Hearing Su Dingfang's comments about Hou Junji, Qin Mubai was startled, "How can you see that?"
"If he was cautious enough, how could he be implicated in the Crown Prince's case?" Su Dingfang said, "Former Crown Prince Li Chengqian and Han King Li Yuanchang rebelled. Hou Junji was not directly involved at the time, but he was still caught out by Changsun Huanwuji. . Although there is a suspicion that Changsun Huanwuji is using the topic to eradicate dissidents, it is not entirely groundless, right? Otherwise, if there is His Majesty above, would Changsun Wuji really dare to kill the hero like this? It has been said that Hou Junji has a fiery temperament and is wild and unruly, and he uses his troops fiercely. It is not that he is not good at defense, but that in his opinion, the only thing on the battlefield is fierceness. Offense is everything."
"Are you afraid that he will lose his composure and make his own decisions without obeying my military orders?" Qin Mubai said.
"I don't know." Su Dingfang shook his head and said, "Let me put it bluntly, Mu Bai, don't be offended. I think that in terms of defense alone, Lanzhou at that time did not have no generals except Hou Junji - Xue Wanjun was better than Hou Junji. It must be appropriate. He has been guarding Dafeichuan before and has never had any problems. He is familiar with that place, and Xue Wanjun, who is also a strong general, is better than Hou Junji."
"It makes sense." Qin Mubai nodded and said, "Actually, why don't I know that Xue Wanjun is more suitable than Hou Junji? But if we really want to fight, Xue Wanjun is definitely not the opponent of Gar Qinling. Although I let Hou Jun Focus on defense instead of attack, but Gar Qinling will not listen to me. If he insists on fighting, what can I do? Moreover, he will definitely fight. If I send Xue Wanjun, Dafeichuan may fall again. All the previous results were ruined."
"That's true..." Su Dingfang frowned, "I hope my worries are unfounded. Hou Junji, our senior brother, is still very capable. I just hope he doesn't make mistakes at this time."
"At that time, if either you or Rengui were with me, I would not have sent Hou Junji." Qin Mubai smiled, slapped Xue Rengui, who was silent next to him, and said, "Especially Rengui! I really want Gar Qinling and his proud Kunlun cavalry to have a taste of the power of my Great Tang Dynasty God General!"
Xue Rengui smiled bitterly, "Mu Bai, are you even making fun of me like this?"
"Haha!" Su Dingfang laughed. "We didn't make up this name. It was recognized by people from all the grassland tribes! In the early years, when I followed my mentor Wei Gong in the northern expedition to the Turks, I heard an arrogant rumor among the Turkic tribes. , saying, "Qin Qiong is sick and Wei Chi is old, and there are no strong generals in the southern country." It is true that the Turks at that time were ignorant and did not know that there were many strong generals in the Tang Dynasty, but it also shows that in the eyes of the grassland nomads, they had no knowledge of military strategies and techniques. Things like deceit are quite disdainful, and they only respect warriors with strong martial arts. Now, they worship you as the "God General of the Tang Dynasty". This is a great honor! Your image in their minds is about to be destroyed. Deified."
"Then Rengui must be 'deified' again in the minds of the Tubo people." Qin Mubai said with a smile, "When the heavy snow stops and the road is clear, I will lead my troops back to Shanzhou. We will decide the direction and I will divide it." Together with your 20,000 elite cavalry and the friendly troops of General Bashimi of Turkic Nanting, they are still stationed at Yumen Pass. If they leave at any time, there is no need to stay, just give them enough food and baggage. If there is an emergency in the Western Regions, you can act cheaply and consider leading the army to the Western Regions, but please remember that there must be a suitable reason for sending troops, and we cannot let the people in the Western Regions think that we are going to avenge my father's commander-in-chief! If the retaliator is unknown, it will leave a trail among the local people, which will be detrimental to the future. "
"Okay!" Su Dingfang cheered up and responded solemnly.
Qin Mubai nodded and said: "We are fighting fiercely here in Helong and have no time to look westward. It is difficult to guarantee that the Western Region will not change. If nothing else, Beiting, who has always been ambitious, may follow Xue Yantuo's example at this time. The tribe's behavior took advantage of the chaos to attack Nanting and other small countries in the Western Region, resulting in the established fact of unifying the Western Region, forcing us in the Tang Dynasty to accept it. If this is the case, it will cause a lot of trouble for us to conquer the Western Region in the future. And I estimate that this may be the case. Sex is not small.”
"Indeed." Su Dingfang said with certainty, "Previously, Beiting had just fallen out with the Tang Dynasty after the raid on Gaochang, and immediately came to make peace. Their purpose and ambition are obvious, they are to sit on the mountain and watch the fight between tigers. Now This is when the fight between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo is the most fierce and tense. Otherwise, once the final result is reached, the winner will have time to attack Beiting. , now is an opportunity not to be missed, and it will never come back.”
"In this case, it is very likely that Beiting will take the opportunity to cause chaos." Xue Rengui said, "Mu Bai, why not just leave me at Yumen Pass! I have a way to deal with Beiting! As long as Mu Bai gives me a letter , I can add tens of thousands of troops in my hands!"
"No, you have to go back to Shanzhou with me. Before, I suffered all the hardships of not having a strong arm. Now that I have finally caught you, how can I let you go?" Qin Mubai said with a smile, "What you said is just a piece of paper. "The letter' is to be sent to the Tianshan Hulu tribe that originally belonged to Beiting?"
"Exactly." Xue Rengui said, "I came back through the Tianshan Hulu tribe, and he secretly promised to surrender to the Tang Dynasty. Although they are suspected of secretly communicating with each other, if they can be induced and controlled carefully, this trend will The power is not impossible for me to use. As long as Mu Bai issues a letter agreeing to accept the investment from Hulu, this possibility will be greatly increased. "
Qin Mubai smiled and said: "Rengui, you are absolutely right. Fighting is not all about charging into battle and fighting for the enemy. If the tens of thousands of Hulu soldiers are on the Beiting side, they will be my strong enemy; if they surrender to me, The balance of power between the enemy and ourselves will change greatly. To put it bluntly, such a "power" is too capricious to be trusted. If you betray Beiting, you may betray me, the Tang Dynasty, tomorrow. Rengui, although you are wise and brave, you are too upright and chivalrous, and you are very righteous. This is very similar to my late father, so you said you want to go. I'm not worried about taking care of the Western Region. You are invincible on the battlefield, but to deal with such cunning and insidious enemies, Dingfang is definitely more suitable than you. Therefore, I confidently and boldly entrust the Western Region to you. The recipe has been decided. Rengui, please feel free to follow me back to Lanzhou!"
"Hey, why do I feel a little strange when I hear this?" Su Dingfang rolled his eyes, "Mu Bai, what do you mean?"
"Aren't you praising you?" Qin Mubai said with a smile, "I have always thought that you, Second Senior Brother, are indeed a talent in this field!"
After that, he and Xue Rengui laughed together.
"Okay, you can make fun of me all you want!" Su Dingfang clapped his hands and couldn't help laughing, and said, "I think I, Su Lie, have been in the army for more than 20 years, and it's only today that I have the opportunity to show off my talents - Mu Bai, just write me a letter! As long as he dares to cause trouble in Beiting, Su will leave Yumen and go to the Western Region to compete with him!"
"No problem." Qin Mubai nodded with a smile, "Back then, my mentor asked you to personally lead troops and horses to attack the Turkic king's tent, and ended up capturing Jieli Khan. It shows that you are trustworthy and worthy of a big responsibility. If it weren't like this. , I would not ask you to guard Yumen before. Now, I have given you full authority to deal with the Western Region. Please tell me from your heart, the Western Region is the place where my father fell into disgrace. I don’t know. I really want to go there in person. But now, I can’t go, so I ask you to go there for me.”
"I understand." Su Dingfang frowned slightly and nodded seriously, "I know what the Western Region means to me, Datang, and to you, Mubai. It is both a kind of tragedy and hatred, and also a kind of hatred. Responsibility and honor. Su Lie, it is a great honor and a great honor to take over this post!”
"Okay!" Qin Mubai breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "From now on, the strategic deployment of our Guanxi Army will be roughly like this. The main focus is still on targeting the Tubo people across the Dafeichuan River; on the other side of the Western Region, I I entrust the given party with full authority first. As long as the ice and snow melt and the road is clear, Rengui and I will lead the army first."
"Then how to arrange the troops and horses of Huihe?" Xue Rengui asked.
"Take them away." Qin Mubai said seriously, "They are so enthusiastic and come all the way to help in the battle. What a good friend. We must take them away together!"
Su Dingfang and Xue Rengui laughed together but said nothing.
The next day, Qin Mubai and the other three people went to the military camp in Huihe to "instruct training" at Xuelian's invitation. Su Dingfang and Xue Rengui laughed sullenly together. Ever since Qin Mubai and Xuelian's "cheer-to-cheek dance" on New Year's Eve, the two of them have become completely inseparable, and their relationship is unclear. Anyone with a discerning eye knows that Xuelian already regards Qin Mubai as her lover, but her lover also takes a wife with him, who is also the mother of the child.
This is a bit difficult to handle.
In fact, the grassland people are quite open-minded about the affairs between men and women, and are more romantic and unrestrained than the Tang Dynasty with open folk customs. If the Turkic sons and daughters are in love with each other, they will not have such scruples. It is not strange at all to perform the courtesy of the Duke of Zhou on the grassland when the sky and the earth are used as a bed. If you are pregnant with a child, you can raise it together; if both parties are in love, you can also become husband and wife. But if they break up and never get involved again, there is absolutely no need to bear any moral charges.
Therefore, there are many people on the grassland who only know their mother but not their father. Whenever Xuelian found various excuses to invite Qin Mubai to her military camp, it would arouse people's thoughts.
It's just that Xue Lian's mother was a princess of the Tang Dynasty, and she was instilled with some moral cultivation of the Tang royal family since she was a child. For so many years, this recognized most beautiful woman in the prairie has been refusing to stay thousands of miles away, attracting countless prairie men to miss her and drool day and night.
When the three of them arrived at the Huihe military camp, Xue Lian was really practicing cavalry. And he personally went into battle and led his own guards to practice riding and cutting.
The so-called riding chop means riding a horse at a gallop, holding a knife with one hand, and slashing with the knife when passing by a wooden pile wrapped in thick sheepskin. But Xiao Yu's seemingly simple skill, riding a horse and slashing with a sword must have a reasonable arc and speed. If it is not done right, it is not uncommon to cut the air with one sword, and it is possible to break the arm due to the force of the rebound.
"This is the riding and fighting sword technique that the grassland people have practiced for thousands of years." Qin Mubai sighed after observing it for a while, "It seems simple, but in fact it is clumsy. The swords of the grassland people are curved, not just for looks. , but to facilitate the cavalry's slashing, it is not only easy to use, but also has high lethality and the blade is not easy to break. Look at our horizontal swords, they are straight! Although the craftsmanship of Datang's swords is unparalleled in the world, in fact, our horizontal swords are even more exquisite. It is suitable for use in infantry combat. For cavalry to charge, the horizontal sword is far less powerful than the barbarian scimitar, and it is not easy to use and easy to break. "
"Mu Bai is right. The sword is an important reason why Hu Qi is so powerful. In order to restrain Hu Qi, I made none of the soldiers of the Western Expedition under my command use swords. All of them are Ma Shu. Even those who were used to using them before The swords have also been changed," Xue Rengui said with deep emotion, "Hu people regard horses as their home and learn to ride horses since they learn to walk. When fighting, their horses seem to grow on their butts, and their swords are like swords. It is an extension of the arm. No matter how much we train our Central Plains cavalry, our personal combat ability will always be inferior to that of the Hu cavalry. "Use Hu to control Hu". Mubai has recruited many excellent knights from Gaochang and Tubo, and I am secretly happy. "
"What about this one?" Qin Mubai pursed his lips and smiled ambiguously at Xue Lian, who was sweating profusely and drinking loudly on the school field.
"I have to ask you!" Su Dingfang said with a smile, "Isn't this obvious? When you obediently walk into the girl's boudoir, these 40,000 fine knights will be yours!"
"Hey, I never thought that Qin's chastity would be so valuable!" Qin Mubai grinned.
Su Dingfang and Xue Rengui almost fell down laughing on the spot.
While the three of them were enjoying themselves, a soldier from the Tang Army came to report that an envoy from Shanzhou had arrived and brought urgent military information.
Qin Mubai raised his eyebrows and asked, "Where is the military report?"
"Reply to the young marshal, the messenger is General Yuwen! He just got off his horse after entering Guancheng and is warming himself by the fire. He is about to freeze and faint, and he can't move!"
"Yuwen Hongtai?" The three of them exclaimed in unison, and all of them had a bad premonition in their hearts - Yuwen Hongtai, wasn't he guarding Dafeichuan with Hou Junji? Why are you here!
A shadow emerged in Qin Mubai's heart: This damn guy is really a star of death! Last time he suddenly appeared in Lanzhou, holding my father's memorial tablet in his arms; this time...
"Let's go back to Guancheng!"
It was rare to have a sweetheart watching from the sidelines today, and Xuelian was practicing energetically on the school field. Looking back, Qin Mubai and others walked away. Her heart suddenly became filled with worry and anger, she galloped on her horse, scolded and slashed with her sword, actually cutting off a large section of the sheepskin stake as thick as a bowl, which made the Uighur warriors next to her stunned.
"What a romantic person, you don't understand the charm at all, huh!"