Popular Recommendations: Zhutian: The Sims from the Death of the Pillars to the Emperor’s Arrival, Hongmeng Beast Control: The pet beast is just a heavenly punishment order that brings me bonds.
Suzhou.
Suzhou is Jiuquan, one of the four counties in Hexi. It was renamed Suzhou when the county was removed from the county and converted into a prefecture and county in the Sui Dynasty.
This is the western end of the Hexi Corridor and the big city behind Yumen Pass.
Li Xia didn't spend much effort in regaining this place because the city defenses were in ruins and the population was depleted. The Mongols never defended the city very much, and the descendants of Kuoduan who were enfeoffed here only cared about enjoying themselves.
But it is easy to recover. When Kublai Khan draws his hand to attack again, how to hold it will be a difficult problem.
Li Xia didn't have the money, food or population to run this place yet, so he only arranged a thousand men from Mago to garrison at Yumen Pass and two thousand troops in Suzhou.
This is due to logistical considerations, because Suzhou has a larger city, more fields, and less pressure on supplies. And once the smoke rises, troops can be sent to support Yumen Pass at any time.
These three thousand people are standing troops, and in late April, troops and horses continued to gallop from the east. They were drawn from Ganzhou, Yongchang, Liangzhou, Lanzhou, and even Longxi.
As a result, the entire Hexi and Longxi areas were left with a emptiness of internal troops, and heavy troops were concentrated in Suzhou and Yumen Pass.
Although it is said to be a heavy force, it is actually only a few thousand people.
April 25th.
As a puff of dust and smoke rose from the east, another group of troops arrived.
"Hexi Army Commander Lu Xiaoyou was ordered to provide reinforcements."
"Let the soldiers and horses settle down in camp and follow me to familiarize themselves with the city's defenses."
Now the person in charge of Suzhou city defense is Song He.
Since Li Xia regained Guanzhong, there was no need to guard the Shu Road. He, a general from Qingfu Army and Horse Army, was transferred further and further to the border.
This is actually a reflection of being trusted. For example, although Song He is not the closest to Li Xia in the Qingfu system, he is now the deputy capital commander.
It is equivalent to Zhang Jue's official position during the First World War in Diaoyu City, and he was only twenty-six years old.
This time Li Zengbo attacked Xingqing Mansion and reused Yang Ben.
Song He actually wanted to go, but Li Zengbo said, "You are more careful and calm than Yang Ben. Only by guarding the west gate can Wang Shi attack the city with all his strength. When the time comes, you will be credited with a great achievement."
He was so coaxed that on the one hand he did not dare to slack off, on the other hand he felt a little lonely guarding Suzhou.
It didn't take long before he was no longer lonely at all. First, intelligence from the Military Intelligence Department came one after another. Brother Alibu and Hedan arrived in the Western Regions one after another. Chang'an even analyzed that the Mongolian soldiers and horses would attack the Hexi Corridor from the west to relieve Xingqing.
Wai.
Now, garrisons from various states and counties have been deployed to support, and Song He is extremely busy.
The sense of tension about the impending war has also become increasingly intense.
The problem is that Song He knew that his military strength was insufficient, and he was actually quite uneasy.
Lu Xiaoyou also saw the problem and said in a low voice: "The Mongolian army likes to use the strategy of serving as a meddle. We have deployed garrison troops from various states and counties like this. If the Mongolian army detours, Hexi and Longxi will be lost. It is better to shrink the defense line and concentrate
troops."
"I know." Song He put his arms around Lu Xiaoyou's shoulders, avoided the soldiers beside him, and whispered: "But this strategy was not arranged by me."
"Who else could it be? Are Hexi and Longxi really going to be merged into one?"
In the entire Hexi region, apart from Li Zengbo, Yang Ben was attacking Xingqing Mansion, Song He and Lu Xiaoyou were the two people with the highest military power, so Lu Xiaoyou really didn't know who else could be there.
Song He was about to answer when he suddenly saw smoke billowing in the distance and a small group of soldiers and horses running towards him quickly.
Lu Xiaoyou hurried to the city wall and picked up a lookout tube in his hand.
I saw more than a thousand horses galloping, but there were not many riders on them, maybe three to four horses per person.
"Here he comes? The king is really here?"
"Is the Mongolian army really going to attack Hexi?"
The two generals on the top of the city looked at each other, not surprised but happy, with enthusiasm in their eyes.
Although not long ago they were still worried about the Mongolian army's invading troops and their lack of strength, and worried about the Mongolian army's conspiracy to help.
But the King of Qin had arrived in person, and at this moment they felt that the time had come for a man to make contributions.
However, when they were ready to receive the order to open the city gate, they saw the cavalry team of hundreds of people running westward without stopping...
At the same time, there were also knights riding to the city.
"Uu...The King of Qin has issued an order, ordering the Suzhou garrison to always pay attention to the beacon fire in the west and be ready to support Yumen Pass at any time."
"The last general takes command!"
"I would like to give another message to General Song and General Lu... He is ready to fight. The soldiers behind him dare to fight at any time and can fight at any time. This is his confidence to intimidate all the tribes in the Western Regions."
"..."
Following these words, Song He and Lu Xiaoyou looked up to the west again, only to see that the billowing dust and smoke were getting further and further away.
~~
Li Xia almost didn't make it in time to see Aruhu.
Because Aruhu's reply obviously did not consider how far away Chang'an was, and only said that if Li Xia was sincere, he would come to Yangguan for an alliance on the 28th.
Hurrying along slowly and hurriedly, we finally arrived at Yumen Pass on the night of the 26th.
He didn't have time to talk to the guard Mago for too long, he just encouraged him a little and rewarded Mago with some jewels.
After Ma Ge went down happily, the person who came up to pay a visit to Li Xia was Lin Zi, the director of the Military Intelligence Department.
"The king is really here."
"You have made great achievements on this trip." Li Xia said: "First, you found out that the Hedan is not in Jiuyuan, and you also found out the information about the Western Region."
"Actually, it's the same thing." Lin Zi said with a smile: "Hedan went around the desert to Bessbali. I sent people from the Hexi Corridor to Bessbali to follow him."
"The letter doesn't mention it in detail, please tell me carefully."
"Your Majesty, everything that can be found out has been stated in the letter. Brother Alibu robbed the Yinli Valley, and Hedan's troops arrived at Bielsa. Aruhu wrote back. At the moment, only this information is accurate, and the details are still being discovered.
.”
Li Xia knocked on his armor and pondered for a while. It was only then that he noticed something strange about Lin Zi.
"Hmm? Where's the hair?"
"Hehe." Lin Zi chuckled, took off his felt hat, and said nonchalantly: "There are many people here who believe in monks. I asked the spies to pretend to be monks. If someone asks me about my body, hair, skin, and parents, I will give it first.
They shave one."
Li Xia smiled and said, "When the world is unified, is there anything you want?"
"I want the king to talk to my mother-in-law. I also want to marry another wife. In fact, I had an uncle who died in the war early and lost his incest..."
After this small interruption, Lin Zi touched his head again and became serious again.
Li Xia asked: "Do you know why Aruhu agreed to form an alliance with me?"
This time, he thought that if he waited a little longer, Alibaba would reply first, but he didn't understand why Aluhu proposed the alliance first.
This doubt has never been solved.
"I don't know, it's too far away, and it's across the desert, so it's really hard to check." Lin Zi said: "Also, Aruhu used to be from Ali Buge's line. We have never placed spies into his sphere of influence. It's completely
Don’t understand.”
Baimeng book
Li Xia knew that this was not an easy matter and understood it quite well. He asked again, "He really only came with 2,000 people?"
"This is certain." Lin Zi said: "The southwest of Yumen Pass is all Gobi, as far as the eye can see. If a large group of cavalry comes, they can see it from a distance. If he wants to assassinate the king face to face, it is possible, but if he wants to be surrounded by a large army, the king
His riding skills are beyond the reach of anyone..."
After asking for a few more details, there really was no more information.
The next day, Li Xia arranged for another horse inspection, and personally went to Yangguan to inspect the terrain and confirmed that there was no large army ambushing in Aruhu.
In this way, the agreed date of the alliance soon came...
~~
April 28, Yangguan.
This is the Yangguan where "I urge you to have a glass of wine, and there will be no old friends when you leave Yangguan in the west."
It was once an important pass on the Silk Road, but was gradually abandoned after the Tang Dynasty.
After leaving the ruins of Yangguan and walking southwest for more than ten miles, the sky was filled with yellow sand.
Finally, ahead is Dundun Mountain, and a beacon city wall called "Yangguan Ermu" on the Gobi Desert is still standing there, giving off a sense of ruin.
Aruhu's men and horses are on the other side of the beacon wall.
Hu Legen led a man and drove the horses forward, and ran up Dundun Mountain. Looking around, he saw tents pitched on the oasis in the distance, and thousands of horses stopped there.
Soon, two Mongolian cavalrymen went up Dundun Mountain and exchanged a few words with Hulegen.
Afterwards, a small group of cavalry came from the oasis, holding a flag symbolizing the Khan.
Hu Legen asked people to look at the opposite side, while he drove his horse back to Li Xia and reported: "Your Majesty, there are more than 20 people coming from the opposite side!"
Li Xia didn't show off or take advantage of him. He led 20 people on the opposite side, so he also ordered 20 people and drove his horses to Dundun Mountain.
…
Arriving in front of the beacon city wall, Li Xia got off his horse and stepped onto this thousand-year-old monument.
He pressed his sword and looked to the west. He saw that more than twenty riders had just arrived nearby. The leader was wrapped in a black robe and raised his hand to stop his subordinates. He was actually walking this way alone.
Bring weapons.
The wind and sand were so strong that Li Xia had no choice but to squint his eyes and look at the other person, gradually becoming confused.
He could tell that the other person's figure... looked like a woman.
And she is a quite mature woman.
Finally, when the other party came closer and pulled down the sand mask on her face, it turned out to be a Mongolian woman in her forties.
At first glance, this woman cannot be said to be beautiful or beautiful, only majestic.
Her demeanor and steps give people a sense of killing and decisiveness, which is much more dignified than Zhao Yun and Jia Sidao.
In comparison, Zhao Yun and Jia Sidao looked like young girls in front of her.
She walked slowly to Li Xia without speaking.
Li Xia spoke first and asked in Mongolian: "Aren't you Aruhu?"
"I am not Aruhu." The woman in black said in a dull tone, "But I am the real person in power of the Chagatai Khanate..."