Dunhuang County in Guazhou has always been an important town in the west of the Central Plains Dynasty, and it was also the first stop for Hu merchants to enter the Central Plains Dynasty. Since the Han Dynasty opened the Silk Road, merchants from the Western Regions, Sogdia, Tocharia, Persia, Tianzhu and other places have

Many people gathered here. Some shrewd Hu merchants even settled here directly, specializing in transit business. After hundreds of years of reproduction, some Hu merchants have developed into large and prosperous families.

In the afternoon of this day, a group of more than a thousand cavalry appeared on the official road. The leader was Yang Ji, the governor of Liangzhou. He was accompanied by Li Jing, the Sima of the royal palace, who belonged to Li Datong. He was in charge of Bo Song Zhengben, and Su Quan was consulted about joining the military.

Bing Cao participated in the military history Xue Ju, Cavalry Cao participated in the military history Huaiyi, Chronicles participated in the military Li Daliang and Liu Tongren, and participated in the military Dugu Pingyun.

Compared with the assistant officers of the Liangzhou Grand Manager who belong to the imperial court, these talents can be regarded as the private team of the Wei Palace, and the thousand cavalry they brought are also the palace's personal soldiers; as for the imperial army, they are all resting at Yumen Pass in the northeast of Dunhuang County. If they conquer Yi

In our country, we only need to start from Yumen Pass.

Zhang Chuchen, Liu Rumei, Murong Xianyue and others served as Yang Ji's close bodyguards. Like ordinary soldiers, they also wore eagle-edge helmets, thin scale armor, swords at their waists, spears in their hands, and rode on horses.

, looking heroic.

Although female generals and soldiers are not allowed to appear in the army, generals in border towns actually have maids and concubines who pretend to be soldiers to accompany them. The court has always turned a blind eye to this phenomenon, as long as they are not in the army establishment

Within the family, the court generally would not care.

But after all, it is something strictly prohibited by the imperial court. Once a major national event is missed, the act of bringing women's dependents is often magnified and attacked by political opponents. Therefore, ordinary generals consciously abide by this prohibition, but some ordinary generals feel at ease.

Near Dunhuang City, the Guazhou generals who were sent to greet him were already lined up.

Seeing that Yang Ji and others slowed down, a burly and dignified-looking general came with the crowd and saluted: "Guazhou Governor, General Manager Mai Tiezhang respectfully welcomes His Highness King Wei."

Mai Tiezhang was a native of Shixing. He was brave and powerful. According to legend, he could travel five hundred miles a day and could catch up with a galloping horse. In his youth, he was rough and wild, loved making friends, and valued faith. He usually made a living by fishing and hunting.

He did not own any property. During the Taijian period of Chen Guo, he collaborated with others to become thieves. After being captured by the government, he became a servant of the court, specializing in holding an umbrella for Chen Shubao.

After leaving the court, Mai Tiezhang often walked to South Xuzhou, a hundred miles away, to steal, and the next morning he still held an umbrella for Empress Chen. So many times, even the owner recognized him, and finally reported him to Chen Shubao.

When the officials saw that Mai Tiezhang showed up as scheduled every morning, they simply did not believe that he had gone to hundreds of people every night.

He was a thief inside and out. Later, too many people accused him, so Cai Zheng, the minister, offered a reward of a hundred gold to recruit people who could send an edict to the governor of Southern Xuzhou overnight. Mai Tiezhang didn't know that this was a plan against him, so he accepted the call.

After accepting the task of delivering the edict and promptly responding the next morning, the truth came to light.

After the fall of Nanchen, Mai Tiezhang transferred to the army of General Yang Su. He fought bravely and made many military exploits. He was awarded the title of Yitong Sansi. In the 16th year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign, he used the rank of Chariot and Cavalry General to conquer the Turks in the north.

Yang Su made full use of his talents and specially assigned him to be responsible for reconnaissance. He was awarded the title of Shangkaifu for his merits.

At the beginning of the year, Yang Jian asked all over the dynasty, but no one was willing to take up a post in Guazhou, which was in a complex situation, infested with thieves and extremely dangerous. Mai Tiezhang responded and took over the job left by the former general manager He Ruohuaikuo on the grounds that he had been a thief and understood the heart of a thief.

of mess.

However, although Mai Tiezhang was quick-witted and brave in battle, he was an illiterate scholar and could not read official documents at all. He was also worried that outsiders would leak the secrets in the official documents, so he took his eldest son Mai Mengcai with him.

Be a translator.

"General Mai, please get up." Yang Ji dismounted, helped this legendary man up, and joked: "Did General Mai go to Gaochang Palace or Yanqi Palace last night?"

Mai Tiezhang laughed loudly when he heard this, and said: "The general wanted to steal Queen Yanqi as a meeting gift last night, but halfway through, the wind and sand blew the general back again. It was also in front of His Highness. I won't tell other people.

"

Everyone laughed.

After greetings, the group entered Dunhuang City.

Dunhuang City is the seat of Guazhou and the front line to defend against enemies in the west. The city has a circumference of twenty miles and the city walls are tall and wide. However, getting closer, Yang Ji found that many places were in a dilapidated state, and there were even several sections of walls.

All collapsed, and many people were digging away the ruins and re-laying the foundations of the walls.

"This is one of the messes left by He Ruohuaikuo." Seeing Yang Ji looking at the broken wall, Mai Tiezhang said with a bitter smile: "It's pretty good here. More than half of the west wall to defend against foreign enemies has collapsed. In the end, we will see

The first thought that comes to Dunhuang City is that the people are lucky.

When Guo Ruo Huaikuo was the general manager, hundreds of horse thieves attacked Dunhuang City at night, and the people didn't even have a place to take refuge. The second thought was fear, fearing that horse thieves would raid the general's lair at night, so the next day it was dark.

, and organized the people to repair the city wall."

Yang Ji smiled and said: "What can the General Manager's Office do for Guazhou?"

"The general has no big request. The only request is to expand the size of the army." Mai Tiezhang, whose little trick was exposed, said with a smile: "Guazhou is the west gate of the Sui Dynasty, and it is also the most complicated place in the Sui Dynasty. However, the Five

Thousands of garrison troops not only have to defend Tuyuhun and other countries in the Western Regions, but also shoulder

With the mission of suppressing horse thieves and rogue bandits, these five thousand people simply cannot complete the heavy task. Tuyuhun stationed 20,000 troops in Shanshan, four times as many as Guazhou; if a war breaks out, hundreds of thousands of Dunhuang people will be dragged down.

The defenders dare not even leave the city, let alone defeat the enemy."

"So?" Yang Ji asked with a smile.

Mai Tiezhang said with a smile: "So it is necessary to increase the number of troops."

"I also want to increase troops. But the imperial court also has considerations. On the one hand, the officials in the court believe that a large increase in troops will cause panic in the countries in the Western Region, which will make the west uneasy and war-torn; on the other hand, there is a very real supply problem;

It is certainly possible to transport from the mainland,

However, the journey was long and long. When a stone of rice arrived here, only three or four bushels were left. The other six or seven bushels were eaten by the grain transport team. This was considered a waste of money and people. Nowadays, in Jingping, the Western Region, many officials are content with the status quo.

They all feel that increasing the number of troops is not worth the gain."

Yang Ji said that the Central Plains Dynasty has believed in a passive defense policy since ancient times and has never thought of taking the initiative. The Han Dynasty attacked the Huns and the Sui Dynasty conquered the Turks. It seemed that they took the initiative, but in fact they were forced to use offense instead of defense, not for the purpose.

A war initiated by the annexation of the grasslands.

Once the threat is eliminated, they will retreat to engage in internal fighting, causing the good country to be in a state of panic. When the aliens rise again, they will launch another counterattack. This cycle repeats from generation to generation. If internal and external troubles and natural disasters continue, it will be a change of dynasty.

The moment comes, and then another big cycle begins.

Occasionally, one or two kings and generals who could be regarded as radical appeared, but they were suppressed by the national trend of being content with the status quo. In the end, they were unable to even go out of East Asia.

Just as Yang Ji was sighing with emotion, Mai Tiezhang, who heard the hidden meaning behind his words, smiled and said: "If His Highness has a way to persuade the imperial court to increase troops, the general will have a way to raise troops."

Yang Ji asked: "How do you raise them?"

"Fielding." Mai Tiezhang said: "The sweet spring water basin can be turned into fertile farmland, and the defenders can obtain supplies from it. Even if it is not enough, the general can use other methods to supplement it."

"Robbery and kidnapping?"

"Let His Highness see it." Mai Tiezhang saw that Yang Ji's followers were far away, so he laughed softly: "You don't know, after the general arrived in Dunhuang, he suddenly became addicted to thieves.

, only want to rob the surrounding countries... Hehe, if the troops are full,

The last general can fight horse thieves; he can also pretend to be horse thieves and rob Tuyuhun, and the countries in the Western Regions turn their land into the Sui's land, their money into the Sui's money, and their women into the Sui's female slaves.

Their men became the war slaves of the Sui Dynasty."

"Okay, Lao Mai!" Yang Ji couldn't help but look at him differently and laughed: "Heroes see the same thing."

"Are you agreeing?" Mai Tiezhang said in surprise.

"How many soldiers do you think is appropriate to increase?" It was rare to meet a guy who was full of thieves, and Yang Ji felt that he had to support him so as not to dampen his enthusiasm.

"Ten thousand more troops!" Mai Tiezhang saw Yang Ji frowning and thought it was too many, so he quickly added: "Five thousand will do, too."

"Too few." Yang Ji shook his head and said: "Tuyuhun deployed 20,000 troops in Shanshan, which seriously threatened the peace of Guazhou. I think the 20,000 troops stationed in Guazhou is very reasonable; if Tuyuhun increases his troops, it will be very reasonable for us to increase our troops accordingly.

It is reasonable. If Tuyuhun forces the whole country to station in Shanshan, he can take care of them all, and the civil servants appointed by the imperial court will not even have to fight, but can go directly to govern the plateau, which is simple and saves trouble."

Mai Tiezhang was frightened by Yang Ji's evil intentions and stammered: "Are you, are you serious?"

"Is that still false?" Yang Ji said calmly: "If we fight a war to destroy the country in Shanshan, we will save a lot of trouble."

"The truth is correct, the problem is..." Mai Tiezhang said with a wry smile: "The problem is that none of us can make the decision."

"Prince, it's okay!" Yang Ji pulled Yang Guang out without hesitation: "Prince, let us worry about it. The credit belongs to us, and he will take the responsibility if anything happens."

"Don't lie to me, will I take it seriously?" Mai Tiezhang rubbed his hands in surprise, joy and excitement.

"You are so smart, can I deceive you?"

"That's true."

"..."

Everyone saw the young and old talking and laughing, and burst into evil laughter from time to time. They were both horrified and amused, and they had no idea what they were talking about and were so happy.

Sometimes men's friendship is so simple. Two people who have never met each other quickly become good friends because they talk about a common topic.

The same is true for Yang Ji and Mai Tiezhang. The two of them have the same chemistry, and there is a strong sense of sympathy and regret for meeting each other late.

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Thank you to book friends for "Locked by Ice and Snow, Promises or Lies, Flying Pig Heads, People in the Village Can't Farm, Zhang Zeyuan, Foreigners Don't Fall in the Clouds, A Woodcutter in the Wuling Mountains, Autumn Knows When Flowers Fall, Sword Soul Platform,"

You can only love yourself, and reward those with evil thoughts.
Chapter completed!