Xiao Chunyu accompanied Zhu Zhi and his entourage on horseback and rode up a hill.

Although Zhu Zhi was in charge of liaison matters with Xiyan County, he had been staying in Jiuli before, responsible for continuously widening the Qiongxia Mountain Road and ensuring that hundreds of thousands of stones of materials could enter and exit Qionglai Mountain every year. This was his first time.

For the first time, I officially went deep into the plateau. I took the water bag from the attendant and took two sips. I panted slightly and said to Xiao Chunyu:

"This hill doesn't look very high, but it only took us a stick of incense to get there on horseback. There weren't many bumps on the road, but it was more tiring than climbing the dangerous mountain for half an hour in Jiuli——

It’s hard to imagine how much hardship the nobles suffered when they moved south from Qinzhou!”

When the Red Husbands annexed Yunshuo and passed through Yanmen Pass and headed south, Zhu Zhi was in his early twenties, while Xiao Chunyu and his brother Xiao Chunquan were only fourteen or fifteen years old. With a snap of a finger, Xiao Chunyu already had a thick short mustache on his lips.

A dark-skinned young man in his thirties.

Looking back on the hardships he has experienced over the years, Xiao Chunyu has long since learned to deal with it calmly and said with a smile:

"The most difficult days have passed, and people must always look forward! In front of us is the Dege family's seminary in Gongga Mountain. My father temporarily arranged a troop of soldiers and horses to block the passage connecting the seminary to the outside world!"

Zhu Zhi turned around and looked over, and saw that the monastery of Buqu Temple at the eastern foot of Gongga Mountain was a collection of earth-yellow buildings. Under the sunlight, the rows of rows of roofs shone brightly.

There is a dirt road connecting from the scholastic school, like a gray-white ribbon winding in the barren mountains without vegetation. The dirt road extends through a narrow valley to the bottom of the valley, and then turns north along the stream.

.

After the defeat, most of the Tibetan cavalry retreated to the Gongga Pass in the north. At this time, in addition to the guru sent by the Dege family and more than a hundred monks, there were only 300 monk soldiers stationed in the scholastic academy.

Of course, Xiao Linshi did not need to station all 6,000 cavalrymen in the mountains in order to surround 300 monk soldiers and more than 100 monks.

At present, except for a battalion of elite troops stationed at the valley outside the temple to block the connection between the temple and the outside world, the army is mainly stationed outside the valley.

It was originally the home of a local tribal leader. After the tribe expressed its surrender, Xiao Linshi directly requisitioned this stone village covering an area of ​​only 40 to 50 acres and planned to build a formal stone village on the basis of this stone village.

The city officially established its rule over the vast area at the eastern foot of Mount Gongga.

These are all things that have been planned for a long time.

The Sikong Prefecture also named this city that had not yet been built and had not even been sited before named Fuqiang City to indicate that the area east of Gongga Mountain had been the habitat of the Qiang people who had been ruled by the Central Plains Dynasty since ancient times.

Next, Sikong Prefecture will also encourage the Qiang and Yi people who have fled Qionglai and other mountains for hundreds of years since the rise of Tubo to move out and settle near Gongga Mountain.

Zhu Zhi came from Lizhou to govern Jiuli. In addition to personally escorting a new batch of prisoners of war to bear various hard labors, he returned to Xiangyang in July to report on his duties in Biyang. He also officially served as the governor of Lizhou and also served as the envoy to the Western Qiang.

He will be fully responsible for the recruitment of large and small separatist forces including the Derge family in the Six-Gang area such as Semogan and Muyaragang.

If the separatist forces such as the Buqu Temple and the Dege family finally choose to surrender, they will naturally surrender to the empire and the Sikong Mansion, which represents the imperial court at this time, rather than to the Xiyan Commandery.

Although Xiao Linshi could be asked to do the recruiting on his behalf, Zhou He, Gu Fan, Shi Zhen, Han Gui and others thought over and over again and still advocated that it would be better for the Sikong Mansion, the governor of the Chinese and foreign military affairs and recruiting affairs, to formally send envoys to do the recruiting.

——Zhu Zhi just combined this task.

In addition, Zhao Shan, Liu Fujin, Lu Jing, Wei Tong and other generals led 2,000 soldiers into the plateau, not just to reinforce the remnants of the Khitan, but also to officially represent the Sikong Mansion in the battle against Buqu Temple and other Tibetan separatist forces.

After the Fuqiang City at the mouth of the river valley was built, in addition to arranging a small number of soldiers and horses to be stationed in Fuqiang City, they would also build buildings and dispatch supervisory officials to represent the empire's rule over the Xiyan County.

This was something that was determined when Xiyan County was first enshrined.

Although some people within the Khitan were dissatisfied with this arrangement at first, in the past two or three years, as the exchanges and contacts between the remnants of the Khitan and Beijing and Xiangzhou became closer, and as the Sikong Mansion, regardless of the cost, the Khitan people did not dare to do so in the past,

After the imaginary good armor and war weapons were transported to the west of Qionglai Mountain, these dissatisfactions gradually subsided.

What's more, the Sikong Mansion had just won a crucial victory against the Chihu people in Yingzhou, which basically made it clear that the recovery of the entire plain area had entered the Sikong Mansion's schedule.

Relying on a powerful imperial dynasty, surviving in the thousands of miles between Qionglai Mountain and Gongga Mountain, inhabiting and multiplying, without having to worry about the annihilation of the tribe, it is not as bad as the hundreds of thousands of Khitan people who have been displaced over the years.

Come to a good ending.

Xiao Chunyu accompanied Zhu Zhi to the top of the hill and looked at the topography outside Fuqiang City. After taking a short rest, he galloped down the hill again, met up with the large group of people, and continued towards the main camp of Fuqiang City.

We could see the Buqu Monastery and the Fuqiang City Camp when we climbed up the mountain in the morning, but in the end we hurried slowly and hurriedly, and we didn’t arrive at the Fuqiang City Camp at the mouth of the valley until dusk.

In addition to the main force of 4,000 cavalry from Xiyan County and reinforcements from Lizhou, there are also more than 2,000 hard laborers who accompanied the army on the expedition. They are mainly prisoners of war sent over in the past and the families of criminal officials who fled to the border areas after the escape from Beijing.

Small.

The Fuqiang City camp, the early stage of the camp and the subsequent construction of the city all required these hard labors - of course, Sikong Mansion would continue to exile more prisoners of war in the future.

Although the cost of deporting tens of thousands of prisoners of war to the west of Qionglai Mountain is huge, and it is far less economical than leaving the prisoners of war in Hehuai to open up wasteland and cultivate land, whether the foundation of Fuqiang City can be laid solidly will not only involve the future treatment of Tubo tribes.

In order to conquer and prevent the Tubo tribes from turning against the Chihu people, the Sikong Mansion has long been considering the possibility of sending a partial army from Fuqiang City in the future, passing through the road south of the remaining Khitan troops, and directly intersecting the Hehuang area to disintegrate the Chihu people.

Rule over the Hexi region.

In the past, these were some of the strategic ideas made by the Sikong Mansion, but after the great victory in Yingzhou, who dares to say that these strategic ideas are unrealistic and out of reach?

In fact, Zhu Zhi returned to Qionglai Mountain from Biyang this time, and then went west to the plateau in person. In addition to recruiting negotiations, he also secretly discussed with Xiao Linshi and others the feasibility of sending troops northward from Fuqiang City in the future.

Discuss what preparations need to be made in the early stages.

When Zhu Zhi thought of this, a surge of pride grew in her chest.

After a while, the guards around him blocked him intentionally or unintentionally, and he noticed a group of hard laborers passing by. One of them was looking at him, which aroused the vigilance of the guards around him.

After the Escape from Beijing Incident, thousands of criminals whose families were hiding in the imperial family were exiled from Jianye to the west of Qionglai Mountain.

Zhu Zhi was in charge in Jiuli, and his main job for a long time was to minimize the injuries and deaths of these prisoners on the way.

Therefore, someone in the hard labor recognized him, and Zhu Zhi didn't think it was strange. He waved his hand and signaled the guards not to be too nervous. Accompanied by Xiao Chunyu and others, he walked towards the gate of the camp for a while, and then he suddenly remembered that shirt

A ragged, skinny hard laborer, but Zhang Xin’s eldest son Zhang Jin.

Zhu Zhi stopped and asked uncertainly: "Brother Zhang Jin?"

Seeing that Zhu Zhi finally recognized him, Zhang Jin almost burst into tears and said in a low voice: "I thought you couldn't recognize me. I, I just suddenly saw an old friend and said hello - I, I almost..."

I have forgotten the scenery of my homeland..."

At that time, the remnants of the Khitan wanted to withdraw from Qinzhou to the hinterland of Western Qin or Western Shu but failed to do so. In addition to Gao Junyang's firm refusal, Emperor Shaolong and the Qiandi faction suspected that they had close relations with Jingxiang, which was also a key factor.

For this reason, the remnant Khitan army paid a heavy price at the expense of more than half of the old, weak, women and children, and crossed the Tubo Highlands before settling at the western foot of Qionglai Mountain.

How could Xiao Chunyu and the others give preferential treatment to the thousands of criminals who were exiled after the escape from Beijing incident?

Although Qian Shangduan and Zhang Xin were treated slightly better because they had connections with Jingxiang and were former ministers of the late emperor. At least they stayed in the furnace city built by the remnants of the Khitan at the western foot of Qionglai Mountain and did not join the expedition.

The children of the two families did not receive such good treatment. This time, as long as the young men were strong, they were basically conscripted into hard labor in the army.

This is also the most arduous, cruel and fatal type of hard labor among many. The hard laborers who stayed in Furnace City survived the hardships of building the city and fortification in the first two years. Now they only need to engage in farming, herding and working, at least they don't have to vomit blood from exhaustion.

Working in the army is hard work, especially in high and cold places. You don't have enough to eat, you sleep in crowded and dirty camps, you have to cut mountains and stones, dig soil and cut trees. If you are not careful, you will fall down on the construction site and you may never get up again.

Looking at Zhang Jin's skinny appearance, it was almost impossible to tell what his original appearance was. Zhu Zhi naturally knew what was going on and didn't say much. He just cupped his hands and said, "After I pay homage to Prince Xiao, I will come back to Brother Zhang to reminisce about the past."

!”

Zhang Jin only thought that Zhu Zhi said this because he did not want to appear too ruthless and cold-blooded in front of his subordinates, but he did not take Zhu Zhi's words seriously, nor did he feel that given Zhu Zhi's current status, Zhu Zhi was in Sikong Mansion at this time.

To the extent that they are favored and trusted, they can really sympathize with their hardships and hardships in Fuqiang City.

However, I thought so, but I couldn't help but feel hopeful.

Zhang Jin also knew very well that with Zhu Zhi's status, as long as he helped the Xiao family speak a word, their situation in Fuqiang City would be very different.

However, when Zhang Jin returned to the hard labor camp, he did not see anyone sent by Zhu Zhi to look for him until the evening of the next day. He thought that the delusion was just a delusion after all.

Just when he was completely disappointed, it was Lu Jing who came to him personally and invited him to go to the hotel where Zhu Zhi was staying.

Lu Jing was the son of Lu Wenhu. He followed Zhu Zhi to Lizhou a few years ago and entered Qionglai Mountain to build the Sihu Hall.

After the Second Battle of Huainan, the imperial court officially changed Lizhou from Jixi Prefecture to Jingzhi Prefecture, established a prefectural government to govern Hanyuan, Qingxi, Ebian counties, and Eleven Walled City, with Zhu Zhi as the prefect, and Zhao Shan

He was the Supervisor of the Military and Horse Command and the commander of the soldiers and joined the army.

At that time, in addition to the more than a thousand elite soldiers of the Tianxiong Army led by Generals Liu Fujin and Wei Tong in Lizhou, Zhao Shan also recruited soldiers from the Qiang and Yi tribes in Qionglai Mountain in the name of the State Military and Horse Supervisor Division;

Zhu Zhi recommended Lu Jing to assist Zhao Shan in training Fan soldiers.

Three years of training for the Fan Army were successful. During this period, Lu Jing went to Biyang High Military Command School for half a year. When he returned to Lizhou, the Sikong Mansion decided to expand the recruitment of Fan soldiers and appointed Liu Fujin as the Commander of the Lizhou Fan Camp. Lu Jing

Served as deputy capital commander.

Zhao Shan commanded the three generals Liu Fujin, Lu Jing and Wei Tong to cooperate with the main force of Khitan infantry and cavalry to fight east of Gongga Mountain. Of course Lu Jing knew that Zhang Jin was in the hard labor force, but he pretended not to know.

In the past, in Xiangyang and Jianye, Zhang Jin, a disciple of the Zhu family who was deeply favored by the emperor and focused on a bright future, never paid attention to him. How could Lu Jing take extra care of Zhang Jin at this time?

It was quite polite that I didn't step on him.

However, now that Zhu Zhi wants to meet Zhang Jin, Lu Jing will not neglect him.

…………

…………

No matter how crude the Fuqiang City camp was, the post house arranged by Xiao Linshi for Zhu Zhi was not bad either. It was a wooden building with a separate yard located in Shizhai by the former tribal leader.

Lu Jing walked in with Zhang Jin who had just washed up. Zhao Shan and Xiao Chunyu were getting up and leaving Zhu Zhi's residence. They glanced at Zhang Jin and said nothing.

"Brother Zhang Shi, sit down. You passed by Hanyuan two years ago. At that time, you were busy with business, and I didn't entertain you and Uncle Shi well. I didn't want to meet you again in Fuqiang City after two years of separation." Zhu Zhi greeted Zhang Jin.

He sat down and motioned to Lu Jing, who was still used to standing by, to sit down and talk with him, leaving the tea service to the handyman.

Zhang Jin sat cautiously behind the first desk, not knowing what to say for a while.

"Wang Boqian, Jin Zhuangchen, Luo Nanguang and other rebels were afraid of losing power, so they kidnapped His Majesty from the capital and fled to Runzhou, seeking to establish a new court. Uncle Shi was so confused that he did not realize the sinister intentions of Wang Jin and others. He was involved in this incident

Among them, the disaster of being defeated and charged eventually made it difficult for Zhang Shixiong, his wife and children to escape and migrate to this bitter and cold place. Zhang Shixiong must have been full of resentment in the past two years, right?" Zhu Zhi stared at Zhang Jin with burning eyes.
To be continued...