After listening to the report, Liu Cheng ordered: "Find a way to catch one or two tongues and interrogate them to see which force they belong to."
"Yes, General" When they were camping in the evening, Ma Chao came to report to Liu Cheng: "General, my sentry captured two tongues.
After interrogation, I learned that they are a group of Huns and horse bandits who often haunt this area.
Their home base is in Bailong."
"Pile area" Liu Cheng vaguely remembered that there seemed to be a place marked with this name on the Kanyu map of Dunhuang County.
He asked his soldiers to take the Kanyu map over and open it.
He scanned it with his eyes and quickly found the location marked Bailongdui.
"Bailongdui is outside the pass.
How could these horse bandits' spies get into the pass?
How did they get in?
Also, how did they know about the arrival of my Western Patrol Army?
Why did they come to spy on our military intelligence?
This group of horse bandits altogether How many people are there, how many are the bandit leaders, and what is their situation?
Have you investigated clearly?"
Ma Chao's face turned red and he clasped his fists and replied: "The captured horse bandit spies didn't know why they wanted to spy on our army's military situation.
They said they were just following the orders of the bandit leader Wu Zhi.
They have more than 500 riders in total.
The bandit leader's name is Wu Zhi.
As for the other issues, I haven’t investigated them clearly yet.
I will investigate them now.”
Late at night, Ma Chao came to report to Liu Cheng again.
The two horse bandit spies told everything they knew.
From inside the pass to outside the pass, in addition to taking Yumen Pass and Sunshine, there is a secret path, but it has to be taken from the desert. pass through.
After listening to Ma Chao's report, Liu Cheng ordered: "The horse bandits in Bailongdui are a cancer that has caused great harm and damage to the security environment on the Silk Road.
They must be eradicated and give you a thousand cavalry to kill these two horse bandits."
Take the spies with you.
Tomorrow morning, take a small road out of the border to Bailongdui to find the lair of these horse bandits and annihilate them in one fell swoop.
Remember, don’t let the news leak out."
This was leading an army alone in a battle.
Even though Ma Chao was Ma Teng's son, he was highly admired by Liu Cheng.
This kind of opportunity was rare at his age.
He suppressed his excitement and clasped his fists and said: "I obey."
Early the next morning, before it was dark, Ma Chao ordered a thousand cavalry and set off on the road with two captured horse bandit spies.
When it got daylight, Liu Cheng also led his army to continue towards Dunhuang.
In the afternoon, the army finally arrived outside Dunhuang City.
Wang Min, the prefect of the county guard's office, and Kang Qin, together with more than a dozen officials of all sizes, as well as the people in the city, lined the road to welcome Liu Cheng and the western patrol army.
As Liu Cheng and others approached on horseback, a small official sent by Li Yu pointed out to Wang Min who Liu Cheng was and who were the officials and generals around Liu Cheng.
Wang Min and others were surprised at Liu Cheng's youth, but they greeted him immediately.
Go up, wait until Liu Cheng and others dismounted and came over, the officials immediately bowed their hands and said: "Dunhuang County Prime Minister Wang Min is engaged in Kangqin to pay homage to Lord Sikong."
Liu Cheng looked at Wang Min, Kang Qin and others, raised his hand and said: "Everyone, please excuse yourself."
"Thank you, Lord Sikong."
Wang Min and others thanked him and stood up.
Liu Cheng asked: "The past few years have been troubled for the imperial court.
The rebellion in Liangzhou in the past two years blocked the imperial court's connection with Dunhuang and the Western Regions.
Several county guards were sent out, but they all failed to take office due to various reasons.
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I don't know where Dunhuang County is now.
Who is in charge?”
Wang Min immediately stepped forward and bowed his hands: "Back to Lord Sikong, I have always been in charge of the work together with my colleagues in the County Sheriff's Mansion.
Since there is no eunuch in charge, I can only make ends meet."
The officer next to him, Kang Qin, cupped his hands and said, "The humble officers and men learned that Lord Sikong led his army to patrol the west to promote the power of the Han Dynasty to the countries in the Western Regions.
The humble officers and men were overjoyed.
They looked forward to it every day and every year.
Finally, Lord Sikong came.
Okay, it’s okay now.
Once Lord Sikong comes, the countries in the Western Region will definitely start tucking their tails between their legs again.”
Wang Min added: "I have ordered people to clean up the city and cleared a large area for the imperial army to camp.
I have ordered people to prepare meals for the army.
Before dark, the soldiers will definitely be able to eat."
Delicious hot rice and dishes” Liu Cheng asked: "Dunhuang County soldiers are also stationed in the city."
"That's not true.
The county soldiers' camp is stationed at the foot of Beisai Mountain and next to Shizhi River, which is only about ten miles away."
Liu Cheng immediately waved his hand and said: "The place in the city is not big.
I have brought more than 10,000 soldiers and horses this time.
After entering the city, I am afraid that it will be a little crowded and may easily cause military disasters, so I will not enter the city." , just build a simple camp next to the county army camp for the Western Patrol Army to camp.
In a few days, the army will leave the customs and head to the Western Regions.
It doesn’t need to be too troublesome.
Didn’t you send someone to prepare meals?
Send the meals to the temporary camp.”
Wang Min was reassured by Liu Cheng's words and felt a lot more at ease.
Ever since he heard the news about the arrival of Liu Cheng's army, his heart was raised.
After all, if he needs to be held accountable for what he has done over the years, , even if he had ten heads, it wouldn't be enough to chop him off.
Now after listening to Liu Cheng's words, it seems that the main purpose of this westward journey is to inspect the Western Regions, and he will not stay in Dunhuang for too long.
Wang Min immediately agreed: "Yes, I will go and arrange for the prefect's mansion in the city to be tidied up now.
I also ask Lord Sikong to go to the prefect's mansion to rest for a while.
When I do, I will prepare a small amount of wine and treat you to the banquet."
"Okay."
Liu Cheng agreed and ordered Zhang Xiu to lead a thousand guards and cavalry into the city.
The civil servants also entered the city together.
Pang De and Xu Huang led the troops to the temporary camp to prepare for camping.
Although Dunhuang City is a county government, the size of the city is only equivalent to a county.
This is what Liu Cheng discovered as soon as he entered.
However, the population in the city is significantly larger than that of several counties passing along the way.
There are many monks here, and the tribes who make a living here are also Quite a few, you can see Huns and Qiang people on the streets, and you can also see businessmen and merchants from various countries in the Western Regions.
The Prefect's Mansion looks very old, but there are signs of repairs.
Before entering the Prefect's Mansion, there were people kneeling on the ground on both sides of the gate and inside the door.
There were servants, maids, and government servants.
Liu Cheng took the main seat as a matter of course, with the generals on the right and the civil servants on the left.
Those with high official positions were close to Liu Cheng and those with low official positions were close to the gate.
Everyone consciously found their place.
Some maids came over with basins of water to wash the faces and hands of the generals and officials present.
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Liu Cheng and others washed their faces and hands, washing away the dust and feeling very refreshed.
After washing, the maids took the basin and left.
Immediately afterwards, the maids lined up one by one to serve delicious food and wine to all the officials and generals.
Wang Min came forward and bowed to Liu Cheng: "Master Sikong and the generals came all the way from Chang'an.
I have nothing to entertain my colleagues and the people in the county.
I only have these ordinary beef and mutton for Master Sikong and the generals."
Generals enjoy it” Liu Cheng took a look and saw that the beef was cooked in large chunks and the mutton was roasted without any seasoning.
It was really a waste of resources.
Such good ingredients are useless even if the chef is not good.
He said: "There are still many people in the world who don't have enough to eat.
Wine and meat are already a good meal.
Wang Juncheng, you are thoughtful."
Wang Min was overjoyed and hurriedly bowed and said: "This is what people of humble rank should do.
Master Sikong tasted this wine again.
The wine was red in color.
It is said to be a gift from a big Yuezhi merchant from the far west.
It was trafficked from the Roman Empire.
The name of this wine is wine.
I heard that the emperors of the Roman Empire, princes and nobles, including the ladies, all liked to drink this wine."
Liu Cheng picked up the wine cup and drank a glass.
The taste was quite different from the wines of later generations.
It may be a problem with the brewing process of this era.
The taste was a bit astringent, and the filtration process was not good.
There was sediment in the wine, but this wine It was a rarity in this era, otherwise Wang Min wouldn't have taken it out to entertain him.
"Well, good, good wine."
Liu Cheng started to praise and said with a smile: "Wangfu Cheng, there is wine and meat, why don't you have singing and dancing to add to the fun?"
It's not that Wang Min didn't prepare for singing and dancing, but he didn't know if Liu Cheng was good at this.
If Liu Cheng wasn't good at this, what would he do if he rashly brought out those singers and angered Liu Cheng?
Now I heard Liu Cheng said that there should be singing and dancing. , he immediately said: "Yes, yes, Lord Sikong and the generals and lords will wait for a moment.
The singers are ready and will be here soon."
After a while, as expected, several musicians came in with instruments, saluted the adults, and then found seats against the wall to sit down.
Then, beautifully dressed singers filed in.
These songs The ladies are all wearing silk ribbons Dressed in silk and satin, with dazzling jewelry, they had not started dancing yet, but just walked in from the outside, and the military officers and officials were so wide-eyed that their eyes almost fell off, and some were even more ugly, with mouth corners Harazi flowed out.
The musicians played their instruments, and the sound of music with the characteristics of the Western Regions spread in the lobby.
In this era, it was the first time for Liu Cheng to hear this music, and the accompanying officials and generals were also very curious.
The singers began to sway to the sound of musical instruments, and their arms began to dance.
Each of them was light and elegant, with a strong ancient style.
Their beautiful dance postures made everyone mesmerized.
Everyone was eating and drinking while admiring the graceful dances of these dancers.
It was true that everyone was drunk even if they were not drunk.
After the song was over, the dancers left amid the cheers and applause of the crowd.
Wang Min clapped his hands again, and everyone saw several foreign women approaching outside the door.
These foreign women were wearing exotic clothes and revealing clothes.
Their skin color was not as white as the beauties from the Central Plains, but their skin color and appearance were different.
A kind of beauty that cannot be possessed by beauties from the Central Plains.
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In conjunction with the sound of knocking and bells, these foreign women began to shake their waists and sway their bellies.
The exposed bellies swayed so that the officials and generals present could not take their eyes away.
The beautiful woman in the middle actually had a gold inlaid on her navel.
Ring, there are more than a dozen shining diamonds the size of rice grains on the gold ring.
Some people shed shameful tears without realizing it, and most of them looked like pigs.
They stopped eating meat and forgot to drink wine.
After a long time, the singing and dancing ended, and Wang Min immediately told the most beautiful foreign woman in the middle: "Anaya, why don't you go and serve Lord Sikong?"
The foreign woman named Anaya immediately came to Liu Cheng and poured him wine, "Master Sikong, I would like to offer you a drink."
"Okay, okay" Liu Cheng smiled and held Anaya's shoulder with one hand, took the wine cup and drank it in one gulp
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