It began to rain lightly at noon, and the sky was gray. In the afternoon, dark clouds the size of a city appeared over Shule City. The clouds are getting thicker and darker. Bursts of thunder came from the sky from time to time.

The bean-sized rain was falling dripping. The rain was getting heavier and the thunder was getting louder, and the residents of the city had hurried back to their homes, and the small traders and vendors had packed up their goods and ended their business early.

Shile was standing by the window at the moment, watching the rain trickle down the eaves, watching it grow denser and denser, and finally became a hanging curtain of water. The sound of rushing water is like a small river flowing outside the window. The bright light of lightning shone on Han Luo's face, making his face gloomy and cold.

Just now, Shi Le had just seen the new plan presented by Kui'an, in which Kui'an proposed a bold military adventure plan in response to the current difficulties faced by the Qiang people. If this plan can be realized, perhaps his options will increase considerably, and the war may enter a new phase.

In Shile's opinion, although Kui'an's plan was a bit risky, he found that this plan was still very likely to be realized! As Shi Le's confidant and strategist, Kui An is a more strategic talent under him. He could see at a glance the predicament faced by the Qiang people today, and in the case of the aggressiveness of the Great Jin Dynasty, the prospects of the Qiang people became more and more obscure.

As soon as he thought of Kui'an, Shi Le couldn't help but think of the situation in front of him, and immediately he felt an uncomfortable feeling in his heart. The once glorious cavalry of the Qiang people has lost its former glory, and the Western Regions Empire they established with their sabers has only existed for about half a year.

But. This defeat is not without benefits, at least it makes the over-inflated generals of the Qiang clan re-realize their own shortcomings. The defeat in the battle some time ago has a certain relationship with the fact that the people always seem to have not devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the war.

Schler did not put the blame for the defeat on his men, and as the commander-in-chief, he certainly took all the responsibility for the defeat on himself. After the end of the early battle, Shi Le did not mean to make any accusations against Ma Qiu and others.

When summarizing the gains and losses of the battle, Shi Le repeatedly emphasized that the Liang people lacked corresponding intelligence understanding of the Great Jin, which led them to ignore the intention of the Jin people to attack the east and west, resulting in the collapse of the entire front.

After seeing the report submitted by Kui'an. To be cautious. He summoned several of his key subordinates for a discussion. In Shi Le's room, there were Kui An, Hu Yanmo, Tao Leopard, Ma Qiu, Liu Ying, and other subordinates from the Eighteen Cavalry, who came to Shi Le's room early this morning to discuss the military adventure plan submitted by Kui An on an all-out southward operation.

In the midst of all the people. The most uneasy mood is Ma Qiu. He was very worried some time ago. lest the responsibility for losing Qiuzi, the Che Master, and Yanqi fall on his head, making him a scapegoat. Fortunately, Shi Le saw that it was the time to employ people, and he did not criticize Ma Qiu too harshly. Instead, he took the initiative to take full responsibility, which made Ma Qiu really put her mind at ease. But at the same time, Ma Qiu also felt that Shi Le treated him a lot colder.

Ma Qiu knew that his status in Shi Le's mind had dropped a lot, and he had been working actively for a long time, just to redeem Shi Le's impression of him. Today, when Ma Qiu saw the plan submitted by Kui An, he couldn't help but feel jealous, and he couldn't help but wonder why it wasn't he Ma Qiu who proposed this plan?

After a period of silence in the room, Hu Yanmo was the first to speak: "General, my subordinates have thought twice and think that Kui'an's plan is feasible, and the suggestions put forward are reasonable, and they can be implemented according to this plan. If we control the entire Indian subcontinent in a year or two, we can completely avoid the Jin army and thus establish hegemony in the southern part of the Transoxiana region. ”

Ma Qiu suddenly woke up when he heard this, as if he had been struck on the head. Only then did he remember that he had to behave well in the crowd, and the province was deprived of the right to lead the troops by Shile. How can we get Scheller's attention? No, I can't just go along with everyone, Ma Qiu felt that he had to pick out some faults from it, plus some of his own opinions, so that he could prove his worth again in front of Shi Le.

Ma Qiu thought about it carefully, and he immediately said: "General, Lord Kui'an's plan is very good, and he has thought it through. However, some of these specific measures are still up for debate. ”

Hearing this, Shi Le asked with a pleasant face, "I don't know how General Ma Qiu thinks about it?" ”

Ma Qiu froze and recalled the contents of the plan that he had cursolutly skimmed just now. Then he said: "The subordinates have different views on the time of requisitioning the people of the Western Regions mentioned in the plan. ”

"Oh?" Hu Yanmo asked in surprise: "General Ma, what's wrong with this." ”

Ma Qiu continued: "You people from the Western Regions are not our Qiang people, we have nothing, in order to survive, let alone go south to the Indian subcontinent, it is also possible to go north to the far north. But the people of the Western Regions are different, they only took refuge in us because of the oppression of the Jin people. ”

"If we stay in the Western Regions to fight against the Jin army, these people from the Western Regions will fully support us. Once we go south to fight, I am afraid that we will deal with those who may not abandon their homes and careers and follow us. If you can't take part of the Western Regions to the south, with less than 20,000 elites, it may not be realistic to conquer the Gangetic Plain with millions of people, right? ”

Ma Qiu talked eloquently, talking to the point, and the people in the room frowned and were silent. Seeing that everyone was still silent, Ma Qiu's heart also became proud, it seemed that no one else had taken this layer into account, especially Shi Le's expression of appreciation, which made him even more proud.

At this time, Kui An Shangxian coughed, cleared his throat and said, "General Ma Qiu's words do have a certain amount of truth. It is indeed a bit difficult to convince the people of the Western Regions to flee with us. However, it is not hopeless, everyone knows that most of the people in the Western Regions believe in Buddhism, and now the Jin army is wantonly destroying Buddhism in the Western Regions, resulting in the loss of the people's hearts! ”

"South Asia is the homeland of Buddhism, and we can start from this point and mobilize more people from the Western Regions to move to South Asia. In addition, although we are not familiar with South Asia, the previous Dayue Clan was the former overlord of South Asia, with the Otsuki Clan as a guide, plus the wealth of the Western Regions and the brave and warlike Qiang Elite Cavalry. General, we can establish a new hegemony in the South Asian subcontinent again as we did when we advanced into the Western Regions! ”

After hearing Kui'an's words, Ma Qiu stopped speaking, although his head was not very good, he was not stupid. How could he not see that Shi Le had already been tempted, anyway, he had already shown what he should have performed, as long as he realized that he Ma Qiu still had the value of use!

Shi Le then walked back to his seat and asked the crowd, "What do you think?" There was no objection to this.

Seeing that everyone had no objections, Shi Le ordered: "This will be officially announced: the southern expedition plan has officially begun!" Order: Hu Yanmo as the main general, Ma Qiu as the deputy general to command 3,000 cavalry and 10,000 vassals as the vanguard of the southern expedition, and set off three days later. The rest of the ministries then took action, and the specific actions were taken by Kui An! ”

Before the army set out for South Asia this time, he also wanted to finally catch a handful in the Western Regions. This time, he set his sights on the anti-Jin alliance formed by the countries of the Western Regions. At present, this alliance has more than a dozen former Western Regions vassal states, and their purpose is to oppose the Jin people's rule over the Western Regions.

After soliciting the opinions of Kui An and others, Shile fully considered the situation of the countries in the Western Regions, and believed that the current alliance was still relatively loose and fragile, and there were many weaknesses that could be exploited.

First, the subject states only focus on their own interests and quarrel with each other over their interests. Countries that have participated in the attack on the Xiang army should give them some of the spoils of war that have been obtained without fighting if they have gained advantage but have not fought for it. There wasn't really much loot, just some people didn't want to let others stand by and watch the fun.

The subject countries, which were considered to have taken advantage of the bargain, disagreed, believing that although they did not send troops, they did not take advantage of them and should not compensate other countries with money. Therefore, it is difficult for this anti-Jin alliance to form a unified force at present.

Second, the alliance lacks a strict organizational division of labor and a legal system, and there are no rules to follow. The nobles of the countries participating in the alliance all verbally agreed to send troops to help, and once a war really broke out, it was not certain that they would definitely rescue each other. Moreover, the distance between the various ministries varies, and even if they want to call for help, they may not be able to catch up in time.

The chaos of the countries in the Western Regions has given the people the opportunity to fish in troubled waters. After obtaining Shile's authorization, Kui'an officially began to integrate the forces of the Western Regions, and soon a coalition of 30,000 Western Regions people joined the southern expedition plan of the Qiang people. In order to lure the people of the Western Regions to participate in the southern expedition, Kui An wrote a lot of blank checks to the other party.

In particular, the article that allowed soldiers to keep two-thirds of what they had captured on the battlefield greatly attracted many poor people from the Western Regions. At the same time, the slogan of the Qiang people to establish a country of Buddhism in the land where the Buddha is alone has also greatly attracted many people from the Western Regions who believe in Buddhism.

The 15,000-strong vanguard army marched out, with a mighty momentum and a huge momentum. For Schle, this was another military adventure in his life. Although Shi Le had taken many adventures before, he still couldn't help but feel excited in his heart, his eyes were blazing, shining sharply, and his face was slightly red from excitement.

Shi Le's life seems to be inseparable from various choices and adventures, the first time he chooses, he and Xiao Baqi followed Ji Sang to participate in the rebels of the king of Chengdu, that time was the first time Shi Le appeared on the stage of history. The second time was after the defeat of the king of Chengdu, when Jisang had just died in battle, and Shile had to choose to go north to join the Huns.

Originally, he thought that he would rise with the powerful Huns, but who knew that after the attack of the Great Jin Sanban axe, the powerful Huns were wiped out. Shi Le, who knew that there was no place for him in the Central Plains, had to lead his people to choose to go north.

If the previous choices allowed Schler to preserve his strength in a dangerous situation. That most recent choice led Shiler to glory. This time Shile was once again faced with a choice, and no one knew what fate would await him after this choice, but now there were not many paths for him to choose from. (To be continued......)