Everyone suddenly realized that the color of the coat had been modified, and they continued to ask, especially Pei Xingyan, who was the leader of the cavalry, and he had long regarded these war horses as his own, so he asked very carefully.

But Wu Gang didn't pay attention to anyone, his face became more and more serious, stroking these war horses one by one, his eyes were full of shock.

"Marshal, these horses... It's all... Baby! Wu Gang's voice trembled and said to Zhang Xuan.

Tong Tai laughed, "Yes, there are still experts who know the goods, they are all purebred Turkic horses, and they are one in a thousand stallions, produced on the shore of Julun Lake, even in the grassland, it is a priceless treasure, this is the dowry given by my father to Xin Yu, a total of fifteen horses." ”

Zhang Xuan smiled from ear to ear, he didn't expect Thule to give him more than a dozen of the best stallions, his riverside horse farm has been established for almost two years, raising more than a thousand horses, but they are all ordinary animal horses, there is not a single war horse, the fundamental reason is that there are no excellent stallions.

With these dozen or so top-notch Turkic stallions, it is conceivable that his war horses will increase rapidly in a few years, how can he not be happy.

"Tongtai, since it's a dowry, I won't say anything about thanks, go to the camp to rest, and I'll entertain you well."

"Wait! And the grass seeds you want. ”

Tongtai waved his hand again, and his subordinates carried ten bags of grass seeds, Tongtai smiled: "This is a thousand catties of alfalfa seeds on the shore of Julun Lake, which is the best grass in the grassland, with strong vitality, and can also grow by the sea, and the practice of the grassland is not allowed to be delivered, but you are my brother-in-law, since you are a family, we will make an exception." ”

Zhang Xuan is delighted that these alfalfa can be planted on the tidal flats of Beihai County and Donglai County, which can not only transform saline-alkali land, but also form large grasslands. Kill two birds with one stone.

Zhang Xuan was moved in his heart, and hurriedly invited everyone to rest in the tent, and ordered the sergeant to kill pigs and sheep, open the altar of wine, and entertain distinguished guests from afar.

The banquet tent was full of Roshan and a sea of wine, and all the generals above the rank of general attended the banquet. Two fat wrestlers perform sumo wrestling tricks in the tent, winning bursts of applause from time to time.

"I heard Xin Yu say that when she left the grassland, there seemed to be some contradictions within Bayegu, I don't know if they were resolved?" Zhang Xuan asked with a smile while holding the wine bowl.

Tongtai laughed, "The elder brother said it too tactfully, it's not a contradiction, it's a war between several major tribes, but it's been resolved." ”

"How to fix it?" Jang Hyun asked casually.

Jag Hyun was very concerned about the internal struggle of the grassland. He married Xin Yu, and in fact had already established some kind of special relationship with the grassland, and he was especially concerned about the development of the Kulun Tribe.

Tongtai obviously regarded Zhang Xuan as his brother, and he said without concealment: "This matter is a long story, but it is also very simple, there are dozens of tribes in Bayegu, but the largest is three tribes, the Kulun tribe, the Kent tribe and the Beiwan tribe. The other small tribes are attached to these three tribes, according to convention. The joint chief of the Baye Ancient Tribes is rotated between the three major tribes, and last year it was supposed to be my father's turn, but the Kent tribe refused to hand over the golden wolf head with the support of the Turks, and a war broke out between us and the Kent tribe last fall."

Speaking of this, Tongtai sighed and continued: "The Kent Ministry has always been stronger than us, and it has the support of the Turks. At the beginning of our successive defeats, the cavalry of the Kent army fought all the way to Kulun Lake, but fortunately in the harsh winter, they had to stop the attack, otherwise we would be wiped out. But after the beginning of spring, the situation was reversed, the Turkic army went south, and the northern tribe joined us, and we fought until the foot of the Kent Mountain, and the Kent tribe had to sacrifice the golden wolf's head, and promised to pay the annual tribute sheep, in fact, the Kent tribe no longer existed, and we broke it down into five tribes, and now my father has become the joint chief of the Baye Ancient tribe. ”

"And what about the attitude of the Turks?" Zhang Xuan asked again.

"The Turkic infighting is also very strong, Shibi Khan and several of his brothers are fighting openly and secretly, the contradiction has been made public, and now they have no time to take care of us for the time being, in fact, even if the Turks come to attack, we join forces with Tongluo and Huifu to fight, and we may not be afraid of them, so Shibi Khan sent an envoy to Kulun Lake last month to officially recognize my father's leadership position in the ancient tribe of Baye."

Zhang Xuan raised the wine bowl and said with a smile: "We will drink this tonight, and I will send a boat to send you to Beihai County to visit Xin Yu early tomorrow morning." ”

Tongtai shook his head and said: "I said that I was going to visit Xin Yu just to talk, I will rush back early tomorrow morning, this year the Khitans took advantage of our civil war to expand the pasture westward, and occupied a large area of grassland in our ancient part of the Baye, if the negotiation is useless, I am afraid that a war is inevitable." ”

"Need my help?" Jang Hyun asked.

Tongtai shook his head, "You can't help, it's too far, unless Luo Yiken sends troops, but Luo Yi had trade contacts with the Khitans when he was in Beiping County, and the relationship has always been very close, and my father is very worried that Luo Yi will secretly help the Khitan." ”

After a pause, Tongtai said: "There is one more thing to tell you, Gao Kaidao once sent people to our tribe to buy stallions, they wanted to cultivate war horses in the east of Yiwulu Mountain, and the horse buyers told me that they had Luo Yi's tacit permission to enter Liaodong from Beiping County. ”

Zhang Xuan was stunned, Gao Kaidao was the remnant of Ge Qian, how could Luo Yi allow them to enter Liaodong from Beiping County, and what kind of fame was hidden in it?

"Did you sell them stallions?"

Tongtai shook his head, "It's impossible to sell stallions, only sell them more than a hundred ordinary war horses, I heard that they went to Khitan to buy stallions again." ”

After pondering for a moment, Zhang Xuan smiled and said, "Okay! I can talk about it on Luo Yi's side, at least let him remain neutral, I don't think it's a big problem, and this time you go back, I can prepare some goods for you, see what you need? ”

Tongtai was overjoyed, if Zhang Xuan could persuade Luo Yi not to secretly help the Khitan, they would not be afraid of the Khitans.

"Thank you brother for your help, if possible, I want to bring some salt back this time!"

Everyone laughed, Pei Xingyan patted his chest and said, "We don't have anything else here, salt is everything, as long as you can move it!" ”

Early the next morning, Tongtai led his men to say goodbye and leave, Zhang Xuan gave them 200 camels, loaded with 4,000 catties of salt back to the grassland, Zhang Xuan sent them out of Qinghe County, and then returned to Gaotang County

At night, in the big tent of the Chinese army, Zhang Xuan stood in front of a map with his hands in his hand and pondered for a long time, for several months, an idea has been haunting his heart, but considering the need to gain a firm foothold, Zhang Xuan did not put it into practice, until this time Tongtai sent the stallion south, and mentioned the matter of Gao Kaidao into Liaodong, which reminded him to some extent that the time was ripe.

After pondering for a long time, Zhang Xuan turned around and smiled at Li Jing who was standing behind him: "Does the pharmacist still remember the three strategies that persuaded me to go north in Taiyuan?" ”

Li Jing nodded, "Da Shuai chose the third strategy and went directly north to Qingzhou, and it turned out that Da Shuai's choice was completely correct." ”

"But at that time, I was very excited about the first plan."

Li Jing suddenly understood what Zhang Xuan meant, and he said, "Dashuai wants to seize the Liaodong Peninsula?" ”

Zhang Xuan picked up the wooden pole and pointed to the map on the wall and said: "This is the southernmost city of the Liaodong Peninsula, I got information from the fishermen, there are about 1,000 Goguryeo troops stationed in this city, if we take it, we will have a significant springboard between Donglai County and Liaodong." ”

At this time, Fang Xuanling, who had been silent, interjected and asked, "Does the big man think that Luo Yi and Goguryeo also colluded?" ”

This question is a bit sudden, and it doesn't seem to be directly related to the issue at hand, but Zhang Xuan and Li Jing both understand that Fang Xuanling asked the most critical point.

Zhang Xuan said slowly: "Although there is no direct evidence, Gao Kaidao led the rest of his troops to retreat north to Liucheng County in Liaodong after Geqian's defeat, if there was no Luo Yi to let him go, how could Gao Kaidao lead 20,000 troops through Beiping County into the Liaodong Corridor?" ”

Zhang Xuan picked up a scroll next to him, "This is a volume of correspondence seized from the Bohai Society, a letter written by Gao Yuan, the king of Goguryeo, to Gao Lie, which mentions Gao Kaidao, hoping that Gao Kaidao can become a bridge between Goguryeo and the Bohai Society, which can prove that Gao Kaidao is actually a member of the royal family of Goguryeo, and Luo Yi released Gao Kaidao to go north to Liaodong, which proves that there is also some kind of ulterior connection between Luo Yi and Goguryeo." ”

"What are you going to do?"

Fang Xuanling continued to ask, "Is it just to send troops to the Humble City?" ”

Zhang Xuan shook his head, "I plan to do both, on the one hand, I am ready to occupy the Humble City, and on the other hand, I am ready to propose that Luo Yi join forces to attack Gao Kaidao, I want to see what his attitude is." ”

At this time, Li Jing said: "I have a suggestion, it is best to bring another imperial court force to Youzhou to contain and supervise Luo Yi, so as to prevent Luo Yi from peeping into Liaodong." ”

Zhang Xuan looked at Fang Xuanling again, and Fang Xuanling said happily: "The pharmacist's proposal is very timely, although Luo Yi is not Gao Lie, but it is still necessary to prevent his ambition from swelling and breaking the balance of Hebei prematurely, and the marshal can go to the king of Yan or the saint, and suggest that the imperial court strengthen the control of the Zhuojun warehouse, increase the garrison, and prevent being spied on by the bandits." ”

Zhang Xuan pondered for a moment, and finally accepted the suggestion of the two, "It's okay, then I'll do it three-prongedly!" (To be continued.) )