Great Han Empire

Chapter 378

"The Journey to the West"

Author: Scarlet Coral
Chapter 13 success or failure

Thirty miles west of Chang'an City, Maoling in Fufeng County, and Hou's Mansion in Maoxiang.

"Fourth brother, Master Liu really said that?" Dong covered her mouth and chuckled, and asked Ma Dai who was opposite.

Ma Dai is 26 years old this year. He is tall, with a hulking back and a waist, with sword-shaped eyebrows on his temples, and he is full of heroic spirit.He was originally a younger brother of the Ma Chao clan, but was adopted by Ma Teng when his parents died when he was young, and now he is the fourth in the Ma family brothers.After listening to the sister-in-law's question, Ma Dai replied excitedly: "Isn't it? It is said that Master Guang Luxun (Guang Luxun Liu Ming) was so angry at that time. He drew his sword and chopped off the two adults, Xin and Hua. Mr. Xiaozhi, do you think so?"

"Hehe, how could it really be cut, Mr. Liu, the honor of Shangqing, how can you not be able to distinguish the importance of this point?" Shi Fazheng, the commander of the Zhenbei Army, took a sip of tea soup and sighed, "Good tea... Mr. Guang Luxun, Mr. Liu has always been in the same spirit as Mr. Zhao, the great general. When Mr. Liu said this, the attitude of the North Korean and Chinese military in supporting the increase of troops is very clear. Although the prime minister did not express his position today, he was the one who was responsible for the Western Expedition. It was formed by strongly supporting the emperor. As a result, the opposition voices in the court are already insignificant. Based on what the emperor said to his wife during the previous day, the imperial decree ordering the westward army to march westward may come down in the near future. I will wait for it. It's what you're preparing for."

Mrs. Dong pondered for a moment, then raised her hand and bowed to Fazheng; "In this way, everything will be arranged by Mr. Xiaozhi. The concubine will immediately order the mansion to prepare, and Ji Yue (Ma Dai's word) will accompany Mr. to Jincheng."

Fazheng and Ma Dai resigned from Mrs. Dong and came out. They walked to the front garden and saw Ma Piaoxu teaching Jiang Wei and Ma Cheng to practice martial arts in the garden. Seeing that Ma Chengzao was picked up with a wooden stick in the field, he squatted aside to watch the excitement, while Jiang Wei was weak and invincible, but still struggling to support.

With the rise of Ma Piaoxu Zhan, he danced a wooden stick like a dragon out of water, and performed all kinds of stunts such as pressing, hitting, smashing, sliding, picking, collapsing, and stabbing with Ma's gun, and gradually made Jiang Wei Pushed to the corner, he proudly said: "Xiao Wei, how many times have I told you that you need to work harder at ordinary times, do you ignore it? Why is your hand strength not as good as last month? How dare you disrespect me?" Commander, I will teach you a good lesson today as a teacher." Jiang Wei didn't answer, he gritted his teeth and tried hard to resist Ma Piaoxu's attack, but he couldn't cover his whole body, and his arms and legs were hit a few times from time to time .

Ma Dai nodded and said: "Piaoxu has been immersed in the Majia gun for six years, and he has already accomplished a lot in his moves. What he lacks is strength and experience in fighting the enemy. Xiaowei has good aptitude, but he is just getting started. How can he do that?" It will be the opponent. I have to go and pull it, otherwise Piaoxu will not attack lightly or hard later, and it will be bad if it is broken."

Fazheng twisted his beard and said: "Hehe, I don't think so. This son has a firm mind and extraordinary strategies. If he is so stubborn today, he must have a plan."

As soon as the words were spoken here, the situation in the field changed: Piaoxu was impatient with Jiang Wei's entanglement, so he took a step forward and went straight into the palace, and stabbed like a thunderbolt.Jiang Wei saw the menacing approach, but he didn't resist, he drew his stick and moved to the side, Piaoxu thought to himself: It's ridiculous that you play such a clever trick with this girl.He was about to use the word "slippery" to attack Jiang Wei's weakness, but he felt a strong force coming from the stick, and the jaws of the trembling tiger could hardly hold it.It turned out that the stick that was stabbed just now happened to hit the wall!Jiang Wei took advantage of the situation and lifted Piaoxu's wooden stick up to the sky. He put the stick back and stood still, clapping his hands proudly, "Sister Piaoxu, I've accepted."

"You, you, you...you are despicable." Ma Piaoxu opened her almond-eyed eyes in anger, and pointed at Jiang Wei with trembling hands.I kindly taught the Ma family's marksmanship, but this kid didn't work hard and didn't talk about it, but also used this unappealing method to save himself!Thinking about it, the eye circles turned red, and tears swirled in the eye sockets, as if they were about to fall.

"Okay, okay, what a strategy to fight against the wall and lure the enemy into Hu. Piaoxu, the most important thing for the two armies to fight is not the strength of martial arts, but the use of the art of war in the chest. In the grasp of the combat terrain, this point Now, you have already lost to Jiang Wei in this battle, are you still not convinced?" Fazheng clapped his hands and applauded, and walked over with Ma Dai.

"Sir!" Piaoxu refused to follow, grabbed Fazheng's cuff and shook it from side to side, "We are not fighting, but practicing martial arts. This little slicker always wants to be so opportunistic. How can he practice martial arts well? How can he do it in the future?" To be a general?"

Fazheng smiled, turned his head and said to Jiang Wei: "Xiao Wei, this plan is good, but think about it, if you are on the battlefield, if you are holding a long spear in Piaoxu's hand, you can still use this plan Is it? After taking so many hits before, I’m afraid you’ve already bled to exhaustion, right? If you don’t sharpen your marksmanship now, no matter how clever you are, it won’t be in vain if you get shot through after you go into battle? So although Piaoxu You lost, but you didn't win."

Jiang Wei broke into a cold sweat when he heard this, and hurriedly apologized to Piaoxu.He gave up his eloquence, and then gave in. With a few sentences, he coaxed the girl into a smile, and waved his hand generously: "If you lose, you lose. Can I afford to lose? But you haven't practiced your basic skills well. Wait a minute, give me the horse stance for half an hour, and swing the gun a thousand times!" Turning his head, he saw Ma Cheng gloating at the side, and glaring at his younger brother, "You are even worse. After practicing for several years, you are even worse than Xiao Jiang who just started Tie it up with me!"

"Piaoxu is really strict! He looks like a master." Ma Dai patted Piaoxu's head and said affectionately.

"Fourth Uncle, it's no fun to fight with them, why don't you come and practice with me?"

Ma Dai picked up the wooden stick on the ground, stuffed it back into Piaoxu's hand and said: "Hehe, another day, the fourth uncle is going to accompany Mr. Xiaozhi to Jincheng soon, and when the fourth uncle comes back, I will practice with you and put that The rotary gun has also been passed on to you."

Piaoxu's eyes lit up, and he took Ma Dai's hand and said excitedly, "Fourth Uncle, are you going to Daddy's camp? I haven't seen Daddy for more than half a year, how about letting him go together?"

But Ma Dai knew that he was going to prepare for a real battle, how could he take a girl to take an adventure?So he shook his head again and again, disagreeing anyway.Seeing that the fourth uncle was soft and hard, Piaoxu went to seek Fazheng, but the result was the same. She sniffled and was about to launch a "tear offensive", but was held up by Ma Cheng and Jiang Wei and walked out .The strength of the two boys combined, the girl was unable to struggle for a moment.Seeing this situation, Ma Dai and Fazheng looked at each other and smiled, both heaving a sigh of relief.

Piaoxu was dragged out of the garden by her two younger brothers before she escaped. The boss was very dissatisfied, so she tapped Ma Cheng's head and said, "You're promising, you dare to collude with Xiaowei to deal with me. Don't you want my sister to go see your father so much?" ?”

After being beaten, Ma Cheng held his head and called out to Zhuang Tianqu: "Sister, how dare I, it's all Jiang Ge's idea."

Piaoxu cast dissatisfied eyes on Jiang Wei, and Jiang Wei smiled: "Can't you see it? Uncle Fourth and Mr. Fa went to Jincheng this time, obviously to help out. Rumors are flying everywhere in Chang'an these days. In my opinion, In all likelihood, the emperor will send the Ma family's Zhenxi Army to increase troops in the Western Regions. You said that there will be a war there, will they agree to take you there? What's the use of talking?"

"I'm not as smart as you!" Piaoxu pouted resentfully, "Smart man, since you can't hide anything from you, is there any way you can let me go with you this time?"

Jiang Wei approached Piaoxu and whispered: "Hey, there's nothing difficult about it, as long as it's like this." "Oh, it really is a good plan."

Seeing the two whispering, Ma Cheng said aggrievedly from the side: "Sister, I want to go too!"

"What can you do?" Piaoxu knocked on Ma Cheng again, and scolded him with his hands on his hips, "Your martial arts are not as good as mine, and your brain is not as flexible as Xiaowei, so why don't you think about being a burden? Give me a good stab." Let's practice guns!"

Western Regions, two hundred miles west of Shule City.

Zhao Guang in Shule naturally didn't know anything about what happened in Chang'an thousands of miles away.Although the situation in Shule City has been stable these days and the martial law has been lifted, he has been even busier—the news of the Guishuang army brought by Arda, the Parthian, caused headaches for the two commanders of the Western Expedition Army. In order to distinguish the truth from the false, So he ordered Zhao Guang to take him to the west of the city to find the enemy.For several days in a row, the vanguard Qingqi penetrated two hundred miles, but the Guishuang army still did not see a trace.Zhao Guang simply ordered the team to station by a small lake, and sent scouts out to search around Congling in turn.

The small lake is not big, but the mirror-clear lake water looks extremely beautiful against the distant capped mountains and the lush forests around the lake.Sitting by the lake, Zhao Guang felt that his heart, which had been irritated by the constant fighting these days, gradually calmed down amidst the scenery of the lake and mountains.After Xuan, who had been tense all the time, relaxed, he felt a little jealous: If he could go boating on this lake with Haiya, what a wonderful sight it would be. . . . . .While thinking wildly, my mind was interrupted by a sentence with a strange tone.

"My lord, this lake is beautiful, isn't it?" Zhao Guang looked back and saw A'dal, Zhao Neng and an interpreter from Kucha walking over.A'Daer, a young man in rest, is a cheerful and outgoing person, and he has no self-consciousness as a prisoner. He got acquainted with several Kucha interpreters within a few days of joining the team. In this section, I am learning Chinese with Zhao Neng. After a few days, I can not only understand some daily conversations, but even use some simple words to form sentences. Zhao Neng is amazed by his learning ability.

A'dal walked to Zhao Guang's side, scooped up a handful of water from the lake with both hands and said, "Water is life. We also pass here on our journey, drink water and rest."

"Oh? So the place where you saw Guishuang's army shouldn't be far from here? Why haven't we found it yet?" Zhao Guang stared at Alda's eyes, trying to catch a trace of panic and hesitation in it, But he was disappointed, Arda's eyes were as clear as the surface of a lake.After understanding what Zhao Guang meant, Arda said through an interpreter that most of Guishuang's army was infantry, and they moved slowly. He calculated that the army was only a day or two away from here at most.

At this time, there was a commotion from the camp not far away, and He Chong hurried over and said, "My lord, the lunatic is back. He seems to have found the enemy's trail." Zhao Guang and others hurried into the camp and saw Tuoba Fengzheng. Drinking the water brought by the soldiers, the four legs of the horse beside him were already trembling from running, panting heavily, and sweating profusely.

Zhao Guang stepped forward to support Tuobafeng's shoulder, and asked, "Did you find it? How far is it from here?"

"My lord, I saw it. By the time my subordinate arrives, the enemy army has basically gone out of Congling range, about half a day's journey away from here, his grandma!" Tuoba Feng cursed, and signaled the soldiers around him to fill him with a bowl of water , while gesticulating, "The leader of the team is bottomless, and there are countless black people. I am afraid that there are really a hundred thousand people! Although most of them are infantry, there seem to be some huge monsters behind the team. I don't know what kind of monsters they are!"

"It's hard work, you take a break. Don't just drink water, eat something to fill your stomach." Zhao Guang turned to He Chong and said, "Order someone to send out a signal and call back other scouts. We must leave here and return to Shule as soon as possible."

He Chong took the order to go, Zhao Guang cast a grateful look at Arda, but saw Arda muttering something to the God of Sky Leng, he didn't care, and went to prepare for the camp.Zhao Neng had a good eye and asked the interpreter, "What is Arda talking about?"

The interpreter seemed quite surprised: "My lord, what he said was 'War Elephants'! That's the most terrifying army in the Guishuang Kingdom. I've heard of it before. No wonder they walk so slowly!" Zhao Neng is well-informed. , I have indeed heard of this kind of animal that is only found in the southern barbarian land, and I frowned, feeling a little worried in my heart.

After the vanguard assembled, they rushed back as fast as they could.It took more than two days to complete the journey in one and a half days. At dusk the next day, the team saw the earth-colored walls of Shule City.

The scene inside the city surprised everyone. The city gate and the main streets in the city were lined up with heavily armed Western Expeditionary soldiers, and the atmosphere was tense and tense.He rode close to the camp of the Western Expeditionary Army, but found that the situation inside was chaotic: I saw soldiers running around carrying weapons, armor, food packs, and water cans, busy with their own affairs. After everyone entered the camp gate, No one came up to help report.

Zhao Guang was in a hurry, so he grabbed a soldier who looked like a soldier who ran past him and asked, "What happened after the camp, and how did it get into such a mess? Where is Shuai Pang?"

The soldier cupped his hands apologetically, and said, "Commander Sima was assassinated in the street today, and his life and death are unknown now. Ling, Wang, Yan, and Guo (the four generals under Sima Yi's account, Yueqi School Captain Ling Tong, Fenwu General Wang Ling, and Wuwei Zhonglang General Yan) Ba, Superintendent Guo Huai) and the four adults just gathered a team and said they were going to massacre the city for revenge, but Pang Shuai led his own soldiers to block the gate of the South Road barracks, and declared martial law throughout the city, and they are now confronting each other."

"Ah?!" Bad luck came again and again, Zhao Guang only felt cold hands and feet, dizzy, took a deep breath, then calmed down, and said in a deep voice; "I am Zhao Guang, the Sima of Changshuiying, take me quickly." Go see Pang Shuai, there is an important military report!"

(End of this chapter)