"Han, General Fuyuan. [ ] Horse! ”

The big word "horse" fluttered in the air, although the flag was very worn, and the corners and corners were worn and worn, but the handwriting on it was still clear.

Just a few big words, but it can make people feel a sense of murder, and with that group of fierce and vicious cavalry, even those merchants who have seen a lot of the world and run a lot of places will feel a trace of fear rising from their hearts.

"General Ma, it's General Ma who is back!"

Passers-by consciously got out of the way, stood on both sides, and looked at the cavalry running in the distance from afar, and the banners of the Han army kept shaking in the running of the horses.

The cavalry flashed by the passers-by like a lightning speed, and after the cavalry passed, groups of horses without saddles and reins appeared in front of everyone, and were driven forward by a few knights.

The merchant surnamed Zhang glanced at the horses that were not saddled and reins, swallowed slightly, and said softly, "Good horses." These horses, put in the Chang'an horse market, to say the least, will cost four or five hundred gold! ”

"Brother Zhang, do you still know how to be a horse?" The tea stall owner asked.

"Those who do our business rely on their legs and eyes, and if they are lucky enough to find something valuable, it is enough to set up a shop and do some small business. I used to know a person who exchanged a bag of private salt with the Xianbei people for a batch of good war horses, and returned to Chang'an and sold it for more than 600 gold for a blind man! The footman surnamed Zhang said, his eyes revealing a hint of yearning.

"More than six hundred gold?" The owner of the tea stall was also slightly taken aback at first, and then his face was full of envy. In this chaotic war years, the price of war horses has also risen, although the cost of raising a good horse is more than several strong men, but good horses are still the items that those big families flock to buy.

……

Chang'an City, Imperial Palace.

At this time, Adou was discussing state affairs with Pang Tong, Zhuge Liang and Liubu Shangshu and others.

Although the Han army has taken Luoyang, but the war of Sili is not over, Luoyang is north of the Yellow River, south of Luoshui, and in the east, it is mainly to see the Tiger Prison Pass and Xingyang guards. Therefore, after Wei Yan took Luoyang, he did not stop, but continued to attack Hugao Pass and Xingyang.

In that year, the three British fought against Lu Bu, and the Tiger Prison Pass was also famous all over the world, but in fact, the scale of the Tiger Prison Pass was far inferior to Tongguan, Wuguan and other places, the wall was not tall enough, and the terrain was not dangerous enough. Talking about the difficulty of the attack. On the contrary, it is not as good as Xingyang.

The front-line war was basically handed over to Wei Yan to deal with, and with Wei Yan's experience in leading troops, Adou was also relieved.

At the beginning, Adou led the troops to attack Wuguan, which was more to take advantage of Zhang He's arrogance, but the attack on Tongguan was fought hard by the Han army. In the process of attacking Tongguan, although Meng Da, the secretary of the military department, did not go to the battlefield, he provided a large number of siege weapons and was able to capture Tongguan, and Meng Da made great contributions.

At the same time, this battle also made everyone realize the importance of siege weapons. Even a checkpoint like Tongguan, which occupies a dangerous terrain, cannot last long under the attack of a large number of siege weapons.

Although the wall of Tongguan is not made of adobe, but made of bricks and stones, the catapults and ballistas still leave traces on the city walls, and the huge stones thrown by the catapults can even break the bricks on the battlements, even if they hit the city wall directly, the bricks on the city wall will be shattered.

And the powerful crossbow shot out by the ballista can even be nailed directly to the wall. Nail into the masonry, these strong crossbows are still very damaging to the city wall, and many places in Tongguan need to be repaired after being damaged by strong crossbows.

The more powerful the siege weapon, the larger it becomes, and the more inconvenient it is to transport and move. The problem of the difficulty of transporting large siege weapons was not solved even by the craftsman Luban. When the Han army attacked the city, it was always impossible to prepare for half a year in advance to make siege weapons for each attack, so it was impossible to use large-scale siege weapons on a large scale.

So Adou ordered that the main task of the Ministry of War in the next step was not to manufacture large-scale siege weapons, but to manufacture as many small long-range weapons as possible such as crossbow arrows, especially Zhuge repeaters, and even more. Because the Zhuge repeater is very prone to failure, so while manufacturing the Zhuge repeater, Adou also ordered the military department to manufacture more parts for maintenance.

Zhuge Liang presided over the internal relocation of the Di people, which went very smoothly, and there was not much turmoil among the Di people who had newly moved to Yongzhou. For these Di people, as long as they have land to cultivate, they do not have to be attacked all the time, they are already very satisfied.

As time passed, it was gradually approaching noon, and at this time, even if there were only a few people in the main hall, it was unbearable heat, and the sweat on the bodies of several ministers kept coming out, and it had soaked through the clothes inside.

Adou cultivates internal family skills. It is completely possible to avoid cold and heat, but Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong and others cannot. A person like Meng Da, who was born as a military general, is better, but an old man like Chen Zhen, who is in his seventies, can't hold it under such conditions.

The eunuch came in from the outside and brought a delicate wooden barrel, which contained the water that had just been brought up from the deep well, which was refreshing, and in the well water, soaked in fresh fruit.

"Extremely Aiqing, often! There is no ice here, but the water from the well that has just been dug is very cool. ”

After several ministers thanked Adou, they all gave in, and finally Chen Zhen, who was the oldest, took the lead in picking up the fruit in the bucket.

At this moment, hurried footsteps sounded, and Zhang Wei ran in from outside.

Zhang Wei didn't wear armor, just wrapped in an ordinary official uniform, after this period of running, the official mansion already looked a little messy, and sweat had soaked through the clothes.

"Zhang Wei, what's so alarming?"

"Your Majesty, you're back! Came back......"

"What's coming back?"

"Horse ...... General Ma, General Fuyuan Ma. It's back! ”

……

The gate of Chang'an has been closed, and such a large number of cavalry suddenly appeared outside Chang'an City, although there is the banner of General Fuyuan, but the Chang'an city guard still closed the city gate as quickly as possible.

Under the city, curious people have already gathered around. The knights waited quietly under the city.

Ma Qiu stepped forward and looked at the two big words "Chang'an" on the plaque on the city gate, his swollen eyes couldn't help but flicker a little crystalline, after so many years of fighting for Wusun, he finally came back!

"Crackle!"

A few soybean-sized raindrops fell, hitting the loess and intertwining with the dust. It finally landed on the ground, forming a black mud dot the size of a baby's palm.

Gradually, the raindrops became more and more frequent, and the surrounding onlookers had already looked for a place to hide from the heavy rain, but these cavalrymen were still standing at the gate of the city, and the knights kept comforting the war horses under their crotches, and from time to time there would be one or two warhorse chirps.

The sound of "squeak ......" the chain of the drawbridge sounded, and then I saw the drawbridge slowly lowered, and then the city gate was opened, and a ride appeared in Ma Qiu's sight.

"Your Majesty!" Ma Qiu snorted softly, and when he saw Adou's familiar face, Ma Qiu couldn't help but leave tears.

Adou didn't care about the increasing rain in the sky, but let the rain fall on him, and at the same time rode his horse to the front and looked at Ma Qiu, who was standing in the front.

Ma Qiu hurriedly got off the horse and knelt in front of Adou, and then, thousands of knights behind Ma Qiu turned over and dismounted together and knelt down.

"Minister, Ma Qiu, was ordered to exterminate Wusun, and now he has returned triumphantly, Wusun and Kunmi have all been defeated by the ministers and others, and they have moved west for three thousand miles! Over the past few years, the ministers have broken through more than 2,000 tribes of Wusun and killed more than 300,000 enemies! Ma Qiu shouted loudly, and at the same time took down a broken banner from his horse, and continued: "Your Majesty, this is the banner of the King of Wusun Dakunmi, dedicated to Your Majesty!" ”

"Okay, General Ma is mighty!" Adou took a deep breath and said loudly. At the same time, Adou also glanced at the cavalry team in the distance, according to Adou's eyesight, there were about 3,000 cavalry here.

10,000 light horsemen entered Wusun, and after years of war, they broke through more than 2,000 tribes in Wusun. killed more than 300,000 Wusun people, and also seized the royal banner of Wusun Da Kunmi, and forced him to move west for 3,000 miles. This is definitely an impressive record, comparable to Huo Qu's illness back then. But this record was not easy to come by, and of the 10,000 elite soldiers of the Western Expedition, less than 3,000 came back alive.

Adou glanced at the soldiers behind Ma Qiu, and now Ma Dai and the others were there, but only Ma was missing.

Unconsciously, Adou felt a little uneasy in his heart.

"Ma Qiu, where is General Fuyuan Ma?" Adou asked.

Ma Qiu didn't answer, while Ma Dai stepped forward, still holding an ash altar in his hand, seeing this scene, Adou had completely understood.

"Your Majesty, my father was seriously ill a year ago and has died......"

"The general died in a hundred battles, and the strong man returned to the ...... in ten years" Adou let out a long breath, and couldn't help but recite this classic sentence in the folk song of the Northern Dynasties, and then his heart suddenly became empty, and an inexplicable sourness rose from Adou's heart.

Horses, still dead!

Birth, old age, sickness and death are human nature, and this Adou can't stop it. Historically, horses died of illness not long after the queen ascended the throne, and now horses die a few years later than in history.

Regarding the death of the horse, Adou was very conflicted in his heart, both surprised and reasonable. For example, Pang Tong, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Huang Zhong and others are not normal deaths, for example, Pang Tong was shot to death, Guan Yu was beheaded by Sun Quan, Zhang Fei died in the hands of Fan Jiang Zhang Da, this kind of unnatural death, Adou can find a way to save their lives, but the horse died of illness, this natural death, Adou is really powerless.

When the news of the horse's death came out, there was a sad atmosphere in the surrounding air, and God was very cooperative at this time, and the dense raindrops continued to fall, and soon a puddle of water appeared on the ground.

Adou was already drenched all over his body, the rain kept dripping from his head, and the surrounding war horses couldn't stop shaking their bodies to get rid of the rain on their bodies.

After a long time, Adou sighed slightly, helped Ma Qiu with both hands, and said, "Ma Qiu, follow me into the city!" ”

……

In Chang'an City, there are thousands of empty alleys.

Today is the day when the horse is buried.

Outside the city, there is a huge ancestral hall, which was built by the Adou Ministry of Labor after several days and nights of continuous work.

In the courtyard in front of the ancestral hall, a statue of a horse carved from white marble stands there, lifelike. In the middle of the ancestral hall at the back, it is the silver spear of the horse that is enshrined.

Ma Qiu learned the ancestral knife technique of the Ma family, using a big knife. As soon as the horse died, no one in the Ma family used a gun, so this silver gun was enshrined here.

The civil and military officials of Chang'an City gathered here, of course, everyone didn't want to come, because His Majesty the Emperor had already arrived.

Ma Qiu, Ma Dai, and Ma's youngest son Ma Cheng and Ma's wives and concubines are all dressed in linen and filial piety. However, today's protagonists are not them, but Adou.

Adou is also dressed in a plain shirt. Seeing that everyone was here, Adou took out a hole flute from his arms and put it to his mouth.

The long sound of the flute sounded, and everyone fell silent, and the sound of the flute spread farther and farther with the wind.

At the beginning, the sound of the flute was melodious, making people feel that they were sticking out of an oasis, and the surroundings were so quiet and peaceful. But suddenly, the sound of the flute turned, and a burst of murderous aura suddenly struck, like ten thousand horses galloping, gushing endlessly. After a while, the sound of the flute turned flat again, and there was a desolation in the calmness, as if to tell the desolation after the end of the war.

Everyone in the field listened to it like a drunken, and some people who were familiar with horses had already heard that what Adou played was exactly the song that Ma liked to play most on weekdays - West Wind Break.

During the whole process, Adou didn't say a word, but a song of the west wind broke was enough to make people feel the sadness and remembrance of the horse in Adou's heart.

Zhuge Liang held a long eulogy, walked up, and then read it impassionedly, what Ma did before his death was listed in Zhuge Liang's eulogy, that scene, with Zhuge Liang's arrogant recitation of poems, made people unconsciously leave tears.

……

After the funeral of the horse, Adou immediately issued an order, Ma Qiu inherited the official title and title of the horse, and the youngest son of the horse was also made a liehou.

After that, Adou began to count the results of Marsi's expedition.

Ma Xi went on a campaign for several years, except for the army that had just begun to defeat the invasion of Xiao Kunmi, and spent the rest of his time on the Wusun grassland.

Fighting deep behind enemy lines, horses had to adopt the practice of nomads, feeding their wars with war, constantly harassing some tribes, robbing grain and grass, and at the same time in order to ensure that their whereabouts were not revealed, there would not be a single living mouth left in the place where the horses passed.

The horse's style of behavior is similar to that of some horse thieves on the grassland, so at the beginning, the Wusun people thought that a group of horse thieves had come, so they did not guard against it. But later, as more and more tribes were attacked, Wusun realized that this gang of horse thieves was no small thing.

At that time, the Wusun people would not have thought that the Han cavalry would go deep into the Wusun grassland, so in the eyes of the Wusun people, this group of horse thieves was likely to be a Qiang people.

Horses attacked and harassed the Wusun people everywhere, causing the Wusun king Xiao Kunmi to lose face, so Xiao Kunmi sent a general under his command to take people to exterminate the horses. However, the people sent by Xiao Kunmi were annihilated by all the horses, and at this time, Wusun got the news from the survivors that this group of horse thieves turned out to be Han Chinese!