Chapter 445 Hulu River

Looking at the snow in front of him, Wang Ping'an said, "It's almost time, I'm about to arrive at Yumen Pass. Once I leave Yumen Pass, it will be my fiefdom!"

Su Dingfang followed his horse and said, "Mr. Marquis, I have been here before. If you walk further forward, you can see the mountain. There is a big river between the mountain roads called Hulu River. Yumen Pass is built on the other side of the river. There are more than 100 beacon towers along the river."

He pointed to the south with a horse whip and said, "Our location is not very good now. Guazhou is about twenty miles southwest, and Hulu River is about fifty miles northwest. Should we go to Guazhou today to rest or spend the night in the snow, and then go to Yumen Pass tomorrow?"

Wang Ping'an looked south, but could not see the city. The winter sky was a little gray and the visibility was not high. He said, "We are going to Guazhou, I am afraid that the governor there will complain again. I have heard all the complaints along the way. I don't want to listen anymore. I'd better deal with it in the snow for a night. Anyway, I'll be here in the fifty years or so, I'll arrive tomorrow."

Su Dingfang said, "It's about fifty miles away from Hulu River, not Yumen Pass. Yumen Pass is built at the critical point of the mountain pass, and there is still about twenty miles away. The road is difficult to walk, so you can only arrive after the day."

Wang Ping'an said, the location of Yumen Pass in the Tang Dynasty is different from that in modern times. Of course, he is not sure what specific location it is, but since it is an important pass, the surrounding terrain must be dangerous and the road is difficult to walk, and there is no doubt about this.

After thinking about it, he said, "Forget it, let's deal with it all night in the snow, and there's no rush."

Su Dingyan stopped talking, sent orders and rushed for a while, and still camped in the snow today.

The Turks have been walking thousands of miles, and they are exhausted long ago if they are tired. But as long as they have hope, no matter how hard or tired they are, they can support them. Everyone knows that after passing Yumen Pass, it will be Zheliu County, which is where they can rest and recuperate. Therefore, no matter how tired they are, no one complains, no matter how hard they are, they are struggling to move forward desperately.

It was difficult to walk in the snow. After walking for less than twenty miles, the sky turned dark. Wang Ping'an ordered camping. The Turks set up tents to find branches and firewood, and raising fire to cook porridge. They were reluctant to kill horses, and the cattle and sheep had already eaten up. They could only drink porridge every day. Just add a small pinch of salt to a pot of porridge, which was the supreme delicacy for them!

The Turks sat around the fire, drinking porridge, and as they spoke, they were talking about the good days in the future, and everything would be safe when they arrived in Zheliu County. When Ping An Khan bought some cattle and sheep next year, it would take less than two years to grow the Zheliu tribe and no longer have to endure hunger. Moreover, on Ping An Khan's fiefdom, you can live with confidence. No one would come to Ping An Khan's fiefdom, drive them away!

These days, everyone talks about this topic before going to bed. It seems that if they don’t talk about it, they won’t be able to sleep at night.

Wang Ping'an sat in the tent, and there was a bowl of porridge in front of him, but there was jerky inside. He did not drink the porridge, but looked at the map, Di Renjie and Su Dingfang were with him, drinking the porridge in snoring.

Putting down the map, Wang Ping'an frowned and said, "From the map, Shazhou is very close to Yumen Pass, and my Zheliu County fiefdom is just between the two places. Logically speaking, there are no such many robbers!"

Di Renjie put down the bowl and said, "This little guy knows something. Before coming, I found some books to read. The book said that Zheliu County was a good place in the past. During the Han Dynasty, it was quite prosperous because it was on the Silk Road, but because it was too prosperous, there would be a battle here once the war was fought."

Wang Ping'an nodded and said, "Depending on the location, it is indeed a place where military strategists must compete. As long as you have a firm foothold here, you can also attack Shazhou and Yumen Pass."

Su Dingfang drank all the porridge, smacked his lips, and said, "I fought endlessly in the Sui Dynasty. Later, when we arrived in our Tang Dynasty, King Gaochang came to the court and said he wanted to surrender. But when he returned to Gaochang, he colluded with the Turks and even surrendered to the Turks. How could a good daughter marry her two husbands? Of course, the emperor refused, so he sent troops to destroy Gaochang."

Wang Ping'an said: "You led the troops to destroy it?"

Su Dingfang hurriedly shook his head and said, "That's not the case. Hou Junji led his troops to destroy him. He was still majestic at that time. If he had been honestly his general, wouldn't he be a lord? Who would have thought that he would rebel later?"

Di Renjie was not interested in Hou Junji's past. He said, "After Gaochang was destroyed, many people fled to Zheliu County. They had no food or drink, so they naturally had to make a living by robbing. At first, they were lucky, and they robbed a lot of things. But later, the people of Zheliu organized and defeated the Gaochang robbers, and discovered their treasures and tasted the sweetness. They found that being a robber was better than farming, but they continued to do this business, and they worked harder and bigger, making people in the Western Regions afraid of them!"

Wang Ping'an shook his head and said, "It's not certain that you see it from the book, and Brother Su is not necessarily true. There are peaceful days, but no one will be willing to be a robber with his head off his pants and belts. Even if he can live a wealthier life, it may not be that the people of the whole county will be a robber."

Su Dingfang smiled and said, "Marty, it's not all that, but the people there. You can't tell who is the robber or who is the good. Moreover, the county magistrate went to die and the other one could not collect taxes. The army kept suppressing it. As a result, the more suppressed the rebellion became, the bigger the rebellion, which made the officials in Yumen Pass and Shazhou not want to pay attention to this place. Over time, it became a nest of robbers!"

Di Renjie said: "Brother, don't worry. Even if Zheliu County is in chaos, we can handle it. Tens of thousands of Turkic soldiers can beat those robbers."

Su Dingfang snorted and said, "That's not necessarily the case. If you don't know how to use troops, you can defeat these robbers with more people. So there are fewer guards in Yumen Pass? There are fewer soldiers in Shazhou? You can't win if you want to win. You have to fight before you win. Don't you find people before you fight? Do you know who is the robber there? You can't kill them all!"

Wang Ping'an waved his hand and said, "Forget it, stop talking. There must be a road before the car arrives at the mountain. The boat will naturally be straight when it reaches the bridge. I won't think about it anymore, let's talk about it then."

One night passed like this, and before dawn the next day, the Turks all got up and packed their tents. They were anxious to go and break willows, and no one could sleep anymore.

Wang Ping'an also got up, did not wash up, and after a few days he had no conditions to take care of his appearance, he was already a little disheveled, but he became more and more energetic and gradually gained the majesty of a superior, which was very different from when he was in Chang'an.

The two little girls made some food and brought it to Wang Ping'an. These days, Ding Danruo and Ke Lianwu were also much haggard. They had not taken a shower for many days, and were wearing Turkic leather jackets, almost the same as Turkic girls.

Wang Ping'an looked at them and said, "Thank you for a hard time these days. Just wait until you reach the fiefdom and everything will be peaceful."

The two little girls said it was not hard, but instead said that the young master had worked so hard these days. Wang Ping'an did not comfort them, but they comforted Wang Ping'an.

After packing up their luggage and getting on the road again, this section of the road is difficult to walk, not too flat, and the large group of people marched. No matter how hard they drove, they did not arrive before dark. When the moon was on the branches, they came to the Hulu River.

Hulu River is the modern Shule River. It has a thousand years of history and has been changed, so its geographical location is different from that of modern times. When Master Xuanzang traveled west, he visited this river. He said that the river is wide and narrow at the bottom, and the dry waves are very fast, so it cannot be crossed. After it cannot be crossed, he cuts wood into a bridge, fills sand in linens, and drives horses to pass by... So, sometimes the things in the book are really not credible and inconsistent!

Wang Ping'an led his team to the riverside. Seeing that the river water had long frozen, there were dark shadows on the other side of the river, and there seemed to be countless beacon towers and long side walls, but the side walls were low. I guess the guards here did not care about guarding the city walls, but were good at field battles and were attacking troops!

Su Dingfang urged the horse to come to the front and said, "Marty, should you camp here on the river or cross the river?"

Wang Ping'an looked at the countless beacon towers on the other side and asked, "Can you pass this side wall tonight? I want to spend the night on the other side of the wall."

Su Dingfang shook his head and said, "I'm afraid it's not easy. With so many of us, we have to pass this side wall and have to walk through the city gate. No matter how fast it is, it will take half a day. Now it's dark."

Wang Ping'an said: "Yes, even if it goes by, it will be in the middle of the night. It's so messy. If you set up camp again, it will be dawn before you can get it done."

He got off the horse and said, "Just set up camp here, don't cross the river."

When Su Dingfang sent an order down, the Turks settled camps along the riverside. Su Dingfang sent people to inform the guards on the side walls and let their generals come to see Wang Ping'an.

Soon, the guards on the side wall came over. They were a lieutenant, who was in charge of the dozen beacon towers around. The lieutenant saluted Wang Ping'an and called himself an officer of the twelve beacons in Linhe.

Wang Ping'an saw that this man was in his thirties, with rough skin, big hands and feet, and very strong, but his face was sad, as if someone owed him a lot of money.

Because he was going to pass through this man's gate tomorrow, Wang Ping'an was afraid that the Linhe lieutenant would delay his affairs and ordered someone to give the Linhe lieutenant a bag of golden seeds.

I thought that the Linhe Captain had taken the golden gourd seeds, and the expression on his face would look better, but he didn't know that it would be better if he didn't take the golden gourd seeds. As soon as the golden gourd seeds fell into the bag, the Linhe Captain's expression on his face became even more bitter. It was much more painful than owing money, and it felt like he was losing his parents.

Everyone accompanied Wang Ping'an to the riverside and looked at the frozen river surface. Wang Ping'an said: "This general, can you have something to worry about and why are you full of sorrow?"

The Linhe Captain hurriedly said, "The King and the Prince misunderstood. Mo Jiang is born like this, not because he has any sorrow in his heart. When you come, Mo Jiang is happy. When you reward money, Mo Jiang will be happier. The happier the Mo Jiang will be happier. The happier the Mo Jiang will be, the more he looks on his face... like this!" As he said that, he pointed at his face, still feeling very sad.

Wang Ping'an said oh, and it turned out that he was born to grow up like this. He pointed to the river and said, "The river is frozen and honest. I have more than 100,000 people. There should be no danger in crossing the river. Can you be sure of this?"

The Linhe Captain uttered a whine and shook his head, "I can't confirm this matter. The king and prince clearly understand. You see, the river is frozen sincerely, and there is actually water below. We guard here. Sometimes if we want to eat fish, we will break the ice and fish. Sometimes we can catch dozens of kilograms in one net!"

He pointed to a narrower place in Hulu River and said, "A few years ago, a large army passed by. I remembered that it was 20,000 iron-armored cavalry. The river crossed there. When I walked halfway, the ice collapsed, hundreds of soldiers fell down, and eight of them died. I will remember this very clearly at the end!"

Wang Ping'an was silent for a while, turned around and rushed to Su Dingfang and the others, "Fortunately, I didn't cross the river at night. If the ice surface really collapsed, it would be difficult to save people."

Su Dingfang smiled and said, "No, the Marquis is too worried. Cavalry crossing the river is different from those of us. The war horses stomp on the ice, and it is hard to fall. But we are dragging on the many people, but their strength is small. As long as we don't get on the ice together, it should be a big problem."

Di Renjie said, "Be careful, our people are old and young. If they really fall into the ice water, even if they are rescued, they will probably survive!"

Wang Ping'an nodded and said, "Be careful!" He patted the captain Linhe on the shoulder and said with a gentle voice: "We will pass this side wall tomorrow. You will have to take care of you and help me. We have to go there too far and can't delay. By the way, how many soldiers do you have?"

The Linhe Captain said: "One of the peak fire platform is eleven, and the last one will be in charge of twelve. Because I have a city gate, there are more people, thirty-one."

Wang Ping'an nodded and said, "Thank you for your hard work to guard the border. People come, take 200 guan and send it to the city gate. It is a little money for my brothers to give it to me. It is cold to drink some wine to let the brothers warm up. I'll ask you to distribute it on your behalf." The last sentence was said by the Captain Chong Linhe.

The Linhe School Captain was overjoyed. The prince was so generous. The reward of golden gourd seeds was not counted, but also the reward of cash. He thanked him repeatedly. Wang Ping'an's guards raised 200 stanchions, led by the Linhe School Captain, and carried it into the beacon tower.

The Linhe Captain and his soldiers looked at the basket full of golden copper coins and couldn't even close their mouths. When the Linhe Captain told the matter, the soldiers were first happy, and then complained. Since the prince was so generous that he should have said more soldiers, saying it was five hundred, wouldn't the reward be even more?

After hearing what his subordinates said, Linhe Captain also felt a little regretful. He never thought that Wang Ping'an would be so generous, and it was too late to regret it.

The Turks set up a tent, cooked porridge and ate, and then went to bed, leaving only 30% of the sentries in the past.

There was nothing to say in the first half of the night. In the second half of the night, a small crack was opened on the city gate on the side wall, and a fast horse rushed out, ran up the river, and ran towards the Turkic camp!

The knight immediately slapped the war horse hard and shouted loudly in Turkic words, as if very anxious.

The distance was too far, and the sentries couldn't hear what the man was calling. One sentry ran back to the camp, while the other people met him!

A sentry shouted in Turkic words: "Hey, who are you?"

The war horse ran very fast, and the man had already run to the middle of the Hulu River. He shouted: "My name is Asunaqiboer. I want to see my mentor. My mentor is Wang Ping'an!"
Chapter completed!