Re-walking Hexi Road, Liang Xiao sighed a lot.The last time Biku came back, he was intercepted by the Huns on the way, and he had no choice but to take Qiangzhong.Some Qiang people are very hospitable, and some Qiang people have bad intentions, but he is well guarded, so he does not encounter any trouble.This time to the west, Hexi Road has been completely controlled by the Han army, and the number of Qiang people seen along the way has been greatly reduced.Only those tribes who were attached to the Han Dynasty from the beginning and made military exploits during Cao Shi's conquest of Qiang had the opportunity to live in the river valley, and when they saw Liang Xiao and his party, whether they knew each other or not, they were very friendly.When the Han troops stationed along the way heard that Liang Xiao had crossed the border and was going to return to the Western Regions, they were warmly received and sent away, and they couldn't wait to go with Liang Xiao.Along the way, Xu Le and Liang Xiao were inseparable, and they were quite emotional when they saw Liang Xiao's status in the minds of the soldiers.Liang Xiao didn't have time to sigh.He began training for the integration of troops.In addition to the original knights composed of more than 100 Greek teenagers, he now has 200 more rangers recruited in Chang'an, Xie Guanglong and Guo Wu also brought dozens of knights, Xu Le and Batu also have some attendants, all of which are added together, there are more than 400 people.Liang Xiao asked all of these more than 400 people to participate in the training, even Xu Le and Batu were no exception.They don't need to kill the enemy themselves, but they do have to be proficient in horsemanship.Once engaged, they must keep up with the knights and not fall behind.Liang Xiao originally thought that Xu Lehui would be a difficulty, but he didn't expect that it was Batu who was the first to have problems.Batu stayed in Chang'an for a few years, and although the horse was still ridden often, he had been pampered for too long, and his thighs were full of fat, and he was no longer suitable for this long-term bumpy life on horseback.In just a few days, the thighs were worn out and drenched in blood.Batu retreated, wanting to use his identity as a cover and quit training.Liang Xiao said to him, if you want to quit, you can retreat directly to Chang'an and continue to be your hostage.The Yue Clan has nothing to do with you from now on, and you are not qualified to be the king of the Yue Clan.The Yue clan is a people on horseback, and they have always only followed the strong, so why you can't get the respect of your subordinates is because you are not as strong as Aliusu.Now that Aleusu is dead in battle, his soul can ascend to heaven.If you can't endure even this little suffering, you'd better go to hell in the future, so as not to be ridiculed by Aliusu.To be on the safe side, he cut his face a few times before he died, and if he touched Aliusu, he wouldn't recognize it.Batu was red-faced by Liang Xiao's words, which aroused the latent blood, gritted his teeth, and continued to train.Xu Le's situation was better than Liang Xiao expected.He is from the country of Yan and is no stranger to horseback riding.After receiving the edict, he learned that he would go with Liang Xiao, and from the day he left Chang'an, he consciously trained knights, and he had already passed the most difficult period.By the time the muscles in his thighs became stronger, he was able to gallop smoothly with the knights.As for the rangers, there is no need for Liang Xiao to worry.These guys weren't people who kept to themselves, and cavalry fencing was commonplace.They also knew that this trip to the Western Regions was facing a vicious battle, and they would die if they didn't pay attention to it, and they knew that sweating more at this time was to shed less blood in the future, so they didn't need Liang Xiao's urging, they increased their own amount, and practiced hard riding and archery and tactical coordination.Liang Xiao once again used Xie Guanglong and Guo Wu as the chief and deputy cavalry generals to lead the two hundred rangers.He himself and the guards around him studied how to deal with Wudan.Wudan not only has a hard bow with a range of 200 paces, but also has nearly 100 mercenaries and horse thieves who are good at riding and archery, which is simply an enhanced version of Liang Xiao at the beginning.Liang Xiao has always relied on this luxurious configuration to gallop on the battlefield, and now, he faces a stronger opponent, and if he does not prepare well, he has no chance of winning.Liang Xiao's preparation was divided into two parts: one was to strengthen his own archery training and that of the five archers.A qualitative leap is unlikely in the short term, but they need to increase the intensity of their training to keep themselves in good shape.Although he was not idle when he was in Chang'an, after all, it was better to devote himself to the battlefield.He must adjust before he encounters the enemy, so as not to be caught off guard and suffer heavy losses.The second is to adjust weapons and equipment.The range of the ground bow in Wu Dan's hand is more than that of an ordinary bow, dozens of steps longer than the black bow in Liang Xiao's hand, if the range disadvantage is not solved, they will always be in a situation of being passively beaten.Fortunately, the Han army has a crossbow as a big killing weapon, and the range is not a problem at all, the problem is that the eyesight is limited, and no one can guarantee the hit rate from 200 paces away.Crossbows are covered strikes and are rarely used for solo sniping.Even a famous archer like Li Guang will only use a strong crossbow to snipe the opposing general when defending in a formation, and it is a difficult problem to use a strong crossbow on a moving horse, whether it is winding or shooting.In order to solve this problem, Liang Xiao has two ideas: one is to use the advantage of numbers to make up for the disadvantage.He prepared five six-stone crossbows with a range of 240 paces and handed them to twenty guards.These guards were all childhood friends he brought from Jiangdu, loyal and safe, and had received strict training from Huanyuan and Zhongli, so they were no strangers to the use of crossbows.Another way is to create a new type of weapon that has both the fire of a crossbow and the range of a crossbow.This arduous task was entrusted to Deng Guobin.Deng Guobin followed Liu Ling all the way from Lushan to Chang'an, and now followed Liang Xiao to the Western Regions.Along the way, he was the only one who didn't have to be involved in combat training, and his task was to familiarize himself with the various bows and crossbows and then devise improvements to them.Deng Guobin came up with a rather creative idea, he wanted to use a pulley set to improve the problem of crossbow arrows.The fact that the pulley block can save effort has been proven, and how to apply it to the crossbow has become the core issue of his consideration now.Technological improvement is by no means an easy task, and even though Deng Guobin has excellent attainments in machinery and crossbows, the manufacture of new crossbows is still difficult.Fortunately, Liang Xiao didn't expect him to take it out immediately, and he focused more on training crossbowmen.Five six-stone crossbows, if they cooperate tacitly, should be enough to balance the range advantage of Udan.In addition to deploying a series of training tasks, Liang Xiao himself also began intensive training.After several years of channeling practice, whether it is listening or archery, he has reached a height that is difficult for ordinary people to reach, but he has never been able to reach the realm of the voice shooter that Huan Yuan said.His current level is slightly better than Huan Yuan, and within seventy or eighty steps, even the slightest footsteps cannot escape his ears.At an active target 100 paces away, he can shoot in response to the sound, with a hit rate of more than 80%.If there is no appearance of Wudan, such archery skills are enough to dominate the world, and even Huan Yuan thinks that he has no opponent.It's a pity that his eyesight is not so clever.He can't see the leaves a hundred steps away, and a hundred steps through the poplar is also a legend after all.And the resolution of hearing is obviously not as good as eyesight, a humanoid target a hundred steps away, he can shoot in the chest, especially when he is particularly sure of the head, it is difficult to be accurate.He's hit a bottleneck and now he's up against a tough opponent.The combination of the two did not make him lose confidence, but aroused his fighting spirit.He trained hard like never before, just as he had when he first came into this world.After leaving Chang'an, there is no need to rack his brains to figure out the mind of the Son of Heaven, he also really calms down and deals with Wudan wholeheartedly.Time passed quietly in the grueling training.At the end of April, Liang Xiao and his entourage arrived at Xingxing Gorge.Xingxing Gorge can be regarded as the dividing point of the Hexi Corridor and the Western Desert, out of Xingxing Gorge, there are two trade routes: one trade road to the north, along the north edge of the desert to the west, you can go to Pu and Cheshi, and the other trade road to the south, enter the desert, and go straight to Loulan.Liang Xiao took one last rest and sent someone to contact Ma Qi, the commander of the Xiaoyue clan.I haven't seen him for a few years, and March's beard has turned a little whiter, and his spirit is not very good.The moment he saw Batu, March burst into tears."
Little Prince, you're back.If you don't come back, there will be no Yueshi east of the Green Ridge. ”Liang Xiao was puzzled, pulled Ma Qi and asked carefully, only then did he know that the situation in the Western Regions had deteriorated to an unimaginable level.The celestial wolf shot Aliusu, and his prestige was shocked, and the countries of the south of the desert were intimidated by his prestige and had to surrender to him, and even the Yueshi people were divided, and at least half of them surrendered to the celestial wolf.Ma Qi sent people to ask Li Shuyun and Li Danghu for help, but the second Li did not have enough troops and did not dare to act rashly.The Han army showed weakness, and the arrogance of the heavenly wolf became even more arrogant, and now not only Mo Nan, but even Mo Bei had people showing favor to him.If Batu doesn't come back, the people of the Yue clan east of the Green Ridge will either become subordinates of the Sky Wolf or be killed by the Sky Wolf."
Little prince, you must kill the wolf, regain the prince's rank, and avenge the prince."
Batuu's face froze.How can he have the ability to kill the wolf.He laughed awkwardly twice and turned his gaze for help to Liang Xiao.When March saw this, he frowned secretly, and his disappointment was palpable.Liang Xiao saw it in his eyes and knew that Batu was a second ancestor, and it was impossible to expect him to kill the wolf.However, it is precisely because Batu is not as strong as Aleusu that he has the opportunity to use Batu to control the Yueshi people."
Captain, don't worry, this time I will be ordered to escort the prince back to the country, and I will never leave without killing the wolf.""
That's great."
March was relieved."
I think about it, the only one who can deal with the wolf is the prince."
Liang Xiao nodded without modesty.This is not the time to be polite, the Yue's popularity is almost to the point of collapse, he must give them a few shots of strength, and stabilize the situation first."
I have two things I want to entrust to the lieutenant.""
Prince, you say.""
First, help me send a letter to the tribes, just say that I Liang Xiao is back, my Han will not give up the Western Regions, but will only strengthen the protection of the countries in the Western Regions, please rest assured.Second, to help me explore the wolf's lair, I will first have a fight with him to see what he does. ”March groaned for a long time."
Junhou, the wolf has come and gone without a trace, it is difficult for us to figure out where he is, and there are few people in the desert, even if we find him, we will not be able to deliver the news in time.I have an idea, though, and maybe I can get him to come to you. ”"You say.""
After the Celestial Wolf killed our crown prince, he cut him down and sent his general Iul to patrol around.Now Iul is in Nanshan.If you kill him, the Celestial Wolf will naturally know that you are coming. ”"Okay."
Liang Xiao almost didn't think about it, and agreed.March hesitated."
Prince, the other party is a large number of people, there are about two thousand horsemen, Iul is a close confidant of the wolf, and his archery skills are also very exquisite.We tried to snatch the prince's rank back several times, but we didn't succeed, but we lost a lot of manpower. ”"Two thousand rides."
Liang Xiao waved his hand."
It's okay, you can take me there, just find someone who is familiar with the terrain to be my guide.I would appreciate it if you could help me arrange some baggage. ”"It's nature."
Ma Qi saw that Liang Xiao was full of confidence, and his spirit was also uplifted."
I will send people to inform the tribes and ask them to prepare food and grass for the prince, and will never let the prince fight hungry."
Liang Xiao nodded with satisfaction.Satisfied, March took the people with him.Liang Xiao wrote a letter and asked Ma Qi to arrange for someone to send to Dongfang Shuo to announce his return.After several days of pursuit, under the leadership of March, Liang Xiao found Yiul.Under March's fanfare, Yiul already knew about Liang Xiao's arrival.It was not so much that Liang Xiao found him, but that he found Liang Xiao.As Wudan's former personal guard, as Wudan's only follower when he was in a desperate situation, he knew too well how much Wudan hated Liang Xiao.If Liang Xiao can be captured, it is possible for Wudan to reward him with a country, so Yiur not only did not escape, but waited for him.He sent someone to deliver a letter to Wudan, Liang Xiao is here, I will cut off his head and sacrifice it to the king, as a sacrificial banner for you to rebuild the evil tribe.Iul was very confident that he would not even stop the nearby tribes from coming to watch the battle, he wanted to defeat Liang Xiao in front of everyone, and completely defeat these unwilling tribes.What Alyusu's level can't achieve, Liang Xiao's level may be able to achieve.One afternoon, on an oasis under a nameless mountain, Liang Xiao and Iul met head-on.More than 2,000 riders spread out behind Iul, and the formation was relatively loose.Knights from all ethnic groups wore a variety of clothes, some sat on horseback, some held their heads in their hands, and looked at the Han army in the distance.Although the weather was cool at the end of April, they were still reluctant to put on their armor.The disparity in strength between the two sides was huge, and many people thought that this battle was simply impossible, and just like before, the Han army would retreat without a fight.Yul thought so, too.Unlike ordinary knights, he was unwilling to let Liang Xiao retreat.He wanted to catch Liang Xiao.A desolate horn sounded, and Iur's knights on both flanks ordered to attack first and cut off Liang Xiao's retreat.The sound of horses' hooves gradually sounded, and five hundred horsemen each came out from the left and right wings, and circled far away, outflanking Liang Xiao's left and right.Seeing this scene, Liang Xiao was ecstatic and returned to the first battle in the Western Regions, he not only had to win, but also win beautifully, otherwise it would not be enough to remind those tribal men who were watching the battle.It is certainly not an easy task to win more with less, and to win beautifully, but Iur's light enemy gives him a golden opportunity and gives him hope.Liang Xiao secretly rejoiced, it seems that God still cares for me and sent such an important but not smart opponent.He pretended to sneer disdainfully: "It seems that my big man's war knife has not been unsheathed for a long time, and these beards have forgotten the pain after their scars, and they have forgotten who is the hunter and who is the prey."
If Li Danghu and Li Shuyun don't do anything, then it's up to us to wake up these fools and let them see who is the master of the Western Regions. ”Liang Xiao pulled out the jade sword given by the Son of Heaven and pointed forward."
Beat the drum, kill Yur" "Kill Yur" Xie Guanglong raised the spear in his hand and gently shook it in the air: