Cross the Yellow River from Shuofang County of Zhao to the west, and then cross the Helan Mountains and continue to walk west for hundreds of miles, you will see a huge mountain range that stretches for thousands of miles as far as the eye can see, and the name of this mountain range is called "Qilian Mountain".

At the foot of Qilian Mountain, there is the famous Hexi Corridor. This Hexi Corridor is rich in water and grass, and it is also an important passage connecting the Central Plains and the Western Regions, and belongs to the famous "Silk Road" in later generations.

This Hexi Corridor, once the territory of Xirong, is now occupied by a nomadic people named Yueshi who came from the east of the Western Regions.

In the middle section of the Qilian Mountains, there is a very unique, about nearly 200 miles of branch mountains, the terrain here is strange, hundreds of large and small stone forest peaks stand in the middle, like a dragon and a tiger leaping, like a horse running and a bear ambushing, the form is different and strange, anyone will be amazed when they see it.

In addition, there are large forests all over the place, and the evergreen climate makes it a paradise for hunters.

This is Yanzhi Mountain.

The poet immortal Li Bai once had a cloud in "Horizontal Blowing Songs: Youzhou Humake Song":

Although living in Yanzhi Mountain, it is not cold and snowy.

The woman immediately smiled, and her face was like a jade plate.

This Yanzhi Mountain is talking about Yanzhi Mountain.

The vast area from Helan Mountain to Yanzhi Mountain, which is hundreds of miles long, is the nomadic place of the Yueshi people.

Because of the occupation of this unique treasure land, the Yueshi tribe is now extremely powerful, large and small tribes add up to nearly 200,000 people, known as 100,000 people with bows, and the Xiongnu have fought many times, more victories and fewer defeats, and thus the Xiongnu have formed a blood feud.

In addition to the abundant aquatic plants and environment, there is also a very important thing in the Yanzhi Mountains, which is red and blue flowers.

Red and blue flowers, also known as Danhua and yellow orchids, are a kind of flowers that grow in the Qilian Mountains, especially in the Yanzhi Mountains.

The flowers can be grown in February, August and December, picked in May, dried and simply treated to become a favorite cosmetics for women to apply to their cheeks and lips.

The "Naturalist" describes the red and blue flowers as follows: "The flowers are prickly and the flowers are large." Its flowers are exposed to dryness, so as to dye them really red, and to make rouge. ”

In addition, this red and blue flower is also a kind of herbal medicine, Yueshi people found that as long as the red and blue flowers are dried and crushed, they can be used to boil medicine, and the medicine boiled out can play a good recovery role after giving birth to the woman.

Therefore, red and blue flowers are a very important necessity for the Yueshi people, and in fact, the same is true for the Huns who later defeated the Yueshi people and occupied this place.

In history, when Huo Qubing defeated the Xiongnu and occupied the Hexi Corridor, the Huns lamented for this: "Losing my Qilian Mountain will make my six animals rest; The loss of my self and the mountains have made my wife colorless. ”

Now it is summer, it is the season of red and blue flowers, the Yue's royal tent came to the main peak of Yanzhi Mountain, and the large and small tribes from all over the country also came to gather, for a time there are countless camps under the mountain, and the cattle and sheep are all over the mountain, and they can't see the end.

The king of this generation was named Veshka, about forty years old, extremely tall, more than one meter nine by the standards of later generations, a pair of unkempt curly hair, and a pair of shining brown eyes under the high arched hooked nose.

It is worth mentioning that, compared to the Huns, the complexion of this Yue Clan King looks quite fair, just like the dozens of Yue Clan patriarchs sitting in the king's tent.

At this moment, the Moon Clan King was listening intently to the report of a small tribe patriarch in front of him.

"Great King, since the Huns were defeated by the Zhao people two years ago, their Hugh Li Shan Yu has died, and now the Huns are divided in order to compete for the position of Shan Yu, and they have completely fallen into internal strife!"

Veshka laughed when he heard this: "Okay, this damn Huns always like to unite with the Wusun people to fight against our Yueshi, and this time they finally hit a hard bone!" ”

The Yueshi and the Xiongnu and Wusun have been fighting each other for more than a hundred years, and there are countless people on both sides who have died in each other's wars, and they all want to exterminate each other, so Veshka naturally laughed from ear to ear when he heard that his mortal enemy Xiongnu had suffered such a heavy setback.

There was joy in the king's tent, and laughter filled everyone's eardrums.

Someone else suggested: "My lord, I also heard about one thing, Lin Hu, who recently occupied the Hetao, was also defeated by the Zhao people. ”

"What?" Veshka is a little unsettled now, you must know that in the past two years, because the Huns in the east have not come to disturb, so Veshka has been leading a large army to fight against Wusun in the west, so it is the first time to hear this news.

Although Lin Hu is from the same origin as the Xiongnu in terms of blood, he has never been on good terms with the Xiongnu, so he has formed an alliance with the Xiongnu's sworn enemy Yueshi to deal with the Xiongnu and Wusun together.

So Veshka pointed to the patriarch who had just spoken, and asked, "Tell me in detail, what is going on?" ”

The patriarch's nomadic territory was on the northern side of the Helan Mountains, just across the Yellow River from where the Linhu tribe was located.

The patriarch stood up and said, "My lord, I don't know very well, but some Linhu people have fled to my tribe to tell me. They say that the people of Zhao have a kind of cavalry blessed by the gods, and this kind of cavalry exudes dazzling light all over the body, and no one can compete with this kind of cavalry head-on. ”

Veshka looked at the patriarch in a daze, and couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Celestial? The gods of heaven are believed only by us, and those people of the Zhou Dynasty believe in the Taiyi God! What a cavalry blessed by the gods, it's just nonsense! ”

Apparently, Vešishka did not believe this.

There was another burst of laughter in the king's tent.

The patriarch touched his head a little embarrassed, and said, "But I also heard a piece of news, although those Zhao people have conquered the territory of the Linhu people, they have only established two small cities so far, and the garrison of each small city seems to be only 2,000 people. ”

Veshka's heart moved slightly, and she asked, "Is this true?" ”

The patriarch nodded and said, "Unless those Lin Hu people lied to me, it is definitely true." ”

Veshka hurriedly asked, "Are those Linhu people still there?" ”

"Some of them are dead, and others are still slaves in my tribe. ”

Veshka pondered for a long time and said, "In that case, then you will go and get those slaves later, and I will ask them carefully!" ”

Someone saw the signs and asked, "Could it be that the king wants to attack the people of Zhao?" ”

Veshka nodded slowly, and said, "The Linhu people are our allies, you should know how rich their land is, if we can occupy all the lands of the Linhu people, then the Yue Clan will become even stronger!" ”

"But the king, this Zhao country has just defeated the Xiongnu and Lin Hu, and I am afraid it is a very powerful country."

Veshka snorted heavily and said angrily, "I also just defeated the damned Usun people and captured 20,000 Usun slaves!" You tell me, even if that Zhao State is stronger than Wusun and the Xiongnu, will we definitely not be able to win? ”

After a pause, Veshka said, "Think about it, now that we have the thousand-mile grassland of Yanzhi Mountain, as long as we take the territory of the Linhu people, our land can support at least twice as many people as we do now!" In just ten years, these extra clansmen will be able to help us sweep away the Xiongnu and Wusun and build a great empire! ”

Vešishka waved his arms vigorously, which made his speech look very imposing.

A henchman who followed Weshkashi to conquer Wusun also spoke at the right time: "What the king said is right, we can defeat the Huns, defeat the Wusun people, defeat Xirong, can't we defeat Zhao?" And the people of Zhao are not without other enemies, and they will not use all their forces to fight us! ”

But someone immediately spoke: "King Lin Hu's 40,000 cavalry is not the opponent of the Zhao people, we only have 60,000 cavalry now, if we start a war with the Zhao people, will we really win?" ”

"King Lin Hu is just a reckless person, and he is young and inexperienced, how can he be compared to the Great King!"

……

There was a lot of noise in the king's tent for a while.

Many of the nomadic Yue clans near Helan Mountain knew the power of Zhao and strongly opposed the Eastern Crusade.

On the contrary, many nomadic tribes who were nomadic near the Yanzhi Mountain headquarters and often fought against the Wusun people fully supported the crusade, hoping to gain more nomadic lands with abundant water and grass.

Distraught by these quarrels, Veshka finally couldn't help but slap the table in front of him and roar.

"That's enough, shut up!"

There was a sudden silence in the tent.

Veshka pondered for a long time, then finally made a decision and spoke: "Massagai! ”

A general of the Yue Clan, who was about thirty years old and looked quite calm, came to Veshka: "What is the king's order?" ”

Veshka said: "I'll give you 20,000 cavalry, you go and try the reality of that Zhao State, if the people of Zhao State are very strong, then you can withdraw." If the people of Zhao are very weak, then you will knock down the territory of the Lin Hu people for me! ”

Massagai asked, "When to go?" ”

Veshka said: "I will give you three days to gather the men and horses, and after three days you must set off!" ”

Ma Sagai nodded, and then said in a loud voice: "Please rest assured, the king, I will take the territory of the Linhu people and make the land of our Yue people even more vast!" ”

Veshka laughed and raised the horn in his hand: "In that case, then let's make this glass of mare's milk wine, and wish Massagay a victorious return!" ”