Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 58 Changes in Shanzhou
"These are the government's cattle. Remember to take good care of them. If you can't tame them, find someone else to tame them. The same goes for draft horses!"

At the end of August, with the end of the first trade, Zhang Chang also sent people to bring back more than 50 cattle and draft horses obtained from the trade.

At Liu Jilong's instruction, all these oxen and draft horses were distributed to the people in the city who had no livestock, and they were instructed to tame them.

For Liu Jilong, the Shandan trade was just a minor episode and he did not take it seriously.

Shandan's specialty is iron ore, but they themselves are short of iron, so it is impossible to sell it on a large scale to the Uighurs. Therefore, the scale of Shandan's trade is not large.

During the days when Zhang Huairong went to Qilian City, Liu Jilian was either training troops in the city or going outside the city to command the people to dig ditches and supervise the craftsmen to forge armor and weapons and make ceramic pipes.

While he was leading the Shandan army and civilians to build Shandan in full swing, Zhang Huairong and Suo Xun were also vigorously building Qilian City.

Qilian City is located in a gorge at the northern foot of Qilian Mountain. The valley in the gorge is dozens of miles wide. The southeastern part is the Dadouba Valley Road and Sanxie Road connecting to Shanzhou, and the western part is the official road to Zhangye and Shandan.

Eight years ago, Lun Kongre took this route to pursue the Tubo Prime Minister Shang Siluo and show off his military power in Ganzhou.

The decline in Ganzhou's population was also due to the large amount of killings he had committed.

When the Tubo in Liangzhou was divided into pieces, what Zhang Yichao needed to guard against most was Shang Bibi in Shanzhou, so he specifically ordered the construction of Qilian City.

Qilian City is located in the northeast corner of the gorge. It was once burned down by Lun Kongre. Eight years later, Zhang Huairong and Suo Xun led more than a thousand people to repair it.

"Use some force on the top!"

"Bang!!"

“Pah…Pah…Pah…”

As the month draws to an end, the temperature in Ganzhou begins to drop.

Standing outside Qilian City, Zhang Huairong and Suo Xun examined the construction site. Behind them was the Qilian Mountains leading to Shanzhou.

The Qilian Gorge is dozens of miles wide and deep from east to west, and more than ten miles wide from north to south. Walking towards the Qilian Mountains, many valleys appear in the southern mountains, extending to Shanzhou.

Among them, the exits of Dadouba Valley and Sanxie Road are relatively flat and difficult to ambush.

At this moment, outside the city, more than 200 armored cavalrymen were patrolling, while Qilian City was being built by more than 1,000 soldiers and civilians.

Baskets of stones and soil were piled in the collapsed gap and compacted with stone rollers.

The contrast between the new and old city walls is very obvious at first, but as time goes by, after a few months they will merge into one and can no longer be distinguished.

"The south and east city walls have been repaired. Now the only things left are the north and west city walls."

Suo Xun crossed his arms and looked towards Qilian City with a proud look.

Standing beside him, Zhang Huairong nodded and said:

"The autumn harvest is coming soon, so let's have the soldiers fill the gap first. It doesn't need to be repaired to the same height as the old city wall, but at least it can prevent the cavalry from rushing into the city."

“Hahaha…” Suo Xun laughed when he heard this: “Sima Zhang, do you really think Shang Bibi and Lun Kongre will come over here to kill us?”

"I think you were frightened by Liu Jilong. A few days ago, you sent Tangqi to Shanzhou for inspection, and you also had people repairing the breach day and night."

"Look, we've been busy for more than half a month, but where are Lun Kongre and Shang Bibi?"

Suo Xun's undisguised ridicule made Zhang Huairong embarrassed.

After he led his troops to Qilian City, although he did not think that what Liu Jilong said would come true, he still sent Tangqi to patrol the two valleys.

As a result, after patrolling for more than half a month, nothing happened.

In addition, Qilian City was in need of manpower, so he withdrew the Tang cavalry and worked to repair several gaps.

For this reason, he had been ridiculed by Suo Xun a lot in the past half month, and he couldn't help but look down on Liu Jilong in his heart.

"It's better to be prepared. You have to take a look."

Zhang Huairong tried to explain with a straight face, and then gestured: "Let's go to West City. The opening in West City is relatively large, and it will probably take a lot of manpower and material resources."

Seeing that he changed the subject, Suo Xun did not pursue him relentlessly, but followed him to the west city wall as if nothing had happened.

There, several gaps several meters wide were very eye-catching, and even cavalry could enter and exit normally.

"First, repair these gaps to a height of six feet."

As Zhang Huairong spoke, Suo Xun nodded in agreement. He then summoned several captains who were in charge of supervising the work, gave them some instructions, and then went to the city with Zhang Huairong to rest.

The Qilian City was littered with burned-down houses. The collapsed houses were used by the Shandan soldiers to repair the city walls using local materials.

In the ruined city, a corner in the center was cleared out and tents were set up there.

Zhang Huairong and Suo Xun walked to the largest tent, sat inside and began to grind and drink tea.

The rising sun made the air less cold, and soon a roasted lamb leg was brought into the tent. The two sipped tea while cutting the lamb leg with a knife.

In comparison, the soldiers and civilians outside the tent were eating corn rice and stale dried vegetables.

Sitting in the corner, Li Ji couldn't help but said disdainfully: "It's better to stay with the other general in Shandan. I can go to the other general's house for a bite every few days."

"Shut up. You're already drooling because of what you said." Jiu Juyan, who was sitting next to him, interrupted him.

Although the two were brigade commanders, since they arrived in Qilian City, except for the first few days when they could eat mutton, the rest of the time it all depended on whether the Tangqi could hunt game.

Unfortunately, as time went by, as the gorge became colder, there became less and less game to eat.

The altitude of Qilian City is too high, and it is impossible to find any fresh wild vegetables. On weekdays, people have to rely on dried vegetables prepared a few months ago to eat with their meals.

As he ate this dull meal, Jiu Juyan felt more and more unhappy.

Not only him, but many soldiers of the Third Regiment began to complain.

When they followed Liu Jilong, Liu Jilong often paid for extra meals for the Third Regiment out of his own pocket.

Now that they are away from Liu Jilong, Zhang Huairong and Suo Xun don't care about them at all. They are only concerned with taking care of their own direct descendants, and their Third Regiment has become the ones being raised by a stepmother.

"Just be patient, we can go back to Shandan when winter comes."

Jiu Juyan comforted everyone and himself in this way. Fortunately, Zhang Huairong and the others were not completely without conscience, and they still had someone bring two buckets of mutton soup.

The mutton soup tasted much better when eaten with rice, and everyone's resentment was reduced a little.

"Beep--"

Suddenly, the sound of a wooden whistle came from the distant gorge, and the soldiers who were eating inside and outside the city wall stood up and looked towards the direction where the whistle came from.

"what happened?"

"Could it be that the bandits are coming?!"

"Go away! Stop saying unlucky things!"

The soldiers were talking in a flurry, worry written all over their faces.

Under their gaze, a group of cavalry rushed into the city and galloped towards the yamen.

"What happened!"

Zhang Huairong and Suo Xun in the yamen also heard the wooden whistle. They walked out of the yamen and saw the Tang cavalry galloping towards them from a distance.

The group of Tang riders rushed to the front of the tent, reined in their horses and turned over in one go.

"Report to the Sima, the Shanzhou bandits' cavalry were spotted on Sanxie Road!"

"How many!"

Zhang Huairong's pupils shrank. He didn't expect that what Liu Jilong said would come true.

Of course, the person who was even more surprised was Suo Xun who was standing beside him. At this moment, he only felt a burning pain on his face.

"There were no less than a hundred cavalrymen, but they did not attack. Instead, they asked us to hand over this letter to you!"

As the leader of the Tangqi team spoke, he took out a letter from his arms.

Zhang Huairong quickly grabbed it and opened the yellowed envelope.

He glanced around a few times, his face first showing joy, but then turning gloomy after a moment.

"What's wrong?" Suo Xun asked, and Zhang Huairong also handed over the letter.

After taking the letter, Suo Xun's expression changed as much as Zhang Huairong's just now.

After a moment, he closed the letter and put it into the envelope, saying with a serious face: "This matter must be reported to Zhangye!"

"We have to report it!" Zhang Huairong nodded solemnly, and at the same time said to the Tangqi in front of him: "Take your people to Shandan to deliver a letter and tell General Liu Bie to immediately collect the grain outside the city!"

"I obey your command!" The Tangqi bowed in response, and Zhang Huairong also handed his half fish token to the leader of the Tangqi.

In just a breath, the leader of the Tangqi team jumped on his horse, led his brothers, and galloped towards Shandan City without stopping.

Looking at their departing backs, Zhang Huairong quickly sent two groups of Tang riders, asking them to take the remaining half of the fish token and escort the letter to Zhangye City.

As everything was arranged, Zhang Huairong finally had time to look Suo Xun in the eye.

There were many emotions in their eyes, but surprise and confusion were the most...

(End of this chapter)