Tang Dynasty: The beginning of the game is to touch the Princess Changle

The fifth day of the twelfth lunar month.

The vast north is covered with thick snow.

In Yinshan, west of the Eastern Turks, Hou Junji has been fleeing from Qikou for three days.

A dozen days ago, the guerrillas ambushed small groups of Turkic cavalry in Qikou. More than 250 lone Turkic cavalry were killed, countless cattle and sheep were robbed, and dozens of felt tents were burned.

The current environment is relatively bad, and no caves can be found to avoid the cold. The guerrillas cut down trees in a small mountain stream and temporarily built a few sheds.

The place where the guerrilla soldiers stayed and hid could not be too close to the herdsmen, let alone too far.

Too far away, there is no guarantee of food, and too close, there is a risk of exposure.

At this time, the clothes worn by the guerrilla soldiers were all brand new, and the soldiers were dressed like Turkic herdsmen.

Thick animal fur coats, no choice but to wear them.

Too cold.

Twenty miles away from the small mountain stream, soldiers were on guard in all four directions.

"Captain, we don't have much food right now. It just so happened that it didn't snow these two days. Should we send brothers out to investigate?"

Deputy Captain Ding Shan suggested to Hou Junji.

On the snow outside the shed, you could vaguely see pieces of beef and mutton, but the shed looked a little strange.

There were a lot of dried cow and horse manure piled up inside, which were robbed from herders.

Due to the heavy snow, it was difficult for the East Turkestan, which originally had few mountains and forests, to find dry firewood for fire. An accidental guerrilla soldier discovered that the Turkic herders actually used dried cow and horse manure as firewood.

This discovery greatly improved the survival conditions of the guerrilla soldiers in the wild.

"Ding Shan, remember that we passed by here a few days ago during our transfer. The investigation revealed that there was something strange about Xiangcheng, so I guessed that Xiangcheng might be the Jie Li Ya tent."

Hou Jun took the East Turkestan map distributed by Su Chen and pointed to a place called Xiangcheng.

"Captain, even so, we dare not approach with only two hundred brothers!" Ding Shan was afraid that Hou Junji was eager to make merit and take the risk of attacking Jie Li Khan.

A dozen days ago, the guerrillas were originally moving from Qikou to Xiangcheng, which was relatively close, but they encountered several groups of Turkic troops.

They seemed to be stationed around Xiangcheng, which invisibly formed a kind of protection for Xiangcheng.

Hou Junji glanced at Ding Shan and smiled slightly.

When Ding Shan was in the Youweiwei Army Camp, he was Hou Junji's deputy general.

"Do you really think that I am a brainless and reckless man?" Hou Junji was angry and laughed, "Captain, if there is a chance, we can sneak into Xiangcheng to investigate."

Ding Shan did not express his opinion and waited for Hou Junji to make arrangements.

"Let's not talk about this for now. This place is very far away from Xiangcheng. We will act according to the situation when we have the chance in the future!" Hou Junji thought for a while and carefully put away the map.

This is the fifth map that has been worn out.

"How is the injured brother now?"

When the guerrillas committed crimes in Qikou, they had already suffered casualties. Five soldiers were killed and six were wounded by arrows in the back.

During the crimes in Qikou, the guerrillas were almost surrounded by 200 people.

It was the 15 soldiers who lost their lives to confuse the Turkish cavalry and led the enemy away.

Fortunately, four of them were not injured and took care of their comrades who were shot by arrows all the way, and finally joined the guerrillas.

It was originally a shameful thing for a soldier to be wounded by arrows in the back on the battlefield. The back injury means that the soldier was shot while running away. But the guerrillas are in a special situation, and as long as they can save their lives, they will win.

"Captain, six brothers were shot in non-vital areas, but they are fine now." Then, Ding Shan thought of something, approached Hou Junji and took out a glass bottle, saying: "Captain, this has to be said that Su Hou is really a god!"

"It is because of these magic medicines that none of the injured brothers have heat poisoning."

They have all been on the battlefield and have seen comrades who died on the spot due to serious injuries. They have also seen many who died of heat poisoning due to minor injuries.

Heat poisoning caused by sword, gun and arrow wounds is not 100% fatal, but it is not uncommon.

"Well, count the medicines and fine salt today, and I will go to see the injured brothers." Hou Junji nodded when he heard this, and couldn't help but think of the young marquis who was of the same rank as Wang.

"Yes, captain!"

Hou Junji and the other man walked out of the shed built of wood and branches one after another.

...Xiangcheng (now Horqin, Inner Mongolia).

The location of the Eastern Turkic yamen.

This place is different from the living environment of nomads. Rammed earth walls can be seen everywhere in Xiangcheng, and felt houses coexist with adobe houses.

There are also many simple streets, most of which are covered with snow, and there are sparse vendors and pedestrians bargaining for goods.

There is a square at the end of a slightly wider street, and the other end of the square is surrounded by an earthen wall.

A flag is erected inside the wall, and the pattern on it looks like a wolf but not a dog.

There are five felt houses of different specifications inside, and the middle one is the largest and most luxurious.

Seven people verticalThe horse entered the wall, turned over and dismounted, and put the horse reins on the hitching post.

Then, the seven people quickly walked towards the luxurious yurt in the middle.

"Second Khan!"

The guard outside the yurt saw the seven people headed by Tuli Khan and immediately saluted.

Tuli Khan was the second Khan of the Eastern Turks, second only to Jie Li Khan, and was Jie Li's nephew.

"Why don't you report to the Khan?"

The guard saluted again with his right hand on his chest, and immediately went into the tent to report to Jie Li Khan.

Last time, Jie Li Khan was invited to discuss matters with a tribal leader, this time they took the initiative to find Jie Li Khan.

In the tent, Jie Li Khan was discussing important matters with his trusted general Kang Sumi.

Kang Sumi was not only a general who was good at fighting on the battlefield, but also served as Jie Li's adviser.

Kang Sumi was instrumental in the Weishui Bridge Alliance. He suggested to Jie Li Khan that while Li Shimin had not yet eliminated the remaining forces of Li Jiancheng, the former emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and the country was unstable, he should mobilize nearly 200,000 troops of the Eastern Turks to march directly to Chang'an and occupy Wugong City, which was not far from Chang'an.

At the beginning of last month, Jie Li Khan learned from somewhere that a group of merchants appeared in the Western Regions and even in countries outside the Western Regions, selling high-quality fine salt and tea in various countries.

Tea can effectively improve the physical burden caused by long-term and large-scale meat consumption.

Before the fifth year of Wude, the Eastern Turks and the Tang Dynasty had trade relations. Later, due to several wars, the Eastern Turks and the Tang Dynasty broke off their commercial relations.

This news immediately made Jie Li Khan think about it. There were similar merchants in various countries, and it was said that the Western Turks also had salt merchants.

Only he, the Eastern Turks, did not have any.

Therefore, Jie Li Khan sent a large number of people to the Western Regions to inquire and learned that fine salt and tea all came from the Tang Dynasty.

Later, Jie Li sent people to release the news of his friends to those merchants and asked them to go to East Turkistan for business.

And promised to absolutely guarantee their safety.

Unfortunately, no merchant responded to East Turkistan.

This made Jie Li Khan very distressed. Merchants came to him for business and it was not that they would not pay. East Turkistan also had many cattle and sheep!

In a hurry, Jie Li Khan thought of sending people to rob and kill those merchants, but was opposed by everyone.

If other countries knew that East Turkistan robbed and killed those merchants who sold important materials, I am afraid that East Turkistan would be attacked by other countries.

"Khan, Tuli Khan wants to see you outside the tent!"

The guard outside the tent lifted the curtain and entered to report to Jie Li Khan.

Jie Li Khan looked very unhappy when he heard this!

Jie Li Khan and Kang Su Mi looked at each other and smiled slightly:

"Let him in!"