Chapter 148 Darabita

Author: Gongsun Wujiu

Chapter 148 Dharabitha

October 11th in the early year of Tianhan.

The Nu Qiang people, led by Yun Hu, were preparing to return to their tribe.

The first trip to Luntai made the Nuoqiang people extremely satisfied.

Zhang Yue not only readily gave the Nuo Qiang people three months of food at once.

They also exchanged 500 pieces of cloth, 300 jars of wine, and 100 Han swords for 600 horses of the Nuoqiang people.

Zhang Yue also hosted a banquet for a group of Nuo Qiang nobles in the Duwei Mansion, which was like a heavenly palace in the eyes of the Nuo Qiang people.

Even Yun Hu, who was strongly opposed to cooperating with the Han army at first, completely changed his attitude after this trip.

When the Nuoqiang people left, because they were worried about being attacked again on the road, the Han army also sent 300 infantry and cavalry people to escort the Nuoqiang people back to their tribes.

Yang You did not return to Nuoqiang this time. He had already found a rich iron mine in the Altyn Mountains.

But it is winter now, the weather is cold in the Altyn Mountains, and mining is not in time.

Therefore, he had to wait until spring before taking the people out.

At the gate of the city, Zhang Yue and Pan Hong were leading the crowd to bid farewell to the Nuo Qiang people.

After the Nuoqiang people left, Pan Hongyi pointed out:

"Your Majesty, you are just escorting the Nuo Qiang people back to their country, so you don't need to ride so many steps, right?"

Zhang Yue laughed and said, "Six hundred steps is too much!"

Pan Hong smiled and said, "It seems that the prince has already regarded the Qiemo Kingdom as his treasure!"

Zhang Yue did not deny it, "Although Qiemo is small, it is connected to Xiaowan in the south; Nuoqiang and Shanshan in the east; Ronglu in the west; Jingjue; Luntai and Yuli in the north..."

"This is a battleground for military strategists, and they can leave it alone..."

In fact, Zhang Yue had another reason not to mention it. When he ordered people to investigate Qie Mo Kingdom a few days ago, he suddenly thought of something.

He vaguely remembered that in later generations, there seemed to be an iron mine near the ruins of the end of the country.

But he wasn't very sure, so he didn't tell him the reason.

I just secretly explained it to Zhao Guanghan and Dong Fei in private.

Pan Hong smiled and asked, "How are you going to deal with the Qiemo people?"

"Should I move to become a citizen of the Han Dynasty?"

"What can I do if they don't obey?"

Zhang Yue closed his eyes slightly, "If you don't comply, you will do what happened in Luntai!"

Pan Hong held up his palms and laughed and said, "Good! Such great things can be accomplished!"

…

Zhao Guanghan's trip was consistent with the path Yang You took when he returned.

First, we set off from Luntai to Yuli. After some repairs in Yuli, we continued southward.

The route taken is basically the same as the road from Korla to Ruoqiang County in later generations.

But in this era, the climate in the Western Region has not changed and the environment has not been damaged, so it is not difficult to do it.

Although they carried a large amount of supplies, the group reached Huanni in only 12 days.

At this time, King Hu Lai also led his troops to this place because he was worried about being attacked on the road.

"Thank you very much, Junhou Zhao. If Junhou is free, why don't you go to Nuqiang?"

Go to Hu Lai Wang’s invitation.

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty. It's just that a certain Shang has the great trust of your Majesty...I will definitely have a drink with Your Majesty someday..."

The king of Go Lai said, "That's all right. Please give my regards to Marquis Yunyang for Xiao Wang..."

After a brief exchange between the two parties, King Hu Lai left with people escorting the supplies, and Zhao Guanghan also had to complete his real mission.

"Where are we, the military lord, going at this time?"

"Go and don't go!"

"Go to Qiemo?"

Although the officers were confused, they did not raise any objections.

This was obviously planned in advance, so why bother asking.

"Second and third sons, let's go!"

Zhao Guanghan gave an order and the entire army turned and headed upstream along the Qiemo River.

Their destination is the legendary Qiemo Kingdom.

The Qiemo River originates from the Muzitage Peak on the northern slope of the Kunlun Mountains, and finally flows into the Puchang Sea in Loulan. The total length is about 2,000 miles (Hanli).

Although it is only slightly longer than later generations, the water flow is much greater.

The river is rich in aquatic products, and fish can be seen jumping out of the water from time to time.

The scenery along the way is also very good. Many soldiers from Guanzhong secretly compared it with the Wei River and Jing River in Guanzhong.

Several Huotou soldiers even planned to wait until they set up camp to get some fish from the river to improve the food for everyone.

Everything is good in Luntai, but there are too few aquatic products. It is no problem to drink alcohol and eat meat, but it is extremely difficult to eat fish.

Zhao Guanghan, who was riding on the horse, was in a very happy mood at this time. He originally thought that Qiemo was a bitter and cold place, but unexpectedly it turned out to be better than Luntai.

…

In the valley of a tributary of Qiemo River, a group of strangely dressed and strange-looking people were doing repairs in the valley.

They were chattering in strange languages.

If Yang You were here, he would have recognized that the horse thieves who attacked them were this group of people.

The clothes on these people were of all kinds, as if they were stolen from someone, and they wore whatever they grabbed.

You can't tell their origins from their clothes.

They generally have long faces, medium builds, curly black hair, thin lips and light brown skin.

Their appearance is very different from that of people from other countries in the Western Regions, but they are somewhat similar to people from places south of South Vietnam.

They were dissecting a dead horse by the river. Presumably that was their dinner.

But what is strange is that these people did not place any warning guards nearby...

…

About five miles away from the river valley, a group of Han army scouts were exploring the way for the army and looking for a place to camp.

"Commander, this is a good place to camp. Can you please repay the army?"

The team leader was about to agree, when suddenly he looked at the small tributary out of nowhere.

"Wait a minute, you are waiting here, I will go to the front to take a look!"

After saying that, he went upstream along the tributary.

"Hey!" He didn't go far when he discovered something was wrong with the river beach ahead.

He suddenly became alert, and after confirming that no one was around, he cautiously headed towards the river beach.

"These are horse hoof prints!"

He saw the mark on the river beach at a glance.

"No less than a hundred horses!"

He quickly judged the number of horses based on the marks left on the river beach.

"How come there are so many horses here?"

He first turned around to join his companions, and then asked the two of them to turn around first and send a message to the army.

And he took the other two people to explore upstream along the river.

After walking for two or three miles, I heard the sound of horses and people coming from upstream.

"There is indeed someone!"

One person was left to keep an eye on the war horses, while the remaining two skillfully climbed up the cliff next to the river valley.

Under the cover of bushes, the two successfully reached the top of the river valley.

"There are about 170 horses and about 90 warriors..."

The two quickly found out the target's number of people and equipment.
To be continued...