A roar of arrows rang out in the woods, and the feathered arrows pierced through the gaps in the narrow woods as if they had eyes, and penetrated through the butt of a colorful tiger that was running for its life. The behemoth let out a wail, and its huge body fell to the ground, roaring in pain, rolling, struggling, and finally, stuck between two small trees, never to be heard again.

Thunderous cheers rang out in the woods, and a group of soldiers with bows and arrows emerged from the woods, watching in awe as Tuoba Yan lazily dodged out from behind a big tree with a longbow.

"The general is good at archery." Several soldiers dragged this behemoth in front of Tuoba Yan, "There is no injury on the body at all, peel it off, but it is an intact tiger skin, like such a big insect, it is really rare." ”

Tuoba Yan kicked the tiger that couldn't die anymore: "Peel the skin, but be careful, this tiger is indeed rare, this tiger skin, I want to give it to the handsome old man as a gift, if it is wrong, be careful of your skin." ”

"Don't worry, general, do this, we are experts!" Several soldiers burst out laughing.

"The skin is carefully collected, the meat is broken into small pieces, and brought back, the harvest is good today, and the brothers can improve their food in the evening." Tuoba Yan laughed, walked to the shade of a big tree, closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

In a blink of an eye, it has been more than a year since I came to the Hengduan Mountains. When he followed Guo Xiancheng to the Hengduan Mountains, it was facing an unprecedented crisis, and after a large number of soldiers and horses were transferred to the battlefield against Chu, it suddenly faced Xiao Qiang's Tiger Prison Pass army attack. At that time, in Guo Xiancheng's hands, in addition to the thousands of defense soldiers left behind in the Hengduan Mountains, the only real combat effectiveness was the 3,000 cavalry led by Tuoba Yan.

Hengduan Mountain Range, basically belong to the mountainous area, for the cavalry, the combat is very restricted, fortunately Tuoba Yan The main body of the army is dominated by barbarians, and the barbarians, fighting in the mountain cavalry, are indeed very good, more importantly, they can be used as cavalry on horseback, and as infantry when they get off the horse, their combat effectiveness is not bad at all.

Another army of soldiers and horses was another 3,000 Qi troops led by Qi generals Zhang Bai and Huang An. However, these 3,000 people, in the battle against the Ming Dynasty, were surrounded by a few pots of gruel on the Mopan Mountain, which completely shattered their pride as a soldier, and the main general at that time, Cao Ge, committed suicide after the siege was lifted, and generals like Zhang Bai and Huang An were naturally not treated by the imperial court, so they were also stuffed into the Hengduan Mountains.

Here, it is the most difficult place on the border line where all the Qi troops are stationed, located in the deep mountains, inaccessible, and it is very difficult to transport supplies. Therefore, there have never been too many troops stationed here, firstly, they are stationed here, the burden is too heavy, and secondly, the Qi people did not take the Qin people in their eyes, and threw a force in the Hengduan Mountains as a vigilance, once something happens, the Qi State can mobilize troops from the rear endlessly, and the steepness of the Hengduan Mountains is enough to greatly delay the enemy's actions.

This 3,000-strong Qi army has completely lost its spirit, and after being assigned here, it is even more disheartened, seeing that it is getting lower and lower day by day, and morale and military discipline are not as good as day by day. Guo Xiancheng knew it well, and he didn't pin his hopes on them, and he just used them to do some sentry, chores, and logistics work. What he really relied on was Tuoba Yan's 3,000-strong army and the 3,000 Qi army that was originally left behind.

It was also with these 6,000 people that Guo Xiancheng successfully intercepted Xiao Qiang's attack in the Hengduan Mountain Range. Xiao Qiang, who was already half-hearted, immediately retreated after being blocked by many tentative attacks, and the next battle was that the thunder was loud and the rain was small. As the battle in Qi and Chu became clear, he simply retreated back to the front line controlled by the Qin army.

For Tuoba Yan, the biggest advantage of following Guo Xiancheng to the Hengduan Mountains this time is that he and Guo Xiancheng are completely tied together. In addition to Tuoba Yan and his cavalry, Guo Xiancheng almost slipped to the Hengduan Mountains, as a defeated general, the Qi generals who originally stayed in the Hengduan Mountains were very uninterested in Guo Xiancheng. In the early days of the war against Qin, the only person Guo Xiancheng could rely on was Tuoba Yan.

And Tuoba Yan also lived up to his trust, and fought several battles with the Qin army in the Tiger Prison Pass, all of which were extremely beautiful, which not only made Guo Xiancheng very satisfied, but also made the generals of the Qi army who had stayed here shut their mouths together, not daring to underestimate the army composed of barbarians in their eyes.

In April, something happened to all the Qi troops stationed in the Hengduan Mountains. Guo Xiancheng, who lost nothing on the battlefield against the Ming, was actually appointed as the commander of all the armies of the Qi State, taking over the position of the original commander Cao Yun. And this position, everyone originally thought that there was no doubt that Zhou Jiyun would take it.

Cao Yun has led the Qi army for many years, and the credit is too great to be rewarded, and his only way out is to resign from this position. This is not too much surprise for the government and the opposition of Qi State, the merit is high, and the power is in hand, which is not a good thing for the monarch and the minister, and it is the best choice for Cao Yun to retire at this moment, and it can be regarded as the righteousness of the monarch and the minister to gather and disperse.

But what everyone didn't expect was that when Cao Yun was about to retreat, he tried his best to recommend Guo Xiancheng, the general of the defeated army. Naturally, this caused a great shock in both the government and the opposition. The government and the opposition, most of them supported Zhou Jiyun, Zhou Jiyun achieved a huge victory on the battlefield of Chu, his troops were the first to capture Kunling Pass, and then took advantage of the situation to sweep left and right, and included all the six counties in the east of Chu into the territory of Qi State, more importantly, when doing this, Zhou Jiyun was sitting on these, and personally led the cavalry to besiege and kill the Chu general Jiang Tao, who was ravaging several counties of Qi at that time, and then led the army to drive straight in, and finally surrounded Chu General An Ruhai in Qi State, and included An Ruhai's soldiers and horses and the chaotic people he instigated, all of them were defeated. This is a great favor, and countless nobles and gentry of the Chu State have not only saved their lives, but also their property because of Zhou Jigo's move.

Zhou Jiyun, who has done this, is naturally more famous and has received more support.

But Cao Yun recommended Guo Xiancheng, who did nothing in this war, to inherit his position. Not only Cao Yun, but also the first assistant Tian Feng also seconded Cao Yun, and it is rumored that Cao Hui, another powerful minister who never appeared in the court, also agreed with Guo Xiancheng.

Most of the people in the government and the opposition agree with Zhou Jiyun, but the people who really hold the power have all fallen to Guo Xiancheng, and the opinions of the whole Qi country on this matter are extremely strange.

In the end, Emperor Qi made a decision. Guo Xiancheng ascended the throne, and Zhou Jiyun was also promoted to general, under Guo Xiancheng. It can be regarded as giving Zhou Jiyun a little comfort.

"It's roasting me on the fire." After receiving the holy decree, Guo Xiancheng said to Tuoba Yandao, who had been relied on as his confidant. "I am a guilty body, when I arrived in the Hengduan Mountain Range, although I stifled the intentions of the Qin State, Xiao Qiang had no intention of attacking at all, he was forced by the Ming people. I don't take credit for that at all. And Zhou Jiyun this time is a great achievement, deeply expected, with almost everyone to be convinced of the handsome candidate, he himself is bound to win, as a result, this big peach fell on my head, you say, will Zhou Jiyun be convinced? The government and the opposition, those officials who support him, are they convinced? ”

"The handsome man is too worried." Tuoba Yan said: "With the support of His Majesty, it is enough, besides, the prince and the first assistant also support the handsome, this is enough, and the rest will be treated as mosquitoes buzzing, don't pay attention to it." ”

Guo Xiancheng smiled bitterly and patted Tuoba Yan's shoulder, "You, when you are a general who leads troops to fight, naturally you don't have so many troubles, but I'm different, the commander of the first army, there are too many things to consider. ”

"In that case, why did Your Majesty choose Dashuai?" Tuoba Yan was puzzled.

"Of course, Your Majesty needs a weak marshal." Guo Xiancheng sighed and said: "Your Majesty's intentions, I basically understand it, Tuoba Yan, I am afraid that I will be the last commander of the whole army of Daqi, and in the future, there will be no more such position, well, just like the Ming people, the real command of the army will always be in the hands of their emperor." The rest of the people are all chess pieces. A military commander like Li Zhi and our prince Cao Yun with great power will definitely not appear again in the future. ”

"Dashuai, in that case, what do you have to worry about?" Tuoba Yan said with a smile: "Your Majesty has already made up your mind, then what you have to do is nothing more than to satisfy Your Majesty, do what Your Majesty wants, at least you can get out of the way, and the rest, what do you want to do so much?" That Zhou Jiyun, if you don't seek your position, it's okay, if he doesn't give up, I'm afraid that the disaster will come to the head, and I don't know it, such a person, what is there to worry about. ”

After listening to Tuoba Yan's words, Guo Xiancheng was stunned for a long time before he suddenly came to his senses and laughed loudly: "I'm really confused by the authorities, and I can't see it clearly as you as a barbarian, you are right, follow Your Majesty and help Your Majesty complete the collection of military command into Your Majesty's hands, as far as I am concerned, it can be regarded as completing the great trust placed on me by Your Majesty." Good boy, with vision. ”

"The handsome man praised it falsely, I just said it in passing." Tuoba Yan said with a wink.

"It's the words of the unintentional that can hit the target." Guo Xiancheng said with a smile: "I have written to the imperial court, asking you to be crowned as the chief general of Hengduan Mountain, I believe that Your Majesty will not refute my face, in the future, you will guard Hengduan Mountain for me." ”