Praise said:

The wind rises and the mist sword is dyed with frost, the colorful clouds return, and the four fields are vast.

Wearing the sunset, the two pride and affection, from the Great Wall, to the Han River.

Manga wins, the depths of the flowers, lingering in the distance.

Gazing at it, the Western Regions are vast, and the wind and dust are sucking up.

Some people are full of energy, the yellow sand rises, and the words of geese are in a row.

The old You Shang recalled, when he was young, he was sharp.

Looking down and falling into the flowers, how dare I think about it!

Outside the sunset, who gave Hongchen a period of madness?

In the eyes of Yu Dan, the Xiongnu prince who lived in exile in the Central Plains and the Western Regions, although he and Yuan Zhao have known each other for many years, the more time passes, the more mysterious the other party becomes in his heart.

It was also this place where he was standing at his feet that he and Yuan Zhao met for the first time. At that time, he was still the favorite prince of the Xiongnu Lao Shan Yu Junchen Khan, and the beloved son of the Great Clan. And Yuan Zhao is just an ordinary Han child.

The children of the Han family gave him a small packet of fine salt, and he gave him a golden knife in return, and they became acquainted from then on. In the years to come, Yu Dan sometimes thinks that maybe there is really a providence in the interactions between people! He didn't know if this was a reminder from Changshengtian to him, anyway, at that time, in this land that was still a wasteland, when Yu Dan first saw Yuan Zhao, he had a feeling that this person might be very important to his future fate.

A few years later, Yi Zhi murdered his father and usurped the throne, and Yu Dan, under the protection of his loyal protectors, fled to the Dayue clan in the Western Regions, which was adjacent to the Xiongnu, where he temporarily sought refuge. The days of exile were naturally miserable. The desire to recapture the grasslands and revenge is so far away, everything seems hopeless.

However, just as he was getting depressed, his subordinates brought him news from the Han Dynasty, and his good friend Yuan Zhao from his youth rose to the top of the court and became a pivotal figure.

This made Yu Dan overjoyed and at the same time sprouted new hope, so after saying that the king of the Dayue clan agreed to the communication with the Han Dynasty, he came to the territory of the Han Dynasty in person as an envoy of the intermediate contact and met the Marquis Yuanzhao of Changle.

Before taking this path, he was not without hesitation, after all, he was no longer a prince of the Huns, but an exile who had lost the power of inheritance. Is such an identity still worthy of the attention of the monarchs and ministers of the Han Dynasty? In the end, what made him make up his mind was his trust in Yuan Zhao, and in the years when Fan Xuelou grew up together, he believed that his vision was not wrong. Even if it wasn't for the future royal power, he didn't want to lose the friendship of this friend.

Yuan Zhao did not disappoint him, he immediately formulated a plan to open the Western Regions according to the situation of the countries in the Western Regions he brought and his intention to make friends with the Han Dynasty, and quickly persuaded the ministers to get the emperor's consent in the court.

Then, with the first mission of the Han Dynasty to the Western Regions, fruitful results were achieved. Yu Dan and his followers also benefited greatly from this, won the trust and support of several countries, and gradually got rid of the embarrassing situation of exile. Especially in recent years, after the Han Dynasty's great victory in the Henan Campaign, with the increasing frequency of trade between Han Dynasty merchants and countries in the Western Regions, Yu Dan has gradually established his own military power and economic foundation.

If this development continues, the situation would have been very good. However, the good times did not last long, and since last autumn, the situation in the Western Regions has changed dramatically, and countries have begun to ban the entry of Han Dynasty goods one after another, and their attitudes have become very tough. Some countries even expelled Han Dynasty merchants from the arrival. Yu Dan's sphere of influence was naturally greatly affected.

It was in this context that the Han Dynasty sent a third mission to the Western Regions in an attempt to re-establish a good situation with those unfriendly countries and restore the relations that had been established with great difficulty.

However, as far as Yu Dan knew, the Han mission did not achieve any results this time. Out of consideration of the interests of the family, Yu Dan sent a large number of people to find out that the news he heard showed that it was the Huns who sent a clear signal of threat, and in accordance with Da Danyu's order, the king of Hutu and the king of Hun in the western steppe jointly deployed troops on the border. Whatever the reason, the states of the Western Regions must immediately break off contact with the Han Dynasty, otherwise they will inevitably fight against each other.

The countries of the Western Regions, especially those bordering the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu in the east, were originally grass on the wall, coveting the commodity profits of the Han Dynasty and fearing the power of the Xiongnu. In the past few years, taking advantage of the defeat of the Huns and the convenience of looking westward, they launched large-scale exchanges with the Han Dynasty and gained great benefits from it.

However, as soon as the Huns relented and showed their naked fangs, they were immediately frightened. Compared with the greed for profit, suffering the disaster of destroying the country and annihilating the nation is the most terrible. The Hun Iron Cavalry is not a vegetarian, and it can be said that it is invincible in the past hundred years to deter the surrounding grasslands. Although the Han Dynasty suffered a loss and lost the Hetao grassland, if it really wants to use force against these small countries, it is just a matter of running horses.

Yu Dan is deeply worried about the current situation. Therefore, he personally followed the returning Han Dynasty delegation to the land of the Han Dynasty again, and he wanted to hear Yuan Zhao's views on the next step in the western situation.

The place where they first met has now become a beautiful lakeside meadow. The name of the lake is Jian Lake, and the water of that lake is naturally the water that is drawn from the Wei River. The slanting sun shines in the evening, the sky in the west is full of red clouds, reflected on the water, and the sword lake has already become a landscape on the Changle Plateau.

As the owner of this fiefdom, Yuan Zhao prepared a sumptuous banquet, and on the water pavilion on the shore of this Sword Lake, he would wash the dust for the people returning from the Western Regions. This kind of banquet has been prepared several times in the past few days, Nie Yi and several big businessmen he brought from inside and outside the Great Wall in the Northland, Xu Le and the Xu family merchant group who rushed back from the coast of the East China Sea, Yuan 13 and the huge fleet that returned from the southeast sea...... Wait a minute. These people are treated as such.

In more than five or six years, he made a total of three missions to the Western Regions, passed through 36 countries, and it can be said that he traveled all over the land full of yellow sand. After returning this time, Zhang Qian's face was obviously covered with wind and dust, and he had a lot of bitterness and emotion in his heart. After a few glasses of wine, thinking of the various humiliations suffered by the last envoy and the sacrifices of the accompanying soldiers, he finally couldn't bear it anymore, and lost control on the spot, bursting into tears.

Yuan Zhao didn't persuade him, and he had already understood the general situation earlier. At this time, when Zhang Qian was heard to speak in detail in front of everyone, there was no joy or anger on his face in the indignation of the people at the scene. After a while, Yuan Zhao poured a full glass of wine, got up from the table, and slowly raised the wine above his head to pay tribute to the current land.

"Those who go west, sacrifice their lives for the country, the heroic soul is not far away, and receive this thin wine, talk about the heroic!"

The voices of the whole room were silent, and everyone stood up, no matter what their status. Silently looking at the figure in front of the pavilion, the spring breeze swept over his green shirt, and his sideburns were pulled up with a wooden hairpin like an adult, although he was no longer the sharp-edged teenager he was at the beginning, but at this moment the surging beat in his heart was felt by everyone.

"Marquis Yuan, my Han entourage sacrificed a total of seventy-eight people this time, and they all died to cover the safety of the mission. In addition to dying in the raid of the Xiongnu cavalry, some of them died at the hands of Loulan, Dawan, and Xiqiang, which were close to the Huns...... At such a critical moment, we could not even bring back the bones of these dead soldiers, so that they were buried in the yellow sand, and the souls of the heroes could not return to their hometowns! ”

Whether it was Zhang Qian or the rest of the mission, they all cried when they talked about those moments of life and death in a foreign country. Yu Dan sighed silently, he was about to add a few more words that he had learned about the recent collusion between some countries in the Western Regions and the Huns, but he heard Yuan Zhao just say something lightly.

"Every bone of the dead will be returned to the Han land, and every sword and sword that is inflicted on my Han Jian'er will be repaid a thousand times more! Since there was no way to bring it back before, then send our bravest soldiers to fetch it himself! ”

Yuan Zhao turned around, and everyone was shocked to see that the eyes of this person who had been calm and recuperating for four years once again radiated a terrifying light.

The hussar captain who was leading more than a dozen sergeants outside the water pavilion heard these words, and when she suddenly turned her head, she finally saw the long-lost momentum on her master's body again! At this moment, as if I had a premonition, my heart pounded.

"Yuan, Brother Yuan, how do you say this?"

Liu Ju, the prince of the Han Dynasty who was sitting beside Yuan Zhao earlier, took two steps and came to him, as if to confirm what he thought in his heart, he asked urgently.

Yuan Zhao glanced at everyone's expressions, and then his bright gaze fell on the prince's face. Every word was said very seriously, and everyone inside and outside the water pavilion could hear it clearly.

"Huanghuang big man, how can you allow a clown to jump off the beam? Those who commit bullying will be punished even if they are far away! After the matter of Chang'an Academy tomorrow, I will definitely play the Son of Heaven and ask for an order to send elite soldiers and strong generals to the west immediately. The plan to open up the Hexi Corridor, which was interrupted because of the Han-Hungarian Yanmen Pass War, must go all out this time and do your best! ”

Yuan Zhao's words were like a wind sweeping through the spring water, and even the Sword Lake outside the building was in turmoil. The crown prince Liu Ju swallowed his saliva, he stared at Yuan Zhao's eyes tightly, and saw the firm determination and confidence in victory from there.

Dong Zhongshu sighed silently, it seemed that Yuan Zhao must be going back to the court, although he was a little reluctant in his heart, but in the face of such a major family and country matter, he had to keep silent. The master father twisted his beard with a smug smile on his face. He couldn't help but secretly praise that the tension in the Western Regions had come at a really good time, and it was the best time for Yuan Zhao to return to the court at this time to preside over the western expedition.

Huo Quzhi held the Red Fire Sword in his hand tightly, and when his eyes swept over his subordinates, he saw the excited and enthusiastic looks on their faces. I have made up my mind in my heart to conquer the Western Regions and pacify the Xiongnu, no matter what price I pay this time, I must also fight for this opportunity in my hands!