Beidi County and Wuwei County are bounded by the river (the ancient name of the Yellow River), and to the west of the river is Wuwei County, which is also the origin of the name Hexi.

This is not only a geographical dividing line, but also a natural danger to block the northwest alien race to the west of the river, even when the Xiongnu are the most powerful, they cannot easily cross the river to attack the Han territory east of the river.

When Huo Guang came to the bank of the river with more than 20 horses, there was still an army of hundreds of people stationed at the ferry dock here.

It is said that when Huo Qubing had not yet captured the land west of the river, there were more than ten large and small camps on the bank of the river, and the number of troops stationed along the river reached nearly 30,000 all year round.

Huo Guang showed his letter from the Marquis of Anyang, and the captain in charge of the ferry immediately arranged the best boat to transport Huo Guang and his party across the river.

Standing on the ferry, Huo Guang felt the oncoming river breeze, which was different from the Central Plains, with a unique smell of cattle, sheep and grassland.

Huo Guang knew that when he stepped on the shore again, he didn't know how many years before he could cross the river again, and the river water had not only become a natural danger to block foreign races, but also an insurmountable thunder pool for him, the governor of the Western Regions.

To the west of the river, he is the governor of the city, and once he appears to the east of the river, he will become a traitor and rebel against the whole world...... To the west of the river, there is a desolation, and the contrast between the two banks is stark.

The stone pavilion built near the pier on the east bank has become a grass pavilion on the west bank, and at this moment two people in large sleeves and robes are sitting opposite each other, as if they are talking and laughing.

Huo Guang stood a little far away, and he couldn't see the appearance of the two clearly, but judging from the clothes, they shouldn't be ordinary people, and vaguely Huo Guang felt that these two figures were a little familiar, so he took a few more looks.

The horse team of more than 20 people was also conspicuous on the bank of the river, and when Huo Guang and his party came ashore, two people in the grass pavilion also found Huo Guang and others.

After a while, the two got up and walked out of the grass pavilion together, and they actually came towards Huo Guang and the others. The two got closer and closer, and finally Huo Guang saw the appearance of these two people clearly, and when he recognized these two people, Huo Guang was also extremely surprised, and then his face showed ecstasy.

"Grass People Dongfang Shuo"

"Grass People Du Yannian"

"Meet the Metropolitan Governor ....." The two of them bowed to Huo Guang from afar, and they were Dongfang Shuo, who hung up the seal and left, and Du Yannian, who was dismissed from his post and idle.

"You ...... What a surprise to me......" Huo Guang said, shaking his head, a heartfelt smile on his face.

At this time, Du Yannian and Dongfang Shuo appeared to the west of the river, and called themselves grass people, Huo Guang still didn't know what these two people were thinking.

"The two of us have been waiting for the Metropolitan Governor for many days, although the court is good, I, Dongfang Shuo, want to follow the Metropolitan Governor and see the great mountains and rivers of the Western Regions." Dongfang Shuo said with a smile, but his tone was never more solemn.

"Subordinate Du Yannian came by appointment!" Du Yannian looked at Huo Guang and bowed again. He didn't say much, but one subordinate already said everything.

"Haha... Ha ha..... Good.... Okay...."Huo Guang walked quickly towards the two, one left and one right on the hands of the two of them clasping fists.

What Huo Guang has always been worried about is that there are no capable civil officials in Hexi, and now that Dongfang Shuo and Du Yan are here, it means that Huo Guang's left and right arms are back.

Wen has Dongfang Shuo Du Yannian, Wu has Shangguan Li Ling, as well as Zhao Ponu and others, although Huo Guang's subordinates are not talented, they are not overstretched.

Huo Guang swept away the depression of the previous few days, laughed vigorously, and even a little unscrupulous.

"With two assistants, sooner or later, all the countries of the Western Regions will be under the command of my Metropolitan Governor's Mansion. I, Huo Guang, swear to heaven that I will live up to the kindness of the two in this life! Huo Guang said proudly, he was indeed moved by the friendship between Dongfang Shuo and Du Yannian, who followed thousands of miles away.

"In this life, only the order of the governor is obeyed!" Dongfang Shuo and Du Yannian bowed again.

"Good..... Get on the horse, go and see the land that belongs to us in Hexi....." Huo Guang stretched out his hand and pointed forward, and then turned over and got on the horse.

Soon all that remained of the barren land was a puff of smoke and dust from the horses' hooves. Pu* (Note 1) The first city west of the Yellow River under the rule of Wuwei County, after which it reached the Wuwei County Zhiguzang.

There are rolling mountains on both sides of the land to the west of the river, but the middle area is a flat river, and the whole terrain is like a huge corridor, which is also the origin of the name of the Hexi corridor.

When Huo Guang and his entourage were about to arrive at Pu*, they saw a black line on the broad horizon covering the entire horizon from a distance, and as Huo Guang and the others moved forward, the black line became more and more obvious, and the last thing they saw was the banner hunting between heaven and earth.

When you get closer, you can see that the black line is actually tens of thousands of cavalry standing on horseback, spread on the desolate land west of the river.

Huo Guang had already guessed that it should be Zhao Ponu and others who appeared here, but Huo Guang didn't expect that Zhao Ponu would come here with tens of thousands of troops to greet him in person.

When Huo Guang and his party were still a hundred zhang away from Zhao Ponu's army, the 30,000 troops turned over and dismounted in unison.

Huo Guang urged the war horse under his crotch to speed forward, only to see that the 30,000 army, under the leadership of the first few generals, knelt on one knee and bowed to the ground in unison, and then held the weapon in his right hand, put his left hand into a fist in front of his chest, and shouted in unison.

"Greetings to the Metropolitan Governor...... Greetings to the Metropolitan Governor ......."

"Law ....." A neighing sound of war horses sounded in front of the army, and Huo Guang had already ridden his horse to the front of the Hexi army.

"Soldiers, please rise." Huo Guang shouted loudly. Looking at the neat 30,000 soldiers in front of him, Huo Guang's heart was also surging.

This is the capital of his foothold in Hexi and competing for dominance in the Western Regions. The 30,000 Hexi soldiers got up after listening to the order, and Huo Guang also turned over and dismounted and stepped forward.

He saw that the three generals at the head were none other than Zhao Ponu, Fulu Zhi, and Yi Jixuan, who had been sent to Hexi a few years earlier.

It's just that all three of them have been affected by the gold case, and now they have all been cut marquis, and they only have official positions in the army.

"You guys.... It's the labor division that moves the crowd....." Huo Guang smiled and walked towards the three of them, now Zhao Ponu and the three of them are already Huo Guang's generals, plus a few people were also friends of life and death during the Battle of Mobei, and they seemed very casual when they spoke.

"Hehe, Governor, who else do you think is coming?" Zhao Ponu said with a smile, turned his head and glanced behind him again, and then a person walked out of the captain's team behind him, this person was not wearing armor, but was dressed in gray short brown, looking like an ordinary person.

"Do you know high?" Huo Guang recognized this person, it was the former Yiguanhou. When Huo Guang was quelling the turmoil in Hanoi, he also used Gao Buzhi, but later when he was rewarded for meritorious deeds, because Gao Buzhi was guilty, he could only be regarded as Huo Guang's private soldier, and he could not be rewarded, and finally he continued to go to the fiefdom of the champion Hou, and Huo Guangzhi had not seen him again in the past few years.

"My subordinates meet the Grand Governor." Gao Buzhi bowed his hand, he is now an ordinary person, and he can't be called a general, so he can only claim to be a subordinate.

"It's good to come.... All the soldiers got on the horse and followed me to Guzang....." Huo Guang got on the horse and ordered.

Now that he is the governor of the Western Regions, and the entire Hexi is under his control, it is no longer a violation of military orders to take these soldiers to Guzang City.

Guzang is Wuwei County, is the east gate of the Hexi Corridor, here was originally the hometown of the Hun Hutu King, there is still a city named Hugh Tu City less than 100 miles north of Guzang, most of them are the remnants of the Huns, but these Hun remnants have been submitted to the Han for many years, and now under the rule of the Han Dynasty, there is nothing to do.

Huo Guang led the army to the city of Guzang, and Jia Hui, the Taishou of Guzang, had already greeted him outside the city with his subordinates.

Jia Hui Huo Guang didn't know about this person, but I heard Zhao Ponu say that this person was also a hero who once followed Huo Qubing to recover Hexi, and later set up Wuwei County and made him a taishou, and he was also his own person.

"The army will camp outside the city, and the generals will follow me into the city." Although Guzang City is also prosperous, it is mostly business travel, and it is impossible for all the 30,000 troops to enter the city, so Huo Guang only brought a group of generals and a dozen people into the city.

In Gu Zang's Taishou Mansion, Huo Guang directly ordered someone to get a map of the two counties of Hexi. Although he also has some understanding of this place, it is too one-sided, and the first thing he has to do when he first comes to Hexi is to understand this place thoroughly.

There are two counties of Wuwei Jiuquan in the west of the river, and the north of the two counties is mostly desert Gobi, but in the desert at the northern end of Wuwei, there is a Xiu Tuze, and the water of Qilian Mountain flows through Luanniao, Guzang, Xiutu, Xuanwei, Wuwei several cities along the valley, and finally converges in Xiu Tuze. Then in the northernmost part of Jiuquan, here is Ju Yanze, where the water source is abundant and the water and grass are abundant, it was the largest pasture of the Xiongnu Right Xianwang Department, and now it is under the control of my Han Dynasty, the water of Ju Yanze, it is also the Qilian mountain water along the flow through the entire Hexi Corridor, scouring out a narrow plain area, since Lufu, Yanqi Mountain two places converge in Yanquan barrier and finally form a weak water convergence into Ju Yanze. And this area is also the most concentrated place in the entire Hexi population. Jia Hui pointed to a simple map of Hexi and explained to Huo Guang.

There are a total of 28 cities in the two counties of Hexi, most of which are concentrated in the plain area where the water sources of Xiutuze and Juyanze flow, not to mention the vast area of the two counties of Hexi, but more than half of them are deserts and Gobi, and only this narrow corridor is really suitable for living and development.

And the twenty-eight cities, most of which are small cities with only a few thousand people, and the cities with a population of more than 10,000 are only three cities of Lufu, Jingde and Guzang, of which Guzang has a population of nearly 30,000 because of geographical location and other reasons, becoming the largest city in Hexi.

And the combined population of the entire two counties in Hexi is only a little more than 100,000.

"The top priority now should be to determine the governor's office, I wonder if the governor has a favorite?" Jia Hui's simple introduction gave everyone a preliminary understanding of the two counties of Hexi, although Dongfang Shuo has no position now, he has entered the role and put forward the most important thing at the moment.

"Wait a minute, I plan to go all the way from Guzang first, detour to Juyanze, and finally come here to investigate the field first. In fact, compared to the establishment of the government, the Pontus thought that there was one more important thing at the moment. Huo Guang's finger pointed west along the Hexi Corridor, and finally landed at the westernmost end of the map, at a place called Dunhuang.

In fact, it has been less than ten years since Hexi became the territory of the Han Dynasty, and there are few people who really know him well about this narrow strip.

Huo Guang really wants to take root here, he will not blindly determine the governor's office, let alone directly choose the best Guzang City as the office, he will make a field trip and thoroughly understand Hexi before making a decision!

When Huo Guang said that there was something more important, everyone's eyes were focused on him, and they were all curiously waiting for Huo Guang to reveal the mystery.

"The most important thing in the land west of the river is this trade route, and there are countless goods between the Western Regions and the Han Dynasty every day, and its value is unknown. However, Pontus heard that there were still a large number of horse bandits in the Hexi Corridor. If we want to gain a foothold in Hexi, we must completely control this trade route in our own hands, and there is no horse bandit. Huo Guang looked at Zhao Ponu and Jia Hui, and did mention the problem of horse bandits that had been giving them a headache.

The population of Hexi is too small, and now the imperial court will not give a penny or a grain of grain, and even if the 100,000 people of Hexi alone feed the 30,000 troops under their command, it is already worrying, let alone developing.

If Huo Guang wants to compete for dominance in the Western Regions or even the whole world, the first thing he must do is to master this trade route, and then he can talk about the construction and expansion of armaments.

"This ..... It is indeed difficult to eradicate the rampant horse bandits in the west of the river, and his subordinates have also sent large armies to carry out several large-scale clearances, but most of these horse bandits are no more than 1,000 people, and there are only more than 100 people in the west of the river, and the mountains and mountains in the west of the river are even more difficult to distinguish between things and things in the Gobi Desert. These bandits were extremely familiar with the terrain, and if they could not defeat them, they hid, and when our army retreated, they came out again. Zhao Ponu said helplessly, it's not that they haven't killed the horse bandits, but they really don't know where to start.

"The Governor of Pontus intends to appoint a bandit lieutenant to be responsible for exterminating these horse bandits, and in the future he will also take on the responsibility of protecting the passing caravans, although the whereabouts of these horse bandits are uncertain, but they must have a nest, there is no impermeable wall in this world, as long as you are willing to spend money, there is no news that you can't get. The Pontus of Gold has a lot of news that he has taken out a lot of money to buy horse bandits, I wonder if any of you would like to go? Huo Guang smiled and glanced at the people in the hall, in Huo Guang's opinion, exterminating these horse bandits was the first thing he wanted to do in Hexi.

The people in the hall looked at each other, and finally their eyes fell on Gao Buzhi. Among these people, except for Gao Buzhi, they can be called generals, so naturally they will not earn the position of a school captain, and Dongfang Shuo and Du Yannian's strengths are not here, this bandit school captain is specially arranged by Huo Guang for Gao Buzhi.

"My subordinates are willing to go." Gao Buzhi naturally saw it, knelt down on one knee and clenched his fists and said.

"Oh? You go? Gao doesn't know that you have been idle at home for a few years, but now you are still on the horse? Can you draw a bow? Huo Guang looked at Gao Buzhi and didn't agree immediately, but asked with some contempt.

"The subordinates are willing to make a military writ..... If you can't get rid of the bandits within three months, your subordinates are willing to bring up the head of the Master to see the Metropolitan Governor! Gao Buzhi is also a cross-minded, and he does not hesitate to make a military order to seize this opportunity.

"Okay, Dongfang Shuo will draw up a military order. The governor of Pontus has now officially appointed Gao Buzhi as the captain of the bandits, and I will give you 3,000 cavalry. In addition, I will give you another 5,000 gold, and in three months I will have no more horse bandits in this land west of the river. Huo Guang said in a deep voice, he didn't really want to be embarrassed, but as the governor of the capital, he must make orders.

"Tomorrow, the army and I will accompany you to inspect Hexi, and you don't know how to start acting yourself." Huo Guang gave the last order.

"Obey the orders of the Metropolitan Governor!" All the generals in the hall bowed down to receive the order, and Huo Guang, who had just arrived in Hexi, had fully integrated into his role as the governor of the capital.