Great Han Empire

Chapter 373

"The Journey to the West"

Author: Scarlet Coral
Chapter 8 Destroying the Plan to Settle Kucha
The big Han iron cavalry ran over the [-] coalition army like a shattered one, which not only frightened Baiying, the King of Kucha, but also made other small countries in the surrounding area feel the terror of Tianwei.Therefore, when it was heard that the Han soldiers had entered Nanhe City, the capital of Yanqi without bloodshed, Weili and Weixu surrendered immediately. The monarchs of Weitou, Wensu, and Gumo, who are closer to here, gathered in Tagan, the King City of Kucha, and wanted to discuss a charter with the King of Kucha.After dismissing everyone in the palace, there were only four kings left in the huge palace of King Kucha.The three of them exchanged a few words, then went straight to the point, asking Baiying how to deal with the situation.

"What do you still ask me? Bless the Buddha, I will not resist anymore. I would rather become a monk and give them whatever they want!" Bai Ying fell into an extremely unstable state after fleeing back. , chanting scriptures and worshiping Buddha all day long, but he didn't even pay attention to the arrival of the other three kings.After leaving this sentence, Baiying stopped talking, closed her eyes and began to recite Buddhist scriptures.

Several kings looked at the actions of the most powerful king in the Western Regions, and their hearts were full of contempt. Even if the big man is a heavenly soldier and general, there are only 1 people. If you hadn't fled the battle, the victory of Beishan is still unknown. .After losing tens of thousands of people and returning to the country, he just wanted to escape to the Samana to avoid disaster. What else can he say about the demeanor of a king?King Gumo cleared his throat, and said: "It seems that King Baiying is not in good health today, and I don't want to disturb you too much, but the war is peace, there must be a regulation. I heard that the big man is in Nanhe City, but Yan Qi who surrendered The entire royal family has been demoted to common people, and even Weili and Weixu's land subjects have been reduced by more than half. If we surrender like this, will our loss be too great?"

"That's not true. If you follow the old man's behavior, being a vassal is not a big deal. Even if the Western Regions Governor wants to make offerings, it's just a drop in the bucket, but now the big man wants to take away our land and people like this. It's too cruel. Point." King Wensu said bitterly, "If we are forced to panic and close the gates of the city, we will each have more than ten thousand men and horses. If we can't fight in the field, we can defend the city head office, right? In addition, we will watch and help each other, the big man What can I do?"

King Weitou echoed a few words, sighed and said in a low voice: "It's a pity that King Kucha has no intention of leading the fight against the Han. Otherwise, since his city is huge and strong, with sufficient food, and there are 1 people in the city, I'm afraid that he will be a mere Han." Thousands of people?"

King Wen Su glanced at Bai Ying who was still shaking her head in the distance, suddenly his eyes lit up, and secretly cut the other two with a knife. King Gu Mo quickly grabbed him, and said loudly: "Since the king has no orders , Xiao Wang and the others will resign, and come to visit the king some other day."

After the three of them exited the hall, they opened a secret door on the side wall of the hall, and a [-]-year-old boy and an old monk walked out from inside.The young man stared at Baiying on the throne for a long while with saddened, disappointed and caring eyes, then grabbed the old monk and said, "National teacher, my father is no longer able to take charge of the affairs. And those dog kings even came to plot against me, Kucha. Surrounded by such powerful enemies, what should I do?"

The face of the old monk was unwavering, and he clasped his hands together; "His Royal Highness, 'There is no image of self, image of no one, image of living beings, image of lifeless', all things in the world are just names and images. Your Highness, as long as you always read this 'four "Sentence verse', you can always keep the Lingtai clear, instead of being taken advantage of by foreign demons like the king."

"Hechou has been taught, but the current situation..."

"Your Highness is worried about three things. One is the great man, the other is the great king, and the third is the three rulers of Weitou, Wensu, and Gumo. This matter is difficult to say, but easy to say. In 'Four Sentences'." Seeing the bewildered expression on the young man's face named Bai Hechou, the old monk went on to say, "The poor monk once heard that the Great Han Kingdom in the East is a kingdom of the heavens. Rules, etiquette, and rich products are far from comparable to other countries in the Western Regions. The prince has read a lot of books since he was a child, and he is proficient in Chinese. Naturally, he knows more about the affairs of the great man than the poor monk. If His Highness can leave the foundation of the king of Kucha and devote himself to the great man, he will be a great man. Benevolence, the hundred thousand souls here are all saved by His Highness. After giving up the throne, the king can escape to the Shamen according to his words, and light lamps to worship Buddha day and night. It is also a blessing. As for the three kings, although they carry With two thousand guards, as long as His Highness sacrifices his life, will the big man just sit back and watch these villains?"

Bai Hechou heard this, and hurriedly bowed down, "The words of the national teacher are really enlightening. If I am a royal family in Kucha, if I can't sacrifice my life for the 10,000+ people in Kucha, what face will I have to be king? What face will I have for my Buddha?" ? Baihe is anxious to give up his ancestors' foundation as a gift, and ask the big man to relieve this disaster for the people of Kucha, and ask the national teacher to help me."

The old monk finally showed a smile on his face: "That's good, 'Bodhisattva Mahasattva seeks to benefit and benefit all sentient beings, so he seeks the supreme Bodhi." Nian, the poor monk should do his service. The poor monk has a disciple who is going to place an order in Nanhe City, so please ask His Highness to write a letter and attach a token, and the poor monk will think about it."

At noon three days later, the kings of Weitou, Wensu, and Gumo asked to enter the palace under the pretext of visiting Baiying, King of Kucha. After being rejected by the guards of Kucha, they brazenly led two thousand guards to force their way into the palace.Kucha had been in peace for a long time, and the guards at the palace gate were mostly smug, but under the surprise attack, they collapsed at the first touch, allowing the army of the Three Kings to easily occupy the palace gate.Fortunately, the crown prince Bai Hechou was prepared and laid down hundreds of guards inside the palace gate, waiting for the rebel army to enter the inner road of the palace, intercepting and killing them from all sides.The three kings were greedy for profit, and seeing the chaotic situation, they simply shot down the subordinates rushing forward and the Kucha guards with a burst of arrows. After stabilizing the situation, they took advantage of the number of people and gradually gained the upper hand.However, most of the guards of Kucha in Gancheng were bribed by the three kings in advance, and when they saw the sound of killing from the palace, no one came to rescue them.

Bai Hechou wields a painted halberd painted in square sky, dressed in white and armor, and is unparalleled in bravery.He led a few guards out of the secret door, forced his way forward, and almost killed the three kings, but in a blink of an eye, he was surrounded by the enemy's superior forces and could not move forward.Seeing that the surprise attack was unsuccessful, Bai He had no choice but to lead the crowd back, dashing from left to right and killing right, breaking through the encirclement, and finally retreated to the gate of the inner hall.In the inner hall, the imperial guards used sandbags to build fortifications at the gate of the hall. Bai Hechou, whose white robe was stained blood red, pointed at his canthus, shouted angrily at the surrounding enemy troops: "Your Majesty, I am tormenting you!" I have always been kind to you, how could you do such an ungrateful thing today!"

King Gumo was wearing a golden armor, and he was full of spirits. Seeing that the overall situation was settled, he refused to admit defeat: "You rebellious son, you put the king under house arrest, are you thinking of tying up the old man and surrendering to the big man? Fortunately, we saw through it. Today we are going to replace Bai King Yingda cleans up the house."

King Wensu was even more arrogant. He ran to the front of the formation, raised his sword and shouted: "What nonsense are you talking to him! Robbery for three days! Kill!"

"Oh! Oh! Go in! Steal money! Grab food! Steal women!" Many of the Three Kings' Army were desperadoes bought with a lot of money. They robbed caravans in the desert on weekdays, murdered and robbed goods, and committed all kinds of crimes.Now when he hears a big reward, he is like a fly seeing blood and a wolf seeing meat, beating on weapons, grinding his teeth, drooling, and clamoring loudly.

Seeing that his own words raised the morale of his side, King Wensu was very proud, and smiled at the other two kings: "You two kings, let the younger brother take the lead..." Halfway through the speech, he stopped abruptly, only to see A slender feathered arrow pierced his wide open mouth and came out from the back of his head.King Wen Su's throat moved a few times, but finally he didn't make any sound, staggered a few steps back, and fell limp to the ground.Everyone stared blankly at this scene, and they all fell silent. In the square in front of the hall, which was still extremely noisy just now, there was a moment of comical calm.

"There are enemies behind you!" King Gumo was the first to react, and turned around to see a group of cavalry appeared a dozen feet behind him. The bow is strung. "Turn around! Turn around and meet the enemy!" Before everyone erected their shields to defend, the first wave of terrifying salvos had arrived—the power of the armor-piercing cones almost directly connected the first two rows of densely lined soldiers together.What made everyone more terrified than the sharp piercing sound of armor-piercing cones was the sound of rumbling horseshoes coming from behind the team of archers.

The iron cavalry of the big man passed through the formation of the Three Kings with almost no barriers. For the convenience of street fighting, the Three Kings ordered their men to only equip light armor, knives, bows and small shields. There is no resistance.King Gumo turned and fled. He didn't take a few steps, but felt his body lighten up. The next moment, he saw Han Jiang's flying sword and his headless body behind him.

In the evening, the leading general Gao Shun led the main force of the Changshui battalion into Hegancheng.

Looking at the majestic buildings, gorgeous sculptures, wide streets, numerous pagodas and the huge city size of the King City of Kucha, all the soldiers were amazed.Army Sima Hao Zhao exclaimed: "I heard that this city used to be the seat of the capital of the Western Regions, and it was the largest city in the Western Regions. I didn't expect it to be so grand. Although it is an exotic scenery, it is almost as gorgeous as the two capitals (Chang'an, Luoyang) !"

"Hehe, young people really haven't seen the world." Gao Shun said with a smile, "Chang'an and Luoyang's scenery in the old days can't be compared with this city. It's just that the two capitals have experienced wars for a long time, so they are not as good as before. After ZTE, the emperor cherishes the power of the people. , just minor repairs, no major construction work."

Liu Tan pointed his horsewhip at the crowds of people on both sides of the street looking at the lively people in Kucha, and said disdainfully, "Your Excellency's words are very true. I believe that the most important thing to build a country is people! No matter how magnificent the building is, If a city is not guarded by a good army and loyal people, it will be like a naked beauty, provoking evil people to spy on it for no reason. For example, in today's battle, the three kings have only two thousand people, and they dare to seize one hundred thousand It's ridiculous that the people of Kucha are so weak." All the generals laughed when they heard this.Gao Shun was thoughtful: The young people around him are all the generation who grew up in the flames of war, and their common characteristics are pride, belligerence, and optimism.After the resurgence of the dynasty, the emperor on the one hand recuperated, on the other hand he also tried his best to practice martial arts. The whole court and the public exuded a vigorous heroic spirit, just like the emperor Xiaowu of the previous dynasty!Today's big man is really different from the precarious country when he was young.

In the afternoon, the pioneers of Changshuiying, the second flying wing team, and the cavalry team directly under Gao Shun, who entered the city first to quell the chaos, had a total of 2000 horses. At this time, they had completely controlled the situation in the city.The palace, barracks, warehouses, city gates and even the main streets are all firmly in the hands of the Han army, and the temporary camp of the Han army is built next to the palace of Kucha.When the army arrived near the palace, they entered the requisitioned houses and stationed there. After the generals arranged the troops properly, they followed Gao Shun into the camp.

The Dahan barracks was brightly lit by tallow candles, but Bai Hechou lay prostrate on the ground, but couldn't feel any light.The battle in the afternoon allowed him to confirm the force of the great man once again: the "Asura" who were called "Asura" by the remaining soldiers of the Beishan War, slaughtered the two thousand desperadoes of the Three Kings with just a few simple back and forth charges.The great power of the Han army had penetrated into the bones of the Kucha people present, so that when the leading Han general came up to say hello, the warriors under his command were so frightened that they couldn't even hold their weapons.No wonder my father couldn't resist such an enemy!But now that I have decided to give up the royal family and wealth, I have nothing to be afraid of.

"The next one is Baihe, the prince of Qiuci. His father is seriously ill and cannot come to see the angel of Shangbang. Please ask the angel to forgive him. What happened today, everyone in Qiuci feels deeply about the great man!"

Gao Shun looked at the young man in front of him, covered in blood and wounds in many places, but his eyes were still clear and clear. He admired him and comforted him: "The prince does not need to be polite, this is the job of the general. I heard that the prince intends to Our army is also very happy to entrust the whole country of Kucha to the big man. I wonder if the crown prince has any request for this matter?"

"Hechou has no demands. My Bai family has no virtue and cannot protect Kucha. Now I just beg for my life. I just hope that the big man will be sympathetic to the people of Kucha and avoid additional swords and plunder. In this way, the people of Kucha will surely be convinced by the king. I don’t dare to make mistakes. The expenses of Master Wang’s battle will be provided by our treasury in Kucha.” Bai Hechou paused, raised his body and bowed to Gao Shun: “Hechou is willing to be a hostage of a big man, and he will not be married for life. When I return to Kucha, I just ask the big man to allow my father to become a monk here until he dies, and from then on, he will no longer care about the affairs of the world."

"The prince's determination is already known to the general, and Pang Shuai will be informed later. Now that Kucha has surrendered, the people of Kucha are also my Han people. There are iron laws in the army, and there will be no robbery against the Han people. The crown prince can rest assured about the military affairs. As for the matter of military supplies, please ask the crown prince to send capable people to discuss with He Changshi, the general's mansion of Zhengbei University." Gao Shun personally helped Bai Hechou up, and asked him to go down to wash and rest.Turning around, looking at the old monk sitting cross-legged with closed eyes under the tent, who seemed to have entered meditation, he asked, "Master is the national teacher of Kucha, Master Pushan?"

Master Pushan smiled slightly and replied: "The poor monk is Pushan. The national teachers and masters are all names and appearances. Poor people in the world are mostly trapped by names and appearances."

All the generals in the tent saw that the old monk spoke strangely, and whispered among themselves.Gao Shun was also interested in this old monk who preached as soon as he met, "I don't know if the master came to our army camp, what advice can you give? It can't be to teach the Dharma?"

"The poor monk is not here to spread the law." Pu Shan opened his eyes, and his eyes burst out with a dazzling light, "The poor monk is here to give the big man a strategy to pacify the Western Regions!"

(End of this chapter)