"Those things you asked are all old calendars!"

The white-haired old soldier smashed his mouth: "You baby soldiers in the martial arts hall will all be captains, generals, and people with great achievements in the future, don't always inquire about old things." If you talk too much, you have to blame the old man again, scold me for being out of tune all day long, and be foolish with you. ”

A well-looking and sturdy young man reached out to untie the water bladder on his waist, handed it to the old soldier with both hands, and smiled innocently: "Uncle, it's okay, you can tell us about it, it's just gossip." You must always know that a few of us came out of the Yanwutang, and we didn't pick any legions, only chose the Zhenjiang Protectorate, and we came for these old things. ”

"What? Can you still pick your own? The old soldier was surprised: "Aren't the martial arts students taught by the Yanwutang all scored according to their grades?" The first-class ones will go to the Xuanjia and Qilin, and the second-class ones will go to the long knives and fierce blades, and the second-class ones will be sent to the state capitals by lot, including our western Xinjiang. As for the special class, he was naturally chosen by the palace. You guys ......."

The young man pointed to himself, then to the side: "I won't tell you." Me, this one, and the one standing next to me, all three of us are special. As for the other brothers, they are all C-class. ”

The old army's eyes lit up: "Oh, it's disrespectful and disrespectful, it turns out that he is really a talented official." It's been so many years, and our Zhenjiang Army has never been assigned a special martial arts. Could it be that the three of you have committed some kind of military law and discipline and have been punished here? ”

"Look at what you said," the young man was slightly dissatisfied, "don't you want us to be brave and loyal, and defend the country?" ”

The old soldier smiled: "Yes, yes, the old man has lost his words, he has lost his words, you are not strange, little brother." However, it stands to reason that the special martial arts department of Yanwutang ranked among the tigers and leopards as soon as he entered the palace, and the military uniforms were embroidered with gold edges, and it was not a problem to step forward in the future. The three of you are willing to come to Zhenjiang...... Tsk, it's really rare, rare! ”

A delicate-looking young man next to him smiled: "Uncle, everyone has their own ambitions, and it is normal." Besides, we've only been here for a while, and it's not clear if we'll end up there. ”

"Oh, that's right, yes, yes." The old army responded in his mouth, and his heart was already bright. The two in front of them are from extraordinary backgrounds at first glance, most of them are the sons of the nobles of the court, and they came to this bitter Western Frontier Army purely to gain a good reputation so that they can be promoted in the future.

Thinking of this, he rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "If you inquire about the old past of the Zhenjiang Protectorate, it doesn't hurt, the old man will give you brothers a wrestle." ”

As soon as he heard that the old man was going to tell a story, seven or eight martial arts soldiers from the martial arts hall all gathered around, gathered around the bonfire and paid careful attention, only one person, still lying not far away without moving, but his ears were also pricked up.

Lao Jun: "If you want to talk about our Zhenjiang Mansion, you still have to start from the time when the first emperor put down the rebellion." Twenty years ago, the western Xinjiang rebelled, and the armies of the imperial court gathered in Liangzhou, which can be described as a prosperous army and swallowing mountains and rivers. In just a few months, the rebels were beaten and collapsed, and they hid in the ghost desert in a puff of smoke, and it was difficult to turn over the waves. In order to Yongzhen Xijiang, the first emperor specially issued a decree, ordering the long knife and fierce blade to take out the main force, plus the supplement of the government soldiers, and formed our Zhenjiang capital to protect the mansion, which kept the peace of this side. ”

A martial artist said curiously: "Uncle, you were there at that time?" ”

"Yes, where can I not be?" The old army was triumphant: "How to say, we have also shed blood and made meritorious contributions to the counterinsurgency." ”

"Which one were you from? Long knives, or fierce blades? ”

"You ask me? I...... I'm from Nam Cang Province. ”

"Nancang Mansion? Is that the famous Xiong Bing Mansion? The soldiers of Nancang Mansion who are proficient in business up and down, but are sparse in war? ”

Hahaha, a burst of laughter, made the old soldier's face flush with shame: "I said you dolls, where did you hear the nonsense?" When our Nancang soldiers fought against Shule Kingdom, they were also very brave. Okay, okay, do you want to hear me? ”

The delicate young man forced a smile and said, "Uncle, don't be angry, don't be angry, you keep talking, we all listen." ”

The old soldier shook his head helplessly, and sighed softly: "Alas, but you also have a reason to laugh at me." No matter how powerful Nancang is, it can't compare to the human knife and the fierce blade. Especially the Fierce Blade Army, they were the first to enter the western frontier and defeated the rebels on their own, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they are invincible. With them, whether it is our Nancang or other government soldiers, they can only follow behind, cleaning up the battlefield. ”

"And then?" The sturdy young man asked, "What happened to the Zhenjiang Protectorate after it was established?" ”

"Later? Wasn't that what happened then? The old army smiled bitterly: "In the second year of the establishment of Zhenjiang Mansion, the first emperor died suddenly, and the court became a pot of porridge around the succession of the crown prince. Almost all of the major military systems of the Holy Tang Dynasty were involved, and in the end, even the Red Blood Legion, which was as famous as Xuanjia, was abolished and disappeared. A new army like our Zhenjiang Protectorate, no one cares about it. ”

He used tree branches to pull and pull the bonfire: "For nearly twenty years, the Zhenjiang Protectorate has never carried out a large-scale replenishment of soldiers. Veterans like me have either been discharged from the army and returned to their hometowns, or they have been left to eat and wait for death, and there is not one in ten strong combat power. The year before last, the imperial court issued an order to let us build a tuntian and solve the military supply by ourselves, so everyone usually mainly waits for the crops, and then patrols the side when the sky is empty, and practices the formation, and the life is okay. ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone showed a look of disappointment, and a few people who were not deep in the city government complained and cursed on the spot, lamenting that they were unlucky, and finally left from the world-famous Yanwutang, but they didn't expect to be assigned to the unpopular troops.

The good-looking young man whispered to the sturdy partner: "Hey, Xu Youchang, it seems that what your grandfather told us before was the truth, and he didn't fool us." ”

Xu Youchang glanced at him: "What do you know?" Compared with the old slippery head in our family, I prefer to believe Li Jiangyao. ”

As he spoke, he turned his head to look at the young man who was still lying there with his eyes closed, and muttered, "I expected that his words would not be wrong. Murong Xue, didn't you also agree with Li Jiangyao's speculation at the beginning? ”

Murong Xue: "Approval is approval, but who would have thought that the current Zhenjiang Mansion would be like this." The soldiers are not like soldiers, the people are not like the people, and they are half-hung miscellaneous troops. ”

Murong Xue called the Zhenjiang Protectorate a half-hung miscellaneous army, although it was a bit disrespectful, but the actual situation was indeed not far from it.

Zhenjiang soldiers and horses, originally the first emperor Li Chengwen after the enthronement of the new army, the team is from the long knife, the elite force of the blade, and then with the baptism of war from all walks of life, 100,000 troops, the combat power is in the forefront of the Shengtang Dynasty.

For this army, the imperial court naturally also placed high hopes on it.

On the surface, they are the garrisons guarding the ghost desert of the western Xinjiang and suppressing the remnants of the rebellion of the 36 countries, but in fact, they are the strong Great Wall that curbs the eastward invasion of the Turkic Empire and defends the tranquility of the Shengtang Dynasty.

However, the world is unpredictable, and creation makes people.

With the sudden death of Li Chengwen, the eight-year-long "Rebellion of the Vassal Kings" completely subverted the political and military system of the imperial dynasty.

The Zhenjiang Army, which hangs alone outside the territory, has been ignored since then.

Not to mention that no recruits have been recruited for 20 years, and even the weapons and equipment are all left over from the last counterinsurgency.

However, thanks to the national fortune of Shengtang, it is so good that there is nothing to say. Just when the imperial dynasty was mired in internal strife and had no time to take care of the security of the western frontier, the Turkic Empire, which had been eyeing the country, suddenly and inexplicably ran rampant with civil strife.

Although the Turks claimed to be empires in name, they were very different from the Shengtang in that they played a tribal alliance system.

Within the empire, there are the "Upper Eight Divisions", that is, eight powerful tribes: Blood Wolf, Night Wheel, Gold, Divine Eagle, Ghost Fight, Tianmu, Changsheng, and Yunhe, known as the Eight Pillars of Turkic Empire. In addition, there are nearly 100 small and medium-sized tribes, each of which is dependent on the eight major tribes and multiplies.

Among them, the strongest blood wolf clan has always occupied the dominant position of the Turks, and both the population and combat power have steadily overwhelmed the other tribes.

Just twenty years ago, the leader of the Blood Wolf Clan, known as the "Mad King" and the Great Khan of the Turks, Shandu Yimo, suddenly went crazy.

Because he favored a Persian concubine, he actually deposed Queen Danina, and killed sixteen descendants in a row, staining the Turkic court with blood.

Danina's Yelun clan is the second largest Turkic tribe after the blood wolf, and the mad king and his father tried his best to arrange the marriage of Shandu Yimo and Danina, which was itself a political means to appease the Yelun tribe.

And the Night Wheel Clan has indeed been loyal to the Blood Wolf Khan because of the existence of Queen Danina, not only not to cause trouble, but also to help the Blood Wolf Clan fight everywhere and expand their territory.

Due to the allegiance of the second largest clan, the other six clans and their younger brothers were also honest, and no one dared to challenge the authority of the blood wolf easily.

The reason is very simple, the boss and the old duo join forces, and it is really going to exterminate the clan.

However, no one could have expected that Shandu Yimo was a madman who did not play according to the routine, and played a good hand of cards left by his father to the ground.

First of all, this guy is similar to the emperors of the Holy Tang Dynasty, they are the kind of masters who like to fight and grab other people's territory everywhere. After five years on the throne and more than 100 battles, Shandu Yimo came almost every time in person, never absent, and he didn't look like the great khan of the empire, but like the big head of the wolf camp.

As the head of a country, it was not a blessing for the Turks to abandon the government after many years of foreign wars. There was no way, the only daughter of the patriarch of the Yelun clan, the Turkic queen Danina, had no choice but to take up the burden of governing the empire for her husband, and led a group of old ministers to worry about state affairs all day long.

In the 799th year of the Shengtang calendar, the Turks stretched their black hands into the ghost desert, and after some coercion and temptation, overnight, they actually succeeded in instigating the western Xinjiang and raising the rebel flag against the Shengtang Dynasty.

However, what the Turkic Empire did not expect at all was that Li Chengwen's reaction was too fast, the movements of the Shengtang army were too fierce, and the combat effectiveness of the turtle grandchildren in Western Xinjiang was too watery.

In less than a month, the rebels, who claimed to have hundreds of thousands of troops, were beaten by long knives and fierce blades.

What was waiting for him at this time was the 470,000 Saint Tang elites who were waiting for him.

When Danina received the news and knew that things were not good, she hurriedly sent someone to catch up with Shandu Yimo halfway and persuade him to give up the idea of continuing to advance eastward - at this time, there was a full-scale war with Shengtang, and the Turks would not take advantage of it at all.

The Great Khan is crazy, but he is not stupid. He knew very well that Shengtang was not a big eater, not Tianzhu, or Persia. More than 400,000 iron-armored lions, not to mention defending the ghost desert in Western Xinjiang, even if he goes on an expedition to the Turks, it is enough for him to drink a pot.

The best fighter has been destroyed by Emperor Li Chengwen like a thunderbolt.

But, as the saying goes: thieves don't go empty.

Anyway, it's coming, and it's too shameless not to go back with some prey. After pondering for a while, Shandu Immer immediately decided to turn the corner of the army and kill the Persian kingdom not far from him, cutting off more than a dozen cities of the other side in three strokes and five divisions.

However, it was this unprovoked invasion that eventually planted the seeds of doom for him and Danina.