Tuoba Xi squinted his eyes and lay on the soft mattress. In front of him, Mrs. Ruyi's soft body was dancing lightly. This woman was also very favored by him, but his mind was not on the woman at this time. He was thinking about the bags of yellow gold sand on the banks of the Liusha River. He had sent people to explore several times these days. The amount of gold was paid by the Liusha River. It is said that the best time I found fifty kilograms of gold in one day. People in Hexi all searched for gold on the south bank, and some sporadic herders were searching for gold on the north bank, but the army on the south bank did not interfere.

It's like watching flowers in the fog. Tuoba Xi seems to see some hope, but this hope is not clear. Can you also go to the North Bank to hunt for gold?

Tuoba Xi has been considering this issue for a long time. To be precise, Liusha River does not belong to Wuwei County. According to the understanding reached between the Tang and the Turkish people, this Liusha River should be owned by the Tubo people, and the Hexi people just took the lead in climbing.

It was like a thief stealing something in someone else's yard while another thief was unwilling to accept it. Tuoba Xi always felt that he should get a share of the pie, but he was timid and never had the courage to fight against Tang Jun.

After dancing for a while, Mrs. Ruyi found that Tuoba Xi was not looking at her and she was not enthusiastic anymore. She walked up, poured a glass of wine and handed it to him and smiled: "The king has been worried these two days, what are you thinking?"

Tuoba Xi pinched her cheek and smiled maliciously: "Of course I'm thinking of you."

Mrs. Ruyi smiled charmingly. She fell softly in Tuoba Xi's arms, gently touching his drum-like belly, and said with a smile: "I am already your woman, what else do you have to think about? I think you are thinking about the gold of Liusha River! Otherwise, how could your eyes shine like that."

Tuoba Xi was stunned. The woman's eyes were poisonous. He took a sip of wine and sighed slightly, "Why wouldn't I want to? The land here is barren and we can't raise more cattle and sheep. Now we all rely on eating a little bit of money to live. We wanted to trade in the Western Regions, but the Tubo people did not give us face. We were only allowed to transit once a year. Sooner or later, we would have to part with each other. So I was thinking that gold digging is a good way. Since the people of Hexi are rushing gold on the south bank of the Liusha River, we will be on the north bank, but I was worried that they would not, so I felt bored."

Mrs. Ruyi smiled calmly and asked again: "What should the king do?"

"I originally wanted to give a hundred beautiful women and a thousand sheep to Zhang Huan, Hexi, and ask him to promise us to hunt gold on the north bank, but I also felt that this seemed to be a scam with the tiger, and he was unlikely to agree."

At this time, Mrs. Ruyi's eyes rolled. She thought of Tuoba Qianli asking her to encourage the king to be enemies with Zhang Huan. Isn't this an opportunity? She poured Tuoba Xi's goat horn cup full of wine and said with a smile: "I have a way to let the king share the golden sand of the Liusha River."

"Oh!" Tuoba Xi sat up suddenly, hugged Mrs. Ruyi and said eagerly: "My beauty, please tell me, what's the solution?"

"It's very simple. You send troops to capture all the gold diggers first, and then negotiate terms with Zhang Huan. I think he has to worry about these hostages, and the Tubo people are eyeing you, and he doesn't dare to really fight with you. In the end, you two families reach a reconciliation. Isn't it enough? Is it necessary to send women and sheep?"

Tuoba Xi stayed for a while. This was indeed a good idea, but it involved the issue of sending troops and had to discuss it with several other families. He was so happy that he kissed the woman on his body, and laughed: "Women also want to send her during negotiations, so I will send you out."

Mrs. Ruyi grabbed his beard and smiled cutely: "You old and indecent guy, if you dare to send me, I will pluck all of your old miscellaneous hairs."

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One night three days later, the moonlight was bright, and drums came from far away from Yanran's small town, intermittently, as if some ritual was being performed. Let's cut our perspective into the small town to see what happened. In a clearing in the small town, the witch disheveled her hair, wearing a colorful uniform, holding a sheep in her hand, walking slowly under the moonlight. She sometimes leaned down on the ground, worshiping the moon god devoutly, and sometimes raised her head and made a strange smile at the moon god, but the sheep in her hand had never been loose. This was a divination question before the Dangxiang people sent troops. At night, she led the sheep to pray to the moon god, and killed the sheep to distinguish good and bad luck.

In a large tent a hundred steps behind her, she was brightly lit. Seven nobles gathered together to discuss the operation and the future of the Xidangxiang people. Everyone looked serious. Tuoba Xi's narrative made them feel the severity of the situation. The Western Regions trade, which had high hopes, became unrealistic. The war in the Western Regions was chaotic, and the huge caravan was easily seen by various forces. The leadership of troops was not allowed by various countries. In this way, the hope of trade was cut off, but if they did not find a way to survive as soon as possible, they would all perish sooner or later.

Tuoba Xi advocated the struggle to get to the north bank of Liusha River and survive by rushing gold, but did not receive a warm response from everyone. The other six people were speechless. Everyone was thinking about their own thoughts. Among them, they had hopes to go north to rely on the Uighurs, they also wanted to return to the Songfan ancestral land to live a primitive life of slash-and-burn farming, and they also wanted to return to Yinchuan County to make peace with Yeliping, while Tuoba Qianli advocated concentrating all their troops to attack Weiwu County and breaking out a world in Hexi as soon as possible.

With a "bang", Tuoba Qianli punched the table hard. He glanced at everyone with a sharp look and said in a deep voice: "I don't think everyone has seen the real serious situation. It's almost July, and it's past the birth period of livestock. I don't know how many lambs you have on your hands, but I only have fifty-seven heads on my hands. If I don't find a place to survive as soon as possible, even if I survive this year, what about next spring? How many ewes will we have left in our hands, the epidemic, and where will salt and tea come from? Even if we are more conservative, at this time next year, there will be less than half of our 50,000 people."

Speaking of this, he took a deep breath and said, "This is still the case with no foreign enemies, but will there really be no foreign enemies? When the Yellow River is frozen in winter, will Ye Liping take the opportunity to cross the river to destroy us? By then, people's morale are disintegrating, how should we resist?"

"That's why I said I should use gold digging to accumulate wealth." Tuoba Xi stood up and interrupted his son coldly. He knew what Tuoba Qianli would say next, but that was something he would never agree to. He walked behind several other nobles, pressed his shoulders, and comforted them: "With gold, we can go to the Han people to buy the food and weapons we need, and go to the Huihe people to buy horses. In this way, even in the cold winter, we can survive this winter. As long as we have food, war horses, and weapons, we can even kill back to Yinchuan County and kill the Yeli tribe. But no matter what, we have money, that is, gold, do you understand?"

His idea of ​​returning to Yinchuan County was finally approved by everyone. Everyone spoke and agreed. The scene began to become enthusiastic. He gradually agreed with his idea of ​​sneaking into the golden pickers in Hexi in exchange for the north bank of the Liusha River.

But Tuoba Qianli, who was standing aside, sneered. This was a group of extremely stupid nobles. They had no long-term vision and could not see the situation in the Helong area. They sent troops to Hexi just to be able to hunt gold in a small gold sand mine, but gave up the vast and fertile Hexi. If they really attacked Liusha River, how could Zhang Huan stop working?

But Tuoba Qianli did not object. He sent troops to Hexi. This was what he hoped to see. The Xidangxiang people had no future at the foot of the barren Helan Mountains, or they would gradually decline and perish at the end of their journey. Since they were going to send troops to seize gold, they would occupy Hexi and let the Xidangxiang people be reborn. Since his father was going to foolishly provoke trouble, let the war come more fiercely!

The witch outside the tent had completed the divination. She led the sheep into a small tent, but she would not come out tomorrow morning. At this time, the discussion in the tent came to an end.

Tuoba Xi coughed and signaled everyone to calm down. He said, "Since everyone has no objection to the Liushahe army, then decide the share of the troops sent this time. Uncle Ming Er, you start first! How many soldiers can you take out?"

His father's words suddenly made Tuoba Qianli's thoughts gather up suddenly. At the critical moment, he must get the leadership of this military service. Uncle Ming Er is an old nobleman in his sixties. He has a thousand slaves, about 5,000 people, and has a thousand cavalry. This is his last little capital. How could he take it out? When he saw the king asking himself first, he smiled awkwardly and said, "I am willing to send troops, but many of the soldiers are sick. I don't know how many people are available. Let me think about it carefully. Then you talk first, you talk first!"

"Why don't I do it first!" Tuoba Qianli stood up and whispered: "I have three thousand troops in my hand, I can take them all out."

The elderly aristocrat Tuoba Ming saw that Tuoba Qianli had become a sucker, so he quickly smiled at Tuoba and said, "Since Qianli is willing to send 3,000 troops, then the other five of us will each send another 300 troops, and the king will send 500 troops. This will make the whole army full. How can the king think?"

Seeing that his son wanted to take the lead, Tuoba Xi knew that he wanted to take this opportunity to establish authority. After thinking about it, he nodded and said, "Since Qianli sent three thousand troops, the commander who sent troops this time will be Qianli, and General Tuoba Baili served as the deputy general. Do you have any objections?"

The five of them looked at each other and agreed in unison, "No objection!"

The next morning, the witch finished praying and began to kill the sheep and ask for good luck. The sheep had no blood in their hearts and spleen and intestines were unobstructed. This was a sign of great luck. The two thousand Dangxiang cavalry and the three thousand infantry rushed towards the Liusha River under the leadership of the second prince Tuoba Qianli.

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In Wuwei County, the summer harvest has gradually ended. As the war between Tubo and Uighurs for Anxi is coming to an end, the possibility of the Tubo people attacking Wuwei is increasing day by day. The atmosphere in Wuwei City has begun to become tense. The soldiers have stepped up their training, and the craftsmen have rushed to make weapons and bows and arrows day and night. Pei Jun sent a ship to send a batch of pig iron in mid-June, which has greatly benefited the preparations for Wuwei County.

That night, in a huge arrow workshop south of Wuwei City, Zhang Huan was inspecting the blacksmiths to make crossbow arrows. It was hot summer, and the temperature in the workshop was frighteningly high. Piles of iron were thrown into the furnace. The red iron water flowed out through the grooves at the other end of the furnace and flowed into molds of various arrow shapes. The mold was then put on the belt by the craftsmen. As the wooden wheels were twisted, the mold on the belt was sent into the water to cool and sent to the hands of various waiting craftsmen.

All the processes were busy and orderly. One hundred blacksmiths and hundreds of mates worked in this huge workshop. The sound of jinglings resounded. The bronze backs, black oily tendons, beads of sweat the size of beans, and red molten iron interwoven into a spectacular picture of assembly line.

Dozens of carriages were parked outside the workshop. When baskets of sharp arrows were lifted onto the carriage, the carriage immediately sent it to another crossbow workshop to install arrow rods and feathers.

"How much can arrows do every day?" Zhang Huan asked a young official. This official was one of the first dozen scholars to come to Wuwei. He is now in charge of the Xiliang Army and is responsible for supervising and managing the production of bows and arrows. After several months of military training, their skin has turned from being white and dark and rough when they first came. The scholarly aura on their body has gradually been washed away, and they are full of decisiveness and confidence that a soldier is unique to them.

"Report to the governor, can you make ten thousand arrows per day on average?"

Zhang Huan nodded, and asked with interest: "Then how do you manage it? I mean how you calculate their wages and prevent bad products."

"The subordinates asked the blacksmith to engrave their own name on each arrow and give each of them a bamboo basket, so that the money can be calculated according to their respective quantity, and the responsible person can be tracked down based on the name on the arrow."

Zhang Huan smiled, picked up an arrow casually, put it in his hand and looked carefully. It was a long ridge-shaped armored arrow with a blood groove on the edge, polished extremely smoothly and sharply. There were two small words engraved on the edge: "Cao Er", which is the name of the blacksmith.

"Good! You did a good job." Zhang Huan patted the young official on the shoulder with approval, "How is the situation on the crossbow?"

"Report to the governor, the situation is not bad there. He can make a thousand military crossbows a day, but his subordinates are considering making some continuous crossbows. Now there is a Zhuge crossbow with "one crossbow and ten arrows". But can he create a continuous crossbow with "one crossbow and a hundred arrows"? Put it on a chariot, this will be a powerful weapon to deal with Hu cavalry, and even poison can be applied, and some firearms to deal with war horses. Whether gunpowder can be used is also considered."

While listening carefully, Zhang Huan lowered his head and thought. When he finished speaking, Zhang Huan asked, "What's your name? Where are you from?"

"My subordinate is named Song Qi, from Chang'an."

Zhang Huan smiled slightly and immediately said to the Sima Luo Guangzheng, a marching army of the Xiliang army who accompanied him to inspect: "I have been considering establishing the Ordnance Office, and it can be officially established now."

He pointed to the young man named Song Qi and said, "This person is the first official of the Xiliang Army Ordnance Office."

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After leaving the workshop, it was already dark. Zhang Huan, under the escort of dozens of personal soldiers, walked slowly along the street towards the Governor's Office. Now the Xiliang Army has slowly gotten on track in many aspects. The land problem has been solved, and the grain has been harvested, which has stabilized the people and increased the number of troops. The construction of Xibao will be completed, which has greatly improved the defense capabilities.

However, the land area is small and the population is insufficient, which is the biggest constraint of his development. How to obtain more land and population has always been his great efforts, but he cannot develop into Longyou, which has a large population. Once the stable situation in the Helong area that he finally obtained is broken, he will lose the opportunity for development and can only develop to the west.

Zhang Huan couldn't help but think of Pei Mingyuan. He should have arrived at Han'er Duobali at this moment. I don't know if he could fulfill his instructions. If he could successfully join forces with the Uighurs, it would greatly shorten the time for him to seize the entire Hexi territory. Moreover, Pei Jun's letter also said that the Uighurs's proposal was coming, expressing that the Uighurs wanted to reconcile with the Tang Dynasty again. The court also accepted the Uighurs' proposal and sent the successor King Teng Li Zhanran as the wedding envoy to escort Princess Xian'an to marry the Uighurs and enthroned the Uighurs Khan.

This will be his own opportunity, but opportunities are always accompanied by crises. Zhang Huan had a strong premonition about the threats of the Tubo people. Just before this autumn, Tubo will definitely launch a military operation against Wuwei County.

Zhang Huan was walking slowly while thinking. The Governor's Office, which was lighted in front of him, was already faintly visible. Suddenly, a commotion occurred on the street. A personal soldier pointed to the distance and shouted: "Governor, look, beacon!"

Zhang Huan looked up at Wushaoling and saw that the flames soared into the sky on the dark Wushaoling, which was particularly dazzling in the dark night. It was the alarm of the beacon tower. Twenty miles ahead, a bright fire as big as a bean was burning.

Zhang Huan's heart suddenly tightened, and the beacon fire in Wushaoling was ignited, which means that something happened in Xibao and the Tubo people came.
Chapter completed!