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"The nomads took us to their master, a bearded man in his forties, who said that he was the great prince of the kingdom of Qiuzi, and that he was taking refuge here, and begged us for help. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info" Gou Ji recalled softly.

At this time, the black-clothed guard took a long iron box, pulled out a few pieces of charcoal from the campfire, and put them in. Qin Wei took a large plate of marinated beef and mutton inserted in an iron skewer and grilled it on the iron box.

Seeing the curiosity on the faces of the three of them, Qin Lei smiled and asked, "Haven't you seen this kind of food in the Western Regions?" ”

Yu Qian, who had not spoken much, suddenly said: "'Kawafu', the prince is in 'Kawafu'." The other two also suddenly said: "Kawafu! ”

Qin Lei laughed and said, "Lone can't understand the Western Regions dialect you learned. ”

"'Kawafu' is the local name for this type of lamb skewer, but they are grilled in a naan pit. ”

Qin Lei smiled: "Adapt to local conditions, I wonder if you have brought back some local spices commonly used?" ”

Shen Qing said with a smile: "It's full of carts, there are benzoin fennel, and some spices that are only available further west." As he spoke, he took out a small leather bag from his arms and presented it to Qin Lei: "This is benzoin fennel, which is used by local nobles when they barbecue meat." ”

Qin Lei took it with a smile, but just opened the strap of the mouth, and he smelled a familiar fragrance, "Cumin? He couldn't help blurting out, and quickly tore open the bag to take a look, and sure enough, it was a gray-green slender cumin, Qin Lei couldn't help laughing and said: "Mutton skewers, mutton skewers, mutton skewers in Xinjiang......" The three of them saw that their gifts were very much in line with the prince's wishes, and they were naturally very happy.

Qin Lei laughed for a while, and said loudly: "The next time King Lonely goes back to the kitchen, I will bake a lamb skewer for you to eat." Qin Wei, who was busy on the side, hurriedly got up and gave up his seat to Qin Lei.

Shen Qing and the three of them looked at each other and smiled, and they all sat down around Qin Lei, enjoying this rare honor, and even Huangfu Zhanwen, who had always been quite self-controlled, also came up. They all knew that if it weren't for the fact that the prince was in a good mood and was very quiet, it would be impossible to endure this smoke and fire.

I saw Qin Lei flipping the iron skewer in one hand and gently fanning the charcoal fire with a pu fan in the other, and his movements were extremely skillful. While barbecuing, Qin Lei also shook his head and sighed: "Actually, it should be made of wooden skewers cut from thin strips of red willow, and the taste of iron tongs is always a little unauthentic." He said to Shen Qing: "Tell those merchants in the Western Regions that when you come back next time, bring some red willow wood to Lone." ”

Shen Qing hurriedly responded. Gou Ji joked: "The prince seems to have a lot of experience with this 'Kawafu'." ”

Qin Lei took the refined salt jar handed over by Yu Qian, gently sprinkled it on the meat skewers, and replied with a smile: "In the past, when I camped in the wild, in addition to field rations, I liked all kinds of barbecue the most, so I ate more, so I naturally studied it. As he spoke, he sighed: "The most authentic mutton skewers should be made of the big tail sheep meat over there in Kuqa, the sheep tail oil and the cumin of the Yanqi Basin, which is what we call benzoin fennel, and it is a golden butter bright and fragrant when baked." Listen to the few people on the side and swallow their saliva.

At this time, Qin Wei also ground the cumin with a small grinder, Qin Lei took it, put it on the meat skewer in a chic manner, and said to Gou Ji with a smile: "You go on." ”

Gou Ji patted his brain, and said embarrassedly: "Just thinking about eating meat skewers, I forgot where I said." ”

"Bai Xiaojie asked us to help." Yu Qian reminded softly.

Gou Ji smiled: "Oh yes, the name of the eldest prince of Qiuzi is 'Bai Xiaojie', the queen mother is early, and his father married a younger one, which is said to be beautiful, and even the old king is pleased." Later, the stepmother of Bai Xiaojie gave birth to a little prince, and under the love house and Wuxia, the old king moved the heart of abolishing the establishment and wanted to set up the little prince as the prince. But the eldest prince is already quite powerful, and the old king is afraid of changes in the country, so he has been undecided. ”

Bai Xiaojie was afraid that his son would cause harm, so he took a cadre of his subordinates to the west to graze. Not long after, the old king died, and the queen hooked up with the prime minister and put the little prince on the throne. ”

Gou Ji smiled: "Bai Xiaojie is not reconciled, so he wants to use our strength to regain the throne." At that time, we thought to ourselves: 'Just a few of us, can we still help others usurp power?' But I don't want this turtle to have a total of 5,000 soldiers in the country, and they are all native chickens and dogs. Lord Shen and a few of us summed it up, and if this thing is completed, the task assigned by the prince will be scored. ”

The mutton skewers in Qin Lei's hands had become charred and buttery, and the roasted mutton fat was dripping on the charcoal, making a crackling sound, and the tempting aroma made a few guys around him start to lose their minds.

Qin Lei put the grilled meat skewers on the side of the plate, picked up one first, and said with a smile: "Eat it." With the permission of the prince, a few greedy guys shot out like lightning, and one person grabbed a few, and in the blink of an eye, the plate was empty.

A few people bit off a piece of meat from the skewer and tasted it, only to feel that it was spicy**, the meat was tender and delicious, and it was not greasy, and then drank a sip of hot mare's milk wine, and all the 36,000 sweat pores on the body were uncomfortable. I couldn't help nodding my head again and again, and I gulped for food.

Qin Lei gave the job to Qin Wei, gave him a few words of advice, and then returned to the bonfire with everyone to drink. With a few plates of refreshing side dishes, a few people drank wine and ate meat.

When the wine was hot, Gou Ji continued: "Lord Shen signed a deed with the eldest prince, and after he was reinstated, the Qiuzi army would provide protection for the passing caravans, and the tariff amount collected would be determined by our county palace, and he would never regret it for the rest of his life." ”

Qin Lei listened, glanced at Shen Qing approvingly, and said to Huangfu Zhanwen, who was listening with a smile: "Shen Qing's condition is beautiful, which not only opens up the business road for us, but also lays the groundwork for secretly controlling Qiuzi in the future. Most importantly, it also makes people grateful to Dade. ”

Huangfu Zhanwen smiled and said: "The grass snake gray line, slow turn, Lord Shen has the style of a general." ”

Shen Qing arched his hand and said modestly: "My lord praised it falsely. The prince often taught us to think about problems in the long term and do things that are in line with long-term interests, not how capable we are in our humble positions. ”

Huangfu Zhanwen saw that he was well-behaved, introverted, neither humble nor arrogant, not arrogant or impatient. Xin said: 'This person has grown much better than when he was in the Beishan Ranch, and at that time he was just blindly silent, and he had a taste of clumsiness. I couldn't help but secretly raise the evaluation of Shen Qing in my heart to a higher level.

After this episode, Gou Ji continued: "At the end of May, we followed Bai Xiaojie, taking advantage of the enthronement of their new monarch and the celebration of the whole country, to attack Anxi, the capital of Qiuzi, and capture the prime minister, the queen and the little king together. Bai Xiaojie also ascended the throne on that day and became the new king of Qiuzi. He sighed and said: "It's such a small country, in the next month, in the capital alone, there are more than 7,000 noble relatives who have been killed, and the square in front of the palace has turned red after the blood and pestle, and it can't be brushed off." ”

Listening to Gou Ji's description, Qin Lei felt a tremor for no reason, and said coldly in his heart: "How many seven thousand people will die under my sword in the future?" Suddenly, his back was warm, and when he looked back, it was Shen Qing who thought that the prince was blown by the cold wind, and draped a big piece on his shoulders.

Qin Lei smiled at Shen Qing, didn't explain the reason for his trembling, and asked Gou Ji, "You didn't meddle in arresting people, did you?" ”

Gou Ji said respectfully: "That Bai Xiaojie did ask a few times, but Lord Shen said: 'We help your country to quell the rebellion, that is to uphold justice, so naturally we will not give up.'" But now that the lord of the country has taken power, it is inconvenient for us to interfere in the internal affairs of the country, lest the people of your country become resentful. When King Qiuzi saw that we were resolute, he took matters into his own hands. ”

Qin Lei smiled: "Fortunately, you are shrewd, and you have not been used as a gun by others and then played as a monkey." ”

Huangfu Zhanwen also said in a deep voice: "Then what 'Miss Bai' has a bad intention, and wants to hand over this resentful thing to us to do, and he himself is good at pretending to be a good person." On the one hand, let the people of Qiuzi hate us, so that we cannot take root there, so as not to threaten his throne; On the other hand, he also took the opportunity to get the attachment of those frightened nobles to make his throne stable. ”

Gou Ji smiled and arched his hand: "General Yingming, you and Lord Shen are almost exactly the same. ”

Huangfu Zhanwen turned to Qin Lei, and said with a slightly gloomy face: "This kind of ungrateful person is used to being two-faced and three-faced, and he is not a good companion at all, and when he has his hands free in a few years, he will lead Lord Shen's line and remove him from the throne." ”

Shen Qing also nodded, and arched his hand: "My subordinates seconded it." ”

Qin Lei said with a smile: "This matter is not in a hurry, Shen Bing has a charter in his heart, and he is slowly arranging it, and when the time is right in the future, whether it is plowing the court and sweeping the holes, or the spring breeze and rain, it must be decided in one fell swoop." ”

Shen Qing bowed his hand. Qin Lei asked Gou Ji again: "How is the customs of this turtle country?" ”

Qin Lei's subordinates have a good habit of surveying the local customs, climate and geography whenever they go to a place, and of course, drawing maps is also an indispensable process. I saw Gou Ji take out a hand-drawn map of the Western Regions from the cowhide bag on his waist, pointed to the place marked with the word Qiuci on it, and explained in a clear voice: "Qiuzi country, one hundred and seventy miles south of Dubai Mountain, nine hundred miles to Yanqi in the east, four hundred miles to Khotan in the south, five hundred miles to Shule in the west, and six miles to the capital. Thousands of victors. The land of Qiuzi produces a lot of rice, millet, soybean, wheat, copper, iron, lead, raocha, cymbal, salt, orpiment, hu powder, benzoin, good horses, and sealed cattle. After thinking about it, he added: "This country believes in Buddhism and practices it as its state religion. ”

Qin Lei looked at the drawings marked with dense place names, nodded with satisfaction, and said with a smile: "I have a heart." Saying that, he smiled at Huangfu Zhanwen and said: "The spices produced in this country are more expensive than gold in the Central Plains, as long as we guard this trade route, why worry about not having the money to form a second division?" ”

Huangfu Zhanwen also twisted his beard and praised: "The prince is far-sighted, and his subordinates admire him." Saying that, he sighed: "When my subordinates heard Gou Ji say, they were also fascinated by this Western Regions. When the world is calm, I beg the prince to let my subordinates take off their uniforms and go west to take a look. ”

Qin Lei laughed and said: "Farther west, farther south, farther north, farther east, will be the birthplace of our Chinese descendants." General Huangfu should walk around in military uniform. Huangfu Zhanwen's heart moved, and he said yes with a serious face.

Qin Lei smiled again and said to Shen Qing: "You have done something like Zhang Qian and Ban Chao, not to mention anything else, it is certain that you will leave a name in history." The three of them laughed to themselves.

Qin Lei saluted the three of them with a bowl, which allowed Gou Ji to continue to tell about their trip to the Western Regions: "We stayed in Qiuci for more than ten days, and when we saw that the king of Qiuci had mastered the situation, we refused to stay, left Qiuci, and continued to look for Shule Kingdom to the west. ”

"When many of the merchants heard that we were going west, they brought their goods with them, hoping to go with us. With the guides and retinues of the Qiuzi people, we have finally learned how to deal with the Great Gobi, and there is very little non-combat attrition. Saying that, he frowned slightly and said: "But on the thousand-mile journey from Qiuzi to Shule, from time to time you will encounter robberies by the local Hu people, although they are all small fights, but along the way, there are still a hundred and ten brothers folded on the Gobi." ”

Shen Qing added softly: "Those Hu sand thieves ride camels, hold scimitars, are extremely familiar with the desert, and often take advantage of nights, sandstorms, and even mirages to sneak attack, which is unguardable, and the merchants of the Western Regions cannot communicate. Without addressing these people, the Silk Roads would not be able to function. ”

Qin Lei nodded and said with a smile: "The more difficult things in this world are, the more benefits there are behind them. Let's see how the Lone King subdues these sand thieves. ”

The four of them were surprised: "Does the prince have to go west?" ”

Qin Lei laughed and said: "The things in the middle capital city have made Gu a mess. How can there be leisure and leisure to travel west. Saying that, he took a sip of mare's milk wine, and said leisurely: "This is called strategizing in what, winning thousands of miles away." ”

A few people were about to ask, but seeing that Qin Lei was just smiling and silent, they had no choice but to give up.

Gou Ji saw that everyone looked at him again, so he continued: "I stumbled along the way, and finally in August, I arrived in Shule Kingdom, where the king was very enthusiastic about us, called 'angel' and asked us if we were the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. ”

Huangfu Zhanwen smiled: "It's quite a bit of a paradise." ”

Gou Ji shook his head and said: "The world is good, but Taoyuan is far behind." The Shule country lacked products, the people's livelihood withered, and even the great nobles had no luxury. He said with a smile: "It is because they are the whole country that welcomes our arrival." The king said that according to historical records, the most prosperous years of their country were all accompanied by the smooth passage of the Silk Road. Their desire to reopen trade routes is much greater than ours. ”

Shen Qing nodded and said softly: "King Shule sent people around to spread the word that the Eastern Angel has descended again, I believe that when I go back, the Tianzhu merchants in the south and the big food merchants in the west will receive the message and feel that Shule is gone." He also contacted the state of Khotan, from where a large amount of jade came in, and sent a prince to pay tribute. The subordinates didn't know the prince's statutes, so they left them behind and reported them first. ”

Qin Lei was dumbfounded at this moment, and said depressedly: "Which door to offer?" If they go to Zhongdu, those old bastards won't be red-eyed? When the time comes, I won't even be able to drink the soup. ”

Huangfu Zhanwen reminded in a low voice: "But it is easy to give someone a handle when you meet with a foreign envoy privately." ”

Qin Lei glared and said, "What is outside?" Shule Qiuzi and the like have been my territory in China since the Han Dynasty, and they can only be regarded as border people of our country. ”

Huangfu Zhanwen smiled bitterly: "You want to explain it like this, but it is not completely unreasonable. ”

Qin Lei smiled and said: "It's so decided, I have already found someone to take care of this matter, and this Prince Laoshzi Qiuzi will be met by him." Said to the four people: "The domestic disputes in Daqin today are the main contradictions; Only when we solve this problem can we talk about reunification; After reunification, east, west, north and south are the frontiers where we gallop. These three steps must be taken in order, otherwise you will fall on your heels. ”

Shen Qing asked softly, "What is the prince's attitude towards the Western Regions at this stage?" ”

"Money! Wealth! The capital that supports our rapid growth and ends the infighting in Daqin and Huaxia! Qin Lei said firmly.

Qin Lei stayed here that night, and on the second day, he took Huangfu Zhanwen, Shen Qing and others back to the Jingshan camp. He didn't see that Prince Nashule was trying to avoid suspicion on the one hand, and on the other hand, he was really lacking in skills - there were more important things waiting for him in the Jingshan camp.

When Qin Ji began to get used to marching day after day, finally one day, Shi Yong told them to arrive at the Jingshan camp at dusk the next day.

At this time, a team from the south was already a day's journey away from the Jingshan camp.