The entrance from the Hexi Corridor is a huge flare shape, with the Helan Mountains to the north, the Wusheling Mountains at the eastern end of the Qilian Mountains to the south, and a surging Yellow River to the east.

The place where the gold sand was found is such a seasonal river, it is located in the northernmost part of the horn mouth, about five miles away from Helan Mountain, it is formed by the ice and snow melt water of Helan Mountain, it is not appropriate to say that it is not appropriate to find gold sand, some herdsmen have picked up gold grains here a long time ago, but the people here are simple and simple, and there is no gold panning climate, and it is gradually forgotten.

The discovery of gold sand is very accidental, in the construction of Huixi Fort, the laborers inadvertently found gold grains in the river sand used for masonry, which attracted the attention of Du Mei, and learned that these river sand was dug from a nearby small river under the investigation, and then he organized people to dig in the riverbed, and also found some gold grains, but the content is not high, there is no value, at this time a Qiang laborer told him that in the quicksand river two hundred miles away, the content of gold sand is much higher than here, Du Mei sent people to the quicksand river to try to dig, the results are exciting, The river sand contained a large amount of gold sand, which was a very strategic event, and Du Mei immediately ordered someone to return to Wuwei to report Zhang Huan.

The quicksand river is a very obvious river seasonally, the spring water, the summer riverbed is full, and gradually dry up in autumn and winter, it is not long, only about more than 100 miles, but meandering, so that the straight line distance is less than 50 miles, it is precisely because it has many bends, accumulated a large amount of river sand, so it is named quicksand, who would have expected that there is huge wealth in these river sands.

It's the middle of spring. The poplars on both sides of the Liusha River grow luxuriantly, and although there are not many of them, they are eye-catching and vibrant in the deserted Gobi Desert.

In the afternoon of this day, a cavalry team of about 500 people came to the bank of the quicksand river, which was Zhang Huan came from Wuwei overnight, although gold is not the common currency of the Tang Dynasty, but its wealth value is undeniable, which is small in the area, the product is not rich in Wuwei County. Its strategic significance speaks for itself. So when Zhang Huan got the news, he immediately rushed to inspect it in person.

At this moment, there are already 1,000 people stationed on the bank of the quicksand river, in addition to more than 700 people drawn from Huixi Fort, there is also an army of 300 people stationed, the project of Huixi Fort has entered the end, because it has come to spring, a large number of people have returned to the counties, leaving only a few thousand people to work. This delayed the completion of the castle in May to June.

As soon as Zhang Huan arrived at the camp, he was invited into the big tent by Du Mei in a hurry, and he smiled very mysteriously: "Guess the governor, how much gold have we found in the past three days?" ”

"How could I guess, just show it to me!" Zhang Huan saw the smugness in his eyes, and it was estimated that he must have earned a lot of money, so he couldn't help but smile and said: "If you don't say it, I'll let you go down to the river to pan for gold." ”

Du Mei took out a leather bag from the box and took it out with some difficulty. Hand it to Zhang Huan, "Governor, it's all here." ”

Zhang Huan took it, and although he was prepared, his hand couldn't help but sink down. He was overjoyed in his heart, and this half bag of gold was thirty pounds, and if it was converted into money, it would be worth at least five thousand pounds, and he put the skin on the ground. The hand was inserted. His hands were filled with a full, grainy feeling, and he slowly lifted a handful of gold nuggets to his eyes. In the light of a ray of sunlight, the gold glittered and fell from the fingers into the skin.

Thirty catties in three days, excluding the summer of rising water, three hundred days can be harvested that year, which is three thousand catties, more than 500,000 yuan, these will become money, into a large number of materials, it will become an important foundation for his development in Hexi, thinking of this, Zhang Huan's squinted eyes gradually brightened, he stood up suddenly, strode out of the tent, Du Mei hurriedly put the skin bag away, chased out, "Dudu, this is going."

"I'm going to see the gold panning!" Zhang Huandi's figure had disappeared outside the gate of the camp.

Although the quicksand river is more than 100 miles long, but after the preliminary exploration, the section of the river that is really rich in gold sand is also concentrated in the downstream section of the 20 miles, at this time it is the middle of spring, the snow on the top of the mountain has not melted in large quantities, so that a five-zhang wide river has only become a murmuring stream, more than 700 people spread out on the three-mile long river beach, three people are connected into a group, one digs two sieves, with a gold bucket, with a fine basket, although only a few days, but the posture has been like a decent.

However, Zhang Huan found that most of the gold panning men were women, although most of them were stout, but the women could not work for a long time, and it was obviously not suitable for this kind of gold panning work that required skills.

Zhang Huan's face slowly sank, he pointed at these women and asked Du Mei coldly: "Why do you also use women in gold panning, are you really saving those two wages?" ”

"Back to the governor, the people on the side of Huixi Fort are tense, and now it's spring, and the subordinates are worried that Tubo will send troops to attack at any time, so the people who come to the Liusha River to pan for gold can only use more women."

Du Mei saw that Zhang Huan was quite complaining about most of the people who were panning for gold by the river, so he smiled bitterly and continued to explain: "Besides, this is just a tentative washing, and in a month or two, if the money is abundant, I will hire a large number of people, please rest assured." ”

"That's it, after a month or two, they are skilled, and they recruit workers to start over, isn't it a mistake, give them a long salary, treat them like male workers, and those who are willing to stay will continue to use them, and then send someone to strictly manage me, not allowing them to hide gold privately, not allowing them to contact the soldiers, and in the future, the gold sand will be sent to Wuwei every fifty catties, and if there is a situation, you must report it at any time, understand?"

Du Mei bowed down and agreed: "My subordinates understand!" ”

Zhang Huan nodded, then turned to Xin Lang and said: "General Xin, the gold mine of the Liusha River is very important to our Hexi, I order you to be the soldiers and horses of the Liusha River, and lead an army of 1,000 to garrison, if someone comes to steal the gold sand, the first time you can expel the warning, and the second time you will kill it!" ”

Xin Lang half-knelt and saluted, "The last general respects the order!" ”

At this time, more than a dozen small black dots suddenly appeared in the distance, it seemed to be cavalry, the speed was getting faster and faster, and when he ran a few miles away, Zhang Huan had already seen clearly, it was his scout army, but judging from the situation of them galloping, something big must have happened.

"Governor! There is an alarm in Fort West. Several scouts galloped up to Zhang Huan and reported loudly: "The Tubo outpost has been found near Huixi Fort. ”

Zhang Huan's heart tightened. This is something he has been worried about, he built a city in Huixi Valley in winter, the climate is very cold, Tubo can't come, now that the weather is getting warmer, Tubo will naturally know, but it's just a sentry, maybe they really just want to come and have a look.

thought so, but Zhang Huan didn't dare to be careless at all, he immediately turned over and got on the horse. Lingdao: "Go to Huixibao!" ”

It is about 200 miles from the quicksand river to Huixi Fort. If you don't hesitate to arrive in one day, although the Tubo outpost appeared, Zhang Huan still arrived at Huixi Fort at noon the next day.

At present, the Xiliang Army is stationed in the Yellow River area with about 5,000 troops, including 3,000 cavalry and 2,000 foot soldiers. There were 3,000 garrisons, commanded by Li Hengqiu, the general of Zhonglang; The other is the newly opened Liusha River, stationed 1,000 cavalry, led by the partial general Xin Lang, and the last 1,000 people are stationed in five beacon towers on the west bank of the Yellow River, monitoring the situation on the other side of the Yellow River at all times, each beacon tower garrison is about 200 people, each led by a town general.

The main wall of Huixi Fort has been completed. Today, craftsmen are working day and night to build the buildings inside the fort, such as houses, warehouses, barracks, etc., and at the same time build various fortifications on the city walls, such as building platforms, installing bed crossbows, and building belvederets.

When Zhang Huan arrived at Huixi Fort, there happened to be a team of Tibetan outposts looking from a distance. They were not many in number, about 100 horsemen, and this was the fourth patrol in three days.

"Dudu, today this group is not the Tubo people, but the Tuyuhun people's outposts." Li Hengqiu accompanied Zhang Huan to stand on the observation tower. Looking at this team of 100 people from afar.

"How do you know they're Tuyuhun?" Zhang Huan asked with interest.

"It's simple. Yesterday's squad of sentinels was dressed completely differently from this one, and yesterday's one was all dressed in black chain mail. The war horses are also very vigorous, but this one is dressed in gray military uniforms, no armor, the team is not neat, and the war horses ridden are also mottled, it seems that the momentum of the two sentry is completely different, and in the Hehuang area, there are also tens of thousands of Tuyuhun people's army, so I boldly speculate that this one is the Tuyuhun people's sentry. ”

Tuyuhun people lived in the Jiuqu area of the Yellow River for generations, the early Tang Dynasty was gradually conquered by the Tubo people, became a vassal of the Tubo army, its army was also a vassal army of the Tubo army, to a large extent controlled by the Tubo people, after the Anshi Rebellion, the Tubo large-scale invasion of the territory of the Tang Dynasty, the battle line was too long, the strength was seriously insufficient, especially in the war with the Hui for the North Court defeat, heavy losses, in desperation, Tubo began to use the Tuyuhun people, the Qiang people and the Dangxiang people, the Qiang and the Dangxiang people are mainly distributed in the Song and Min areas, The Tuyuhun people cooperated with a small number of Tubo people to control the river. Therefore, Li Hengqiu boldly speculated that this was a Tuyuhun person, and he did have his basis.

Zhang Huan listened to his speculation and did have some truth, so he nodded and said: "Whether it is the Tubo people or the Tuyuhun people, since they have come to four branches in three days, it means that they are doing their own thing, and at the same time, it can be inferred from one side that the Tubo people have not attracted high-level attention to the construction of Huixi Fort, of course, we can't take it lightly, we must be prepared for defense." ”

He pondered for a while and said: "I will add another 3,000 troops to defend Huixi Fort, and at the same time ensure the smooth passage of the beacon tower on Wusheling Ridge, if the enemy attacks Huixi Fort on a large scale, you must report at any time." ”

"Subordinates obey!"

At this time, the group of outposts saw that the Tang army did not come out, and it seemed that they were a little light on the enemy, and slowly approached Huixi Fort, trying to obtain more detailed information, Zhang Huan couldn't help but smile coldly, and turned back to the dozens of young generals behind him and said: "I will pay a bounty of 2,000 yuan, which of you can annihilate all this outposts?" ”

As soon as Zhang Huan's words fell, a young general immediately stood up and said, "The last general is willing to go!" ”

I saw that he was about twenty years old, handsome, burly, and heroic, Zhang Huan recognized this person as Wang Siyu, and he was also a famous family.

Zhang Huan squinted and said, "What if you can't finish it?" ”

"If the last general can't finish it, he is willing to become a soldier again."

"Good! I will allow you to go into battle with three hundred horsemen, and may you be victorious. ”

Wang Siyu arched his hand, quickly went down the city, there was only one gate of Huixi Fort, opened to the north, soon, the city gate slowly opened, a Tang cavalry bypassed the city wall, suddenly shot out like an arrow, and as if being split head-on by a knife, it was divided into two forks at once, a hundred people continued to gallop forward, around the back of the enemy, and the other two hundred people were like a sharp knife, straight into the Tugu Hun outpost.

The Tang army is like a thunderstorm, 200 people will be swept by the momentum of thousands of troops, the young Xiao general Wang Siyu took the lead, he wore a silver helmet, wearing iron armor, holding a three-pointed two-edged knife, majestic, unstoppable, at this time the enemy outpost also found the enemy's situation, Tuyuhun people are not as strong as the Tubo people, they do not retreat, they are not, they are vicious wolves against the ordinary people of the Tang Dynasty, but in front of the most elite army of the Tang Dynasty, they have become a group of chickens, as soon as they see the Tang army attacking, they only want to flee for their lives.

The Tuyuhun people were shocked by the momentum of the Tang army, they did not dare to meet the enemy, turned around and fled, but the speed of the horse was far inferior to the Tang army, under the attack of a rain of arrows, people continued to fall to the ground with arrows, only chased out of a mile, Wang Siyu took the lead in wielding a three-pointed two-edged knife, like a hungry tiger pounced on the enemy group from behind.

On the city wall, the golden drums sounded loudly, the flags were waved, and thousands of soldiers shouted and cheered together, while Zhang Huan stood on the high observation tower, gently brushing his short beard and smiling, although this was only a siege and annihilation battle against a small group of enemy troops, it could be said that the victory was not martial, but he needed it

Using this method to stimulate the bloodthirsty nature of the soldiers, too monotonous and dull life is a taboo for soldiers, many experienced generals will try their best to stimulate the soldiers' killing heart and fighting spirit, so in many wars will occur the phenomenon of slaughtering cities or plundering, which is actually just a means of motivating morale.

Under the city walls, the Tuyuhun people have been surrounded by the Tang army on a small hill, which is the place where they first peeked into the Huixi Fort Land, but now it has become the place where they bury their bones.

Three hundred Tang troops as if they had gone crazy, again and again to attack the enemy, Wang Siyu waved a three-pointed two-edged knife with a length of one zhang, like an awl pierced into the enemy group, his knife flew up and down, flesh and blood splashed, the sound of wailing continued, everywhere was a bloody road, the Tang army suddenly burst out with a wild shout, they raised their long lances, horizontal knives, and launched the final impact on dozens of Tuyuhun remnants

"The last general is fortunate not to be dishonored!"

Wang Siyu threw a big bag full of ears in front of Zhang Huan, knelt down and saluted him: "A total of two hundred and forty ears, and his subordinates led the army to kill a total of one hundred and twenty people, ten people were taken prisoner, and one of them was not killed." ”

Zhang Huan stepped forward and patted him lightly on the shoulder and asked, "I will reward you with 2,000 yuan, how will you distribute it?" ”

"Give all of his subordinates to the brethren, and take nothing for himself."

"That's a good point!" Zhang Huan smiled approvingly: "Since you don't want money, then I will promote you to a tooth general and follow me." ”