In the heavy snow, on the official road outside Xijiangwan Fort, there suddenly appeared a burst of rapid horse hoofbeats. The sound came from far away and approached, and soon people could be seen.
The fort commander who was in charge of this small fortress of more than a thousand people climbed up to the top of the city in twos and twos, stood on tiptoes and looked out.
Xijiangwan Fort is located on the main road from Kesai City to Andukang. On weekdays, it is very busy with people coming and going, but now it is the depth of winter, and generally no one would run around in this kind of weather.
Therefore, the fort commander was a little cautious. He was afraid that the scattered stragglers might have come nearby.
Alas! The fort commander patted the snowflakes on his body and let out a long sigh. Ever since he could remember, he had never calmed down.
First, the Karakhanids came in and drove away the Persian Samans, and then Governor Yusup betrayed Bugla Khan.
Then the Persians came back to compete with Governor Yusup, and now the Khotan Jin people from the Great Dynasty (Tang Dynasty) came and defeated both Yusup and the Persian Samans.
I hope that the great king of the Jin Dynasty can stabilize this place. For low-level officials and ordinary people like the fortress commander, they pay taxes to whomever they pay. It doesn't make much difference what religion they believe in. The key is who can give them taxes.
A stable and safe environment, who is their monarch.
"Open the door! Open the door quickly! The pacifier Lu Shuaisi and the deputy pacifier Yang Shuaisi have urgent military affairs. Please wait and watch your dog's head carefully!" No one looked at them, but the curses from below came first.
"Open the door! Open the door quickly!" The fort commander hurriedly opened the door below. He even saw that his subordinate Minzhuang's hands and feet were slow. Regardless of his fat body, he rushed over and opened the fort door himself.
The pacifying envoys and pacifying deputy envoys are the officials temporarily dispatched by Zhang Zhao. From the literal meaning, we know that these officials who are sent out and are called commanders are to gather the defeated troops and take over the various towns and cities under the control of Yuan Yusupu.
and rural tribes.
Of course, this kind of thing involving the redistribution of power and resources will not be peaceful. In the past month or so, there have been countless people who made trouble, rebelled directly, violated the law, and fled with their families.
From Kesai City to Andukang, everyone was killed and their heads were rolling in. At least seven or eight hundred people were chopped with one knife and then thrown into the rolling water of killing people and the Nalen River.
In troubled times, heavy codes and quick knives are needed to cut through the mess. Zhang Zhao didn't have the time to cut it slowly, so he simply used the fastest method. Anyone who refused to accept it would be made to disappear directly.
Some of them were innocent, and some were retaliated, but these were not in Zhang Zhao's consideration. What he wanted was a stable place as quickly as possible.
There are few toads with three legs, but there are many people who want to be officials and powerful people. Those who follow me will prosper and those who go against me will perish. King Zhang and the various pacification envoys and deputy envoys have also established a terrifying reputation.
This Yusupu killed one, and King Zhang killed another. The entire thornhead from the city to Andukang, except for those who were subdued after being defeated, basically there was not much left.
In the view of the fort commander of Xijiangwan, the people outside are big devils who can kill everyone in a matter of minutes.
It's just that he didn't think about it carefully. Without the demons outside to cut off the disobedience and kill all the thorns, how could a person like him, who was not completely evil and whose methods were not clever, be able to be the commander of a fortress?
The envoy of Lu Anfu was Lu Zhen and Lu Sanlang, and the deputy envoy of Yang Anfu was Yang Shouli.
Of course, Zhang Zhao would not let Lu Sanlang go to pacify the place alone, so all the officers, including rough guys like Ma Yaozi, were sent out by him to serve as deputy envoys to pacify.
The biggest role of Lu Sanlang, the pacifier, is to analyze the situation, lead the way and make connections.
"Brother Shouli, it's getting late today, let's rest here at Xijiangwan Fort for the night!"
Lu Sanlang was not at all dissatisfied with being treated as a tool. He could clearly see how cunning and ruthless King Zhang was.
Others saw that King Zhang spared the Yusupu family and did not kill them. They thought that King Zhang had some benevolence towards women. But Lu Sanlang knew that the king did not kill the entire Yusupu family because he thought they were not a threat and was too lazy to get his hands dirty.
Just deal with it.
King Zhang never tolerates those who pose a threat.
The Almac family of Andukon Osiburg tried to resist, but in the end, except for the young woman and the children who were no taller than a wheel, no one in the family of more than 300 survived.
From this, Lu Sanlang got a feel for the character of King Ju'er Khan Zhang, who was quite tolerant of those who didn't block his way and didn't make mistakes.
But if you want to go against him, this king is the staunchest supporter of eradicating the weeds.
While he was talking, twenty-seven riders had already entered the fortress. Yang Shouli took off the hood on his head and nodded.
"Listen to Sanlang, everything is stable in Andukang, and there is no need to worry about it for a while. The snow is so heavy and people and horses are exhausted. You and I, brothers, just find a place to have a drink!"
Yang Shouli's face was smiling and flushed, and he could not see the anxious and desperate look he had in the past few months.
Since Zhang Zhao came, the lives of the three surnamed people in New Qiuci have become easier. The annoying bastards have turned into dogs lying on the ground with their bellies exposed. Every household has been rewarded with food and drink.
What was even more surprising to him was that the three surnames of New Qiuci were the only ones under King Zhang who had some administrative ability.
Because New Kucha is also a group with more than 7,000 people. How to manage these tribesmen who are all close relatives? The upper leaders of New Kucha have quite good management experience, otherwise they will not be able to maintain this group.
Now the king can only rely on them in order to control most of Bakhna from Kesai City to Andukang.
Many of the upper-class people of the three surnames of New Kucha went to serve as officials in various dangerous areas. His father Yang Tongyi was even directly appointed by the king to be in charge of the livelihood of 60,000 to 70,000 people after Andu Kangliu.
"Take the horse down, don't just use hay, add some beans or something, remember to mix it with salt, wipe the horse's sweat before feeding it, and wrap it in a dry blanket."
Next to Lu Sanlang, Su Wulang, a Tang son from Luojiashan City who had been following him around, was giving orders to the commander of Xijiangwan Fort with his nostrils turned upward.
"After arranging the horses, we will find a clean house for a certain handsome man, and light the stove. There will be plenty of food and wine. If you want to make some money, Miss Hu Ji will also call some of them."
The fort commander bent over and lowered his head, with a look of pain on his face. There were more than 20 people and more than 30 horses. The horses wanted to eat, the people also wanted to eat, and they also wanted wine, meat and a wife. Alas! All the family property was destroyed.
Empty out.
‘Boom!’ A large piece of stuff hit the fort commander’s shoulder. He was immediately startled as he lowered his head and cursed in his heart. When he looked up, a piece of white folded cloth hit the fort commander’s shoulder.
"Hurry up, hurry up! Your reward will not be missing. If I find a young and good-looking girl, and if you dare to use a widow who has given birth to several children to make up the number, I will beat you to death!"
After being given money and rewards, the fort commander immediately became happy, his mustache curled up and down, and a flattering look appeared on his round face.
He put away the piece of white folded cloth like a groundhog. It was a good thing. After entertaining these noble people for one night, he actually didn't even need half of the piece of white folded cloth.
As for the dried purple-black blood stains on the corner of the cloth, he simply ignored it.
"Please invite the nobles. The house of the villain is the cleanest. A cow died a few days ago and the buttocks are the most plump. The corn wine brewed the year before last is sweet and delicious. The fish girls from Xijiang Bay even come as far as Kesai City.
They are all well-known."
The cheerful fort chief led the way, carrying this piece of white folded cloth, and he felt much more at ease.
Not only because of the wealth that this piece of cloth brought him, but also because he vaguely felt that under the rule of such a noble king who was willing to give money to his wife when he came out to eat and drink, a stable era was finally coming, right?
.....
Kesai City and Andukang in the north are becoming stable, but in the south, after leaving Sanjiang Bay, which is the battlefield where Zhang Zhao fought the Persians, all the way to Juzhanti, it is like a hell on earth.
There were more than 30,000 Persian troops and thousands of civilians. Except for the more than 5,000 people who surrendered and the more than 2,000 people who died in battle, the remaining nearly 30,000 people fled towards the south.
However, they were pursued by soldiers behind them, and they threw away their helmets and armor. At the same time as the wind was roaring, it started to snow heavily the next day. It was cold, wet, strong wind, and with no clothes or food, the road was extremely muddy and difficult to travel.
On the road thirty or forty miles south from Sanjiang Bay, there are corpses of Persians who died of freezing everywhere. They have weird smiles on their faces and are almost naked. Dozens or hundreds of corpses can often be found entangled together, which makes people very sad in winter.
The wolves that were less active came out to look for food on a large scale.
Pei Shengyuan walked through the snow with a slender wooden board tied to his legs. Behind him were a group of warriors from the Dong Cao Kingdom.
They had long since exchanged their guns for cannons, wearing Persian cotton-padded clothes and chainmail armor, and Juerhan also sent large ships of food and weapons from Yaoxishui.
Under the leadership of Pei Shengyuan and Xue Shouli, they had conquered several nearby small tribes and had grown to three to four thousand people. Today, they were waiting here to welcome a big shot.
Navigating on a river that was about to freeze was actually very dangerous, but Yan Jin was still prepared to take the risk. Fortunately, the water flow in the river was not fast, so the journey was uneventful.
He brought seven hundred warriors this time in order to unite these people headed by Dong Cao. He had only one goal, and that was to fight together.
Since Ma Yaozi was able to rescue Xinqiuci with more than 20 cavalry and pick up a team of tens of thousands of people, Yan Jin led 700 elites and recruited thousands of Dongcao people to win a battle and raise the issue?
Difficult! But it’s precisely because of the difficulty that Yan Jin’s ability can be revealed, right?
"Brother Chengjie, I'm here!" Pei Sheng saw Yan Jin on the boat from a distance. The red flag he waved was particularly conspicuous in the white snow.
"Pei Dalang, you did a good job, you must have thousands of athletes, right?" Yan Jin laughed loudly, and jumped down when there were still a few steps across the river.
"I haven't seen Captain Yan yet! This is the most brave general in Shandu, the Khan's personal guard. With the Captain here, Ju Zhanti will soon be ours!"
Pei Shengyuan first shouted loudly at the back, then turned his head and crossed his arms to Yan Jin.
"Captain, there are seven tribes that have joined us now. If we recruit them all, we can get 3,000 men."
Yan Jin nodded, then pointed in the direction of Juzhanti in the distance and asked: "How is the situation in Juzhanti? Can the Persians send manpower from Bukhara?"
"With such heavy snow, Bukhara may have just received the news of Adulal's defeat!
The city of Juzhanti was in chaos, because Adulal had almost taken away all the defenders in the city, and it was estimated that there were only a few hundred soldiers in the city now.
In compliance with the king's order, a certain person also released a defeated army into the city, making the city even more panicked." As he spoke, Pei Shengyuan lowered his voice.
"We also selected a few officers and deliberately sent them back. We promised that as long as they are sure to respond internally, they will not only be able to save their families but also their wealth after breaking the city!"
"Well done!" Yan Jin's praise this time was really from the bottom of his heart. He deliberately let the defeated troops enter the city to lower their morale, and also knew how to recruit a few internal agents. He was already a very talented general.
"But you can send some more reliable people to bypass Juzhanti. Now that the snow is falling, it is impossible for the Persians to send a large army, but it is possible to send people to Juzhanti to take charge of the defense.
As long as we intercept and kill this man on the way, and go to Juzhan with his head, we can capture this city."
Yan Jin patted Pei Shengyuan lightly on the shoulder, and the latter's eyes suddenly lit up.
Indeed, it is true that Jiang is still old and hot, and Yan Duwei can become the most brave general under the king's command. He still has two brushes.
This chapter has been completed!