The grassland is not as particular about what the king does not see the king as in the east, but as a commander, he should be brave and take the lead, a person who retreats behind everyone in everything cannot be the sweat on the grassland, and the person who can achieve the khan position must be brave or wise far beyond everyone, and it must be able to bring great prospects to the clansmen. The three of them are all in high positions in their own clan, and it is naturally their responsibility to come forward with this kind of reciprocal cooperation with others.

But there is also a problem here, once there is a situation that cannot be reversed, it is destined to be endless.

There was silence in the tent of Nuoda, and the three guards around were all silent, but they looked at each other, lest the three of them quarrel if they didn't say a word, and then after an order, they would wave knives at each other.

The three people in the tent actually understood in their hearts that the reason why the three parties could sit together was just for profit, and on a different occasion, there were more contradictions between them.

The Turkic forces represented by Mahmoud and Yusuf. There was a dispute between the Qarluqs of Qadir in the Amu Darya River, and although there was cooperation in dealing with the Buddhists (1) in the south, there was no less competition for the results of the war; Although there was a Gaochang Uighur force between the Qarluqs and the Dangxiang, there was no shortage of fighting - the caravans that departed from Tongwancheng (2) and crossed the Hanhai Kashgar to the river would be troubled by the Qarluqs every time, but when it came to dealing with the Qocho Uighurs, the two sides cooperated, and the power of the Qocho Uighurs had declined in recent years, and the two sides also had a lot of contact because of Buddhism in the south......

In fact, if it weren't for the greed of the Buddhists and the indiscriminate meddling of the monks in politics, I am afraid that most of the three schools would have only had contradictions, and there was little cooperation.

Comparatively speaking, it can be slightly better, that is, there are fewer contradictions between the Turks and the party people, and the Turks have begun to move west and south, the party

The Xiang people are still holding on to Hexi, and the two families have no land disputes with each other, and the biggest contradiction between them is only miscellaneous matters such as caravan stationing and tax security.

Fortunately, the three of them are all people who have the city in their hearts, and after a while, Mahmoud smiled at Li Deming and said in Chinese: "It is said that the younger brother knows a lot, Tuoba (3) brother, you and I have to have a relationship." ”

This is the genius of Mahmud, although he still ridiculed Li Deming for being a hairy boy in his resting tent, but when it comes to fundamental interests, he doesn't mind befriending a hairy boy, only the other party can bring him benefits. Of course, Li Deming's words to ridicule Yousuf also played a certain role, the strong will not be friends with the weak, unless it is mercy, if Li Deming is silent in the face of Yousuf's ignorance, he Mahmoud will definitely not have such a good word.

As soon as Mahmoud's words were spoken, before Li Deming could come back to his senses, Yusuf. Kadir couldn't bear it, the two families hooked up together, and left themselves, and things were in trouble, "Ha, it's a joke for Brother Mamud, it's me who can't bear it, and I hope Brother Tuoba doesn't think too much, no one knows that the Great Turks migrated from the north to the west, I just want to find out if Brother Mamud still wants to come back to see the ancestral land." As for the dispute between you and me, how about putting it on hold for the time being? ”

Li Deming is only twenty-four years old now, and before he took the position of the leader of the Dingyan Army, he only followed his father Li Jiqian to fight in the east and west, where did these two old foxes react quickly? scolded secretly in his heart, but Li Deming said with the same smile on his face: "This time is a rare time for the three of my families to sit and work together, and a little digression will inevitably hurt the harmony, so it is better to put this matter in the first place." ”

How could he not understand the confrontation between the two of them? It's just that I secretly hate that I just took over the power of my father, and the hearts of the people of the Dingyan Army have not been completely gathered, if they don't need a victory to boost morale, how can they cooperate with these two wolf ambitious guys? The men and horses that can make the current leader of the Turks and the leader of the Qarluqs who have just destroyed Khotan join forces to deal with it must not be comparable to ordinary tribes!

Li Deming secretly warned himself to be careful, not to catch the prey, but to be bitten by a wolf.

But his words started well, and at least the atmosphere in the tent was no longer as awkward as it had been before.

"Brother Tuoba is right, this matter is still important, as for the matter of worship, it is just a trivial matter, and the brothers will inevitably fight, and the affairs of the warriors will be solved by the warriors." Yusuf. Kadir Khan said with a smile on his face. He can't help but compromise, once the Turkic and party forces are combined, he only has less than 30,000 troops here, although he is an elite soldier, he can't fight the two sides, especially this young Tuoba, who said that he sent 40,000 people, I don't know if there is anything hidden in secret, but this can't be careless.

In fact, for him, the capture of the bald places in Khotan was already regarded as a merit of the Khan, and he really didn't care much about the attacks on Bukhara and Bishkek - it was the territory of those of the Western Ali clan (4), and if it weren't for the struggle for the position of the Great Khan in the future, he would not have appeared this time. Even so, he didn't bring many troops, only more than 20,000 people, compared to the other two, he was a soy sauce maker - of course, no one knew whether soy sauce was used in the Western Regions at this time.

Although it seems fake and hypocritical, no one present cares.

Including before Mahmoud arrived, Li Deming, who had a quarrel with Yusuf, didn't care, in fact, he was not used to all the teachings he believed, in his opinion, whether it was the bald head of the southern Tibetan Plateau or the black turban from the west, it was not a good thing, but he urgently needed to win people's hearts at the moment, and the remaining problems could only be put aside, as for appeasing his soldiers who had disputes with the Qarluqs, he still had no problem.

"I just heard that some of your fighters are missing?" Mahmoud is also too lazy to argue, such a battle of words has no result, but will ruin the current cooperation to stop the eastbound team, so to open up again is to change the topic.

"The subordinates reported that eight bodies had been found, that they were sent out to investigate the situation, and that there were more than 30 people who did not report it...... It seems that Brother Mamoud, you have also lost some probe horses on your side?" Yusuf. Kadir looked a little depressed, he didn't have many people with him, especially those who lacked knowledge of this area, and now he had lost dozens of people, and his two battalions that controlled the rivers and mountain roads on the periphery had begun to complain.

"Yesterday, I also lost a dozen men around my camp near the river, and it should be the outpost of the men." Mahmoud's losses were more than that, as his men reported that nearly 100 of them had gone out and never returned, even if there were wolves nearby.

"Mahmoud Emir, you always say that it is that team, that Luo Kaixian is really as terrible as you say? Where did he come from? Li Deming didn't get much information in his hand, all the news was either from the past merchants, or from the two in front of him, as for the people he sent out to explore, there were three or five teams of 100 people, but there was no reply so far.

"This Luo Kaixian, also known as Bartol, is said to have come back from the Romans, tall, archery and riding skills, and a good knife skill, and he has more than 100 death fighters who came out of the Roman Colosseum, all of whom are not afraid of bloodshed, you know? There is a city of highlanders in the south of the Magyar Sea called Rai, where Luo Kaixian is called Butcher Luo! "Mahmoud probably knows the most of the three people, and before the big war, no matter what, these things must be explained in detail.

"Bartol, Bartol, it seems to be the name of the grassland in the north, which means warrior......" pinching the beard on his chin, Li Deming muttered softly, and then asked, "Only more than a hundred?" Isn't it a reckless man who is invulnerable to all nine feet (4) tall? But it won't make His Excellency the Emir pay so much attention? ”

"Of course, if there are only more than 100 people, I will send a general with two thousand troops to solve it!" Mahmoud was not unhappy with Li Deming's question, in fact, he had the same question when he first received information from Herat. "Most of the people under this Luo Kaixian are from the west of the Magyar Sea, and those people are the descendants of the artisan battalion left in the river after the defeat of the Hexi army in the past year, Luo Kaixian recruited them in the west of the Mazar Sea and trained them to become warriors!"

"Shhh...... This Luo still knows how to train soldiers? Li Deming gasped, although the weather had begun to get hot, he felt cold in his heart, it would never be easy to make the guy in front of him pay so much attention to the Turkic king, "How many soldiers has he trained?" ”

"The last time I got specific information was in Herat, at that time he should have 2,000 cavalry under his command, and 30,000 miscellaneous soldiers who could only defend the city......" Speaking of this, Mahmoud was not afraid of any embarrassment, and said in one breath, "You know what? Not far outside of Herat, I lost 20,000 elite soldiers and 60,000 tribal soldiers! ”

"Two thousand cavalry plus thirty thousand miscellaneous soldiers...... Emir, you ......" Li Deming felt a little incredulous.

"There are no 30,000 miscellaneous soldiers, just 2,000 cavalry, only 2,000, understand? Two thousand men defeated me eighty thousand, and I lost Abdul . Massoud's life! Speaking of this humiliating matter, Mahmoud still has a lot of anger, and his voice inevitably rises.

Of course, he could hide it, but this time he was on the battlefield, once the situation was unclear, defeat was a trivial matter, and he didn't want to throw his life away in this dry north.

"Only two thousand?! My grandpa! Li Deming had never heard of such a disparity in numbers, even in the military history he knew.

Yusuf didn't talk much on the side. Kadir Khan spoke, "There should be more than two thousand people now, and the news more than half a month ago was that in Bishkek, my brother fought with Luo Kaixian there, and at least 40,000 people died, and it is said that the river over there was dyed red......"

The tent fell silent again, but it was different from the previous depression, but it was full of dreary at this time, and the three of them were thinking, how should this battle be fought?

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(1) Buddhism, Buddhism in this era is different from the present world, since the middle of the Tang Dynasty Wu Zhou worshiped Buddhism, the power of Buddhism in the East has not stopped, sectarian disputes, intra-religious disputes everywhere. In the land of Central Asia, including Western Xinjiang, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism, Green Religion, and Nestorianism existed at the same time, and everything from believers to interests was not inferior to the struggle between Green Religion and Christianity on the Mediterranean coast of West Asia.

(2) Tongwan City, located in the north of Jingbian County in northern Shaanxi today, is the capital of the Western Xia in the Northern Song Dynasty in the same period, the earliest by the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the Southern Xiongnu nobleman Helian Bobo ordered people to build, the late Tang Dynasty Dingyan Army Party members entrenched here, according to the capital.

(3) Tuoba, Li Deming's party surname should be the surname Tuoba, so when introducing himself to other ethnic groups, of course, he will inevitably move his ancestral surname out.

(4) Nine feet high, here Li Deming said that the Oriental weights and measures standard, the party is from Xianbei, the culture and inheritance are deeply influenced by the Han people, and it is logical to use the weights and measures of the Han people to say things. The Han ruler is about 0.231 meters, and the nine feet are 2.08 meters.

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P.S.: Thanks to the book friends "si5008" and "kgb136" for their tips!

What was the leader of a steppe tribe like a thousand years ago? Today we can only rely on speculation, Mahmoud followed his father as a courtier of the Samanid dynasty, and although he was born as a slave, he should not lack education. Kadir also received an orthodox green school education, Li Jiqian, the father of the party member Li Deming, is the leader of the Dingyan army, and the Li family is a big family in Xiazhou, although there is no party member, there is also no lack of education, so the definition of dialogue is not rude.