Great Han Arrow God

Chapter 618
What Xu Le sent was not only a good report, but also a thick volume of articles, which contained not only maps of the countries in the Western Regions and Nanshan Mountains, but also the similarities and differences of the customs of each tribe, and even some songs and legends. The materials brought back when they were sent to Qiangzhong were even richer.

The emperor put on the scroll and read it, and had a deeper understanding of the situation in Nanshan.He replayed the battle according to the map provided by Xu Le, only to realize how difficult it was for Liang Xiao to win this time, and how helpless it was to prepare for the battle for several months.His strength is too weak to support the expedition at all, so he can only stop quietly and wait for Sirius to throw himself into the trap.

Liang Xiao did not rely on the elites he trained to win. Of course, these elite knights made great contributions, but the number of Qiang people who were actually beheaded by them was actually limited. The sum of several battles was less than half, which really caused heavy casualties. The most important ones are ballista and fat water.

Therefore, besides the chief general Liang Xiao and the supervising army Xu Le, Deng Guobin, who made the ballista, and Guo Wenbin, the prefect of Dunhuang, ranked first in the credit list.

The emperor put down the document in his hand, straightened up, stroked the edge of the desk with both hands, and pondered for a long time.The master father Yan, King Wuqiu Shou and others on the side were sensitively aware of the change in the emperor's mood, and immediately stopped joking and looking through the copy in a serious manner, or pretended to be in thought.Then, Wang Hui, Cao Shi, Wei Qing and other generals also felt it. They were not as good at acting as literati, but just sat silently, waiting for the emperor to speak.

The hall became quiet, and even the sound of flipping the brochure became so cautious.

The emperor glanced at everyone. "It's getting late, gentlemen, let's leave first, go back and think about it, and discuss it tomorrow. Before the countries in the Western Regions pay tribute, we have to come up with a charter for rewards."

"Wei!" Everyone bowed in response and exited one by one.

King Wuqiu Shou and Zhu Fuyan stayed at the end, gathered the documents on the case, and then prepared to leave.The emperor stopped them. "What do you two think of the list of soldiers in the labor book?"

The master father Yan bowed his hands and said nothing, and King Wuqiu Shou was also a little hesitant.The moment they saw the credit book, they knew there would be a problem, but the emperor was very excited at the time, and they didn't want to pour cold water on it.Now, the emperor finally reacted.

Except for Xu Le, the first few people in the credit book are all old friends of Liang Xiao.If the rewards were based on military exploits, these people would become key figures in the Western Regions, and Liang Xiao would use their hands to control the Western Regions. If other people wanted to intervene in the future, it would depend on Liang Xiaogao's displeasure.

In other words, the Western Regions may become Liang Xiao's Western Regions.If it was other generals, such as Wei Qing and Cao Shi, that would be fine, but it was Liang Xiao.Liang Xiao was notoriously rebellious, once he did something, it would not be easy for the court to restrain him.From the Western Regions to Chang'an, it is six or seven thousand miles away, and it is tens of thousands of miles away. It takes more than a month to send a message, and the army will go out for an expedition, and it will not be able to arrive at all within half a year.

Seeing that they didn't speak, the emperor also felt a little embarrassed, and waved his hand to signal them to back down.He casually picked up a roll of bamboo slips and went to the sleeping hall.After washing up, he leaned on the bed and continued reading.In the middle of reading, he suddenly stopped, turned over and sat up, and smiled to himself.

"I'm really worrying for nothing. All the countries in the Nanshan Mountains together only have more than [-] riders. It's unknown whether they can conquer Wusun, but I'm worried about Liang Xiao. Really..." He shook his head, laughing at himself. "The eagles are far away, but the evil sounds are still there. Liang Boming, the shadow you left on me is too great, so you can't blame me."

The emperor said, threw down the bamboo slips, fell asleep, and fell asleep after a while.

-

Liang Xiao and Dongfang Shuo sat by the fire, eating barbecue, drinking milk wine, talking and laughing.

"Guess, what is the emperor thinking?" Dongfang Shuo said with a smile on his face.

Liang Xiao glanced at him, smiled without saying a word.

"You are really boring." Dongfang Shuo reached out to poke Liang Xiao like a naughty child. "Tell me, tell me quickly."

"You and I can guess what there is to say. It's nothing more than worrying about my tail being too big for a while, and thinking that Wusun is still alive, and it won't be a tiger for the time being. You might as well take a look first."

Dongfang Shuo laughed out loud and stretched out his hand to give a thumbs up. "It seems that you are still very clear-headed and have not been deceived by him. If that's the case, why did you come here? You can obviously take a boat from Yuzhang and go to Yizhou to live your happy life."

Holding the wine glass, Liang Xiao thought for a while. "I am not reconciled. How much a person can achieve is related to his personal ability, but also to the strength behind him. If there are [-] Han troops in the Western Regions, do I still need to come? I will go to Yizhou, when will I be able to do so?" An army of [-]? I'm afraid you won't be able to count on it in your lifetime."

Dongfang Shuo shook his head. "You are not a warlike person, and now you are a prince of ten thousand households. You can say that you are an extremely human minister and have no shortage of wealth. This reason is far-fetched, and I am afraid it is not true."

"Not the truth? Then what do you think I am for?"

"For the Lord Weng." Dongfang Shuo thought about it, then shook his head again. "It's not accurate. If it's just for the Lord Weng, you can take the Lord Weng to sea and make yourself king. But apart from this reason, I really can't think of any reason for you to insist on knowing that this is a dead end. Go this way."

Liang Xiao shook his wine glass, not knowing what to say.Dongfang Shuo is too smart, almost a demon.But his ideas are so avant-garde, can Dongfang Shuo understand?

"I want to make meritorious deeds, but I don't want to be Han Xin or Zhou Yafu." Liang Xiao said slowly, "With a strong soldier in my hand, I am invincible, but in the end I am captured by a few warriors or raped by a jailer. .”

Dongfang Shuo nodded. "So you would rather fight in front of His Majesty than become a Tingwei yourself?"

"Yes. Also, why is he unhappy? I have to be the Tingwei regardless of whether I am guilty or not. I am unhappy, but there is nothing I can do about him?"

Dongfang Shuo laughed "puchi", and almost sprayed Liang Xiao with wine.He looked at Liang Xiao, and wanted to make fun of Liang Xiao, but found that Liang Xiao had a serious face, and there was no intention of joking at all.He put away his smile and thought about it. "Is that why you oppose Confucianism?"

"Although not all, it is a very important reason."

"Since you've opened your mouth, why don't you have a good time?" Dongfang Shuo looked around. "You are also busy, and I am also busy. It is rare to have such an opportunity in the future."

The corner of Liang Xiao's mouth twitched slightly.It seems that Dongfang Shuo has been holding back for a long time, and today he finally found the right opportunity.He believed that the things about him in Chang'an would reach Dongfang Shuo's ears from different angles, otherwise he wouldn't even know about his quest for war in front of the emperor.

"Confucianism is practical and not pragmatic. It likes moral teaching too much, but it is difficult to do it. In the end, it becomes false."

Dongfang Shuo nodded in agreement. "That's right, that's why there are a lot of hypocrites, pedantic scholars."

"Confucianism is conservative and refuses to face the facts. Even if there is innovation, it must be based on the words of the sages. But the sages they talk about are not facts, but only their imaginations."

"This one seems to be no different from the one just now?"

"There is a difference. Being pragmatic is not practical. They concentrate on reading and refuse to focus on reality. No matter how smart they are, they will never develop such a sharp weapon as a ballista. They are conservative and dare not innovate. Master Dong is a hybrid of yin and yang. , created a family of their own, but refused to admit it, and insisted on saying that it was what the sage said, but the result was full of loopholes and could not justify itself."

Dongfang Shuo laughed again.He is also very clear about the grievances between Liang Xiao and Dong Zhongshu.He nodded. "You're right, and I'm a little too reserved. If I can work as hard as Deng Guobin, Ballista won't be able to wait for him to come to civilization."

"It's really not easy for Dongfang Manqian to admit your mistake. But, if you didn't face me, would you admit your mistake?"

Dongfang Shuo raised his eyebrows. "I don't admit it, even if I kill it, no one can speak against me anyway."

"Yes, the situation of the Son of Heaven is like this. No one dares to speak of him, and no one can speak of him. We can only hope that he will reflect on himself. Now he still has the courage to reflect on himself. In another three or fifty years, he will rule the world and have Those who are qualified to accuse him are dead, and even if he goes against the grain, no one dares to stop him. Let alone Zhou Yafu, even if all the famous generals are tied together, they will be the meat of his sword."

Dongfang Shuo stared at the fire and thought for a long time. "That's really scary. The Western proverb says: If a person is not in awe, he is not far from the devil, but he is not talking about him." He raised his head again and stared at Liang Xiao. "If you became the king of the Western Regions, would you still say that?"

Liang Xiao laughed and shook his head. "No, at that time, I may be like the current emperor, thinking how to lie to you, so that you will work for me willingly and let me slaughter you."

"So, things have the same reason, and people have the same heart?"

"Yes, that's why the sages said that we should always introspect ourselves, and that a man can avoid disasters if he has friends." Liang Xiao raised his wine glass and touched Dongfang Shuo. "I don't want to be crazy, so I hope you can be my friend. The emperor doesn't want a friend, but I insist on being his friend. I like how he can't understand me, but he looks like I can't help it. Back then, Emperor Xiaowen had Zhang Shizhi is a Tingwei, claiming that there are no wronged people in the world. I can’t be Zhang Shizhi, but I can make a grammatical official like Zhang Tang unable to be a Tingwei.”

Dongfang Shuo laughed loudly, raised his glass, and drank it down. "Okay, have a good time! Although you don't study much, you have a gentleman's demeanor, which is much better than those villains who study hard but have no integrity. In that case, let me handle this matter, and let's make him dislike it. You are used to it, but you can’t do anything about us. Haha, interesting, interesting. Liang Boming, you are indeed a wonderful person.”

"Okay, I've finished my words, now it's your turn. The day is up, have you thought about how to deal with the bandits?"

"It's very simple, you follow me into the mountain, take a shower, and the matter will be resolved."

"Take a shower?"

"That's right, don't ask, I've already made arrangements. Tomorrow morning, just follow me."

-

Depart from Xicheng, the capital of Khotan, and go up the Moyu River into the mountains. After a day of horse riding, there is a lake formed by the melting water of snow-capped mountains.Surrounded by mountains, clear water and blue sky, the scenery is superb. Not only many small tribes in the mountains choose to camp here in winter, but even birds and animals like to come here to drink and rest. People and animals live in harmony. It is a rare good place.

What's even more amazing is that there are several hot springs in the valley next to it. The spring water is gurgling and flowing, and it is as warm as soup even in the cold winter months.

Between the ice and snow, the grassland next to the hot spring has become a pasture that everyone yearns for.Fortunately, the herdsmen say that if everyone uses it together, the tribal leaders will not be so polite. They will directly occupy it by force, which will be regarded as a forbidden property and will not let idlers approach it. Enjoy it before the tribal leaders arrive.

Accompanied by the king of Khotan and more than 500 soldiers, Liang Xiao and Dongfang Shuo came to the hot springs, occupied the pastures, and put all the nearby valleys under martial law, forbidding the herdsmen to move around.The king of Khotan also sent people to the lake to deliver an order that no one should harass the envoys of the Han Dynasty, otherwise they would be killed without mercy.

After the herdsmen were driven away, the grassland beside the hot spring was full of spring.King Khotan brought more than a hundred beauties, and every day he had nothing to do, he would accompany Liang Xiao and Dongfang Shuo in hot springs in light gauze, or sing and dance on the grass next to the hot springs, drinking and eating meat.This was not enough, the king of Khotan sent people to search everywhere, but all the herdsmen's female relatives who were pretty were forced to serve the Han envoys, and those who were beautiful were put on gauze and soaked in hot springs together.

It didn't take two days for the news to spread around the lake. Some fled after hearing the news, while others were curious.Some daring herdsmen came to watch in the name of offering, and some simply sneaked nearby to steal something.Herding life is poor, and stealing is not a shameful thing for them. It is shameful not to be able to steal. Stealing the King of Khotan and the Han people is something to be proud of.

Facts have proved that the King of Khotan and the Han people are not only stealable, but worth stealing.Not only did they bring a lot of fine wine and food, but they also brought a lot of beautiful clothes. The silk clothes worn by those women were even more top-notch, smoother than the skin of young girls.The young herdsmen girls have no ability to resist seeing these exquisite fabrics.A piece of silk handkerchief can be exchanged for a night of love, if you can get a piece of brocade clothes, you can almost win the arms of a girl from a tribe.

People are stupid and rich, and their defenses are lax. The reputation of the king of Khotan and the envoy of the Han Dynasty soon spread to the surrounding tribes, and also spread to the ears of a few tribes who had just robbed the Khotan Kingdom not long ago and made a lot of money.

Wealth and silk touch people's hearts, not to mention the well-known, almost mythical silk of the Han people.After sending people to investigate the camp and easily obtained some obscene clothes with fragrance, several tribal leaders were moved.Such a good fat sheep is a gift from the heavens. If they don't rob them, they worry that the heavens will not take care of them next time.

Providence cannot be violated.After making some preparations, several tribal leaders gathered 2000 people and quietly rushed to the hot spring, preparing to make another windfall.
-
(End of this chapter)