Tuoba Xi squinted his eyes and lay on the soft mattress, in front of his eyes, Mrs. Ruyi's delicate body was dancing lightly, this woman was also his favorite, but his mind at this time was not on the woman, he was thinking about the bags of yellow and clear gold sand on the bank of the quicksand river, these days he has sent people to investigate, the amount of gold in the quicksand river is more, it is said that the best time to find fifty catties of gold in one day, and the people of Hexi are panning for gold on the south bank, and there are some sporadic shepherds on the north bank panning for gold, but the army on the south bank did not interfere.

This is like seeing flowers in the fog, Tuoba Xi seems to see a little hope, but this hope is not clear, can he also go to the north shore to pan for gold?

Tuoba Xi has been thinking about this question for a long time, to be precise, the Liusha River does not belong to Wuwei County, according to the understanding reached between Tang and Tibet, this quicksand river should be owned by the Tubo people, and the Hexi people are just the first to get there.

It's like a thief stealing something in someone else's yard and another thief is not convinced, Tuoba Xi always felt that he should be able to get a piece of the pie, but he was timid and never had the courage to fight against Tang Jun.

After jumping for a while, Mrs. Ruyi found that Tuoba Xi was not looking at herself, and she was not enthusiastic anymore, so she stepped forward, poured a glass of wine and handed it to him and said with a smile: "The king has been worried for the past two days, what are you thinking?" ”

Tuoba Xi pinched her cheek and smiled maliciously, "Of course I'm thinking about you." ”

Mrs. Ruyi smiled charmingly, she fell softly into Tuoba Xi's arms, gently touched his belly like a drum, and said with a coquettish smile: "I am already your woman, what else do you have to think about, I think you are thinking about the gold of the quicksand river!" Otherwise, how can the eyes shine like that. ”

Tuoba was stunned, this woman's eyes were also poisonous, he took a sip of wine, and sighed slightly: "How could I not want to?" The land here is barren, and we can't raise more cattle and sheep, and now we all rely on eating a little bit of old money to get by, and we want to do trade in the Western Regions. But the Tibetans don't give face, and they are only allowed to cross the border once a year, so sooner or later we will have to break up, so I just thought that gold panning is a good method. Since the Hexi people are panning for gold on the south bank of the Liusha River, then we will be on the north bank, but I am worried that they will not will, so I am upset. ”

Mrs. Ruyi smiled quietly and asked, "Then what is the king going to do?" ”

"I wanted to send a hundred beautiful women and a thousand sheep to Zhang Huan in Hexi, so that he could promise us to pan for gold on the north bank, but I felt that this seemed to be a tiger skin, and he was unlikely to agree."

At this time, Mrs. Ruyi's eyes rolled, and she thought of Tuoba Qianli to let herself instigate the king to become an enemy of Zhang Huan. Isn't this an opportunity? She filled Tuobaxi's croissant with wine, and said with a smile, "I have a way to let the king share the golden sand of the quicksand river." ”

"Oh!" Tuoba Xi sat up suddenly. hugged Mrs. Ruyi and said eagerly: "My beauty quickly said, what is the way?" ”

"It's very simple, you first send troops to arrest all those gold diggers, and then negotiate terms with Zhang Huan, I think he has to take care of these hostages, and the Tubo people are watching from the side, he doesn't dare to really do anything with you, and finally the two of you reach a settlement, isn't it? Do you still need to give women and sheep at the same time? ”

Tuoba Xi was stunned for a long time, this is indeed a good way. But this involves the issue of sending troops, and it must be discussed with several other families, he kissed the woman on his body fiercely, and said with a smile: "When the woman is negotiated, I will send you out." ”

Mrs. Ruyi grabbed his beard. smiled coquettishly: "You old and immodest guy, if you dare to send me, I will pluck out your old miscellaneous hairs." ”

Three days later, one night, the moonlight was shining, and there were bursts of drums in the distance in the small city of Yanran. Intermittently. As if some kind of ritual is being performed, let's cut our perspective into the small town to see what is going on. I saw that in a clearing in the small city, the witch was distributed, she was dressed in colorful clothes, holding a sheep in her hand, walking slowly in the moonlight, she sometimes fell on the ground, worshiped the moon god devoutly, and sometimes raised her head to the moon and made a chatter and strange laugh, but the sheep in her hand has not been loosened, this is a divination before the party members send out the army, lead the sheep to pray to the moon god at night, and kill the sheep tomorrow morning to distinguish the good luck.

In a big tent a hundred steps away behind her, seven nobles gathered together to discuss this operation and the future of the people of the Western Party, everyone's expressions were serious, Tuoba Xi's narration made them feel the severity of the situation, the trade in the Western Regions that had high hopes became unrealistic, the war in the Western Regions was chaotic, the huge caravan was easy to be peeped at by various forces, and the escort was not allowed by various countries, so that the hope of trade was cut off, but if they did not find a way to survive as soon as possible, they would all perish sooner or later.

Tuoba Xi advocated to get the north bank of the Liusha River and survive in the way of gold panning but did not get a warm response from everyone, the other six people were silent, everyone thought about their own thoughts, some of them hoped to go north to attach themselves to Hui, and some wanted to return to the ancestral land of the Song Dynasty to live a primitive life of slash-and-burn farming, and also wanted to return to Yinchuan County to make peace with Ye Liping, while Tuoba Qianli advocated concentrating all his forces to attack Weiwu County and kill a piece of the world in Hexi as soon as possible.

"Bang", Tuoba Qianli slammed his fist on the table, his eyes swept everyone sharply, and said in a deep voice: "I don't think everyone has seen the real grim situation, it's almost July now, long past the farrowing period of livestock, I don't know how many lambs you still have in your hands, but I only have fifty-seven in my hands, if I don't find a place to live as soon as possible, even if I survive this year, then what about next spring?" How many ewes do we have left, and where do we get the salt and tea from? Even if we are conservative in our estimates, by this time next year, we will probably have less than half of our 50,000 people left. ”

Speaking of this, he took a deep breath and said, "This is still a situation where there are no foreign enemies, but will there really be no foreign enemies?" When the Yellow River freezes in winter, Ye Liping will not take the opportunity to cross the river to destroy us? At that time, people's hearts will be weakened, how can we resist it? ”

"That's why I said I want to use gold panning to accumulate wealth." Tuoba Xi stood up and coldly interrupted his son's words, he knew what Tuoba Qianli would say next, but that was what he would never agree, he walked behind several other nobles, pressed his shoulder, and comforted them: "With gold, we can go to the Han people to buy the food and weapons we need, and go back to the Su people to buy horses, so that even if it is a cold winter, we can survive this winter, as long as we have food, war horses, and weapons in our hands." Even this winter, we can go back to Yinchuan County and exterminate the Yeli tribe, but in any case, we have to have money in our hands, that is, gold, do you understand? ”

His idea of returning to Yinchuan County finally won the approval of everyone. Everyone spoke one after another, and the scene began to become enthusiastic, and they gradually agreed with his idea of sneaking up on the gold miners in Hexi in exchange for the north bank of the Liusha River.

But Tuoba Qianli on the side sneered, this is a group of stupid aristocratic lords, they don't have a long-term vision at all, and they can't see the situation in the Helong region clearly, and they sent troops to Hexi just to pan for gold in a small gold placer mine, but they gave up the vast and fertile Hexi. If he really attacked the quicksand river, how could Zhang Huan stop without permission?

But Tuoba Qianli did not object, and sent troops to Hexi, which is also what he wanted to see. Since the people of the Western Dangxiang have no future at the foot of the barren Helan Mountain, or they will gradually decay and perish in the end of the road, since they want to send troops to win gold, then take advantage of the situation to occupy Hexi, so that the people of the Western Dangxiang can be reborn, since the father is stupid to provoke trouble, then let the war come more fiercely!

The witch outside the tent had finished her divination, and she led the sheep into a small tent, which would not come out until the next morning, when the deliberations in the tent had come to an end. Tuoba Xi coughed and motioned for everyone to be quiet, and he said: "Since everyone has no objection to sending troops to Liushahe, then decide the share of this dispatch now, Second Uncle Ming." Let's start first! How many soldiers can you come up with? ”

Father's words made Tuoba Qianli's thoughts suddenly concentrated, and the critical time fell, he must get the leadership of this dispatch, Second Uncle Ming is an old nobleman in his sixties, and he has a thousand slaves. About 5,000 people. With a thousand cavalry on hand, this was his last bit of capital. How can he take it out, he saw that the king asked himself first, smiled awkwardly, and squeaked: "I am willing to send troops to self-heating, but many soldiers are sick, and I don't know how many people are available, let me think about it, then you say it first, you say it first!" ”

"Why don't I come first!" Tuoba Qianli stood up, and he said in a loud voice: "I have three thousand troops in my hands, and I can take them all out." ”

The old nobleman Tuoba Ming saw that Tuoba Qianli was willing to do a big wrong, so he hurriedly smiled at Tuoba and said: "Since Qianli is willing to send 3,000 troops, then the rest of us will each send another 300 troops, and the king will send 500 troops, so that it will just fill up an army, and the king will see it?" ”

Tuoba was happy to see that his son wanted to take the lead, and knew that he wanted to take this opportunity to establish authority, so after thinking about it, he nodded and said: "Since Qianli sent 3,000 troops, according to the convention, Qianli will be the commander of this army, and Tuoba Baili will serve as the deputy general, do you have any objections?" ”

The five of them glanced at each other, and they all agreed in unison, "No objection!" ”

Early the next morning, the witch finished praying and began to kill the sheep and ask for good luck, the sheep's heart was bloodless, the spleen and intestines were smooth, which was a good omen, and the two thousand party cavalry and three thousand infantry galloped murderously in the direction of the quicksand river under the leadership of the second prince Tuoba Qianli.

Wuwei County, the summer harvest has gradually ended, as the war between Tubo and Hui for Anxi has come to an end, the possibility of the Tubo people attacking Wuwei is increasing day by day, the atmosphere in Wuwei City has begun to be tense, the soldiers have stepped up training, the craftsmen have been making weapons and bows and arrows day and night, Pei Jun has sent a batch of pig iron in mid-June, which has brought great help to the preparation of Wuwei County.

That night, in a huge arrow workshop in the south of Wuwei City, Zhang Huan was inspecting the blacksmiths making crossbow arrows, it was a hot summer, the temperature in the workshop was frighteningly high, pieces of iron bars were thrown into the furnace, and the red subway water flowed out along the groove at the other end of the furnace, flowing into various arrow-shaped molds, and the molds were immediately put on the belt by the craftsmen, and with the twisting of the wooden wheels, the molds on the belt were sent into the water to cool, and then sent to the craftsmen in the waiting places.

All the processes are busy and orderly, a hundred blacksmiths and hundreds of miscellaneous workers work in this huge workshop, the sound of tinkling local percussion resounds, the bronze back, the black oil-colored tendon meat, the beads of sweat on the bean earth, and the red subway water, intertwined into a spectacular assembly line picture.

Dozens of wagons were parked outside the workshop, and when a basket of sharp arrows was loaded onto the wagon, the wagons immediately sent it to another crossbow workshop to install the shafts and feathers.

"How much can arrows do per day?" Zhang Huan asked a young official, this official was one of the first dozen or so soldiers to come to Wuwei, he was now in charge of the Xiliang Army, responsible for supervising and managing the production of bows and arrows, and several months of military training. Their skin has become dark and rough from the white when they first came, and the scholarly spirit on their bodies has gradually been washed away, revealing a kind of decisiveness and self-confidence unique to soldiers.

"Reporting to the Governor, can you make an average of 10,000 arrows a day?"

Zhang Huan nodded, and asked with interest: "Then how do you manage it?" I mean, how do you pay them and prevent defects. ”

"The subordinates asked the blacksmith to engrave his name on each arrow, and gave each of them a bamboo basket, so that the money could be counted according to their respective quantities, and the person responsible could be traced according to the name on the arrow."

Zhang Huan smiled, picked up an arrow casually, and put it in his hand to examine it carefully, it was a long prismatic armor-piercing arrow, with blood grooves on the edge, and it was polished to be extremely smooth and sharp. There are two small words engraved on the edge: Cao Er, this is the name of the blacksmith.

"Not bad! You're doing a great job. Zhang Huan patted the young official's shoulder approvingly, "How is the situation on the bow and crossbow?" ”

"Return to the Governor. The situation over there is also good, you can make a thousand crossbows a day, but your subordinates are thinking about making some repeating crossbows, and now there is a kind of Zhuge crossbow with one crossbow and ten arrows, but can you make a repeating crossbow with one hundred arrows? Placed on the chariot, this will be a sharp weapon against the Hu cavalry, and it can even be coated with poison, and there are some firearms to deal with the war horse, whether gunpowder can be used, subordinates are also considering. ”

Zhang Huan listened attentively. While looking down and thinking, when he finished speaking, Zhang Huan asked, "What's your name?" Where are the people? ”

"The subordinate is called Song Qi, a native of Chang'an."

Zhang Huan smiled slightly, and immediately said to Sima Luo Guangzheng, a marching soldier of the Xiliang Army who accompanied him to inspect: "I have been thinking about establishing an ordnance department. It can be officially established now. ”

He pointed at this young man named Song Qi and said, "This person is the first director of my Xiliang Military Ordnance Administration." ”

Coming out of the workshop, it was already dark, Zhang Huan, under the escort of dozens of personal soldiers, slowly walked along the street to the Governor's Mansion, and now many aspects of the Xiliang Army have slowly been on the right track. The land problem was solved, and the grain harvest was harvested. The people's hearts were calmed, the number of troops increased, and the construction of Huixi Fort was completed. This, in turn, has greatly improved the defensive capability.

However, the land area is small and the population is insufficient, which is the biggest constraint to his development, how to get more land and population, this has always been his exhaustive thing, but he can not develop to the large population of Longyou, once the stability of the Helong area is broken, he will lose the opportunity for development, can only develop to the west.

Zhang Huan couldn't help but think of Pei Mingyuan, he should be in Han Erba at this moment, and I don't know if he can complete his entrustment, if he can successfully join forces to return to Hui, it will greatly shorten the time for him to seize the entire territory of Hexi, and Pei Jundi's letter also said that Hui Khan's request to marry is coming, expressing that Hui Hui wants to reconcile with the Tang Dynasty again, and the court also accepted Hui Hui's proposal, and sent Li Zhanran, the heir of Teng Wang, as the wedding envoy to escort Princess Xian'an to marry Hui Hui, and canonized Hui Khan.

This will be an opportunity for himself, but opportunities are always accompanied by crises, and Zhang Huan has a strong premonition that before the autumn of this year, the Tibetans will definitely launch a military operation against Wuwei County.

Zhang Huan was thinking about it, while walking slowly, the governor's mansion with two red lanterns in front of him was already faintly visible, suddenly, there was a commotion on the street, and a personal soldier pointed to the distance and shouted: "Governor, look, beacon fire!" ”

Zhang Huan looked up at the Wusheling Ridge, only to see that on the swarthy Wusheling Ridge, the flames were soaring to the sky, and they were particularly dazzling in the dark night, which was the alarm of the beacon tower, and twenty miles ahead, a bright fire the size of a bean was burning.

Zhang Huan's heart tightened suddenly, and the beacon fire in Wusheling was ignited, which meant that something had happened in Huixi Fort, and the Tubo people came to "turn back!" Go to the barracks. Zhang Huan whipped his horse, turned his horse's head and galloped towards the military camp outside the city.