Three days later, Cheng Zhijie appeased Dongfang Yumei and the generals; Bidding farewell to everyone, leading the elite of 3,000 wind word masters, one person and three horses quietly left Liaodong and entered the prairie. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

Not long after they left, Li Jing and others also went out of the valley with great fanfare and launched a counterattack on the grassland. It has been a long time for them to make an attack posture in Liaodong, and their actions have long been clearly detected by Jieli's spies. As soon as the army of Li Jing and the others set off, the information was quickly delivered to Jieli's hands.

The Central Plains Rebellion was simply unable to take care of the frontiers, and Li Yuan's troops were in full swing with the Sui army, and they had no time to look westward, so that Jieli's troops did not encounter the slightest resistance wherever they went, and plundered a large amount of money, grain, and slaves.

Jieli is trying to take advantage of this opportunity to go to Guanzhong to grab it, where it is said that the land is fertile, the country is rich and the people are rich; It's not comparable to the frontiers.

But at this moment, a large army from Liaodong suddenly set out from the upper valley and entered the prairie, which made him very annoyed; His nephew, Tuli Khan, also ran over in a hurry and asked his uncle for help. Therefore, Jieli decided to let his general Simo lead 100,000 troops to loot Guanzhong; He personally led an army of 200,000 to exterminate the bold Han people.

Shi Danai led Cheng Yanjin and others into the prairie, bypassing those big Turkic tribes along the way, and if they couldn't bypass, they were all uprooted, and went straight to Yudu Mountain.

At night, the army only set up simple tents, and did not even dare to light fires; Cheng Zhijie and the soldiers all nibled on cold steamed buns and meatloaf; Drink the cold water in the kettle that is almost about to freeze.

Shi Danai leaned to Cheng Zhijie's side and said, "Demon King, in front of you are the two relatively large Turkic tribes of Xi and Xi; 霫 means rain in Turkic languages, and Xi means grains of sand. The two tribes are now almost one; Their tribal leaders, Hanzhu and Ju, are still cousins.

Although these two tribes were subservient to the Turks, they were one of the nine major catties under the Jieli account; However, they and the Turks are not of the same mind. I have been in contact with them, and they are very yearning for the Central Plains culture, and they have always wanted to be close to the Central Plains.

We can make contact with them and replenish supplies by the way, even if we go deep into the desert after this station, we will no longer be able to get supplies. ”

Cheng Zhijie nodded and asked him to go and contact; Shi Danai agreed, and ran out alone. After about half a day, Shi Danai Pegasus ran back and told Cheng Zhijie that he had communicated with the leaders of the two tribes and could go to their tribes to repair.

Cheng Zhijie let out a sigh of relief, greeted him, and three thousand people got on their horses one after another, and then went straight to the Xi and Xi tribes. As soon as they arrived at the gate of the tribe, the leader of the Fei tribe, Jidu, and the leader of the Xi tribe, Hanzhu, were already waiting at the door.

Shi Danai hurriedly flew off the horse and came to the two of them and bowed down to salute, and the two also bowed their chests with one hand and bent down to return the salute. Then they exchanged in Turkic language for a while, and Shi Danai came back and said to Cheng Zhijie: "The Demon King, the cousin of Hanzhu and Jidu, is also the eldest of the two tribes; He asked our men and horses to be stationed in the tribe, and only a few people were allowed to enter the tribe. ”

Cheng Zhijie nodded and said, "Okay, this is human nature, I can understand it." So be it! Let Shi Heiyun and Shi Wufeng lead the troops to camp outside, and let's add Liang Shitai and Hua Rong into the camp. In addition, you tell him that we want to exchange some Central Plains specialties for living supplies with him; Please allow him. ”

"Yes!" Shi Danai agreed and turned away, Cheng Zhijie called Liang Shitai and Hua Rong over, and asked the two to prepare to enter the camp with him; Liang Shitai resignedly said: "Demon King, I, I'm still guarding the camp outside!" ”

Cheng Zhijie was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, "It's okay, you can go!" Liang Shitai hurriedly ran back to the camp. As soon as he ran back, he took off his armor, let out a long breath, and said to a thin soldier beside him: "Luo Lian, I was almost caught by the boss this time, thanks to my clever fabrication of a lie to deceive the past; Hurry up and pack up the camp. ”

The pro-soldier next to him was the disguised Luo Lian, and he pouted slightly: "Uncle Liang, can you deceive the boss?" Maybe he's out there? Liang Shitai was shocked and exclaimed, "Really? Let me see. As he spoke, he walked out of the camp quickly, and as soon as he lifted the curtain, he saw Cheng Zhijie looking at him with a dark face.

"Ahh Liang Shitai exclaimed, speechless; Luo Lian didn't know what was going on, so he hurriedly asked, "Uncle Liang, what's wrong?" As he spoke, he rushed over and saw Da Lao Cheng at the door.

"Cheng, Uncle Cheng!" Luo Lian was also taken aback, and he spoke hesitantly. Liang Shitai hugged his fists and said: "Demon King, Luo Lian wants to follow to make contributions; But I'm afraid you won't agree. I gave him this idea; All this is my fault, please punish me and remove me from office; Just spare Luo Lian! ”

Lao Cheng was furious when he heard this, and kicked Liang Shitai to the ground and scolded: "Bastard! What did I put you in charge of? It's because I value your ability and let you help me make a contribution, not for you to exchange it with me to atone for my sins! ”

Liang Shitai didn't dare to resist, and begged for mercy again and again, Luo Jian ran over and knelt down and said: "Uncle Cheng, it's just my attention, please don't blame Uncle Liang anymore, if you want to beat me!" ”

Cheng Yanjin sighed and said, "You two, this is the second time!" There are two more and more, and there can be no three and four; I don't want you to show up for a third time. If you really let me know that I disobeyed the military order for the third time, I would just take off this clothes and go home, you know? ”

"Yes! We remembered! The two agreed, but did not dare to speak back; Cheng Zhijie said to Luo Zhuo: "Does your father know about your sneaking away?" ”

Luo Lian pursed his lips and said, "Since it's sneaking away, of course I can't let him know." He hurriedly said, "I guess I know it now; I have already left him a letter on the bookcase. ”

Cheng Zhinode nodded and said, "Get up!" Hurry up and pack up and follow me inside. When the two of them heard this, they were overjoyed, and hurriedly agreed, took horses and blades, and followed Cheng Zhijie into the Xi and Xi tribes.

The scene they saw was completely inconsistent with the status of the nine great catties of the Xi and Xi tribes. The tribesmen were in rags, their tents were in tatters, and many of the warriors had damaged their leather armor and their blades were breached. The bows on their backs were broken and reconnected.

"There is a famine in Liaodong?" Cheng Zhijie's heart was full of surprise. The further you go inside, the stronger this surprise becomes, it seems that there is really something wrong with the Xi and Xi tribes, and the ruin of the tribe is not a little, but the whole thing; It was only in the heartland of the tribe that the situation improved in the places where the chiefs lived.

"Welcome!" Hanzhu and Ji both bowed their chests with their right hands and bent down to salute; Cheng Zhijie and others also hurriedly returned the gift. Then everyone entered and the guests and hosts of the big tent were seated, and Shi Danai gave introductions respectively.

Hanzhu asked them why so many people and horses entered the grassland; Cheng Zhijie prevaricated in the name of being ordered to send an envoy to the Western Regions. Hanzhu is not stupid, just smiling and silent.

Cheng Zhijie asked with a smile: "Da Qijin, I think the situation in the tribe is a little bad!" This year, the east wind and rain are smooth, the crops are abundant, and the water and grass are abundant. ”

Hanzhu sighed secretly and said: "Don't hide it from your guests, this year's harvest is very good; But it can't stop Jieli from doubling the exploitation. To tell you the truth, this year, a capable person named Tong Yehu suddenly appeared in the Western Turks.

Tongye Hu Khan was wise and brave, good at commanding operations, leading hundreds of thousands of people to control the strings, merging Tiele in the north, rejecting Persia in the west, and connecting Zobin in the south, dominating the Western Regions.

Moved to the palace in the north of Shiguo, Qianquan, and he awarded the king of the Western Regions the title of "Jie Lifa", which is equivalent to our catties; Each country was given a Tutun person to supervise and collect tribute.

They fought against Jieli Khan continuously, and suffered countless casualties, but no one could help anyone. Jieli Khan used this as a name to levy harsh taxes, coupled with years of disasters and famines, and heavy taxes, which made the internal contradictions of the Eastern Turks gradually sharpened, and the people were struggling to make a living.

In addition, Jieli Khan trusted the Han Zhao Deyan and listened to his advice to strengthen the Khan's power, and the laws and regulations were strict, so that the Turkic tribes could not adapt, and there were quite a few complaints. Not only that, Jieli also trusted the Hu people in the Western Regions, was suspicious of the Turkic people, and betrayed everyone with his own morality.

Those Hu people from the Western Regions came to us to do business, and they exchanged our possessions for a large number of rare things to contribute to Jieli and win his favor; But Jieli didn't care about the life and death of his clansmen at all. Isn't this self-destruction? ”

Cheng Zhijie silently listened to Hanzhu's complaints, and heard a lot of information from them, there is still an enemy behind the first Jieli, and the strength of the battle is not inferior to him at all.

Second, the Eastern Turks are also in crisis, and the various ministries are not of the same mind at all. It's like Hanzhu has already begun to call Jieli's name, without any respect in his mouth.

Third, the Turks also had continuous natural disasters within the Turks, which made the people miserable, and the situation was not necessarily much better than that of the Sui Dynasty.

Hearing this, Zhijie smiled secretly, and he already had a plan in his heart. He smiled and said: "Hanzhu Qijin, we want a foundation in Liaodong, some of them are the grain and grass that everyone lacks, and your horses and livestock are also what we lack the most." We want to exchange grain and grass and pearls for horses, not just whether you want to.

Of course, we also have wine, ceramics and silk from the Central Plains, and we have what others have; We can also get old wine like Du Kang that others don't have. More than just do you want to? ”

Hanzhu's eyes flashed and said: "I heard that Liaodong was occupied by a mysterious Sui army, and these people have something to do with Luo Yi, the king of Beiping. They hunted bandits and reclaimed wasteland in Liaodong, and this year they had a good harvest.

It is said that many of the Tat, Murowei, Khitan and small tribes tried to get his attention, but they were shot into hedgehogs by the feathered arrows in the sky; Then the head was hung on the flagpole, could it be that you did it? ”