In the twenty-eighth year of Daxia Yuande, on the seventh day of the seventh month, the captain of the Protectorate Mansion ended his deliberations in Kangguo.

The lieutenants agreed to the knighthood of the Kwantung generals by the Protectorate of the Protectorate, and most of them were envious, but they also held their breath in their hearts.

As Liu Yi expected, the knight seemed to have dropped a piece of bloody fresh meat in front of the wolves, and a few people ate the meat, and more hungry guys were deeply stimulated and would pounce on the prey with all their might. After the deliberations were over, all the lieutenants rushed back to the battalion to prepare for the upcoming battle. The commander of the Tiger Wing Army, Chen Ang, the king of Yong, was stationed in Kangguo and waited for Chen Xuan's royal drive. Zhang Shanfu, the general of the marching division, led 50,000 infantry troops from Kangguo to Tiemen Pass, in the western town of Tiemo Cliff, Zhang Shanfu will join the main force of the Anxi Army of General Xu Wenhu, and the army of the Western Expedition will be slightly rectified, Zhang Shanfu left 20,000 horses to sit in Tiemo Cliff, and Xu Wenhu commanded 150,000 troops to enter the territory of the Roma Turks to the west and invite the main force of the Roma Turks. The cavalry battalions were one step ahead, converging on the front line from all parts of the river.

Before winter, the cavalry had to carry out a "sweep" of the Zahu tribe to clear a "clean" battlefield for the advance of the army.

Alan Mountain is the remaining vein of the Tianshan Mountains, which runs from east to west, and is the natural dividing line between the hinterland of the river and the Wuhu River Basin.

Numerous rivers poured out of the Aran Mountains, cutting through the deep valleys, forming many important valleys, and one of the most important routes was the one called Shede. Passing through this valley road, it is the Iron Gate Pass, and after the Iron Gate Pass, it is the richest plain on the north bank of the Wuhu River, and the south bank of the Wuhu River will enter the hometown of the Baiyi Dynasty. On the banks of the Shede River, a group of horsemen drank their horses and talked about it.

"Jin Changtai is General Quan, and it is reasonable to say that the Marquis of Binhai is sealed, Li Yong is just a businessman, and he is also named Yaqing!"

"Li Yongbo looked at the people of the Hou Mansion, burned Basra, and occupied Longzhu Island first, this means, this vision, this credit is enough!"

"This is nothing, the Han clan can be specially conscripted, and after a little determination of Liaodong, he can be crowned king, which is the real honor, right?!"

"That's not necessarily, look at it, how many of them are in power?"

"If you don't understand, don't talk nonsense, the King of Shu is not a king? Is King Kang not a king? Is the king of Dali not a king? ”

"Hey, the person who is the king has never been in the center of the Five Mansions, right?"

"People are behind closed doors to dominate the country, how carefree, hahaha, the monkey is the king."

"The powerful people in Kanto, in my opinion, are still led by General Zhao, but unfortunately the merits are hard to appreciate, and this time I only gave a hope."

"Let him go straight to the land of the Sultan of Rûm. It seems that this time the Protectorate is determined to destroy Roma. ”

"What does the Protectorate think, just ask General Wang, I heard that he fought with General Zhao."

"Really? Forget it, General Wang is too angry, to be honest, my guts are still too small. ”

The cavalry looked very relaxed, and even the scouts were a little careless. As early as a hundred years ago, the Shede River Valley had become the territory of the Xia Kingdom, and it was a valley road heavily guarded by heavy troops, which was very safe. Some of the cavalry simply dismounted their horses and went deep into the mountains on both sides of the valley with bows and arrows to hunt wild beasts. Hunting has many benefits of replenishing meat, reducing dry food consumption, exercising martial arts and tactical coordination, and spotting the traces of various enemies or allies. Therefore, from the General's Mansion to the officers of all ministries are all in agreement with this and encouraging attitude. Ever since the Baggage Division incorporated into the dry rations the marching cakes, which were said to be so hard that they could kill people that they did not grow worms for three years, the sergeants' enthusiasm for hunting has increased a lot more than before.

Wang Tongdeng sat on a huge rock on the bank of the river and looked at his cavalry. Many of the sergeants were older than him.

After the war in Liaodong calmed down, he and hundreds of Chengying sergeants returned to the Xia Kingdom. As the fighting intensified in the river, and there was a shortage of experienced officers, Xu Wenhu, the general of Anxi, recommended Wang Tongdeng and summoned him to the river. Wang Tongdeng also lived up to his expectations, he first served as a marching Sima under the command of Zhou Li, with the victory of the Western Expeditionary Army, the long drive straight into the territory of Russell Turkic, after the battalion captain was promoted to general, Wang Tongdeng was elected by the sergeants to succeed as the captain, only when the military merit is enough, you can be named a general. However, Zhou Li, the general of Anxi, went deep into the sea of hot sand alone, and the 20,000-strong army was almost completely wiped out, and only more than 100 sergeants escaped, Wang Tongdeng was one of them.

"These guys, it's too easy." Marching commander Shi Yu Decheng said with a smile, "There are too many old fritters. ”

"It's not helpful to say more." Wang Tongdeng said expressionlessly, "It's good to fight a few battles with the Turks." ”

Yu Decheng has never seen Zhou Li, if he did, he would definitely find that Wang Tongdeng's expression was very similar to Zhou Li.

After the mobilization of sergeants in the river, the battalion was tripled, and a large number of retired sergeants returned to the battlefield. Retired sergeants are not hairy boys, some are older than school captains, although their martial arts are good, but their discipline is poor. A sergeant dragged a rock sheep out from halfway up the mountain, and a smile appeared on the corner of Wang Tongdeng's mouth. "There are some good hunters." In his eyes, no matter how good these people are, they are just hunters. Warriors are not tested by killing and blood, just as swords are not quenched. Xinding seems to be full of care, but in fact, he is trying to hide his inner tension. He is the cavalry of the mouth of General Wang, after he survived from the Reshahai, is catching up with the rapid expansion of the army in the river, the officers died in the battle of the Reshahai, there is a shortage of talents, Wang Tongdeng directly skipped the rank of captain, was appointed General Quan.

If Zhao Xingde was here, he would definitely be so surprised that he wouldn't recognize him. The smile touched the scar on Wang Tongdeng's face, which was particularly hideous and terrifying. His handsome face was covered with burns, as if it had been burned by fire, the scars left by the flight from the hot sand. Tens of thousands of troops were ambushed by the Turks, and only a few sergeants fought their way out of the encirclement, while most of them were intercepted by the Turkic cavalry in pursuit. Wang Tongdeng led a small group of men and horses to rush north, bypassing the east side of the Turkic heavy defense, and by virtue of being familiar with the terrain of the Black Sea and the West Sea when he was in the seventh battalion of Chengying, he returned to Haixi Fort with great difficulty.

"Let's be lucky, and the people and horses will pass through the Shede River Valley one by one, but I'm afraid that we won't be able to get live food for dozens of miles."

Yu Decheng said with a smile. The sergeants were in awe of Wang Tongdeng, and Yu Decheng was much more affectionate. In the eyes of the sergeants next to him, officers from the marching division often have a feeling that they know everything on earth and half of what God knows. As for the Roma Turks, Yu Decheng's feeling is that the more he knows, the more uncertain he becomes. The cavalry of the Xia State will fight deep into the territory of the Turks, and he is very fortunate to be assigned to Wang Tongdeng's army, he knows that the old horse knows the way, and the chance of surviving in the autumn in-depth crusade against the Turkic Great Food Tribe is fifty percent.

"It's good to have food." Wang Tongdeng said lightly, frowning slightly.

In order to survive, he ate almost everything, lizards, mole crickets, termites ....... Something like a rock sheep is a great delicacy on the march. At the bottom of the valley, the sergeants saw the rock sheep and let out a burst of cheers, if they marched outside the mountains, it was rare to see large wild animals on both sides of the post road, that is, in the Alan Mountains, usually wild animals are rarely harassed by people, and they can still hit such big creatures. There are one and two, and there are constantly sergeants carrying their prey out of the mountains, looking like they have returned victorious. However, after this harassment, the quicker wild creatures in the mountains should have fled without a trace.

The sergeants peeled the game with all their hands and feet, and before long, the smell of barbecued meat rose at the valley floor.

This is the hinterland of the Xia Kingdom, so there is no way to stop fireworks during the march, however, Wang Tongdeng's brows are even more fierce. The charcoal-blackened body and the smell of burnt meat evoked certain memories of him. On the way to escape for his life, he once encountered a Turkic pursuer. It was dark, and the Turks did not notice Wang Tongdeng, but Wang Tongdeng heard the screams coming from the Great Food Camp. After this battle, neither the army of the Sultan of Roma nor the army of the Xia Kingdom showed the slightest mercy to the enemy. If you can't escape, dying in battle is the best outcome.

After the rock sheep was roasted, Yu Decheng personally went over and asked for two pieces, picked one with a knife and handed it to Wang Tongdeng.

Wang Tongdeng frowned and glanced at it, but still thanked him, took the knife and ate it. As a sergeant, if you refuse to eat because of some personal feelings, it is an unforgivable weakness. Yu Decheng munched on it, saw that his face was uncertain, and said with a smile: "Although the taste is not very good, we can be regarded as the first to have the best game." When the army passes here, I'm afraid General Zhang won't be able to eat fresh wild things. ”

He joked about the general of the marching division, and the sergeants around him gave Zhang Shanfu a lot of face, and they all laughed together.

Zhang Shanfu led a large army from Kangguo and marched south along the post road at the northwest foot of Alan Mountain, but at this time he had not yet reached Gushangcheng, which was garrisoned by 500 soldiers, to replenish the baggage and forage. The army will repair the city of Gushang for fifteen days, and then cross the Alan valley and march along the Shede River at the bottom of the valley to reach the Iron Gate Pass. The terrain of the Iron Gate Pass is dangerous, and it is the key to the natural dividing line of Alan Mountain. Beyond the Iron Gate Pass and further south, there are more "natives" with yellow beards and blue eyes. Indigenous is the name of Zhang Qian in the Han Dynasty for the people in this place, which refers to the people here who settle down and farm, love the land, similar to the Han people, but very different from the Xiongnu and Turkic horseback peoples.

To the north of Tiemen Pass, the people are all black-haired, and the pupils are brown and black, and most of them are descendants of Han Chinese immigrants.

After the Xia expelled the Turkic forces to the south, as the Han immigrants moved westward, the indigenous people intermarried with the Han people more and more. At the beginning, the Prime Minister's Mansion was worried that intermarriage would make the Han people immigrate to Hu, and some people in the Protectorate Mansion also complained about this, but after a long debate, it was found that almost nine times out of ten the descendants of Han and Hu intermarriages were black-haired, and the pupils were also dark-colored, more like Han people than Hu people, and their living customs were similar to those of Han people. Over the past hundred years, no one in the river can say that they have some Central Plains blood and some indigenous blood, but most of the facts have proved that intermarriage is conducive to the integration of the natives, and the controversy in the five mansions has gradually ceased.