When the generals were gathered at Zuowuguan, a team of more than ten reconnaissance cavalry also entered the city later. They came from the Three Passes Protectorate and were ordered to pass the intelligence to Zuowuguan.
The Daqian Kingdom has its own Peony Internal Guards, and it also has its own espionage team among the four frontier armies. However, they are simply called "Reconnaissance Cavalry".
However, having an ordinary name does not mean that the ability is ordinary. There are many generals and lieutenants in the Duwei Mansion's Bingge Hall. When they see the reconnaissance cavalry wearing Xuanwu iron armor, they still give way to the old way.
"Captain Su, the detective cavalry is reporting! We have something to do, so go first!" The leading detective cavalry handed Su Ce the bamboo tube tied to his body. There was still blood on the bamboo tube, and turned to leave.
The scouts did not mention that they encountered the Jiuhu scouts who had climbed over the mountains and infiltrated on their way here. To them, being intercepted on the road was like eating and drinking, and life and death were no match for treasure hunting.
This was a group of warriors who put their lives on the line. When thousands of other troops were shouting victory, they were the only ones who silently collected the corpses of their comrades.
Every time Daqian used the enemy's prophets on the battlefield, these scouts paid for them with their flesh and blood.
The scout didn't mention why they were leaving in a hurry. Su Ce wouldn't ask, because Su Ce knew why.
Su Ce took the bamboo tube and shouted to Li Huaimin outside the hall: "Prepare wine and meat, let the brothers of the reconnaissance cavalry take them away! General Qin, please lead 400 cavalry and send the brothers of the reconnaissance cavalry for a ride!"
Su Ce did not politely let the scouts go down to rest. Instead, he sent his only 400 light cavalry to follow the scouts.
After hearing the words, the leader of the scout cavalry turned around and bowed silently. With the four hundred Qingqi, those Jiuhu scout cavalry who had sneaked through the mountains would not dare to mess around, and the road back would be much easier.
Su Ce first took a look at the paint on the bamboo tube. It was covered with the seal of the Protector General of the Three Pass Protectorate, the public seal of Duling County, and the private seal of the Gongsun Sect. The three seals undoubtedly showed how important the content inside the bamboo tube was. .
Su Ce took out the barrier knife from his waist, used the barrier knife to pick up the fire paint, and opened the bamboo tube. The cloth and silk inside were rolled up very thickly. Su Ce couldn't help but sigh after reading it. The old man has left no trace, and today he knows what Anbei is. .
When the snow melted, the Jiuhu people sent 50,000 fine cavalry, 100,000 old cavalry, and 50,000 Rus slaves to Zuowuguan at the end of May!
Su Ce calmed down and looked at the detailed writing and ink on the cloth. After reading it, he handed it to Chief Shi Zhao Yu who was standing aside.
There was a gap between the Jiuhu people and the Rus people, and the Rus people did not fully support the Jiu Hu people going south and started trading with Daqian as before. This made the Jiu Hu people who lost their ancestral homeland Beiyuan unbearable.
At the end of last year, the Jiuhu people killed the two tax collectors at Zuowuguan and burned down the trade market. The walls of Zuowuguan, Beidingguan and Youweiguan were completed, and Daqian did not march for three years, nor did he leave the customs. The Jiuhu people have taken advantage of Zuowuguan, but if they want to use this to spark a war between Rus and Dagan, it can only be said that the Jiuhu people are thinking too much.
Daqian still needs at least a year to digest the Northern Plains, so how could he start a war? And Lviv, Duke of Rus, was even less likely to start a war with a huge empire for his vassals. The war in the twelfth year of Longsheng made his The territory has yet to recover.
In the past two years, Lviv has expanded eastward and seized thousands of miles of land north of the Blackwater River from Beishiwei. It breathed a sigh of relief. However, facing the Andong Protectorate across the river is still a problem.
As for the tax collector who was killed, he was a tax collector from the Kingdom of Rus, and not a tax collector from Duke Lvov. Therefore, Duke Lvov not only did not punish the Jiuhu people, but instead gave them 50,000 Shiwei prisoners of war as charge. Become a slave army.
With less than 500,000 people left, Jiuhu is now a vassal of Duke Lvov, entrenched in the northwest of the Langyan Mountains. To the north is the Yingluo Kingdom, a vassal of King Rus, to the south is Qianli Desert, and to the east is Duke Lvov. Husband’s territory is the Uighurs to the west. The Uighurs were once a branch of the Nine Hus. They were originally going to follow the Turks to move westward, but they were blocked by the Anxi Protectorate.
The Turks met the Ogusi and Ogur people to the west, the Mansi and the Serkup people to the north, the Rus Kingdom, Zheluoge Principality and its vassal Gashou Kingdom to the east, and the Buchu people to the west. The Anxi Protectorate was pressing hard, and the Uighurs' westward migration was blocked. Next to them was the Longyou Daoxiang Army, which was gradually increasing in combat power. It could be said that they were surviving in the cracks.
The Jiuhu people, who once had a population of tens of millions, were torn apart by the Battle of Daqian. The Turks with a population of 3 million left the alliance and moved westward, followed closely by the Uighurs with a population of 2 million. The two largest groups of Hu people took away more than half of the population.
There are four million Jiuhu people left. After a full 104 years of continuous conquests from the first year of Shenwu to the twelfth year of Longsheng in Daqian, there are now less than 500,000 people left, including men. More than 300,000 Jiuhu people fled north, and their abandoned women and children became slaves of Daqian. The Jiuhu people also lost the foundation for their rise again.
There are many wise men among the Jiuhu people, and the provocation in front of Zuo Wuguan is just one of the ways. As long as the Rui people and the Dagan people face each other, the Jiu Hu can use their nests to lay eggs on the land of the Rui people and rise again.
Another way is to provoke civil strife among the Russians and profit from it. In the final analysis, it is still a nest to lay eggs. However, this method cannot rule out Daqian's involvement. For Dagan, if the Russians are in civil strife, Sanguan, Beiyuan, and Anbei will It seems that it would not be difficult for the Protectorate to devour the Kingdom of Rus with all its strength.
Therefore, the Jiuhu people just wanted to provoke a war between the Rus and the Dagan people and pick themselves out. However, Duke Lvov was not a fool. He drove the Jiuhu people from the northern foot of the Langyan Mountains to the Shashan territory in the west, so that It fends for itself. It even gave the Jiuhu people 50,000 Shiwei prisoners of war not long ago, just to let the Jiuhu people test whether Daqian's current frontier army can fight.
This is a conspiracy that the Jiuhu people cannot refuse. This time Duke Lvov did not give the Jiuhu people full support like he did two years ago.
It can be said that the Jiuhu people were still full of energy two years ago. Although they only have a population of 500,000 now, they still have at least 150,000 in armor regardless of their age.
Duke Lvov also felt that the Jiuhu people's tail was too big to be truly integrated into his principality, because the current leader of the young faction of the Jiuhu people, Aragbaz, this new leader, as his name implies, is a spotted tiger. , confident that he could lead the tribe back to their grassland, the newly promoted Jiuhu leader used the most brutal first step to bloodbath the original leaders of the Jiuhu tribes, and became the only leader of the Jiuhu tribe today.
Duke Lvov was the one who supported Alagbaz in his rise to power. After Aragbaz succeeded in becoming the sole leader, Duke Lviv immediately gave Aragbaz 50,000 Shiwei prisoners of war.
Unlike other ethnic groups, the Shiwei people like good wine and delicious food, believe in strength, and worship the strong. Therefore, they have no sense of shame in surrendering to enemies who are stronger than themselves, because there is no idea of family and nation in their minds. Nowadays,
The tribes live together and are divided into northern and southern Shiwei. The favorite thing of the Andong Protectorate is to provoke a war between the northern and southern Shiwei and reap the benefits.
Through the survival of the fittest in nature, every adult Shiwei person is a ready-made warrior. If Duke Lviv had not relied on his troops to be well-armed, it would be hard to say who would have the upper hand in the war with the Shiwei people.
After occupying enough land, Duke Lvov was afraid that the oriole of the Anton Protectorate was behind him, so he sent fine wine to stop the war with the Shiwei people. Of course, the Shiwei people who had good wine did not care about their losses anyway.
My own tribe has good wine to drink, but what do those unlucky tribes do, do they want to compete with me for wine?
After three years of non-conquest, this was the last year. Su Ce knew that the decision had already been made in Da Qian's court, whether it could be attacked but not conquered. Now in the critical last year, the three prime ministers were putting pressure on the Ministry of War, whether it could be defended but not conquered.
The center of the empire has reached a conclusion. The power in the Anbei line alone cannot change the conclusion in the court. In other words, the price that needs to be paid is too high. As for the other three frontier armies, there is no hope that they will not stab you in the back.
The knife is worthy of being a comrade.
The most prestigious nobles among the nobles have grown old and passed away. Some of them in their prime are still training in various disciplines. Before the saints went hunting in the east, the nobles went to one of the four places, which damaged their vitality. Now they are going to Chang'an.
The number of nobles and nobles is less than a quarter, otherwise how could it be rare for civil servants to judge state affairs in the Daqian court.
Su Ce shook his head and stopped thinking about things that were too far away. Now the Nine Hu people's scouts have entered the valley. Although the army has not moved, the journey of five to six hundred miles is too long for the Nine Hu people who mainly rely on cavalry.
, it only takes a few days to arrive.
After the intelligence in the valley was collected by the Jiuhu scouts, the Jiuhu army arrived soon after.
Thinking of this, Su Ce also needs to thank Duke Lvov for giving 50,000 Shiwei people to the Jiuhu people. These Shiwei people don't know how to ride horses. They live in the forest and snowy fields. They are very good infantry.
, but not good at riding horses, which slowed down the invasion of the Jiuhu people a lot. At the end of May, from now to nearly a month, the reinforcements from the two Protectorate Houses in Beiyuan and Anbei should be able to arrive, but by then
It was not an intrusion by the Nine Barbarians, but a large-scale conquest. This would make the three years of non-conquest empty talk and give the already powerful civil servants an excuse.
Moreover, the two Protectorate's Palaces also have their own defenses. There are still a small group of Jiuhu tribes in Beiyuan that have not been cleaned up and are defending according to danger. The Anbei Protectorate's Palace is the base camp of the Anbei line and has the defense of the Longyou Road.
The mission to intimidate Tibet.
In order to prevent the Russians from attacking from the east to the west, Gongsun Zong, the protector of the three passes, cannot hold the Zuowuguan Pass. Beidingguan and Youweiguan also need to guard against the Russians from going south. Therefore, large reinforcements will not be sent to assist the Zuowuguan Pass unless it is absolutely necessary.
.
However, the people who most hope that the Russians will attack the Three Passes Protectorate now are probably the people of the Anton lineage. As long as Duke Lvov raises his troops and the principality is empty of troops, they can easily occupy a large area of land from the Heihe River north.
The great achievements of opening up and expanding the territory are not enough for the people of the Anton lineage to produce a series of nobles. In the past few years, the Anbei lineage has had so many promotions and titles that the eyes of the other three lineages are red.
After all, it is better to rely on yourself than to rely on others! I just hope that Beiyuan and Anbei Prefectures can move faster. Otherwise, according to the current situation, Zuowuguan is likely to become a place where the war situation is corrupted.
What Daqian likes most is a decisive battle of a one-shot deal. In any decisive battle, Daqian's army is invincible. The Battle of Dashi that Su Ce experienced was 200,000 against 700,000, a huge victory!
But the war that may come now may become a war of attrition with dull knives slicing flesh.
After Zhao Yu finished reading the military report, he passed it to the left and right captains. After the seventh captain read it, everyone looked at Su Ce.
Su Ce smiled bitterly and his face darkened: "Everyone, it's obvious that you can cut flesh with a blunt knife. If you can resist it, you will honor your ancestors and leave your name in history. If you can't resist it, you and I are both sinners of the Anbei lineage. There is no need to hide the military information. Report The whole army.
The order was given to the general camp to make arrows with all their strength. Gao Hong, the captain of the Houguan camp, led the 500 people in the Houguan camp, wearing white helmets and temporarily supervising the battle. Anyone who escaped over the pass would be killed! The soldiers of the other six battalions stayed with them.
The captain on the right, Zhou Fengwu, is in charge of the light infantry camp, and the captain on the left, Chang Bin, is in charge of the heavy infantry camp, and is ready to be mobilized at any time.
Zhao Yu, the chief minister, asked for help from Gongsun Duhu to supplement the shortage of 4,000 soldiers, arrows, weapons, and materials as much as possible, as well as military doctors and medicinal materials."
"Here!" Everyone responded in unison, but they did not disperse. Instead, they began to discuss the details of the battle on the sand table.
After Su Ce gave Zhao Yu a look, the two went to the left hall and asked Li Huaimin to guard the door. Su Ce said, "You are the nephew of the Duke of Yueyang County. Logically speaking, you are also from my Anbei lineage. Help me bring a note to the Protector's document. If I don't hide something from you, just write: There will be no conscription for three years. There are only eight months left. The military cannot move without permission. Give the civilian officials an excuse. Don't care about the number of cities and places. The gains and losses of people, the more supplies, the longer Zuowuguan can hold on. If you can't borrow troops from Beiyuan and Anbei, don't borrow them. When they can't hold on, Zuowuguan will light up the smoke. The third year will be difficult!"
Su Ce sighed. If Su Ce was not the commander of the Anbei Army, he would have wished that the scale of the war would be as large as possible. But when the war at the border is mixed with disputes between the court and the various armies, Su Ce cannot use his military skills as a general. view the war from a different perspective.
This battle cannot be avoided, but it cannot be fought, it can only be endured. Jiuhu was the Anbei line's promotion to nobility after three years of non-conquest, and it is too early to take it now.
Su Ce rubbed his frown, returned to the combat hall, and pulled Xie Kaizheng, the outpost captain aside, to give some details: "Zuowuguan was not originally built in the outpost section, and there were only eighteen captains in the three passes. , you are the extra one, and you are guarding the enemy at Zuowuguan. Do you know what price your father paid to snatch this opportunity from others?
Needless to say, you know in your heart that having one more outpost means more insurance. You also know the difference between having one more wall and one less wall when defending a city.
Although the city wall is three feet high, we cannot take it lightly. This is the top priority. If the outpost is not lost, Zuowuguan will be impregnable. If the outpost is lost, we will only have one line of defense left. This is a world of difference.
The pass is dangerous and long and narrow. Only your outpost is relatively easy to attack. It is also a must-attack place for Jiuhu. You will be given twenty days to strengthen the city defense. The water mouth will flow through the outpost. You will personally supervise the work and let the generals camp at the original two iron gates. Add an iron gate and leave a hundred people to guard the water mouth. Do not touch them. If there are not enough people, ask the captains on the left and right to ask for them.
Your outpost is ten meters lower than the front gate. If the outpost is damaged, I will have people block it with huge rocks. I don’t want to hide this from you.
Guard the outpost. Your ancestor Xie Fa, the Duke of Hejian County, was from the Anxi Army. Your father, Xie Yanping, was the concubine of the Duke's mansion, but he was my son-in-law from Anbei. Your mother was the direct descendant of Liu Ji, the Duke of Guangping County. Daughter, your father was disabled due to the war, and he is still just like me as a founding uncle, and his rank is no more than the fourth rank.
Your father said that it was the Anxi line that caused mischief in that battle. We, the Anbei line, believed what he said, but could not stand up for him alone, which would have harmed the entire Anxi army. If the two armies of Anxi, Anxi, and the north were at odds with each other, great harm would be done. Qian still doesn't know what troubles will arise, but now he has found some clues. Someone in the Anxi Army has a different intention and wants to be restored. He hasn't found out who it is yet.
Your family comes from Anxi, and you work in Anbei. You have to step on both sides, and you can only risk your life. Your father is risking his life, so the Anbei people trust him, but they can't help him. Now, it's your turn to risk your life, otherwise even if I trust you in the future, Others won't believe that you need to fight to get the lintel of your home.
You still need to avenge your father's broken arm. Your status is still too low now. Even I only know a few superficial things. You can't check it now. I tell you this today because I hope you will die even if you die in battle. understand.
Whether you want to honor your family or redress your father's grievance, you have to rely on yourself, prepare well and try your best to survive."
"I woke up. Thank you so much, Young Master. The outpost is there, so-and-so is there, the outpost is lost, so-and-so is dead." Xie Kaizheng, the outpost captain, was nearly thirty years old. Suddenly he knew this, his eyes were full of tears, and he was the only one who felt sad among the elders and concubines. Understand, because he has experienced these.
The heirs of princes and marquises are the legitimate sons of the family, and those who are more settled are rich and glorious, but they are unable to realize their ambitions. Those who have great ambitions are hindered everywhere. Xie Kaizheng is also the common son of the family, and his brother Xie Kailai is the legitimate son, and he and his grandfather Hejian County Duke The Anbei lineage would not dare to use such a person. Who knows if the Anxi lineage sent him here.
However, Xie Yanping also made contributions to the Anbei line and even lost one of his right arms. In order to seek an opportunity for his heirs to earn merit, the Anbei line had no choice but to use Xie Kaizheng, a bastard. As for whether Xie Kaizheng can be reused in the future , it depends on whether he can survive this battle.
The temple calculator wins!
Since the establishment of the Three Passes, the Anbei line has been planning what will happen after three years of no conquest. Back then, it was able to seize the throne from Da Qi without any bloodshed. How could the Anbei line only have a little honor on the surface? Anbei The body of the lineage is in Dagan, but the brain is in the ancestral land of Dagan. The saint balances civil and military affairs. Without the cooperation of the Anbei lineage, how can everything go smoothly?
And Su Ce also revealed the true face of the Anbei lineage bit by bit from the words of his teacher Li Sizhe.
Su Ce once thought that the Anbei lineage was just the Anbei Protectorate. Later, he thought that the Anbei lineage was people from the Anbei Protectorate. Now Su Ce knows that those are just the tip of the iceberg of the Anbei lineage. As for the complete Anbei lineage, Su Ce would not make any wild guesses about what it would be like, because as a young military commander, he would know sooner or later one day, and he would not know the full picture until he was firmly in the position of military commander.