Outside Yiqu City.
The army stopped, and Zhao Tuo saw Li Ju, the governor of Beidi County, and Wushi Luo, who were waiting for him here.
The county governor Li Ju is a distant branch of the Li Xin family. He successfully rose to power by virtue of his military exploits.
Wu Shiluo is about fifty years old. He wears a high crown and dark clothes. At first glance, he thought he was a Qin noble.
However, Zhao Tuo looked carefully and could still see some exotic charm on Wu Shiluo's face.
After all, the bridge of the nose and eye sockets are somewhat different from those of the Central Plains people.
The Wushi Rong tribe does not belong to Zhuxia. It is said that their ancestors moved from the west and later settled near Jitou Mountain in the upper reaches of Jingshui River. The place was named Wushi after the clan name. It is now the Wushi of Qin State. county.
"Wu Shiluo has met the General. He has heard about the reputation of the General who conquered the six kingdoms. Now when he sees that he is really a young hero, he is very impressed."
Although he is from the Rong tribe who sells cattle and horses, Wu Shiluo's behavior is full of Chinese etiquette, his demeanor is graceful, and his fluent Qin dialect makes it hard to find fault.
"Mr. Wushi's words are serious. You are a good minister of the country. Tuo still needs a lot of help from Mr. Wushi to attack the barbarians from the north."
Zhao Tuo treated each other politely.
Qin Shihuang gave Wu Shiluo the treatment of "a better position than a king".
Wushi Luo could not only go to court to see the emperor, but also had the right to discuss and participate in political affairs. He had a very high status in the local area. Even the governor of the North County had to treat him with courtesy. Zhao Tuo could not be scornful.
Not to mention, he will need to use the other party next.
After the two exchanged pleasantries, Li Ju, who was standing next to him, couldn't wait anymore. He stretched out his hand and said with a smile: "The general has come from a long way. The journey has been hard. I have prepared a small amount of wine in the house and asked Mr. Wu to accompany him to welcome the general. Dust off.”
"I'm here to help Governor Li."
Zhao Tuo nodded and asked his deputy Sima Liang to arrange for thousands of his guards to set up camp first. Then he took two close aides, Li Shiqi and Chen Ping, and entered the city under the welcome of Li Ju and Wushi Luo.
"There are few people in Yiqu City and there is no good house. If the general doesn't give up, he can stay in the county mansion temporarily."
Sheriff Li was talking as he walked, wanting to arrange a place for Zhao Tuo to live.
Zhao Tuo looked at the scenery along the way and saw that Yiqu City was very dilapidated.
The roads in the city are narrow, the houses on both sides are crooked, and even the county government office is a bit old. Not to mention compared with those county offices in the mainland, it is not even comparable to a county government office in Guanzhong.
Zhao Tuo said: "Thank you so much for your kindness, Sheriff, but I will lead the troops to fight. I will be stationed in the camp and will not bother you in the city."
Commander Li said with admiration: "It's winter now, and it's quite cold in the camp. The general can share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, and share the cold and heat. No wonder he can win every battle."
Zhao Tuo was polite, but his thoughts were on Wushi Luo next to him.
However, the two of them didn't say much besides some polite words along the way.
Real things still need to be discussed at the dinner table.
After a while, Zhao Tuo was welcomed into the county hall.
Although the houses in this county are not as luxurious as those in the mainland, they are still very spacious and grand.
The sky has not yet completely darkened, and lights have been lit in the room, illuminating the hall like daylight.
In addition to the county governors Li Ju and Wushi Luo, the banquet was also accompanied by Beidi County's censor, the county magistrate and others.
"There are Yuezhi cavalry outside the Great Wall. The county lieutenant has brought people to check. I am not here. Please forgive me, General."
Li Ju's words answered Zhao Tuo's doubts. No wonder he didn't see the county lieutenant in charge of military affairs.
At the same time, Zhao Tuo's mind was attracted by the news of the appearance of Yuezhi cavalry.
As soon as he sat down, he asked: "Chief Li, why are the Yuezhi cavalry appearing outside the Great Wall? Could it be that they know that our Qin State is going to take Henan?"
Li Shiqi and Chen Ping, who were sitting at the end of the hall, suddenly frowned.
Because of the barrier of the Great Wall and the fact that the Hu people were generally stationed far away from the border, in their planning, the Yuezhi should not be aware of Qin's plan to seize Henan.
This is a point they can take advantage of and devise some plans for it.
If the Yueshi people had known about this in advance, the situation would have been completely different, and some changes would have happened.
Li Ju looked embarrassed and said: "Before the general comes here, I have ordered the news to be blocked. Ordinary people are not allowed to go out anywhere on the Great Wall. It should not be leaked. There are only some businessmen who go out of the wall..."
As he said that, Li Ju looked at Wushi Luo next to him.
Wu Shiluo held the wine in his hand and said: "The merchants in the north have trade relations with the Rong, Yuezhi and even the Xiongnu in the west. Every month, some people carry goods from Guanzhong to the Rong, exchanging cattle and horses there."
"The Yuezhi attacked the Xiongnu before, and trade was not cut off. If merchants are not allowed to leave the fortress at this time, coupled with the sudden large number of cavalry gathered in Beidi County, I am afraid that the Yuezhi will be alert. Therefore, I think it is not appropriate to make changes at this time and let the merchants As in the past, trading in the Hu area can have the effect of paralyzing the opponent. And I think the general may also need specific information about the Yuezhi people in Henan."
"What Mr. Wushi said is true. Those merchants walking in Henan to gather information for us are indeed more useful than being inside the Great Wall."
Zhao Tuo smiled lightly, stopped dwelling on this matter, and brought up other topics.
After a while, the banquet started.
Golden roasted whole lamb sprinkled with various spices, wild venison covered in black sauce...
The large amount of meat, coupled with the local specialty milk wine, made Zhao Tuo feel different from Zhu Xia's diet in this meal.
At the same time, he did not forget the purpose of this time. During his conversations with Wu Shiluo, Li Ju and others, he learned a lot about the situation of the Yuezhi who occupied Henan.
The Yuezhi is a tribal alliance-style country, living in the Hexi Corridor. It is powerful, with 150,000 to 60,000 riders.
Its leader is King Yuezhi.
Below the Yuezhi King, there are five tribes of Xihou, each of whom is the leader of a large tribe in a separate area. They are equivalent to the level of princes in the Xia Dynasty and have great power in the Yuezhi Kingdom.
Now that they have invaded Henan, two of them, the Xihous, are driving away the Huns. The number of their cavalry is about 60,000 to 70,000.
Because it was a reception banquet for himself, and there were still several months left before the war, Zhao Tuo only talked about Yuezhi's affairs for a while, and then talked about some interesting things in the mainland with Li Ju, Wushi Luo and others.
The guests and hosts enjoyed themselves for a while, and the banquet ended happily.
After the entertainment, Zhao Tuo once again rejected Li Ju's proposal to stay in Yiqucheng. After saying goodbye to Wushiluo and others, he chose to return to the camp to rest.
Tomorrow he will go to the cavalry stations of various counties more than ten miles away from the city for inspection.
Zhao Tuo's military camp was set up on the plains five miles outside Yiqu City. The tents were connected and there were five thousand people.
As soon as he entered the tent, Chen Ping couldn't wait to speak.
"General, we must be on guard against that Wushiluo."
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(End of chapter)
