The group of people marched quickly and walked for a day and a half before meeting up with Wang Xingben's army southwest of Delek Lake (Bulgan).
Wang Xingben and the others were not idle either. Although their progress was much slower than that of Yang Ji, in general, all the tribes on the Jinshan side were annihilated by them. What they did was similar to that of Yang Ji, which was to kill all male humans and animals. , however, since half of this army was miscellaneous soldiers, the rear army's combat effectiveness was far inferior to that of the left army who was fighting the main battle. Therefore, their number of casualties was more than that of Yang Ji who had experienced a great battle, with only more than 7,000 men left. However, the soldiers who have experienced this baptism have gained a more powerful momentum than before, and there is an evil spirit in their behavior.
The two armies met and each expressed the results of their trip. Although there were always scouts in contact, the brief military information they conveyed was naturally not as profound as the generals of the two armies, and their view of the problem was not as far-sighted as the generals.
Judging from the current results, the central and southern part of the Great Lakes region has been successfully wiped out by the Sui army, and the mess left by the Sui army is destined to make the Turks have a difficult time this winter.
Since Bujia Khan took over the position of Great Khan, he represents the Turkic orthodoxy and has also inherited the hatred between the Turks and the Sui Dynasty. Whether it is for personal prestige or national justice, he must go head-to-head with the Sui army, and The result was repeated defeats. In the face of repeated external difficulties, the Turks and Tiele tribes complained more and more day by day.
However, in order to ensure his dominance, Bujia Khan, who was riding a tiger, could only use slogans such as revenge, cleansing of shame, and defense of the family and country to expand his army. However, the excessive military force was at the expense of the "national power" of various grassland ministries. In the long run, It fell into an arms race that seriously damaged national strength, people's power, and people's hearts. When we were in trouble at home and abroad, we originally wanted to go to Ganzhou in the Sui Dynasty to plunder and get some winter supplies in advance. Who knew that before we reached the border town of Datong, the most important Dahu area was severely beaten, and the vitality was severely damaged. , losing more than a hundred tribes, making the Great Lakes area, which can be called Bujia Khan's vegetable garden, a huge burden for him.
But the Sui army only caused direct harm to Bujia Khan, and the indirect impact was more far-reaching.
Among the tribes living in the Great Lakes region, in addition to the Turks who are aloof and consider themselves masters, there are also slave tribes such as the Huihe, Xuxue, Tongluo, Pugu, Sijie, Qibi, and Xianbei tribes.
These tribes were forcibly separated by the powerful Ashina Tumen as far back as the founding of the Turkic nation, and were assigned here as slaves. Although the names of their tribes are the same as ours, after nearly a hundred years of severing contact, they have been completely separated emotionally. It left and became a new existence.
But no matter what, it can't change their status as slaves. Like the sect far east of Dujin Mountain, they are always in a position of being exploited and ravaged by the Turks.
Before this, many tribes had fought with the Turks. Although it was only a small-scale conflict, it also meant that these people were oppressed intolerable and had the courage to challenge their masters.
This was not only an indirect impact brought by the Sui army, but also one of the consequences of the arms race between Bujia Khan and the Sui Dynasty. Once Bujia Khan is seriously injured again and the Turks no longer have a deterrent effect in the Great Lakes region, these miscellaneous people who have seen through the nature of the Turks being strong on the outside and weak on the inside will probably turn this place into a mess.
If a new strong man appears and treats them a little better, they will definitely join him one after another.
This is the law of the grassland where the strong is respected.
The new owner of the grassland, who has fully taken over the power of the old dynasty, will soon become the dominant owner of the grassland without having to worry about management. The Huns are like this, Xianbei is like this, Rouran is like this, the Turks are like this, and the Dong/Tujue, Xue Yantuo, and Tubo that Yang Ji knows seem to be like this too.
As far as the current Great Lakes District is concerned, if Xue Yantuo takes over all of it, its strength will increase several times.
However, the prerequisite for Xue Yantuo's rise is to first defeat Tan Khan Khan, and then Bujia Khan. If there is no time to digest these populations, then the population plundered by Yishubo will definitely cause huge economic pressure on him and become a drag. His burden.
In addition, the Xianbei people living in this area were inevitably tortured by the Sui army, and they also wanted to get a share of the Sui army. Xianbei chief Murongbei took the initiative to contact Wang Xingben, preparing to be the "leading party" of the Sui army.
Wang Xing didn't dare to make the decision without authorization. He originally wanted to ask Yang Ji for instructions. Who would have thought that he would bring his troops to join him, so he told Yang Ji all at once.
"Ha, this Xianbei leader is a smart and thoughtful person. It seems that this person has wanted to break away from the Turks before." In the Chinese army tent, Yang Ji couldn't help but sneer after listening to Wang Xingben's report.
"Your Highness." Wang Xingben raised his hands and asked, "Should we agree to Murong Bei's request?"
"Promise! How could you not agree?" Yang Ji sneered: "We are now anxious for young people to fight for us. The Xianbei people have come to our door by themselves. If they don't want to die and want to gain benefits, but they are unwilling to send troops , we destroyed it first.”
"Your Highness, those who are not of my race must have different intentions, so the general will not agree with supporting the Xianbei people." Xue Li stood up and saluted: "Foreigners will never be able to completely integrate with us. When we are strong, they will obey Be obedient. Once we encounter natural or man-made disasters in the Central Plains, they will rush in madly and take a bite. This is a bloody lesson learned over the past hundreds of years."
"General Xue said it well!" Yang Ji patted his knee and asked with a smile: "You are worried about raising tigers, right?"
Xue Ju was stunned and answered with his hands raised: "That's right. The Great Lakes area is fertile and has luxuriant grass. It is a good land for human survival. If the Xianbei people grow stronger because of us, sooner or later they will be able to unify the entire Great Lakes area. By then, we, the Sui Dynasty, will A powerful enemy will definitely appear in the northwest."
"General Xue said very well, but he ignored the Turks and Xueyantuo people." Yang Ji explained: "The Xianbei people also need to have the strength to eat the old, weak, women and children after the war. If they can't eat them, then they will It will become fat in the eyes of the Turks and Xueyantuo people. The principle is exactly the same as that of a child carrying money through the market. The more things it gets, the more enemies it will have and the more dangerous it will be. But for us now, But there is an extra strength out of thin air. Now I am willing to accept not only the Xianbei people, but also the Tiele people. As long as they are willing to be dogs of our army, I am willing to use them as blades. Once they tear apart the Turks, The hypocritical loyalty will definitely be suppressed by the Turks. Even if they join forces to repel the Turks, they will still be in a situation where the heroes are divided, and this land will surely fall into a long-lasting war in the future."
Yang Jizheng was worried that Xue Yantuo's family would dominate, so Xianbei's request came at the right time.
"The last general is stupid and makes His Highness laugh." After Yang Ji said this, Xue Ju, who had already understood, laughed.
"You are quite right! We must always be wary of foreigners." Yang Ji looked at Wang Xingben and asked, "General Wang, tell me about this Xianbei."
"Here." Wang Xingben responded and introduced: "Murongbei's tribe lives in the north of us, and the geography is very unique; to the east is Wusanghetlin Mountain, to the west is Jinshan Mountain, and to the north is Harwusu Lake. , they lived a life of half farming and half herding by the lake. Every day when there was a natural disaster, they relied on the relatively abundant food and grass to take in the victims who had no food to eat. Today, they have developed into a large tribe with a population of 100,000, and they can fight with soldiers as many as There are about 20,000 people, which is considered a powerful tribe here.”
"Nearly all the tribes were wiped out by Bujia Khan and turned into soldiers. How did Murong Bei hide his soldiers?"
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Yang Ji felt that he had asked nonsense. With the Jinshan Mountains, couldn't they hide soldiers?
As expected by Yang Jizhi, Wang Xingben said: "On the one hand, he hid Qing Zhuang in the mountains, on the other hand, he bribed the Tutun (tax collector) who was stationed in the tribe, and even followed the name A Shi Nazeci mainly controlled Tutun, while Ashina Zeci thought that the entire Xianbei tribe belonged to him, and tried every means to help Xianbei evade taxes, and tried every means to help Murongbei annex the surrounding small tribes."
Yang Ji was stunned for a while and said with emotion: "This Murong Bei is so talented. He only sacrificed a dispensable status, but got real benefits. This business is a good deal no matter how you look at it."
"That's the truth, but Murong Bei doesn't think so."
"Why?"
"It's just because he is a descendant of Emperor Murong Chui of Hou Yan. He has been pursuing the ambition of restoring the country for generations, trying to restore the glory of his ancestors, and regards being a thief as a shame. And this is one of the reasons for joining us."
"Ah this?" When Yang Ji heard what Wang Xingben said, he felt a little suspicious that he had met Murong Fu's ancestor.
He thought for a while and said with a smile: "It's a good thing that Murong Bei has great ambitions. This will mess up the Great Lakes District even more. What else?"
"Also, there is a strong enemy in the north of us. This is the army prepared by Ashina, the concubine of Bujia Khan, with more than 40,000 troops."
"General Wang, if the news is leaked, I am not surprised at all. But why are there so many troops here? Didn't Bujia Khan take away the troops here?" Su Dan on the side couldn't help but ask. stand up.
In fact, this is also what Yang Ji is curious about.
Since they divided their forces at Xiongnu Lake, they first encountered Tan Khan Khan's 20,000-strong army on the banks of the Xiongnu Lake, and then encountered some thousand-man troops one after another. Although Wang Xingben and the others did not encounter any teams of ten thousand people, there were also quite a few teams of one thousand people.
But now, Bujia Khan has clearly taken away hundreds of thousands of troops, so why are there still 40,000 powerful enemies in the Great Lakes area?
Are there really so many Turks?
Wang Xingben said quickly: "These are the soldiers left by Bujia Khan to suppress the various tribes in the Great Lakes region. They are also responsible for the defense of Xue Yantuo in the northwest. Some are Turks and some are Hu Tuojie from the west of Jinshan. This kind of Tuojie They live for war and fight for wealth, and they have no concept of loyalty to anyone, but the combat power of this kind of army that fights for wealth cannot be underestimated."
"So, this Tuojie army is a mercenary hired by Bujia Khan?"
Wang Xingben nodded and said: "That's right."
Yang Ji pondered for a long time and then told Wang Xingben: "Try to contact Murong Bei and ask him to send someone who can speak well and represent him to me."
"Here."
7017k
