Shule is today's Kashgar, a rich and beautiful oasis, here is also the only passage across the green mountains, since ancient times it has been a battleground for soldiers, and it is also the second largest town among the four towns in Anxi.

At present, the situation of Shule Town is exactly the same as that of Qiuzi Town, the forces of Tubo and Tang army are intertwined here, the grassland pasture is occupied by Tubo, and the surrounding farmland and Shule City still belong to Shule State, and a thousand Tang troops are stationed in Shule City.

The town guard made Lu Yang heard that the imperial envoy arrived, led the soldiers out of the city to greet him, Guo Song read out the edict of the Son of Heaven, gave Lu Yang as the prince of the plain county, Feng Yunlu general, gave 10,000 taels of silver, a farm, and the rest of the soldiers were promoted to three levels, and gave the title and a large amount of money and land.

Of course, the money and land given by the Son of Heaven are all in the mainland, and they can only be given to their relatives in the Central Plains, but despite this, the soldiers were still very moved, kneeling down and shouting three long live!

They themselves may not receive substantial rewards, but the titles and glory given by the court are enough to satisfy them, and they are not forgotten by the court.

Lu Yang, the town guard, was about fifty years old, and he had also served in the army in Anxi for 30 years, with white temples and silver threads under his chin.

He accompanied Guo Song into Shule City, while introducing Guo Song, "We are actually the same as Qiuzi, we also rely on farming for a living, lack of food has always troubled us, but the local people get along well with us, soldiers and local people also have a lot of intermarriage, although the intermarriage left offspring to the soldiers, but the biggest problem is that there is no successor to the cause of the Tang Dynasty, young people have lived in the maternal environment since childhood, the local language is more fluent than Chinese, and the sense of identity with the Tang Dynasty is very low, they would rather join the militia of Shule than join the Tang Army." ”

"Why would you rather join the Shule militia?"

Lu Yang smiled bitterly, "The treatment is different!" Joining the Shule National Militia, not only can you eat a full meal, but also wine and meat, while the Tang Army can only eat half full, don't even think about wine and meat, except for us veterans who are loyal to the Tang Dynasty, there are really few young people, there are still some Han couples on the Qiuzi side, their children have a family and country identity, and are willing to join the Tang Army, and there is hardly a Han woman on Shule's side, except for my wife. ”

At this time, a group of children rushed by, and Lu Yang suddenly shouted: "Ah Jian! ”

A seven or eight-year-old child stopped, lowered his head and stepped forward, "Daddy! ”

Lu Yang's face sank and asked, "Why don't you go to study and mix with a group of crazy babies?" ”

The child said timidly: "Mr. is unwell today, and he has a day off." ”

"I have to go home to practice calligraphy and martial arts during the holidays, and I am not allowed to play blindly, you know?"

"The child got it!"

"This is Uncle Guo, why don't you see it soon?"

Lu Jian bowed and saluted, "Little nephew, see Uncle Guo!" ”

"General Lu, is this your son?" Guo Song asked with a smile.

"It's my youngest son, called Lu Jian, I have three sons, the eldest and the second are in Tang Jun, this youngest son is only eight years old, I want him to study."

Guo Song smiled and nodded, and took out a dagger from his arms, which he had captured from Murong Bianlin, the master of Tuyuhun, and it was small and well-made, very sharp, and the leather sheath was also inlaid with gems.

Guo Song handed him the dagger, "This dagger is for you!" ”

Lu Jian took the dagger and pulled it out gently, only to feel that the cold was pressing, Lu Yang was startled, this dagger was very precious, he hurriedly said: "Such a precious thing can't be given to a child!" ”

Guo Song said with a smile: "It's just a dagger, and I also captured it from the enemy's main general, and give it to our future Tang warriors, what's not to do?" ”

Lu Jian loved the dagger very much, he looked at his father with blank eyes, Lu Yang was helpless, so he had to nod, "Don't hurry up and thank Uncle Guo!" ”

"Thank you, Uncle Guo!"

"Go ahead! Study hard and inherit your father's career in the future. ”

"I'll do my best!"

Lu Jian saluted Guo Song and turned around and went home.

Guo Song looked at his back and smiled: "Knowing books and etiquette, I will definitely become a pillar of Anxi when I grow up!" ”

"Thank you for the compliment!"

Lu Yang waved his hand and smiled: "Please go to the barracks to take a rest!" ”

"Please!"

The two turned their horses and headed towards the barracks........

Guo Song stayed in Shule for three days, and then set off for Khotan Town, along the way, Guo Song looked at the snow-capped Kunlun Mountains in the distance, and sighed infinitely in his heart, this is the origin of the dragon vein of the land of Shenzhou, when will the Tang Dynasty be able to re-incorporate it into the territory.

Ten days later, Guo Song and his entourage arrived at Khotan Town, Khotan Town is relatively close to the end of the river, and the five cities that were destroyed before are actually under the jurisdiction of Khotan Town, and the Tang army in Khotan Town is not much, only more than 600 people, led by Zheng Wengao, the town guard.

Zheng Wengao is Zheng Ju's father, a veteran who is nearly sixty years old, stationed in Anxi for nearly 40 years, heard of the arrival of the imperial court envoy, Zheng Wengao also led all the soldiers out of the city to greet him.

Guo Song immediately read out the holy decree, canonized Zheng Wengao as the Duke of Huaiyang County, Feng Yunlu General, promoted the non-commissioned officers to three levels, all of them were knighted, and rewarded countless lands in the Grange, and the soldiers were all excited.

At this time, Zheng Yi took Zheng Wengao to see Guo Song, Zheng Wengao bowed and saluted, "Thank you Changshi for saving the dog's life in Puchanghai, Zheng Wengao is very grateful." ”

Guo Song smiled faintly: "The old general doesn't have to be polite, any Tang army will come to the rescue in that situation." ”

Zheng Wengao didn't know what to say, Zheng Ju said on the side: "Father, Changshi is in a hurry, let's go to the city to rest!" ”

"That's right! Right! I'm confused, please follow me into the city to rest. ”

Guo Song followed Zheng Wengao into the city of Khotan, which occupies a medium area, and the houses in the city are dense, almost all of them are gray and white, and there is not a single big tree in sight.

The road is not too wide, when they walked in front of a private house, Guo Song suddenly reined in the war horse, he jumped off the horse and walked forward quickly, lying on the stone of the courtyard wall to take a closer look, I go! The stones on the wall of the courtyard turned out to be Hetian jade, and it was also a large seed jade, green jade, white jade, and he even saw a piece of yellow-skinned white jade weighing twenty catties, broken a little, but the exposed jade was as white as fat.

Guo Song fainted a little, this piece of jade did not have hundreds of millions of yuan in the later generations, but it was used to build a courtyard wall.

Zheng Wengao stepped forward and said with a smile: "This kind of jade is not valuable, and the output is also large, and many local people pick it up from the river." ”

Guo Song suddenly remembered that the town of Khotan was close to the Yulong River, now called the Khotan River, and thirty miles north of it was Hotan County in later generations.

Guo Song shook his head and said, "These jades are not worth much here, but they are very sought-after when they are transported to Chang'an. ”

"Guo Changshi also likes jade?"

Guo Song said with a smile: "I like the white jade picked up in Khotan Hanoi, my biggest preference in my life." ”

Zheng Wengao smiled, "No problem, we have a lot of them in every household, I asked everyone to gather, and Guo Changshi took them all." ”

"That's embarrassing!"

"It's just a few stones, what's embarrassing, I'll arrange it."

Zheng Wengao was embarrassed, but Guo Song gained a lot of money, which he could never have imagined, and the jade sent by every household was hundreds of catties, most of which were the size of a fist.

Of course, Guo Song couldn't take them all, he selected fine products from them, he selected hundreds of flawless mutton fat and jade alone, and let the soldiers choose the rest, and each picked a dozen pieces to send back to relatives and friends.

But for the Khotanese soldiers, the thousand war horses brought by Guo Song made them cheer, and in their eyes, this is the most valuable treasure.

.........

After Guo Song and his entourage left Khotan, they marched east along the Jimo River, detoured back to Qiuci from Puchanghai, and on the way back, he went to inspect Yanji Town, and the four towns of Anxi, Qiuzi, Shule, Khotan and Yanji, he all inspected and pacified them one by one, and this completed his mission in Anxi.

It was almost April when I returned to Qiuci, and the soldiers who stayed in Qiuci to recuperate from their wounds had fully recovered, and the time to leave for Beiting was approaching.

On the morning of that day, Guo Xin led dozens of civil and military officials to send Guo Song and his soldiers dozens of miles away.

Guo Xin said a little sadly: "This trip, I wonder if we have a chance to see each other again?" ”

Guo Song said slowly: "As long as I can return to Chang'an safely, I believe that I will definitely come back, this is a promise that Guo Song gave to the soldiers of Anxi!" ”

Guo Xin nodded, "Youjun Yinuo, I hope we can see each other soon!" ”

"Take care, everyone!" Guo Song saluted everyone one by one.

"I wish Changshi a safe journey!"

"I wish you all a safe journey!"

Guo Song turned his horse and led nearly 300 troops to leave Qiuzi City and head north.

Guo Xin looked at their distant backs, and couldn't help but sigh softly, going to the tiger and wolf den in Beiting, I don't know how many of them can return to Chang'an alive.