Yuwen Chengchao looked stern, while Qin Xiao also remained calm.
Before Qin Xiao and Yuwen Chengchao left the border, they had already had a general understanding of the Northeast and figured out which pastures in the Northeast were suitable for military training.
Although the four northeastern counties have vast land, there are actually only three or four grasslands with rich water and grass suitable for training cavalry. The two best grasslands in Liaodong County have naturally been occupied by the Liaodong Army for a long time. Qin Xiao retreated to the second best, knowing that the camp
There are also two pastures in Ping County. Although they are not as good as those in Liaodong County, they can still be used.
But Songyang Grassland sounds very unfamiliar. In Qin Xiao's previous considerations, it was not included at all. It must be an unknown grassland in the Northeast and not taken seriously.
"Lord Changsun, how far is the pasture from the nearest city?" Qin Xiaowei pondered, and finally asked: "Is there an official road around the pasture?"
Gongsun Shang shook his head and said: "That pasture is in Yingping County. I have never been there, so I really don't know the specific situation. But when General Qin got there, everything became clear." He took out a document from his arms and said,
Presented to Qin Xiaodao: "This is the customs clearance document issued by the Protectorate. General Qin leads his troops directly to Songyang Grassland. If there are passes and checkpoints on the way, the customs clearance document can be used without any obstruction. But...
If you take the wrong road, I'm afraid you won't be able to pass."
Qin Xiao sneered in his heart, knowing that this was already a show of force for the Liaodong Army.
Although the Liaodong Army is nominally under the control of the Anton Protectorate, how can the Protectorate actually control that group of arrogant soldiers? If you want to be safe and sound in the Northeast, you can naturally only be under the influence of the Liaodong Army.
Of course, the orders issued by the government were only in compliance with the arrangements of the Liaodong Army.
This ultimatum actually restricted Long Ruijun's whereabouts and warned Long Ruijun not to wander around the northeast and could only follow the instructions to Songyang Grassland.
"I have official duties to attend to, so please take my leave first." Gongsun Shang was polite and said with a smile: "I am worried that General Qin is not familiar with the road, so I specially found two people as guides. They know the location of Songyang Grassland.
You can take the general there." He turned around and said: "Lu Tong, you stay and wait for the general's orders. After Long Rui's army arrives at Songyang Grassland, then return to report." Before Qin Xiao could say more, he held his hand and stayed.
The two guides galloped away with their cavalry.
Xie Gaoyang's face was extremely ugly.
Not long after, a team brought wine and meat, but the quantity was limited, and it was only enough for one meal. The group left the wine and meat and left immediately. Qin Xiao was not polite, accepted the wine and meat, and distributed it to the officers and soldiers under his command.
"It seems that the situation is more difficult than we thought." Surrounding the campfire, Yu Wencheng looked solemn: "I just asked the guide named Lu Tong. Songyang Grassland is actually an abandoned grassland in the northwest corner of Yingping County.
Songyang County is more than a hundred miles away from the county seat, and there is no official road. Songyang County is the poorest place in Yingping County. It has a sparse population and not much arable land. There was a famine in the past few years, and people ran away.
There are many people. This is not the most important thing. Songyang Racecourse is less than 200 miles away from Montenegro, and the most powerful Black Mountain bandit in the Northeast has its lair in the Montenegro area."
Lu Xiaolou, who was sitting by the bonfire, was calm and composed, and just said: "Are you trying to kill someone with a borrowed knife?"
He rarely spoke along the way, but when he spoke he often hit the nail on the head.
"It seems that the Liaodong Army has really chosen a good place for us." Qin Xiao smiled calmly: "The transportation is inconvenient and the population is sparse. In the future, not only will the logistics supply be difficult, but once troops are recruited, it will also be a big problem."
Yuwen Chengchao took a branch in his hand, drew a picture on the ground, and then explained: "This is Songyang Grassland, facing mountains on both sides, and more than a hundred miles to the north is Black Mountain...!" Several branches in his hand
He continued to move north along the Black Mountain. After stopping, he asked: "General, does he know where this place is?"
Qin Xiao shook his head, and Yu Wencheng poked several of them hard in his hand, and sneered: "Less than two hundred miles north of Black Mountain is the territory of the three tribes of Xile."
"My lord, what do you mean by the three divisions of Xile?" Xiaodao Zhang Tailing, who was sitting next to Qin Xiao, asked in confusion.
Zhang Tailing worshiped Qin Xiao as his teacher and became Qin Xiao's only disciple. The last time he went to Beijing, Zhang Tailing did not follow Qin Xiao into the capital, but followed Yuwen Chengchao. Qin Xiao led his troops eastward, and Zhang Tailing had no relatives. Naturally,
He could only follow Qin Xiao out of the customs.
The saint named Yuwen Chengchao the title of Guidelang General, so the soldiers in the army called Yuwen Chengchao General Lang, but Zhang Tailing followed Qin Xiao and always called him the eldest son.
"That is the most powerful tribe on the grassland." Lu Xiaolou said: "The Tang people called the herdsmen of the tribes in the northern grasslands Tusun people. Tusun means horse herders in the grassland language. Because of this name, many people
People think that all the tribes in the desert are of the same ethnic group, but in fact they are very different."
Yuwen Chengchao said with a smile: "What brother Xiaolou said is absolutely true. The northern grassland is divided into four parts by us. The tribes in the Moxi grassland are the most numerous, so they fight each other the most fiercely. The Wutuo people were the Moxi grassland back then.
The tribes that left the grassland developed and grew, but now the Moxi grassland is still a piece of scattered sand, and they are still fighting each other. The conditions in the Mobei grassland are harsh, and the ethnic groups are the smallest. The most powerful tribe is the Hemp tribe. This Hemp tribe is in the desert.
There is no rival in the Northern Grassland, but it is much weaker than the Monan Grassland."
"Is that Du's department located in Monan?" Qin Xiao asked.
Yuwen Cheng nodded and said: "The Duer Hu tribe is now considered to be the most powerful tribe in Monan. There are many tribes in the Monan grassland, and the population is also the largest. A few decades ago, the Duer Hu tribe was only a few dozen tribes in the Monan grassland.
There is an inconspicuous tribe among them, and there are at least a dozen tribes more powerful than it. However, starting from Tie Han's father, it has begun to grow stronger. The reason is also very simple. Their pasture is in the southernmost part of the desert, which is different from ours.
The Tang Dynasty was the closest, and his father was very cunning. He was very respectful to the Tang Dynasty when he was alive. He would send envoys to Kyoto to pay homage almost every year, which seemed extremely respectful."
Qin Xiao nodded slightly. He knew that Yuwen Chengchao had always been interested in the situation on the grassland. When he was in Xiling, he often mentioned various tribes in the grassland when drinking with Fat Fish and others. On the contrary, he knew about the various tribes in Tusun.
Not much.
"The Du'er Husband is close to the Tang Dynasty, and those who are near the water get the moon first. The market on the border was the beginning of the Du'er Husband's strength." Yu Wen Chengchao crossed his arms over his chest. Anyway, he was going to camp here to rest tonight.
There was enough time, so let's start with: "The Tang Dynasty started trading with various tribes in the grassland at the border. The Du'er Hu tribe once controlled the trade roads of the tribes in the north. Naturally, they made huge profits. They purchased goods from the grassland at low prices.
Then he went to the border market and sold it at a high price, and the huge profits obtained were used to strengthen the military. Because of his obedience, the imperial court also granted him the title of Iron Wuhan."
Qin Xiao sighed: "With this title, he can pretend to be powerful and dominate the grasslands in the name of the Tang Dynasty."
"The general is right." Yuwen Chengchao said: "This person is indeed extremely cunning, but he has indeed benefited from it. In just over twenty years, Du'er's army has grown from an extremely inconspicuous small tribe in Monan.
Transformed into a powerful clan that no one dares to underestimate. Seventeen years ago, when the saint ascended the throne, three states and seven counties rebelled, and Tusun tribes gathered a hundred thousand troops to go south. Does the general know who is leading the charge? "
"Could it be him?"
"That's him." Yu Wen Chengchao sneered: "He persuaded the tribes to take advantage of the situation and invade south, killing and plundering countless people. Although they were finally beaten back to the grassland, Duer's army not only suffered no losses, but actually grew stronger. After his death,
The eldest son Tiehan inherited the title of Tiewu Khan. Although the court did not issue a decree to confer the title, Tiehan claimed that he inherited it from his father, so he still wore the name of Tiewu Khan. This man was more noble than his father.
Fierce, after taking office, he took the initiative to make peace with the court and devoted himself to conquering all the grassland tribes. Now almost all the Monan grasslands are under his control. Even if there are still unconquered tribes, they can only act based on his eyes. In other words, the entire desert
, currently no tribe dares to take the initiative to provoke the Duer Guards."
"What happened to the Three Parts of Xile?" Zhang Tailing never forgot the Three Parts of Xile.
Yuwen Chengchao smiled and said: "I just went too far. The three tribes of Xile are the strongest tribe in Modong. I just said that in our eyes, the people on the northern grasslands are all Tusun people, but in their own eyes,
Later, there was no blood relationship between them, and they were not sibling tribes at all. The reason why the three tribes of Xile had such names was because more than 200 years ago, there was a country of Xile in Modong for a short period of time, which lasted less than thirty years.
In the year of 1948, it soon fell into civil strife, which directly led to the subjugation of the country. Today, all the tribes in Modong call themselves the Siler people. Although there are more than a dozen tribes, three of them are famous, namely Bu.
Liuda, Hegu and Yuzhen." Pointing to the place where he just poked the ground, he said: "Less than two hundred miles north of Heishan is the grassland of Yuzhen."
Qin Xiao understood at this time and said: "Are these three factions still fighting each other?"
"All tribes in Xile have one goal, which is to rebuild the country of Xile. These three tribes are the strongest, and they all claim to be the direct bloodline of the royal family of Xile." Yuwen Chengchao smiled and said: "Since they are of royal bloodline, they have
They are qualified to rebuild the Sile Kingdom, so the three major tribes all feel that they are the orthodox Sile country. General, in this case, who is willing to let someone else become the king? Although they are all Sile people, they never fight with each other.
Don't be soft, be soft, the history of Modong is actually the history of these three clans fighting for hegemony."
"Wherever there are people, there will be fights." Qin Xiao sighed: "Are you worried that the Xile people will target us?"
Yuwen Chengchao said: "The distance between Yuzhen's tribe and Songyang grassland is only about three hundred miles. Once the cavalry makes a surprise attack, if we set off in the morning, we can kill them before dark."
"Did they ever do this?"
"Although it is rare, it is not unheard of." Yuwen Chengchao said solemnly: "When he was the late emperor, there was a snowstorm in Modong, which resulted in the loss of countless cattle and sheep. So the Xile people took the opportunity to sneak attack on the northeastern border, burning, killing and looting. However,
They were still afraid of the Tang Dynasty. After the incident, the imperial court sent envoys to hold them accountable, and Xile also sent people to plead guilty to the imperial court. The late emperor reprimanded them and made them promise not to harass the border again, so they stopped." After a pause, he continued.
Said: "At that time, there was no disaster in southern Xinjiang. Xiling was also in the hands of the Tang Dynasty. They had such courage. Now the situation in the Tang Dynasty is worse than before. I am worried that once they know that we are training troops in the northeast, they will have misunderstandings.
, maybe they will actually attack us."
Lu Xiaolou asked: "If they want to attack us, don't they have to pass through Black Mountain? Black Mountain is the lair of the Black Mountain bandits. If the Xile people want to attack us, they must first pass through the Black Mountain bandits."
"No." Yuwen Chengchao shook his head, drew a picture on the ground again, and explained: "If you come directly from the north, with the Black Mountain as a barrier, the Xile people will definitely not be able to get through. That Lu Tong said that Songyang Grassland is in the middle of the road.
To the north is Heishan, and there is Tianji Mountain from northwest to south. There is a road between these two mountains, called Heitian Valley. There are no soldiers and horses stationed there. The Xile people can come directly along Heitian Valley. After leaving Heitian Valley, they can
You can fight all the way directly to Songyang Grassland."
Qin Xiao frowned and his expression became solemn. He suddenly understood that the Liaodong Army sent Long Ruijun to train at Songyang Racecourse with extremely vicious intentions. His start in the Northeast was a hellish start.