...

"General Duan, try my skills and see if it's the same as before?"

Zhang Kai brought a pot of fragrant sheep bone soup to Duan Bing's house and personally served him a bowl.

Duan Feng took a sip of mutton soup and immediately praised it: "Good, Lao Zhang, the soup craftsmanship is more powerful than before. The mutton bones are stewed sour and the smell is not heavy. Drinking a bowl is really comfortable..."

Zhang Kai smiled and said, "If there weren't any good seasonings here, this mutton soup would definitely be more delicious."

"You drink too..." Duan Feng asked Zhang Kai to sit down, glanced at the empty bowl beside him, and said nodded.

Zhang Kai also served a bowl, looked at the steaming mutton bone soup in the bowl, hesitated for a moment, and took a big gulp regardless of the heat.

Duan Feng saw Zhang Kai’s expressions strange, and asked, “Is there something wrong? Tell me just if I have something…”

Zhang Kai put down the bowl and said, "General Duan, can the general ask if Ping Qiang can remember a great contribution this time?"

Duan Feng smiled slightly: "Why, are you afraid that I will be greedy for your credit? You have followed me for four or five years, and you should know what kind of character I am like."

Zhang Kai hurriedly said: "General Duan, don't misunderstand it. The last general is definitely not the case. This time, we are using our inferior forces to fight against Qiang and Hu, who are ten times more powerful than us.

General Duan must know more about this danger than anyone else, but he is afraid that the battle will end, and those who are interested will use this to seek credit from Chang'an..."

Duan Feng's face changed: "What do you want to say? If you have something to say, please open it and don't hide it like this!"

Zhang Kai thought about it and said simply: "General Duan, we are all from Liangzhou. Now that we have joined the Han court, we are considered to be a member of our ancestors. There is nothing to say about it.

But how could the conflict between Liangzhou and Yongzhou be said to let go by just letting go? What's more, the governor Bai came from Yongzhou,

Even if he has a clear distinction between public and private affairs, it is difficult for the Yongzhou army to make things difficult for him. What if they collectively make things difficult for General Bai, will General Bai offend the Yongzhou army for us?"

Duan Feng shook his head and said, "Old Zhang, I didn't expect you to treat your comrades like this. I'm very disappointed..."

"General Duan..."

"You don't have to explain..."

Duan Feng stopped him and continued, "I know what you are worried about, and I know what you are thinking. Isn't it just that you are afraid that the achievements of this battle will be greedy for others?

What's the use of you talking about so much? Governor Bai came from Yongzhou, but he was transferred to Yongzhou and was not from Yongzhou himself.

Do you think he will be greedy for merits? Will he be worried about the noise of friendly forces? Don’t forget, who led the Yongzhou army to expedition to the Western Regions at this time last year and stabilized the situation outside Jinzhong Pass? Do you think that with such a general, the soldiers below will mutiny?

Also, if he is really greedy for merit and regional division, how can he improve the treatment of Liangzhou Army? The border army can eat better than the Yongzhou Army, and the soldiers and armor are also more elite. Do you think he will be greedy for merit?

So, don’t use your villain’s heart to judge a gentleman’s affair. Why did we let our Liangzhou army pacify the Qiang? It’s just two points, because we Liangzhou people are familiar with the Qiang people, and we also want to give our Liangzhou army a chance to establish military merits!

Have you read the military newspaper at the end of October? What a great honor is this for the military parade in front of the Daming Palace in Chang'an. The emperor personally climbed the tower to inspect the world.

I also want to take you old brothers to Chang'an next year, and be reviewed by the emperor under the gaze of everyone in front of the Daming Palace. Do you understand?"

Zhang Kai was extremely ashamed when he heard this, and then hurriedly knelt in front of Duan Feng on one knee and apologized: "General Duan calms down, it's the last general who is wrong!"

Duan Feng opened his eyes and pointed to the pot of mutton bone soup and said, "Take your mutton soup away, I will not drink this rotten soup!"

Zhang Kai hurriedly said, "General Duan, it's the wrong general. Please forgive me for this time..."

"Take it!"

Duan Feng's unquestionable attitude made Zhang Kai regret it. In fact, he was just worried that his military achievements would be greedy, which was too common in the past.

Needless to say, the Qiang people were reigned. No matter how great the military achievements were, they would always be rewarded. Even when Wei Min was still there, they were also greedy for merit. It is not a big mistake for Zhang Kai to have this idea, after all, people are selfish.

"Don't, it's a pity if you don't drink too much of such a fragrant soup. Wouldn't it be good to drink a bowl of cold weather to drive away the cold?"

At this moment, Xia Yu and Tian Yan, who were inspecting Yangshan County, entered the house and heard Duan Bing want to pour out the sheep bone soup and stop it.

Seeing Xia Yu and Tian Yan enter the house, Duan Feng's face turned better: "Are you back? How is the situation in Yangshan County?"

Xia Yu replied: "Reported to General Duan, the last general and the Right Sima (Tian Yan) have already ordered the materials seized in Yangshan County, totaling 240,000 sheep, 800 cattle, 30,000 stones of wheat, and 3,000 war horses,

Five thousand pieces of fur tents and sheep clothes, two thousand taels of gold, eight thousand taels of silver, and some other items were also registered in this account book. Please check it out..."

Duan Yang carefully checked the number in the account book, nodded and said, "It's almost enough. Our actions here will definitely have attracted the attention of the other Qiang tribes in Tujinze. It is not advisable to stay here for a long time, bring enough supplies to gather before dawn."

"Here~"

After Tian Yan and Xia Yu received the order, they looked at Zhang Kai who was still kneeling on the ground with their heads down. Xia Yu kicked him gently with his feet and said, "Zhang Zhanjun, stop kneeling, get up quickly, and say something slowly."

Tian Yan picked up a bowl on the table, put half a bowl of lamb bone soup into the pot, put it to his nose and smelled it, and said, "This soup is so fragrant, what a pity to pour it out, General Duan, don't you really not drink it?"

"snort……"

Duan Feng glanced at Zhang Kai and snorted deliberately. He already understood that what he said when he was angry at Zhang Kai was heard by the two of them. Now he was just finding a way for Zhang Kai and himself.

Zhang Kai was still kneeling on the ground. Without Duan Feng's words, he would never get up no matter what.

After a long time, after Xia Yu and Tian Yan kept persuading, Duan Yan sighed and said, "Since it is Sima, the two colleagues on the left and right, plead for you, then let's go over this matter and get up..."

"Thank you, General, thank you, Sima..."

Zhang Kai thanked the two of them and then slowly got up. As a result, Tian Yan handed over the bowl full of soup and handed it to Duan Feng.

After seeing Duan Feng take a sip, he breathed a sigh of relief. At Xia Yutianyan's greeting, he sat down and drank the soup together...

After a pot of soup was empty, Duan Feng burped, took out the topographic map of the earthen jinze, and began to arrange the next battle.

Duan Bing pointed to the location marked on the map with the Huxia River and said, "Tomorrow's main goal is to occupy this place and try to cut off his contact with other departments before Yuan Mastiff reacts.

This river ridge is not easy to walk, the road is rugged, the gorge is narrow and long, and it is not suitable for cavalry combat. Therefore, this general led the Wei Wu soldiers to set up defenses in Huxia River.

The Sima tribe on the left bypassed the Huxia River and quickly defeated the other scattered Qiang tribes. The Sima on the right arrived at Jinlong Lake from the other wing, so that we could be horned on three sides.

After the main force of Yuan Mastiff passed by Jinlong Lake, he immediately set up a wall on the frozen river surface to cut off his retreat.

When the Yuan Mavericks army is frustrated and retreats, it is time for us to launch a general attack. At that time, it is necessary to annihilate the Yuan Mavericks in the battle to Tujinze!"

Zhang Kai asked: "General, why don't we attack Tujin Castle directly? The four big yellow crossbows that we carried in the last generation are the powerful weapons to break the city..."

Duan Yang shook his head: "No, just taking down an empty city cannot achieve this strategic goal. If Yuan Mavericks know that the rear is being copied, it will be like there is no worries and will only want to break through.

The so-called "Mourning soldiers will win". Once they are allowed to leave Tujinze, the pressure on the military and civilians over there will be greater, and we will also struggle in this battle."

Zhang Kai nodded, deeply feeling that what Duan Bing said was reasonable.

At this time, Tian Yan said: "But this is never a solution. Even if we can defeat the Qiang people in this battle, judging from the people's conditions in the northwest counties, other external troubles will appear..."

Duan Bing thought for a while and said in a low voice: "The Han court has already known this. What do you think the Han court asked our Liangzhou army to go out of the frontier this time? Is it just to wipe out the Yuan Qiang?"

When everyone heard this, they immediately became interested and asked quickly: "Please tell General Duan..."

Duan Bing said: "Before going to the expedition, I also talked about the hidden dangers of the border counties with Governor Bai. He said that the Emperor and the Ministry of War had already begun to study this issue.

The northwest has different forms in the Far East, and the tribes of various ethnic groups are entrenched in a strong manner. If you want to manage it properly, you can set up a marching station here..."

"March System?" Everyone was puzzled.

Duan Yang said: "How should the so-called marching system be explained? It is to set up military and political establishments in the northwest, with civil and military officials in various jurisdictions, and then use elite troops to intimidate the military and civilians in various places.

At present, to obtain accurate information, Your Majesty wants to take the west of the Pamirs after pacifying the Qiang trouble, and wait for the countries in the Western Regions to surrender, and then choose a place to establish the Western Regions Protectorate."

"The Protectorate of the Western Regions? Does Your Majesty want to include the Western Regions in the territory?"

Zhang Kai asked in a little shock, if this is true, then how ambitious is this empire master far away in Chang'an?

Duan Feng nodded: "Yes, General Bai has personally verified the strength of the countries in the Western Regions. Whether it is military preparation or combat power, they cannot compare with our Han army. They can control their hands smoothly with only tens of thousands of people."

Xia Yu frowned: "Although we will finally agree with Your Majesty's grand plan, although the countries in the Western Regions are not worthy of justice, but they have two empires behind them, such as Dashi and Sassanida.

Not to mention that doing so would be torn apart directly with the Monroe people, and the Longyou Road in the southwest of the Pamir Mountains borders the Bohe people on the plateau. In this way, wouldn’t that turn the outer border into a place of four battles?”

"Yes, I have also mentioned this similar concern to General Bai, but guess what General Bai said?" Duan Bing said mysteriously.

"Governor Bai said that instead of letting the Central Plains suffer from wars, it is better to stop the war outside the home. Moreover, only constant wars will have the value of soldiers' survival. As long as everyone regards those enemies as their own military achievements in their promotion and development, this problem is not a problem at all."

After listening to Duan Bing's words, everyone was silent for a long time and felt that it made sense. Sergeants only have meaning on the battlefield.

"By the way..." Duan Yang said mysteriously at last, "Governor Bai said that the Han court stipulated that the Western Regions Protectorate was established in the future. Any Han army transferred to the Western Regions would be three times the military pay and treatment of the troops within the Guandi Army.

Moreover, there are many opportunities for meritorious service, and retired soldiers also have high salary arrangements. In the future, after the establishment of the Western Regions Protectorate, you can do it yourself..."

"Hahaha……"

The last sentence made everyone laugh. The few people here were already planning to wait for the Western Regions Protectorate to be established and go to tell their subordinates. I believe that many people would definitely be willing to go to the Western Regions to join the army.
Chapter completed!