after being kidnapped by the general

Three days later, Chu Hechao led the army and set off.

The army marched very fast, and military letters were sent to Youzhou one by one every day.Half a month later, it has entered the border of Jizhou.

Yang Zhongfa was kept in Youzhou by Chu Hechao, one was to protect the safety of Yuanli, and the other was because Yang Zhongfa was a veteran after all, so he should reduce his travels.

Yang Zhongfa cheerfully accepted the order to stay in Youzhou.

Compared with the hard days of the army in front, the days in the rear can be regarded as extremely leisurely.Although Yang Zhongfa is old, his ability has not weakened with age. Although Chu Hechao has taken away [-] troops, Youzhou is still as solid as ever, and the people under his rule have not been affected by the border war, and they still live and work in peace and contentment.

But on the No. 20 day after Chu Hechao left, He Lang, who was stationed at the frontier, sent a letter stating that the border had been invaded by the Huns many times recently.These Huns were few and ran away as soon as they hit them, but they came more often, which was as annoying as rats.

Yuanli called Yang Zhongfa and Yuan Congyun to discuss it. They both had the same idea, "These Huns probably came here to test us after they heard the news that the general was going to fight with Jizhou."

"That's right," Yuan Li nodded slowly, "I can see it. Both of you are famous generals who have been stationed in the frontier for a long time. What do you think?"

Yang Zhongfa and Yuan Congyun looked at each other, and Yang Zhongfa said: "Master Yuan, when you first came to Youzhou, the battle between us and the Huns completely damaged the vitality of the Huns. Although they have recovered over the years, they are still afraid of the power of the thunderbolt cannon." , so I only dare to do some small tricks. If we let him tempt us but don’t fight back, I’m afraid that in the long run, the Xiongnu’s actions will only become bigger and bigger. It’s better to fight back now, so that they don’t dare to move these thoughts again.”

Yuan Congyun said: "I think so too."

Yuan Li didn't hesitate for a long time, and said: "If that's the case, then fight back and give them a serious deterrent."

After pondering for a moment, Yuan Li said, "I'll go to the frontier with you."

As General Fenwu, he had never been to northern Xinjiang.

Yuan Congyun was left to defend, while Yuan Li took Yang Zhongfa and Jia Qing to the northern frontier defense.

This was Yuanli's first visit to northern Xinjiang. From a distance, he saw a large green grassland.

He raised his head and looked into the distance, only to feel his eyes brighten.

This large grassland seems to have no end, with the fragrance of green grass rushing into the nose.The horse wobbled, and liked the feeling of walking on the grassland very much. From time to time, it lowered its head and gnawed a couple of mouthfuls of grass, straightening its comfortable hooves.

There are sheep and cattle herders who drive their cattle and sheep to graze on the grassland. These people are from Yuanli Livestock Farm, and they make a special trip to herd cattle and sheep on the grassland inside the Great Wall.

The cattle and sheep eat well and are not afraid of people. When Yuanli and his party passed through, they didn't even raise their heads.

Yuan Li couldn't bear it any longer, so he bent down and plucked a handful of wool, and the plucked lamb let out a "baa", and raised his dingy eyes to look at Yuan Li blankly.

Yuan Li was immediately happy, "This sheep is cute, the meat must be very tender, let's slaughter it tonight."

Jia Qing didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The atmosphere in the frontier was far from dignified. Knowing that Yuanli and the others were coming, He Lang had already come to greet them one step ahead of time.

"It's the first time Master Yuan has come to Northern Xinjiang." He Lang greeted warmly with a smile on his face, "I'll take Master Yuan for a walk later! Because of Master Yuan, Northern Xinjiang has become much better over the years. Our generals and soldiers have long wanted to see Your Excellency in person and express their gratitude to Your Excellency."

Yuan Li cheerfully said, "No need."

He Lang glanced at Jia Qing again, and laughed, "General Jia hasn't been to northern Xinjiang, has he? This will give us a good look at the scenery of our northern Xinjiang."

They have all heard of each other's names, Jia Qing nodded and said: "Thank you."

Soon, they saw rows and rows of camps built in an orderly manner. There were tens of thousands of them, and they were already as huge as a town.

Most of these camps are built with wood, and some are made of earthen houses mixed with grass and mud.There are several sentry towers around the camp, on which soldiers stand, always on guard against enemy attacks.

The roads are dirt roads, but they are well cleaned.The patrol team walked by from time to time, and glanced curiously at Yuanli and his party.

Next to the camp, there are rows of stables.

The soldiers feeding the horses were pouring out hay, which had beans added to it, and the horses ate deliciously, snorting, buried in the hay, unable to lift their heads.

Yang Zhongfa glanced at it and clicked his tongue, "Is this enough to eat fine grains? Are you planning to fight the Huns in the next few days?"

When there is no battle to fight, the horses can just eat grass.But when doing heavy work in war, some grain will be added to the forage, whether it is bran or beans, to replenish the physical strength of the war horse, so that the war horse can fight hunger for a long time.

But in the past, they were poor, and even if they were fighting, they couldn't give the horses much food to eat. After all, people were still hungry, so they could only suffer.When Yang Zhongfa thought of the hard times in the past, he sighed especially, look at now, he can eat refined grains in advance, how could he have thought of that in the past.

"This is not preparing for war," He Lang retorted with a grin, "Old Yang, you don't know if you have been in Ji County for the past few years. Even when our war horses are not fighting, they will occasionally be fed refined grains." .”

He Lang walked over and patted the neck of a brown horse that was grazing, "They love to eat this food. If it wasn't for feeding them every day, how could they grow so fat and strong?"

The horse that was photographed let out a cry, and hid aside in annoyance.The muscles on the neck are strong, the limbs are strong, and the fur is smooth and shiny.

Jia Qing couldn't help but said, "What a horse."

It can be seen from the horse feed that the life of the frontier army is definitely not bad.

"It's all thanks to Master Yuan," He Lang cupped his hands towards Yuan Li, "Master Yuan is generous and gives a lot of food. If it weren't for Master Yuan, how could they be raised so well."

Looking at these horses, Yuan Li was also happy. He had seen these horses look skinny and skinny before. He waved his hand and said, "I should do whatever I want to thank."

Not only are the war horses fed well, but the soldiers stationed on the frontier also eat well and dress warmly.When they come and go, they all look radiant, and the weapons in their hands are replaced when they are broken, and they are all polished.

Although there are countless food and military equipment sent to the frontier every year, which is really a big expense, but I have to say that seeing the changes in northern Xinjiang with my own eyes and seeing the strong and rosy faces of the soldiers in northern Xinjiang can only feel that The money was well spent, and Yuan Li felt a satisfied sense of accomplishment in his heart.

The other generals, headed by Mi Yang and Duan Yuquan, waited in front of the main tent to welcome Yuanli's arrival.

As soon as they saw Yuan Li, they greeted him warmly and kept greeting Yuan Li.

It doesn't work if you are not enthusiastic. The whole northern Xinjiang knows who they rely on for support.

They were very grateful to Yuan Li, if the general raised them, they would live the same hard life as before.It's not that the general is not good, and the bad days are sad, but if there are good days, who doesn't want to have enough food?

Their enthusiasm startled Yuan Li, seeing Yuan Li's uneasiness, Duan Yuquan dismissed the others, leaving only a few generals here.

"We don't have anything to entertain Mr. Governor here," Duan Yuquan, a Confucian general, said politely, "The houses in northern Xinjiang are also simple and shabby. You are wronged to live in the general's house."

Chu Hechao's room?

Yuan Li was curious and wanted to know what Chu Hechao's room looked like, and said calmly, "I'm not picky, I can live in the mountains, forests and fields, so there's nothing wrong with it."

Duan Yuquan smiled and led them into the room. Considering that they came on their way, he didn't say much, leaving them time to rest.

Yang Zhongfa and Jia Qing had their own arrangements and did not live with Yuanli.

Yuan Li walked into Chu Hechao's room and looked around subconsciously.

This room is extremely simple, it can be called a barren house.There is only a bed, a file for dealing with government affairs, and a table with a kettle on it.

There was a piece of animal fur hanging on the wall, Yuan Li went over and reached out to pick it up, and found that it was wolf fur.

There is also a quilt made of animal fur on the bed, which is as thick as a whole bearskin.Yuan Li pulled up the quilt and smelled it. He thought he would smell a bad smell, but he didn't expect it to be clean, only some inevitable dust.

It looked like someone had cleaned it.

Although he knew it was an illusion, Yuan Li always felt that he could smell Chu Hechao's body in the bedding.He sniffed again, and the faint breath lingered in his nose.

Yuan Li thought to himself, could it be that he hadn't seen anyone for almost a month and was missing him?

Otherwise, how could the smell of Chu Hechao still be smelled on the bedding that no one has washed in the past few years?

But after thinking about it, Chu Hechao has lived here for more than ten years, and it's normal that the bedding has his smell, and it can't be washed off.

If he went to other places, Yuanli must be polite and cautious.But he knows that this is his man's place, and his man's house is not polite and can be pretentious.

Yuan Li directly turned the house inside and out, and found a mess of trousers and a used dagger in a corner.

After looking through the whole house, Yuanli had only one thought: poor, Chu Hechao is really poor.

The most valuable things in the house are the wolf skins hanging on the wall and the bedding on the bed.

With sympathy for his man, Yuanli got a good night's sleep that night.

The next morning, when he got up energetically, he learned the news that the Huns had come to attack again.

Yuan Li immediately took Jia Qing, and followed Yang Zhongfa and Duan Yuquan to the border town.

When the winding Great Wall appeared in front of Yuanli, even though Yuanli had seen the Great Wall in later generations, he was still shocked.

Thousands of years ago, the Great Wall was more majestic than later generations, and it also had the strength of young people to resist foreign enemies.Yuan Li looked up for a while, feeling agitated, and followed the people up the Great Wall.

Looking down from the Great Wall, you can see the Huns in the distance fighting with the northern border patrols.

Yuanli squinted his eyes.

As He Lang said, after the disastrous defeat six years ago, the Huns became much more cunning.They did not choose to charge head-on with the sentinel cavalry, but instead sneaked left and right, harassing and probing in turns. Once they angered the sentinel cavalry in Northern Xinjiang, they immediately retreated, which made the sentry cavalry team powerless.

"Who is the king of the Xiongnu court now?" Jia Qing, who was watching from the side, suddenly asked.

Duan Yuquan smiled wryly and said, "General Jia, why don't you take a guess?"

Yuan Li sighed, and said, "It's Huyan Huyanhuntu, the second son of Huyan Wuzhu."

Chu Hechao once told Yuanli about this matter. Yuanli originally thought that Huyan Wuzhu's eldest son, Huyanting, would inherit the throne. The crown prince's child, but he didn't expect that Huyan Huntu, who didn't look like a mountain dew, would be the one who came to power in the end.

Duan Yuquan nodded, and looked at the Hunnu cavalrymen who had already started to flee in the distance, "Due to the change of power, the Hunnu Royal Court has been in civil strife for five years, and it was only last year that the winner was decided. Huyanhuntu is not favored Huyan Huntu was also driven out of the royal court by Huyanting. However, Huyanhuntu who was driven away did not give up. He conquered the barbarians in all directions and let those small tribes Everyone came to rely on him. Two years ago, Huyanhuntu made a comeback, defeated Huyanting within a year, and ascended the throne."

"Huyanhuntu," Yuan Li murmured, "his ambition is no less than that of his father."

"That's right," Duan Yuquan said in a deep voice, "he has only been a Shanyu for a year, and he dared to send people to test him many times when he heard that the general left Youzhou. He still has such a cunning style, and he is more courageous than his brother Hu Yanting. Much more."

The faces of several people are very dignified.

Naturally, they would not be happy about this. The Huns under the command of Huyanhuntu would only pose a greater threat to them than the Huyans under the command of Huyanting.

Yuan Li said: "But he is also a very cautious person."

After a pause, he said again: "He is also a very patient person."

Yang Zhongfa frowned for a while, then nodded, "It's hard to deal with."

He Lang let out a "huh" and said strangely, "You two are more wary of him than I expected."

Yuan Li turned to look at him, pondered for a moment, "Didn't you notice?"

He Lang asked, "What did you find?"

Yang Zhongfa sneered, and then said, "You kid, you have begun to despise the Huns unconsciously."

Huyanhuntu cautiously probed the reality of the northern border army. Although there were many small movements, they were not completely torn apart. They only made people feel like annoying mice.

As for mice, naturally they will not attract much attention.

But isn't this kind of thinking a trap of Huyan Huntu?He even made He Lang and other generals relax their vigilance unconsciously, and began to despise the Huns.

Those who can conquer the barbarians in all directions after being driven out of the royal court will definitely not lack the patience of these brave men, and they will never come to tease the frontier army when they are not sure.Huyan Huntu may be waiting for the day when these generals completely relax their vigilance.

Yuan Li made up his mind in an instant, and a killing intent arose in his heart.

This enemy should be eradicated as soon as possible.