The group walked on the grass of the patio pasture, the ground was soft, and occasionally there was stagnant water slowly overflowing from around the boots, which showed that the water, fertilizer and grass in the pasture here in Longxi were abundant.
As the second only to the north of the pasture of the North Liang Road horse breeding land, winter and spring are unbounded, summer and autumn are connected, the climatic conditions are blessed with unique Longxi, since ancient times it is the horse source of each prosperous dynasty, the Dafeng Dynasty raised 300,000 horses in the area of Longdong and Longxi, set up the post of Longyou horse husbandry, known as the founding emperor of Dafeng Liu Ze two northern expeditions, once collected 160,000 horses here.
In fact, the nobles of Longguan in Beimang were the remnants of the Great Qin Dynasty who migrated north in the war eight hundred years ago.
Among the group, Zhao Luyuan, the principal of Tianjing Ranch, was particularly trembling, there was no way, the five or six people who temporarily gave him a green leaf foil behind him, there were official positions, just like Luo Hongcai, the captain of the Horned Eagle, without exception, they were all the real captains of the fourteenth Beiliang Army, as for the only one who had no official body, Shi Fu, the general of the Northern Liang Army who had been a general of Liangzhou for several years earlier, but it was a pity that he was dragged down by the label of the confidant of the previous Beiliang Capital, and without waiting for the hereditary replacement of the new Liang King, Shi Fu himself resigned and removed his armor with interest, and I don't know why he brought it out again this time, Zhao Luyuan didn't know whether the stone talisman was going to be settled by the autumn queen or make a comeback.
The reason why Zhao Luyuan was uneasy, in addition to the young man next to him was Xu Fengnian, it was more because Tianjing Ranch was ordered to be in danger this time, but he could only draw out less than 5,000 war horses, and there were only more than 600 first-class war horses, which was still a lot short of the requirements of the King of Beiliang, but Zhao Luyuan knew that if the prince had come to ask for horses this time half a year earlier, not to mention the 8,000 war horses regardless of grade, it was 8,000 first-class Beiliang horses, he could also give it, and the Beiliang Protectorate had urgently dispatched 10,000 war horses from this place.
These 600 Jiazi horses are still the last family wealth that he finally left, and the "minister of Qincha" of Huaiyang Pass who came to the ranch to ask for horses was red-eyed, and scolded that person for doing the business of drying up and fishing, and said that you all have something great about protecting the house, Zhao Luyuan patted the table and threatened to be with the prince's Qingliang Mountain Wutong Courtyard Gao Yu.
But now that King Liang Xu Fengnian is by his side, Zhao Luyuan really doesn't dare to say bad things about Huaiyang Pass's Beiliang Duhu Mansion in person, so he can only babble and say some nonsense about his humble duties and incompetence, Zhao Luyuan is not stupid, let alone Beiliang, everyone in the world knows the relationship between Chu Duhu and Xinliang Wang, but a real family with different surnames.
Xu Fengnian and Zhao Luyuan walked side by side on the pasture grass, behind them were Shi Fu, who was in the prime of life but was silent all year round, as well as Luo Hongcai, the captain of the Horned Eagle and others, including Zhao Rongguang, the captain of Longxi who was responsible for the safety of the west gate of Liangzhou.
The patio pasture is vast, the scenery is beautiful, Longxi has a long winter without summer, and there is a unique climate of cold and frost in June, so it is much cooler than other places nowadays.
It's just that except for Xu Fengnian, who was expressionless, Luo Hongcai and the others looked anxious, and even Shi Fu, who had retired from the army for nearly two years, frowned.
Xu Fengnian looked at the fat grassland in front of him, and sighed a lot, since the territory extended to the Western Regions, the world's military horses are half out of the two dragons here, there are many royal relatives and princes and generals here to raise horses privately, like to raise horses more or less to compare the level of power, the wealthy Beiliang Dao Jingluo envoy Li Gongde proposed in the early years whether it was possible to open the horse ban, to Tai'an City and the Central Plains dignitaries to sell horses below the second class war horses, this will be a huge income, in order to reduce the pressure on the Beiliang tax, but Xu Xiao directly refused.
After the scholars went to Liang, there were many scholars who put forward the same strategy, making a big fuss about the Liang Horse, and under the premise of not reducing the reserves of the A, B and C war horses, they could still give taxes to increase the salaries of the soldiers, make friends with the dignitaries of the capital, and show favor to the Liyang Zhao family, which can be described as a hundred benefits and no harm.
Song Dongming's Longmen and Xu Weixiong's Wutong Courtyard did not dare to make decisions on this, and after Xu Fengnian made a decision, he also thought about it for a while, and finally put the matter on hold.
Xu Fengnian stopped at the top of a hillside with a gentle slope, and when he looked up, he was full of greenery.
Xu Fengnian suddenly turned his head and smiled at Zhao Luyuan, who was nearly fifty years old, and smiled: "Lord Zhao, this is actually the second time we have met, when the king was still young, he accompanied Xu Xiao to come here to escape the summer, I remember that at that time, Lord Zhao had just withdrawn from the Liangzhou border army, and not long after he took office in Tianjing Ranch, at that time, the horse farm was in ruins, Lord Zhao patted his chest and promised Xu Xiao that within ten years, Longxi would become the largest horse farm in Liyang, I don't know if Lord Zhao still remembers, promised Xu Xiao that one day he would take out a horse that is the first in the world, Congratulations to His Royal Highness the Son of the World."
The old man, who had dealt with war horses all his life, was suddenly excited, and said in a trembling voice: "The prince still remembers, I still remember how to dare to forget, not to mention the Tianjing Ranch has been conscientiously cultivating good horses, and has been entrusted to the border army generals and crossbowmen for so many years, as long as you see the handsome and extraordinary king of wild horses in the desert grassland, you must send it to the Tianjing Ranch after capture, in fact, there was really a divine horse sent to the ranch four years ago, but when the prince and the crown ceremony, the old man mistakenly thought that the prince had forgotten about it, I was afraid that I would be said to be a bastard official who didn't do his job and only knew how to slap horses, so I hesitated for several days, but I still didn't send it to the Qingliangshan Palace, and in the end I couldn't stand the requests of our cavalry deputy marshal Zhou, so I had to send it out.
Xu Fengnian said with a smile: "It doesn't matter, our Beiliang Iron Riding can have today, all the large and small horse farms, including Tianjing Ranch and Xianli Ranch, have contributed a lot."
To this day, this king has only been on the battlefield a few times, and if you want to say that there are two second-class horses for riding, they are barely worthy, and then a first-class horse is a tyrannical thing. ” Probably knowing that Zhao Luyuan was going to fight for himself, Xu Fengnian waved his hand and said, "You go back first, and I'll talk to General Shi about something." ” Everyone left, leaving behind the stone talisman of the Northern Liang recognized as a bumpy road, this person and Youzhou Thorn Shi Hu Kui was known as Liangzhou Shuangbi in the past, both are young but remarkable achievements of the border army "old man", Shuangbi this statement, the earliest is to say that the Spring and Autumn War in the two earliest two cavalry generals, Wu Qi and Xu Pu, at that time Xu Xiao was still fighting in the Spring and Autumn Period, did not seal the king on the domain, so the two are known as the Xu family Shuangbi, now one is incognito in Dunhuang City, Beimang, and one went to Xishu to assist Chen Zhibao.
Chen Zhibao's departure from the cool into Shu, and at the same time, Xu Fengnian's hereditary replacement of the king of Beiliang became a watershed in the officialdom of Shi Fu and Hu Kui.
However, the strange thing is that for the resignation of Shi Fu, whether it is Qingliangshan or the Huaiyang Pass Protectorate set up later, they are all treated with a disregard attitude, and even if Chu Lushan later concurrently serves as the general of Liangzhou, he did not clearly inform the Liangzhou military boundary Shi Fu that he has withdrawn from the army, and the military intelligence report will still send it to the "Liangzhou General" Shi Fu who is recuperating at home once every half a decade.
Xu Feng asked in a young voice: "General Shi, this time 10,000 elite soldiers from Xishu Dao rushed to Guangling Dao, Wei Fucheng and Dian Xiongzhu only served as deputy generals, and handed over to an outsider Hu Yan to rub as the main general."
And at the border between Beiliang and Xishu, Chen Zhibao asked a young man named Che Ye to guard the north gate of Xishu, what does General Shi think about these two things?"
Shi Fu's brows furrowed more and more, and he kept silent.
Xu Fengnian waited quietly, and seemed to be determined to wait for the former confidant of the King of Shu to speak, so as to pay the name.
But Shi Fu gritted his teeth and didn't speak, the more gloomy his expression became, if the young vassal king asked Ji Liuzhou, or the Hulukou of Youzhou in Hutou City, Liangzhou, Shi Fu thought that he would know everything and say everything, but Chen Zhibao had the grace to cultivate his stone rune, no matter whether Chen Zhibao was contrary to Bei Liang or not, but as long as Chen Zhibao did not clearly aim the spearhead at Bei Liang for a day, he Shi Fu would not turn against Chen Zhibao for a day.
Even if he annoyed Xu Fengnian today, Shi Fu still did not hesitate.
For the young Xu family around him, Shi Fu is actually extremely admired, but there are some things that touch the bottom line, and Shi Fu can't pass the threshold in his heart, so Zhong Hongwu, the general of Huaihua, who was the commander of the cavalry back then, will make an exception to Shi Fu, a young man, and regard it as a thorn in his side.
Xu Fengnian didn't wait for an answer, and asked again: "If this king said that General Shi could raise 300 people from his clan and all of them migrate to Xishu safely, then would you go to Xishu?"
Shi Fu hesitated for a moment, and said with a wry smile: "Different from Wei Fu Chengdian's male animal, and also different from Che Ye from Beimang, my Shi Fu's family is a big family in Liangzhou, even if I am willing to go to Xishu, plus the prince will not stop it, but many old people in the family who are accustomed to the cool climate of Bei will not agree to leave their hometown, which has nothing to do with whether I can Shi Fu become a big official again in Xishu, don't hide it from the prince, I am helpless, take 10,000 steps back and say, in fact, the Shi family really wants to move to Xishu with those ancestral tablets, not to mention anything else, The three people in the family who are the same generation as me, as well as the four nephews and young people who served in the Liangzhou border army, should all stay in Beiliang.
In this way, before leaving Beiliang Dao, the Shi family had already been torn apart. ” Xu Fengnian smiled and said, "General Shi is honest with each other. ” Shi Fu smiled and said: "It's useless to hide and conceal, I know that there are spies in the Shi family who have been planted in the water room for many years, not that I have the ability to have such sharp eyes, but that Chu Lushan made a special trip to the Shi family to meet me frankly before he took office as the protector of Beiliang.
So in the past two years, I haven't been able to sleep soundly for a single day.
It's funny to say that in the early years in the border army, even if he went deep into the hinterland of Beimang many times, resting on his war horse, he slept better than he did on his own bed now. ” Xu Fengnian was noncommittal about Chu Lushan's installation of eyeliner in the Shi family, changed the topic, and asked with a smile: "Tianjing Ranch currently has 800 white horse Yicong, Luo Hongcai and the three thousand four hundred cavalry of the two captains, plus the Longxi garrison of the ranch itself, and the two thousand cavalry left by Zhao Rongguang in the same place, together, it is still less than 8,000, and then the king can only wait for three days at most, one of the two captains of Tongguan at the east gate of Liangzhou, Xin Yinma will also lead 3,000 fine cavalry to come, the number can be more than 10,000, General Shi felt that these 10,000 cavalry hurriedly put into the battlefield of Liuzhou, Is it able to send charcoal in the snow, or can it not quench the thirst of the near with far water?"
Shi Fu asked rhetorically: "If Shi Fu is blunt, the prince will really listen."
Xu Fengnian said indifferently: "Let's talk about it first."
After all, your Shi Fu is not a veteran of the Spring and Autumn Period like Yan Wenluan and Chen Yunchui, nor is it a member of the Xu family like Chu Lushan and Yuan Zuozong, and you are not qualified to let this king listen to anything. ” Shi Fu sighed, but still said slowly: "In my opinion, the prince's ten thousand horses are not a drop in the bucket, but it may be beneficial to the situation in Liuzhou, but it is categorically tantamount to the overall situation of Beiliang, if I am the prince, then it will be more thorough, let the two deputy generals of Lingzhou Wang Zhi and Huang Xiaokuai lead, with Yanxia Captain Jiao Wuyi and other captains as the main force, not only the cavalry in Liangzhou should pour into Liuzhou to solve the urgent need, but also should decisively take these Lingzhou cavalry troops to the north into Liuzhou, After defeating Liu Jue's army on the western front of Beimang, he quickly filled the gap outside Liangzhou Pass and south of Huaiyang Pass."
Shi Fu suddenly felt the murderous intent of the young vassal king, and said calmly: "Originally, I didn't know the situation, but since I came to Tianjing Ranch and heard about the number of war horses in this ranch, I know that Shi Fu can guess the plan of the prince and the capital protector, and the prince doesn't have to think much about it." ” Xu Fengnian nodded, squatted down, pulled out a licorice and chewed it.
Shi Fu continued: "In the final analysis, the battle between Liangmang, Liangzhou Guanwai and Liuzhou and Youzhou, the three battlefields will have their own winners and losers, but the place that really determines the survival of our Beiliang is actually only outside the Liangzhou Pass.
Wang Ye's soldiers were in danger, so that the 10,000 snow dragoons and two heavy cavalry armies led by Yuan rushed to Hulukou, Youzhou, to eat Yang Yuanzan's eastern front army in one go, naturally there was nothing wrong, on the contrary, it was very surprisingly successful, but the use of soldiers should always be strange and harmonious, and they could not win at a time and a place but lost the general momentum, in the Spring and Autumn Period, there were many such ridiculous battles in which the generals won the big battle but caused the king to lose the country.
However, the general was desperate to complete the siege of the West Base Wall with the rapid attrition of troops, and even did not hesitate to take a few troops and horses in the important but not critical battlefield, and took the initiative to lure most of the elite of Western Chu to eat them, just to create a little gap in the outer defense of the West Base Wall, and the battle of Princess Tomb, where Yuan led the glorious battle, is a clear proof. ” Xu Fengnian stood up suddenly, "General Shi, these 10,000 horsemen will be handed over to you, and in three days at the latest, you will take them to Liuzhou to help Qingcang City and the Dragon Elephant Army." ” Shi Fu was stunned on the spot, not only puzzled why he was able to take on a big responsibility, but also wondered why Xu Fengnian did not personally lead the army.
Xu Fengnian spit out the chewed grass roots, and said in a deep voice: "The news I got this morning is that Hutou City has been lost, and the Beimang army has pressed the three towns of Huaiyang Liuya and Poria Cocos. ” Shi Fu's face changed drastically, and he said in shock: "How could Tiger Head City fall so quickly" Xu Fengnian turned to look at the north, "Dong Zhuo, this madman, used to send people to dig a tunnel every few days to send him to death, sixteen tunnels, and a full five thousand people died, but no one thought that this guy didn't dig sixteen secret roads at all, but a whole thirty-eight of them, twelve of which were only dug outside the city and stopped, and then with the cooperation of the ground siege at any cost."
Speaking of this, Xu Fengnian stopped talking.
Shi Fu muttered: "This madman, this son of a bitch" Xu Fengnian turned his head to Shi Fu and said, "I'm going to Huaiyang Pass soon, Shi Fu, you will resume your status as a general of Liangzhou from now on."
Not only the 10,000 cavalry, but all the Lingzhou cavalry troops that entered the territory of Liangzhou after that were handed over to you to command. ” Shi Fu exhaled a heavy breath of turbidity, clenched his fists and said: "The last general will take the order" “”: