Hearing this, Nan Jiyun waved his hand and smiled bitterly: "This Pinglu cavalry is certainly strong, but among the cavalry troops of the ten major feudal towns of the Tang Dynasty, the strength is only in the middle of the stream. If we talk about the elite of the cavalry troops, I am afraid that this group of Pinglu cavalry is not yet famous. ”

He asked: "The so-called 'Eight Cavalry of the Ten Domains, Nine Sections, and Eight Cavalry', have you ever heard of the name of the eight elite cavalry of the Fan and Han Dynasties?"

"What are the eight elite cavalry of the Han Dynasty?" Gu Yuanxi scratched his head.

"As we all know, the territory of my Tang Dynasty is extremely vast, and there are countless Fanhu tribes living in the 90,000 miles of mountains and rivers, so the imperial court has set up a large number of prefectures and counties. These prefectures and counties are divided into 'native prefectures' and 'overseas Chinese prefectures', whose governors are hereditary by tribal chiefs, and their internal affairs are autonomous, but they need to provide military supplies and tribute as required. Unlike the internal vassal states of Nanzhao and Huifu, as well as Japan, which only had the name of canonization, the imperial court regarded it as a part of the territory, and the document was used as 'edict'. ”

"Among them, because the tribes under the 'Overseas Chinese Detention Prefecture' belong to the territory of the Tang Dynasty, these tribes not only need to pay tribute to serve, but also need to levy their own troops to serve under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, which is the reason why there are 'Fan Army' in the ten feudal towns, these Fan troops defend the territory and expand the territory for our Tang Empire, and the imperial court generally regards them as 'kings'." Nan Jiyun continued to talk without breathing.

"So this 'Fan Army' is a minority army belonging to the Tang Dynasty, right?" Gu Yuanxi asked.

"Not bad. These tribal armies that became the 'Fan Army' recognized by the imperial court must meet the conditions of having been attached to the imperial court for a long time and the imperial court has a strong control over them. Although vassal states such as the Hui Hui repeatedly sent troops and retinues to participate in the foreign campaigns of the Beiting Army and the Hexi Army, they were only servant armies and could not be regarded as the 'Fan Army' of the imperial court. Nan Jiyun thought for a while, and then added: "Although the two tribes surnamed Tuqishi and the three tribes surnamed Qarlu under the jurisdiction of the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate have repeatedly gone out with the armies of the four towns of Anxi and Beiting Yixi, their tribes have rebelled and are impermanent, so they are only servant troops. Even if the Jiankun Prefecture and its army are barely considered to be the 'Fan Army', although their tribe has been loyal for a hundred years, they are still relatively independent. Although His Majesty once praised the Legacious army in the edict of the "Expedition to the Turkic System" for 'the advantage of the arc and the unstoppable', the status of the army was only between the Tibetan army and the servant army. ”

"I see." Gu Yuanxi nodded and smiled: "It seems that the conditions for becoming the 'Fan Army' of the imperial court are extremely strict." ”

"That's nature." Nan Jiyun Zhengse said: "Becoming the 'Fan Army' of the imperial court means becoming the regular army of the Tang Empire. Since the collapse of the government military system, the government soldiers who originally needed to prepare their own weapons and war horses have become recruits who have been placed by the imperial court. The tribal army became the Fan army, and although the treatment was not the same as that of the Han army, its subordinates had the same opportunity to be born and enterprising as the Han army. ”

"Think about it, Li Guangbi, who was born in a small tribe of the Khitan tribe, because his father Li Kaigu was attached to the Great Sage Martial Queen, he enjoyed the shade of the door and had a better background and meritorious service conditions than other Khitans, just like other dignitaries in the court. Now he is already the envoy of the soldiers and horses of Hexi and the military envoy of Chishui, and he is in the second-level power class of the Tang Dynasty soldiers. I heard that he was even appreciated by the doctor Wang Zhonghei, and in time, he will become a town festival envoy. ”

"There is also Gao Xianzhi, a descendant of Goguryeo, who successively served under Tian Renwan and Gai Jiayun, the envoys of the four towns of Anxi, and was later appreciated by the current envoy of the four towns of Anxi, Meng Lingcha, and repeatedly promoted, and is now the deputy protector of Anxi and the envoy of the four towns. And Meng Lingcha, the official husband who has repeatedly promoted Gao Xianzhi, is from a tribe of the Qiang people. ”

"As for the famous fierce general of the Shuofang Army, Gu Huai'en, he is a member of the Tiele tribe, and his patriarch is the hereditary governor of Jinwei Prefecture. He is the grandson of the former Fugu patriarch, Fugu Ge Bayan, and now he has made many military exploits and is very brave. Nan Jiyun said with a smile: "As for Bai Xiaode, who is known as one of the 'Three Divine Arrows in the World' together with Shi Siming, I heard that he is a descendant of the Bai clan of the Qiuci royal family, and now he is not serving in the Qiuci Zhenfan Army, one of the four towns of Anxi, and he has become a strong pawn of the Anxi Fan Army with his unparalleled cavalry, and his future prospects are also limitless." ”

Gu Yuanxi was greatly moved, and secretly thought in his heart: "The bold appointment of the fierce generals of the Tibetan army is the open mind and majestic spirit of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. It's just that there are aliens like Gao Xianzhi, Ge Shuhan, and Fumeng Lingcha who have expanded the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and there are also Hu people like An Lushan and Shi Siming who have brought disaster to the world, and Li Guangbi and Fugu Huaien, who were the great contributors to the final pacification of the Anshi Rebellion, are also aliens, in addition to Bai Xiaode, Bai Yuanguang and other descendants of ethnic minorities. Therefore, later generations often say that the Tang Dynasty is busy with its erroneous and tolerant national policy, but this is not necessarily true. There is nothing wrong with this enlightened national policy, it is only the rulers and the ruling class that are at fault. ”

Gu Yuanxi shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Enlightened national consciousness naturally leads to enlightened national policy. Even if the ruler of the Tang Empire could not do what he called 'love for Huayi as one', the openness of its national policy is indeed the highest in all dynasties. Not to mention the current Gao Xianzhi, Ge Shuhan, Li Guangbi and others, as well as Ashina Sheer, Qibi He Li, Hei Zhi Changzhi, Li Jinxing, and Qu Tutong, who made countless contributions to the Tang Dynasty in the previous dynasty, are all 'aliens' other than the Han people, so everything has to be viewed with the 'dialectical' thinking that later generations said. ”

Seeing that Gu Yuanxi was silent, Nan Jiyun asked with a smile, "What's the matter, Brother Gu." But what comes to mind? ”

Gu Yuanxi shook his head and smiled: "It's nothing, I'm just curious why a hero like Brother Nan didn't go to join the army?" With your kung fu and such excellent archery skills, if you join the army, your future prospects are limitless. ”

Nan Jiyun didn't seem to expect Gu Yuanxi to ask about this matter, he was stunned at first, then waved his hand and smiled bitterly: "The reason for this matter is a private matter for Nan. Brother Gu, don't think that the foolish brother is selling or doesn't trust you, it's really because it's hard to tell you something. I hope that my brother will not blame the foolish brother. ”

Gu Yuanxi was stunned, and said with a smile: "The little brother is just asking, Brother Nan is a hero in the world, since he doesn't go to the army and join the army, he must have his own reasons." Everyone has their own **, how can the younger brother blame Big Brother Nan? ”

Nan Jiyun sneered: "Yes, too." By the way, where did we just go? ”

At this time, the Pinglu cavalry was still neatly guarding the place outside the Jinguang Gate, and did not know why they did not enter the city.

Seeing this, Gu Yuanxi glanced at the Pinglu cavalry and said: "Brother Nan just said that if the Pinglu cavalry is in terms of strength, it can only be in the middle of the overall strength of my Tang cavalry, I don't know which eight cavalry are the so-called 'Eight Elite Cavalry of the Fan and Han Dynasty'?" ”

Nan Jiyun patted his head and smiled: "Look at my memory, when I speak, I always go somewhere else." Then he said in a deep voice: "This 'Eight Great Cavalry of the Fan and Han Dynasty' is actually not eight cavalry, but sixteen. That is, the 'Eight Cavalry of the Han Army' and the 'Eight Cavalry of the Fan Army'. ”

Gu Yuanxi was picked up, and couldn't wait to ask curiously: "What are the 'Eight Cavalry of the Han Army' and the 'Eight Cavalry of the Fan Army'?" ”

Nan Jiyun squinted his eyes and smiled: "Most of these 'Eight Great Cavalry of the Fan and Han Dynasty' currently belong to the Ten Dao Jie Du Army. Among them, the commander of the Pinglu cavalry, as you just said, An Lushan, the fat man, has three. ”

"Oh?" Gu Yuanxi was slightly stunned, frowned slightly and couldn't help but ask, "I don't know which three?" ”

Nan Jiyun said with a solemn face: "Fan Yang Jie Du envoy, Xi and Khitan, govern Youzhou, which is now Fanyang County, and govern the Jingluo Army, Jingsai Army, Weiwu Army, Qingyi Army, Henghai Army, Gaoyang Army, Tang Xing Army, Hengyang Army, Beiping Army, and 91,400 soldiers. The Pinglu Jiedu made the town of Fu Muwei and Jian, and governed Yingzhou, which is now Liucheng County, and governed the Pinglu Army, Lu Longjun, Yuguan Guard, and Andong Protectorate, with 37,500 soldiers. The so-called 'Youzhou Iron Horse, unparalleled in the world', is not a random boast. The Yuyang cavalry in the Fan Yang army are all heavy cavalry equipped with armored cavalry, and such a large-scale elite heavy cavalry is unique among the towns in the world. ”

Gu Yuanxi frowned when he heard this: "Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, due to frequent foreign wars, cavalry is often required to run thousands of miles at every turn, and with the improvement of steel technology and armor protection, the strength of light cavalry has been greatly strengthened. Therefore, the heavy armored cavalry that prevailed in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties gradually declined after the reign of Emperor Gaozong and Emperor Xianqing. Light cavalry has become the mainstream of cavalry, but I didn't expect this fat man to do the opposite. It's really weird. ”

Nan Jiyun nodded and said, "Not bad." The Khitan and Xi barbarian cavalry faced by the Fan Yang army were all light cavalry, and An Lushan spent a lot of financial and material resources to make such a full-heavy armored cavalry since he took over Pei Kuan as the envoy of Fan Yangjiedu, which is really incredible. However, if the heavy cavalry faced off with the light cavalry, it still had an overwhelming advantage. The so-called 'cavalry in the world, Fan Yang first' and 'Youzhou iron cavalry, unparalleled in the world. The Fanyang cavalry and Youzhou iron cavalry here actually refer to the cavalry of Yuyang County under the Fanyang army, because Yuyang County was called 'Jizhou' in front of Tianbao, so the Yuyang cavalry was also called 'Jizhou cavalry' and 'Jitu'. Yuyang drums, unparalleled in the world, this heavy cavalry is the lifeblood of An Lushan. And the Pinglu cavalry you see is not worth mentioning at all compared to the Yuyang cavalry. ”

When Gu Yuanxi heard this, he said: "Youzhou has been at war with foreign races since ancient times, and the foreign races outside the Saiwai have been nomadic tribes of the grassland since ancient times, and there are many cavalry. Therefore, the people of Youzhou are also good at equestrian riding and archery for generations, and they are extremely brave and bloody. In the battle of Julucheng in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, and tens of thousands of people under the command of Ni Hong and Liu Feng of Wang Lang's generals fought at the beginning of the war, and the situation was critical, and the Han general Jing Dan led the cavalry to rush and rush, and the defeat turned into victory, which made Wang Lang's army defeated, and the foundation of Liu Xiu Hebei Xiao Wang was determined here. Seeing the good fighting of the turphoria, even Liu Xiu, who has experienced a hundred battles, can't sigh: 'I heard that the elite soldiers of the Turks in the world, and now I see their battles, I am happy to say evil? The assault cavalry commanded by Jing Dan was the 4,000 assault cavalry mobilized by Geng Guo and others from Yuyang and Shanggu. In addition, Wu Han mobilized the ten counties of Youzhou to defeat the millions of peasant armies such as Tongma and Gaohu in Hebei. The Youzhou cavalry has been bloody and brave since ancient times, and Yuyang and Shanggu are the most powerful. ”

Nan Jiyun stroked his palms and laughed when he heard this: "Not bad, not bad." Brother Gu is really familiar with history, in addition to the Yuyang cavalry, the other two elite cavalry that An Lushan relies on, among them are one of the eight cavalry of the Han army, which is what you call the Shanggu cavalry. ”