Chapter 512: The Ending: Years

In the first year of Longshuo, that is, in the sixth year of Xianqing, a visitor from the far west came to Chang'an.

Although the wind and dust are in the dust, the shelf of this Western visitor is not small. On the official road ten miles outside Chang'an City, the official of Honglu Temple, who greeted the visitor from the west, saw a long procession slowly coming over from a distance. At the head of the group was a troop of camel light cavalry, which rode between the camel peaks and was well suited to fighting in the desert, and their crotched mounts were resistant to heat and thirst, but not as fast as horses. It is said that this type of light cavalry was also used on the Western Turkic side.

The camel cavalry was followed by a white camel. A guest in a silk robe sits on a camel, swaying gently. A pleasant ringing bell came from the bell under the neck of the white camel. Behind the white camels was a team of horses, first in a row of three horses, all white, then yellow, then red, and finally black. The colors are neat, the bells are rippling, and they can be heard from afar. After the horse caravan, there was the convoy, and twenty or thirty wagons slowly followed.

As soon as the team walked in, the officials of Honglu Temple who greeted them couldn't help but gasp. This, this is too luxurious!

At first, those camel light cavalry, I saw that they were all hanging scimitars at their waists, carrying short bows, and all of them were sturdy, and they looked like long-fought divisions. The white camel was covered in a white pigment without half of the hair, and at a glance it was worth an extraordinary amount. The camel's bell is made of gold, and the bell is more crisp and pleasant. On the back of a camel sat a man in his thirties. The man's head was covered with a white veil, probably to shield him from the wind and sand, and from the forehead to the back of his ears, there were more than a dozen crystal clear gems, and the largest ruby in front of his forehead was the size of a finger. On the man's chest hung a large necklace made of various gems and jade, which reflected the enchanting light in the sunlight as the camel swayed slightly. A Persian scimitar is carried around the waist, and the hilt of the knife is decorated with gold wire and gemstones, which looks extraordinary.

As the convoy approached with the large boxes, they saw that the outside of the boxes were all inlaid with gold and precious stones, which looked extremely precious. Everyone couldn't help but look at this mission from Persia with concern, they were so flamboyant, weren't they afraid of being robbed?

This mission was none other than the Persian mission led by the Persian prince Belus. When Ashina Sheer, who was far away in the Western Regions, saw the envoy sent by Belus, he immediately spread the news of the Persian mission to the Tang Dynasty to Chang'an. As soon as they heard the news, both Li Zhi and the ministers of the court were stunned, this Persia is a big country in the West, except for business and travel, there are few official contacts. And now, they sent a delegation led by the Persian prince Belus, which made Li Zhi and others scratch their heads. Still, basic etiquette still needs to be done.

Therefore, this is the scene where the officials of Honglu Temple greet this Persian prince.

As soon as the Persian prince arrived in Chang'an, he went around giving gifts and making friends with important officials of the court. People may ask for a purpose, but Belus laughs and does not say anything, just to let them receive the gift with peace of mind. Later, when he met Li Zhi, the Persian prince said his purpose.

It turned out that Persia was invaded by the West, and most of its land was lost, and the army could not stop those fanatical religious armies at all, and in the second year of Xianqing, the Tang army destroyed the Western Turks, forcing some Turkic tribes to move westward to Persia. These Turks were hired by the Persians to fight for the Persian army, and they fought with great courage and were three points better than the Persian army.

When the king of Persia heard from these Turks that they were driven out of the Turkic homeland by the Tang army, he deeply felt the strength of the Tang army. Therefore, the king of Persia sent his son Belus to lead a Persian delegation to the Tang Dynasty to ask for help, hoping that the Tang Dynasty could send an army to help Persia resist the attack of the Great Eclipse.

When he made this request, Li Zhi and his ministers fell silent. Exterminating the Turks, attacking Tibet, and suppressing the South Seas, the foreign war for eight consecutive years has been digging into the treasury of the Tang Dynasty, and Li Zhi really does not want to start the war again, and wants to take a break.

At this time, Zhang Yunwen stood up and clearly supported the Tang Army in sending troops to Persia.

He said that this big food is a tiger, and Persia is a thin wolf, if the thin wolf is swallowed by the tiger, the tiger is even stronger, and my Datang will face the tiger. If you help a thin wolf, then there is a thin wolf resisting the tiger, and Datang does not need to face it. As for the military spending and military morale that Li Zhi was worried about, Zhang Yunwen proposed to let Persia hire the Tang army to participate in the war and pay the Tang military expenses separately. Persia marked the benefits of the soldiers and posted them in the military offices, and voluntarily signed up for them. In this way, the military spending and military morale have been resolved. Moreover, the military expenses paid by Persia could replenish the treasury. Hearing Zhang Yunwen's suggestion, Li Zhi couldn't help but feel a little moved.

Of course, there are also people in the DPRK who say that the Tang Dynasty is the Heavenly Empire, a state of benevolence and righteousness, if you send troops and let the other party pay for the military, then what kind of great country is it, Huanghuang China? Zhang Yunwen immediately retorted that this Persia was a Western power, equal to the Tang Dynasty, not a vassal. The Tang Army's dispatch of troops to the subject country was to fulfill the obligations of the suzerain, and there was no need to collect military expenses. And countries that send troops equally, of course, have to charge a fee.

This controversy lasted for more than 20 days, and in the end, Li Zhi finally agreed with Zhang Yunwen's opinion and sent troops to Persia.

In the face of the superior conditions offered by Belus, members of the military government enthusiastically signed up, and soon formed an army of 50,000 people. A group of young generals such as Pei Xingjian and Xi Junmai served as generals. Zhang Yunwen wanted to personally lead the team to see the military strength of the Arab Empire, but Li Zhi did not allow it, so he had to give up.

However, when this Belus saw the power of the Tang steel crossbow and grenade, he pestered Zhang Yunwen, hoping that he could persuade Li Zhi to sell some weapons to Persia. Of course, Zhang Yunwen would not miss such an opportunity, and after reporting to Li Zhi, he sold 30,000 steel crossbows and 100,000 grenades to Persia at five times the cost price. As for artillery and other things, Zhang Yunwen didn't let Belus see it at all.

After staying in Chang'an for more than four months, Belus finally left Chang'an with an army of 50,000 and a large number of weapons.

Standing at the head of the city and watching the expeditionary army gradually move west, Zhang Yunwen sighed softly. I don't know how many of these 50,000 troops will be able to return to their hometowns! But as long as they stop the expansion of the Arabs in Central Asia, then they will not die in vain.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, a great victory, a great victory for our army!" Zhang Yunwen happily rushed into the garden, holding the battle report, and shouted to Li Zhi.

Li Zhi, who was already middle-aged, turned his head and looked at Zhang Yunwen with a smile on his face: "Hehe, brother-in-law, it's good news about Baekje, I have already had it here!" Li Zhiyang raised the paper in his hand, "It was only sent here today!" Hehe, General Su behaved really well! Defeated the main force of Baekje in World War I and captured 20,000 prisoners! ”

Zhang Yunwen shook his head: "Your Majesty, what Wechen is talking about is not the east, but the west, about the expeditionary force!" ”

As soon as he heard Zhang Yunwen talk about this, Li Zhi came to his senses: "Oh, what content, let me see!" After taking the paper and reading it, he couldn't help patting his thigh and said, "This battle is really to promote my Tang Guowei!" Played the majesty of my Datang! ”

It turned out that this paper recorded a big battle that took place more than a month ago. In this battle, the Great Food Army invested a total of 100,000 people, the Tang Army invested 40,000, and the Persian Army invested 80,000, and fought fiercely with the Great Food Army at a distance of 50 miles east of Fra. The battle lasted three months, with the Tang army losing more than 1,400 men, the Persian army losing more than 20,000 men, and the Great Food army losing almost 60,000 troops.

In this battle, the steel crossbows of the Tang army formed an impenetrable wall of arrows, and the grenades bloomed into flowers of death, killing and injuring a large number of Great Food Army. Make the other person feel timid. And the Persian military master reached the strong combat effectiveness of the Tang army, in addition to weapons, ordinary soldiers were brave and good at fighting, and the generals took the lead, which also shocked the Persian army!

After this battle, the Tang army and the Persian army regained Fra in one fell swoop. This made the king of Persia extremely happy, and he rewarded the Tang army greatly.

Now, the arrival of the good news has also made Li Zhi happy.

"Brother-in-law, now that Baekje is about to be defeated, and Silla is also difficult to protect itself, after the destruction of these two countries, the world should be peaceful!" Li Zhi covered the military report, stood up, and looked at the weeping willows blown by the breeze.

Zhang Yunwen also chuckled: "Peace in the world is the ultimate goal of our soldiers!" However, although the world is peaceful, forgetting the war will be dangerous. Your Majesty, don't forget! ”

Li Zhi nodded and sighed heavily: "I want to return the armor to the warehouse and release the horse to Nanshan, but I also know the meaning of the saying 'born in sorrow and dying in peace'. People have no long-term worries, I am in charge of the world, of course, I must plan for eternity to protect the foundation of the Tang Dynasty! This governance of the army is a sharp sword to maintain the foundation of this eternal world! The emperor has been in the army for a long time and attaches great importance to this matter of governing the army, and I have experienced wars and also attaches importance to this matter. And the prince, enjoy the year of peace and happiness, the scenery of Chengshengping, where have you seen corpses piling up like mountains, and blood flowing like rivers! So, I'm worried! ”

Zhang Yunwen smiled lightly: "As long as Your Majesty can educate the prince well, make him have more contact with the people's sufferings, understand more about the situation in the army, and imperceptibly, you can finally make His Royal Highness the prince as wise and martial as His Majesty was back then!" ”

Li Zhi pursed his lips and smiled: "Hehe, speaking of the prince, I think of Zhang Che of your family, who is now working as a general secretary in the East Palace." Your father is a military general, Zhang Ji is also a military general, and this Zhang Che has become a civil official! ”

Hearing Li Zhi talk about his children, Zhang Yunwen couldn't help but show a look of pride on his face: "Children and grandchildren have their own children and grandchildren, how can I manage it!" It doesn't matter if he is from literature or martial arts, as long as he can make a name for himself, it is his ability! If you can't get famous, then I can't care about it! ”

Li Zhi smiled dumbly: "You can see it!" ”

Zhang Yunwen smiled faintly: "This life is sudden, for a hundred years, no matter how you plan, it will eventually become a decaying soil!" You still have to be like Lu Guogong, and have fun in time, so that you don't miss this life! Your Majesty, look at Lu Guogong, at such an advanced age, it is still rare in Datang! ”

This Lu Guogong refers to Cheng Biting Jin, and until now, this old man is still alive.

When Li Zhi heard this, he laughed.

Zhang Yunwen also laughed and said: "Life is less than 100, and I often have a thousand years of worries." The days are short and the nights are long, so why not travel with candles? ”

Li Zhi said: "If you are happy to be timely, how can you stay in Laiz?" The fool cherishes the fee, but scorns the posterity. The fairy prince Joe, it is difficult to wait for the period. ”

After Li Zhi finished reciting, the two looked at each other and smiled. Laughter echoed throughout the garden.

Zhang Yunwen looked at Li Zhi's smiling face and listened to bursts of laughter, but he couldn't help but think in his mind, what about after this hundred years old? You may have turned into rotten earth and buried in the ground! I don't know what future generations will say about me Zhang Yunwen? It must be a character!

Suddenly, he remembered the identity he had before he crossed over, Zhang Wenji. What if you haven't crossed at this time, or if you haven't been killed by artillery fire?

I couldn't help but sigh softly when I thought of this.

Thoughts slowly spread and opened, from this garden to the palace, to Chang'an, and then to the entire Central Plains, everything seemed to become distorted and blurred......

Thousands of years have passed, and time flies......

Two different planes seem to be connected together, and they can look at each other......

"Raise your gun—" As a hoarse voice rang out in the cemetery, more than a dozen guns were raised into the sky in unison.

"Put-"

"Bang-" Smoke fills the air.

After the gunshots, the people dispersed.

The person who left looked at the neat tombstones behind him, touched his tears, and left heavily.

Among the tombstones, a tombstone with the words "Zhang Wenji Martyrs Cemetery" written on one side seems to stand. The bright five-pointed red star on the upper part of the tombstone is bright and dazzling.

A withered old hand held a bouquet of wild flowers made of wild chrysanthemums, umbrella blue stars, lily of the valley and other wild flowers, and gently placed it in front of the tombstone.

"Ahh