The southern foothills of the Altun Mountains are desolate and uninhabited, with a cold plateau desert stretching for thousands of miles, bordering glaciers, and snow-capped peaks in the distance, with only a herd of wild asses and Tibetan antelopes galloping across the green and yellow meadows.

But this bitter cold and dry land, in the eyes of the plateau Shengqiang, is rich and fragrant.

Ren Hong once served as a captain of the Qiang guard, and he was very familiar with the Hehuang Qiang, but he was also stunned when he heard Tang Mi, the leader of the Wuqiang, cry that their tribe was plundered by the "big species of Chishui Qiang".

"What kind of Qiang is this? How come I have never heard of it in Hehuang? ”

Therefore, it is said that it is a wild child that emerged from the mountains, and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is too vast, and the exploration of the Han people is limited to the corner of the river and the sea of fresh water (Qinghai Lake), but they know nothing about the rest of the place.

Tang Mi explained for a long time, and Ren Hong realized that this Chishui Qiang was originally nomadic in the northwest of Xianshui Sea, but recently for some reason it migrated north, ran to the southern foot of Altun Mountain, and constantly attacked the territory of the Qiang people, competing for pasture land and often fighting each other. This time, they even plundered their other tribes, captive hundreds of people, and swept away the food they had hoarded.

After being defeated by the Han army, Xian Lingqiang fled to the depths of the plateau in the southwest of Xianshuihai, while Beiheqiang moved northwest and entered the Qaidam Basin, squeezing Chishuiqiang, and Chishuiqiang had to go north.

Although Wuqiang is listed as one of the 36 countries in the Western Regions, its leader is also mixed with the name of "Go to Hulai Wang", once plundered Shanshan Loulan, but it can be placed in Qiang, but it is only a weak and small tribe, with hundreds of households, and the victory is not more than a thousand horses, and it is eaten alive by life every minute.

It is precisely because of the good life that Wuqiang can even hoard grain, which attracts the covetousness of poor relatives in the mountains.

That's why Tang Mi immediately told the capital that if this continues, they will "destroy the country and destroy the species".

But it was useless for Duhu to come to the aid in person, Chishuiqiang played the habit of wandering and ran away after snatching Wuqiang, and the vast plateau did not know where they were retreating.

It is not realistic to take the city soldiers to fight on the plateau to counterattack Chishui Qiang, and it is not realistic to help the city Qiang find a field, at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, regardless of the Han army or the city soldiers, they have to go up and lie down. Just as the Tibetan and Tang dynasties fought for the Western Regions in later generations, the Tubo people could come down from the plateau at any time, but the Tang army could not pursue and counterattack, so they could only passively defend.

Ren Hong could only comfort Tang Mi for a while, saying that Du Hu would never ignore the Wuqiang, and would immediately send officials to Hehuang to meet with the governor of Jincheng's subordinate state, and ask him to investigate the matter of Chishuiqiang's northward migration, and order Chishuiqiang to return the livestock of the Wuqiang population, if he did not listen.

"Then send the Xiaoyue clan to ride and destroy it!"

Tang Mi went to King Hulai on a yak, but he had his own plans, and actually bowed down to Ren Hong: "But even if the Chishui Qiang is destroyed, sooner or later there will be a white water Qiang and a black water Qiang coming out of the mountains and entering Kou Wuqiang." I heard that the capital protection swept the right land of the Huns, the north court is vast, the water and grass are abundant, and I am willing to move the whole country to enrich the north court! ”

This old guy is well-informed, but Ren Hong is not happy, what kind of thing is this, who are you running away to watch the door for me!

Wuqiang is like a dog who watches the south gate for the Western Regions, his own strength is not strong, and he also knows the current affairs, nomadic herding in the Altun Mountains and the southern part of the Gaolan Sea, plus the protection fee collected by the merchants of the Southern Province of the Western Regions, has been with Shanshan, and finally restored peace.

If the Qiang, a familiar Qiang, was defeated or driven away by the raw Qiang from the plateau, the Southern Western Regions Road would open the gate and would no longer be safe, and the merchants would have to worry about being plundered at any time, which was not in line with the interests of the Protectorate, and it would be too time-consuming and laborious to re-domesticate the wolf into a dog.

"There is a saying in the Central Plains that even if a fox dies, it must turn its head towards its hole. Wu Qiang lives in the land of Nanshan, and the ancestral graves are here, how can they be easily abandoned? Go to King Hulai and rest assured, the protector of Pontus will definitely keep this place for you! ”

Ren Hong cheered up Tang Mi and promised to write to the court immediately, hoping that the Jincheng subject country could manage these chaotic Qiang, and also promised that he would send craftsmen to the border of Wuqiang to help them build the Qiangzhai watchtower of the Hehuang Han army, so as to resist the Chishui Qiang.

It was easy to appease the old guy and suppress his desire to run away, Ren Hong took the Loulan people back to the southern part of the prison Lanhai, only to meet the Shanshan people who hurried to help after receiving the order of the capital protector.

Seeing Shanshan soldiers from afar, Ren Hong only felt a little trance, because the style of the other party's clothes and armor was all modeled after the Han soldiers, if you didn't know, I thought that the defenders of Yumen Pass were coming, but only after getting closer, I saw Hu Er with a high nose and deep eyes.

They even wore a red yellow flag with the word "Han" written on it!

This strange scene made Ren Hong not know what to say when he saw it.

On the other side, a red-armored "Han general" saw the flag from afar, and immediately hit the horse over, but it was the king of Shanshan, who came to Ren Hong and dismounted and bowed, looking ecstatic and crying.

"Yu Tu Qi has seen Du Hu!"

……

"Is this really a mud city? If I didn't look at the faces of his peers, I thought I was back in the Yumen Pass. ”

After following Du Hu and King Shanshan to the mud city in the capital of Shanshan Kingdom, Gan Yanshou rubbed his eyes, and even the guards and horses were a little homesick and cried, this place is too similar to the Han Dynasty.

The city wall has been transformed from a Western Regions round shape in the past to a square, big fart place, and there are actually twelve city gates, which makes people wonder if this will affect the strength of the wall.

The dog tag of the "Han Shanguo" at the head of the city is still there, but it has been replaced from wood to stone, which seems to want to deeply engrave "since ancient times" on this land, and on both sides of the east and west two main gates, a tall Han-style city has really been built, and there are two human heads hanging on it.

Ren Hong raised his head and looked at it, I don't know what to say, Weiyang Beique has hung the head of King Shanshan's brother An Gui, and he even learns this?

"It's a noble man who doesn't accept Xiao Wang's change of clothes and tries to make trouble."

King Shanshan was triumphant, he didn't dare to be so radical in the past, but last year he entered the court to pay tribute and participated in the great court meeting, because he was particularly pro-Han, he was a representative of the 36 states by the subject country, and the seat was placed closer to the Son of Heaven, so that King Shanshan was honored.

This also allowed him to return to Shanshan and accelerate the plan to transform Shanshan into a "Little Chang'an".

When entering the city, pointing out the prosperity of the market, King Shanshan said gratefully: "Xiao Wang listened to Du Hu's words back then, followed the method of Guan Zhong, and halved the toll, and the merchant delegation really gathered. Not only will they bring all kinds of goods needed by Shanshan, but they will also eat and drink in Shanshan, enter the women's recreation and buy cattle, horses and camels. In addition, Ruoqiang obeyed, the Xiongnu no longer entered the Kou, the Silk Road was peaceful, and the merchants and traders were paid in the mud. ”

In the eyes of King Shanshan, he has completed the wealth of Shu in Shanshan, and he only needs to teach it.

So there was a situation that Ren Hong and others saw: the ordinary Shanshan people in the outer city were still wearing Hufu and ragged clothes, because King Shanshan thought that they couldn't even speak Chinese and were not worthy of wearing Hanfu. The nobles who lived in the inner city were all dressed in the Han style, wearing silk and silk clothes, and only a few Sogdian merchants wore Hu clothes, and it was popular to speak Chinese.

Imitation of Han customs, as if it has become the privilege of the upper class of Shanshan, is also the target of the middle class to admire and emulate, but it is also to transform the city and buy silk, although the introduction of the Han land to increase the production of the field, trade has also prospered, but the life of the people at the bottom of Shanshan, I am afraid that it is more bitter than in the past.

And the "civil and military officials" of Shanshanguo, when they saw the Du Hu coming, they all performed Han etiquette and came to meet them one by one.

It turned out that King Shanshan had completed the reform of the official system in the country, and all of them followed the system of the Han Kingdom.

It's just that Shanshan is only equivalent to a county, and it can't send 2,000 stone of money and grain, so the "Shanshan Jiuqing" has changed the amount of money issued by "Shanshan Jiuqing" to 200 stones, which is only equivalent to Cao Peng in the county.

Wait, this "Shanshan Guoxiang" wearing a crown is a middle-aged Han scribe, who seems to be a little familiar, and he is also a little excited when he sees Ren Hong, and he is stunned.

"Are you...... Tao Shaoqing? ”

Ren Hong finally remembered, this is when he was a Sima in Shanshan, the scribe Tao Shaoqing who always liked to run to the female Lu to sleep with orchids, he has not seen him for a few years, and now he has become a first-class person, with a thick beard, decent speech, and a national minister's ribbon on his waist.

Tao Shaoqing said with a smile: "When the villain was exiled to the Western Regions as a pawn for his crimes, he never expected that today, he inherited the grace of the general." ”

And King Shanshan also came out of his "dormitory" at this time, he took off his armor, changed into a dress, wore nine hats, wore nine chapters of the mountain dragon, prepared five picks, big wear, naked shoes, this dress, really like a prince of the Han family.

This set of princes' clothes and crowns was given by the emperor during the Chang'an Dynasty meeting last year, relying on Ren Hong's help to speak, King Shanshan finally got this wish, and often wore crowns to the court after returning, and longed for the whole city to see the camel button hanging on the purple ribbon on his waist "Han Shanshan King Seal".

This posture, Ren Hong knows why Wen Zhong can easily say that Yi Xiang Han offers Loulan's subordinates, there is such an elite man to the obsessive neighbor, licking and licking can't win, fighting and can't fight, there is no other way than to run away for a rich future.

King Shanshan stroked the silk belt, stepped out with a jade pendant in his hand, and raised his head high, today is the time to show the achievements of Shanshan's four years of sinicization to Ren Duhu, but after looking at his "Jiuqing", only one person is missing.

"Tao Xiang, where is Mrs. Huan?"

Obediently, it seems that Huan Kuan's guy has also mixed up with the position of "Jiuqing", and King Shanshan is not taboo in meat and vegetarians, probably because there are too few scholars who are willing to come to the Western Regions, and if you catch one, it will be counted as one.

Tao Shaoqing hurriedly said: "King, Taifu Huan didn't know that Duhu would come today, as usual, he took the Taixue disciples to cut wood and make Jane by the river!" ”

Wait a minute!

"Too ...... Too learned? ”

Ren Hong couldn't cry or laugh at King Shanshan, you also copied this!?