After only a moment, there was a sound of footsteps inside the gate, and Taishou Wang Shougong rushed out with several officials excitedly, and hurriedly bowed to Jin Wensheng and said: "I'm really sorry, I neglected to join the army, Wang Shougong apologized to the army." Pen %Fun %Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"Wang Taishou doesn't have to be polite, I came abruptly, but this is not the place to talk, let's go in and talk!"

"Yes! Be! Be! Please come with me to join the army. ”

Wang Shougong looked forward to the stars and the moon, and finally looked forward to the envoy of the Central Plains Dynasty, and it was still the Great Zhou Empire, how could he not be overjoyed, he and several officials surrounded Jin Wensheng into the county office.

The two sides sat down in the lobby, and Jin Wensheng took out Li Jing's handwritten letter and handed it to Wang Shougong and said: "This is a letter from my general to Taishou, please take a look at it." ”

Wang Shougong hurriedly took the letter, read it carefully, breathed a long sigh of relief in his heart, and said with a smile: "Since the Sui army withdrew from Yiwu County seven years ago, I have not spent a day not in fear, I am afraid that one day the nomadic cavalry will suddenly enter the city, and now that our army is finally here, we can finally sleep peacefully." ”

Jin Wensheng was a little curious: "When I entered the city just now, I also saw soldiers guarding the city!" ”

Wang Shougong smiled bitterly, "Those are the militia groups I organized myself, there are only 500 people in total, and the fathers and elders in the city pooled money to buy some leather armor and weapons from the Sogdians in the Western Regions, at most they can only guard against horse thieves, guard the city gates, maintain law and order, etc., the cavalry of the steppe nomads is really killed, where can they stop it." ”

Jin Wensheng nodded, "I see, Wang Taishou read the letter just now, he should know what our general is most concerned about, I want to ask what is the relationship between Yiwu County and the Shatuo people now?" ”

"It can only be said that everything is generally safe, but some details are still a bit humiliating." Wang Shougong sighed and said.

"Like what?"

"For example, the Han people are not allowed to go to their pastures except for merchants, if they go to them, they will kill people directly, and will not give them a chance to live, there was a bloody case five years ago, five medicine pickers were killed by them, and the bodies were sent back, and no one dared to go to the grassland again, but the Shatuo people could come to the county seat, and they committed a crime, the county could not interrogate, and they had to hand over people to them."

"So did a serious crime happen?"

"There is no serious crime, the general Shatuo people are also afraid that we will not accept their goods, they will lose a lot, at most they will fight after drinking, they will fight several times a year, the children in the city are very united, and the militia will arrive in time to disperse the brawl between the two sides, everyone is gradually getting used to it, in fact, what we are afraid of is the Turks, once the Turkic army crosses, it is a chicken and dog that does not stay, the first two years after the Sui army retreated eastward, everyone was afraid, as soon as there was a wind and grass, the whole city fled, many people could not stand this kind of life, It was moved to Dunhuang or the Hexi Corridor. ”

"What is the relationship between the Shatuo people and the Western Turks?"

Wang Shougong shook his head, "Chief Shatuo has personally told me more than once that they would rather be loyal to the Central Plains Dynasty than be ruled by the Turks. ”

"Why?"

"The tax is too heavy, in our words, it is ten taxes two, two sheep out of every ten sheep will be handed over to the West Turks as taxes, and the Shatuo people have to pay taxes for nearly one million sheep every year, and they are also miserable, and they are loyal to the Central Plains Dynasty, they only need to pay a symbolic sheepskin every year, and their branch tribes in Hexi are five hundred taxes, which is also the main reason why the Shatuo people and us are safe, and they also hope that the Central Plains Empire can return to Yiwu County."

Jin Wensheng pondered for a moment and said, "General Li also gave me another task, which is to send an envoy to the Shatuo tribe, hoping that Wang Taishou can communicate for us first." ”

"There's no problem with this, I'll personally accompany the army to the army, I don't know when the army plans to leave?"

Jin Wensheng was overjoyed and said, "We will set off early tomorrow morning!" ”

．．．．．．．．

Shatuo is composed of eight small tribes, living in the Hexi Corridor for a long time, and Zhaowu, Turkic, Qiang, Tiele and other tribes mixed together, among which the largest in the Moon Division, the leader of the Yue Department has been serving as the Great Chief of Shatuo, seven years ago the Sui army withdrew from Yiwu East, Shatuo Department saw the opportunity, the Great Chief Zhu Xizhen led the six tribes to move north to Yiwu County, living in the vast area south of the Pu Sea.

The population of the Shatuo Department is not much, only 7,000 tents, that is, 7,000 households, and only tens of thousands of people, according to the rule of one soldier per account, the Shatuo army has a total of 7,000 people, very brave and good at fighting, although the strength is far from being comparable with the Turks, but there is basically no problem with self-preservation.

Last year, the great chief Zhu Xiezhen was killed by another Shatuo nobleman, Zhu Xiehan, while hunting, the Shatuo Department broke out in the struggle for the position of chieftain, Zhu Xiezhen's son Zhu Xiejin Mountain got the support of the leaders of the Shatuo tribes, defeated Zhu Xiehan, Zhu Xihan's tribe was wiped out, he only led 300 men to flee to the Hexi Corridor, and his whereabouts are unknown.

However, this internal strife also seriously weakened the strength of the Shatuo people, so that Shatuo's army was sharply reduced to 5,000 people, and the loss of a full 2,000 people was also the heaviest loss of Shatuo people in a hundred years.

The main tent of the great chief of the Shatuo tribe is located in the Pu Sea in the north of the Zheluo Manshan Mountain, about four hundred miles away from Yiwu County, because the Shatuo people and the Yiwu County government have reached an agreement, except for merchants and officials, other Han people are strictly forbidden to enter the grassland, so in order to avoid unpleasant things from happening, Taishou Wang Shougong personally accompanied Jin Wensheng to the main account of the great chief of Shatuo.

After three days of running, a group of more than ten people finally arrived at the main tent camp of Shatuo in Pu Zhihai, because of the Taishou Wang Shougong companion, they were not hindered by any obstacles along the way, and successfully arrived at Pu Zhihai, of course, Zhu Xijinshan, the chief of Shatuo, also got the news first, and he sent five hundred soldiers to meet the arrival of the Zhou army envoy.

There is an endless big tent distributed on the rich grassland on the south bank of the Pu Sea, here is the camp of the Moon Department, there are about 2,500 households, nearly 10,000 big tents, only to see a group of cattle and sheep grazing quietly on the grassland, there are constantly a large group of war horses galloping past, in the distance, the children of the sheep are riding on horseback and waving and shouting to the escort army.

As the tents became denser and denser, they finally came to the king's tent, which was similar in texture to the general dome tent, a large tent made of wool, but the area was much larger than that of the ordinary camp tent, covering an area of two acres, and dozens of soldiers stood in front of the big tent with spears.

Taking advantage of the opportunity for the guards to go in to report the report, Wang Shougong reminded Jin Wensheng in a low voice: "Shatuo people have always bullied the weak and feared the hard, don't be intimidated when you join the army. ”

Jin Wensheng smiled and nodded, "Thank you Taishou for reminding me again." ”

At this time, a general walked out of the big tent, he nodded to Wang Shougong, glanced at Jin Wensheng again, and said coldly: "The big chief, please go in." ”

He opened the curtain and snapped, "Please! ”

Jin Wensheng walked into the big tent proudly, Wang Shougong was about to follow, but was stopped, "Taishou, please enter slowly, go to the other tent to rest for a while." ”

Wang Shougong was just about to speak, when more than a dozen spears were aimed at him, and Wang Shougong had no choice but to go to the account first.

The sword light flashed in the big tent, the spears were like a forest, hundreds of armored soldiers stood all over the big tent, murderous, and at the end of the big tent sat a burly man, staring at Jin Wensheng coldly.

Jin Wensheng smiled indifferently, walked up without fear, and came to Zhu Xie Jinshan, clenched his fists and arched his hands: "The Great Zhou Expedition to the West General Li Jing joined the army to engage in Jin Wensheng See the Great Chief." ”

Zhu Xie Jinshan has lived in the Hexi Corridor for a long time and can speak fluent Chinese, he sneered and said: "I don't understand what the relationship between Yiwu County and the Great Zhou Dynasty is, what are you doing here?" ”

Jin Wensheng said lightly: "Even the big chief knows that this place is called Yiwu County, and the Great Zhou Empire is determined to unify the world, how can Yiwu County have nothing to do with us?" ”

Zhu Xie Jinshan was afraid that he would say this, so he slapped the table and said angrily: "This is my territory, you are not allowed to touch it!" ”

Hundreds of soldiers around him shouted together, "Kill him!" ”

Jin Wensheng didn't say a word, he looked at Zhu Xie Jinshan with a sneer, Zhu Xie Jinshan waved his hand, and the big tent immediately quieted down, he glared at Jin Wensheng and said, "What are you sneering at?" ”

Jin Wensheng snorted and said, "When the Shatuo people were in Hexi, did the imperial army drive you away?" We also live in Mayi County, Dingxiang County, Jiuyuan County, and Hexi County, where a large number of nomads live, have we driven them away? ”

"This is different, we pay a lot of taxes to the Western Turks every year, and they handed over Yiwu County to us, if you come to Yiwu County again, won't it make us pay taxes twice? We can't afford it, unless you go to Broken Leaf and negotiate with the Western Turks and let him return Yiwu County to you, then I have no problem. ”

Of course, Zhu Xie Jinshan knew that their existence did not affect the Great Zhou Dynasty's rule over Yiwu County, but the existence of the Great Zhou Dynasty in Yiwu County affected them, so he had to bargain with the Zhou army, at least they were unwilling to pay taxes to the Zhou Dynasty again.

Jin Wensheng understood what he meant, and said lightly: "Everything can be discussed, I just come to discuss with you with sincerity, but I can't feel the sincerity of the big chief, if the big chief must tear his face, we are not afraid of a battle." ”

After speaking, he pointed to the hundreds of soldiers in the tent, "This is the hospitality of the Great Chief?" (To be continued.) )