The Tang cavalry numbering less than 10,000, escorting nearly 20,000 Western Turkic prisoners, walked on the open grassland, as if they were like a huge wolf pack, surrounding a group of sheep.
The setting sun is sharpening its head and sinking below the horizon. The remaining golden color stains the withered grassland, giving this nature a sacred atmosphere. The cold wind blew by, and the desolate emptiness made people feel inexplicably sad.
After returning from Wenlu, Li Hong's face has not been very good-looking. War is cruel, and he has known it for a long, long, long time. But whenever he faced the killing of unarmed people, he always felt inexplicable sadness and anger in his heart.
"Daduhu, what should we do with these 20,000 people?" Quan Yi looked livid and asked Ashina Duzhi to flee into the depths of the grassland, making him feel shameless.
"You can escort them to Menyuan and tell Ming Chongyan to use them as you like. There will be plenty of labor in the future." Li Hong said calmly while looking at the Western Turkic prisoners slowly entering Qiuci.
Quan Yi responded, then saluted behind Li Hong, and then left to arrange the prisoners' accommodation for tonight and their schedule for tomorrow.
"Hua Meng, write to Baichun. All the cement that has been deliberately stored will be shipped to Qiuci after the beginning of spring." After Li Hong finished speaking, he watched the last group of prisoners enter the city and slowly walked down the tower. .
"Welfare and Wutian, find a few people who look like generals to interrogate overnight, and ask where the Ashina branch is camping. Fang Zhan, contact your people on the grassland and get moving. Even if it snows tomorrow, we must Get moving now, I want the exact location of Ashina Duzhi." After walking down the stairs, he looked at the escorting Lawless and said hurriedly.
The winter in the Western Regions is very long. When the New Year is about to come, the land of the Central Plains has already seen signs of recovery from the severe cold, and even the smell of spring can be clearly heard.
But the Western Region is still in the cold winter of ice and snow, and the knife-like north wind is raging across the vast land. The entire Western Region seems like a huge no-man's land.
Li Hong rushed into the camp and stayed there for half a month. He and Quan Yi each led 7,000 people and almost lost their way on the grassland, stumbling around on the grassland.
Ashina Duzhi seemed to have disappeared out of thin air. No trace could be found. However, the coyotes on the grassland were startled. When they heard the sound of horse hooves, they hurriedly hid in their dens.
Xia Zhi and Xiaoxue looked at Li Hong who rushed in, and hurriedly helped Li Hong take off the armor that was already covered with ice. The armor was as hard as an iron plate, and they pulled it off from Li Hong's body. The cotton clothes inside were already very wet at this time.
"Don't move." Li Hong folded his hands into an embrace and placed them carefully on his chest.
"What's wrong, Master?" Xia Zhi and Xiaoxue quickly took off their armor carefully, and then saw a puppy in Li Hong's arms
"Eh? Is this a puppy?" Xiaoxue looked at the little wolf between Li Hong's hands, which had not yet opened its eyes. It was sleeping soundly in Li Hong's hands.
"Look at you, can there be a dog in this place? Such a small dog has long been frozen to death. This is a wolf cub. It is probably not a month old." Li Hong didn't know how old the wolf was. Anyway, there were no more than two. The month is for sure.
Banmei and Xunlan screamed and ran in from outside. They had never encountered this kind of weather, which the locals called white-haired wind.
At this moment, if it was sunny outside, the sun should be hanging high in the sky, but now it is pitch black outside, and the thick snow scattered on the grassland, blown by the biting cold wind, suddenly becomes... It permeated the whole world, making it difficult for people to open their eyes, and Xue Mozi seemed to have eyes, burrowing into her body towards the collar.
The two women shrank their hands, legs, and necks, their pink cheeks turned red from the cold. They shook off the wind and snow on their bodies at the door, and then slowly walked in.
As soon as I came in, I saw three people playing with the sleeping puppy: "Wow... such a cute cat..."
Banmei looked greedily at the little wolf struggling and shaking on the thick carpet, trying to get up and move around, and cried out softly.
Li Hongman's forehead was full of black lines. These people must have been stupid in the palace. Can they be regarded as cats
"Banmei, are you stupid? Have you never seen a cat or a dog in your life? No, the difference between a cat and a wolf?"
"Ah? Master, do you think this is a wolf?"
"Nonsense, of course it's a wolf. I don't know if we alerted the wolves or if the wolves were targeted by some natural enemy. In short, there were no wolves in the den. There was only this little guy like a cat, standing at the entrance of the cave. He was screaming in the cold wind, so I brought him back." Li Hong took the warm goat milk from Xia Zhi, placed the bowl in front of the little wolf, and pressed his head to let him drink.
The little wolf was also very obedient and gave Li Hong a lot of face in front of the four girls. He took a slight sniff of the goat milk and immediately started to drink it with his little tongue.
Li Hong was feeding wolves on the grassland, and in the Daming Palace in Chang'an City, Li Zhi wanted to feed Li Hong to wolves.
"Yan Liben, are you stupid? How many years has he been telling you, have you seen him? Not at all. Why do you still believe his lies now?" Li Zhi looked at Yan Liben with hatred and scolded him. road.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me for being rude, but I believe that Your Highness will not lie to me." Yan Liben had more gray beard, but he still stood firmly on the side of the prince.
"Officials from the Ministry of Industry and craftsmen who will serve as supervisors will be released as soon as you say. There are so many people, so why don't you ask other people what they want?" Li Zhi asked, squinting his neck.
This old fool Yan Liben has been manipulated by Li Hong in the past few years. As long as that little idiot Li Hong comes up with the preface to the Lanting Collection, Yan Liben seems to have suddenly become an old fool and will give Li Hong whatever he wants. Yan Liben would do whatever the Ministry of Works wanted him to do.
But after so many years, Yan Liben has never seen even a trace of the preface to the Lanting collection, but the old fool still believes that Li Hong has the preface to the Lanting collection.
This time, Li Hong's letter to him used the preface of the Lanting Collection as bait, asking him to send craftsman officials from the Ministry of Works and craftsmen who would serve as supervisors to the Western Regions after the beginning of spring.
This old fool once again chose to believe Li Hong, so without saying a word, he had already issued the document. After the first day, he asked the Ministry of Works and the craftsmen who would be the supervisors to set off for the Western Regions.
Li Zhi looked at the old fool who was obsessed with it, as if he had been enchanted by Li Hong, and said in a sincere tone: "Yan Liben, think about it, what is the preface to the Lanting Collection? It was the favorite of the late emperor and my father, do you think it will To the little idiot? Also, was the little idiot born at that time? I gave it to him on his eighth birthday! How could you, Yan Liben, believe such nonsense
Yan Liben thought seriously about Li Zhi, and the expression on his face alternated between gloomy and clear. After a while, Yan Liben glanced at Li Zhi with his cloudy eyes, and what he said almost made Li Zhi dizzy with anger.
"Your Majesty, I feel that you don't want the world to know that the preface of the Orchid Pavilion Collection is in the hands of His Highness, so I have been keeping it a secret for His Highness, and warned His Highness not to show it to me easily." Yan Liben looked at Li Zhi and was about to see it. The furious expression made him even more convinced of his words.
"You old fool, you old fool, is there any truth in that little idiot's mouth? When have I ever deceived my ministers with my eloquent words and true words? As for him, when has the little idiot not deceived you all over the place?"
"Then I also chose to trust His Highness the Crown Prince, because I feel that the preface to the Lanting Collection must be in the hands of His Highness the Crown Prince." Yan Liben seemed to have the demeanor of Wei Zheng who was not afraid of death at this time.
"Okay, okay, you old fool, sooner or later you will be tricked into your grave by him. Use force to drive this old fool out. I don't want to talk to him anymore." Li Zhi waved his hand and said, "It's winter." It's not worth it to get sick because of the old fool's anger, not to mention that it's approaching the first day of the year, so he can't get sick at this time.
Yan Liben didn't wait for Yang Wu to invite him. As a minister, he looked at the back of Li Zhi who left in anger. After bowing respectfully, he walked out of the Xuanzheng Hall with his head held high.
Li Zhi was grumbling along the way. He was really annoyed by Yan Liben, an old fool. He was halfway to Penglai Palace when he suddenly remembered that he was getting angry for being patronizing, but he had given Yan Liben the serious business of sending craftsmen to the Western Regions. It was forgotten.
Xincheng, Chengyang, and Lanling actually came to Penglai Palace together. This was also strange to Li Zhi. The last time they came was when Li Hong went on an expedition. It had been several months. Why did they suddenly come together again? Already
Li Zhi slowly walked into Penglai Palace and saw four women with unkind faces. Each of their flowery faces seemed to have a trace of anger.
"What's wrong? Did the little idiot realize that he replied to the letter?" Li Zhi looked at a few people and asked calmly.
"Yes, the Huaji you sent is back in a hurry. I heard that you had something important to do at the Xuanzheng Hall, so Yangwu asked him to come here first." Wu Mei rubbed her temples and said a little helplessly.
Li Zhi looked at Hua Ji who was standing aside. He did not take the letter first, but asked: "What did that little idiot say? Have you ever read the decree I gave him in front of you?" ?”
"Back to Your Majesty, Your Highness the Crown Prince... His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is..." Hua Ji said obediently, looking at Wu Mei and then at Li Zhi, feeling embarrassed and not knowing what to say.
"What are you talking about, that little idiot? You learned it from me word for word. If you dare to make random changes, I will never forgive you." Li Zhi's originally gentle expression turned gloomy again.
"Yes, Your Majesty. When the servant arrived there, he was about to announce the decree, and then he was snatched away by His Highness, and then... and then..."
"What happened next? How rude is it to hesitate?" Li Zhi was very angry. The little idiot must have made Hua Ji look bad again.
(End of chapter)