end song

Chapter 790 The Huns
At dusk, Yeluzhu looked up, and saw the sky was full of snow, and the grassland was desolate.

This is not a good time to go out, the horses will lose weight in the cold winter.

But the opportunity to fight is fleeting, so don't miss it. The soldiers and horses of this western expedition still rushed to Hexi in the winter moon.

Marching to Jiuyuan City on this day, the army camped.

Yeluzhu looked at the sunset in the sky, and murmured: "Wandering thousands of miles away, the geese come back in two lines."

In fact, I haven't seen any geese return yet, and wild geese usually don't return north until spring.

This poem is not suitable for the scene.

Yeluzhu just thought of his long-lost sons and hoped for their return.

Of course, he not only has those three sons, he has seven wives and more than ten sons.Among the wives, Chitieji was rewarded by Empress Mazhen, and it was not beneficial to his official career.

If it is beneficial to his official career, he also married a younger sister of Tacha'er two years ago, and he and Li Fen are considered brothers-in-law.

From this point of view, Yeluzhu seems to be a person who is obsessed with official career...but he is not.

It's not that he is obsessed with his official career, but because of his background, fame, and talent, all the families want to marry him.

Even though he was from Khitan, with Yelu and his son's three-generation experience in assisting the Jin family, he was naturally sought after and wooed by many princes and nobles.

Yeluzhu's status was much higher than that of ordinary Han officials.

This made him at odds with Han officials. Although he inherited his father's idea of ​​"ruling the country with Confucianism" and tended to implement Han law, he could not actually get close to Han officials.

Therefore, he maintained a detached attitude and was not active in his official career.

This time, if it wasn't for his children, he wouldn't have gone out with the army.

Before the expedition, Kublai Khan said, "Prime Minister Yelu is going to the expedition, there is no possibility of failure in this battle", which shows his trust in Yelu's talent.

It was only this day that they set up camp, and Hedan immediately asked Yeluzhu to discuss the military situation.

……

Jiuyuan City is located in the Hetao Plain, in the middle of the horizontal line above the "Ji" shape of the Yellow River.

When Genghis Khan went on an expedition, Alahai, the princess of Jianguo, was stationed in Jiuyuan City.

This place is also known as "Deer City". When Genghis Khan saw a deer while hunting here, he named it "Baotou" because "Baoketu" means "a place with deer" in Mongolian.

The Jiuyuan City built by King Zhao Wuling was the earliest city. The earthen city wall was built against the mountain and now it has already collapsed. The Mongolians did not repair it, but only set up large tents in the city.

Hedan's big tent is the current king's tent, which was the residence of the Princess Jianguo back then.

Yeluzhu entered the tent, only to feel that the tent was as warm as spring.

He stepped on the soft and thick carpet, saluted and said: "I have seen King Zong."

"Prime Minister Yelu, sit down and have a drink, it's really cold."

He Dan was holding a wine glass, calling Yeluzhu to sit down.

He was Kublai Khan's cousin, who was 50 years old at the time, wearing a thick robe and fur hat, and looked very easy to get along with.

Hedan is the sixth son of Wo Kuotai, the concubine.This easy-going temperament in him is because of his status as a bastard.

There are six empresses in Wo Kuotai, and these six empresses can be regarded as the sons of the sons when they give birth to children, but there are only four sons in total, and there are three more sons. The six sons Hedan and the seven sons Mieli were left behind.

Both brothers Hedan and Mieli participated in the eldest son's Western Expedition.

It was a massive Western Expedition, and the most outstanding sons of the Golden Family participated, including Batu, Bie Erge, Meng Ge... and Okuotai's eldest son Guiyou.

The kings led their troops to the west, destroyed the countries, attacked the cities and uprooted the land, and they were invincible.

That is to say, during this Western Expedition, Guiyou publicly insulted Batu, which paved the way for his death on the way to conquer Batu, and also paved the way for Batu to help Meng Ge ascend the throne of Khan.

After the Western Expedition, Guiyou became the Great Khan, but he completely looked down on his two younger brothers and did not give him any fiefs.

From then on, He Dan and Mie Li have already turned to Tuo Lei's line and supported Meng Ge's leadership.Meng Ge also reciprocated, and dismantled Wo Kuotai's territory and distributed it to them, and Hedan was divided into Bieshabali.

After Meng Ge's death, Ali Buge's family got the news in advance, which cut off the news of Biesha Bali and the Central Plains, so that He Dan could not contact Kublai Khan for a while.

But after Hedan heard the news, he resolutely chose to lead the army to support Kublai Khan.

This is the second time he has made a choice in the battle for the Khan position, and he firmly believes that it is right...

Now Kublai Khan ordered Hedan to lead [-] soldiers and horses from Kaiping to attack Li Xia from the west, and these soldiers and horses were originally planning to conquer the territory of Brother Alibu in the north. It can be seen that there is not much time for this battle.

Kublai Khan obviously hoped to destroy Li Xia as soon as possible, and then quickly return to the north.

He Dan understands this strategic intention.

"The Great Khan hopes to end this battle in the spring. Maybe we should march faster. The prime minister said, how should we go?"

Yeluzhu said: "After arriving at Jiuyuan City, we have two choices. One is to arrive at Lanzhou along the Yellow River and attack Longxi; the other is to go south and take the Qin Zhidao."

There is a crude map in the tent, but Yeluzhu knows the mountains and rivers well without a map.

"The advantage of walking along the Yellow River is that the whole way is the Hetao Plain. The road is easy to travel, and you can get supplies in Xingqing Mansion. The news we got two days ago is that Li Xia has captured Liangzhou. We rushed there just to cut off Li Xia. The way home..."

At this point, Yeluzhu pondered for a while, and said, "However, the situation in Hexi may change within a few days."

He Dan asked: "The sons of my second elder brother Kuo Duan dislike even cattle and dogs, and they can't stop Li Xia... Is this what the prime minister means?"

He has no respect for Kuo Duan, because his direct brothers have always excluded him.

Yeluzhu nodded slowly, and talked about Qin Zhidao again.

"Jiuyuan City is the end point of the Qin Zhidao. From here, go straight south, pass through Ansai, Ganquan, Fuxian, Huangling, etc., and you can go straight to Chang'an."

He clicked on Yan'an Mansion on the map, which is the Huangling he mentioned.

"Yang Dayuan is now confronting Zhang Jue here. The terrain here is loess and high mountains, and it is difficult to defeat him. If we go this way, the advantage is that we can take advantage of the emptiness in Guanzhong and go straight to Li Xia's hinterland. But..."

He Dan said again: "But the road is not easy to walk, and the Yan'an Mansion is not easy to break through, so we may not be able to kill it? We will have to go back at that time."

"That's the truth."

"Which way do you think the prime minister should go?"

"..."

We are discussing here, and a messenger has arrived in the middle of the snowy night.

"Prince Zong and Prime Minister are the news from Xingqing Mansion."

"Come in and talk."

Hedan let the courier enter the account, and rewarded him with a cup of hot wine to warm up, took a look at the letter written in Uighur-style Mongolian, and handed it to Yeluzhu.

"Zhang Wenqian of Xixia, the province of Zhongshu Zuocheng, urgently reported that the enemy thief Li Xia captured Yongchang, Ganzhou, Suzhou, Shazhou and other places within ten days, beheaded the king of Yongchang, the king of Ganzhou, and captured the three queens of Kuteni..."

Yeluzhu saw it, and said: "The news can arrive so quickly, it must be because Li Xia deliberately let Zhang Wenqian know, this is a deterrent tactic."

If it were a Hanchen, he would definitely turn pale with shock, but Hedan and Yeluzhu didn't.

They have been in Harahelin for a long time, and they know the Mongolian kings better, and they know that Kuo Duan's son is not outstanding.

It is precisely because Wo Kuotai's direct lineage is in full decline that He Dan chooses to firmly support the Tuo Lei family. How can he have expectations for Kuo Duan's sons?
As for the capture of the three queens, he didn't care even more.

According to Mongolian customs, sons have to adopt even their father's concubines, so who cares about these?Kuo Duan's mother is in her seventies, how long can she live?
On the contrary, He Dan thought it was a good opportunity, and said, "Li Xia is still in Hexi, the Prime Minister said what should we do?"

Yeluzhu said: "It can be calculated that his force does not exceed 2. We will go to the Yellow River, pass through Xingqing Mansion, and first surround Liangzhou. We can try to annihilate Li Xia. If there is any change, we can regain Lanzhou, station in Lanzhou, attack Gong Chang."

"There will be no such accident. Our [-] cavalry will rush at the wild dogs like a pack of wolves." He Dan said with emotion: "The greedy wild dogs have forgotten the danger around them."

……

That night, Yeluzhu left Hedan's big tent, already full of confidence in this battle.

In his view, Brother Ali and Li Xia are just like the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion in the Han Dynasty, and he and Hedan are like Zhou Yafu leading 36 generals to crusade.

The only thing I don't know is what is going on with my son living in the Western Regions. For example, Zhaojun is out of the fortress, and there is no news of him...

"The envoy of the Han Dynasty replied with a message, the 36 generals of the Han family. I advise you not to talk about the matter of being a marquis, and you are sad and don't want to hear it."

(End of this chapter)