? The Yanqi Kingdom, among the 36 countries in the Western Regions, is located in the heart of the Yanqi Basin on the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains. It was called Yanzhi, smoke branch, rouge, smoke limb, burn branch, Yanqi, Yanti and other titles at different times. It is a farming country built on an oasis and is also a must-pass place for the Han Dynasty to lead to the northern Western Regions.

A plant called red and blue was produced at the foot of Yanzhi Mountain. The Huns women picked fresh red and blue flowers to make Yanliang to wipe their faces. So after being captured by Huo Qubing, the Huns sang, "I lost my Qilian Mountains, so that my animals would not stop; I lost my Yanzhi Mountains, so that my women would be colorless."

Yanqi's land is fertile and produces rice, millet, wheat, and animal husbandry. People like to drink purple fruit wine made from grapes and are born with a passion for music and dance. It also produces rouge and high-quality horses used by women, and has rich fish, salt, and reed resources.

This hospitality and romantic country has recently welcomed a fully armed Han cavalry, which made the local Yanqi people very nervous.

The Han general in the lead is handsome, with red lips and white teeth. No matter how you look, he is a handsome and elegant young man. It’s a pity that this Han general has a bad temper. He rarely sees a smile on his face and looks squeaky, which makes people want to twist his face hard.

However, if someone really wants to twist the face of this Han general, no one in the entire Yanqi country has the courage. Because the general's name is Ma Chao, he is holding a terrifying tiger-headed gilt spear in his hand!

When Ma Chao came to Yanqi Kingdom, the reason why he had no smile on his face was entirely because he wanted to play a role in a disgraceful role - a general who was defeated and fled! If it weren't for Zhao Xing's personal order, the arrogant Ma Chao would not have obeyed it even if he was beaten to death.

The reason why Ma Chao finally took on this task of pretending to be a soldier and fleeing was that Zhang Xiu, who was expeditioning the West with him, was even more unlucky. He was still alive, but Zhang Xiu had to pretend to be a general who died in battle.

Of course, Zhang Xiu, as Zhao Xing's second senior brother, never attaches great importance to the so-called false reputation. As long as Zhao Xing has instructions, let alone let him pretend to be dead, or even let him pretend to be a woman, he will do it.

Since entering the Western Regions, the army of the Western Expedition has been very cautious. It has neither divided the troops nor advanced rashly. Instead, it has strictly followed the combat plan set in advance and adopted a steady and steady approach to advance westward.

Fifty thousand was equipped with the most advanced cold weapons at that time, plus one hundred new "flying swarms", and a large number of elite Han army cavalry that thundered the sky. After entering the Western Regions under the leadership of the powerful generals Ma Chao and Zhang Xiu, he almost didn't do much with people along the way, and successfully conquered Yihe Duwei City, the former location of the Western Regions Changshi Mansion, and then arrived at Yanqi's capital Yuanqu City.

The reason why the Western Expedition Army was so smooth when it first entered the Western Regions was closely related to the terrain of the Western Regions and the situation at that time. The closer it was to Yumen Pass, the later it was to break away from the control of the Western Regions Changshi Mansion during the decline of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the closer it was to the relationship with the Han Dynasty in the east, such as the front and rear part of Cheshi on the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, the Yanqi Kingdom on the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, and the Shanshan Kingdom at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains.

On the contrary, the more we go west, the farther we are from Yumen Pass, where foreign countries are more autonomous because they are out of control of the Han Dynasty, and the more they are resistant and rebellious about the former rule and management of the Han people. For example, the Wusun Kingdom, the Dayuan Kingdom, the Kangju Kingdom, the Kushan Kingdom, etc. Some of these countries have tens of thousands of troops and are extremely powerful, which is far from what the 50,000 Western Expedition Army can subdue.

Zhao Xing sent Ma Chao and Zhang Xiu to the west to fight, but in fact he wanted to re-control the area of ​​the Western Regions Changshi Mansion, not to go west to West Asia in one go. The area of ​​the Western Regions Changshi Mansion is to put it bluntly, all the current Xinjiang, plus a small area in the northwest Xinjiang. Zhao Xing's steps to fight westward are divided into three steps: the first is to control the Western Regions Changshi Mansion; the second is to conquer the Central Asian region (Wusun Kingdom, Dayuan Kingdom, Kangju Kingdom, Kushan Kingdom, Sindu Kingdom and other places); the third is to go to West Asia and drink horses and the Mediterranean.

When the Western Expedition Army arrived in Yanqi, the king heard that the Han Dynasty sent the Heavenly Army, and did not think about resisting at all. Instead, he opened the country in a regular manner. The etiquette of the guests welcomed Ma Chao and Zhang Xiu in.

Because they had been dealing with the Han Dynasty for a long time, everyone in the Yanqi Kingdom knew that the Han army was most famous. Even if Ma Chao and Zhang Xiu fought with the banner of conquering the lost territory for the Han family, the Yanqi Kingdom would not have the intention to leave the jurisdiction at all! If it weren't for the foolish and incompetent internal forces, the soldiers were exhausted and weak, so why would it be that they handed over the great Western Regions Changshi Mansion? Now it has become the back garden of Wusun, Dayuan, Kangju and other countries, making the troops of these small countries come and go whenever they want.

To put it bluntly, Yanqi Kingdom is a vassal state. Whoever can provide protection for its own country will obey whose jurisdiction!

After entering Yuanqu City, although Ma Chao had a stern face, he was still warmly received by the Lord Yanqi. When the king who advocated and envied the Han culture heard that General Ma Chao was not married yet, he was so excited that he immediately called out a few of his unmarried daughters and sang and danced in front of Ma Chao. The meaning was very clear: Young man, just pick whatever you like, and you can take it all!

Ma Chao, who had a big blushing face, finally couldn't talk to the old king with a stern face, so he invited the friendly military advisor Tian Yu to discuss with the king of Yanqi about the official garrison in Yuanqu City in the future.

Although the old king was not good at military affairs, he was actually a cunning old fox. The reason why he treated the Western Expedition Army so politely was because Yanqi had been maintaining secret business dealings with Jin over the years, and he was always paying attention to the expansion and conquest of Jin. Perhaps he had a better understanding of the legendary general Zhao Xing than Ma Chao.

The good horses produced in Yanqi were sold at a very good price in Jin State, and a large amount of rouge was sold to Jin State for gold and silver jewelry, porcelain, exquisite books, and various agricultural tools and fishing gear that Yanqi loved to increase production and income.

The most important thing is that despite the difficulties and dangers, the merchants who have traveled between Jin and Yanqi over the years will bring back some newspapers of Jin from time to time. Although there will be some discounts on timeliness, these thick stacks of paper are of great significance to the old king understanding the situation of the Han Dynasty.

The king of Yanqi predicted to his children a few years ago that a group of tigers have been raised in the distant East. Sooner or later, they will come with sharp swords in one hand and flowers in the other. At that time, don't try to resist, as obedience may be the best choice.

Sure enough, the Yanqi Kingdom, which chose to obey unconditionally, did not suffer any military disasters. Although the Han army entering the country looked very majestic and full of murderous aura, they were not guilty of anything. They buried their heads in eating the canned beef they brought, gathered together to throw cards one by one, and turned a blind eye to the colorful and colorful things in Yanqi at all.

Tian Yu, an increasingly sophisticated military advisor, exchanged views with the old king very politely, and clearly stated that the Western Expedition Army was here to restore Han governance and not kill or plunder. As long as the Yanqi Kingdom obeyed management and dispatch in the future, the Han army would unconditionally protect them from bullying and attacks from several major powers in the northwest direction.

The old king was an old fox, so he naturally knew that there was no free lunch in the world, so he asked Tian Yu politely what support and assistance the army of the Western Expedition needed, and as long as the Yanqi Kingdom could do it, he would do his best to promote it.

Tian Yu's answer is very simple. In the future, Yanqi Kingdom will serve as the advance base of the Western Expedition Army, and will provide various military supplies to the Western Expedition Army under fair trading. At the same time, the 30,000 troops currently distributed in various places in the Yanqi Kingdom belong to the unified dispatch of the Western Expedition Army.

The old king bit his teeth and agreed to the conditions offered by Tian Yu, but also put forward several additional small conditions. For example, in order to make Yanqi's people believe that the Han army came with peace and friendship, General Ma Chao, led by him, should marry at least one Princess Yanqi as his wife. In the future, Han soldiers can freely marry Yanqi women, and the Western Expedition Army cannot set up conditions to block them. Yanqi will enjoy the same business power as the Jin State's actual control of the states, and no additional taxes and fees will be collected by the checkpoints and cities along the way.

These conditions did not exceed the bottom line that Zhao Xing gave to Tian Yu and Li Hui before leaving, so Tian Yu agreed on the spot. After the solemn alliance ceremony between the two sides, Yanqi Kingdom officially defected to the embrace of Jin.

Once this news spread in the Western Regions, the old king's cowardly behavior was ridiculed by many small countries around him, but he turned a deaf ear to him. The old king felt sad and pitiful for the small countries that mocked him, because no one was attentive to read the newspapers published by Jin State. Over the years, he did not know the huge changes that took place within the Han Dynasty, and he would inevitably embark on the road of destruction in the future.

Ma Chao and Tian Yu were busy conducting peaceful diplomacy in Yanqi, and Zhang Xiu led the 20,000 Canglang Army and were not idle either. He was very reckless and led his army to destroy the Shanguo that refused to accept the jurisdiction of Jin. It took less than half a month from Yanqi sending troops to capture the king of Shanguo.

The Yanqi people knew that the Han army that came this time was not easy to mess with, especially the army with wolf head embroidered on the marching flag that had been walking on the left, which was even more difficult to mess with. But they really didn't expect that Zhang Xiu would defeat the Shanguo, which had 40,000 cavalry in such a short time, and in the end, even the king and the nobles of the princes and grandsons became prisoners.

Of course they could not have imagined that when they had never seen "flying" launches and "banging thunder" explosions, everyone would habitually evaluate their combat power according to their strength, just like the army of the mountain country that was about to collapse.

To put it bluntly, the reason why Zhang Xiu attacked the Shan Kingdom so decisively was to show it to other small countries in the Western Regions.

After successfully receiving Yanqi and subduing the mountain country quickly, Zhao Xing's latest order to pretend to be a fraud and die. So Zhang Xiu took the 20,000 Canglang Army and quietly headed towards Yihe Duwei City. They would go north to the Xiongnu Mountain (Altai Mountain), and then walk eastward along the foot of the mountain, bypassing the Juyan Vast Kingdom, bypassing the Suijiang City, bypassing the Daqing Mountain... and walk forward, from spring to summer.

Ma Chao, who stayed in Yanqi, did not have nothing to do. He divided the 30,000 Xiliang army into three parts, of which 10,000 were joined by the 30,000 cavalry of Yanqi. He was led by his brother Ma Dai and veteran Ma Wan and rushed to Yumen Pass immediately.

After another 10,000 people were mixed with more than 10,000 cavalry surrendered by Shanguo, the military advisor Tian Yu himself commanded him and wandered around Yanqi. He went to harass anyone who didn't like him.

The remaining 10,000 elite cavalry who were born in Gongsun Zan and Baima Yicong were led by Ma Chao himself. He planned to lead these 10,000 cavalry along the Pamir River and personally familiarize themselves with the terrain of the entire Western Region Changshi Mansion.

After talking for a long time, it turned out that the Western Expedition army was completely unscathed, and now it has added more than 40,000 reserve troops! Then the Hu cavalry who went to besiege Yumen Pass were naturally Yanqi cavalry led by Ma Dai and Ma Wan, and Zhao Xing hid in Kunlun Pass, which was a big show that deceived many people!

Zhao Xing spent half a year, spent a lot of energy and money to dig such a big deep pit, whom he was going to bury? Or whom he was going to bury?

ps: Huhu, before the enthusiastic book friend "Sichuan Cuisine" celebrated his birthday today, he finally finished the last chapter of Volume 13. The chapter with more than 3,500 words makes everyone no longer worry and pain after reading it. Dears, are you excited?

In the next volume of "Turning Tiger and Devouring Wolf", Nandao will do his best to paint a magnificent picture of thousands of miles of rivers and mountains for book friends. Everyone is looking forward to it! ~
Chapter completed!