"Journey to the West"

Author: Scarlet Polyp

Chapter 26 A Certain Ending

"Dahan Tianwei, there is nothing to do with me!" Salo, the leader of the vanguard team of the Changshui Battalion of the Northern Han Army, held his sword high, full of tears, and shouted with his comrades in a heartless manner.

Salou was an eighteen-year-old boy who, like many of his peers, had only heard about the powerful dynasties of the East from the stories of the old men, and had admired the beautiful silk robes of the dignitaries from afar to imagine the richness of that country. Born into a family of ordinary merchants, his parents were devout Buddhists, and he had seven siblings, and the whole family worked hard to run the grain store business, and life was busy and boring. But the young man also had his own ambitions, dreaming of traveling to far-flung places to see the fabled endless blue waters, rolling mountains and intricately exotic buildings – or a more realistic goal, to put on elaborate armor and join the personal guard of His Royal Highness the Great Prince.

Suddenly, one day, there was a huge chaos in his Qiancheng, which had been peaceful for a long time. The streets were in chaos, shouts of killing were everywhere, the common people blocked the doors with heavy objects, and the whole family huddled together, constantly begging the Buddha for peace. When the situation calmed down, the official who used to manage the streets of Qiuci held the edict and read out to everyone the will of His Royal Highness the Prince: From now on, the Bai clan of the imperial family will completely hand over the ruling power of Qiuci to the hands of the Han Dynasty, and all the subjects of Qiuci will henceforth be loyal to the great Emperor of the Han Dynasty.

This edict was gorgeous, and the people did not understand it after listening to it for a long time. A few days later, the common people were summoned to the square, and watched as many high-ranking officials and nobles who were usually high-spirited were lined up and beheaded on charges of rebellion, and the heads of the nobles suddenly fell to the ground. Everyone woke up to the fact that after the **** of that day, Qiuzi had changed the sky! But the people were not dissatisfied with this change, although the Bai clan of the imperial family was benevolent to their subjects in the past, but their control over the country was not enough, and those nobles relied on their power and never did anything less to oppress the commoners. As long as the distant and mysterious Han Tianzi doesn't oppress our Qiuzi people too much in the future, what does it matter if you change your master? It's not the same life yet. After watching the execution, each family was given a large bag of groceries, which made everyone feel grateful.

A few days later, the official came again with the edict in his hand and read out the Han army's conscription order: all adult Qiuzi men between the ages of 16 and 30, except for those who are disabled, have only children, or have no children after marriage, must participate in the screening of the Han army, and violators will be punished by rebellion. If selected to become an official Han soldier, they can receive generous benefits: in addition to the good military salary, their family members can enjoy tax exemption for more than ten years, and after three to ten years of service, they can also get a small piece of land in Qiuci. This slightly rough conscription order caused some complaints among the Qiuzi people, who were accustomed to a stable life, but their obedient nature made them gather outside the barracks on time and obediently accept the selection of Han army officers.

Unlike everyone else, Salou almost burst out laughing when he heard the order. The perennial heavy physical labor and a good appetite allow young people to exercise a strong physique, and they have endless energy. The young man secretly calculated, if he could be selected to join the army, wouldn't he be able to go out and see the world? If the family gets the same treatment as they join the army, they can live a happier life in the future, right? So he didn't care about his father's reluctant tears, and ran to run for the election, and even secretly begged the Buddha to bless him to seize this life-changing opportunity.

Due to his height and knowledge of some simple Chinese, Salou was successfully selected. What made the boy even more excited was that he did not join the city defense auxiliary unit called the "Qiuzi Battalion" like most of his compatriots, but directly joined the regular combat unit of the Han Dynasty.

After the two hundred sturdy Qiuzi recruits entered the camp, for the first time in their lives, they put on the standard light armor of the army, lined up in a queue, and accepted the lecture of the chief general, Zhao Guang, the commander of the cavalry.

Zhao Guang rode a tall war horse, wearing heavy armor, wearing a black cloak, holding a gun in his left hand and pressing a sword in his right hand, majestically like the statue of Bishamentian (Buddhist god of war, also known as Duowen Tianwang) in the temple, which made Salo almost have the urge to worship.

"Gentlemen, from now on you are no longer ordinary people, but the most elite soldiers of the Han Dynasty! Train your bodies into sharp weapons and destroy all enemies! Defend His Majesty the Emperor of the Han Dynasty! Defend your homeland! The handsome general smiled when he said this, "So in the coming days, please be prepared for the consciousness of death!" ”

The following days were like hell: the daily training almost drained the young man's physical strength, and the veterans in the battalion were all iron-faced, making people not relax. But the young man gradually got used to such a hard collective life, and for the first time in his heart, he had a clear goal of struggle - to become a majestic general like Lord Zhao! The ignorant Qiuzi boy, after experiencing hard training, thousands of miles of running and brutal battlefields, gradually transformed into a determined warrior.

Countless young people from the Western Regions like Salo sacrificed their lives and deaths for the Great Han in the war, and gradually grew up, and they became the backbone of the Western Heroic Army of the Great Han - the Heavenly Army.

October 28, Gumo City.

In the gloom of late autumn, Pang De led a large army to converge the troops of Gao Shun and Guan Ping, and surrounded Gumo City.

After several months of fighting in the west, it finally came to the last moment, and all the generals were gearing up, wanting to take the lead in the city and grab this last credit. But coach Pound had no intention of taking advantage of this high morale and categorically suppressed the generals' desire to fight. The battle dragged on for too long, and too many soldiers had been sacrificed, and he didn't want to lose any more senseless losses because of the siege, so he was determined to solve the enemy in the city with heavy force and bloodlessness.

Outside the small city of Gumo, there are 30,000 troops surrounding the Han Dynasty, and in the Guishan army in the city, there is also an undercurrent.

Due to historical factors, the army of the Kushan Empire was originally full of the forces of various wealthy families, nobles, and large tribes in the country, which can be described as diverse. In the past, these forces did not dare to come forward under the prestige of Ki Bonada, but now that the defeat is decided, all sides are ready to move.

The 30,000 Guishan army was overcrowded in Gumo City, and there were no meals, and the morale had dropped to the lowest. In the past few days, watching the Han army under the city gather more and more, the voice of surrender has become higher and higher, and even the main general Ji Bonada has a vague nod. Those officers from the aristocratic faction were very dissatisfied with the weakness of the main general, and they all joined together to discuss the method: "The 100,000 army swore to the east, and now if it ends up surrendering completely, how will our family gain a foothold in the country in the future?" "Yes, even if you fight until the whole army is wiped out, you can't admit defeat!" "The number of the Han army is not very large, as long as we rush out in a few ways at night, there will always be some people who can escape, and then we can return to China and mobilize more troops to come back for revenge!" "That old guy is afraid of death and wants to surrender, so let's let him apologize with death!" "After all, this old guy is still a Jiandala (the ancient kingdom of Afghanistan, destroyed by Kushan), how can he be trusted? Guishan's army should really be completely in the hands of our Dayue clan! Furious, these aristocratic officers plotted a mutiny in an attempt to kill Kibunada and seize power in the city.

The mutiny was launched very suddenly, and nearly 100 nobles sent officers to hide their weapons, and in the name of seeking to see them, they successfully entered the camp of the main general, kicked the tent and killed people, and killed the chickens and dogs inside and outside the tent. But unfortunately, the main general Kibonada was not in the camp at that time, so these people were quickly wiped out by the surrounding guards.

Although Ki Bonada escaped, the successive blows completely destroyed the veteran's health. But at this time, he had to cheer up his spirits to calm down the chaos and reserve some seeds for this army. He held on to his sick body, arranged his cronies' troops to purge the whole army, killed a group of people ruthlessly, and quickly stabilized the situation. He knew that the situation in the city could not be delayed any longer, so he wrote a letter to Pound: the letter was earnest, promising that the entire Guishan army would immediately lay down their arms and surrender to the Han army. At the disposal of his own life, he only begged to forgive the lives of more than 20,000 Guishan soldiers in the city, waiting for redemption in the country.

Pound quickly replied to his terms, and magnanimously stated that as long as he laid down his arms, the life of the commander and the soldier could be guaranteed. Three days later, Gumo City held a solemn surrender ceremony, and Ki Bonada prostrated himself and trembled to present the sword to Pound, announcing the end of the entire Western Expedition.

The Western Regions were pacified, and Liu Shuolong, the son of the Han Dynasty, issued an order to reward the soldiers of the Western Army. The imperial court's arrangements for the future of the Western Regions were also issued with the reward.

Since then, the Western Regions have been renamed "Tianzhou", taking the meaning of "relying on Han and Yitian" and "north and south of the Tianshan Mountains", and no longer set up the capital to protect the mansion. Its land is tentatively divided into five counties and one country, namely Cheshi County (Zhisuo Gaochang), Qiuci County (Zhisuo Taqian), Shanshan County, Khotan County, Shule County and Wusun Country (Zhishu Chigu), each with Taishou. The state was governed in Qiuci, and the state pastor was set up, and the first state pastor was served by Sima Yi, the general of Zhengxi (Sima Yi served as the state pastor for five years, with outstanding political achievements, stable situation, and the people were happy, and was later transferred back to the court to serve as Situ, and was succeeded by Bai Hechou, the former prince of Qiuci).

The Western Expeditionary Force included Ma Chao and other troops who were back-up, and most of them temporarily stayed in the Western Regions. After resting and recuperating, the 2nd Battalion of Changshui and Yue Cavalry of the Northern Army returned to the east to replace the remaining Gongwei Beijing Divisions of the other schools that participated in the Southern Expedition.

After the Wusun Guoda Kunmi was born from the princess of the Han family, she was specially given the surname Liu and entered the name of the clan. The lord of Wusun is crowned king, and his country is based on the Han kingdom system, with one Fu, one Xiang, one lieutenant, one Lang Zhongling, and one servant, all of whom are free to appoint and dismiss, and report to the imperial court for approval. Princess Haiya was given the title of righteous princess and ordered her to supervise the country.

After the war, he was appointed as the captain of Wusun, commanding the military forces of Shule County, Wusun Kingdom, and Lingnan and North, and began to defend one side of the Han Dynasty, and embarked on the road of a famous general in the world. Since then, Zhao Guang's various deeds of rejecting Guishuang, resting in peace, and resisting Rome have nothing to do with this article, so I will not press it for the time being. The romantic love story between him and Princess Haiya of Wusun has also been translated into many languages for hundreds of years and sung endlessly, attracting the fascination of countless young men and women in later generations.

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Closing Words:

Hello everyone, this Western Expedition was repeatedly delayed by the worm, and finally failed to catch up with the end of the big Han, which is also an occasional expected, look up at the sky, the hero is lonely!

(The poor worm was taken off the stage by a group of book friends of the Han Dynasty and struggled to climb up again)

Fortunately, at the end of the big new book, the Western Expedition can finally have an ending, which can be regarded as an explanation! When writing this article, the worm was often honestly afraid, for fear of living up to the great expectations, and now he has retreated, finally relieved. Thank you Mengda and all the big men for your support!