Spring returns to the earth, and the warm wind blows green the endless fields in the east of the river. The wheat fields are covered with lush wheat seedlings, which have grown to a foot tall. Groups of farmers are busy digging water into the canal by the river. The shadows of mountains are green in the distance, and groups of larks are flying over the lush woods. The breath of spring is particularly strong.

This is west of Taiyuan. After experiencing last year's drought, this year it's like God wants to compensate the world. It has excellent weather and rain, abundant water sources, and the rivers are gurgling and clear and green.

On the wide official road from north to south, a team of about 500 cavalrymen were rushing from the south, with their momentum like thunder, stirring up rolling yellow dust. The general was Yang Yuanqing who returned from Luoyang.

However, he did not return to Taiyuan at this time, but continued to head north to the grassland of Mayi County to welcome Li Jing and the 20,000 troops who returned triumphantly.

At this time, the final decisive battle in Guanzhong was not started, and he was still actively preparing. However, some external battles had begun, such as Bashu and Hanzhong. Once the external battles ended, the decisive battle in Guanzhong would be a natural result.

The cavalry team pulled out a long team and rushed all the way on the official road. In front of it was Sanqiao Town, which was also the intersection of the official roads between the north and south and the east and west, forming a lively market town with shops and merchants gathering.

When they rushed here, the cavalry team slowed down and slowly passed through this one-mile-long town street. Today, it was a community festival. Farmers from all directions gathered in the town, causing tens of thousands of people to pour into the town, men, women, young and old, and very lively.

Various stalls were one after another, and even the streets were filled with all kinds of fruits, wild game and medicinal materials. Even some merchants in Taiyuan City smelled the business opportunities and came to set up stalls to sell some low-end goods. Several stalls selling cheap fat powder were filled with women coming from the countryside.

The cavalry team slowed down and stopped running. They slowly passed by the bustling crowd. More than a dozen personal soldiers guarded Yang Yuanqing from front to back, watching the abnormalities on both sides vigilantly.

At this moment, a broken gong suddenly sounded in the shop in the distance, "Your Highness!"

Everyone looked back and saw a person rushing out of a shop selling cheap jewelry, his face as dark as the bottom of a pot, it was Cheng Yaojin.

Cheng Yaojin's sudden appearance made a smile appear on Yang Yuanqing's face. He hadn't seen him for several months. When he met unexpectedly, he still thought he was quite cute.

Cheng Yaojin was extremely excited and rushed out of the store, knocking down four or five stalls in a row, scaring him to apologize repeatedly.

"Hei Tan, aren't you in Yan'an County? Why are you here?" Yang Yuanqing asked with a smile.

When Cheng Yaojin heard His Highness call him black charcoal, he also felt very kind. He stepped forward and bowed: "Report to Your Highness, I am asking for leave to come back to visit my relatives."

"oh!"

Yang Yuanqing nodded, looked at the store selling cheap jewelry again, and asked with a smile: "Buy jewelry for your wife here?"

"She won't want the jewelry here!"

Cheng Yaojin scratched his head and grinned, "Buy toys for my little girl, and that little girl likes to collect all kinds of jewelry, hey! Just like her mother."

The soldiers around him all laughed together. Cheng Yaojin was very popular and almost everyone liked him.

Cheng Yaojin asked again: "Is Your Highness going back to Taiyuan?"

After saying that, he felt something was wrong again. This was the road to the north, and the official road to the east of Taiyuan had passed. Yang Yuanqing smiled slightly, "I'm going to Mayi County, should I go to see you together? You should go back to visit your relatives first."

How could Cheng Yaojin let go of this opportunity to walk with His Highness? His real intention to go back to Taiyuan was just to stay in a winery and brothel.

He quickly smiled and said, "I have nothing to do with my subordinates and I am willing to travel north with Your Highness."

"Okay, get on the horse and leave!"

Cheng Yaojin's face suddenly turned red. He took out his horse from a low-end brothel diagonally opposite, which immediately attracted the laughter of the soldiers. Yang Yuanqing couldn't help but laugh and scold, "You bastard, why are you getting less and less tasteful? Even this kind of place is umbrella!"

Cheng Yaojin smiled and said, "This shows that Old Cheng Yan abides by military discipline and does not go to the village along the way to steal."

"That's good, let's go!"

Yang Yuanqing smiled and urged the horse to go. Soon after, the group left the town, accelerated and rushed towards Mayi County.

............

After the snow melted in the northern grasslands in mid-January, Li Jing, the general manager of the Yanbei of the Great Sui Dynasty, led 20,000 cavalry to advance to the grasslands and cleared the remaining Turkic tribes. With the cooperation of the 100,000 Uighur army and the Tieler coalition, the Sui army and Uighur coalition had a total of 120,000 people defeated 40,000 Turkic troops in the Turkic tent, and Jie Li Khan led thousands of remaining troops to flee north in panic.

Li Jing immediately ordered the general Yang Wei to lead 5,000 Sui cavalry to pursue the north and chase the Turkic remnants west of the Beihai Sea, and wiped out the last Turkic remnants on the shore of Beihai Lake. Jie Li Khan was seriously injured and captured during the fierce battle. Unfortunately, he died of serious injuries on his way back.

The Battle of the Grassland took two and a half months to wipe out the Turks, and captured more than 100,000 Turkic nobles and subordinates, as well as tens of millions of cattle and sheep, war horses, cattle and sheep skins, tents and other materials. At this point, the Eastern Turks were officially destroyed.

In early April, Li Jing's army returned to Qifubo, Mayi County and set up a camp on the grassland.

On the grassland more than thirty miles away from Qifubo, five hundred cavalry guarded Yang Yuanqing and rushed all the way. After several days and nights of running day and night, they finally arrived at Qifubo.

From a distance, Yang Yuanqing had already seen the elusive camp at a glance. At this time, not only Li Jing's 20,000 cavalry, but also the 15,000 Sui army stationed on the border also rushed to Qifubo camp to assist Li Jing in managing prisoners of war.

At this time, a team of cavalry left the camp and rushed towards Yang Yuanqing's team. After a moment, the cavalry rushed to the front. The general was Li Jing. Li Jing turned over and dismounted, rushed to the front and knelt down on one knee on Yang Yuanqing's war horse: "My minister Li Jing, pay homage to His Highness the King of Chu!"

Yang Yuanqing turned over and dismounted, quickly helped Li Jing up, and comforted him with a smile: "I have been waiting for news from the general manager. The general manager made unparalleled military achievements and returned from a great victory, which is unbeatable and delightful."

"I am just going to eliminate the remnants of the Turkic evil spirits. My true military achievements are in your highness. I am ashamed."

Yang Yuanqing smiled, walked to Yang Wei again, patted his broad shoulders, and praised: "Yes, I didn't embarrass me."

Yang Wei is Yang Yuanqing's cousin. After Yang Yuanqing ascended the throne in the future, he will become a royal family, unlike ordinary generals. However, Yang Wei is low-key and modest. He never regards himself as Yang Yuanqing's cousin. He strictly abides by military rules. He respects the following and gets along very well with everyone. When he mentions the reputation of "Desperate Sanlang", no one in the Sui army gives him a thumbs up and praises him.

Yang Wei's face turned red and seemed to have something to say. Yang Yuanqing smiled slightly, "What do you want to say?"

"Your Highness, I beg you to participate in the battle in Guanzhong."

Everyone laughed, and just looked at this, Yang Yuanqing patted him on the shoulder and laughed: "Okay! I promise you."

After saying that, Yang Yuanqing bowed to all the generals present and said, "Dear generals, everyone has made great contributions to the Northern Expedition of the Turks. I will reward you heavily to commend everyone's achievements in the Northern Expedition of the Turks. I hope everyone will continue to work hard to ensure the stability of the Turkish prisoners of war."

His brief speech won everyone's applause.

.........

On the way to the Daying, Li Jing briefly reported to Yang Yuanqing about the Northern Expedition. Yang Yuanqing nodded and asked, "What is the attitude of the Xueyantuo people?"

Li Jing smiled and said, "Xue Yantuo is a loyal lackey of the Turks, but he is also a cunning fox. When this time attacking the Turks, the Xue Yantuo people always hide far away and never show up from beginning to end."

Speaking of this, Li Jing whispered again: "Your Highness, Pei Sa, the chief of the Uighur tribe, is here with you."

"Is he here to show his merits?"

Li Jing sneered, "Not only that, he raised it on the way, hoping that the Sui army would help him to destroy Xueyantuo's tribe. I did not agree, but just perfunctory him. I needed the palace descendant to decide. I guess he would make this request to Your Highness."

"Why is it that he cannot wipe out Xue Yantuo if he needs the assistance of the Sui army?" Yang Yuanqing asked in confusion.

Li Jing shook his head, "The Uighur coalition has only 120,000 troops in total, and Xue Yantuo left a hand in the last battle of Sui Tu, and did not come in full swing. They still had 80,000 troops in their hands. Both sides were evenly matched, and the two sides were extremely hostile. Sooner or later, there would be a battle for the grassland."

Yang Yuanqing smiled slightly, "This is exactly what I expected."

.........

The two of them accelerated their horses. Soon after, they arrived in front of the camp. At the gate of the camp, the prime minister Du Ruhui and Cui Junsu who arrived the day before were already waiting at the gate of the camp. Yang Yuanqing turned over and got off the horse and smiled: "The two prime ministers are one step faster than me!"

Du Ruhui and Cui Junsu stepped forward and bowed. Du Ruhui laughed and said, "Mr. Li brought so much wealth of cattle and sheep from the grassland. How could we, who are jealous of money, let go easily? Of course we have to come and grab the money."

Everyone laughed in understanding. The group entered the big tent. Yang Yuanqing sat down in the tent. More than a dozen soldiers came forward to serve hot tea. Yang Yuanqing drank the tea and asked Du Ruhui: "Have you counted it? How many cattle, sheep and horses are there?"

Du Ruhui shook his head, "The number is too large, and he is busy counting it. I heard from General Manager Li that there are more than 20 million cattle and sheep and more than 300,000 war horses. The key is that there are more than 100,000 Turkic prisoners, women and children account for a large part. In the future, Turkic herders will continue to rely on them. How should they be arranged? Your Highness, the empress, think this is a big deal."

Yang Yuanqing pondered for a moment and asked, "What is the opinion of Ziwei Pavilion?"

"Ziwei Pavilion has discussed this matter specifically. Some people are worried that putting them in the Central Plains will repeat the mutiny of the six towns in the past, but they are placed on the border, and they are afraid that they will become a disaster in the Central Plains, so it is more difficult to deal with it."
Chapter completed!