……

Northwest, Yunzhong County.

Li Xin led the 7,000 elite horsemen who swept through Henan to return victoriously.

The Great Wall pass, which has been closed, slowly opened, and in the long sound of the horn, the soldiers lined up neatly and entered, and the black flag hunted in the wind, led by the two generals wearing bronze armor, although their faces were serious, but they could not hide the excitement and excitement in their eyes.

After a month of continuous fighting, all the soldiers looked tired, their cheeks were thin, their eyes were red, their hair was unkempt like withered grass, the armor on their bodies was also tattered, and even the war horses under their crotches were also thin.

But every soldier exuded a strong bloody aura and a fierce murderous aura, riding on a horse as majestic as a statue, with a saber at his waist, a bow and arrow on his back, a banner in his hand, and a bow and crossbow hanging next to his saddle, all covered in blood as if he had just returned from a battle in hell, the horse's hooves kicked neatly through, and the temperature of the air seemed to drop several degrees.

It was an unprecedented victory, but also a bloody journey of slaughter.

With the strength of 7,000 people, swept hundreds of thousands of miles in Henan, a total of more than 40,000 beheaded, including nearly 100 tribal leaders, called single Yu eight, nearly 3,000 Hun warriors who were blessed by wizards, many of these heads with patterns are still hanging on the back of horses, as the war horses move around and dangle constantly, although these heads have been pickled with plant ash, but after all, the time is too long, some have begun to dry and rot, so they look particularly mad.

However, for the Great Qin soldiers who are accustomed to seeing life and death and blood, these heads are not only not mad, but also have a golden halo, because each of these heads is at least a first-level military merit, as for the more advanced Xiongnu leaders or large and small Shan Yu, the military merits brought are several levels, and they can even directly jump to become an intermediate commander, and become a majestic general after crossing a hundred, and the family will live a rich and luxurious life from then on.

Meng Yi personally led dozens of generals and hundreds of guards to greet him in the pass, and when he saw the murderous and awe-inspiring elite horsemen coming on, Meng Tian's face twitched slightly, and then he rode up with a hearty smile on his face.

"Haha, congratulations to the two generals on their victorious return!"

Li Xin and Su Jiao hurriedly threw stirrups and dismounted together, and then saluted respectfully together: "Subordinates meet the general!" ”

"Haha, no courtesy!" Meng Tian also got off his horse.

"Sons and daughters, dismount and salute the general!" Li Xin turned around and yelled, and thousands of neat soldiers jumped off their horses together, knelt on one knee and shouted: "Meet the general!" ”

"Sons, please!" The look on Meng Tian's face instantly became serious and serious, and after saluting thousands of warriors, he said, "This time the Huns in Henan will be swept away in the rest of the month, and the prestige of our army will be greatly increased. ”

"General Xie!" After another uniform roar, thousands of soldiers mounted their horses again, and quickly headed for the barracks under the leadership of their respective captains.

"Haha, the two generals please, a certain has set up a banquet in the big tent to catch the wind and wash the dust for the two generals!" Meng Tian said to Li Xin and Su Jiao.

"General, please!" After Li Xin and Su Jiao saluted, he and a group of generals followed Meng Tian to a large cowhide tent in the barracks of the pass.

More than a dozen tables in the big tent have been filled with large pots of roasted or boiled beef and mutton, exuding a strong fragrance, and each table also has a bottle of Qinghe wine and a few bottles of Fan's wine.

"Hey, there's still Qinghe wine?" Li Xin was pleasantly surprised.

"Hehe, this is the Nanyang merchant who came to receive the spoils of war brought from Wancheng to reward the two generals, and at the same time, it is also to thank the two of them for sweeping Henan and seizing a large number of cattle, sheep, horses and slave skins, so that they can benefit a lot, so we and others also have a good fortune! Qinghe wine will only be heard, and never tasted, I heard that a bottle is worth 10,000 gold, I am afraid that I want to drink it and can't afford it on weekdays, two generals, please take a seat~" Meng Yi explained with a smile, and then walked to the main seat in the center of the big tent and sat down.

"General, please, generals, please!" Li Xin hugged his fists and sat down under Meng Yi's left hand.

As soon as everyone was seated, dozens of women in light dresses came in to sit and pour wine.

"General, why are there women in the barracks?" Li Xin was surprised, feeling a little nervous and a little hairy at the same time.

As the saying goes, stay in the military camp for three years, the sow race sable cicada, and fight on the grassland for more than a month, although there are captured Hun women everywhere, but the discipline of the Great Qin army is strict, and Li Xin is even stricter to his subordinates in order to wash away his shame this time, and anyone who dares to violate the military order will be beheaded, so everyone who accompanied him followed for a month.

Although Li Xin and Su Jiao are the generals who lead the army, they can't take their wives and concubines to the battlefield, so women are luxury goods for the military camp, but they are not nothing, such as the guards and Meng Tian, the resident generals who guard the customs can still carry their families, but they are only limited to their families, and these women in front of them are obviously not family members.

"Don't be suspicious of the two generals, these are the Central Plains women you rescued from the Huns, because they have been homeless for too long, so they plan to stay here, in order to thank the two generals and Erlang for saving them back, they volunteered to come to serve, and they can be brought back to the camp in a while!" Meng Yi explained with a smile.

There is no need to say the following words explicitly, but Li Xin's face became a little ugly, and after being silent for a while, he sighed and said: "I have never fought with the Huns before, and I don't know the temperament of the Huns, but this time I went to Henan, and saw those Central Plains women who were humiliated by the Huns, I was very unhappy, so I killed a lot of people in righteous anger, but it is a pity that I am a Chinese woman, I was treated like pigs and dogs by these barbarians, and a certain one hated not to kill these mongrels as soon as possible!" ”

Su Jiao's cheek twitched lightly a few times and said: "Although I know, but there is nothing we can do, if it weren't for the new equipment developed and built by Qinghehou this time, I'm afraid these things will continue!" ”

"The two generals don't have to sigh, this time to sweep the Henan Huns, maybe next year Your Majesty will issue an order to cross the river and sweep the land of Hebei, there will never be such a thing in the future, my Central Plains used to fight flawlessly in the West, and now I Daqin dominates the world, these barbarians will be trampled into meat by our iron hooves one by one, come, you all raise a glass and drink together, for the two generals to catch the wind and wash the dust!"

Meng Tian raised his wine glass, which was filled with Qinghe wine, which was as red as blood, and the air was slightly filled with the mellow aroma of grapes and fruits.

"Congratulations on the victory of the two generals!" All of them raised their glasses and chanted together.

"General Xie! Generals, please! Li Xin and Su Jiao also raised their glasses at the same time.

The next thing is naturally to eat and drink, plus there is a woman to accompany the pouring of wine, and soon the tent will be lively, a group of fighting men get together, and soon the face and neck of the drink are red, and the wine is laughing and scolding.

After eating and drinking, Li Xin suddenly found a problem, but he didn't find his other subordinate Jiang Hu, so he asked a military general next to him in some surprise: "Today, it has been rumored that the troops have been officially collected, why didn't you see General Jiang Hu?" ”

The general paused for a moment, and then his face became very strange and he whispered, "Could it be that Di Daohou still doesn't know?" ”

"What do I know?" Li Xin was a little confused.

"General Jiang Hu disrespects the military order, and led 2,500 horsemen to cross the river to Hebei half a month ago, but there is no news of it, and no news has come back until now!"

"What? How...... How so? Li Xin's eyes widened, and the wine glass in his hand almost fell to the ground.

Several generals on Li Xin's left and right sides who accompanied the wine began to talk about this topic in a low voice, you and me, Li Xin quickly figured out the whole story, and then gritted his teeth in depression.

He is the chief general of this 10,000-style new-style horse pawn appointed by the emperor himself, although he was divided into three by Meng Tian, but this matter was also recognized and agreed by Li Xin, otherwise Meng Tian would not have made such an arrangement without authorization.

And now Jiang Hu secretly took more than 2,000 horsemen to Hebei and disappeared silently, if more than 2,000 horsemen were wiped out in Hebei, then this new horseman equipment would fall into the hands of the Xiongnu, and they would inevitably start to imitate and manufacture soon, once the Huns were also equipped with Gaoqiao saddle and stirrups, which can be used in rapid running, I am afraid that Daqin's current advantage will be gone.

With the same stirrup saddle, for the nomads who grew up on horseback since childhood, it is like a tiger with wings, and the power of archery on horses will increase more than tenfold, and it is probably impossible to deal with the Xiongnu like this time to sweep Henan, and maybe in a few years the Xiongnu will gather a large army to the south to capture the Hetao area that has just been occupied.

As the discussion grew louder and louder, finally the entire tent lowered their glasses, and then all of them were solemn and silent.

As a general who guards the border pass and deals with the Xiongnu Hu people all the year round, no one does not know the stakes.

In other words, it is good that Jiang Hu can safely lead two thousand horsemen back this time, if he can't come back, I am afraid that Li Xin and Meng Tian will be reprimanded and even punished by the emperor.

"General, didn't you arrange for someone to go to Hebei to investigate?" Li Xin stood up with a twitch and asked.

Meng Tian's face slowly distorted, then slowly turned black, and finally put the wine glass on the desk and sighed: "Hebei is not Henan, not only is there Yin Mountain barrier, but also after turning over, it is an endless prairie, plus there is no city in the Xiongnu tribe gathering place, so it is scattered everywhere, there is no exact news and guide, rashly arranging people to explore is really like looking for a needle in a haystack, there are more people to go and logistics can't keep up, and less people go is to send people to the Huns, Di Daohou asked how to find it!" ”

Li Xin: ......

Because of this incident, an originally lively banquet broke up.

Li Xin returned to the tent drunk, washed and changed clothes under the service of several women, and after washing away the dust of the battle, he was very depressed and hugged the two young women to open the room...... Uh,.

These women have been detained and humiliated by the Huns for several years, and now they are back in the Central Plains, some find that they don't even have a country, and they have been unified by Daqin, and some know where their homes are, but this identity will only be ridiculed and bullied when they go back, and some are already living on the border, but after the invasion of the Huns, their families have been ruined and they have long been homeless, so these women volunteered to stay, if they can marry and have children with a Qin army soldier who is on the border, this life can be regarded as being able to live in peace and stability.

And these women are naturally inexplicably grateful to Li Xin and the Qin soldiers who rescued them from the clutches of the Huns, and they are willing to be slaves, which is a hundred times better than being tortured and destroyed by those beast-like Huns, at least this is still their hometown, they still speak the same words, there is still the same blood flowing in their bodies, and there is a sense of intimacy in their souls.

I'd rather be a prostitute than a slave to the country.

But under the gentle service of the two women, Li Xin became more and more depressed, and always felt that there was a stone blocked in his heart and could not be vented.

Could it be that this opportunity to be ashamed of the past is going to be ruined again?

Jiang Hu is completely a-stirring stick, such a good victory banquet, but in the end, he has to watch it turn into a table of scraps.

The more Li Xin thought about it, the more bitter he became, and the movements of the two women slowly stopped, because they found that the mighty general who saved them from the clutches of the Huns actually ...... It's not powerful at all, and it's still soft and collapsed after serving for a long time.

"The general forgives the sin!" Seeing Li Xin's blank and helpless look, the two slippery women knelt on the ground and kowtowed in fright.

"Alas, it's not what you think, you go out first, I want to be quiet!" Although Li Xin wanted to be angry and angry, he couldn't help but sigh and wave his hand to let them leave when he looked at the frightened and pitiful looks of the two women, remembering the miserable experience they had experienced at the hands of the Huns.

Soon, a gossip about General Li Xin's inaction quietly spread in the barracks.

The next day, after Li Xin found out, his cheeks twitched for a whole day, and after returning to his garrison camp, he used a big knife to chop several big trees.

The old shame was not washed and the new shame was added, and Li Xin was so depressed that he almost vomited three liters of blood.