Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 32: The Decline of the Han
"Sorry..."

After midday (12 o'clock), with the arrival of noon, the Hexi grassland in July was filled with the sultry heat that smelled of green grass.

On the green "carpet", a long silver-white formation held high the Three Stars flag and slowly marched eastwards amid the rustling sound of armor.

The scorching sun shining on their bodies, coupled with the armor on their bodies, made many people sweat profusely and gasp for breath.

"Stop, rest here for an hour!"

Liu Jilian raised his hand and gave an order, Jiu Juyan and others conveyed the order, and the soldiers in the army breathed a sigh of relief and sat down leaning against the cart.

Compared to their laxity, Liu Jilong frowned and looked towards the north.

His gaze passed over the Tangqi on the periphery and looked directly at a gray-white wave about three or four miles away from the army.

That was not a real wave, but a herd of Uighur tribesmen.

In the past ten years, because the Tubo in Gansu and Liang were unable to suppress the Uighurs who migrated south, these Uighurs began to settle and graze in Gansu and Liang, and continued to grow and develop.

They once fled south in a panic, but now they have become the overlords in the Ganliang area.

In Liu Jilian's memory, this group of Uighurs seemed to have occupied Ganzhou and Suzhou several decades later, and attacked Guasha, the headquarters of the Guiyi Army, several times.

According to later records, when they reached their peak, they were said to have 300,000 soldiers.

Of course, this is just a claim, and the actual number should be 200,000 to 300,000 troops.

Even so, they are still a populous ethnic group in Hexi.

At least judging from Liu Jilian's experience in Gansu and Su provinces, the four provinces recovered by Zhang Yichao probably could not even gather 40,000 Han people.

Even though the Ganzhou Uighurs have not yet grown to a population of 200,000 or 300,000, they still cannot be underestimated.

If possible, Liu Jilong would like to strangle them in the cradle, but he is not strong enough and can only suppress this idea.

"Buzz rumbling..."

Suddenly, dull and dense sounds of horse hooves came from the direction of the herd in the north, which made the soldiers of the 13th Regiment, who had just sat down, stand up and stand on guard to the north.

The Beifangtang Cavalry of the Thirteenth Regiment rode their horses to the north, and soon the rolling sand and dust gradually subsided.

At the same time, the returning Tangqi also galloped southward.

Liu Jilong stared at the situation in the north until the Tang riders came to the front of the team and dismounted, then he looked away.

"Captain, hundreds of cavalrymen from the Huihe tribe in the north have arrived, saying that we have invaded their pastures and asked us to leave immediately..."

"Fuck it!!"

"A bunch of pigs and dogs, they occupied the pasture for a few years and then claimed it was theirs!"

"This is Tang territory, the land of the Tang people!"

"Tell them to get out of here!"

Before Tangqi finished speaking, Zhang Chang and others beside Liu Jilong were furious, glaring at each other and cursing.

Jiu Juyan's face looked ugly too, and his hand was on the hilt of the knife at his waist, as if he was about to attack at any time.

"Are these pigs and dogs wearing armor?"

Liu Jilong asked in a deep voice, and the cavalryman shook his head: "We have never put on armor."

"You dare to provoke me, the Han people, without wearing armor. Do you really think that my swords are not sharp?" Liu Jilian was angry.

If this group of Uighur cavalry were a group of armored cavalry, then their request to leave could be considered a tough move.

However, they were not wearing armor, and to put it bluntly, they were just herdsmen carrying swords.

With such strength, he dares to boss these 200 elite armored soldiers around. Does he really think that Ganzhou is a group of Uighurs?

"Jiu Juyan, take the special forces to ask them whether the land of Ganzhou belongs to the Tang or Huihe people. Let them know who is the owner of this land!"

"The last general takes orders!!"

Liu Jilian gave the order in a deep voice, and Jiu Juyan responded without hesitation. He then rode north with twenty armored cavalrymen.

At the same time, a team appeared from the north and stopped in the distance.

Needless to say, this team is composed of hundreds of ignorant Uighurs.

Seeing more than twenty armored cavalrymen marching northward, the hundreds of Uighurs in the north immediately scattered like birds and beasts.

Jiu Juyan led his troops to chase for several miles before turning their horses around and returning to their camp.

Even so, he still cursed after returning: "If the governor hadn't said so beforehand, we would have robbed their herds of several thousand animals!"

"You are a pig and dog who bullies the weak and fears the strong. Bah!"

After returning to the battlefield and dismounting, Jiu Juyan looked at Liu Jilong. Liu Jilong was also in a much happier mood. He said to his attendants: "Rest for another quarter of an hour, and then set off in another quarter of an hour."

"Yes!!"

The expulsion boosted the morale of the 13th Regiment's soldiers, who all felt relieved. Seeing this, Ma Cheng said to Liu Jilong, "This Huihe people saw me waiting for Jia, and they dared to come up and provoke me."

"On the contrary, the Long family, although they were also aggressive, lost their spirit when they saw me waiting for Jia."

"Humph!" Chen Jingchong snorted coldly: "The Long family doesn't have many people. If they were as numerous as the Ganzhou Huihe, they would probably behave in the same way."

"It is because of the decline of the Han people that they, a bunch of pigs and dogs, have taken advantage of us." Zhang Chang was also somewhat unconvinced.

Feeling the anger of the crowd, Liu Jilong's mood was also affected and he didn't speak for a long time.

The feud between the Uighurs and the Tang Dynasty was too long. At the beginning, the Beiting Protectorate and the Uighurs joined forces to fight against Tubo, but the war was lost. The Uighurs were dissatisfied and actually lured Yang Xigu, the Protector of Beiting, into the army and killed him.

Although this happened sixty years ago, there are still many Han people in Hexi who remember it.

When he thought of this, Liu Jilian was so angry that he wanted to lead his army to burn down those annoying tents and cut down the Uighur flags in the camp.

This thought gradually subsided after a cup of tea.

After calming down, Liu Jilong also lamented that his energy-cultivation skills were too poor.

Compared with Zhang Huaishen and Zhang Yichao, I still need to experience more and be more tempered.

"lets go."

As the rest time was over, Liu Jilong gave an order and the soldiers of the 13th Regiment continued on the road to the east.

From afternoon to dusk, Liu Jilian found a hill to set up camp based on the terrain reported by the Tang cavalry.

Twenty carts were surrounded on the north side to prevent any enemy attacks from the north.

On the east and west sides are tents where the soldiers on duty rest, and only the south side is the main resting area for the army.

This arrangement is because the Qilian Mountains are to the south, which is relatively safe. Once an invincible enemy is encountered, they can escape into the Qilian Mountains and avoid annihilation of the entire army.

As time went by, when the camp was set up, Liu Jilian took Jiu Juyan, Chen Jingchong and Zhang Chang to walk around the camp. After making sure that there were no problems, he invited the soldiers to eat.

The sky gradually darkened and the bonfire in the center of the camp was lit.

The fire dispelled the darkness and made people feel a little warm.

The soldiers of the Thirteenth Regiment sat in front of the tent, forming a big circle around the campfire, staring at it from a distance of five or six steps.

Seeing that the atmosphere was getting bad, some soldiers with more open personalities took the initiative to walk to the campfire and started singing and dancing.

"The Gaochang soldiers and horses... are like frost and snow!"

"The Han army is like the sun and the moon!"

"The sun and the moon shine upon the frost and snow!"

"Looking back, it disappeared by itself!"

Two soldiers sang the "Gaochang Nursery Rhyme" left over from the Zhenguan period in long and short tunes.

The two figures standing in front of the campfire, singing in unison and performing simple and funny breathing movements, immediately filled the camp with laughter.

The firelight shone on everyone's faces. Even though the hills were very cold at night, the cold was dispelled by everyone's enthusiasm.

Looking at this lively scene, even Liu Jilong couldn't help thinking: "It would be nice if time could stop at this moment."

"it is good!!"

'good! ’

A cheer woke Liu Jilong from his fantasy. After he came to his senses, he joined everyone in cheering.

After receiving applause, the two performed even harder, making everyone laugh so hard that they couldn't stop.

For a moment, everyone no longer had any fatigue in their minds, no longer had any worries about life and death, and no longer had any distant hopes for fame and fortune.

All they had was simple laughter and joy.

"Captain, you have read books, can you lead us in singing a few lines?"

"That's right! Captain, please lead us in singing a few lines!"

I don't know who started the commotion, but the soldiers of the 13th Regiment started inviting Liu Jilong one after another.

Liu Jilong wanted to refuse at first, but when he saw everyone's gaze, he stood up and walked to the campfire.

"Okay, then I'll teach you a song I once heard in Changle. Listen carefully, I'll only sing it once..."

He stood in front of everyone, and without thinking about what to sing, a song popped into his mind.

But he seemed to feel that this song was not right, so he subconsciously changed it to a song he had heard before.

"Don't you see, the army of the Han Dynasty is over, and the weak crowns are tied to the prisoners, please grow tassels."

"Have you not seen, Ban Dingyuan, the light cavalry of the remote region, urging the battle clouds..."

　Happy National Day to everyone
　　
　
(End of this chapter)