At dusk, a remnant of the sun slowly sank below the horizon, leaving a few red clouds, still lingering in the vast twilight.

In the open space outside the big tent, Han Sui stood with his hands in his hands, silently looking at the dim sky, with a lot of thoughts in his heart.

He was reluctant to rebel, that's a fact. If he rebels, he is a rebel of the Han Dynasty, a sinner of the Han Dynasty, even if he dies, he will never be able to turn over. Because of his rebellion, he brought death to his family members, made his famous teacher scorn by the world, and put his friends in a painful and dangerous situation. What are you doing this for? For the lives of your family? This reason is a joke. If you rebel, not only your family, but even your own relatives, relatives within the nine clans will be killed.

But he did have a reason, a reason why he was willing to rebel. He wants to let the people of Xiliang live a better life, no longer be oppressed and humiliated by the government like ants, no longer cry hunger and cold in the dire straits, and no longer die miserably and helplessly in the miserable wind and rain. He wants to fight this dark sky.

He still has one wish, only he is still alive, and he is still with the Xiliang army, and any official of the Han Dynasty will not want to step into Xiliang, and he will not want to knock the bone and suck the marrow again, poison the living beings, he wants to turn the tide and see the sun.

After the rebellion, their troops swept through most of the prefectures and counties of Xiliang, seized the city, and were invincible, but then the problem was that the imperial court's assistance was gone. Xiliang has not received the assistance of the imperial court for two years, and Xiliang has been fighting in various places for the past two years, so the world is barren and the livestock has decreased sharply, which eventually led to the complete collapse of Xiliang's economy. The people of Xiliang suddenly became poorer, and there was no way to live.

Xiliang is poor and barren, and neither animal husbandry nor farming can meet the most basic needs of hundreds of thousands of troops and hundreds of thousands of people.

For many years, Xiliang has been suffering from the invasion of the Hu people of all ethnic groups, with continuous wars, coupled with the perverse actions of officials in various places, and the tyrannical expropriation, which has caused the livelihood of Xiliang to wither, the people are poor and wealthy, and the people are full of mourning. Ordinary people rely on the donations and relief from the imperial court every year to survive. But it is precisely because of the poverty of Xiliang and the continuous war and relief that the government offices in Xiliang are the darkest and most corrupt places in the entire Han Dynasty.

In the first half of last year, because Xiliang was rescued by Huangfu Song, people everywhere could barely survive. But since Zhang Wen arrived in Xiliang last autumn, the situation has deteriorated sharply.

When Zhang Wen arrived in Xiliang, he completely ignored the life and death of the people in Xiliang, and blindly urged the officials and soldiers to suppress the bandits and quell the rebellion. Although Bian Zhang and others led the army to defeat Zhang Wen and drive him out of Xiliang, the survival problem of the people in Xiliang became more and more serious. They also thought about occupying Sanfu, conquering Chang'an, and looting to solve the food and clothing of the people of Xiliang, but because of the snow, they fell short in the end.

This winter, many people in Xiliang have died, and cannibalism has occurred in many places.

This is not the result of their rebellion, it is too far from the purpose of their rebellion. They rebelled because they wanted the people to no longer be oppressed by the government and live a better life. They had no idea that things would turn out like this. In the past, although those bureaucrats were corrupt and corrupt, the aid of the imperial court was still continuously transported to Xiliang every year, and in the most difficult times, everyone could barely survive, and there had never been a situation in Xiliang like last winter, where people starved to death and froze to death. Is it wrong to rebel?

This year it's even worse. This year, if the troops could not enter Chang'an and loot a batch of property and grain to bring back to Xiliang, the people of Xiliang would have to die even more. If the situation does not improve and continues like this, in a few years, the people of Xiliang will die. The people of Xiliang are gone, how can they survive? At that time, if you don't want the official army to quell the rebellion, the rebels in Xiliang will disappear.

Bian Zhang cried bitterly because of this. He's going to surrender, he's going to lead everyone to surrender. The truth is too harsh. He would rather die himself, his family and clan will be executed, and he does not want to see hundreds of thousands of people in Xiliang die because of their rebellion.

Everyone sat down together and discussed. This year, if the troops can lay down the three auxiliaries and occupy Chang'an, they will have a lot of money and a lot of food, and Xiliang will be able to get a chance to breathe, and everyone will still have a way to live. If not, I'm afraid the only way to do this is to surrender.

Now in the troops of the official army, except for Zhou Shen's 20,000 northern troops who came from Luoyang, the rest are all from Xiliang. Many of these Xiliang people are their friends, everyone knows why they rebelled, and they all know the current situation of Xiliang, so no one will fight them with real swords. Some of these friends even wished that they would immediately take their troops to Chang'an. In the future of Xiliang, the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Xiliang are more important than anything else, even more than their loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor. So Han Sui has confidence.

What he is worried about now is Dong Zhuo, and there are reinforcements from Jizhou.

Dong Zhuo and Beigong Boyu are good friends, and they don't have too deep a friendship with him, and he has always looked down on this person. His teacher Zhang Huan despised Dong Zhuo very much, and once threw out the property that Dong Zhuo bribed him with. When Huangfu Song quelled the rebellion in Xiliang last year, Dong Zhuo was still a Zhonglang general, and his troops were stationed in Guzang in Wuwei County. After he was ordered to lead the army across the Yellow River, he had a very tacit understanding with Huangfu Song and stayed in Longxi without fighting. Later, he was promoted to general, and after Zhang Wen was controlled, things changed. Dong Zhuo's nature is very greedy, very greedy, whether it is power, money or women, he covets it. This is understandable, there are many people like Xiliang. But he is cruel and bloodthirsty in addition to greed, extremely cruel and bloodthirsty, which is only him in Xiliang.

So when Dong Zhuo asked them for money through Beigong Boyu, they felt a crisis. On the battlefield of Xiliang, in terms of strength, he is the most powerful. If he takes the lead in fighting back, things are troublesome. I want to give it myself, but Bian Zhang disagrees and resolutely disagrees.

There is also Li Hong from Jizhou. Through his friends, he had learned about Li Hongqi and his Fengyun Iron Horseman. When such a powerful young man arrives at the Xiliang battlefield, is it a curse or a blessing for Xiliang?

Facing a ferocious leopard and a jackal staring at him, Han Sui felt tremendous pressure, and he couldn't help but feel uneasy in his heart.

Yang Qiu hurriedly walked over. Yang Qiu belonged to the Qiang people, a tribal leader.

"General, June Thunder has sent someone."

Han Sui was overjoyed in his heart, and hurriedly asked, "Where is Lei Shuai's position?" ”

"It's almost time to get to Chencang." Yang Qiu said with a smile, "Lei Shuai is extremely fast this time, probably because he is afraid that we will enter Chang'an first and rob him of his share of money." ”

Han Sui smiled lightly. He looked up at the last rays of the sky and suddenly felt a warmth in his heart. These Qiang brothers will always be their true good friends.

＝＝＝

The night sky is dark, the stars are dotted, and a crescent moon quietly hangs in the distant sky.

Li Hong and Li Su stood side by side, looking at a galloping cavalry army from afar.

The roar of the galloping horses was deafening, and the dust that splashed up almost obscured half of the night sky.

Li Hongfei dismounted and met Ma Teng, who came from the horse.

Li Su hesitated slightly. A Zhonglang will dismount to meet a military horse, isn't it a bit too much. Although his official position is a cut higher than Ma Teng, he is a little lower than Li Hong. Since the main generals all dismounted to pick them up, he had no choice but to dismount as well.

Ma Teng's tall and sturdy body is like a wall, giving people a sense of invulnerable. A square face, thick eyebrows and big eyes, and the tiger and tiger are fierce and sharp between the eyes.

Li Hong immediately recognized him, this kind of person is outstanding no matter where he is, and at first glance he is the kind of good man who takes care of each other with all his heart and righteousness.

Li Hong secretly snorted and shouted, "Is it Lord Ma?" ”

Ma Teng was obviously surprised, he had never seen an adult with a much higher official position than himself personally dismount and pick him up. Ma Teng hurriedly dismounted, bowed from a distance, and said loudly: "Xiaguan Ma Teng, meet General Zhonglang." ”

Li Hong ran to Ma Teng's side in a few steps, and said with a smile: "Master Ma, you came so fast." ”

Ma Teng saw that Li Hong was so young, and a layer of anger surged in his heart for no reason, but he stretched out his hand not to hit the smiling person, people were so polite, no matter how he said it, he gave himself enough face, and he couldn't be too rude.

He smiled faintly and replied in a low voice: "The military situation is urgent, and it cannot be delayed." Thank you for picking it up. ”

Li Hong smiled: "You are the hero of Xiliang, of course you should take it." Then he turned around and shouted at Li Su: "Master Li, come and meet Master Ma, don't you know each other?" ”

When Ma Teng saw Li Su, the anger suddenly exploded, he smiled coldly, straightened his body, held the war knife in his hand, and shouted loudly: "Xiaguan Ma Teng, meet Master Li." ”

Li Hong was stunned. This Ma Teng is really powerful, grabbing the war knife in his hand, and the murderous aura immediately spits out. Terrible. But look at the posture There is a festival between the two.

Ma Teng held the war knife in his hand and roared, not to mention that there was no etiquette, and even the most basic politeness was gone.