These Dingxi generals who followed Zhang Shao to fight Shuofang have different backgrounds.

For example, Gao Yancao is the fierce general of the Taima Battalion of the Wangdu Forbidden Army, and the general of Dingxi; Li Liang and An Chong are subordinate generals under Xin Er's account, and they have just emerged in the First Battle of Qinzhou; Bing Bo is the former general of Koji Ball; Zhao Rangan and Zhao Xing are generals, and they can also be regarded as Xin'er's subordinates.

The generals' affiliations and beliefs are also different.

Gao Yancao, Li Liang, and Bing Bo are Tang people and have no specific religious beliefs; An Chong was a Sogdian from the Western Regions and believed in Zoroastrianism; Zhao Rangan and Zhao Xing are Tiefu Huns, and the two brothers believe in their own shamanic shamanism, which believes that all things are animistic, and they also prefer to believe in Buddhism.

However, in addition to the differences, these generals also have something in common, that is, they are all brave, and they are all first-class generals in the army in Dingxi.

In other words, not only Gao Yancao is arrogant, but the rest of the generals, more or less, will inevitably have a rebellious attitude, which has to be replaced by individual people to be their main generals, it is very likely that they will not even be able to implement the military order, but Xin Er is very knowledgeable, and chose Zhang Shao to be the main general of the attack on Shuofang, relying on Zhang Shao to say that he is "tolerant and retreating", or that he is "eight-sided exquisite" or a good style of governing the army, but these generals are smoothly kneaded together.

Of course, the reason why Zhang Shao can do this, there is also one of the most important reasons, that is, Xin Er's prestige in Dingxi is rising, and his prestige in the Dingxi army has surpassed Koji Shuang because of his several big victories, no one can compare, Zhang Shao is the main general of this battle appointed by Xin Er, so even if Gao Yancao and others are not familiar with him, they will have a little respect for him.

Therefore, although the soldiers of different battalions in the army occasionally quarrel with each other and fight with each other, at least on the surface of Gao Yancao and other generals of each battalion, the atmosphere when the big guys meet is still quite harmonious.

The generals responded to the call and came to Zhang Shao's tent.

Zhang Shao was very polite, every time someone came, he would greet him personally, even Li Liang and An Chong, who had two lower military ranks, and he didn't take it big, and greeted him with the same smile.

When everyone arrived, according to the dignity of the official position, the old and the young, they each sat down, and Zhang Shao also sat in the main seat.

He looked around at the generals with a smile on his face, his eyes stopped at Zhang Gui and Yang Hezhi, the two very trustworthy scribes, and nodded again, and then he spoke, and said to everyone: "Starting from Guyin, we traveled more than 600 miles, and finally crossed the Mohai Sea, and arrived at the foot of Helan Mountain, you and others have worked hard!" Next, we will go north along Helan Mountain, find a suitable place to cross the river to the east, and officially launch the attack on Shuofang! Please wait here tonight, not for anything else, but for one thing, that is, to enter the enemy's territory, not without the first to explore the way, open the way in the mountains,...... Who is willing to take on this important responsibility? ”

Gao Yancao's subordinates are all heavily armored cavalry, which is not suitable for this task of exploring the road, and he really disdains such tasks, listening to Zhang Shao's words, he sat on the Hu seat as if he had nothing to do, and followed Zhang Shao's gaze, and also turned to the generals, looking left and right, seeing that no one answered for a while, he said: "General, there is a candidate to recommend at the end." ”

Zhang Shao asked, "Who?" ”

"The Xihaihou brothers are the natives of Shuofang, the two of them are in Shuofang, the terrain is familiar, and the people are also familiar, and they are the only ones who are exploring the way."

Zhang Shao nodded again and again and said, "General Gao is reasonable. Then he looked at Zhao Rangan and Zhao Xing brothers, and asked, "Xihai Hou and Linrong Hou, are you willing to accept this important responsibility?" He smiled, "You don't need the Jun brothers to explore the way, just one person!" ”

Linrong, one of the counties under the jurisdiction of Shuofang County in the Qin Dynasty, is now in a semi-deserted state.

One is to show the determination of Shuo Fang to fight this battle, and the other is to show the importance of Zhao Xing, so before Zhang Shao led the troops out of the capital, Xin Er went to the court and named Zhao Xing the Marquis of Linrong County.

There are so many Dingxi brave generals in the account in front of them, if you want to talk about the title alone, it is Zhao Rangan and Zhao Xing, the two Tiefu Huns, who have the highest descendants, including Zhang Shao, and the rest of the people, not to mention the county marquis, even the township marquis and the pavilion marquis, and no one has been entitled.

Zhao Xing hesitated.

Zhao Rangan stood up and said loudly: "The last general is about to ask for his life, but before he can say, he is willing to be the vanguard of the general and cross the river to explore the way!" ”

Zhang Shao was overjoyed and said, "Okay, good! Gu and the generals said with relief, "The Marquis of Xihai is willing to explore the road first, and we can boldly cross the river and march!" Get up in front of Zhao Rangan, hold his hand, and earnestly instruct, "Our army rode seven or eight thousand people, with war horses, camels, and baggage, and the momentum was not small. ”

Zhao Ran said angrily: "I only hate that Gou Xiong is not in Shuofang, so that I can't take revenge!" From Zhang Shao's soft and warm hands, he pulled out his rough hand, bowed with his fist, and said, "General, please rest assured, the last general will not be careless!" ”

Two years ago, Meng Lang and Gou Xiong attacked Shuofang, Zhao Ran was defeated by Gou Xiong, and was wantonly insulted by Gou Xiong after the defeat, resulting in his "prestige" in the Tiefu Xiongnu suddenly fell.

"Okay, okay." Zhang Shao turned his face, asked Zhang Gui and Yang Hezhi, and said: "Just ask Xihai Hou to lead his headquarters to cross the river as the vanguard, do you think it's okay for the two to join the army?" ”

Consultation to join the army is a civilian military rank that Xin Er temporarily gave to Zhang Gu and Yang Hezhi.

Zhang Gui said: "General Gao is right, the Marquis of Xihai is familiar with the terroir and people of Shuofang, and it is appropriate to take on this important responsibility. ”

Yang Hezhi did not speak, and acquiesced in Zhang Shao's appointment.

Therefore, it was decided that night, early tomorrow morning, Zhao Rangan led him to bring more than 700 Hu cavalry from the headquarters to participate in this battle, set off first, to the west of Shuofang on the bank of the Yellow River to find a suitable ferry, first cross the river, and after crossing the river, while continuing to explore the road in depth, find out the specific enemy situation, while dividing troops to guard the opposite bank, and receive the main force to cross the river.

This matter was negotiated, whether it was the first or the last, all departments would have to pull out the camp early in the morning tomorrow, Zhang Shao was resolute, and he did not do any more friction, and personally sent the generals out of the account.

Taking advantage of the generals' farewells, Zhang Gu grabbed Gao Yancao, dragged him aside, and said in a low voice: "Today, a knight in your department had a fight with an officer from the general's headquarters because of grabbing water, do you know about this?" ”

Gao Yancao said: "Got it." ”

"Then don't you apologize to the general on behalf of your knight?"

Gao Yancao looked inexplicable and said, "Why apologize?" ”

"Your knight not only grabbed water, but also insulted the general's subordinate officer, saying that others are inferior to horses, which is really too deceitful!"

Gao Yancao disagreed, and said: "You said this, join the army, my military official is telling the truth, why do you deceive people too much?" The war horses in my department are all carefully selected good horses, daily raising, food use, and a horse consumption, which can be used by several small people, and the gold is very expensive, saying that the step officer is not as good as my horse, there is nothing wrong with it! Besides, in the coming day, I will attack Shuofang and fight the flag, don't I have to rely on my horse armor? Just rely on those foot soldiers,......" Gao Yancao squinted at Zhang Gu and asked, "Do you think it will be successful to join the army?" ”

Gao Yancao went out from Xin Er several times, and was very familiar with the generals and strategists who were used by Xin Er's subordinates, although he had never worked with Zhang Gui, but when Gu Yin went to visit Xin Er's house, he and Zhang Gui had met several times, and Zhang Gui had a good relationship with him, so he would talk about him with good words at this time. But after hearing his answer, Zhang Gui had nothing to say for a while, called him by his nickname, and said, "Tiger, you ......"

Gao Yancao raised his eyes to look at the sky, looked at Helan Mountain in the east, and then looked at the desert sea in the west, touched his beard, and said: "Join the army, on this good night, our army has been trekking for days, and finally came out of the desert, and camped in this corner of the mountain. This desert doesn't look like a piece of yellow mutton? I suddenly made a lot of poems, and I wanted to compose a poem, and when I returned to Guyin, I would present it to the general for appreciation. Don't mistake my Yaxing, if you make me unhappy, I'll trouble you! "Walk away.

Zhang Gui had no choice but to rest.

Zhang Shao stopped at the door of the tent, but he didn't see the whispers of Zhang Gui and Gao Yancao until he saw everyone go away, and then he returned to the tent.

Zhang Gu and Yang Hezhi didn't leave, and followed to pay the bill.

The candles in the tent were bright, and the three of them continued to discuss the march and battle below.

But that Gao Yancao claimed to be suddenly poetic, not because he didn't want to listen to Zhang Gui's words of prevarication, only to see the bright moonlight sprinkled, looking forward, is the towering and dark Helan Mountain, the grass and trees are fragrant, looking back, is the endless Yellow Shahan Sea, full of dry air, in this high mountain, the camp between the desert, it seems to be between light and dark, water and fire, it does give people a strange feeling.

Gao Yancao went back to this account, and there was no need to say much about what kind of poem he could write about it.

Let's say that Zhao Rangan and Zhao Xing brothers have their own parts, and the stations of his two troops are adjacent, and the two of them returned together.

arrived at Zhao Rangan's camp first, Zhao Rangan was about to enter, Zhao Xing said: "Brother, slow down." ”

Zhao Rangan stopped and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"In the tent just now, why did Brother accept the task of being a pioneer in crossing the river?"

Zhao Ran frowned and said: "General Zhang is our main general in this battle, the main general has an order, how can he not obey it?" What do you mean by that? ”

Zhao Xing approached Zhao Rangan and said: "Brother, since Pu Mao sent troops to invade our Shuofang, our Tiefu Xiongnu was first defeated by Meng Lang and Gou Xiong, and the people suffered a lot of losses, and then Father did not succeed, and our people were slaughtered by Lu Ming and Ji He, and then, the capture of Qin and Dingxi for Qinzhou's successive battles, I was forced to lead my troops to fight, and was killed by that Meng Lang, and the losses were heavy. The warriors are only three or two thousand horsemen! …… Brother, I think this attack on Shuofang will be a vicious battle, even if we follow the main force to fight, the casualties will not be small, but how can Brother respond to the vanguard again? In case the lone army is left alone, it is ...... by that high-minded person."

"Don't say it!"

"Brother?"

Zhao Ran called Zhao Xing's small character and said: "Bobo, my father is dead, I am your brother, and I have the final say in the affairs of our Tiefu Huns." I should be in this position, of course, with my own considerations. How? Pu Mao gave you a fake name of Tiefu's boldness, don't you really think you are our Tiefu's boldness? Don't forget, your current master is the king of Dingxi! It's not Pu Mao! Don't forget, I'm your brother, and with me, it's not your turn to dictate the affairs of our department! ”

Zhao Xing said: "Brother, I have no such intention!" ”

Zhao Rangan took two steps towards his camp, stopped, turned his head and sneered, and said to Zhao Xing: "I am the pioneer of crossing the river this time, not you." If you want to be our Tiefu Zhenda, I hope you can become a prophecy, I was really defeated by Gao Gao and died on the battlefield! After a pause, he said, "I'm afraid that even if I die, you won't be able to do it!" Our younger brother is in the Tuoba Department! That slave son, Aliro, was also deeply loved by the king and the general of the conquest! ”

Zhao Xing watched Zhao Rangan go back, standing in place under the moon, and didn't move for a long time.

He followed him to participate in the military council, but he was not qualified enough to enter the account, because he was waiting outside the tent, and at this time, Jin Sufu and Qi Nuhou, who were waiting for him to return to the camp, looked at me, I looked at you, and they were all nervous.

Jin Sufu said: "Prince? ”

Zhao Xing seemed to come back to his senses, sighed, pressed his sword and said: "I said why I joined Dingxi, after reuniting with my brother, my brother has always had no good face for me, it turns out that he is afraid that I will take the position of Tiefu!"

"It's ......, it's ....... There are only two or three thousand capable warriors that I have today, and at this time when the northern land is fighting and the martyrs are using force, I don't want our only remaining strength to be consumed needlessly, so I advise my brother! Is it to compete for the position of the big one? Alas, those who are clear are self-purifying. If he thinks so, it is useless for me to explain, let him be suspicious! ”

Jin Sufu and Qi Nuhou are Zhao Xing's henchmen, and they know that although Zhao Xing is young, he is only in his twenties this year, but his ambition is high, and he never forgets the glory of their Tiefu Xiongnu who dominated Shuofang in the past, and competed with the Xianbei Tuoba Tribe, Di Qin and Rouran Tribes.

Zhao Xing took the two of them to the base camp.

Seeing that he was worried, Jin Sufu asked, "Prince, are you still worried about the Marquis of Xihai?" ”

Zhao Xing shook his head.

"What is the prince thinking?"

"I think General Zhang has something to hide from us."

"Something to hide from us?"

Under the clear night sky, Zhao Xing looked at the direction of Zhang Shao's tent, said with doubts: "You say, why didn't Zhang and Yang join the army and return to the account with us?" The two of them stayed in General Zhang's tent, what could they be discussing with General Zhang? ”