Big man: I am the Champion Marquis!

Chapter 99 The most comfortable day

The army is now divided into two groups. One group is led by Li Guangli with 2,000 cavalry and Li Ling's 3,000 infantry, cooperating with the Dayuan army to capture Yucheng City.

Guishan City had been under siege for nearly a month, but Yu Chengcheng's troops had never come to support it. In addition to Li Ling's meritorious sniping, it was also because King Yu Cheng did not care much about Wu Gua's life or death.

Now the Dayuan army tricked the city gates into opening and attacked Yucheng City from both inside and outside. This was the established tactic.

It doesn’t matter if the Dayuan army turns against them. Li Guangli and others can just hold on and wait for the main army to return before gathering the main force to capture Yucheng City.

The Han army is now full of confidence. They have already captured the impregnable Guishan City, so there is naturally no need to worry too much about Yucheng City.

I believe that the nobles of Dayuan also know that if they cannot defend Guishan City, they can surrender after paying some price. But if Yucheng City is breached after they turn against the enemy, they will have no way to survive.

The troops led by Li Guangli were actually the vanguard of the army. Although the Dayuan army was escorting the baggage and food, the Han army still had to make some preparations for the return.

Li Guangli set out with full confidence, while Huo Shan led the main force of the Han army to stay outside Guishan City, waiting for the arrival of reinforcements from Kangju.

"My Lord, it's time to tame the horses!" Chen Ju came over excitedly and urged, "My Lord!"

Huo Xian then stood up and complained, "This horse is too fierce. It's not easy to tame it."

Chen Juze smiled and said, "Your Excellency, just give it up. If you don't want to tame it anymore, just give it to me."

Huo Xian rolled his eyes at Chen Ju and said, "You wish! I trained the horse, so naturally only I can ride it!"

Those tamed and extremely docile riding horses are not picky about their owners, and will not resist anyone sitting on their backs. Some war horses are the same, and are not particularly picky about their owners.

However, some excellent horses are "master-recognizing", and some generals like to train horses because this is related to the rider's riding habits and instructions, which ordinary horses may not be able to understand.

Huo Xian came to the open space in a hurry. Many Han army soldiers were already watching the fun. Yesterday, the general of the cavalry fell off the horse while training it, which was also a joke.

The light golden Arabian horse was led out, but it was very resistant during the process, kicking people from time to time, shaking its head, or trying to escape.

Feng Dan grinned and said to Huo Xian, "General, this horse has a fierce temper. Give it to me!"

"I rewarded you with a big foreign horse, but you're not happy?" Huo Xian said jokingly, "Pay attention to your movements. Many brothers in the camp haven't seen a woman for a year. Aren't you afraid of being laughed at?"

Everyone else was stunned for a moment, and the term "foreign horse" was quickly understood by the people around them. It made sense to think so, Feng Dan, the demolition soldier, did have a foreign horse to ride at night.

Zhao Congxiao immediately said in a flattering tone, "Sir, I don't want a big ocean horse, I want a Pegasus!"

Chen Ju immediately drove away these nephews and nieces, saying with disdain, "You bastards, is it possible for you to think about the celestial horse? The celestial horse must be sent back to the stable and presented to His Majesty! You can just get the Wusun horse!"

The name of Tianma has been changed. Previously, Wusun horses were considered very good, so they were synonymous with Tianma.

But now that I have seen the Ferghana horse, I feel that the Wusun horse is not worthy of the title of Celestial Horse.

Although Huo Xian was generous, he also knew that it was unrealistic for each of his personal soldiers to have a Ferghana horse.

It seems that there are nearly 7,000 Arabian horses now, which is indeed an astonishing number. However, most of them are sent to the horse farm, and no one dares to have any tricks on them.

Even if they brought back hundreds of horses, they were basically presented to the emperor. Some dignitaries might get one or two horses as a reward, which was great.

Huo Xian still owes a lot of debts now, including Wei Deng, Liu Jin, Gongsun Jingsheng, and Cao Zong.

He was worried now. If the emperor didn't give him a few horses after he returned to Beijing, he wouldn't be able to see anyone. It was all his fault for being so outspoken. Now he was worried.

Even the horse he was training now essentially still needed the emperor's permission. Huo Xian was acting first and asking for permission later. He would train the horse first and then talk about it. With his status, it was naturally no big deal for him to ask for a horse.

However, keeping these spoils privately can be a serious matter. In history, many generals were punished for keeping war horses and women privately after winning.

Huo Xian stepped forward while chatting and laughing. A horse slave had already tightened the rope to prevent the horse from struggling too much.

When Huo Xian climbed onto the horse, the horse immediately became even more irritable and began to struggle hard. It was not used to having someone on its back and kept shaking its body in an attempt to throw Huo Xian off.

Holding the horse's neck tightly, Huo Xian shouted, "Back off!"

The horse slave immediately loosened the reins and ran away, but of course he would not run too far. Chen Ju and other personal guards stayed around to prevent Huo Xian from falling off the horse.

The horse began to run continuously, standing up from time to time, stopping suddenly and kicking its back while running, trying every means to throw Huo Xian off.

But this was easier said than done. Huo Xian held the horse's neck tightly and even pulled its mane when the horse was running steadily.

Just keep wasting time like this and see who can’t stand it anymore and gives in first.

Huo Xian admitted defeat, and the horse could only be handed over to someone else. If the horse admitted defeat, its owner would be Huo Xian! "My Lord!" Chen Ju, who was standing next to him, shouted, "Whip it!"

Huo Xian calmed down, adjusted his sitting position slightly, and then hit the horse's belly hard with his legs.

The horse neighed and immediately stood up, stamped its front hooves, and then landed on the ground, snorting and shaking its head, and continued to gallop.

The days without fighting seemed extremely simple and relaxing. Huo Xian liked the life in the military camp, which was busy and fulfilling, much better than the intrigues.

Huo Xian returned to the military tent, took off his clothes, and shouted, "Come with me to the river to swim, and let's see who swims better."

Now that Dayuan has been conquered, the dam will naturally no longer burst, and Guishan City now has a water source again.

Zhao Anguo ran over happily and said, "Sir, three more horses were delivered today, all of them are top-quality horses!"

Huo Xian complained, "I can't make the decision. There are the Lieutenant General, the Grand Herald, and the Embroidered Uniform Envoy. I can't hide my horse."

The Captain of the Horse Driving Team was specially assigned to be in charge of driving the horses for this expedition to Dayuan. Among them were people from the stables, people in charge of horse appraisal, veterinarians, etc., all of whom were keeping an eye on these horses.

Needless to say, the embroidered robes envoys were these people who wore embroidered robes, held staffs and tiger talismans, and patrolled everywhere. If they found any illegal problems, they could act on behalf of the emperor.

In reality, it is similar to the Jinyiwei. When a general like Huo Shan leads troops outside, it is impossible that there are no spies of the emperor in the army.

"I dare not think of a top-quality horse, but there should be a medium-quality one, right?" Zhao Anguo said flatteringly, "Sir, many people are waiting."

There is no military officer who doesn't love horses. When the officers and soldiers in the army saw these Ferghana horses, they were all eagerly looking forward to seeing them.

"I have no say now. Your Majesty will certainly show mercy when the time comes." Huo Xian said seriously, "Now even Marquis Yiqu and General Ershi won't allow you to take the horse, so don't count on it."

Zhao Anguo also understood that he would be rewarded after returning to Chang'an, and that Huo Shan was really unable to do things on behalf of the emperor.

As for Huo Xian, he is now busy training horses every day, so everyone else should just treat it as normal.

The treatment this champion marquis received was incomparable to that of others. If things really got out of hand, he could shamelessly say that he was taming the child first and had no intention of staying privately.

After taking a comfortable bath, Huo Xian asked, "Why are the reinforcements from Kangju so slow to arrive? The men must be getting a little impatient waiting."

Gongsun Ao said, "I'm afraid they are just some worthless creatures. We have besieged Guishan for more than a month, so they should have climbed up by now. The Wusun cavalry came over today, and they are also fickle."

Huo Xian couldn't help laughing and said, "When they saw my army conquer Guishan City, the Wusun people became smart. It would be easy to conquer Dayuan. Wusun is not that strong."

Previously, at the invitation of Huo Xian, Wusun said that it would send 3,000 cavalry to fight alongside him, but they always kept their distance and had no intention of joining the war.

But now that the army had broken into the city, the Wusun people became more active, not only approaching the Han army but also asking to join the battle. In the final analysis, after seeing the strength of the Han army, they became enthusiastic and honest, and no longer hesitated.

After returning to the military tent, Huo Xian asked, "How have you rested these days?"

Gongsun Ao said confidently, "We are just waiting for the Kangju people to come to our aid. If you ask me, this is the most comfortable month for the expedition."

It is absolutely correct to say so. Although there was a war before, there was no real fighting when the army was besieging the city, and the soldiers were not nervous. Even since the attack on Dayuan, there have been only two real battles, and the intensity was not great.

After conquering Guishan City, the supplies were more abundant, and the soldiers had good food and drink. Although they were not reluctant to leave, this month was indeed the most comfortable since the expedition.

"When the time comes, keep an eye on the Dayuan people to prevent them from turning against us." Huo Xian reminded, "Those who are not of our race must have different hearts."

Gongsun Ao said confidently, "General, don't worry. If they go to battle, we won't provide them with enough arrows."

"Now we are afraid that the news will leak out, and the Kangju people will flee upon hearing the news." Huo Xian said, "If we can really destroy most of the Kangju army, it will be easier to fight the Xiongnu in the future."

Hearing that Huo Xian still wanted to fight the Huns after going around in circles, Gongsun Ao and others remained silent.

They understood this matter well. Dayuan, Kangju and other places were considered the rear areas of the Huns.

If they could control this place, and with the addition of Wusun, the Xiongnu's room for movement would become smaller and smaller, and a two-pronged attack would not be impossible.

Wait, all we can do now is wait.

One is to wait for Li Guangli to capture Yucheng City so that the army's return will be smoother.

The second is to wait for reinforcements from Kangju to see when they will actually arrive.

Third, they were waiting for the nobles of Dayuan to pay the ransom. No one had too many good horses. With tens of thousands of troops dispatched, the more spoils the better!

(End of this chapter)