Cutting 1719

Chapter 574 A Chance to Be King
The cold wind in September passes through the long Hexi Corridor, and it seems that people can feel this chill from Wushaoling to the ancient Yumen Pass. There are also many business travelers entering the Western Regions along the Hexi Corridor, looking for wealth gathering places.

In the hearts of Chinese people, the Western Regions will always be a place full of dangers and mysteries. As the saying goes, the Western Regions were established in the time of Xiaowu. There were 36 kingdoms, and then it was divided into more than [-] countries, all of which are west of the Xiongnu and south of Wusun.There are mountains in the north and south.There is a river in the middle, more than six thousand miles from east to west, and more than a thousand miles from north to south.The east is connected to the Han Dynasty, and the city is bounded by Yumen and Yangguan, and the west is limited to Congling.

And on this piece of land leading from the Hexi Corridor to the Western Regions, there is one place that can never be ignored - Xingxing Gorge, because this is the only place to pass from the Hexi Corridor to the Eastern Xinjiang, and it is also an extremely dangerous pass, surrounded by mountains and mountains. With overlapping peaks and dangerous rocks and cliffs on both sides, it has the momentum of "one man guards the gate, ten thousand men can't open it", so it is often the throat town of Moxi.

With the sound of horseshoes, a group of merchants were preparing to pass the inspection of the defenders on the Xingxing Gorge. After they opened all their suitcases, the next thing they could do was to wait in the cold wind and wait. This marks the end of the routine inspection, and seals a bag of reward silver.

This is just a very common scene in Xingxingxia, because many caravans pass by every month. They sell some things that can be sold or not, and they come to Moxi with the intention of making a fortune, hoping to make their own The things in his hands are sold at a high price, and the Zhungeer soldiers stationed locally will also get a share of the pie.

However, I don't know what happened, but the Zhungeer soldiers who used to never refuse to come, now began to pretend to check their luggage, and even started to check the carriages repeatedly, and searched the bodies of the caravans. After picking it up again, he looked like he was justly enforcing the law.

"My lord, we are some hard-working people. It's hard to get some goods here. You have to hold your hands high!"

A gray-haired old man plucked up the courage to go forward, and whispered in a not-so-fluent Mongolian. He had walked this road too many times, so he knew more or less some Mongolian.

But this time, the soldiers on the opposite side just looked at them coldly, and replied directly in Chinese: "We are all soldiers of General Nian, not those Mongolian Sao Tartars!"

The old man breathed a sigh of relief. In his opinion, since they are both Han Chinese, it shouldn't be too embarrassing. At that moment, his face was full of smiles, and he also changed into speaking Chinese.

"My lord, we are all fellow villagers here. Aren't the Mongol soldiers guarding the Xingxing Gorge in the past? We didn't see clearly for a while. Don't blame me if I misunderstood my lord. I don't know which lord is the leader here. ?”

While talking, a man came from behind. He was wearing cotton armor, with a waist knife slanted on his waist, and looked at everyone with disdain.

"Hmph, you all know Sao Tartars, but you don't know my master! Today I want to let you know that my master is Nian Wu, the personal guard of Nian Shuai, who came to Xingxingxia to investigate Chu's spy!"

The smile on the old man's face became brighter. He quickly turned around and took a small package from someone else, then handed it to Nian Wu, and said in a low voice: "Master Nian, we are not ignorant, please be careful with this little bit." Nian adults put it away first, the future will be long, the future will be long! Hahahaha"

Nianwu took the package handed over by the old man carelessly, weighed it in his hand for a while, then looked at the carriage of the business traveler, and saw that it was filled with some ordinary goods, so he smiled : "You guys are very knowledgeable, so I might as well tell you, luckily you met my five-year-old uncle today, otherwise, if you think about this Xingxing Gorge, it would be harder than climbing to the sky!"

The old man quickly nodded his thanks, then smiled and asked casually: "I heard that the young man is now handsome and strong, and he still has a lot of firearms under his hands. Does this mean he is going to fight back to our Ganzhou soon?"

Hearing this, Nianwu's smile faded away, but he didn't have any doubts. After all, ordinary merchants would pay attention to these things in order to profit from the chaos. Seeing that this little old man can behave, he whispered: "Hey , Don’t dare to talk nonsense, you haven’t heard that the Zhungeer frontline army has been defeated, and even the sweat is dead. These Sao Tartars used to like to show off their power in front of us. I didn’t expect this day. Anyway, you Don't leave after this trip, I don't know when the Fuhan army will call, and I will let you meet at that time, or the business will be ruined!"

It turned out that since Nian Gengyao took refuge in Zhungeer, although the two sides could maintain a good face, but after all, the Northwest Army fought with Zhungeer for a long time, and the two sides had a long-standing hatred, so privately The small frictions are also constant, especially in the eyes of the Great Khan Galdance, Nian Gengyao and the others are Han Chinese after all, so they are going to solve this problem completely after the war, but he did not expect that before the war is over, he himself Just die first.

Therefore, for the soldiers under Nian Gengyao's command, they were full of hostility towards Ning Chu, but they also had a lot of anger towards Zhungeer, and they were not very polite on weekdays. Gengyao didn't stop him either, as if he was happy to see this scene.

The old man naturally fully accepted Nianwu's kindness. He thanked him while nodding and promised to come just once. Then he moved the two Shu brocades from the carriage and left them for Nianwu, and then led the caravan all the way. After passing through the Xingxing Gorge, just before leaving, when he looked at the increasingly blurred figures of guards on the Xingxing Gorge, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

That's right, they are not the so-called business brigade, but the intelligence personnel stationed in the northwest by the Military Intelligence Department of the Fuhan Army, and his code name is Chilang. Relevant intelligence work, spying on the military mobilization information of the Jungar Khanate, so as to support the next battle in an all-round way.

"Since Nian Gengyao's troops were stationed in Hami, in order to show their sincerity, they have been handing over the defense of Xingxing Gorge to the Zhungeer people, but now they are stationed in Xingxing Gorge in the name of spying on secret agents. Factors, but we also need to beware of one thing, that is, the current Zhungeer Khanate, some things have happened that we don't know yet."

The old man looked at one of the subordinates in front of him, with a cautious expression on his face, he said softly: "Ye Xiao, this time you should focus on all the information about Hami, especially two people, one is Nian Gengyao, The other is Xiao Celing Dunduobu, let’s see what their plan is, but there is one thing, on the eve of the war, we must pay attention to the principles of intelligence work, and we must not blindly expose ourselves.”

Ye Xiao is a middle-aged man who looks to be in his 30s. He nodded solemnly and said, "This subordinate understands that the first thing to do in this trip to Hami is to stay hidden and protect yourself. If there is no important matter, don't activate the carrier pigeon." , the only way to wake up is to wait until the dawn."

In the current intelligence work principles of the Military Intelligence Department, there are several iron laws that cannot be violated. Among them, there is always a line between the lurking intelligence obtainers and the intelligence senders. They are called carrier pigeons. The carrier pigeons know the way of information transmission, but Do not know the intelligence deciphering method and the identity information of the intelligence personnel, thus ensuring the security of the intelligence.

Among them, Ye Xiao belongs to the senior lurking personnel, and naturally understands the danger inside, but fortunately, although Hami is currently stationed in the army, it has also become chaotic due to changes in the current situation. It is more suitable for a person like him to lurk to the end.

The old man was slightly silent, he had to rush to Guleza immediately, so it was impossible to stay in Hami, but the change in Nian Gengyao's department now made him somewhat uneasy, maybe this old wolf had already had another what a thought
"Yes, we can't do this anymore"

In the big camp, Nian Gengyao was wearing a dark long gown and cotton padded jacket, with a little worry in his eyes, and he looked very depressed. Beside him, a middle-aged scribe also looked worried, It was Nian Gengyao's friend Hu Qiheng, both of whom looked listless.

The reason is very simple. Since Nian Gengyao took refuge in the Zhungeer Khanate, he did not get what he wanted, and he did not really settle down. On the contrary, after the Zhungeer Khanate invaded the grassland, the situation changed. Things got worse and worse. First, Ce Wang Alabatan wanted them to be a shield against the Shaanxi-Gansu army of the Fuhan Army, and then after Ce Wang's death, he became a thorn in Galdan Ce Ling's side.

But all of this is not important, the important thing is that both of them are dead, and the Zhungeer army was also wiped out, and more importantly, the Fuhan army was brought in, this really made Nian Gengyao angry Doomed!
After all, Nian Gengyao knew his own family affairs. Although he had a so-called [-] army in his hands, these people had low morale, low fighting spirit, lack of clothing and food, and even gunpowder could not make ends meet. They even had to think about shooting, and as for other supplies in the army, there were very few of them.

Thinking of this, Nian Gengyao said angrily: "The military supplies that I wrote to the old Tatar chief earlier, I have been making excuses to delay the delivery, and they have not been allocated until this year when they are going to fight with Ning Chu. A small batch of supplies, and even sent a little Ce Ling over to monitor the old man, it is really deceiving!"

Speaking of this, Nian Gengyao sighed deeply again, and said with a sad face: "But what should we do now, the Fu-Han Army in Shaanxi and Gansu increased their troops again a few days ago, I'm afraid they will come over soon !"

As Nian Gengyao's chief strategist, Hu Qiheng felt a little bit guilty. After all, he was the one who came up with the idea of ​​murdering Yue Zhongqi and defecting to the Zhungeer Khanate, but the current strategy did not improve Nian Gengyao's situation. , On the contrary, it made the protagonist a dilemma.

"Marshal, we must not become the pawns of the Zhungeer Khanate right now, and we must not compete with the Fuhan army again, otherwise the overthrow is only in sight! We should avoid their edge and take the frontier to stand on our own!"

Hu Qiheng's face turned hard, and he said in a low voice: "Right now, it's better to rely on yourself than anyone else. Since they won't give it to you, let's just grab it!"

"Grab it? Where to grab it?"

Nian Gengyao subconsciously glanced at Hami City, then shook his head and said, "There are still 3 Zhungeer troops here. Although they are small in number, they are powerful and have all the weapons. We can deal with it, and even if we rob it, we have nowhere to go right now."

After all, there are only a few people who get involved with Nian Gengyao these days. He not only offended Ning Chu, but also offended the Dayi Army, so that no matter whether he went east to Shaanxi, Gansu or south to Qinghai-Tibet, he had become a dead end. Relying on the Zhungeer Khanate, even if it is robbed, there is nowhere to be safe.

Hu Qiheng smiled lightly, shook his head, and said in a low voice: "Khan, we are in a situation now, we can't be as obsessed as usual. If you say that the best and most should be grabbed right now is Gulza .”

Guleza, the capital of the Jungar Khanate, is also the essence of the Hexi Corridor. Caravans passing through Guleza every year will leave more wealth here, and after the development of Cewangarabutan Well, Guleza also has considerable firearms production capacity, not to mention muskets, even artillery can be produced-but right now this city is almost an empty city.

Nian Gengyao's eyes suddenly narrowed. It wasn't that he thought Hu Qiheng was joking, but that he was seriously considering this suggestion. After all, according to the current information, the Zhungeer Khanate is now in the weakest state in history.
After a long time, Nian Gengyao finally shook his head, gritted his teeth and said, "Even if Zhungeer was defeated in the front line, even if Galdan Celing was killed in battle, I'm afraid we still can't underestimate Guleza. Ten thousand people can see that since they are not in a hurry to transfer Xiao Celing back, it means that the Zhungeer people think that Gu Leza is not at risk."

Hu Qiheng smiled slightly, "That's right, according to the current situation, Gulza does have certain strength, but let's not forget that they are in the open and we are in the dark, as long as we find a suitable opportunity, we might as well give it a try— —”

"right opportunity?"

Nian Gengyao looked at Hu Qiheng suspiciously. He knew his old friend very well, and it was obvious that he had smelled something different.

A smile appeared on Hu Qiheng's face, "I heard that Little Cering has secretly gone back to Gulza once. Perhaps this time he will have something to ask for when he comes back. Your Excellency might as well respond first and wait for the situation to change."

Nian Gengyao laughed loudly, looking at the flickering lights in front of him, his worries were all gone. For him, as long as he can maintain the tens of thousands of troops, there is nothing in the world that he cannot sell, whether it is The Qing Dynasty or the Zhungeer Khanate will also become his stepping stones.

"Maybe in the future, if I have a chance, I can be a king or something."

(End of this chapter)