Liang Xiao repeatedly weighed the pros and cons, and it was best to make a very helpless and even embarrassing choice.

Except for the Dayuan mission and the merchants accompanying him, everyone else was repatriated. He knew that it was shameless to do so, but the messenger mission was not an ordinary caravan. If there was any accident, the damage caused may be greater than shame. Especially for Cheshi Prince Cheyi, who is the only son. If he was killed or captured by the Huns, Cheshi King would definitely turn against him.

He can't take this risk.

Liang Xiao wrote a letter asking Che Yi to bring it to Dongfang Shuo. The situation in the Hexi Corridor was far less than expected. It was more difficult for them to gain a foothold in the Western Regions, so please prepare them mentally.

After streamlining, Liang Xiao was left with only more than 200 men and 500 horses and 600 horses. He and Maqi discussed with him and asked Maqi to send cavalry to accompany him to protect him and provide food.

Maqi agreed. However, he made a suggestion that in order to avoid direct encounters with the Huns, it is best to go south of the Qilian Mountains. There is also a road south of the Qilian Mountains to reach Longyou. Although it is difficult to walk, the local Qiang people are scattered and they have a good relationship with Xiao Yuezhi, which is relatively safe. Moreover, many tribes participated in the plunder of Hexi last year, and they had a good impression of Liang Xiao.

After listening to Maqi's explanation, Liang Xiao guessed what road he was talking about. In the history of the Silk Road, in addition to Hexi Road and Grassland Road, there was also a Qinghai Road. Once the Hexi Corridor was occupied by foreign races, the Qinghai Road became the main road of the Silk Road. The Hexi Corridor was unobstructed, and the status of Qing ▼t Road decreased and became an auxiliary road.

However, the Western Regions have not yet been opened, and the Silk Road is still in its prototype stage. Qinghai Road is just an ancient road between the Qiang tribes. It is far less famous than later generations. So many Han merchants behind him don’t know Qinghai Road. This is proof.

Liang Xiao accepted Maqi's suggestion and went south along the Shule River and crossed the Qilian Mountains.

When he crossed the mountain pass, he held his throne and looked back at the oasis in the distance. His eyes narrowed slightly and his eyes were cold.

In mid-October, Chang'an.

In the front hall of Weiyang Palace, the emperor sat on the imperial throne. He spoke generously, with a high spirit, and a bright voice resounded throughout the hall and echoed in the ears of every minister.

The ministers led by the Prime Minister Wu'an Hou Tian Fen, listened to the Holy Spirit with pride.

The emperor was in a good mood, his eyes became brighter and his voice became louder, revealing an indescribable excitement.

In May, the elderly Empress Dowager Dou finally passed away and died in Changle Palace. Before the funeral was completed, the emperor issued an edict to dismiss Prime Minister Xuchang and Censor Zhuang Qingzhai, and appointed Wu'an Hou Tian Fu as prime minister. Not only did he also appointed the Dayuan Order Han Anguo as the Censor, opening the curtain for reforming the past and establishing the new.

It seems that in order to confirm the arrival of a new era, the Huns who had been harassing the northern border also stopped and sent envoys to Chang'an to request a marriage tribute.

At this moment, the emperor summoned all the ministers and was discussing whether to agree to the request of the Huns. Before this, the scene was naturally still necessary to say something, expressing his good hope of doing benevolence and righteousness and pacifying the people. Just as he was excited, a chuckle suddenly came from the silent court officials.

The emperor's face darkened, he closed his mouth, his majestic gaze swept over the ministers, and finally fell on the face of the chief clerk Ji An.

The ministers were surprised and couldn't help but turn their eyes to Ji An.

Ji An lowered his eyes, raised his lips slightly, smiling, and disagreed with the gaze of the emperor and the ministers.

The emperor was a little hesitant. He knew that Ji An was not in a good mood recently. The court changed the system, recruited a large number of Confucian scholars and reiterated the argument of respecting Confucianism, but Ji An was a believer in Huang-Lao's way and had a lot of objections to this policy. He was straightforward and Ji An would not give face even when facing the emperor. At this time, Ji An showed this expression, and I am afraid there would be no good words to say.

However, if you turn a blind eye, close your eyes, and pretend you don’t see it, it seems that it is not appropriate.

"Ji Qing, I want to use benevolence and righteousness to help the world. Ji Qing smiled but didn't say anything. I don't know what it meant? Do you agree or object?"

Ji An stepped out of the line calmly, bowed down and bowed. "Your Majesty sharpened his sword and was determined to fight against the Huns, so why bother talking about benevolence and righteousness? If someone believed it, wouldn't Your Majesty backfire?"

The emperor suddenly changed color. Although he was mentally prepared, he was still not prepared enough. Ji An actually said in front of so many ministers that he had different feelings. The brilliant words in front of him were all lies that were concealed. He wanted to scold Ji An, but opened his mouth several times, but had to shut up.

The reason is very simple. He really thought so. If he scolded Ji An and insisted that he really wanted to do good deeds, then the court officials really thought that he agreed to marry him, wouldn't he shoot himself in the foot?

The emperor didn't know what to do for a moment, his face turned red and his eloquence disappeared. He was stunned for a moment, stood up, brushed his sleeves away, leaving behind the court officials looking at each other.

Prime Minister Tian Fu walked over and said, "Jun Ji, why are you doing this? How can you ignore the etiquette of the king and the minister in the court..."

Ji An shook his sleeves and faced Tian Fu sideways. "The emperor sets the ministers of the ministers who assisted him in order to correct the mistakes and to make up for the shortcomings. If you have any mistakes, how can those who are ministers pretend to be deaf and dumb? Is it because I want to cover up my ears and follow you to flatter me?"

Tian Fen froze and was about to talk about it again, Ji An had already left. Tian Fen was furious: "This Ji An is really a shameless person, unreasonable."

The courtiers look at me, I look at you, speechless.

The emperor returned to the greenhouse hall, blew the wind for a while, and his emotions slowly calmed down. He thought about it, but he felt a little regretful, because he was angry with Ji An and delayed his business.

"Please come to the Prime Minister and the Censor."

Not long after, Tian Fu and Han Anguo arrived one after another and saluted the emperor. Tian Fu was still angry, but Han Anguo's expression was calm and he could not see any expression. The emperor glanced at them, especially when he saw that Tian Fu's anger was not gone, he couldn't help laughing.

"Are still angry about Ji An's incident?"

"Ji An is too much." Tian Feng said angrily: "The king, the ministers, the ministers, and the court, are so rude, how should the ministers do it."

The emperor waved his hand. "Okay, Ji An is like this, don't worry about it. Please come here. I want to discuss the marriage. Mr. Han. You have had many contacts with the Huns this time. According to your opinion, should you refuse their marriage to show punishment?"

Han Anguo's gray eyebrows trembled slightly, and he glanced at Tian Fu inadvertently. Tian Fu said first: "Your Majesty, marriage is the national policy. The Empress Dowager has always followed the marriage policy when he was alive. It is precisely because of this that Li Guang, who went to war without permission, was demoted to a commoner. Now the Huns take the initiative to ask for peace, which is the time when Your Majesty performs benevolence and righteousness. If you refuse, wouldn't it show the fault of the Empress Dowager? Is it against filial piety?"

The emperor looked at Han Anguo intently. Han Anguo had no choice but to say, "Your Majesty, the Huns lived in chasing water and grass, and were as uncertain as birds and beasts. If our army took the initiative to attack and traveled thousands of miles, we might not be able to find the main force of the Huns. At that time, we would either return without success, waste the people and lose money, or we would barely go deeper, and there would be a risk of annihilation of the entire army. The risk was too great. In the opinion of the ministers, it would be better to marry. The border was peaceful and the court could be at peace."

The emperor's eyes collapsed, he looked at Tian Fu, then Han Anguo, and said nothing, turned around and entered the inner hall.

Tian Fu and Han Anguo were embarrassed, looked at each other, shook their heads, and turned around and left.

Listening to the sound of footsteps disappearing outside the hall, the emperor's face was covered with clouds. Huo Yunbing walked in, stared at the emperor with big black eyes, and looked at the emperor with sympathy. The emperor called Huo Qubing, touched his head, and sighed.

"Little Qubing, grow up quickly. These old people are old and can't count on them."

"Your Majesty, why not replace Han Anguo with Li Guang?" King Wuqiu Shou walked in and whispered: "Although Han Anguo is a famous general, he is not as good as Li Guang when it comes to being familiar with the Huns. Li Guang is now unemployed, and Your Majesty has an imperial edict, how can he not obey his orders happily?"

The emperor thought about it. "Although Han Anguo is old, he is steady after all. Li Guang is good at fighting, but he can't tell the difference. Compared with the two, Han Anguo is better, at least he won't make any mistakes."

King Qiu Shou was puzzled, but he did not dare to ask again. Li Guang did not reward his contributions, but was dismissed as a commoner. This matter has become a mystery. Even close ministers like him cannot figure out what the emperor is thinking. When the emperor spoke in this tone, it seemed as if Li Guang had made some big mistake.

"You go to Daxing Temple to see if there is any news about the Western Regions." The emperor sighed. "I don't know what happened in the Western Regions."

King Wuqiu Shou responded and turned around and left. The emperor raised his hand and rubbed his eyebrows, causing a headache. Han Anguo did not support him, which surprised him very much. However, compared to Tian Fu's opinion, Han Anguo was a veteran with actual combat experience after all, and the problem he was talking about was also a real problem. If it could not be solved, there would be no chance of winning the battle against the Huns.

Can you only be married and continue to be bullied by the Huns? The emperor sneered, clenched his fist, and punched him on the desk.

Liang Xiao rode his horse, rushed left and right, and rushed sharply in his hand, shooting out sharp arrows after sharp arrows.

At the sound of the strings, the Huns were all dismissed.

Mercenaries and Greek young knights followed closely, ruthlessly slaughtering. Wherever they went, the Huns dispersed like flies and gathered in the distance, staring at the mission behind Liang Xiao and Liang Xiao, and the caravans kept on letting go.

The two sides have been fighting for more than an hour.

Under the protection of Maqi, Liang Xiao went east along Qinghai Road, and was warmly received by the Qiang people and Xiaoyue people along the way. Except for a few groups of unsightly bandits, he basically encountered no danger. When he crossed the Yellow River and entered Longxi territory, he thought he was truly safe, he encountered more than a dozen groups of Huns. At first, he was only scouted by more than ten people, but later, more than a hundred cavalry gradually appeared.

Now the one biting him was a Xiongnu cavalry of nearly 200 people. Fortunately, although they were large, they were running long distances and lacked horsepower. They were probably not strong enough for Liang Xiao and others. They suffered a loss as soon as they came up. They were shot and killed dozens of people by Liang Xiao and others, which made them lose their temper. Only then could they remain stalemate.

Despite this, Liang Xiao, who was dragged down by the mission and the merchant group, found it difficult to get rid of the Huns. He could only fight with them patiently and accumulate advantages little by little.

He was very angry. He was already in the Han Dynasty. Why were there so many Huns? What exactly did the prefect named Gongsun do for food?

Just as Liang Xiao was guessing, the sound of war drums and horse hooves sounded in the distance. On the horizon, a black line was approaching quickly, and a fiery red battle flag fluttered in the wind.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the Huns all drove away one after another and walked away in an instant.

Not long after, a knight rode his horse to Liang Xiao and shouted loudly: "Gongsun He, Grandpa, greetings, who is coming?"

(To be continued.)
Chapter completed!