The sun is setting.
After coming out of the border pass, Zhang Jun personally led his troops and marched northwestward.
First, you have to take a look along the way to feel at ease.
On the other hand, he was also filled with emotions, and he really wanted to see the big Han champion again at this moment.
Zhang Jun didn't despise Huo Qubing before, but his vision was limited. He really felt that Huo Qubing was rashly advancing with three hundred soldiers.
He had been at the border for many years and was used to being harassed by foreigners. He sympathized with the suffering at the border, so Huo Qubing was able to destroy six Qiang camps in one night. He was really happy and extremely excited.
The sky quickly darkened.
The queue marched in the dark, but fortunately the bright moon hung high, and the border troops' familiarity with the road conditions did not delay their march.
Zhang Jun wanted to ask what Huo Qubing planned to do after breaking the camp.
In addition, the Champion Hou's intentions for this trip to the west and to what extent he will stop before he can give up, must also be asked in person.
After leaving the border gate and continuing to advance, you will reach Xining in later generations for about four hundred miles. Continuing forward, you will reach the desert oasis of the West Sea (Qinghai Lake), which is also the largest water source nearby.
Many large and small tribes under the jurisdiction of Xianling Qiang surround this area and live by the water.
The ancient Qiang tribe that Huo Qubing removed was also one of the large tribes surrounding this area.
At this moment, the ancient Qiang tribe is in ruins and ruins, and the remaining flames are still burning.
Under the moonlit night, several dark shadows appeared in the ruins.
There were six people in total, each with his or her own style.
The two people clustered in the middle were the leaders. One was tall and strong, with a square face, thick eyebrows as thick and straight as a dagger, and there was a fierce murderous aura when he frowned.
This person is one of the strongest tribes in Xiqiang, and the leader of the Qiang Rong tribe is Qi Fuyu.
The other person next to him has an ordinary figure, but his arms are disproportionately long and thin, giving the impression that he has practiced some kind of magic, and he seems to be exceptionally flexible. He even walks with only the tips of his feet touching the ground, as if he has no weight.
This man is the leader of the Faqiang tribe, another major tribe of the Western Qiang, Hu Guyan.
The other four people were their entourage and were on guard duty.
Qi Fuyu and Hu Guyan were both looking around carefully as they walked.
They finally came to a location and knelt down to take a look.
After the ground was burned by the fire, it was covered with thick dust and black ash, and the air was still filled with heat.
But their eyes were bright, and they both stared at the ground for a moment.
The position they were looking at was a bit strange. The dust on the ground was jumping up and down, the bumps were violent, and there was a sharp breath.
"Grandma Wu."
Qi Fuyu's voice had a special sense of friction, which was impressive.
Following the sound, an old woman with a wrinkled face and a gray robe was heard. The clothes were covered with strange textures painted with dyes formed after mashed vegetation.
She walked out from the shadows of the burned ruins of the ancient Qiang tribe, blinking her wrinkled eyelids. Like Qi Fuyu and Hu Guyan, she looked at the ground and whispered something inherited by the Qiang people. Ancient witchcraft mantra.
The old woman then reached out and flicked it above the ground.
A flash of light actually appeared on the ground and disappeared in a flash.
The light at this moment was so bright that Hu Guyan and Qi Fuyu closed their eyes subconsciously.
If any Han troops were here and saw this light, they would definitely think of how Huo Qubing killed Dian Zhen with a single blow last night.
"As expected..."
The old woman whispered in ancient Qiang language.
She turned over the palm that was touching the ground, and a bloodstain was revealed on her palm, and a sound like a knife sounded across the void.
"What a fierce fighting spirit." Qi Fuyu narrowed his eyes.
The old woman said: "This is the position where Dianzhen's body fell to the ground after he was killed with a knife.
After his death, his body fell here. The energy of the sword that killed him remained, and the energy broke through his body and seeped into the surrounding ground and void, leaving no residue. I can only smell the aftertaste. "
"The sword energy can still be cut after a day of leaking out, and it can still cut Grandma Wu's hand. What level of heaven and human is this for the Han people to practice?" Qi Fuyu frowned.
"It doesn't matter which state it is in. The artistic conception contained in this sword is more terrifying. It is full of indomitable and invincible spirit. Before, I was not sure which Han general could defeat six of my Qiang strongholds in one night." The old woman said solemnly. .
"So Grandma Wu knows now?" Hu Guyan said.
"The army of the Xiongnu Royal Court was defeated by a Han general leading ten thousand troops a month ago. Tens of thousands of the Royal Court soldiers fled north. All parties were shocked when they heard about it."
"Grandma Wu, what you mean is that the Han general who led the troops to defeat the Xiongnu royal court came to our Xiqiang?"
Hu Guyan and Qi Fuyu both looked shocked, even more shocked than when they saw the wisp of sword energy.
Being able to penetrate the Wangtingzhong army that dominated the prairie was a miraculous military achievement in their eyes. It was far more surprising to them than the ability to penetrate six Qiang strongholds in one night.
"It has long been spread in the Han Dynasty that the general who defeated the Xiongnu army was named Huo Qubing. The Han people called him a divine general! Is he here?"
"I received news that in order to reward him, the emperor of the Han Dynasty married his imperial sister to him and spread the word to the world. He should have been married not long ago, so how could he appear in Xiqiang?"
"If Dian Zhen knew it was him coming, he would never dare to be so presumptuous..."
"Did the Han general deliberately leave this sword energy behind to warn us?"
The old woman said softly: "Let's go. It's not suitable to stay here for a long time. The Han army has left the border and is not far from here."
"If anything happens, we can discuss it when we go back."
Before they left, they took another look at the place where the sword energy burst out on the ground, and quickly lost sight of it.
After they left, two figures of a man and a woman appeared on two trees a little further away.
These two people are the bronze masked women from before, with enchanting temperaments.
The other man held a knife in one hand and covered his face with a black cloth.
"You are right. Judging from what he means, he wants to strengthen the exchanges between the Western Regions and the Han Dynasty and open up the road between the Han Dynasty and the Western Regions." The man in black said.
"Last night you thought he had too few soldiers to openly go to the Western Regions. What now?" The woman's voice was soft and charming.
The man in black was silent for a while: "Maybe."
“It’s not maybe, if you give him time, he can definitely do it.
His deputy general Zhao Ponu disappeared again after defeating the Xiongnu soldiers.
I used the Zongheng technique to inquire about the five directions, and came to the conclusion that Huo Qubing asked him to lead his army to the northwest first. "
The woman in white also walked to the location where the wisp of sword energy was surging: "Huo Qubing left this ray of sword energy in the ancient Qiang, and let some of the prisoners go, letting them go back to spread the panic that the ancient Qiang was eliminated overnight, and lured the various tribes of the Western Qiang to come and check it out. , aiming to divide the Qiang people.
What do you think of the power of this sword energy? "
"The strength of the three realms of heaven and man is amazing. But... he is not my opponent yet." The sword-wielding man in black said.
"Isn't he your opponent?"
Woman in white: "It has been more than two months since he broke into the realm of heaven and human. How long did it take you to go from the first realm of heaven to the fourth realm?"
"You always seem to be talking to Huo Qubing?"
"Not to him, but to state the facts."
The sword holder made a light noise, without arguing, and changed the subject: "I don't understand. You were staring at the galloping ranks of the Han army for a long time. What were you looking at?"
"I'm not looking at the Han army." The woman said calmly.
The sword holder thought for a while, and among the Han army, only the chariot surrounded in the middle was the most conspicuous, and his heart moved slightly: "Are you looking at the princess's chariot?
Do you want to attack her? "
The woman shook her head slightly and thought to herself: I have some relationship with her that you don't know about.
She has everything I don't have...and some of it should be mine!
"It won't be easy for Huo Qubing to continue traveling to the northwest." The woman whispered.
…
The next morning, the frontier army, led by Zhang Jun, marched all night and half a day, during which they only rested for two hours, and approached the West Sea.
The West Sea is an inland lake formed by the collapse of faults between Datong Mountain, Riyue Mountain and Nanshan Mountain in the Qilian Mountains.
After a night of loess and flying sand, suddenly arriving at this warm oasis makes people feel as if the holy land on earth is right in front of them.
The sun was shining slantingly, and Zhang Jun and others saw Huo Qubing standing on a high ground from a distance, looking calmly at the West Sea.
There was only a thirty-man Imperial Guard behind him.
Jin'an stood beside him, snoring in boredom. Hearing the sound of carriages and horses approaching from behind, Jin'an turned his head first to look over.
"Zhang Jun, the governor of Xiguan, has met Lang Zhongling!"
Zhang Jun paid homage with a great ceremony and said: "I was on duty at Xiguan. I have made no achievements for many years. I worshiped the general's power and was able to eradicate the ancient Qiang and other tribes. Zhang Jun came here to pay homage on behalf of the people at the border."
The frontier soldiers behind Zhang Jun, led by Xu Jia, also performed salutes at the same time, and the atmosphere was solemn.
Huo Qubing turned around, glanced at everyone, and said slowly: "On this trip, I originally wanted to go all the way to Shaming Mountain, Yangguan, and Yumen, and meet Roshna, who is famous in the Western Regions, but now... the schedule is longer. stopped.
I will leave for Chang'an soon. "
Zhang Jun and others were shocked. They didn't know what happened in Chang'an. Huo Qubing wanted to stop his trip and rush back.
After Huo Qubing finished speaking, he came to the carriage and said to Liu Qing, "We'll be leaving in a moment. Do you want to come down and have a look at the West Sea?"
"Oh. You guys talk first, I'll come down later." Liu Qing showed his head in the car, then shrank back.
"Prefect Zhang, do you want to ask me something?" Huo Qubing turned around and looked at Zhang Jun.
"I really have something to ask for." Zhang Jun stepped forward quickly, Zhang Qian also moved closer, and Xu Jia on the other side also moved forward.
"Prefect, please tell me if you have anything to say."
"I want to know why Huo Hou suddenly wanted to return to Chang'an? When Huo Hou came to Xiguan this time, where did he plan to attack, and to what extent did he stop?" Zhang Jun said respectfully.
The prefect of Xiguan was a high-ranking official in the border area. When Zhang Jun saw Huo Qubing, he showed more respect than before. Just because of the marching map and Huo Qubing's ability to sweep the troops of the ancient Qiang tribes at night.
Huo Qubing: "I came out this time because I agreed to Liu Qing. When I went northwest, it was because I wanted to do more with one stone.
I had some plans before, but I didn’t think too carefully. "
Then he said: "I have already sent someone to notify Luoshna in the Western Regions and asked her to meet me at Yangguan and Yumen."
"Roshna's status is respected in the Western Region. The doctor ordered her to come to see her. Is there any lack of etiquette?"
This question was asked by Zhang Qian, and it was also a reminder.
He has been to the Western Regions and knows Roshna's position in the hearts of the Western Regions people.
“If a weak country has no diplomatic relations, how can it gain respect and status?
The current situation in the world is that the two great powers of Han and Xiongnu are fighting each other, and the Western Region is just a spoil for the victor. If Roshna can see the situation clearly and must choose a side to rely on, I will send someone to invite her. I predict she will come. "Huo Qubing said.
Zhang Jun already understood what Huo Qubing meant.
That's why he wanted to take Liu Qing with him. Roshna is also a woman. She took Liu Qing with her to meet him as a princess, so that he could communicate with her more easily and she was not lacking in etiquette.
In later generations this was called lady diplomacy.
Huo Qubing wanted to help the Han Dynasty open up the Western Regions and made arrangements early.
Zhang Jun asked again: "Then why did Lang Zhongling suddenly want to return to Chang'an, but what happened to Chang'an?"
