At night, half an hour before the thousands of cavalry attacked the Yuan's warehouse, an uninvited guest came to the home of Zhang Miao, the county commander of Honghua County, this person was in his twenties, tall and burly, wearing a purple robe that only officials of the fifth rank or above could wear, wearing a gauze hat, standing at the door of Zhang Miao's house with his hands behind his back, not far away, dozens of guards stood in front of a carriage.

"May I ask who is the gentleman, and what are you looking for me?"

"It's not easy to talk here, go into your house and talk about it." The person who came was mysterious and unpredictable, which made Zhang Miao confused.

Zhang Miao didn't know the background of this person, but the purple gold fish bag worn by the other party's waist made him dare not have a trace of slackness, and hurriedly invited the person into the house and sat down in the guest hall, Zhang Miao asked cautiously: "Excuse me, is Mr. ......?"

"Yang Yuanqing in Xiafengzhou!"

Shocked, Zhang Miao stood up suddenly, and hurriedly gave a deep salute, "Your Majesty is rude, please forgive President Yang!" ”

Zhang Miao was a little panicked, Yang Yuanqing actually came to his small county in person, and came to look for him, so he didn't know what to do? The mind is in turmoil.

"Zhang Xianling, please take a seat!"

Yang Yuanqing smiled slightly: "I just passed by Guixian County, said a few words and left." ”

Zhang Miao said respectfully: "Please advise Mr. Yang!" ”

"That's right, I received information that Bai Yushao's army is very likely to attack Honghua County tonight, you should prepare for your own defense, and don't open the city gate easily."

Zhang Miao was frightened, this place is very close to Heshui County, there are heavy troops stationed in Heshui County, Bai Yusao and the bandits never dare to attack them, why do they want to come tonight?

"Xiaguan thanks to General Manager Yang for reminding me, and Xiaguan immediately sent someone to the garrison of Heshui County for help."

Yang Yuanqing's face sank, and he said in an unhappy tone: "No! Close the city gates, and Bai Yushao's army will naturally retreat. ”

"Yes, Xia Guan understands." Zhang Miao felt strange in her heart, and she didn't know where she offended Yang Yuanqing.

Yang Yuanqing asked him again: "What did I say to you just now?" ”

"Manager Yang said that Bai Yushao's army is coming to attack Honghua County tonight, and I can close the city gate."

Yang Yuanqing nodded, stood up and said, "That's it, I'm leaving." ”

He got up and walked outside. Zhang Miao sent him out all the way, standing at the door and bowing non-stop, all the while watching Yang Yuanqing get into the carriage. More than 100 personal soldiers escorted him away, and Zhang Miao wiped the sweat from his forehead and breathed a long sigh of relief.

On the carriage, 'Yang Yuanqing' took off his hat and complained to Li Jing: "Master asked me to pretend to be the manager. I'm going to have to be beaten with a hundred sticks when I go back. ”

Li Jing smiled and said: "You are the same age as Yuan Qing, it is most suitable to pretend to him, if I pretend to be too old, don't worry, he won't know about it." Got it, I can explain it for you. ”

The person who pretended to be Yang Yuanqing was Su Lie, he scratched his head and smiled: "Is pretending to be the chief manager useful for that county order?" ”

"I have inquired about this Zhang County, he is timid and afraid, and Manager Yang personally looks for him, which is more effective than anything else."

The carriage rushed out of the gate before it was closed, and galloped toward the snowy wilderness.

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The county commander Zhang Miao sat in the room and was nervous, and the order to close the city gate had been issued. But he didn't know when Bai Yushao's army would arrive. He didn't know what Yang Yuanqing would bring to himself when he came to visit in person? What should the court do if it finds out?

He fidgeted, pacing with his hands behind his back, standing in front of the window and sighing, when a family member hurried in. "Master, there's something going on outside."

Zhang Miao was taken aback. Walking out of the house quickly, I saw a servant standing at the door. His face was full of panic.

"What's wrong?"

"Report to the county order, the army from outside the city is looting the Yuan warehouse, you go and take a look!"

Zhang Miao didn't say a word, ran up the city wall in one breath, stood at the head of the city and looked into the distance, and could faintly see that two miles away, countless cavalry had surrounded the Yuan family's warehouse, and thousands of camels were carrying supplies.

Zhang Miao looked at it in a daze, with a look of fear in his eyes, and at this time, the county lieutenant whispered beside him: "County order, Bai Yu's bandits never dared to come to Honghua County, why did they come today, could it not be them?" ”

As soon as Zhang Miao turned around, he glared at the county order viciously, and shouted sharply: "Who said no, this is Bai Yu's bandit!" ”

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Ten days later, thousands of cavalry escorted a caravan full of supplies back to Fengzhou, where they swept away more than a dozen Yuanjia warehouses and obtained a large number of strategic materials, raw materials for making bows and arrows, more than 200,000 high-quality ash rods, and a large number of tents, flags, gongs and drums, and some grain cloth.

Food, cloth, tents and other items were not uncommon, but the raw materials for making bows and arrows and more than 200,000 high-quality ash poles were undoubtedly a relief for Toyoshu, which had already smelted fine iron and waited for these raw materials to start making weapons and armor.

Du Ruhui was overjoyed and immediately sent someone to Dali City to report to Yang Yuanqing.

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At this time, Yang Yuanqing was inspecting the Pu Tao Garden with Cui Junsu, the county governor of Wuyuan County, and at a joint meeting of the military government and the county government a few days ago, after some discussion, the two sides reached an agreement to reduce the 10,000 hectares of Pu Tao Garden south of Dali City by half and change it to grain planting, so that 5,000 hectares of good arable land could be obtained.

"The land that has been reduced this time is all official land, and the farmers' individual peach orchards have basically not been touched, and if they are willing to change to grow grain, they can only do whatever they want."

In front of the boundless Putao Frame covered by heavy snow, dozens of people rode horses to inspect the Putao Garden, and Cui Junsu was telling Yang Yuanqing about the specific plan of 'garden to farmland'.

"This land change involves the resettlement of more than 2,000 peach workers, I have contacted some private peach orchard owners, more than 2,000 people can basically be resettled, farmers who farm I plan to select 5,000 households from the refugees who fled from the counties of Guanbei, and rent them according to one household of 100 acres, we have fertile land here, sufficient water sources, basically no disaster, in a year, these 5,000 hectares of land can provide at least 400,000 stone official grain, used as a strategic reserve."

Yang Yuanqing nodded, he knew that one acre of land could produce about two stones and five buckets of wheat, and the official took eight buckets as the field rent, compared with the fifty percent rent of the Central Plains official field, this rent is indeed not high.

"This matter can be handed over to the scholars who have been admitted to the imperial examination this year to do it, and exercise their abilities well."

"Don't worry, boss! I'll arrange this. ”

Cui Junsu couldn't help but sigh softly, "It's a pity that with 5,000 hectares of fine peach orchards, the production of Dali peach wine will be reduced by half." ”

"Pu peach wine is only a product of the prosperous era, for the troubled times, or the most important thing is to grow grain, and wait for the prosperous era to come back in the future. We will resume planting peach, restore the production of Dali peach, and then say that scarcity is expensive. If production decreases, prices will also rise, and money will not be lost. ”

Yang Yuanqing comforted Cui Junsu, and Cui Junsu smiled bitterly. "I also know, but it's a pity in my heart, a little lost."

Yang Yuanqing patted him on the shoulder, turned his horse's head and headed towards Dali City, just walking out of Putaoyuan. A cavalryman galloped up, "Report to the governor, a troop of Turkic cavalry, about five hundred men, is waiting for the governor in the city of Dali." ”

Yang Yuanqing was stunned, the snow covered the grassland, how could the Turks come over, was it to follow the example of riding a camel across the snowfield back then?

He immediately hurried his horse to the city of Dali. Outside the city of Dali. Sure enough, I saw five hundred Turkic soldiers on camels, and the defenders did not allow them to enter the city without Yang Yuanqing's permission.

Five hundred Turkic cavalry protected a man in his thirties, wearing a hatless hat, an expensive black fox fur robe, and a bow and sword. Energetic, he saw Yang Yuanqing from afar. He laughed and shouted, "Brother Yuanqing." I didn't think I'd come! ”

The person who came turned out to be the Northern Turk Yehu Utu, Yang Yuanqing was overjoyed, greeted him with a smile, and the two turned over and dismounted, hugging each other affectionately.

Utu looked him up and down, gave him a punch and smiled: "I heard that you also rebelled?" ”

"How so?"

Yang Yuanqing pointed to the banner of the Sui Dynasty on the head of the city and said with a smile: "It's still the red flag of the Sui Dynasty, when did I rebel?" ”

"I think too, if even you rebel, the Sui Dynasty should be finished."

Utu took a closer look at Dali City again, and couldn't help but nod and praise: "It is worthy of a fortified city, and it is reasonable that Xue Yantuo can't capture it." ”

Yang Yuanqing put his arm around his shoulders and smiled: "Let's not talk about this for now, go into the city to roast the fire, and drink a few bowls of hot soup." ”

"Then I'll accept your hospitality."

Yang Yuanqing waved his hand, "Kaicheng!" ”

The city gate rumbled open, and five hundred Turkic camel cavalry marched into Dali City, Yang Yuanqing ordered the officials to arrange for the Turkic cavalry to eat and rest, and he led Utu to the county government and sat down in the county government's meeting hall.

After drinking a cup of hot tea, Utu said to him: "The reason why I chose to meet you at this time is because only in winter, Shibi Khan will not attack me, we have fought three major battles in the past few years, each with victory and defeat, but in the first battle this autumn, we were defeated, and more than 30,000 people were killed. ”

Speaking of this, Utu's expression became extremely grim, he took off the bow on his back and put it in front of Yang Yuanqing, "You take a look at this bow first!" ”

Yang Yuanqing took the bow and took a look, he had been immersed in the bow for many years, and at a glance he knew that it was an eight-bucket riding bow, well-made, at first glance, there was no difference from the bow of the Sui cavalry, but if you looked closely, it was still different, the bow of the Sui army was mainly made of silk, but this bow was made of cow tendons, Yang Yuanqing frowned, "This is not the bow of the Sui army!" ”

"It's really not, it's the bow of the Shibi Khan that they made themselves."

Yang Yuanqing was taken aback, he knew that the Turkic bows were crudely made and had a range of only thirty or forty steps, how could they make such a powerful bow.

"Frankly speaking, this is what the Sui Dynasty people taught them, your Sui Dynasty was in civil strife, a large number of refugees fled to the Turks, and there were many craftsmen among them, and it was these craftsmen who taught Shibi Khan how to make bows, and they spent two years to build a large number of bows, and as a result, they fought a battle this autumn and defeated us."

Utu sighed, "We are now in a crisis due to the disadvantage of the bow and arrow, and I have to ask you for help, hoping that you can sell me five thousand bows, and I will buy them at a high price." ”

Yang Yuanqing knew very well in his heart that the fundamental reason why Shibi Khan had not gone south to attack him was that Utu had restrained him in the north, and if the Utu Department was defeated, then Shibi Khan would have no worries and would have to go south.

What's more important is that the technology of bow-making has been introduced to the Turks, the Turks are not short of raw materials, only lack of technology, it is foreseeable that the Turkic bows and arrows will inevitably advance by leaps and bounds, and the ban is already unbearable, selling the bow to Utu, and there is nothing to help the aliens, this is more of a strategic choice, he needs Utu to contain Shibi Khan for himself.

Seeing that Yang Yuanqing was pondering, Utu thought that he was unwilling, so he said: "Actually, I don't want to embarrass you, because I also got more than a hundred Sui Dynasty archers, I thought I could make the same bow immediately, but they told me that it will take at least two years to make a bow, that is, I will have the same bow as Duji after two years, but by then, my clan may be killed by him, and I can only come to beg you, but I will never let you suffer." ”

Utu took a knife from his waist and put it on the table, "This is a sword made of Gaza iron by the Gazas, the soldiers are extremely sharp, and it is also a treasure in the Turks, I will bring five thousand this time, how about exchanging a Gaza knife for a Sui bow?" ”

Yang Yuanqing picked up the knife and slowly pulled it out, only to see that the cold light was forested, the blade was sharp, it was worthy of being made of meteoric iron, in fact, there was a surplus of bows and arrows in Fengzhou, and the militia had 30,000 bows, and it didn't hurt to sell 5,000 to Utu.

Yang Yuanqing smiled slightly: "I can agree, but I have one additional condition." ”

Utu rejoiced, "You say, what conditions! ”

"I want Toyosu to form an alliance with your Northern Turks, and your army must come to my aid in the event that Shibi Khan attacks Toyosu."

Utu took out an arrow, folded it in two sections, knelt down on one knee, and said to the heavens: "I, Alteutu, swear to Tengger that once Fengzhou is in trouble, my army will come to help, and I will never go back at any time!" ”

"Good! Then we'll make up our minds. ”

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After the two finished talking, Utu took out another letter and handed it to Yang Yuanqing, "This is Anuri's letter to Asto, since Asduo has decided to follow you, then we also agree, I only hope you don't disappoint her, then she should also be your wife." ”

Yang Yuanqing nodded, "Don't worry!" I have come to regard her as my wife, and she will always follow me. ”

Utu sighed again and said: "There is one more thing I want to remind you, this time Shibi Khan defeated us, our vitality was greatly damaged, in a short time, my tribe is unable to fight with him again, the five thousand bows you provide can only allow us to protect ourselves, in this way, Shibi Khan may have the energy to consider the Great Sui, in the last year or two, he may plot against the Great Sui." ”

Speaking of this, Utu hurriedly said: "But there is no problem here in Fengzhou, I will send a patrol to monitor the movement here, if he wants to seek Fengzhou, I will immediately send 30,000 troops to support you, but in other places in Dasui, I can't help." ”

Yang Yuanqing pondered for a moment and asked, "How many troops does Shibi Khan have now?" ”

"He now controls thousands of tribes, there are more than 500,000 armor warriors, and his strength is strong, I only have more than 100,000 warriors left, and he is far from being his opponent, and in the future, we can only unite with the Western Turks to fight against him."

Yang Yuanqing made a decision in his heart, he must march into the Hetao area of Yulin County as soon as possible and establish fortifications to defend against the Turks.