Wei Zheng's brows furrowed slightly: "Lord, can we use Yang Xuangan and Li Mi to let them fight with Li Yuan for the leadership of this Guanlong noble?" ”

Wang Shichong sighed: "I have also thought about this method, but Yang Xuangan's qualifications are too shallow, young and vigorous, it is impossible to let those old guys and big families in Guanlong take refuge in him at this time, not to mention that when Yang Su was in power, he was also arrogant and domineering, and offended all the big families, including the Guanlong family, so even if he was so powerful before, there was no one in the Guanlong family who wanted to marry his family except Li Yuan." Besides, Yang Xuangan has been living at home in the past few years, and without Yang Su's power back then, he is completely unable to compete with Li Yuan, and now the younger generation of the Guanlong family like Chai Shao has a very good relationship with the Li Yuan family who stayed in Daxing, and Yang Xuangan, who moved to the eastern capital, is no longer a complete Guanlong family. ”

Wei Zheng's face became more and more solemn: "Lord, in this way, we are basically powerless to sit on Li Yuan's power?" ”

Wang Shichong nodded, and the blue light in his eyes flashed: "It's man-made, let's take one step at a time, if Li Yuan thinks that he has now become the leader of the Guanlong nobles, and begins to openly go around in tandem with other families, then our opportunity has come, Yang Guang is the most vigilant about this kind of thing." ”

Wei Zheng also hooked the corners of his mouth: "So what is the lord going to do next?" The Western Regions and even the Western Turks, do we have to do anything to remedy it? ”

Wang Shichong shook his head: "Not now, Mohe Khan has just received the secret help of that eldest grandson Sheng and has been able to ascend the throne." We're going to do something now. And it's just the icing on the cake. Instead of sending charcoal in the snow, and this time we have an unpleasant quarrel with Prince Dubi, he can't help us contact the Tiele people like before, so let's just do the situation here, just maintain the normal trade routes, and the direction we really want to operate will temporarily turn to Tuyuhun. ”

Wei Zheng was slightly stunned: "Tuguhun? What do you mean by this? Do you think Volian Khan will be able to escape this time? ”

Wang Shichong smiled slightly: "If he can't escape, he won't be Fulian Khan." Even the Northern Wei Dynasty, which was known for its strong cavalry and had nowhere to flee, could not destroy Tuyuhun, the reason is that on the plateau, the air is thin, and it is very difficult to pursue, and the Tuyuhun people have lived here for generations and are familiar with the terrain. The cardiopulmonary function can also adapt to this breathing, so it can get rid of the pursuers. I don't think this time Fulian Khan will not be stupid to hide in the city and wait for death, but will escape before the army is encircled, so in the future, we can cooperate with this Fulian Khan. ”

Wei Zheng frowned: "What can I do with him?" ”

Wang Shichong shook his head: "If the relationship in the Western Regions is not as good as before, then we will pass the iron of the Western Regions, and the channel of exchanging war horses with the Eastern Turks will also be interrupted, at least not as blatantly as before, in the troubled times, war horses, ordnance and food are the three most important things, especially if we want to raise troops in the Central Plains or the south, we must find a way to get war horses, if the Turks no longer provide us with war horses, we will only have to find Tuyuhun." ”

Wei Zheng's eyes lit up: "Is this really possible?" ”

Wang Shichong smiled slightly: "In the past, even if we bought thousands of war horses from the Turks, there was nowhere to store them, some horses used as racetracks, more can only be disguised as camels and transportation vehicles of the merchant group, horses, there is no grassland galloping, no matter how good the war horses are, they can only pull carts in a few years, so the war horses that we can really use now are just the three or four thousand horses in the two racetracks, and once the troubled times, they may not be able to be used, and they are likely to be requisitioned by the imperial court." ”

Wei Zheng laughed: "Does the lord want to use this Tuguhun land to herd horses?" ”

Wang Shichong smiled and patted Wei Zheng's shoulder: "The results of the Xuan Dynasty are clear at one point, yes, it is exactly like this, Liu Quan intends to pass this battle to become the thorn history of the Tuyuhun land, with this vast grassland of thousands of miles, it is impossible to set up counties and manage them like the mainland, so Liu Quan can only rely on the local tribal leaders to manage the bonds, live in the city himself, and give up the vast grassland to the Tuyuhun tribes, after all, the Murong clan has been operating here for hundreds of years, even if the Fulian Khan is temporarily hiding, The hearts of Tuyuhun are also here with him, so we can't rely on Liu Quan alone, we have to establish a relationship with Fulian Khan in private. ”

Wei Zheng's brows furrowed again: "But this time Yang Guang personally inspected and vowed to catch Fulian Khan, I am afraid that if I want to save him, it is not so easy, and if I don't do it, I will be burned." Please think again. ”

Wang Shichong's face showed a resolute look: "Things are man-made, we have lost the Western Regions now, and we are about to lose contact with the Turks, but the troubled times are getting closer and closer, we must be fully prepared, especially the military horses." By the way, Li Jing has won the battle this time, I can also take the opportunity to ask Pei Shiju, who is a servant of the ministry, to arrange a position for Li Jing as a Mayi Juncheng, what do you think? ”

Wei Zheng nodded: "This has been discussed a long time ago, and it should be handled accordingly, but Li Jing is alone in Mayi, I am afraid that even if I encounter troubled times, it will be difficult to become a climate, my lord, do you really want to support that Liu Wuzhou, instead of finding a way to strengthen Li Jing's power in the local area?" ”

Wang Shichong sighed: "This is also a last resort, the two counties of Mayi and Yanmen, are the two gateways to the east-Turkic and Monan grasslands, Han and Hu live together, non-locals can not control, Yanmen there is a dangerous terrain, in the mountains, the defense is acceptable, but if you want to quickly open up the contact with the Turks, or to raise war horses, it is not as good as Mayi, Liu Wuzhou has been operating in Mayi for many years, he has made contributions to the army this time, presumably he wants to get a military position in Mayi, no matter whether we help him or not, It is difficult to change this, so I arranged for Li Jing to go there, and I only secretly tried to provoke the contradiction between Liu Wuzhou and Guan Long's forces, so that he could focus on Guan Long in the future and buy time for our rise in the Central Plains. ”

Wei Zheng shook his head: "But in this way, is it possible for the lord to take Li Jing back?" To be honest, Li Jing's generals are peerless. Not under the lord. Such talents are used well in troubled times. That will be your Han Xin, far from being comparable to Zhang Jin's claim, in case Li Jing is trapped in Mayi, how can it be good? ”

Wang Shichong's eyes flashed: "With Li Jing's ability, I will definitely be able to find a way to get out of trouble, I am convinced of this, and I believe in Li Jing's character and choose to be loyal to me." I will never go to anyone else! ”

Wei Zheng smiled and said nothing, the two looked at the big camp in the distance together, Wang Shichong looked up at the bright moon in the sky, and said secretly in his heart: Can a qiē really be wishful?

Tuyuhun and Fuqi City, a stone-made fortified city located in Che I Zhen Mountain (ancient place name, now unknown, presumed to be about in the western part of Qinghai), is stuck in the only passage into the mountain, surrounded by towering peaks. The peak is covered with snow and ice, and even the apes who are good at climbing can only look at the peak and sigh.

And this stone castle is about four or five feet high. Although the width of the front is only two or three hundred steps, it can be the same as the Yanmen County of the Sui Dynasty, stuck between the peaks, it can be called a husband and a pass, ten thousand people do not open, behind the city is a valley with a radius of dozens of miles, the valley is covered with green grass, hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep are scattered among them, and forty or fifty thousand tents are also scattered in this valley, here, it is the last refuge of the Tuyuhun people, and it is also the place where their ancestors have escaped the doom of extermination many times over the past few hundred years. It's their last holy place.

Fulian Khan is an old man in his fifties, with gray hair, according to the ancient tradition of the Murong clan, wearing a golden crown on his head, and his beard hair is combed into a clean and neat braid.

But this Tuyuhun Khan, at this time, is sad and sad, two small eyes are staring closely at the dense Sui army camp tent outside the mountain, and tens of thousands of Sui cavalry galloping back and forth on the grassland outside the mountain, showing off their might, the wrinkles on their faces that have been wrinkled by the wind on the grassland for many years are shaking one by one, and each time reflects the anxiety and changes in his heart.

Since a month and a half ago, the Sui army's army surrounded on all sides and set up a position outside the mountain, Fulian Khan found that he was unable to fly with wings, this time the number of Sui troops seemed to be more than the number of cattle and sheep in his valley, Fulian Khan finally realized how much trouble he had caused this time, but the pride of the Murong clan made him have no intention of surrendering, Tuyuhun never surrendered to a strong enemy Khan, in front of the Taiwu Emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the god of war Tuoba Tao, the first Khan would rather retreat south into no man's land, also maintained integrity and dignity, and this is what Volian Khan wanted to do.

In the camp of the Sui army on the opposite side, there was a sound of drums, two or three thousand infantry, lined up in a neat formation, slowly marching towards the mountain city of Tuyuhun, and it was a futile siege, in these two months, this kind of thing happened every day, the soldiers on both sides have been accustomed to it, after the first ten days of onslaught, the thousands of corpses left by the Sui army under the city have made the attacker basically give up the intention of attacking, this mountain road can only accommodate a dozen people at most side by side, and the means of attacking the city are not used, Unless the corpses can be piled up to the height of the city wall, this stone city is unbreakable, but Yang Guang still forces the generals to lead the army to attack every day for the sake of his own face, to prove that this is still a battlefield!

Thousands of Sui troops lined up outside the passage into the mountain, the lancers held their shields, slowly forward, and hundreds of archers followed, to the distance of more than 200 steps from the city, the archers drilled out of their shields, ran forward dozens of steps, and shot a row of feather arrows to the head of the city indiscriminately, and then withdrew backwards without looking back, replacing the next batch of archers forward, and the same was true for the defenders of the city, Tuyuhun's bow and crossbow could not be compared with the military bow and crossbow of the Sui army in terms of strength and range, if it were not for the advantage of the condescending terrain, It has already been suppressed, but relying on this city wall and mountain road, it has a height advantage of six or seven zhang, and the archers at the head of the city are also shooting into the sky in a burst, and they are on a par with the Sui army under the city.

After three or four rounds of bows and arrows were fired, the Sui army under the city fell more than a dozen, lying scattered among the thousands of corpses, it was already the depths of winter, many of the corpses were covered with thick frost, thanks to the cold winter of this plateau, so as not to be like the summer in the Central Plains, there was a great epidemic, the Tuyuhun people at the head of the city also fell more than ten, were quickly carried down, and there were always five or six hundred defenders at the head of the city, and the Fulian Khan, the whole process was silent, coldly watching this routine offensive and defensive battle.

With the sound of gongs, the infantry of the Sui army quickly withdrew from the mountain road as if they were amnesty, and Fulian Khan sighed, stood up, moved his body, and said to the left and right: "Send three hundred people out of the city to draw arrows, and by the way, strip off the armor of these Sui troops, remember, it is still the old rule, if the Sui people attack, do not fall in love with the battle, and return to the city quickly!" ”

Suddenly, a "corpse" under the city moved, Fulian Khan's eyes suddenly opened round, took two steps forward, walked to the battlement, looked down, this "corpse" shook slightly, and the five or six arrow shafts on the body all fell off, obviously these arrows did not penetrate his iron armor at all, Fulian Khan secretly scolded this person in his heart for being cunning, picked up a big bow under his side, and was about to release arrows, but heard the man under the city suddenly raise his head and say in Xianbei language (Tuyuhun is Xianbei Murong clan, speaking Xianbei language): "Fulian Khan, I have something important to look for you, please don't let go of the arrows! ”

Fulian Khan was slightly stunned, and said sharply: "You cunning Sui people, do you want to deceive us?" ”

The "corpse" was still in the pile of corpses, raised his head slightly, and said: "I'm just alone, I can't fool you or anything, and what I'm going to say is related to your survival in Tuguhun, believe it or not!" ”

The two on the left and right of the Fulian Khan were the leaders of his two most loyal tribes, on the left was the great treasure king Nilo Zhou, who was known for his resourcefulness, and on the right was the fierce general Qifuda, known as the number one warrior of Tuyuhun.

The black-faced, bearded-bearded beggar was a fiery man, and said impatiently: "Khan, this person wants to enter the city by cheating, there must be fraud among them, the Han people are all a belly of flowers, don't fall for him, shoot him!" ”

White-haired and red-faced, thin, and wearing a sheepskin jacket, Nilo Zhou was silent, and Volian Khan put down his bow and arrows, turned his head and asked, "King Dabao, what do you think?" (To be continued......)