Dunhuang is located in the west of Liangzhou. Located on the Silk Road, the main transportation route to the Western Regions, Central Asia and even Europe, it once had a thriving trade activity. Here, there are the old places such as Yumen Pass and Yangguan on the border of the Great Wall of the Han Dynasty.

From the Great Chu State of the previous dynasty to the current Great Yan Empire, this Dunhuang has always been ruled by the Central Plains Dynasty, and is used as a commercial front station for Liangzhou to the Western Regions and the West. At the same time, it is also the center of gravity of Liangzhou in the west.

In the western region of Liangzhou, in addition to the Han people, there are also Turkic people, Tuguhun people, Dangxiang people, Tubo people and other ethnic groups other than the Han people. Even, here, you can see a lot of people from the Western Regions.

In the past, it was an important place of commerce and trade, and it was an important place for Dayan merchants to trade with merchants from the Western Regions. However, there are now fewer caravans coming and going.

Around Dunhuang, thieves are numerous, and horse bandits are everywhere. Caravans come and go, it is simply difficult to survive. More importantly, the countries of the Western Regions also began to take advantage of the weakness of Liangzhou, and under the teasation of some people, they began to invade the western part of Liangzhou. Among them, in the western part of Dunhuang, Shanshan and Weiwei were occupied by the people of the Western Regions, established local political power, and established self-reliance.

Although these two places were also under the jurisdiction of the people of the Western Regions in the past, in the middle of the Great Yan, they were captured by the Great Yan, established the prefecture and county, and became the governing land of the Great Yan. But now, it's lost again. Seeing that Liangzhou did not have any countermeasures, the rest of the Western Regions countries began to gradually abandon their fear of Dayan and invade the land of Dayan.

At the beginning of June, the army of Liangzhou fought a great battle with the army of Gaochang and other countries in the land of Yiwu. In the end, the allied forces of the Western Regions were defeated and retreated, and the Liangzhou army also paid seven or eight thousand casualties. It is also because of this that the countries of the Western Regions have reined in a little.

Nowadays, the garrison in Dunhuang is Xu Ye, the general of the Left Guard under the command of the Governor of Liangzhou. Speaking of which, Xu Ye's prestige in Liangzhou is still quite prosperous. In the past, the Liangzhou government army rebelled, and Xu Ye led the army to fight and broke it. It is also because of this that he was named Pingliang Hou by Emperor Xuanwu.

However, Xu Ye himself knows that he, the general of the left guard of Liangzhou, is superficial, but he is actually very sad. Although he commanded the armies of the three western provinces of Liangzhou, the soldiers and horses in his hands added up to just over 10,000. Moreover, this is all the township Yong he pulled up by himself.

In the three western prefectures of Liangzhou, except for Jiuquan, there are almost no Liangzhou officials in charge of the remaining two prefectures. In other words, now, Xu Ye holds the power of the Three Mansions. It stands to reason that many people will be satisfied with such a result. However, combined with the situation in the three western provinces, anyone sitting in this position will not have any good mood.

In the land of the three prefectures, the people's livelihood is withering, the local is strong, and the fort is self-protecting. Local government decrees are difficult to get out of the governing office. Local governments and counties may not be able to govern the affairs of the prefectures and counties.

What gave Xu Ye a headache was not the lack of troops, at the beginning, Xu Ye still asked Situ Fei, the governor of Liangzhou, for help on the grounds that it was insufficient troops and it was difficult to defend the place, and Situ Fei allowed Xu Ye to recruit himself. In this way, the number of troops is not the problem, but the problem is the money and food needed to recruit soldiers and raise them.

At the beginning, Situ Fei had an order, Xu Ye was the most warlike person in Liangzhou, and he was in the erosive land of western Liangzhou. Therefore, Xu Ye was allowed to recruit troops on his own, and the money and food he needed, and the land of the three mansions should be taken by himself. In other words, Situ Fei gave Xu Ye all the money and food of the three mansions, and let him ask for it to support the army guarding the place. However, Xu Ye also had to take on the major affairs of the military formation in the western part of Liangzhou, and he must not allow foreign enemies to invade.

On the surface, Xu Ye is equivalent to a governor with autonomy, similar to a prince, and the military array is grasped. However, in the land of the three prefectures, the government affairs of Jiuquan were controlled by officials sent by Liangzhou, and could not be used by Xu Ye. Of course, Xu Ye has no intention of government affairs. The problem is that in the land of the three prefectures, only Jiuquan is relatively stable and can produce money and grain. As for the other two prefectures, it is already good not to let the government help the localities.

However, the officials in the land of Jiuquan often used various excuses to shirk the money and food that Xu Ye needed, so although Xu Ye recruited another 20,000 young men in the land of Sanfu, he was unable to make them soldiers. Even, it is difficult to equip even the most basic armor equipment. That being the case, how to guard the place? This gave Xu Ye a headache. In fact, don't say that there is no Jiuquan, even if there is a Jiuquan mansion, it is difficult for Xu Ye to continue to sit in the western part of Liangzhou.

Xu Ye knows very well that if he wants to make the western part of Liangzhou stable, it will not work without the support of the entire Liangzhou. If you add the countries of the Western Regions, I am afraid that you will need the support of the entire Yongjun force to retreat from the enemy.

Seeing that horse thieves were everywhere under his rule, and it was difficult for the people to survive, Xu Ye also began to hate Situ Fei. If it weren't for Situ Fei deliberately making things difficult for himself, why would this be so?

It is also because of this that after Zhao Jun's people came again, Xu Ye went directly to the other party to the topic. Regarding the words of the other party to persuade himself, Xu Ye did not look back directly. Instead, he asked the other party how to deal with this western issue.

It was Wei Zilin who came to persuade Xu Jun this time, and Wei Zilin came here in person in order to succeed in one fell swoop and completely make Xu Ye surrender to Zhao Jun.

"General Xu is really a benevolent person who treats the people well and cares about the local people's livelihood." Wei Zilin's face was straight, and he praised sincerely. Then he asked rhetorically, "General Xu, how does the disaster in these three prefectures compare with the northern land of the former annexation of the state?" How do these Western Regions countries compare with the Turkic tribes? ”

Xu Ye Zhengse said: "The land of these three prefectures is just full of horse bandits, strong places, and many dock forts, how can it be compared with the northern land of the state that has been invaded by the Turkic army on the outside and the princes fighting each other on the inside." As for the countries of the Western Regions, they are far inferior to the Turkic tribes. In fact, in the north of the Western Regions, there are also a large number of Turkic tribes, but they are not as strong as the Turkic tribes in the north of the state and Xiazhou. ”

"Good!" Wei Zilin said with a smile, "Since General Xu is very familiar with the situation in the land of Bingzhou and Xiazhou, then Wei will not elaborate on it. The strength of this Turkic army far surpassed that of the local horse thieves, and also far surpassed the countries of the Western Regions. Since my lord can give up fighting for hegemony with the princes of the Central Plains for the sake of the people of the land of annexed states, doesn't this explain the problem? Wei came here this time to solve the hidden dangers in the western part of Liangzhou. ”

Xu Ye said in a deep voice: "So, King Zhao is ready to march to Liangzhou?" But now that the Zhao army is suppressing the Turkic tribes, can you immediately send an army here? It's not that I underestimate the strength of the Zhao army, but after all, Liangzhou is too far away from the Zhao army, especially in this western region, if you want to completely stabilize here, you need to immediately dispatch troops to subdue these horse thieves and local heroes by force. In addition, there are the poor people who have settled in the three western provinces. This requires huge logistical support, food and grass materials, and the amount required is not small. Not to mention the amount required, it is necessary to transport these to this place, but I am afraid that it will not be easy. ”

Wei Zilin laughed and said, "General Xu really underestimated my Zhao Jun and my lord!" At the beginning, the people in the north of the state also lived in dire straits, and they were even inferior to the people here. As a result, not only did they defeat the Northern Army, but they also drove out the Turkic Army completely. In addition, hundreds of thousands of Han Chinese have been rescued from various tribes in the Turkic steppes on many occasions. Aren't these all things appeased by my Lord? Is there less food and grass needed? There are many people in the three prefectures in the west of Liangzhou, and there are many people in the north of Liangzhou? ”

As he spoke, Wei Zilin's face suddenly turned cold, "Besides, in this western three prefectures, there are not a few people who have a lot of grain." Even if it is inconvenient for me to transport and it is difficult to transport it for a while, as long as my Great Zhao army arrives and General Xu returns to my lord, the grain in these places is not at our disposal? Could it be that General Xu still has a heart for the source of cholera in these places? ”

Of course, Xu Ye understood what Wei Zilin knew, that is, the powerful clans in the three western provinces, the alien power groups, and in addition, there were some large groups of horse bandits. No matter when, even if the people starve to death, these powerful people will not be short of food.

Xu Ye frowned and said, "I believe that Zhao Jun can do this, and I also believe that King Zhao has the ability to seek benefits for the people here." However, the place where Xu is a town is located in the western part of Liangzhou, and it is not connected to Zhao Jun, and it is even far away from each other. If the Zhao army wants to reach this place, he is afraid that the only way to do it is to completely defeat the Liangzhou army. ”

"But once your army moves, the metropolitan governor will definitely let Xu transfer his troops into the eastern part of Liangzhou to fight your army. Well, the situation here is unpredictable. At that time, there will be no army to defend here, so Gaochang and other countries will not miss this opportunity, and as for the people above the place, they will suffer. ”

"Moreover, although the Metropolitan Governor is more harsh on Xu. But Xu was unwilling to change and betrayed the governor. After all, His Royal Highness King Yong still has kindness to Xu. ”

Wei Zilin said with a smile: "These problems have already been solved by my lord. Compared with General Xu, he also understands how my Da Zhao has a reputation on the grassland now. I don't dare to say anything else, at least, no tribe dares to be disrespectful to my Da Zhao. Although the three western provinces of yours are located at the northwest end of Liangzhou, they are also located in the southern part of the western Turkic tribes. My Great Zhao army passed through the grassland, who dared to stop it? Who dares to stop it? ”

Looking at the arrogance on Wei Zilin's face, Xu Ye couldn't help but feel envious. Seriously, he also greatly admires Zhao Jun's current strong posture. can make the Turkic tribes, who have always been arrogant and arrogant, bow their heads, and can't help but make him feel yearning for him as an iron-blooded soldier.

Xu Ye frowned and said, "According to Lord Wei's meaning, your army is ready to borrow the road from the northern grassland and enter here directly?" ”

Wei Zilin said in a deep voice: "Yes, this is also my lord's intention. It's okay to have trouble in the western part of Liangzhou, but the countries of the Western Regions even dare to attack my Dayan's idea, that is, it is unforgivable. Therefore, no matter how General Xu decides, our army will definitely come here, and let the countries of the Western Regions understand that the territory of the Han people is not something they can invade casually. ”

Looking at Xu Ye's somewhat ugly face, Wei Zilin smiled again: "Of course, General Xu don't rush to make a decision first, let's take a look at this first." As he spoke, he handed Xu Ye the information collected by the Shadow Division about the Liangzhou Army betraying the interests of Liangzhou in exchange for joining forces with the countries of the Western Regions to fight against the Zhao Army.

"Is this true?" After reading the information handed to him by Wei Zilin, Xu Ye said ugly.

"Of course, now, we have sent people to find ways to prevent Situ Fei from acting like this. Otherwise, once he joins forces, even if we send troops to kill here suddenly, it will be difficult to resist the left and right attacks of the Western Regions countries and the Liangzhou army. After all, the troops that we suddenly appeared here will inevitably not be too many. The situation here is simply not enough to feed the army. Wei Zilin said in a condensed voice.

"How, General Xu, it's time to make a decision! If you want to talk about kindness, Emperor Xuanwu's kindness to you is greater than Situ Lei. Now, everyone in the world knows that Emperor Xuanwu died at the hands of Situ Lei. You said that Situ Lei was kind to you, and you could not turn your back. So, Emperor Xuanwu is kind to you, why do you leave it alone? Could it be that General Xu is reluctant to give up the power of this Left Guard General? In this way, the first emperor saw the wrong person. ”

Xu Ye's face suddenly changed, and he said angrily: "Nonsense! General Ben has a clear conscience! Whether Emperor Xuanwu died at the hands of King Yong, don't you know? The pedantic people in the world can be deceived, but you and I are both understanding people. ”

Wei Zilin sneered: "Really? But there is one thing you can't deny, that is, if it wasn't for Situ Lei's persecution too much, why would Emperor Xuanwu want to die to show his attitude? At the beginning, in order to gain the support of the Turks, Situ Lei wanted to sacrifice the royal princess. In order to justify his future seizure of power, he is even more prepared to let his son marry the princess. Such acts are rebellious and should be committed by rebellious ministers and thieves. ”

"Hmph...... Speaking of rebellious ministers and thieves, King Zhao and King Yong are so similar! Xu Ye said coldly.

"Really? Do you dare to say that Situ Lei can compare with my master? You Xu Ye asked himself, the princes of the world, who can do this step of my lord? Defeat the Ya tribes first, and recover the land of the north. Under the unification and rule of the entire Jin Ya tribe and the Khitan tribe, who can compare with the expansion of the territory? ”

"The princes of the Central Plains are busy seizing power, but my lord is alone in the northern frontier to guard the border for the entire Great Yan, defeated the Turkic army twice, and now, it is even more fragmented by the Turkic tribes, so that they have to submit to my lord. On the occasion of Emperor Xuanwu, can my lord rebel? Zhao Jun's current situation is all fought by my big Zhao soldiers step by step, and it is all beneficial to the locality. ”

"Tell me what Situ Lei is doing. Even if Emperor Xuanwu was not killed by him, after Situ Lei learned the news of Emperor Xuanwu's death, he slaughtered the people of the royal family, several princes were killed, and three princesses were killed. Could it be that these are all fake? Bearing the emperor's grace, but ignoring it, it is really in vain that Emperor Xuanwu also regards you as a loyal minister and a good general. ”

Saying that, Wei Zilin smiled coldly and said disdainfully: "If Xu Ye is willing to die for Situ Fei and ignore the people of the Three Provinces, then it can only make the entire land of the Three Provinces become a racetrack for the countries of the Western Regions." I just don't know if these people will forgive these generals who they regard as saviors in the future. ”

"Besides, you said it yourself, you don't want Situ Fei to get along. Even, Situ Fei has wanted to put you to death many times, you don't think about yourself, you have to think about your family. If Situ Fei is the master, then you are worthy of praise for being so effective. However, if you continue to work for Situ Fei now, you will definitely be left behind for 10,000 years in the future. The charge of colluding with the countries of the Western Regions, he Situ Fei will not bear it, and only you Xu Ye can bear this infamy. Wei Zilin looked at Xu Ye and scolded in a loud voice.

Xu Ye's face changed, and after a while, he smiled bitterly: "Xu didn't say that he abandoned the people of these three places and abused Situ Fei. Xu can't afford to bear such charges. ”

Wei Zilin laughed and said, "Very good! General Xu is indeed a benevolent and righteous man. This move, great goodness and the people of the three provinces. ”

Now that the words have been spoken, Xu Ye no longer continued to twist, and asked directly: "Then when will your army act?" How do you need Xu to cooperate? ”

Wei Zilin said in a deep voice: "Now, General Xu should no longer call my Great Zhao army your army. From this day forward, you and I will be the servants of the same house. As for the actions of our troops, it will take another month of preparation. At the very least, we need to settle the problems of the Turkic tribes. ”

"General Xu also knew that the lord wanted to divide the Turkic tribes into three, divide them into three regions, and divide them into three khans, so that they could not unite and confront our army again, and it would also be convenient for our Great Zhao to slowly annex them in the future. But now most of the eastern and central parts have begun to succumb to our Great Zhao, but the western parts are still resisting. Therefore, just in case, in order to prevent another calamity in the north when we act here, the army must first suppress this Turkic tribe to the death, and give the general situation. ”

"General Xu, although our army cannot move during this month, your task is not small. First, you want to completely control those Situ Fei people in the general, and when the army arrives, we need to complete the takeover of the land of Sanfu in the shortest possible time, at least the land of Dunhuang and Yiwu in the west, and control it in our hands, and have a stable place to garrison. ”

"Second, you should find out the strong, alien and horse thief branches in the land of the Three Provinces during this month. It is also possible to let the army of our army arrive in a hurry and completely quell them in the shortest possible time. It can not only benefit the people, but also let us have no worries about future troubles. ”

"The most important thing is that during this month, if Situ Fei orders you to have any military moves, you have to find ways to delay. It is best to find ways to transfer part of the army to the counties of Jiuquan, so that we can take down the most prosperous areas of these three prefectures, and also serve as the front line for us to resist the counterattack of the Liangzhou army. ”

After Wei Zilin finished speaking, Xu Ye looked at the other party and said in a deep voice: "Brother Wei told Xu so lightly, isn't he afraid that Xu will inform the governor of Liangzhou about this matter?" ”

Wei Zilin said with a smile: "For General Xu, my lord also admires it. If General Xu does this, then General Xu can't afford to be valued by my lord. What's more, even if there is no General Xu, it is not a problem for my Da Zhao to attack Liangzhou. The only pity is that the people here are going to suffer. ”

Xu Ye laughed and said, "Since King Zhao values Xu so much, how can Xu live up to King Zhao's trust." Brother Wei rest assured, this matter must be worry-free. ”