After many days of training, the officers and men of the Han Navy have gradually adapted to the vast sea. And a large number of ships suitable for sailing at sea have been put into use, which has also enabled the officers and men of the navy to leave the coastal waters and sail to the open sea.

Gan Ning and Zhou Tai often led fleets to the sea for training, and they went farther and farther. At Liu Xin's request, they made a huge nautical chart and marked all the islands they encountered along the way. As the fleet traveled farther and farther, finally the other day, they came to a large island.

The island is huge, and the area is already more than an ordinary county. There are not many inhabitants on the island, but many speak Chinese with accents similar to those in the southern part of Huiji County in Yangzhou. After repeated questioning, I learned that most of the ancestors of these people were fishermen from the coastal area of Huiji, or because they encountered wind and rain when they went out to sea to fish, or because they escaped the disaster of war, and came to this big island.

Ma Yun is basically certain that this island is the island of Taiwan in later generations. She has already sent people to the local area to form a yamen, but no one can predict whether there will be conflicts with the local residents. However, even if Liu Xin is in Chang'an, after learning the news, he will make the same choice. Coming from later generations, they are very aware of the importance of the island of Taiwan.

Another day passed, and the envoys sent to Dawan and Kangju returned one after another.

Dawan King Mozhiti convened the nobles to have a discussion, and allowing the Han army to garrison in the territory was written into the "Shule Treaty", and now the Han army only proposed to transit from here, not to mention that Liu Xin personally led the blazing to come, and everyone naturally had no objections.

The situation in Kangju is a bit more complicated. Kangju is different from Dawan in that the people there are mainly nomalist, similar to the Xiongnu and Xianbei on the grassland, but they also have their own cities and some agricultural cultivation in the south. The population of Kangju is about one million, because they are mainly nomadic herders, many herdsmen are qualified warriors, and there are about 120,000 capable warriors in the country. The royal city of Kangju was called the city of Khotan, which was originally their central station, and gradually developed into a city.

The previous king, Khairmann, had died three months earlier in an accident from his horse during a hunt organized by the royal family. As the king of Kangju, Kahelman is a great horseman, and it is indeed a bit strange that such an accident occurred. Some ministers speculated that the royal brother Murza, who went out hunting with him, was seriously suspicious. Murza also demanded to inherit the throne of Kangju after the death of Khalman, but was resisted by Queen Kangju. At that time, Queen Kangju was about to give birth, and after being dissuaded by the other ministers, Murza promised that if the queen gave birth to a boy, he would give up the fight for the throne.

As a result, a month later, the queen of Kangju gave birth to a boy. It stands to reason that Murza should keep his word. But he found an excuse to refuse to admit that the boy born to Queen Kangju was Kaheleman flesh and blood, because the baby had black hair, and Kahelman and the queen were full of blonde hair.

Although Queen Kangju explained that her father was a Han and her mother was a Great Qin, it was normal for her son to have black hair. However, Murza still mobilized some nobles to rise up against the infant to inherit the throne, and launched two battles, although both were defeated by Queen Kangju, but the city of Berthan was also almost broken by Murza, and the antagonism between the tribes of the country became increasingly serious.

Hearing this, Liu Xin couldn't help but be stunned. According to the emissary's description, this Kangju queen was too much like a black whirlwind. But why did Black Whirlwind become Queen Kangju? Is the current King Kangju the son of Liu Xin? The answer to these unsolved mysteries can only be found in the city of Khotan. Liu Xin couldn't sit still, and immediately ordered the team to move out, and be sure to rush to the Uzberi fortress this evening.

It doesn't matter to the others, only Liya's injury has not yet healed, Liu Xin originally promised her two days, but now the two days have not arrived, but Liu Xin can't wait. Liya was very strong, and walked out of the tent in pain, she gritted her teeth and frowned, Liu Xin was a little unbearable when she saw it, and couldn't help but say: "No, you can stay first, I will arrange for you to live in the military mansion, and when I come back from Kangju, I will send you to Huni City." ”

Liya shook her head and said, "No! I can do it! ”

Liu Xin thought for a while and said, "Okay, I'll give you a good horse!" ”

Soon, the guards brought a tall maroon horse, and Liya remembered the horse she had died of exhaustion at a glance, and tears flowed from her eyes.

Liu Xin hurriedly persuaded: "Forget it, don't cry, this is a real sweat and blood horse, which was just brought back by the envoy of Dawan King Mozhiti." If you don't want to own such a horse, if you don't want it, I will give it to others. ”

Liya hurriedly stopped crying and said, "No, I want it!" ”

After saying that, the stubborn Shanshan girl was about to turn over and get on the horse, but the pain in her inner thighs made her legs unable to lift up. Liu Xin stretched out her hand to help her, but her hand reached halfway and retracted, turned around and said, "Cleya, help the princess." ”

Sister Clea stepped forward, lifted Liya from left to right, supported her round buttocks, and sent her onto the horse. No wonder Liu Xin suddenly withdrew his hand, if he was asked to hold the buttocks of other girls, it would always be a little inconvenient. However, although Liya was a good rider, her injured thigh still made her very uncomfortable, and she almost couldn't control the sweaty horse.

Liu Xin "whistled", called his big white horse, jumped up, raised his whip to Liya, showed the stirrups, and then said: "You take a good look, like me, put your feet inside." ”

Liya glanced at Liu Xin suspiciously, stepped into the stirrup, and really felt a lot more relaxed all of a sudden. She couldn't help but turn to look at the other soldiers, and then she realized that everyone was equipped with this strange iron ring, no wonder they had galloped so far, but all of them seemed to be nothing.

Sister Cleya was very smart, and without Liu Xin's special reminder, she found that there were two iron rings hanging under the saddle of her horse, and they jumped on the war horse together to follow Liu Xin's example, and galloped for a while, even if they let go of the reins, there was no problem, and they suddenly became excited, and said a big call to Liu Xin.

Liu Xin naturally didn't understand, but he didn't want to understand what they were talking about, but grabbed the horse's belly and said softly: "Let's go!" ”

The fortress of Uzberi was only a hundred miles away from the city of Uji, and the cavalry marched in a hurry, and it was almost there. Although it was nearly dusk when they arrived at the fortress, they did not need to be busy setting up camp, for there was plenty of room for them to rest.

The entire fortress had a permanent strength of five thousand men, but the size of the fortress was much larger. In order to build these two fortresses, Liu Xin invested a lot of manpower and material resources, the fortresses are not only extremely strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, but also accumulated a large amount of grain, grass, ordnance and drinking water, which can accommodate 50,000 people at the same time to live in it for a long time, and the living conditions are much better than camping outside.

Now it is Lei Tong who is stationed in the Uzberi Fortress, and Wu Lan is stationed in the Tulugert Fortress, these two generals under Liu Yan in the past, since the surrender of Liu Xin, have been more and more reused, and they can already be on their own.

Knowing that Liu Xin was going to come to Uzberi Fortress for the night, Lei Tong had already made preparations, vacated the best room, and specially prepared hot water for Liu Xin to bathe.

In the desert, there is nothing more precious than water, so many people living in the Western Regions do not bathe all year round, and some even bathe only once in their lives, when they are born, when they are married, and when they die.

Although Liu Xin loves cleanliness, he also knows that the water in the fortress is not easy to come by, except for the accumulated rainwater, the rest is carried by the soldiers bucket by bucket, so he couldn't help waving his hand and said, "Forget it, let the three girls wash it." ”

In fact, Liu Xin's decision is not to take special care of girls, in the desert area where there is a serious shortage of water, taking a bath is the most luxurious behavior, even if it is a girl. However, Liya has a leg injury, and the weather is hot and she sweats easily, so if she doesn't wash it, it will be a big problem if she gets infected. And when Cleya was fighting with Serica, she was covered in blood, and Liu Xin was uncomfortable to look at if she didn't wash it. Of course, even if Liu Xin allowed them to take a bath, there would only be so much water, and it would be impossible to prepare hot water for them.

At this juncture, Lei Tong accompanied Liu Xin to inspect the entire fortress. The fortress was actually divided into three parts. Ahead is a checkpoint that checks passing caravans and collects customs duties. On the high hills on both sides were fortified fortresses, connected together by a chain bridge in the middle, which was the main fortification that controlled the Uzberi Pass. With these two fortresses, as long as the blockade is implemented, it will be difficult for even thousands of troops to pass through the Uzberi Pass. Further up is the garrison of the fortress, and now, Liu Xin and his family live here.

Because the Uzberi Pass had split a high mountain in half, and the garrison was also divided into two hills, the top of the hill had been bulldozed for horses, and the belly of the mountain had been almost hollowed out, and grain and ordnance had been stored. Ordinary soldiers also lived in the belly of the mountain, but Liu Xin and his family lived in several courtyards built on the top of the mountain.

After the Uzberi fortress was repaired, Liu Xin came here for the first time, he moved from the left mountain to the right mountain, inspected from the garrison to the outpost, and was very satisfied with the layout of the fortress. Such a fortress can be called impregnable, as long as it is guarded here, even if there is a war with the Great Qin Empire in the future, there is no need to worry about affecting the stability of the Central Plains.

After turning around, Liu Xin returned to the courtyard built on the left mountain through the chain bridge. Liya had already finished taking a shower and walked out of the room, her long golden hair was spread out, and a faint fragrance went straight into Liu Xin's nose.

Liu Xin saw that she was much better, and couldn't help laughing: "It's much more comfortable to take a bath, how are you going to thank me?" ”

Liya knew that this water was saved by Liu Xin, her face couldn't help but turn red, and she said, "Your Majesty, the little woman can tell you a secret." ”

Liu Xin laughed and said, "What secrets can you have." Well, if you're talking about a secret, I'll tell you a secret. ”