A round of sunset is about to set, but it reflects the western sky as if it were unwilling, as if it were bloodstained. In this bloody sunset, a fast horse swept across the grassland and came to the city of Chudu.

Chu Capital City, which was almost mythical in the Western Plains, was immersed in a slaughter at this time. There are 8,000 armor soldiers in the capital of Chu, plus the old and young women and children, a total of 50,000. In the vast and sparsely populated West Plains, it can be regarded as one of the few big cities. The rider waved a white flag and came to the front of the Chu capital city and restrained his mount. He had not stopped for a long time before the gates of the city opened, and more than a dozen horsemen were drawn out of the city.

Among the people who came out of the city, the first one was a young officer in his twenties. Although he is still young, his eyes are extremely sharp. Bringing a dozen or so cavalry to the Delairen, the young officer said in a loud voice: "Wei Huaizhen, the sentry officer of the Wude Battalion, is here. What advice do you have when you come to Chudu City? ”

He spoke the common language of Nishihara. Chudu City is from the Central Plains, but it has been operating here for nearly 30 years, and many of them have intermarried with the natives of the Western Plains, and even the current marshal Xue Diji has half of the Ashina blood of the Western Plains, so many people can speak the Western Plains dialect. This Wei Huaizhen was born in the capital of Chu, and his mother came from a small tribe in the Western Plains that was attached to the capital of Chu, so the Xiyuan dialect was almost more fluent than the Central Plains. He saw that the person who came was clearly not from the Central Plains, and it looked similar to Ashinabu, but the clothes were quite different from Ashinabu, and it was a little unfathomable for a while.

When the rider saw that someone had come out of the city, he urged his horse and took a few steps forward, but said in the Central Plains: "Before the king of the lower sunflowers, the envoy of the Marshal Taishili of the Eastern Expeditionary Army, Gambrai, has been ordered to write to the Great Khan of Ashina Tiki. ”

"Ashina Diji" is the original name of the west of the handsome Xue Diji. Xue Diji's mother's name is Ashina Hulan, and his father Xue Tingxuan was even included in the Ashina Ministry, and he also made the infant Xue Diji become the Great Khan of the Ashina Ministry under this name. It's just that Ashina has long been cut off from Chu Capital City, and no one mentions this name, but he didn't want to hear it from this Gamble Lei's mouth. This is the past 20 years ago, thanks to Wei Huaizhen's reputation as an organic policeman, he once heard the elders in the camp talk about these old things. He didn't expect that the arrival would actually speak the Central Plains, although he didn't know who the "Sunflower King" in Gambray's mouth was, but it seemed that it must be extraordinary, so he said: "General Nagan, please go to the city for a while, and I will go to Dazai." ”

***

The Dazai that Wei Huaizhen said is called Situ Yu. Situ Yu is the former marshal of Chu Capital City, Xue Tingxuan's old minister who once had the title of Heavenly Khan, and he is exactly sixty years old this year. Sixty years old is not too old in the Central Plains, but in Xiyuan, where the average life expectancy is less than 50, he is really an old man.

He looked at the letter with a face of joy and disgust. Wei Huaizhen stood aside, but did not speak. When the Wude Battalion was at its peak, it had 50,000 soldiers and dominated the world. It's just that the will of heaven is ruthless, and when the Central Plains retreated to the Western Plains, there were only 2,000 soldiers left. After more than 30 years of recuperation, although it has recovered to 8,000 soldiers, it is still not the same as in its heyday. Situ Yu himself had never seen the Wude Battalion at its peak, but he also knew that although there were 8,000 people in the Wude Battalion today, it was not much stronger than the combat strength of the 2,000 soldiers who had just retreated into the Western Plains. At that time, the Wude Battalion was a veteran of a hundred battles, so although the number of troops was small, under the command of the former marshal Xue Tingxuan's exquisite skill, they were united in their hearts, but they were invincible after arriving in Xiyuan. It's just a boom and a decline, since Xue Tingxuan's eastern crusade failed, the two major tribes of Ashina and Fugu took the lead in centrifugation, and some small tribes attached to Chu Capital City also left accordingly, and the subsequent Chu Capital City has actually been going downhill. Although Xue Tingxuan was still thinking about cheering up, the general trend had gone, and Chu Capital City could only protect itself. Situ Yu still remembers what Xue Tingxuan said to himself before he died eight years ago.

Although Xue Tingxuan is disabled, because he is in the army, his body is very strong, and he was just over forty years ago and is in the prime of life. At the end of that year, it was the day to worship the ancestors according to the custom. In the past few decades, the Wude Battalion was almost everywhere in the war, and every family had relatives killed in battle, so this ancestor worship day has become the most solemn festival. After Situ Yu and some important ministers followed Xue Tingxuan to the ancestral temple to worship the senior generals of the Wude Battalion, they still remembered that Xue Tingxuan's mood was very bad. When I walked through the street, I saw that many people in the city were also worshipping their ancestors. In the Central Plains, the ancestors are mostly offered with pig heads, but when they walk through the street, they see that eight out of ten families are cattle and sheep heads. Of course, it is not as easy to raise pigs as cattle and sheep in the Xiyuan area, but the rituals used at the time of sacrifice have been used in six or seven percent of the Xiyuan customs. At that time, Xue Tingxuan was stunned for a long time after seeing it, and when he returned to the Shuai Mansion, he couldn't afford to be sick, and the medicine stone was useless, and he passed away after only ten days. He was unconscious until he died, and only woke up a little in the moments before his death.

"I can't go back."

Situ Yu still remembered Xue Tingxuan's last sentence. At that time, some other officers standing on the side didn't know what the marshal's last words meant, but Situ Yu was full of emotion. He knew that the biggest wish of Dashuai's life was to return to the Central Plains, so even if the time was not ripe, he still had to risk the eastward crusade. At that time, if the Eastern Crusade could be successful, the Wude Battalion would definitely be able to return to its homeland and become the lord of the party. However, in the end, the Eastern Expedition lost troops and lost its troops, and changes occurred both internally and externally, not only failed to establish a foothold in the Central Plains, but even the foundation of the Western Plains was shaken. And seeing that so many people in the city of Chu Capital even changed to the custom of worshipping their ancestors, it was another fatal blow to the marshal.

There's no going back. Situ Yu thought. Now Chu Capital City is actually the second generation. There are still some people in the second generation who have not forgotten that they are from the Central Plains, but in the third generation, how many people can remember? They will all regard themselves as natives born and raised in the Western Plains, and have no intention of returning to the Central Plains.

"Dazai, can't you go back?"

Wei Huaizhen's words interrupted Situ Yu's thoughts, and he came back to his senses, and he unconsciously said the last words of the big handsome. "Nothing," he said. Your master didn't come back, did he? ”

"I never came back."

Situ Yu sighed slightly. Although Wei Huaizhen's master rarely shows up, it can be said that he is his greatest help when the trustworthy veteran of the Wude Camp is gradually withering. He added, "Is the man who wrote the book still in the city?" ”

"Yes."

"I'll go and discuss with Xue Shuai immediately, let him rest in the city for the time being, and don't let him move around."

Although Wei Huaizhen is young, he is shrewd and capable, and he is already an indispensable arm of Situ Yu, so he turned around and went out after agreeing. Situ Yu straightened his clothes, and also walked out, asking people to prepare the carriage and drive to the Shuai Mansion.

Xiyuan has been a troubled place since ancient times, when the two major tribes of Ashina and Fugu competed here, and later the capital of Chu came from the west of the Central Plains, under the painstaking management of the former marshal Xue Tingxuan, it once overrode the two major tribes, and Xue Tingxuan was also enshrined as the co-lord of Xiyuan. Although it is no longer what it used to be, and the status of Chu Capital City has plummeted after Xue Tingxuan's death, but in any case, Chu Capital City is still a force that no one dares to underestimate in Xiyuan, so these three forces are still standing strongly, even if Xue Tingxuan died eight years ago, and Taiji Helan Ruyu, who was in charge of the Fugu Department, has been eyeing Chu Capital City, but it still has not been able to change the general pattern of Xiyuan.

However, at the beginning of last year, Situ Yu heard the news that an army in the extreme west was coming east. The strength of this army is unheard of, slaughtering cities and destroying the country all the way, and the momentum is like a bamboo, and those who do not surrender will be bathed in blood. Legend has it that there was a great empire in the extreme west called "Sunflower Dynasty", and the Sunflower King was wise and wise, saying that "Sunflower to the sun, where the sun shines, are all the land of the Sunflower King", and vowed to conquer the world. This army was the expeditionary force sent by the Sunflower Dynasty.

The name Sunflower Dynasty is really unheard of. Therefore, when he first heard the news, Situ Yu was not too worried. The tribes of the Western Plains have always been brave and ruthless, especially the dozens of small tribes under the two major tribes, and they are even more desperate when they fight, and no one is willing to lie in wait. If outsiders want to enter the Western Plains, if they don't take refuge in one of the two major tribes, there is almost no room for survival, and there is no one like Chu Ducheng who forcibly took root in hundreds of years. Even though the Sunflower Dynasty Expeditionary Force was powerful, it was only legends from afar that exaggerated them tenfold and hundredfold. As soon as they enter the West Plains, they must be touched with a nose. What's more, to the west of the Chu Capital City, there is also the strongest Ashina in the Western Plains. Xue Diji, the current marshal of Chu Capital City, used to be the nominal Great Khan of Ashina, and now he is somewhat incense. The labor division is not far away, no matter how strong the legendary army is, it is impossible to cross the Ashina Department and reach the city of Chu Capital, in Situ Yu's opinion. However, he didn't expect that he had always been exhausted, but he was wrong, and only a few months later, the expeditionary force really came to the city of Chudu. What surprised him even more was that in the book of the envoy, there was a letter from the Great Khan of Ashina, and Ashinabu actually surrendered to this expeditionary force!

Ashinabu, the first tribe of the Western Plains, has a population of 300,000 and a military force of 50,000. And Ashina is even more known for its unruliness, it was ambushed by Xue Tingxuan with both soft and hard means, and had to enshrine Xue Diji, who had the blood of Ashina, as a khan, but later with the heavy setback of Chu Capital City, when its strength declined, Ashina immediately broke off with Chu Ducheng. In Ashinabe's opinion, it is unbearable to obey an outsider, even if he is an outsider with half blood. Therefore, they surrendered so quickly, and the shock to Situ Yu was really incomprehensible.