In early autumn, the grassland grass and trees are yellow, and the flat and open wild scenery is lonely, but the war horse has been raised fat and strong after a spring and summer with abundant water and grass. The warriors of the steppes will choose to follow their chieftain and hold a large-scale safari in the endless wilderness.

Of course, if the tribal leaders of the steppes want to start a war to expand their territory, now is also the best time of the year. Mobei has never been a peaceful place, and tribes large and small are always at war.

When the year is bad, the cattle and sheep are not fat enough in the spring and summer to survive the long winter, and the tribe will choose to wage war to plunder enough supplies to survive the cold.

In good times, ambitious tribal chiefs will also choose to wage war, allowing the tribe's brave cavalry to expand their territory and obtain more cattle and sheep and property.

Such wars are not only fought between rival tribes, but even those with a single name are full of various annexations until a true lord emerges to unify large areas of meadow.

Only heroes can bring enough wealth to the tribe, and only heroes can bring real peace to the grassland, and the worship of heroes by the grassland tribes comes from the bottom of their hearts and goes deep into their bones.

To become a hero, you must first become an invincible warrior, and by reaching this level, you can win the respect of your tribe, and once a warrior who advocates fighting and pioneering has wisdom, he has the potential to win the admiration of everyone.

Undoubtedly, Yelu Abaoji is such a hero.

This is true for the Khitan Babu, and it is also true for the entire grassland.

On the grasslands of thousands of miles from east to west, the horseshoe prints of his warriors have been left over the years, and the tribes, large and small, have been unified and united under the same banner because of his existence. This big flag, which is now flying in every corner of the grassland, has three bloody characters written on it: Khitan Kingdom.

Unlike the heroes who conquered the Mobei grassland before, Yelu Abaoji was the first male lord to establish a complete state system on the grassland. Under his rule, the Khitan warriors became the well-deserved masters of this grassland, and for the first time, in addition to the idea of obeying the tribe and obeying the strong, they had a collective consciousness of loyalty to the king.

Xilou City is the center of Yelu Abaoji's rule over the grassland.

This place has therefore become a sacred city in the hearts of the grassland people.

Under a clear sky, a breeze, a cavalry full of prey roared back, and as soon as they approached the camp, the warriors held aloft all kinds of prey, showing off their victories to their companions.

The black-clothed mink hat led by Yelu Abaoji did not hang a single prey on the war horse under his seat, but the guards behind him had the most prey in their hands.

After getting off the horse, Yelu Abaoji shook his whip and approached a majestic white felt tent with a smile on his face. There were already people waiting in front of the tent, and the leader was a young woman in white clothes and red clothes, with red lips and white teeth, and eyes like stars, completely devoid of the roughness of a prairie woman, and her delicate beauty was like the moon in the sky.

"Yue Liduo, you are really getting more and more beautiful, the bravest warrior on the grassland will be willing to bow down in front of your skirt when he sees you!" Yelu Abaoji's exaggerated gesture attracted the shyness and anger of the beauty.

Yelu Abaoji, who was laughing, picked up the Yueliduo in his mouth, laughed and walked into the felt tent. When the maids on the left and right saw it, they didn't follow in, but helped lower the curtain.

In this grassland, everyone can praise Yueliduo's beauty, but only Yelu Abaoji can have her beauty and enjoy her beauty.

The brightest pearl on the grassland should be matched with the most brave heroes, this is a rule that no one can break.

When Yelu Abaoji returned to the camp, the sun was still high in the sky, and by the time he and Yue Liduo stepped out of the felt tent again, the galaxy had already reflected the night sky.

In the camp, bonfires are piled up, and the warriors who come out to participate in the safari are barbecuing trophies in laughter, and the sound of all kinds of drinking is one after another, which is very lively.

In front of the largest bonfire, there are the most people around, and the scene is the most lively, but the wide main seat is set aside, and although the food placed in front of it is not dazzling, it is not small in Jiushan Roshan.

The appearance of Yelu Abaoji caused a cheer, and he just waved his hand, signaling the warriors to continue the excitement, and he sat down in the spacious seat.

He picked up a barbecued golden fat leg of mutton, opened his mouth to bite off a piece of slender meat, stuffed it in his mouth and chewed it.

After eating a leg of mutton, Yelu Abaoji also drank a jar of wine, Yueliduo carefully selected a piece of venison, cut it into small pieces and handed it to him on a plate, his eyes were full of tenderness to look at him, but he reached out and pushed it away.

In Yueliduo's puzzled and curious eyes, Yelu Abaoji suddenly sighed, and said with a smile: "Do you know Yueliduo, Li Ye pacified the Tang Dynasty, and now the world of the Tang Dynasty is up to him alone." Moreover, he also recovered Hexi and completely defeated the Tibetans...... Oh, that was a great victory in a foreign war that the Tang Dynasty had not won in a hundred years!"

Seeing Yelu Abaoji's sorrow, Yueliduo blinked her big black and shining eyes, and wondered: "What does the matter of the Tang Dynasty have to do with us?"

"We graze on the grasslands, they farm on the land, as long as we don't go south, aren't they irrelevant? Since ancient times, the Central Plains Dynasty has never taken the initiative to advance north, and it is only because of the counterattack against our invasion that it has launched wars again and again. ”

Yelu Abaoji drank a large bowl of wine, wiped his mouth and said, "War is inevitable. ”

Seeing that Yueliduo was at a loss, Yelu Abaoji continued: "The grassland is barren, and the wealth we can harvest is basically only cattle and sheep, which alone is not enough for us to live, cloth, porcelain, tea, ironware, etc., we also need it, but there are too few on the grassland."

"Even if it is cattle and sheep, it is not enough every year, and when the year is bad, there are too many people who freeze to death in winter, and many people will starve to death in the next year. In order to prevent their tribesmen from starving to death, many tribes brazenly launched wars of plunder to rob other tribes.

"If he wins, he'll get enough food, and if there's a draw, they'll consume a lot of food, and they'll save a lot of food, and maybe the rest of the food will be enough.

"If defeated, their tribe will disappear. Do you know what it means for the tribes to disappear in the year of the calamity? Those people are not reduced to slavery, but abandoned in the wilderness and starved to death!"

Yueliduo's eyes widened.

Some of what Yelu Abaoji said, she knew, some only knew one of them, and some of them had never heard of it at all. She has a noble status, and she is also a kind of person who is rich in clothes and food on the grassland, and she does not know so much about the life of low-level herdsmen and small tribes.

This was the first time she had heard of a tribe waging war to consume the population of its own tribe so that there would be enough food to eat! Even if this was not the main purpose, as long as there was such an intention, even if it was only a little bit, it would make people feel chills all over the body to think about it.

Yelu Abaoji looked at the night sky in the south, and said with heavy eyes: "When the grassland is not unified, once a disaster occurs, it is natural to suffer losses internally, but when the grassland is unified, no hero can tolerate his herdsmen being starved to death on a large scale."

"What should we do if we don't have enough cattle and sheep? We are used to war, and we will only rob other people's cattle and sheep except for our own grazing. Therefore, before the severe winter comes, we will call on the herdsmen to mount their horses, pick up their bows and arrows, and gather their troops to the south to rob the rich Han people and raise enough supplies and food for the winter. ”

Hearing this, Yue Liduo nodded.

At this moment, she understood the fundamental reason for the continuous southward invasion of the steppe cavalry.

If you don't want to starve to death, you can only choose to fight on horseback. But as long as the Central Plains Dynasty was not particularly strong and had the slightest chance of victory, the predatory wars of the steppe tribes to the south would not stop.

After all, the grasslands are still too barren.

Survival is a fundamental proposition that remains unchanged in ancient times.

But another question rose in her heart, "But this year is a good year, there are abundant cattle and sheep on the grassland, and wintering is not a problem at all, so there is no need for us to start a war and fight with the Tang Dynasty, which is now in the middle of the country." ”

Yelu Abaoji smiled bitterly, touched Yueliduo's hand and said, "But Li Ye knows that we will still use troops to the south after all, as long as this possibility still exists, he will not sit idly by." The heroes of the steppe will not watch their shepherds starve to death, and the heroes of the Central Plains will not ignore the burning and looting of their people.

"So, when he is able to deal with us, he will surely solve this scourge, which is always coming. In any way, the sooner the better, preferably before we start another war of plunder. In this way, his people will not suffer losses, and his taxes will not be reduced as a result. ”

Speaking of which, Yelu Abaoji drank another bowl of wine.

Yue Liduo thought for a while and said seriously: "But the Tang Dynasty has not used troops against us for many years. They are all defense. Now that there are heroes like you in the grassland, the Khitan State is unprecedentedly strong, far from being comparable to the previous scenes where the tribes were nominally unified and in fact the tribes were separated. Li Ye, does he have the courage to start a war with us?"

This question made Yelu Abaoji silent for a moment.

But instead of thinking, he fell into memory.

Yue Liduo didn't bother, just quietly watched him wait.

Finally, Yelu Abaoji came back to his senses, smiled, and said, "Li Ye is different, he will definitely use troops against us." And he should already be impatient. He is a rare hero in the world, and once said to me that the side of the couch will not allow others to snore!

"The strength of the Khitan will put pressure on the Tang Dynasty. He will not sit idly by and watch the territory be strong, and every male lord will not make the territory strong. Strength means threat, so there must be a big war, even a decisive battle, between the north and the south. Just like the 'Heavenly Khan' in the early Tang Dynasty, he defeated the Turks and declared his domination over the steppe.

"A hero like Li Ye must be very eager to reproduce the glorious achievements of 'Tian Khan'. The people of the Tang Dynasty worshiped their ancestors, and their ancestors' achievements were their lifelong goals, but those who still had a little courage and blood in their bodies would not relax if they did not achieve this goal one day. ”

Yue Liduo finally understood that the war between the Khitan Kingdom and the Tang Dynasty was inevitable and imminent.

From the moment the Tang Dynasty was pacified, it was announced that the Great War of the North and South had entered the preparatory stage, and it was about to break out.

......

"The warriors of the steppe never wait for the enemy to enter the tent before they think of picking up their bows and arrows. It's too late, isn't it?"

Yue Liduo stared at Yelu Abaoji with sparkling eyes, "Eagle on the grassland, you are already preparing for war, maybe you are ready, aren't you?"

Yelu Abaoji laughed, laughed very heartily, took Yueliduo into his arms, and grabbed it hard a few times in the full place, and the laughter was even brighter.

"Do you know that in the Yueliduo, the people of the Tang Dynasty said that Li Ye regained Hexi in the middle of the month, and turned his head to pacify Shuzhong without blood, which is comparable to the glorious record of the Tang Dynasty!

"Now, every Tang person is sharpening their knives, and they can't wait to immediately raise their knives and expand their territory. Those Tang Army generals in Youzhou's border fortress have now begun to continuously dispatch scouts to cross the Great Wall and probe into the depths of the grassland! What is this? This is the Tang Dynasty once again showing his hideous fangs, sharp claws, and fierce eyes!

"They are going to be like the wolves on the steppe, going all over the world in search of prey and expanding their territory! You say, at such a time, as the biggest shepherd on the grassland, how can I, Yelu Abaoji, not be ready for war?"

Yueliduo lay in Yelu Abaoji's arms, his head resting on the other party's broad and solid chest, and the whole person was tender like water, as if he wanted to melt into the other party's body.

She said in a greasy voice: "No matter how vicious the wolves are, when they meet excellent hunters, they will only be killed by bows and arrows." ”

Yelu Abaoji nodded again and again: "You are right. Good hunters know that the best time to shoot a pack of wolves is before they attack, especially before they are strong enough to kill them early in their chance of becoming beasts. ”

Speaking of this, Yelu Abaoji picked up Yueliduo, who was already weak, and turned around to walk into the white felt tent again.

But as soon as he took a step, he stopped there, put Yueliduo down, and said to her, "You go and wait for me in the tent." ”

Yueliduo responded meekly, blushing and running away.

Beside Yelu Abao's fuselage, an old man in black clothes and a hood with a snow-white beard appeared.

"If the shepherds find that the wolves are too strong, they will not fight alone, and it is best to go back and gather more shepherds on horseback and bow to hunt them. The old man deliberately lowered his voice, like a night owl.

Yelu Abaoji sat down again, waved his hand casually, motioned for the old man to sit down, and said, "Didn't the Divine Sect always claim that it doesn't need helpers?"

The old man carefully selected a pot of wine, took an exceptionally clean silver cup, sat down on the felt, slowly poured himself a small half glass, leaned in front of his nose and sniffed it carefully, then showed a satisfied look, and wrote lightly: "Of course the gods don't need helpers, but you do." ”

Yelu Abaoji stretched out his hand to the side, and a maid filled his wine bowl, "The Tang Dynasty has just set its head, and it has such a strong strength?"

The old man drank the wine, and the aftertaste was half loud, and then he said slowly: "The Moon God Sect is gone, and the Liberation Gate has also been lowered, do you still think that the Tang Dynasty is not strong enough?" Li Ye is not an ordinary hero, no matter how much we attach importance to him, it is not an exaggeration. You've suffered two losses at his hands, and you still don't understand this?"

"Okay, then who are we looking for to help?" Thinking of the only two defeats in his life, Yelu Abaoji became interesting.

"All the countries around the Tang Dynasty will be our helpers. The Tang Dynasty once brought them too deep a nightmare, no one wanted that Tang Dynasty to appear again, it was a disaster for all of us. Therefore, all the existences within the reach of the Tang Dynasty will unite with us. ”

The old man shook his wine glass, but his eyes flashed with bloodthirsty light, "The Uighurs in the west, Silla in the east, and even the Nanzhao in the south of the Tang Dynasty......"

Speaking of this, he suddenly sneered, "The people in these places should be trembling by now. Especially the Uighurs, the Mingjiao people have taken the initiative to find us. ”

"None of them can really fight. Yelu Abaoji pouted, "A group of local chickens and dogs." ”

The old man said lightly: "Compared with us, they are weaker, but as long as the Tang Dynasty is attacked from several sides, that is our chance." The territory of the Tang Dynasty was too vast, and the mountains and rivers were crisscrossed, even if it was a cavalry, there was no way to quickly rush to the aid of all places. As long as these kingdoms can contain some Tang Dynasty troops, we will win. ”

Yelu Abaoji straightened up, stared at the old man for a long time, and suddenly said: "This time, it seems that it is not to prevent the Tang Dynasty army from entering the grassland, nor is it to go south to plunder the population and wealth of the Tang Dynasty, you are thinking about it...... Destroy the Tang Dynasty and completely occupy the Central Plains?"

The old man smiled and asked, "Why not? A big hero should have a big heart, but don't the eagles on the grassland have it?"

Yelu Abaoji lay back, "During the Jin Dynasty, the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Qian, Di, and Qiang entered the Central Plains one after another, and the final result was not very good. ”

The old man said disdainfully: "Mere ants, how can they be compared to the divine envoys? Although these five clans entered the Central Plains in the past, their gods did not defeat the Daomen Immortal Court. So after they entered the Central Plains, most of them ended up becoming Central Plains people. We are different, the Heavenly Gods are already about to defeat the Dao Sect Immortal Court and seize their Dao system, this is the general trend!"

Yelu Abaoji came to his senses again, sat up and said, "Can the Heavenly God defeat the Daomen Immortal Court?"

The old man smiled proudly: "The Daomen Immortal Court is now in a civil war, and we just happen to reap the benefits of the fisherman." Rest assured, the results will be revealed soon. ”

Yelu Abaoji lay back again, looked at the night sky, and said half-loudly: "The immortal realm has divided the victory and defeat, the gods occupy the Daomen Immortal Court, and my Khitan Kingdom conquers the Tang Dynasty, isn't it a matter of course?"

The old man bowed his head and said, "That's exactly the reason. ”

Yelu Abaoji sighed slowly, and even looked a little interested: "One day in the fairy realm, one year in the mortal world, then won't we have to wait for a long time?

"There's nothing wrong with being idle. ”

The old man drank all the wine in his cup in one gulp, "Recuperate, when it's time for you to go into battle, don't be killed by Li Ye." As I said, Li Ye is not an ordinary person. Even if we occupy the Daomen Immortal Court, he may not be devastated, and Hexi is an example. ”

Yelu Abaoji nodded, his eyes regaining his brightness, "I hope that day will come soon." I will definitely let Li Ye know that the previous two small defeats were just jokes, and the one who can win the decisive battle and laugh to the end is the real lord of the world!"