The majestic Xiao Guan was bathed in the dark night, just like a hero who looked down on the world wearing a black cloak, standing on the top of the mountain, looking even more majestic and majestic.

On the open space in front of the pass, more than a dozen piles of firewood piles scattered everywhere were burning violently, and the scorching light illuminated the front of the pass. The soldiers on duty leaned against the city walls, some bowed their heads and pretended to sleep, some were bored, and some were whispering.

Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound from the depths of the darkness.

The soldiers on the city wall suddenly became alert, and everyone walked to the edge of the city wall at the same time and looked into the dark distance.

The roar became clearer and louder, and the soldiers seemed to see a bloodthirsty beast pounced on.

"Beat the drum...beat the drum..."

"The Hu people are here...the Hu people are here..."

The soldiers suddenly shouted, scattered and ran wildly, and the fearful and shrill shouts instantly tear through the tranquility of the night.

The low and rapid sound of war drums soared into the sky, and Xiaoguan suddenly became boiling. The soldiers in the pass rushed out of the house and ran up the city wall along the left and right stone steps as fast as possible.

Junhou Zhao Ye stood on the city wall panting with his leather armor in one hand and a battle knife in the other, listening in a panting manner.

The roar was shocking, as if tens of thousands of cavalry were coming at full speed. He even felt the solid city walls under his feet trembling and trembling in the roar.

"Sir, the Hu people are here, it's the Hu people..." The personal guard who followed him shouted in panic.

Zhao Ye shook his head, looked back at the soldiers running back and forth on the city wall, and shouted: "Light a torch!"

"Order the left, center and right Santun to prepare for the battle!"

"Sir, should we ask Gaoping City for help?"

"Seeking for help?" Zhao Ye burst into laughter.

He handed the sword in his hand to his personal guards and slowly put on leather armor. "What reinforcements are there in Gaoping City? Even if the prefect takes action personally, there are only more than a thousand people, which is useless." He pointed to the distance of the pass and smiled bitterly, "Our reinforcements are in Gaopingchuan. If the Xianbei people came, it means that we have no reinforcements, only five hundred of us."

"Where are the cavalry in Gaopingchuan? They were all killed by the Xianbei people?" the guard asked in surprise.

Zhao Ye smiled miserably and said, "Wait a minute, we will know."

He took the battle knife from his personal guard, suddenly drew the knife and raised it high, and shouted in a loud voice: "Brothers, the war has begun..."

＝＝＝

In the dark night, a black battle flag suddenly rushed into the flames.

Immediately afterwards, countless cavalry soldiers rushed out of the darkness.

At the pass, Han soldiers cheered at the same time.

"The Fengyun Iron Cavalry is the Fengyun Iron Cavalry..."

Zhao Ye let out a long sigh and cursed loudly: "Running back overnight is so scary."

"Open and close the door!"

＝＝＝

Qu Yi rushed into Xiaoguan first.

"Appoint Lord Hengji to lead his troops to Shimen Pass immediately."

"Send the order and ask the strong wind and sand to come to see me."

Zhao Ye ran down the city wall with a smile, raised his hand and shouted, "Master Qu, Master Qu..."

Qu Yi jumped over the horse and laughed, "Zhao Junhou, did you scare you?"

"It's okay, it's okay." Zhao Ye smiled, "I was worried that you were eaten by the Xianbei people just now."

"Haha, it's not that easy." Qu Yi said, "The army of Helian and Tuoba Feng has arrived at Gaopingchuan."

Zhao Ye was stunned, "How did they come? How many people?"

"If they come together, there will be 120,000."

Zhao Ye gasped.

"Open the arsenal and bring out all the weapons." Qu Yi waved the whip in his hand and said loudly: "After dawn, the Xianbei people are coming."

＝＝＝

The strong wind and sand carried the heart fox and nine sheepskins, and slashed the horse into the pass.

"You bring your troops to Muxia Pass with your troops." Qu Yi looked at the three of them and said sternly, "Don't violate military discipline again, otherwise, even if Lord Li comes, I will kill you."

Qianfengsha snorted without saying anything. Jiu Sheeppee agreed with a smile.

"I want to stay in Xiaoguan." Xinhu said, "There is not necessarily a war in Muxia."

"Will you not go to Muxia Pass without a war?"

Qu Yi glanced at Xinhu with dissatisfaction and said, "Muxia Pass is closest to Gaoping City. If the Xianbei people break through Muxia Pass and attack directly to Gaoping City, they will trap us in Xiaoguan and Shimen Pass. At that time, we will have no way to survive."

"Since Muxia Pass is more important than Xiaoguan, then go guard Muxia Pass and we guard Xiaoguan." Qianfengsha said bluntly.

Qu Yi's face turned cold, "If you didn't attack rashly in Gaopingchuan and were still an army of 8,000 people, why bother changing us?"

"After all the time, Xiao Guan is still important." Zhan Ma muttered unhappily, "After Xiao Guan lost, the gates of Guanzhong are wide open. Do you think we don't know? Do you want to be greedy for your own merit?"

Qu Yi's lungs were so angry that he shouted: "If you lose Muxia Pass, you will die there, and don't even come back."

＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

The emperor put down the bamboo slips in his hand, looked at Zhang Wen kneeling on the ground with a stern expression, and said angrily: "The Hu people are about to kill Xiaoguan, but where is our army? Where is our army?" He picked up the bamboo slips in his hand and smashed them hard on the ground, "Look, look at it yourself. This is the memorial for help from Kong Chang, the prefect of Anding County."

The emperor stood up and shouted loudly: "This is not a memorial, this is Kong Aiqing's blood and tears, this is Kong Aiqing's last words, and this is the bones of the soldiers and civilians in the western border of our great Han Dynasty."

"You said, why are our reinforcements still on the road? Why did the Hu people invade and our army still in Chang'an City?"

Zhang Wen slowly raised his head and said in a calm tone: "Your Majesty, a few months ago, my ministers and the Taiwei Mansion were busy with His Majesty's return to Jizhou to worship ancestors. The border military affairs are all under the responsibility of the General and the General's Mansion. Please investigate clearly."

The emperor's face became more and more ugly. Zhang Wen's words hit his vital point, making the emperor feel very embarrassed. However, Zhang Wen's words were indeed true, making him unable to find an excuse to get angry. He moved his eyes to the general He Jin who was standing on the side.

He Jin smiled slightly and said calmly: "Your Majesty, in February, the bandit Xi Zhi of Xingyang rebelled, and I and the General's Mansion were both at Hulao. It was not until March that General He, the chariot and cavalry, completely quelled the rebellion that I returned to Luoyang. The military affairs of the two months were all responsible for the Taiwei Mansion." He looked at Zhang Wen, sneered, and then said, "Your Majesty, when the Hu people invaded in March, I was in Hulao. At that time, both of them repeatedly suggested that the Taiwei Man immediately send troops to Beidi County, but the Taiwei Mansion and the Taiwei Mansion insisted that the Hu people's attack direction was Bingzhou, which resulted in delays in recruiting troops, so that the situation in western Xinjiang is extremely critical now."

The emperor glared at Zhang Wen.

"Your Majesty, the Hu people have now penetrated nearly a thousand miles into our Han Dynasty. Several border counties have been lost. The Taiwei and the Taiwei Mansion bear an unshirkable responsibility." General He Miao, the chariot and cavalry, reported, "Your Majesty, I think that the Taiwei and the Taiwei Mansion are not familiar with military affairs. Whether in Xiliang to suppress rebellions or in dealing with the Hu people invasion, they have repeatedly made mistakes in command and missed opportunities for war. Now, the rebels in Xiliang have resurgents again, and the Hu people burned and killed and plundered in our border counties. This is related to the incompetence of the Taiwei Mansion and the Taiwei Mansion. I believe that in the current critical situation, all the military affairs under the Taiwei Mansion should be handed over to the General's Mansion for full authority."

Zhang Wen raised a hint of sarcasm at the corner of his mouth, glanced at the He brothers disdainfully, and reiterated: "Your Majesty, Xingyang, Zhongmu, only tens of thousands of refugees were in chaos, but the general recruited almost all the Northern Army to Henan Prefecture to quell the rebellion. I want to ask the general, what force can I have to recruit?"

"Master Taiwei, you still have Li Zhonglang's 70,000 troops to recruit." He Miao said with a smile.

Zhang Wen smiled, with a look of contempt. He didn't say anything. He was too lazy to speak like this. He Jin lowered his head and said nothing. He Miao looked at the ministers around him with sarcastic eyes. He realized that he had said something wrong, so he quickly took a step back quietly and hid behind He Jin.

＝＝＝

The emperor thought so, but he saw Zhang Wen's face looked contemptuous and he was not easy to ask, so he looked up and wanted to find a minister to explain the issue. He stared at Zong Zheng Liu Yu and signaled with his eyes.

"Your Majesty, 40,000 of Li Zhonglang's 70,000 are Hu cavalry. These people are all rough and barbarians, and only Li Zhonglang is in command. The Taiwei Mansion and the General's Mansion can mobilize Li Zhonglang, but they cannot mobilize these Hu soldiers. Once the order is issued forcibly and a mutiny is triggered, no one can bear the responsibility. Moreover, Li Zhonglang recruited soldiers from Huangzhong Qiang and Xianling Qiang as the Han army, which was also a temporary solution. He was afraid that after he was released, these people would rebel again, so he thought of such an emergency solution."

"To be honest, raising 40,000 Hu cavalry is a huge amount of military capital, but what if you don't support them? You can't let them become rebels anymore, right?"

"The Hu cavalry cannot be recruited, and the Han army stationed in the same camp cannot be recruited." Liu Yu said helplessly, "We are worried that the Hu people will misunderstand our purpose of transferring troops. If we suddenly rebel, it will be troublesome. In the past, we killed too many Hu people, and the Hu people always have a deep sense of caution towards us. If there is any slight disturbance, they will raise their swords to face each other. There have been too many such things in the past, and we must not ignore it."

"So, we wrote to Your Majesty several times, begging Your Majesty to recall Li Zhonglang to Xiliang. As long as Li Zhonglang arrives in Xiliang, this army can be recruited, but..."

"Bastard, is it my responsibility to fight this Xianbei person to the north?" The emperor was furious and raised his hand and shouted, "It's unreasonable!"

"Your Majesty, Lord Liu means that Li Zhonglang is stuck in Jizhou for too long, and it delayed the time to transfer the army." Zhang Rang stood up at the right time and said, "I think that Lord Taiwei is not at fault in this matter. On the contrary, in order to deal with tens of thousands of rebels, the general actually mobilized all the Northern Army and used a ox knife to kill chickens. As a result, Lord Taiwei has no troops to adjust. This is the main reason for the critical military situation in the Western Xinjiang."

He Jin had no expression on his face and looked at the ground as if he hadn't heard it. Zhang Rang spoke for Zhang Wen, just because he was afraid that the emperor would be the Grand Marshal of Zhang Wen, so that He Jin could take charge of military affairs alone. At this time, the ministers standing in the imperial study room understood Zhang Rang's thoughts, so everyone lowered their eyebrows and bowed their heads, and did not speak, allowing Zhang Rang to take advantage of the situation.

"Thinking back then, when Duxiang Hou Huangfu Song pacified a million yellow-turban ant thieves, he only used 50,000 Northern Army. General Li Hong defeated the ant thief Zhang Niujiao with only 10,000 iron cavalry." Zhang Rang snorted coldly, "The general was extremely brave and pacified. He even used only tens of thousands of Xingyang thieves to pacify a few tens of thousands of Northern Army and 20,000 Henan Prefecture's county and state soldiers. When the Xianbei soldiers were approaching, is it also responsible for the general to use such troops?"

When the emperor saw Zhang Rang bluntly scolding General He Jin as an incompetent person, he felt happy and his expression suddenly eased a lot.

Situ Cui Lie and Sikong Xu Xiang took the opportunity to indirectly attack, and sarcastically mocked He Jin and He Miao with Zhang Rang, and said a lot of good things for Zhang Wen.

Lu Zhi also stood up and said, "Your Majesty, General Dong Zhuo's army is rushing to Lingzhou. As long as he cut off the retreat of the Xianbei people, the Xianbei people can only retreat. Therefore, we can also let Li Zhonglang retreat appropriately to paralyze the Xianbei people and cover General Dong Zhuo's troops to Lingzhou and Shanghe area smoothly. Therefore, although Li Zhonglang's troops have not yet arrived in Gaoping, they have not had much impact on the entire battle situation. Your Majesty does not have to worry too much."

"In addition, if the Xianbei people captured Gaoping and Chao, I think it doesn't matter for the time being. We still have Liupan Mountain to block it. The more fierce the Xianbei people attacked, the further they were from the Yellow River, the longer the retreat, and the more confident we would be to defeat them."

"Defeat the Xianbei people?" the emperor frowned and asked suspiciously, "How to defeat them?"

"It depends on how General Dong and Li Zhonglang use their troops." Lu Zhi said confidently, "General Dong and the Hu people have fought for a lifetime and are experienced. Although Li Zhonglang is young, he is good at winning by surprise. Both of them are brave generals of our great Han Kingdom. With them to defend the enemy in Western Xinjiang, it is a matter of time to defeat the Xianbei people. I think that Your Majesty should trust them and provide them with sufficient food and pay and weapons. This is the key to winning."

The emperor was relieved and his emotions immediately improved. He waved to Zhang Wen, who was kneeling on the ground, "Get up, my dear."

＝＝＝

"Do you have a decision to seek rebels when you go to Xiliang to recruit you?"

"I am about to ask Your Majesty for this matter." Zhang Wen said in a hurry: "It is of great importance to go to Xiliang to recruit pacification, and only idlers cannot be competent. I recommend Sima He Yong of the General's Mansion to be the pacification envoy and go to Xiliang."

He Jin obviously didn't expect Zhang Wen to recommend He Yong. He looked at Zhang Wen in a little startled, and a hint of anger flashed in his eyes.

"He Yong?" The emperor muttered for a moment, and suddenly remembered, "Oh, it's him."

"Your Majesty, the rebel leader Wang Guo was originally a great hero in Longxi, with many capable people under his command, and the most respected one was Huang Yan. Huang Yan once served as the prefect of Jiuquan, but was later reigned by the general as the censor of the General's Office." Zhang Wen looked at He Jin, smiled slightly, and continued, "Last autumn, Huang Yan was suddenly dismissed by the General. Strangely, Huang Yan, who was dismissed, refused the Sikong Mansion's recruitment, but hurried to Longxi, instigating the Longxi Kingdom to rebel against the imperial court and attack Hanyang."

The emperor stared at the calm He Jin with suspicious eyes.

"I think that with He Yong's courage and reputation, and with his colleagues and Huang Yan, this trip to Xiliang to seek comfort will not only bring you worry-free life, but also successfully fulfill Your Majesty's will."

The imperial study room was silent. All the ministers looked at He Jin and waited for his reaction.
To be continued...