Two days later, Li Bing returned from the northern mines with 13,000 Han Chinese slaves, as well as thousands of horses, carrying smelted pig iron and copper, as well as a small amount of gold.

Guo Song looked at the pig iron and copper unloaded from the horse, and couldn't help but smile and said to Li Bing: "If I were you, I would find a way to transport them by water, and I wouldn't use horses to carry them back, I know there is a river over there, don't say you haven't seen it!" ”

Li Bing said stupidly: "Rafts are needed for water transportation, but the rafts just happened to transport a batch of pig iron to Wangcheng, and there was no one on the mine." ”

Guo Song shook his head and smiled: "Without a raft, can't you build a raft?" ”

Li Bing was stunned for a moment, smiled wryly and patted his head, "This brain has not been used for a long time, it is a little rusty, I didn't expect to build a raft, obviously there are woods over there, but the pig iron and copper are all transported back, and there are tens of thousands of taels of gold." ”

Guo Song arranged a Zhonglang general to call the miners to rest and eat, thousands of craftsmen are busy building sheepskin rafts, this time the materials transported back to the Central Plains is also a huge project, it is impossible to rely on more than 10,000 camels, it is necessary to use water transportation, the water system near the royal city is very huge, stretching for thousands of miles, the longest muddy valley water has been flowing to the south, about eight hundred miles away from the border, flowing into a lake and swamp.

Then the 800-mile journey was transported by animal power until it reached the Yellow River in Yulin County, and then changed to water transportation, which was the best transportation plan.

That night, Yao Jin led the army to return, he did not send the Hui nobles to the East, his men only walked more than 100 miles, then met Princess Ye led 5,000 troops to come, Yao Jin's men handed over the Hui Khan and more than 1,000 nobles to Princess Ye, Princess Ye led everyone to Kedun City, which is also a ruling base of Hui Hui.

The three armies converged, and Guo Song led a large army to escort more than 100,000 Hui women and children, as well as countless cattle, sheep, war horses and supplies, and returned to the royal city.

Yao Jin followed Guo Song's side and said to Guo Song: "Princess Ye also mentioned some other things. ”

"What's the matter, is it related to Zhang Yun?" Guo Song smiled faintly.

"I did mention Zhang Yun, I told her that Zhang Yun went back to the Central Plains first, she looked very lost, Your Highness, what is the relationship between her and Zhang Yun?" Yao Jin asked puzzled,

Guo Song smiled slightly: "If she doesn't have such strong ambitions, then she will probably follow Zhang Yun back to the Central Plains, and at the year-end appreciation meeting, she, as Zhang Yun's wife, will sit next to your wife." ”

Yao Jin was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help laughing dumbly, "It's incredible, Zhang Yun has never been close to women." ”

"Yes! He was originally a peach pimple, but once it sprouted and flowered, it was a large piece of rotten peach blossoms. ”

Guo Song smiled and asked, "What else was mentioned?" ”

"I also mentioned the clansmen of the Yaoluoge tribe, which are these hundreds of thousands of old and weak women and children."

"What did she say?"

"She wants to redeem."

Guo Song thought for a while and smiled: "You know what I plan to do with these Hui people, I am going to carry out an auction exchange in Yunzhou, a Han slave will be replaced by a Hui people, there are also a large number of Han slaves in other Hui tribes, Princess Ye wants these people, then exchange, there are a lot of servant bones, it depends on her sincerity." ”

"There are some young and beautiful ones in there, can you leave them for the brethren?"

Guo Song's face sank, and Yao Jin saw that the situation was not good, so he quickly explained: "The meaning of lowly position is to let the brothers marry back. ”

Guo Song's face softened a little and said: "It's not impossible to marry them, but you have to think about it yourself, first of all, the language barrier is a troublesome thing, if they are not used to living in the Central Plains, maybe they will flee back to the grassland, if they feel that these are okay, they can marry." ”

At this time, Li Bing stepped forward and smiled: "If I can marry, I want to marry one and go back as a concubine." ”

Guo Song smiled, "Even if you pick it, Yao Jin will also pick one?" ”

Yao Jin was so frightened that he hurriedly shook his head, "My family won't let Hu Nu enter the door." ”

The crowd burst into laughter.

Guo Song pondered for a moment and said: "In fact, it is better to let the soldiers marry grassland women, it is better to marry the rescued female slaves, at least they are all Han Chinese, most of them are relatively young, they have a new life, and they will definitely cherish their hard-won family even more." ”

Li Bing immediately said: "It's true, I know that many soldiers are more tempted, so I simply match the brothers as a matchmaker to solve the problem of some soldiers marrying wives." ”

Guo Song then Yao Jin said: "Let Hu Tong do this matter, he will join the military, and this matter is just under his control!" ”

Yao Jin hurriedly bowed down and said, "Let's arrange it!" ”

A few days later, the crowd arrived at the royal court, and the 7,000 soldiers who stayed behind had packed all the supplies in the warehouse.

The main commander who stayed in Wangcheng was Ma Weijiang, the general of the rear army, although he did not participate in the front-line operations, his pressure was not small at all, and it was his logistics support that laid a solid foundation for this northern expedition.

Guo Song returned to the big tent, and Ma Weijiang followed, "There are a few things to report to Your Highness." ”

"What's the matter? You say! ”

"There is news from Taiyuan that Zhu Tao led 10,000 troops into Feihu Road, stayed in Feihu County all night, and then withdrew his troops back."

Guo Song smiled faintly, "This is what I expected, it can only show that Zhu Tao is not stupid, and then what about other news?" ”

"There is also Princess Ye sent a messenger over, he arrived last night, and he was waiting for His Highness."

"Who is it?"

"A Manichaean, as if to be her national teacher, a very shrewd Sogdian."

"What else is there to say?"

"There are also those female slaves, many of them are homeless, they are very anxious, they don't know what to do, they think about whether they can build a military uniform workshop in Taiyuan, let them make military uniforms and marching sleeping bags, and provide them with dormitories."

Guo Song nodded, "This plan is feasible, in addition, I think that some of these young women can marry our soldiers, Hu Senjun is already counting the number, it seems that there are many interested people, I think it is best to marry between fellow villagers, you go to the women's side to investigate, if they are willing to marry soldiers, they can choose husbands." ”

Ma Weijiang was overjoyed, "This is a good thing!" The lowly immediately began to inquire. ”

"Before you go to ask, bring Princess Ye's messenger to me."

Ma Weijiang almost forgot, he hurriedly said: "Let's arrange it!" ”

........

Princess Ye's emissary was called An Chong, a Manichaean priest from Sogdia Anguo, about fifty years old, who lived in Huifu for nearly ten years and spent many years in Chang'an, and was proficient in Sogdian, Turkic, and Chinese.

This person has a slender face, and at first glance he is a shrewd and sophisticated person, as Manichaeism is gradually accepted by the upper class of the Hui, especially Princess Ye and her tribe are more believers, An Chong's status in the Hui is getting higher and higher.

An Chong entered the tent and saluted with a smile: "See His Royal Highness King Jin!" ”

"You may be seated!"

Guo Song's first impression of this person was not very good, with triangular eyes, an eagle hooked nose, fleshless cheeks, and a treacherous face.

Of course, the two sides are just exchanging interests, not talking about any affection, so Guo Song is still quite polite to him.

An Chong sat down and said, "This time, His Highness led the army to inflict heavy losses on Hui Hui!" ”

Guo Song smiled faintly, "Hui often visits Datang, if I don't pay a return visit, wouldn't it be rude?" ”

"Your Highness is really good at talking, I came to visit Your Highness on the order of Princess Ye, I hope that Your Highness can leave the old and weak women and children of the Yao Luo Ge Department in the grassland, and we are willing to redeem them in accordance with the rules of the grassland."

Guo Song took a few steps and said: "There is no problem with ransom, the best way is to exchange people for people, I know that there are still a lot of Tang slaves in the hands of the Hui Hui, use them to exchange, one for another, if the number of Hui is not enough, there are also servants and even other tribes." ”

"I see, I wonder when His Highness will leave?"

"I'm going to leave soon, this transaction can be completed in Yunzhou, you send people to Yunzhou, and then bring people back."

The two sides only talked about the redemption of slaves, and did not talk about other topics, obviously Princess Ye didn't want Guo Song to interfere too much in Hui Hui, Guo Song didn't ask much, he had already fulfilled his promise, as for whether Princess Ye could become the first female khan of Hui Hui, it was none of his business.

An Chong took his leave, and two days later, Guo Song led a large army to set out, and the Tang army used rafts to load a large amount of supplies and bring the rescued Han slaves, and the army marched south.