Before Pei Xingjian left, Li Hong called him, Hei Chi Changzhi and Xue Rengui again to a unique courtyard in Qiuci.
He gave a bag to each of the three people, and then said with a smile: "Drinking is not allowed in the army. This is an iron rule, but if you take Shule City, I can allow you to drink once. Where is this place?" , even the pig’s trotters and pig’s ears are ready, this is the best dish to go with wine.”
The three of them had no doubts about Li Hong's words. After Li Hong arrived on the first day, he arranged for them to work together. On the second day, Xue Rengui caught a big wild boar early in the morning.
The screams of the wild boar soared into the sky, and probably no one in the entire Kucha City had slept well.
Li Hong scolded General Xue with a sullen face, but after noon, he still stewed the wild boar.
So in just a few days, the screams and "cursing" of wild boars could be heard from time to time in every corner of the barracks. And as the killing of wild boars became popular in the army, the name "killed pig vegetables" was adopted by them. got up.
The wild boars nearby seemed to know about the recent group of people, and fell in love with their own flesh, so they also began to stay out during the day and night, but even so, many wild boars still could not escape their bad luck.
Pei Xingjian took the pork head meat and other cold dishes that Li Hong handed him, and together with Xue Rengui and Hei Te Changzhi, bowed deeply to Li Hong and took the lead in saying: "Your Highness, Pei Xingjian, would like to thank you for the pig meat dishes you made for all the soldiers. With this simple and easy meal, not only can the soldiers have a full meal in the ice and snow, but they can also have a warm meal. I would like to thank you for your kindness and kindness to your soldiers. "
"It's useless to say this. You should think about how to take back Shule in the shortest possible time. If you can't take back Shule before Yuan Day, the three of you can just go back to Chang'an. Then I, Li Hong, will clean up the mess for you." Li Hong took the lead to sit down in the small bare garden, and then motioned for the three of them to sit down at the same time.
"The general and others will live up to their orders and will definitely recapture Shule before the first day of the year. If they cannot do so, the general is willing to let the governor do whatever he wants." Pei Xingjian issued the military order before sitting down opposite Li Hong.
Xue Rengui's 70,000 troops are still stationed outside Shule City, and there are only Pei Xingjian and Hei Te Changzhi's troops in Qiuci.
Li Hong did not let them leave a single soldier behind, but forcefully asked them to take away all the troops. Naturally, only the 20,000 troops led by Li Hong when he came this time were left in Qiuci. Thousands of people.
Pei Xingjian was worried that this small force would not be able to withstand the attack. Ashinadu's cavalry would come and go without a trace, let alone whether they would be able to defend Qiuci before the Yuan Dynasty.
But no matter what the three said, Li Hong shook his head and disagreed with the three leaving part of his troops to help him guard Kucha.
Looking at the doubtful looks in the three people's eyes, Li Hong looked at Hei Te Chang and said, "Hei Te, do you still remember the crossbow I showed you when you and I first met?"
"The general will naturally remember it." Hei Te Changzhi stood up and replied.
"That's it. As long as he is here, Qiuci will not be lost, and I guarantee that they will never come back." Seeing Pei Xingjian about to speak, Li Hong stopped him and continued: "I understand what you mean, you Don't worry, I will never lead my troops out of Kucha to attack them for the sake of military success. My mission is to protect Kucha for you before you come back in Yuanri. "
Seeing that Pei Xingjian still had a troubled expression on his face, Li Hong sighed and continued: "Go, General Pei, don't worry, I, Li Hong, will be with you in Qiuci and in the city."
Seeing Li Hong's suddenly determined eyes, Pei Xingjian, Xue Rengui and Hei Te Changzhi looked at each other and nodded silently.
For some reason, looking at Li Hong's determined expression, they believed from the bottom of their hearts that His Highness, the Crown Prince, who had always acted unconventionally in Chang'an, could really defend the city with 20,000 people, which was being watched by Ashina. of Kucha.
The next day, Pei Xingjian led Xue Rengui and Heiqia Changzhi and began to march to Shule. Li Hong, in addition to performing a simple expedition ceremony for them outside the city, hurried back to Qiuci.
It's winter now. Due to natural disasters in Yunzhong, all food is scarce this year. But fortunately, Datang is now rich, and a large amount of food has been transported from the south to Luoyang, and then transferred to other places in Yunzhong.
Therefore, after the East Turkic people in the clouds had eaten and drank enough, they were left with one great thing on the cold grassland, which was to hide in tents and make children.
The Ashinadu branch was also affected by the natural disaster and the wolves. Because the food delivery route was too long, they rebelled before the food was delivered immediately.
Therefore, Pei Xingjian was not allowed to leave Shule at that time and went to Qiuci to guard it overnight.
Now that Pei Xingjian left Kucha, Ashina Duzhi, who was watching on the sidelines, felt that there was an opportunity to take advantage of it. If he could take the opportunity to capture Kucha, it would not only give Ashina Duzhi a stronghold.
At the same time, it can continue to shake the influence of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions, and it can also make the Tang Dynasty become overwhelmed and difficult to take care of itself in the gap between their Ashinadu branch and Tibet in the south.
"Have Ming Chongyan and Du Yuanji arrived?" After returning to his Protectorate, Li Hong immediately asked Fang Zhan and Heng Qiao who came over this morning.
"We arrived at Menyuan Town half a month ago." Fang Zhan replied respectfully.
"How is the result?"
"This is a letter from Ming Chongyan to you, and he asked the general to tell you that the stones in the Qilian Mountains are completely suitable for making cement, even more suitable than some stones in the Central Plains." Heng Qiao handed the letter to Li Hong and said.
Li Hong nodded silently, joking. Qilian Mountain cement was famous in his previous life. It would be strange if the minerals in Qilian Mountain were not suitable for making cement.
"Tell them to hurry up. Menyuan is located in Yumen Pass, bordering Tuyuhun, which is occupied by Tubo. I have asked my father for an order and will send heavy troops to guard this town, so that they can rush to conquer it with confidence." Li Hong put down his hand. Letter, said lightly.
Fang Zhan and Heng Qiao bowed in response.
Li Hong's idea is very simple. This place in the Western Regions requires stones. Now that there is cement that can be delivered within ten days, he can improve the defense of the Western Regions during Pei Xingjian's campaign. Four huge castles were built in the four towns of Anxi! The huge military camps will become insurmountable obstacles like the Qilian Mountains and the Kunlun Mountains.
Li Hong thought for a while and continued: "Hengqiao sticks to the Tubo area, and any news must be sent to Qiuci as soon as possible. Fang Zhan, you now need to sneak into the Ashinadu branch and find out where they live on the grassland. "Jingwei" is short of manpower, so you can contact Bai Chun directly and she will give you support."
"Then... beheading..." Fang Zhan thought for a while and continued to ask.
"Beheading has to be done. Although this can't stop Tibet from continuing to invade our plan, it can delay them. If they kill their general Zhang San, they will also find Li Si to lead the army in battle, but as long as they assassinate enough people , their generals will become more and more stupid. After all, no one can just herd sheep and have many outstanding generals who are good at fighting, right?" Li Hong explained to them with a smile.
"Yes, the general understands. It is to consume them and fundamentally weaken their combat strength. As long as we can successfully assassinate outstanding generals, it means that their strength will be weakened by us." Heng Qiao looked at Li Hong, his eyes widened. Light.
Now that 'Mythology' and 'Jingwei' have merged, the strength of 'Mythology' in assassination is like a myth. After being merged into 'Jingwei', it has not done anything yet and has not yet demonstrated its terrifying strength.
Now that His Highness the Crown Prince has finally relented, it is time for Heng Qiao to show off his talents.
The weather has been particularly good this winter. Pei Xingjian and others have already set out for three or four days. Li Hong really has nothing to do in Kucha City. He comes to the Duhu Mansion every day as if he is working, and then, accompanied by Xia Zhi and others, inspects The city defense of Qiuci City.
The people of Qiuci were full of doubts about this new general. No one believed that he could defend Qiuci with just a few troops. Some people had even begun to secretly prepare to join Ashina Duzhi.
There are also many wealthy families in Qiuci City who have lived here for generations. Although they can't help Li Hong's city defense, it would be a good thing if it can help him calm down the people.
Li Hong held the list in his hand. In this small town of about 40,000 to 50,000 people, there were as many as a dozen famous and wealthy families, and none of them started their business by doing business. Each family had at least dozens of guards. , as many as three to five hundred people.
When they were wondering whether this unstable force should be confiscated by them, the sound of an arrow piercing the sky suddenly sounded over Kucha City in the direction of the north gate of Kucha City.
"Let's go over and have a look." Li Hong grabbed the war horse from Mang Zhong's hand, quickly turned the horse's head, jumped up, and galloped away in the direction of the North Gate Tower like lightning.
Behind him, Hua Meng, Mang Zhong, Xiao Xue, Xia Zhi, Ban Mei and Xun Lan also got on their horses and followed closely in the direction of the tower.
The city tower made of rammed loess is not very high, so it can barely resist Ashina Duzhi's war horses jumping in. The water in the moat outside the city has already frozen, so there is no need to worry about being crushed if the horses step on it.
"What's going on?" Li Hongfei dismounted and looked at Quan Yi on the tower, holding a telescope and looking outside the city, and asked loudly.
"Dadu Protector, look." Quan Yi handed the telescope to Li Hong.
Li Hong did not reach out to take it. At the distant horizon where the grass was growing, a cloud of smoke and dust, like a huge dark cloud in the summer sky, spread and flew up on the withered grass.
"Ashina Duzhi is really good at choosing the right time. Do you really think that I, the prince of the Tang Dynasty, is a fool and easier to bully than Pei Xingjian?" Li Hong squinted his eyes and looked at the billowing yellow mist that covered the sky and the sun towards Qiuci. He came over, with a hint of cunning in his eyes, and hehe said: "Arrange sniper crossbows."
(End of chapter)