The Great Qin Empire has jurisdiction over 16 provinces, 66 states of all sizes, three provinces in the northwest, a total of Kyushu land, Beishan Road under the jurisdiction of Ganzhou, Xinzhou, Qingzhou three states, Tianshan Road under the jurisdiction of Shazhou, Suzhou two states, the largest area is Xiguan Road, under the jurisdiction of Jiazhou, Yuezhou, Hezhou, Jinzhou four states.

Qingzhou is north of Beishan Road, bordering Jiazhou in Xiguan Province, and the land of the four states of Xiguan Province, except for Jiazhou, the other three states have been occupied by the Xiliang people and controlled by the Xiliang people.

Yanmen Pass in the north of Jinzhou, is the border pass of Daqin, and it is also the only way for the Xiliang people to invade the original, when the general Feng Hanxiao led the 50,000 Qin border troops to garrison the Jinzhou line all the year round, guarding the Yanmen Pass, resisting the harassment of the Xiliang people, when Feng Hanxiao guarded the northwest border pass, although the Xiliang people often sent a small force to harass, but often did not approach the Yanmen Pass, they were repulsed.

Yanmen Pass is located in the northwest of the empire between the last mountain range Panlong Ridge, Panlong Ridge stretches for hundreds of miles, meandering, there are many dangerous peaks, ups and downs, the high one towers into the sky, but the low place is enough for people to pass easily, so a long time ago, the largest gap in the first line of Panlong Ridge was built Yanmen Pass, and other low ridges in Panlong Ridge have also built small passes, although small but very strong.

Yanmen Pass is the main pass, to raise troops in a big way, must pass through Yanmen Pass, small harassment, but can also avoid Yanmen Pass, from the other small passes of the defense line to invade, but those small passes are built beacon towers, once there is an enemy situation, it will be immediately lit beacon fire, guarding the border army can respond at any time, so often in the West Liang people have not yet broken through the pass, reinforcements have arrived, even if there are really brave West Liang people to break through the small pass, into the pass, but often do not dare to go deep, loot and burn nearby, rob some property, Before the Great Qin reinforcements arrived, they quickly evacuated.

If you don't break the Yanmen Gate, you won't be able to form a real military threat to Daqin, and the people of Xiliang also know that there is a wind and a cold laughing town guarding the northwest, and it is more difficult to break through the Yanmen Pass than to ascend to the sky.

But after Feng Hanxiao was killed in Changtian Valley outside the Guan, the people of Xiliang were extremely fast to press the border, and the northwest defenders who lost Feng Hanxiao were in turmoil, and the northwest defenders who were discouraged and leaderless faced with the famous general Xiao Tianwen of Xiliang, Xiao Tianwen, the king of the South Courtyard of Xiliang, commanded the soldiers and horses of Xiliang, known as the first general of Xiliang, Feng Hanxiao died, Xiao Tianwen was no longer invincible in the northwest, and soon led the army to break through Yanmen Pass, and then drove straight in, all the way to conquer the city, invincible.

Jinzhou, Hezhou, Suzhou dozens of cities, in less than half a year, has all fallen into the hands of the Xiliang people, the Qin army was defeated and retreated, lost the armor, but fortunately there is the Tianshan Dao Governor Zhu Lingyue stepped forward, led the army slightly lower to block the edge of the Xiliang people, he led the Tianshan Road soldiers and horses to gallop to the Xiguan Road, and fought and retreated, until the arrival of the Dingguo general Yu Buqu, Yu Buqu arrived at the front line, but it was also difficult to stop the sharp spirit of the Xiliang people for a while, and retreated to the line of Ningshan in Jiazhou, but unexpectedly, the Xiliang people suddenly stopped the front, There was no continuation of the attack on the Ningshan front.

In fact, with the situation at that time, even if the Qin army had Ningshan as a barrier, if it really wanted to fight, it still couldn't resist the sharpness of the Xiliang people, the Xiliang people were in full swing, and the combat effectiveness was extremely strong, and the Qin army was already in turmoil when it lost its wind and cold smile, and then it was defeated and retreated again and again within a few months, and the morale had fallen to the freezing point, and a large number of materials were left behind when the defeat was lost, and they were obtained by the Xiliang people, and the morale was sluggish and the lack of materials was simply unable to confront the Xiliang people head-on.

However, the Xiliang people suddenly stopped attacking, that was to give the Qin army a chance to breathe and recuperate, Yu Buqu is a veteran of the battlefield, of course he knows that this opportunity is not easy to come by, during this period, immediately began to arrange the defense line on the front line of Ningshan, he knew that it would take a long time to mobilize materials from the pass, and the Xiliang people did not know when they would relaunch the attack, so they requisitioned materials on the spot, in addition to ordering officials from all over the country to requisition grain and grass for military use as much as possible, but also to recruit a large number of civilian craftsmen to forge weapons and armor in the northwest on the spot, The resources that the Northwest can use, do everything possible.

In addition, a large number of people were requisitioned, ditches were dug and ditched on the front line of Ningshan, and a wooden fence was built, nailed into the inverted wooden thorns, and the open area in the north of Ningshan was destroyed by all means.

Although the Xiliang people only captured the land of Xiguan Dao and Sanzhou, but the fear brought by them permeated the entire Great Qin, and the people in the northwest were even more frightened, and millions of victims who fled from Xiguan Dao poured into the Tianshan Mountains and Beishan Erdao, and the terrifying atmosphere brought by these refugees soon enveloped the sky over the entire northwest.

The morale of the army is low, the people are panicked, and the three roads in the northwest have always belonged to the barren land, the lack of materials, after this war, the materials are extremely scarce, the three roads in the northwest and Yu Bu from the pass to bring a total of 160,000 people, was divided into two lines by Yu Bu Qu, the first line by Zhu Lingyue deployed in the area of Tianbi Mountain, and the defenders of Ningshan into horns, 160,000 troops spend a huge amount of grain and grass every day, plus millions of people in the northwest, the grain and grass in the northwest can be said to be a grain of rice and gold.

Yu Buqu is over sixty years old, in charge of northwest affairs, his body is already seriously overdrawn, after Ningshan is the county seat of Beiyuan in Jiazhou, Yu Buqu is to deal with affairs in Beiyuan City, Beiyuan City can now be said to be the brain of the entire Northwest, and countless orders are issued from here.

After Chu Huan and his party left the customs, they traveled all the way, and when they arrived at Beiyuan City, it was already ten days later, this not too big county town was built on Ningshan Mountain, and Yu Buqu also knew that the mission had arrived in advance, but he didn't have time to greet him personally, but sent a deputy general under his command to meet him.

After the mission entered the city, the pavilion post had been prepared, and this Beiyuan City was also the last city in the Great Qin's sphere of influence where the mission was stationed, once it left Beiyuan City and crossed Ningshan, it would enter the control of the Western Liang people.

The deputy general sent by Yu Buqu is called Dou Bo, at first glance he is a fierce general who has been in battle for a long time, with big shoulders and round waist, thick as a steel needle, and his roots are erect, Chu Huan thought of the matter of the entry letter, and knew that the sooner he dealt with it at this time, the better, so he proposed to Dou Bo to meet Yu Buqu, and Dou Bo did not agree immediately, but only agreed to go and report to Yu Buqu.

After leaving the customs, the government along the way also tried their best to receive the embassy and arrange food and lodging, but compared to the customs, the food was much simpler, and the mission also knew that the situation in the northwest was special now, and it was not appropriate, and the food in the Beiyuan City Pavilion Station was not much stronger than the previous places, the mission was three or four hundred people, and the pavilion post was enough to manage the food, but after using the meal, the responsible official of the pavilion immediately asked people to come and clean up, but the leftovers were not ordered to be thrown away, but let people put them away carefully, Xue Huai'an saw it on the side, was quite surprised, and asked: "Is there a shortage of food in Kitahara Castle?"

The official just sighed: "My lord doesn't know, not only Beiyuan City, but also the entire northwest is also short of food. Although the grain and grass transported from the city of Beiyuan were concerned, the general had already ordered that there was a prescribed quota for everyone's rations in the city......! He didn't seem to want to say more, so he didn't continue.

Chu Huan looked at the official's expression and knew that the grain and grass in the northwest were indeed very nervous.

I thought that Yu Buqu was busy with military affairs and could not be seen in a short time, but Dou Bo came over soon and told Yu Buqu that he had taken time out and was about to meet with the chief and deputy envoys of the mission, Chu Huan and Xue Huai'an did not delay, and followed Dou Bo to Yu Buqu's residence on horseback, which was a very ordinary house, and there were not many soldiers guarding it, but there were many officers and generals who came in and out of the gate, Xue Huai'an and Chu Huan saw this, and they were all emotional, the pressure in the northwest was huge, and there were many affairs, and Yu Bu was old and old, but he had to deal with a lot of affairs every day. It is said that Yu Buqu's health was not very good, and he dragged his sick body to the northwest, so overdrawn, but he didn't know how long Yu Buqu could last.

Dou Bo took the two of them into the house, and when they arrived at a house, they asked the two to wait for a while, and when they went in to report, they soon saw a veteran coming out of the house in armor, and he arched his hand from a distance: "Lord Xue, Lord Chu, have worked hard all the way!" ”

The man was tall, dark-skinned, his gray beard and hair made his dark skin even more conspicuous, his forehead was full of wrinkles, but his eyes were still shining, although he was old, his waist was still straight, and he looked very majestic, but between walking, he was obviously no longer as brave as he used to be, and he looked very tired.

Chu Huan knew that this veteran who was still mighty was none other than Yu Buqu, the general of Dingguo, one of the four great generals of Great Qin.

Xue Huai'an had already stepped forward and arched his hand: "Old general, it's not hard for me to wait, the old general is really hard, you ...... Take care of yourself! He can naturally see that although Yu Buqu is strong enough to cheer up, but the fatigue is difficult to hide, this veteran who has been on the battlefield for a lifetime, at his age, most people have already raised flowers and birds, raised their days, and enjoyed the blessings of their children and grandchildren, but he still has to drag his old body to the northwest, under the harsh environment of the northwest, carrying the burden of the rise and fall of Great Qin, Xue Huai'an looked at Yu Buqu's sideburns and snow-white, in addition to respect, his heart was still somewhat emotional.

Chu Huan had also stepped forward and bowed deeply to Yu Buqu.

Yu Buqu stroked his white beard and said with a smile: "You are going to Xiliang this time, you are carrying a heavy burden, and the road behind is very difficult, and the old man has not been able to go out of the city to greet you, so you are not surprised." He took Xue Huai'an's hand and said, "Go in and talk!" ”

After entering the house and sitting down, Xue Huai'an knew that Yu Buqu was busy with affairs and couldn't delay too much, glanced at Chu Huan, and finally got straight to the point: "Old general, when I came out of Xigu Pass, I saw that Xigu Pass had been sealed and no one was allowed to enter the pass, this was an order issued by the old general?" ”