Since this battle, the northern barbarians have not invaded on a large scale. There are many traders who come to engage in some barter transactions, cattle, sheep, horses, medicinal herbs, mountain delicacies in the north, copper, iron equipment, tea and silk in the south, as well as all kinds of rare treasures are exchanged and circulated in the market, and with the peace on the border, the scale of the transaction is getting bigger and bigger.

The king of Zhenbei ordered a huge sign to be erected at the original parapet wall, which read, "Welcome to the good people of the Quartet and barter!" to show his friendship to these traders, and in order to protect these traders, several post stations were set up on the road and sent troops to garrison them.

Since then, the trade on the border has become more and more frequent, many merchants from the interior of the Central Plains have trafficked goods to trade here, all kinds of goods from various ethnic groups in the north and even as far as the western countries are also traded here, all kinds of merchants and traveling merchants and traders are gathered here, and the city of Gulu Pass has become more and more lively and prosperous.

In the grasslands of the northern regions outside the Guan, after years of war, a nomadic tribe called Tufan has become stronger and stronger, entrenched in the vast grasslands of the northern regions, and there is a great tendency to unify all ethnic groups in the north.

Although the Tufan people are becoming more and more powerful, the Han people who never invade the Guannai are happy to trade with the Guannai and communicate with each other. In particular, the leader of this Tufan, Gundo Khan, not only had a soft spot for the culture of the Central Plains, but was also very interested in the iron tools and casting techniques of the Central Plains, and introduced and modified a large number of his troops, which greatly improved their combat effectiveness.

With the deepening of exchanges between the two sides, the two sides often sent envoys to visit each other, and Gondo Khan was often invited by King Yuwen to visit the Guannai. King Yuwen once held a banquet in the palace to welcome the Khan of Gondo and a group of military generals, and the two sides drank and talked happily, so happy.

As a sign of sincerity, Gondo Khan presented King Yuwen with a bloody horse from Turkmenistan, the most purebred horse in the world today, this horse is tall and muscular, with a thin head and a high neck, slender limbs, thin skin and hair, and a light step. King Yuwen was overjoyed and immediately gave back a flying dragon sword made of Kunlun Xuantie.

Since then, whenever there is a major celebration in the king of Zhenbei or Dafeng, the Khan of Gongduo will send a lot of rare treasures from various countries outside the country, all of which are transferred to the imperial court by King Yuwen, and often get the great joy of the dragon face and the rich reward.

In the seventeenth year of Wuzhi, Gundo Khan married his most beloved youngest daughter, Deji Yangzong, to King Yuwen.

Deji Yangzong was 17 years old at the time, smart and clever since childhood, the most loved by the Khan of Gundo, and when he grew up, he was particularly bright and moving, and was known as "the most beautiful flower in the Northern Plateau".

Since childhood, Yangzong has been taught by several famous martial arts masters in Tufan, Saiwai and the Central Plains, and is proficient in all eighteen kinds of martial arts, and his riding and archery kung fu is very good, but he does not have the temper of the eldest lady who was born in the royal aristocracy, but is particularly knowledgeable, gentle and virtuous, which is due to the fact that his father invited a Chinese teacher to teach the Central Plains culture since he was a child, learn Hanshu poetry, and grew up under the influence of Han culture.

The grand wedding was held on the border, and tens of thousands of people on both sides participated in this grand ceremony, singing and dancing, drinking and eating meat, while reveling all night for three days, which was the most harmonious day between the Central Plains and the northern peoples.

At the wedding, King Uwen made a pact with the Khan of Gondo that they would never invade each other, guaranteeing friendship for generations to come.

After that, the exchanges between the two sides became closer, and the Tufan State benefited greatly from the political, economic, cultural and military exchanges with the Central Plains, and continued to grow stronger, eventually eliminating other ethnic groups in the north and unifying the territory of the Northern Regions outside the Guan, and a new northern empire was quietly forming.

However, Tufan has always kept its promises and never violated an inch of land in the Central Plains, and even when King Yuwen raised an anti-flag to confront the imperial court, in order to support King Yuwen against the encirclement and suppression of the imperial court, the Tufan Kingdom also gave great support to grain, grass, horses, and ordnance many times.

It is also with the support of the Tufan Kingdom that King Yuwen has been able to protect the city of the Northern Regions without losing a single city in the past ten years when he has few soldiers and few generals. However, this has also become evidence that the Imperial Court Seat Shiyuwen family and Tufan colluded to rebel.

But in fact, in the more than ten years since King Yuwen rebelled, Tufan Kingdom did not take the opportunity to obtain a city and a pond in the Central Plains, and both sides have always maintained their original boundaries and did not offend each other. King Yuwen has never sent troops to enter the Central Plains for so many years, but also to defend the border pass in the northern region, for fear that Tufan State will try to take advantage of the situation.

But things have changed, and after the death of Gundo, the founding khan of the Tufan kingdom three years ago, his seventh son, Deyong Zaji, succeeded to the throne. At this time, the Tufan Kingdom had pacified a large area of territory in the north, the national strength was strong, and there was no longer any border trouble, and after the ambitious Deyong Zaji succeeded to the throne, he set his sights on the rich and rich Central Plains.

Although Deyong Khan did not take the opportunity to invade the Central Plains, he repeatedly expressed to King Yuwen that he was willing to join forces with him to attack the territory of the Central Plains, overthrow the Dafeng Dynasty, and avenge the blood shame of the Yuwen family.

King Yuwen politely rejected Deyong's proposal several times on the grounds that the time was not yet ripe, but the wolf ambition of Deyong Khan's attempt to annex the Central Plains was already clear, and King Yuwen knew that in the end, whether he agreed or not, Deyong would sooner or later attack the Central Plains, and he was worried about this. After careful consideration, King Yuwen recently took the initiative to abandon several cities on the periphery and withdraw his troops to Gulu Pass City.

The commander of the imperial court in charge of the Northern Expedition was the hussar general Huang Zhipeng, the uncle of the emperor. In the past ten years, the troops have been sent countless times, but no progress has been made, which has aroused the anger of Long Yan, and he wants to remove him from his post and investigate it. The general played the court overnight, not to mention the great merit.

After learning the news, the court was full of joy, and the emperor was also overjoyed and ordered a reward.

Seeing that General Huang was about to perform this miraculous feat, Fang Dingchao, the general of the auxiliary state, who was very angry, immediately wrote to the emperor, demanding that troops be sent to the west immediately to quell the rebellion in the west, and wanted to grab the first credit before the rebellion in the north.

The emperor was overjoyed, and personally performed for him in the court, and ordered the king of Zhennan to send troops to help him at the same time and jointly go west.

I didn't want General Fang to touch a nose of ashes in the Western Regions, and he returned in vain, and he also lost his troops and lost his vitality. After he joined the defense envoy Pan Tianshou in the court, he invited troops to go north, wanting to work with General Huang to quell the rebellion, so as to save some face.

Now that Huang Fang and Chen Bing have more than 200,000 troops in front of Gulu Pass, Tufan is also fighting hard in China, grinding his fists and palms, and he is ready to try.

What should we do? It is impossible to submit to the imperial court, how can family feuds and blood hatred be avenged, and how can the injustice of treason be redressed? It is also impossible to take refuge in the Tufan country, ignoring the general interests of the nation, disregarding the life and death of the people of the Central Plains, and carrying on the back the reputation of betraying the country and seeking glory is something that the Yuwen family, which has been loyal and good for generations, cannot bear. What should the tens of thousands of soldiers who followed him deal with, and where did his wife and children flee with him?

Under the vast and brilliant starry sky of the Northern Plateau, Zhenbei Wang Yuwen Haotian fell into deep contemplation.