Cai Lang, the centurion of the Hussar Battalion of the Jiaorong Army, held the soft reins of the horse in his left hand, his right hand hung down on the saddle, and his body wrapped in wolf skin was crooked. He is Cai Tianhe, who Cai Yutuo gave to Wu Yingying, and after arriving in Lanzhou, he was named Cai Lang.

Wu Yingying went to Bianliang as a hostage, and originally entrusted Cai Lang to the township school to teach Liang Zuoqiu and Xiao Jiu together, hoping that he could learn to become a civil and military all-rounder. This Cai Lang somehow did not obey his father and insisted on training in the army. Liang Zuoqiu, who didn't know Cai Lang's identity, was greatly appreciated, Xiao Jiu couldn't, so he had to report to Wu Yingying, Wu Yingying thought that Cai Lang was eighteen years old this year, and he should be able to make his own choice, so he told Xiao Jiu to tell Cai Lang to join the best Jiaorong army in military discipline, if he didn't have enough ability, then he had nothing to say.

Since ancient times, the dynasty has been poor and rich in military affairs. Although the Jinling Cai clan emphasizes literature and light martial arts, but the children of wealthy families do not expect to be a scholar and a first, so they do not need to be poor, and most of the parents hope that their children can be both civil and military, and many children of the wealthy family also do some flying eagle lackeys in the name of practicing martial arts. Therefore, this martial arts practice is the same as Mr. Wen, and each royal palace has raised several of them. When Cai Lang was young, he had the guidance of the palace to practice equestrian archery, and his foundation was quite solid. After the big changes, he practiced more diligently, and there were many soldiers in the Ya military camp around him to ask for advice. Therefore, Cai Lang only relied on a body of bow and horse kung fu, and actually passed the selection of the sergeant of the Jiaorong Army, and because he was literate and hyphenated, familiar with military books, he could still take care of his subordinates, within a year, he first won the ten commanders with bravery, and later was promoted to the head of the capital, and the eighteen-year-old centurion was a centurion.

At this time, Cai Lang's cavalry were all like him, exhausted, some of them were wounded, and several horses were carrying white cloth bags full of urns of ashes. However, everyone's faces were excited. Even the flag-bearer who was so tired that he almost closed his eyes struggled to lift the banner of the Jiaorong army forward, and the north wind howled, and the wind rolled the banner as if to blow the flag sergeant and his horse to the ground, but the banner was just hunting and flying, showing a kind of tenacious strength.

Coming to the city, nearly 100 cavalry handed over the seal and slowly passed through the city gate.

After more than a year of operating the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, it was indeed the same as Wu Yingying had expected, the march at the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains was very smooth, and the villages and towns in the desert that lived on oasis agriculture and receiving traders welcomed the return of the Anxi army to the Western Regions, because this meant the re-prosperity of the trade routes between the east and the west, and the lives of the local residents would be more prosperous. Therefore, the Lian Rui army, which was responsible for managing the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, only marched west with only 2,000 light troops, and went all the way to the western border of Khotan, and established a good relationship with Cai Shengtian, the lord of Khotan.

The situation in the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains was more complicated than Wu Yingying thought, not only were the Qochang Uighurs, who were supported by the Karakhanate entrenched in a vast area from Qiuzi to Xizhou, but also a huge number of horse thieves. The difficulty of the battle against bandits was even greater than that of the hussars to conquer the steppe tribes.

Entering the city, Cai Lang pulled the face towel used to shield the wind and sand to his neck, revealing a handsome face, and under the two thick eyebrows, a pair of eyes revealed a mature temperament that did not match his face. Looking at it carefully, it is actually three points similar to Cai Yu, the prince of Longxi County, who lives in Bianliang. His eyes were sharp, and with a glance he saw Zhou Hou, who was hurrying down from the city, looking at him with concern in the crowd. Cai Lang's chest was stabbed by the horse thief with a burning pain, and his eyes immediately dimmed, as if he had never known Mrs. Zhou.

Inside the doorway, there were already hundreds of military dependents who had received the news, and they were dozens of steps away. The rules of the Anxi army were very strict, and even if the officers and soldiers met the waiting dependents at the city gate, they could only go home after the soldiers returned to the camp, and these dependents gathered here to wait, just to take a look and confirm that the son, husband, and father who had gone out of the battle had returned safely. Of course, the cavalrymen who sat on the ground would also say hello to their families standing on both sides of the street, but they did not see the families who returned safely, some of them cried bitterly on the spot, and some silently took their children back to the house, waiting for the military government to confirm the bad news.

The hussars didn't have time to stay, so they went straight through the street and came to the Shazhou Thorn History Office, where Xiao Jiu's daily office was located. At that time, it was already dark, Xiao Jiu was still working in the government office, he had no other home, he dealt with the exchanges of various armies during the day, and sorted out his thoughts at night, and reported important matters to Wu Yingying and Xin Gu to know.

The lantern hanging high in front of Xiao Jiu's office, with the word "Anxi" written on it in a large script, for more than a year, the countless robes of the two armies of Jiao Rong Lianrui were sprinkled with blood in the desert, which was to make the horse thief see these two words from a distance and flee from the wind.

"Cai Dutou, what is the result of contacting Wu Zaili, the assassin of Yizhou, this time?" Xiao Jiu, who was buried in the case, raised his head and smiled at him gently.

Cai Lang looked at his nose and nose, his nose looked at his heart, his face sank like water, his hands clenched into fists, and he said in a deep voice: "General Xiao, Wu Zaili, the assassin of Yizhou, has decided to lead the military and civilians of the whole state to Anxi, just waiting for the adults to go to appease and test." ”

"What?" Xiao Jiu was overjoyed and sent Cai Lang, a group of more than 100 people, to contact Yizhou, originally only wanting to join forces with Wu Zaili to deal with the horse thieves, but he never thought that Cai Lang would be able to persuade Wu Zaili to return.

After the imperial court transferred the main force of the four towns of Anxi back to the Central Plains, the Tibetans and Uighurs came to invade one after another, and the generals of the Wu family and the surrounding Hu Lu were in a hurry to maintain the situation until today. There are nearly 3,000 elite soldiers under Wu Zaili, all of whom are elite soldiers who have been tempered in battles with Uighurs and horse thieves, and Wu Zaili himself is also regarded as the leader of the remaining four towns of Anxi in the Western Regions. Since the two armies of Jiaorong and Lianrui entered the Western Regions, although there were many Han soldiers who had subdued and divided the land to defend themselves, most of them were only a few hundred people, or simply some armed villages, which had been entrenched in the Western Regions for nearly two hundred years.

"The Wu clan has owned Yizhou for hundreds of years, and although they have no ill feelings towards our army, they are always unwilling to submit. I don't know why this time is so simple?" Xiao Jiu raised his head, and suddenly found that Cai Lang's cheeks were as white as paper, his face changed, and he asked, "Captain Cai, are you seriously injured?"

Cai Lang held the lower side of his left shoulder with his right hand, and said with a reluctant smile: "It's okay, I was bitten by a thief." ”

Xiao Jiu's face sank when he saw this, and he shouted: "Since there are injuries on your body, after handing over the order, you will quickly return to the camp to heal and recuperate." I'll report the situation in Yizhou to me tomorrow, or you can send a sergeant who will give you a word to report back. He knows Cai Lang's identity. From the point of view of the Anxi Army, there are descendants of the Jinling Cai clan and the Later Shu Meng clan in the army, and the Jiangnan and Shuzhong places can be passed on in the future. From a personal point of view, Xiao Jiu has also been a minister who has entrusted orphans, and naturally he doesn't want Cai Lang to have an accident.