As night fell, the heat in the desert suddenly dissipated, making it even feel very cold.

The temperature difference between day and night in the desert is very huge, and even if it is autumn, the Qiang people feel very hot during the march during the day.

The sun shone on everyone, and almost all of their clothes were soaked with sweat.

But once night falls, even if everyone is in the oasis next to the desert, it still feels like winter.

Ma Chao put the spear in his hand beside him, looked at the bonfire in front of him fixedly, and ignored the Qiang people dancing around the bonfire.

After being in a daze for a long time, Ma Chao secretly sighed: "Finally leaving the four counties of Longxi, this bitter cold place?" ”

Over the years, although Ma Chao has adapted to the life of the Qiang people, he still feels a little uncomfortable with the bitter cold of the four counties of Longxi.

Whenever he looked at the Qiang people who were still living tenaciously in the desert, he always felt that his nose was a little sour.

It is undeniable that Ma Chao has great ambitions, and he is also a brave person, even a little ruthless, but Ma Chao has a very soft place in his heart.

That place is the mother who cared for Ma Chao when she was a child.

When Ma Teng was young, he was poor and could only make a living by chopping wood and selling it for money, and there was no way to marry a Han woman.

However, Ma Teng was tall and powerful, but he was favored by many Qiang women.

Although Ma Teng was unwilling to marry a Qiang girl, he was poor and did not choose a wife, and when he reached the age of marrying a wife and having children, Ma Teng, who still had nothing, could only marry Ma Chao's mother in the end.

Marrying a Qiang girl, Ma Teng embarked on the same path as his father.

Ma Chao's mother is the daughter of a small Qiang tribe leader, and she can be regarded as a national beauty among the Qiang people.

Because of her marriage to Ma Teng, I don't know how many Qiang warriors in the tribe challenged Ma Teng, but they were all defeated without exception.

Since Ma Teng married Qiang Nu, his life has become much better, and his career has begun to make progress slowly, but Ma Chao's mother died for no reason.

Ma Teng, on the other hand, married another Han woman.

Since then, Ma Chao has never felt the warmth of his mother's love, and he has also hidden a secret in his heart, and he has hidden his hatred for Ma Teng.

Ma Chao has three-quarters of Qiang blood, and the young Ma Chao is not loved by Ma Teng at all, but when he grows up, Ma Chao is brave and extraordinary, and he gradually gets Ma Teng's favor.

But for his father, Ma Chao doesn't have much respect.

On the contrary, because of his mother and grandmother, Ma Chao has a very good impression of the Qiang people, and especially loves Qiang women.

During this time, he has been living with the Qiang people, and Ma Chao is even a little intoxicated with such a life.

But Ma Chao is not an ordinary person after all, he has his own ideals and ambitions, and it is impossible to stay in the four counties of Longxi all the time.

Only the boundless sky is the place where the eagle can spread its wings and fly; Only the bottomless sea is the dwelling place where the dragon lives.

And Ma Chao is the eagle who longs for the sky and the dragon who wants the sea. The barren land of the four counties of Longxi will not be his destination after all.

The cold wind blew through Ma Chao's handsome face, his hair danced with the wind, Ma Chao's long eyelashes moved, and he closed his eyes and felt the caress of the cold wind.

Although this kind of touching is not so warm and comfortable, it makes Ma Chao feel more and more sober.

After a long time, Ma Chao opened his eyes again, and then slowly took out a flute from his waist and gently put it to his mouth.

This flute is made of oil bamboo grown in the high mountains, with two pipes and five holes, which is a unique Qiang flute among the Qiang people.

Ma Chao's lips moved slightly, and a distant whimper suddenly sounded in the air.

With the sound of this voice, the camp, which was originally very lively, suddenly became quiet.

Some Qiang people slowly got up, stood next to the campfire and held hands, their bodies gently swaying from side to side to the melody of the flute.

Time passed slowly, and more and more Qiang people held hands together, bathed in the whimpering sound of the Qiang flute, with extremely vivid expressions on their faces.

The bodies of the Qiang people sway from side to side, like ears of wheat dancing in the wind, which has a different kind of beauty.

This sense of beauty is mixed with bitterness, struggle, struggle, blood, and hope.

"Woooooo

The sound of the flute was still ringing, and although the Qiang people all stood up, holding hands and forming circles one after another, they did not make the slightest sound.

Everyone just shook their heads and shook their bodies quietly, with a look of anticipation in their eyes.

After a long time, Ma Chao finally finished playing a tune, but the Qiang flute was still in his mouth and he didn't take it down for a long time.

"Flutter da!"

The cold wind rolled up the flag, and the big flag made a hunting sound, which finally made Ma Chao retract his thoughts.

Seeing that everyone was looking at their faces, Ma Chao said with a smile: "It's not early, let's go and rest, we have to go tomorrow." ”

Although Ma Chao didn't shout at the top of his throat, his voice spread throughout the camp, and the Qiang people all walked to the camp in an orderly manner when they heard the words.

Quietly staring at the Qiang people, Ma Chao hung the flute on his waist, looked at the sky and whispered: "It's going to change the sky." ”

……

Wuwei County is the easternmost county seat of the four counties in Longxi, bordering Jincheng County, Hanyang County, Anding County and Beidi County in the east.

Coupled with Zhangye County in the west, the entire Wuwei County is surrounded by five county towns, which may also be unique on the map of the Han Dynasty.

Although the geographical location of Wuwei County is strange, it can also be seen that it is an important strategic location.

In the Gobi, Chen Jing led the Liangzhou soldiers to gallop westward, wanting to reach the place where he met Ma Chao, so as to kill all the remaining Qiang people.

For this operation, Zhong Xuan was extremely opposed, thinking that it was very risky to lead the army to Wuwei County.

Chen Jing said excitedly: "The four counties of Longxi are all Han land, but now they are entrenched by foreign races, and I, as a minister of the Han Dynasty, naturally want to recover the lost land." ”

"And Wuwei County is a beginning."

Zhong Miao persuaded: "Ma Chao has a thin temperament, so it is easy to agree to surrender, and agree to kill the Qiang people, it is inevitable that it will arouse some suspicions." ”

Chen Jing laughed loudly: "Although Ma Chao's father is nominally an official in Pusaka, how can he not be a hostage? If Ma Chao had two hearts, his father would definitely die without a place to be buried. ”

"What's more, although the 30,000 soldiers and horses under my command have not been formed for a long time, they are all elite divisions, even if Ma Chao has a deceit to confront him head-on, why be afraid?"

"Sir, don't worry, just hold Longxian and wait for me to get good news."

Yan Xing also repeatedly advised, but Chen Jing didn't pay attention to it at all, and he didn't bring Yan Xing with him when he sent troops to Wuwei County.

At this time, there were four generals who followed Chen Jing on the expedition, namely Fan Chou, Yang Ding, Yang Qiu, and Ma Wan.

At the beginning of Liangzhou, in order to appease people's hearts, Chen Xu had to use these people who were quite prestigious in Liangzhou.

Since Chen Jing served as the assassin of Liangzhou and slowly stabilized the situation, he began to slowly weaken the rights of these people, and almost the entire military and political power of the state was firmly grasped in his own hands.

Fan Chou and Yang Dingnai are generals, and they know that Chen Xu's power is strong, even if their rights are weakened, they don't dare to have any thoughts.

Although Yang Qiu was dissatisfied, under Yang Ding's persuasion, he gradually let go of his resentment.

In the final analysis, these people do not have the ambition to become princes of one party, they just want to be prosperous and rich in their lives, and they are just to be able to protect their children.

In their opinion, Chen Xu is undoubtedly a potential stock.

As long as you can show loyalty to it, even if your power is weakened at this time, you will have the opportunity to be reused in the future.

If Chen Xu can get the world in the future, they can also become the founding heroes, which is definitely a great honor.

Unlike these three people, Ma was a little reluctant when he played Chengcheng, if it weren't for Yang Ding's repeated assurances, he would still be reused in the future, and he would not have led the crowd to surrender.

In fact, when Liangzhou was first decided, Chen Xu also used horses very much, allowing him to lead the military and political power of Anding County, and horse games were extremely beautiful at that time.

However, with the arrival of Chen Jing, everything changed.

Especially when he did not obey Chen Jing's order and beheaded Song Jian, the king of Qiang, Chen Jing found an excuse to weaken his power and beat dozens of military sticks.

If it weren't for the repeated pleas of the generals, Ma Yu had no doubt that Chen Jing would dispose of his military law.

Since then, Ma Wan has had to live cautiously every day, for fear of offending Chen Jing again and incurring death for himself.

Today, the four people who were originally in high positions in Liangzhou are now only more than 2,000 people under their command. This time, Chen Jing led the army to the expedition and simply brought them all with him.

With the understanding of this period of time, Chen Jing became more and more interested in Fan Chou and Yang Ding, and slowly regarded them as confidants.

Going to Wuwei County, in addition to the more than 8,000 people under the command of the four generals, Chen Jing also selected 20,000 elite divisions in Liangzhou and prepared to complete the battle.

He asked Yang Qiu to lead the men and horses of the headquarters as the vanguard, and Ma Play led the soldiers of the headquarters to escort the grain and grass, and then distributed 3,000 soldiers and horses to Fan Chou and Yang Ding as the left and right wings.

As for Chen Jing herself, she commanded more than 10,000 people in the Chinese army.

30,000 soldiers and horses walked on the Gobi, and the dust raised was almost obscuring the sky, plus those flags were waving in the wind, and the scorching sun in the sky was obscured.

"Phew!"

Chen Jing, who was riding on a war horse, spit out a mouthful of sand fiercely, frowned and said, "When will you be able to cross this damn desert?" ”

The army had been marching in the desert for a day, and now that night was approaching, they still hadn't reached the next oasis, which couldn't help but make Chen Jing feel quite irritable.

Fortunately, before entering the desert, Chen Jing had already let people carry a lot of clear water.

With the materials carried by the Xiliang soldiers, Mo said that if he drove in the desert for one day, he could support it even if he had two more days.

However, Chen Jing was not born in Liangzhou, and her adaptability to the desert was extremely poor, and she always felt very uncomfortable during the march.

Taking a deep breath and forcibly suppressing the irritability in his heart, Chen Jing continued to march with a blank face.

As the commander of the first army, his every move may affect his subordinates, so he naturally wants to maintain his image, so Chen Jing has to be cautious.

"Stomp, stomp!"

The sound of hurried horses' hooves came from far and near, and Chen Jing saw Yang Qiu, who was sweating profusely, and ran towards this side with a panicked face.

"What's wrong?"

Seeing the panicked Yang Qiu, Chen Jing couldn't help but ask out loud.

Marching in the desert during the day, even though it is autumn, the weather is very hot.

Yang Qiu wiped the beads of sweat from his face and said cautiously: "General, we seem to be lost." ”

"What, lost?"

Chen Jing's eyes stared at Yang Qiu, and he roared out in disbelief, making Yang Qiu tremble all over.

After the military and political power in Liangzhou was slowly controlled by Chen Jing, Chen Jing's power became stronger and stronger, even if Yang Qiu was once a prince, he couldn't help but feel a little chill in his heart at this time.

First, Chen Jing is unscrupulous, if you make him unhappy, he will let you die without a place to be buried, and even destroy you.

Compared with Chen Xu, who is very well-behaved and Corporal Lixian, his clan brother is even more frightening.

Second, Yang Qiu was the vanguard general of this march, but he led the team to get lost, which was completely Yang Qiu's own fault.

Getting lost in the desert and delaying military aircraft is a trivial matter, and the slightest carelessness can completely collapse the entire team.

Even if this army is very elite, they are ordinary people after all, and in the desert where there is no water, they will die of thirst in a short time.

When encountering this kind of thing, if the situation is very serious, Chen Jing will not think it is too much to behead him.

Thinking of the terrible consequences, the beads of sweat that had just been wiped off Yang Qiu's face couldn't help but flow down, and Yang Qiu himself hurriedly turned over and dismounted and fell to the ground with a look of panic.

"Whew!"

Exhaled deeply, but Chen Jing suddenly jumped off the war horse and gently helped Yang Qiu up.

"It is difficult to discern the direction in the desert, and it is reasonable for the general to lead the wrong way, and now is not the time to hold accountable, we should find a way out as soon as possible."

Chen Jing is polarized towards people, as long as he approves of people will be treated sincerely, Yang Qiu has begun to slowly get Chen Jing's approval.

And Chen Jing also knew that although it could weaken their rights, if Liangzhou wanted to really stabilize, it really couldn't do without the support of these people.

At the very least, before Chen Xu's prestige was completely erected in Liangzhou, he couldn't do without these people.

It is only right to treat these people with grace and power, and if they blindly impose high-pressure policies, it will not be long before these people will be double-minded.

Seeing that Chen Jing not only did not blame herself, but comforted her with kind words, Yang Qiu breathed a long sigh of relief, and a trace of gratitude welled up in her heart.

Chen Jing looked up at the boundless desert and asked Yang Qiu, "If you keep walking west, can you cross this desert?" ”

Yang Qiu hurriedly replied: "There is a large oasis in the west, and we were originally preparing to arrive somewhere, but the route has shifted slightly, delaying some time. ”

"As long as you go all the way west, you can reach the oasis, and at most it's just an extra day's journey."

(I've been working on this plot for months.) And now I'm out of town, after all, it's not convenient at my own home, so I'll update 4,000 words a day for the past few days, and then resume updating when I get home. ）