name is Red Wolf, this time through the Star Gorge to Guleza, the purpose is to connect with the relevant local intelligence work, spy on the military movement intelligence of the Jungar Khanate, so as to support the next war in an all-round way.

"As soon as Nian Qianyao's department was stationed in Hami, in order to show his sincerity, he has always handed over the defense of Xingxing Gorge to the Jungger people, but now they are stationed in Xingxing Gorge in the name of investigating secret spies, although there are external factors in this, but we also need to beware of one point, that is, the current Jungar Khanate, some things have happened that we don't know yet."

The old man looked at one of his subordinates in front of him, with a little caution in his expression, and he said softly: "Night owl, this time you have to pay attention to all the information in Hami, especially to keep an eye on two people, one is Nian Qianyao, and the other is Xiao Ce Ling Dun Dobu, to see what they are planning, but there is one point, on the eve of the war, you must pay attention to the principles of intelligence work, and you can't blindly expose yourself." ”

The night owl was a middle-aged man who looked to be only in his thirties, he nodded solemnly, and said: "My subordinates understand that the first thing in this trip is to lurk and protect themselves. ”

In the current principles of intelligence work of the Military Intelligence Service, there are several iron laws that cannot be violated, such as the hidden intelligence personnel and the intelligence sender are always separated by a line, they are called carrier pigeons, carrier pigeons know the way of intelligence transmission, but do not know the method of intelligence decipherment and the identity information of intelligence personnel, so as to ensure the security of intelligence.

Among them, night owls belong to senior undercover personnel, and naturally understand the danger here, but fortunately, although Hami is now stationed in the army, it has also begun to become chaotic because of the changes in the current situation, and under the mixture of dragons and snakes, it is more suitable for people like him to lurk to the end.

The old man was slightly silent, he had to rush to Guleza immediately, so it was impossible to stay in Hami, but the current changes in Nian Qianyao's department made him more or less worried in his heart, maybe this old wolf had a different kind of thought........

........

"yes, we can't do this anymore......"

In the camp, Nian Qianyao was wearing a dark long shirt and cotton clothes, with a little melancholy in his eyes, and the whole person looked very depressed, and beside him, a middle-aged scribe also looked worried, it was Nian Qianyao's friend Hu Qiheng, both of whom looked sluggish.

The reason is very simple, since Nian Qianyao defected to the Zungar Khanate, he did not get what he wanted, and he did not really settle down, but after the Zungar Khanate invaded the steppe, the situation made them more and more bad.

But none of this is important, the important thing is that both of them died, in addition, the Jungger army was also wiped out, and more importantly, the Fuhan army was also lured, this time it really cost Nian Qianyao's old life!

After all, Nian Qianyao knows his own affairs, although he has the so-called 30,000 troops in his hands, but these people are depressed, they are in the heart of war, and they lack food and clothing, and even gunpowder cannot make ends meet.

Thinking of this, Nian Qianyao said hatefully: "The military supplies that I asked for in the letter to the old Tartar chieftain before, I have been looking for excuses to drag it out, until this year they want to compete with Ning Chu, so they allocated a small batch of materials, and also sent a little Ce Ling to monitor the old man, it is really too deceitful!" ”

Speaking of this, Nian Qianyao sighed deeply again, and said with a sad face: "But what should we do now, a few days ago, the Fu Han army in Shaanxi and Gansu increased its troops again, but I am afraid that they will come over soon!" ”

Hu Qiheng, as Nian Qianyao's chief strategist, he was more or less guilty in his heart, after all, he came up with the idea of murdering Yue Zhongqi to defect to the Jungar Khanate, but now this strategy not only did not improve Nian Qianyao's situation, but made his lord a dilemma.

"Dashuai, we must not become pawns of the Jungar Khanate now, and we must no longer compete with the Fu Han army, otherwise the overthrow is only in sight! Avoid its edge and take the edge to stand on your own! ”

Hu Qiheng's face turned ruthless, and he said in a low voice: "It's better to rely on yourself than on anyone now, since they don't give it, then let's just grab it!" ”

"Rob? Where to grab? ”

Nian Qianyao subconsciously glanced at Hami City, then shook his head and said: "There are still 10,000 Jungar troops here, although their number is small, but their combat power is strong and the firearms are complete, they are definitely not something that our 30,000 people can deal with, and even if we rob it, we have nowhere to go now." ”

After all, there are only a few people who have mixed up with Nian Qianyao's share in these years, he not only offended Ning Chu, but also offended the Great Righteous Army, so that whether it is eastward to Shaanxi and Gansu or south to Qinghai-Tibet, it has become a dead end, and the only thing to rely on at the moment is the Jungar Khanate, even if it is robbed, there is nowhere to be safe.

Hu Qiheng smiled lightly, shook his head, and said in a low voice: "Great Khan, we are in the game now, we can't be fooled like usual....... If you want to say that the best thing to grab and should be grabbed at the moment is Guleza. ”

Gulza, the capital of the Dzungar Khanate, is also the essence of the Hexi Corridor, and every year the caravans passing through Gulza will leave more wealth here, and after the development of Arabutan, Gulza also has a considerable production capacity of firearms, not to mention muskets, even artillery can be produced - and at the moment, the city is almost an empty city.

Nian Qianyao's eyes suddenly narrowed, it was not that he thought Hu Qiheng was joking, but he was seriously considering this suggestion, after all, through the current intelligence, the Dzungar Khanate is now in the weakest state in history.......

After a long time, Nian Qianyao finally shook his head, gritted his teeth and said: "Even if Junggar is defeated on the front line, even if Galdan Tseling has been killed in battle, but I'm afraid we still can't underestimate Guleza, just from the 10,000 people in Hami, it can be seen that since they are not in a hurry to transfer Xiao Celing back, it means that the Junggar people think that Guleza is not risky." ”

Hu Qiheng smiled slightly, "That's right, according to the current situation, Guleza does have a certain strength, but let's not forget that they are in the light, we are in the dark, as long as we find a suitable opportunity, we can't give it a try——"

"The right opportunity?"

Nian Qianyao looked at Hu Qiheng with some suspicion, he still knew his old friend very well, and it was obvious that he had smelled something different.

Hu Qiheng had a smile on his face, "I heard that Xiao Celing has secretly gone back to Guleza once, maybe this time he will come back and ask for an adult, and then the adult may as well come down first to wait for the situation to change.......

Nian Qianyao laughed, looked at the flickering lights and candles in front of him, and suddenly his worries disappeared, for him, as long as he can maintain these tens of thousands of troops, then there is nothing in the world that he can't sell, whether it is the Qing Dynasty or the Jungar Khanate, it will also become his stepping stone.

"Maybe in the future, if I have the opportunity, I can also be a king or something........"