When Gu Cheng came to the General's Mansion to find Hong Dingshan, Hong Dingshan was drinking glass after glass of wine. He really felt like a lost dog now.
He had no choice at all to side with the second prince.
He was not a member of the second prince at first, but because he was familiar with the second prince, he naturally became involved with the second prince after joining the Imperial Guard. Is this wrong?
Later, the second prince asked him to take care of the people of Xian Qin Dao Sect. Is it possible that he could refuse a prince? Especially the prince who is about to become the prince.
Therefore, Hong Dingshan had no choice in all this. He just passively followed the trend. Unexpectedly, he was inexplicably labeled as the prince's party and completely lost power.
Although Li Xiaowu has not yet said how to deal with him, Hong Dingshan must know that he will not end well.
At this time, Gu Cheng knocked on the door and walked in. The guards at the General's Mansion recognized Gu Cheng and did not dare to stop him.
Seeing Hong Dingshan's decadent appearance, Gu Cheng couldn't help but shake his head.
This general has a strong desire for power. He may not have been so heartbroken when his wife was cheated on.
"General Hong, it's not your style to drink away your sorrows."
Hong Dingshan glanced at Gu Cheng and hummed: "Master Gu is here to see my joke?
You succeeded in joining the team, helped His Majesty ascend to the throne, and became His Majesty's confidant and mainstay. Your future prospects are limitless.
Now my future is uncertain, and all the errands of the Imperial Guard have been taken away by His Majesty, what else can I do but drink to relieve my sorrow?"
Gu Cheng shook his head gently and said, "This is not the General Hong I know.
Some of the intrigues within the royal family will indeed affect their own power.
But as practitioners, you and I mainly rely not on our own status and power, let alone those machinations, but on our own strength.
Su Dingguo, the great general of the Shenwu Guard, was a loyal supporter of the second prince. What was the result? Although he was also affected, he would be able to command several armies if he was transferred to another place.
General Hong, if you had the strength of Long Xiangwei General Fan Sihai, do you think His Majesty would still care about whether you had ever taken refuge with the Second Prince?
He will only rush to invite you back to the center of the capital, and is even afraid that you will have a problem with the court.
A real man has his ambitions in all directions. If I don’t stay in the capital, the worst he can do is to change his place."
Hong Dingshan put down his wine glass and laughed and said: "Master Gu, you still know how to comfort people. Tell me, why did Master Gu come to me this time?
Now I am a grandma who doesn't care for my uncle. Even my colleagues in the military are not willing to get close to me. Mr. Gu, you can't come here to talk to me, right?
But just for these words today, whatever you want me to do, Mr. Gu, I will do it today."
Although Hong Dingshan was depressed at this time, it did not affect his mind.
He has a friendship with Gu Cheng, but the friendship is not that strong yet, which would make Gu Cheng rush to comfort him.
Gu Cheng smiled and said, "I can't hide it from General Hong. This is an imperial edict. I also ask General Hong to accompany me on a trip to Western Xinjiang."
Hong Dingshan needs strength and means, and the most important thing is that he himself was a general stationed in the Western Xinjiang.
So since he was going to Western Xinjiang this time, the first person Gu Cheng thought of was Hong Dingshan.
The important thing is that Hong Dingshan is in a frustrated state at this time, and if Gu Cheng gives him a hand, Hong Dingshan will also remember his favor.
Hong Dingshan took the imperial edict, read the contents and couldn't help but smile bitterly: "I came to the capital from Western Xinjiang, but I didn't expect that now I have to go back to Western Xinjiang.
It's a circle going back and forth. What do you think I'm drawing?
However, Beijing has accumulated some experience and lessons in the past few years, and the worst case scenario is that it will have to start all over again.
Thank you, Sir Gu, for still thinking of me at this time. My subordinates on this trip will definitely follow your instructions, Sir Gu, and help you complete this mission."
"General Hong, you're welcome. You are more familiar with Western Xinjiang than I am. I will have to rely on you to provide information when the time comes.
Your Majesty allows you to take away part of the Imperial Guard, as long as you feel reliable during this trip."
Hong Dingshan nodded, it was very generous to allow him to take away part of the Imperial Guard Li Xiaowu.
As a general of the border army, Hong Dingshan also had some skills in training troops.
So he selected two thousand people from the entire Imperial Guard to prepare to take them to Western Xinjiang.
Even though there are only two thousand people, these two thousand people are the elite among the elite. Even if the frontier army of 20,000 people comes, they will not be their opponent.
After sorting out his logistical luggage, Gu Cheng took the two thousand people and headed straight for Western Xinjiang.
…………
The chaos in the Daqian borderland has not been going on for a year or two. It can be said to be a problem left over from history. It has been like this since five hundred years ago.
However, there are only two places where the chaos in the Daqian border is the most serious, one in the north and one in the west.
The area of the Western Territory is very large, and even the area of the Western Territory farther west is not inferior to that of Daqian. However, most of it is an uninhabited desert, and only a few oasis cities are suitable for human survival.
It’s not like I didn’t think about conquering such a large area, but after trying it, I chose to give up because the gains outweighed the losses.
Although the northern barbarians are divided into multiple tribes, they are still generally considered a race and can still become a country.
The small ethnic groups in Western Xinjiang are simply too numerous to count. It can be said that they have hundreds of ethnic groups or even thousands of ethnic groups.
These races have different cultural beliefs from each other. The largest ones have a population of more than one million, while the smaller ones have dozens of people and can be considered one clan.
All the small tribes in the entire Western Xinjiang are attacking and fighting each other. If Da Gan intervenes, all the guns will be directly aimed at Da Gan, and it will be even more chaotic.
So five hundred years ago, Dagan had already made a choice to draw a rough boundary line in the land of Western Xinjiang. Within the boundary line was Dagan’s Western Xinjiang, and outside the boundary line were the Western Xinjiang tribes. At the same time, Dagan also
The immigrants who began to immigrate to Western Xinjiang were all disaster victims and prisoners. They wanted to let them multiply in Western Xinjiang and push the border line forward.
Unfortunately, the idea is good, but the reality is cruel.
Some of the tribes in Western Xinjiang are relatively mild-mannered and are willing to take the initiative to join Daqian and exchange some special products for various items produced in the Central Plains, as long as they can live safely.
However, some tribes are extremely ambitious. After annexing other small tribes, they even dare to come up with the idea of making a big move. Some of them attack cities and territories, and some of them just plunder and run away.
The sky is full of yellow sand in Western Xinjiang, and there is insufficient supplies in Daqian. Although the local garrison also understands Western Xinjiang, it is impossible for the local tribes to understand it, and in the end it can only be ignored.
Therefore, the five hundred years of Daqian in Western Xinjiang have been a tug-of-war. You hit me and I hit you, advancing and retreating, jumping left and right, but there is no result.
When Gu Cheng and Hong Dingshan's soldiers and horses entered the Western Xinjiang area, he immediately felt a ray of hot wind and sand blowing towards his face, as if the air was filled with the smell of dry sand.
Hong Dingshan took a deep breath, squinted his eyes and said: "I have been traveling around for several years and I didn't expect to come back again. Actually, if I think about it carefully, Xijiang is still the right place for me.
Every day you only need to train your troops and horses to kill some barbarians from Western Xinjiang. Where can there be so many complicated things in the capital?"
Gu Cheng rode his horse to Hong Dingshan and asked: "General Hong, what are the forces in the Western Xinjiang court doing? Is it complicated internally?"
Hong Dingshan looked at the yellow sand in front of him, shook his head and said: "You can call it complicated, you can call it simple.
In fact, Daqian first stationed troops in Western Xinjiang to push the border line of Western Xinjiang forward, but now it has long given up on this idea.
So now the imperial forces in Western Xinjiang only think about one thing, and that is maintaining stability.
When those small tribes in Western Xinjiang came to cause trouble, we would fight them off. Occasionally, if some small tribes went too far, we would send troops to annihilate them.
In short, you hit me and I hit you.
The Western Territory is huge, but in fact there are not many residents. Your Jingyesi also has many people stationed here, you should know this."
Gu Cheng nodded, Jingyesi stationed three governors here. Yes, these three are all governors of Xijiang, but they are divided into left, right and middle.
Western Xinjiang is too big, but the number of people is not that large. There is no need to set up so many counties, so we can only do this.
Hong Dingshan continued: "In addition to military forces, there are many Jianghu sects in Western Xinjiang, but these Jianghu sects are different from the Jianghu sects in the Central Plains Wulin.
Five hundred years ago, your Jingyesi could be said to be at its true peak, suppressing demons and ghosts, and suppressing rivers and lakes. At that time, some sects and martial arts people who were causing trouble in the rivers and lakes killed and arrested those who were caught, and those who were caught were thrown to the west. Xinjiang has to deal with those alien races in Western Xinjiang.
This group of people were not easy to get along with in their ancestors, and their nature was very ferocious. Coupled with the environment in Western Xinjiang, this group of people were just like bandits and robbers.
It's just that their interests are consistent with my Daqian. Let the foreign races from Western Xinjiang come in. Those barbarians don't care whether you are from Daqian or from Jianghu. As long as you have a Central Plains face, they are almost all male killers. The women were robbed, leaving no trace alive.
So even though we don't see eye to eye on weekdays, they won't hold us back at critical moments.
In short, Master Gu, just try not to offend them when you arrive in Western Xinjiang."
Gu Cheng nodded. At this time, the setting sun in the sky was like blood, and the hot smell of wind and sand in the air also had a hint of chill.
The weather in Western Xinjiang is like this. During the day, it is sometimes extremely hot, comparable to the southern barbarians, but at night it is extremely cold, comparable to the snowfields of the Far North.
Therefore, this place is indeed not suitable for human survival. Even if Daqian tried his best to bring this place down, he would still have to pay a huge price to manage it, and the gain would not be worth the loss.
"Find a place to rest temporarily. Sandstorms sometimes occur in Western Xinjiang at night."
Hong Dingshan has served in the army in Western Xinjiang for half his life. His experience can be said to be very rich. Gu Cheng has found the right person by bringing him here.
Before dark, Hong Dingshan skillfully led people to find the ruins of a small town. Although half of the ruins were buried in the sand, there were still some walls that could block the wind and sand.
Late at night, after everyone had set up camp and slept, Gu Cheng, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, suddenly opened his eyes.
Not far from their camp, a rustling sound came slowly.