Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 57: All the Mountains Are Small
"Sorry..."

At noon the next day, when the people were all out farming, Zhang Huairong, who had just returned to Shandan City for the night, led a brigade of soldiers and horses, escorting 500 dan of millet to Qilian City.

Liu Jilong got up early in the morning, but did not go to see Zhang Huairong off. Instead, he stood in front of the city gate tower and watched him leave.

After the team disappeared into the horizon, he slowly came to his senses and focused his attention on the crops outside the city.

Lush green crops stretched for miles along the moat, and the fields were filled with people weeding.

Looking at this scene, Liu Jilong felt increasingly heavy-hearted.

After turning around and leaving, he intensified the training in the military camp and increased the frequency of killing sheep to reward the troops.

Days like this make the soldiers in the barracks feel both sad and happy.

After a few days, Liu Jilong finally found time to lead his team to Longshou Mountain.

The distance from Shandan City to the Longshou Mountain Beacon Tower and the trade point is only twenty-seven or twenty-eight miles. You can set out in the early morning and return in the evening.

Therefore, Liu Jilong was not worried that Shandan City would encounter any accidents. After all, he could return in time if anything happened.

Before noon, Liu Jilong entered the territory of Longshou Mountain with a team of fifty cavalrymen and fifty civilian laborers.

In just two quarters of an hour, they followed the dirt road to a river valley under the beacon tower and saw a not-so-large stone fortress.

"Beep--"

The shrill whistle echoed in the valley and soon attracted the attention of the defenders.

However, when the defenders saw that the people coming were their own troops holding the Sanchen flag, they immediately relaxed.

"Don't worry, why did you come here in person?"

Zhang Chang's voice sounded, Liu Jilong looked and saw Zhang Chang standing on the Shibao horse road.

After greeting happily, he immediately walked down the city wall from the horse path and trotted out of the only wooden door of the stone fortress.

The wooden door was wide and thick, but the top was hollow and did not look sturdy.

Zhang Chang trotted up to Liu Jilong and held out his hand to hold his horse.

Liu Jilong did not let him lead the horse, but dismounted and looked around the valley.

The river valley is not wide, only about thirty steps from east to west, with bare mountains on both sides.

Apart from the beacon tower on the top of the mountain, the only other building is a stone fortress that stretches across the middle of the valley.

At this moment, Zhang Chang was walking out of the stone fort, and there was an open space of more than ten steps between the stone fort and the stream.

There were chevaux de frise placed in front of the open space, apparently to prevent the Uighurs from invading through this passage.

“How many people are there in your place?”

Liu Jilong did not reminisce about the past, but instead looked at the stone fortress wall that was less than ten feet high, frowned slightly and asked.

Zhang Chang bowed and gestured with his hand, "A team of more than 50 people will be stationed here, and a group of brothers will be stationed in each of the other three wider valleys."

"In addition, there are 20 cavalrymen serving as guards at the northern entrance of the valley."

"Where is Director Zheng?" Liu Jilong asked, and Zhang Chang explained, "He has taken the civilians to the western valley. He probably won't be back until the evening."

"By the way, General, what's loaded on these carts?" Zhang Chang looked at the fifty horse-drawn carriages behind Liu Jilong with a puzzled look on his face.

"We have started mutual trade with the Uighurs. These are the commodities in the trade."

As Liu Jilong spoke, he took out a booklet from his saddle and said, "Give it to Zhibai in the army and ask him to sell it according to the price listed here."

"Remember, we need oxen for draught, and draft horses secondarily."

"Yes, sir!" Zhang Chang responded solemnly.

Seeing this, Liu Jilong also began to inspect the river valley and stone fort.

The river in the valley is not wide, only six or seven feet, just a small river, and the water flow is not turbulent.

However, judging from the riverbed, the river can still reach a width of two meters during the flood season. "This place is not short of water, and it is a place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack."

Liu Jilong praised generously, and Zhang Chang also grinned and said, "It's a pity that we are short of manpower, otherwise we could set up a pass here, and those Uighurs wouldn't be able to fly over even if they had wings."

"Hehe..." After laughing twice, Liu Jilong asked to go to the beacon tower on the mountain.

Zhang Chang never refused Liu Jilong's request and directly took him to climb the mountain.

Standing on the mountain, the grassland in the north is visible to the naked eye, and the Shandan City in the south can also be vaguely seen.

Longshou Mountain is not very wide, and this is the narrow part of the mountain range, so you can clearly observe the north and south of the mountain range.

It’s a pity that there were no telescopes in that era, and Liu Jilian didn’t know how to make a telescope. Otherwise, if he set up a telescope here, the movements of the Uighurs would be clearly visible.

"This place is great. We must build a pass here in the future!"

After observing the terrain, Liu Jilong finalized this idea, and Zhang Chang beside him couldn't stop smiling.

"Don't worry, I carefully selected this place. I said it was good at the beginning. Don't you think it's right?"

"Hmm..." Liu Jilong looked at Zhang Chang with a smile, and then started chatting with him on the top of the mountain.

Zhang Chang’s talent is not bad. He has studied with Jiu Juyan, Chen Jingchong, Zheng Chu and others for more than a month, and now he can lead a team of soldiers.

Let him adapt himself a little more, and then he will be able to fully implement the position of brigade commander.

Liu Jilian already had an idea in his mind, which was to wait until the beginning of next spring to go to Liangzhou to plunder the Tibetan herds and continue to expand the Shandan City.

As long as there are enough herds, Shandan will be able to reclaim large tracts of wasteland outside the city in an extensive manner, and at the same time liberate some Han people outside Liangzhou City.

At that time, he could rely on this group of Han people to form a few more regiments of troops and prepare for the army's eastward expedition to recover Liangzhou.

If we were to ask who most wanted to retake Liangzhou, it would undoubtedly be Zhang Yichao and his nephew Zhang Huaishen.

As long as Shandan can provide enough troops and food, and the troops in the rear are equipped with armor, Liu Jilian does not believe that Zhang Yichao can hold back.

There are still many Han people in Liangzhou today. If it can be recovered in advance, it will undoubtedly enhance the strength of the Han people in Hexi.

If we wait until there is a severe drought in Helong and a large number of nomadic Tibetans pour into Liangzhou, the Han people in Liangzhou will be massacred as they did in history.

Moreover, by recovering Liangzhou ahead of time, the Guiyi Army can also go on to recover the Helong states and continuously expand its strength.

For now, what Liu Jilian wants is to become the lord of a city, or even more so, the lord of a state.

Only by becoming the ruler of a state can he have the right to speak with the Tang court.

By then, no matter whether the Tang court wanted to instigate internal strife within the Guiyi Army or wanted to support forces such as the Uighurs and the Umu, he would be able to make corresponding arrangements based on the situation, instead of having to negotiate everything with Zhang Huairong as was the case now.

Although Zhang Huairong treated him well, he still had the pride of a powerful son.

This pride affected Zhang Huairong in many things and indirectly led to many of his proposals being shelved.

Perhaps it was precisely because of these things that Liu Jilian was so eager to recover Liangzhou and become his own "master".

"Don't worry, it's very cold and windy on the top of the mountain. Shall we go down?"

The mountain wind was so fierce that it made people's hair disheveled and their clothes rustled.

Zhang Chang suggested going down the mountain, but Liu Jilong really enjoyed the feeling of looking down on all the other mountains.

With his back to Zhang Chang, Liu Jilong wanted to say something, but felt it was too early to say it now.

In the end, thousands of words turned into one sentence.

"Zhang Chang..."

"The end will be here."

"In the future, we will also have our own pass city..."

"Yes! I trust you!"

(End of this chapter)