A few days ago, the swords and soldiers met each other, and the Gulang Gorge that killed the sun and the moon was dull, suddenly became a large construction site, along the canyon, in the middle of the canyon about 600 steps apart, two new cities are in the midst of tense buildings, among them, the front one has risen from the ground, and the back one is still laying the foundation.

Obviously, the front one is a temporary checkpoint, and the back one is the focus of the building, Herong New Town.

"Hey, hey!"

The people were shouting trumpets and laying the foundations. Not far away, the men were busy unloading stones from horse-drawn carts and donkey carts, and the empty carts immediately carried the excavated earth through a gap left in the construction site to the rudimentary city defense in front of it, where it was used to build an earthen wall. On both sides of the valley road, which is less than a mile wide, are stacked with huge trees that have just been cut down from the mountain for the construction of the castle. Standing on the sentry posts on both sides of the hill and looking down, the valley is a busy scene of city building.

Thousands of people in Changsong County were recruited and began to build a city in the bee waist position of Gulang Gorge, although it was a cold winter outside the valley, the valley was not very cold due to its position advantage - besides, even if it was cold, the city had to be built, otherwise it would really be able to restrain the army. The people who were sent to the nearest city were also willing to participate in the construction of the city, and each of them knew that the construction of the city meant safety for them, not to mention that the big * team was extremely kind, not only was the trade fair, but now the city was built and the money was still available. Earn some money in the winter and save some foundation for farming on your own land in the coming year, everyone is very willing.

"In the end, we are Tang people, we are kind and kind."

The former slaves, whose faces bloomed with joy, often marveled with such joy, ignoring the cold air and the tiring work.

Cui Chengdu was appointed as the envoy of the soldiers and horses of the Herong army, and the city of Herong was originally only set up to guard and capture, but because of the wartime, it was upgraded to the Herong army. Cui Chengdu led 5,000 people from his headquarters to garrison Gulang Gorge. These 5,000 people were all soldiers and horses brought by Cui Chengdu from Ziqing, and followed Cui Chengdu to surrender Li Guangyan in Puyang.

Cui Chengdu's Puyang garrison had nearly 30,000 people, and after the surrender, according to the spirit of eliminating the old and weak and retaining the strong, only 5,000 people were retained, and the rest were sent a sum of money to return to their hometowns to farm. Cui Jun's combat effectiveness is one in a hundred, and the proposal to build the city was put forward by Cui Chengdu, so Li Guangyan left Cui Jun here. According to the plan of the Ministry of War, Cui Bu will also take root in Hexi from now on.

As Cui Chengdu expected, when * began to build the city, the Tubo army in Herong City couldn't sit still, and sent an army of 300 people to attack and harass.

However, Cui Chengdu was not nervous about building the city, according to his plan, the city was built twice, the first he just built the city according to the requirements of the field battle, and connected the chariots collected by the generals and Changsong County, and placed shields on the vehicles, and a simple city was established. The purpose of this city building is naturally to cover the buildings of the new city behind, * The soldiers were based on the car wall, and the Tubo army was helpless.

By the time the reinforcements of the Tubo army arrived in Herong City, Cui Chengdu had already strengthened the simple city with earthen walls and fences, and under the cover of this car city, the people were building the new Herong City in an orderly manner. Cui Chengdu sent people to build several small forts on the mountains on both sides, and a complete defense system was established.

Although the focus is on the new city, the officials in charge feel that Cui Chengdu is not very concerned about the construction of the new city, and every time the officials who urge him want to speed up the progress, they are stopped by Cui Chengdu. The soldiers were anxious, and Cui Chengdu reassured:

"To build a city, you must build a prison, and you can't be greedy for speed."

In private, he said to his cronies and generals:

"Don't be impatient, as long as the new city is built, by the spring of next year, Herong City will definitely go down without a fight."

During this period of time, Cui Chengdu only left 3,000 soldiers to garrison in Gulang Gorge, while the remaining 2,000 soldiers were scattered to recruit and organize training government soldiers. Cui Chengdu understands very well, there is Tubo in the past, and there is Hui in the future, and Changsong is not easy to keep.

Zheng Quan, the ambassador of Longyou Hexi, under the escort of the soldiers of the Right Guard, finally came to Didao, accompanied by hundreds of carts of money and food. Since most of the enemy forces in Lintao and Hezhou have been cleared, the prince has moved to Didao with the Longyou Dao Xingtai. From afar, Zheng Quan saw the banner fluttering at the head of Di Dao City.

Two months have passed since the battle, and there is no trace of the great battle that had taken place here dozens of days ago with 100,000 dead and wounded. However, if you look closely, you will find that the urchins on the side of the road will wear armor or soft hats on their heads or bodies, wrap their furs, and play with weapons that are in short supply.

The water of the Tao River has frozen, and the ice in some sections of the river is red.

Tian Zhixing, the Lintao regimental training envoy who was ordered to Qinzhou to meet Zheng Quan, explained to Zheng Quan:

As soon as the battle was over, Deputy Envoy Li sent soldiers to clean up the battlefield and gathered all the corpses of the Tubo army at the foot of Dongshan and burned them. Otherwise, the coming year will be a great plague. ”

Regarding the war that Zheng Quan was deeply interested in, Tian Zhixing said with shame on his face:

"Lord Zheng, don't be ashamed of me, the last general had a bad stomach before the war, and was sent by the deputy marshal to guard the baggage in the city, but he didn't catch up with the fight - the last general repeatedly asked for battle, but the deputy marshal was not allowed."

When Zheng Quan asked about the latest progress of the war, Tian Zhixing's eyebrows danced again, and said:

"It is good to teach Master Zheng that General Li Wentong has led the army to open up the Haidian Gorge, and the remnants of the army led by Short Lizang have been defeated and retreated to Shanzhou. To say that our deputy marshal's mind is really ruthless, the Tubo people are stunned that they have not taken advantage of the slightest advantage, and they have cheapened so much military resources of our army. I heard the spies report that as soon as Lizang entered Shanzhou, he cried, took 50,000 people with him, and only 5,000 returned, and they were all like starving ghosts. Half of those who did not return died of starvation on the way to escape. ”

Tian Zhixing said it wildly, and Zheng Quan and his subordinates laughed when they heard it. Seeing that Zheng Quan was interested, Tian Zhixing mentioned the situation on Hao Jue's side again, and said:

"Vice Marshal Hao led the army has uprooted the eight fortresses on the periphery of Shanzhou in one go, and General Li Wentong also led the army to outflank Shanzhou from the side, according to the general's estimate, at the end of the year, Vice Marshal Hao will be able to set up camp under the city of Shanzhou. As long as Shanzhou is defeated, Chen Guogong will have no worries all the way, and he can rest assured that he will pass through Hexi. It's just that the poor general, watching others make meritorious contributions, doesn't know when he will be able to get the battle. ”

Seeing that Tian Zhixing became more and more excited the more he spoke, Zheng Quan asked:

"General Tian, Shanzhou is only less than four hundred miles away from Lanzhou, why has it been almost two months since Lanzhou was taken, and Vice Marshal Hao has only advanced one hundred and eighty miles?"

Tian Zhixing said:

"Master Zheng, this is called steady and steady, step by step. As the saying goes, the soldiers and horses have not moved, the grain and grass go first, in order to protect the grain road, Vice Marshal Hao is building the city while advancing, otherwise the 400-mile road is not far away, it is not close to the near, once the enemy has copied the grain road, the grain can not be received, and no matter how much the army is useless. Moreover, while Deputy Marshal Hao marched into Shanzhou, he also sent a partial division to sweep along the southern foot of Qilian Mountain to protect Chen Guogong's flank. Not only Deputy Marshal Hao, but also our Deputy Marshal, also recruited people to build cities along the road to ensure the back road for General Li. This progress is naturally not fast, but it is also the safest. ”

After a pause, Tian Zhixing continued:

"Lord Zheng, like before we joined the army, we all thought that we could fight quickly like a gust of wind, but when we really joined the army, I found that this war is like building a house, everything has to come step by step, and we can't be anxious or impatient. Let's take the imperial court through Longyou as an example, His Majesty was planning this matter as soon as he ascended the throne, and he had been planning for seven years until he sent troops, how many Tubo, how many Qiang, how many Han people were in the Longyou area, the situation of the mountains and rivers, the fortress and grain camp, and even when and what weather were clearly investigated. The last general was originally the ten generals of Shannan Dongdao, and he made some small contributions to Huaixi in Liangguo, and Huaixi was promoted to martial arts as soon as he finished, and then he was transferred to Fengxiang, and he was familiar with his subordinates for a year before he was allowed to go on the expedition, think about it, how carefully prepared this battle is, right? At the moment, it seems that the progress of our three-way army is slowing down, but the battle is reassuring to fight like this, why? The foundation is firmly rooted. ”

Tian Zhixing's words made Zheng Quan ponder, until Tian Zhixing reminded Zheng Quan and Lord Lu Wen to come to greet him, Zheng Quan relieved himself from his contemplation, arched his hand at Tian Zhixing, said "taught", and walked over to Lu Wen, leaving the surprised Tian Zhixing to stay in place with his mouth wide open.

Tian Zhixing later said:

"From the mouth of such a big official, you can say 'taught' to our generals, this Lord Zheng is really a prime minister, and he can be handed over!"