Yumen Pass is a must-pass way to the Western Regions. There has been no war for many years and it has almost been transferred from border to Shang Pass. In and outside the city, there are more tax officials than military officials.??

General Shao Kejian came to Yumen Pass a few months ago, reorganized the garrison and repaired the city walls. At the same time, he sent scouts to monitor the movements in the Western Regions.

The last group of Chu people returned from the Western Regions two months ago. After that, occasionally, the Western Regions people knocked on the gate, bringing a lot of chaotic news. No one has ever been to Huju City. The countries in the Western Regions are capricious, but they are just fierce in their mouths and still respect the people of Chu.

One evening in early summer, the scout returned to the city to report that another group of people came from the Western Regions to ask for entry into the city. They had a special status and were said to be all the princes and nobles in the West, who escaped the army of gods and ghosts and Great Shanyu, and requested to enter the Great Chu for refuge.

There were more than one hundred people in total, wearing strange and gorgeous clothes and speaking languages ​​that no one could understand. After entering the city, they held out a large amount of jewelry with both hands. There was a general translator in the team claiming that the jewellery was a king. As long as the Great Chu was willing to take it in, he was willing to give out more jewelry.

Shao Kejian asked the guests to put away their belongings and sent them to the inn in the city. As usual, he asked in detail about the news.

These people fled to the Western Regions two years ago, so they were not sure about the situation of Huju City. However, they heard rumors that the soldiers in the city were killed by themselves because of differences and were attacked by the enemy. There was already an empty city. The only reason why the gods and ghosts and great Shanyu had not yet attacked the Western Regions was that they had to gather a large number of troops.

It is said that in the extreme west, from the grassland to the south to the sea, they have surrendered to the gods and ghosts, and will jointly form an army of up to one million people, annex the Great Chu in one fell swoop, and fulfill the final wish of the gods and ghosts, and the Great Chanyu.

Shao Kejian wrote a official letter to the capital with an urgent letter. The court will decide how to receive these fleeing guests.

In the following days, several groups of fugitives arrived, and the number increased. There were extremely Western nobles and Western natives. Some of them swear to say that they had passed by Huju City not long ago, and there were indeed empty cities, abandoned cities, and city walls were pushed down.

Half a month later, Shao Kejian received an order from the court to ask him to investigate in detail, and the princes and princes of various countries and interpreters could be sent to the capital, and the followers would stay at Yuguanmen.

Shao Kejian was an obedient general and immediately followed the order and planned to spend ten days to identify and then send the guests to the capital.

There has been no war in Yumen Pass for decades. Even in the era when the Great Chu and the Huns were frequent, it was not affected. All the news that Shao Kejian received showed that the Western Regions were unstable, but there was no war. Although the countries had different intentions, they could at most secretly flattered the powerful enemies in the west and did not dare to disrespect the Great Chu.

Therefore, when another group of fugitives arrived, the entire Yumen Pass, including Shao Kejian, did not pay special attention to it, and was received according to the regular reception and sent to the inn to live in.

Foreigners often come and go to Yumen Pass. The inns here are larger than those in the capital. They are built in the city and occupy a corner of the city, enough to accommodate thousands of people.

That night, the new fugitives took action and massacred princes and nobles who had previously escaped here. At the same time, they set fires around the city, trying to seize a city gate.

Shao Kejian was shocked when he heard the news. He personally led his soldiers to suppress it. After a full half night, he finally calmed down the situation. However, the losses were irreversible. Dozens of distinguished guests were killed and they fled to Da Chu. However, this place was the real end.

Most of the assassins were killed, with more than ten prisoners left, and they shouted loudly. Tongzhi said in fear: "The emperor... the gods and ghosts and great Shanyu will avenge you, and you will avenge you, and you will never be ruthless, and you will never forgive. The people of Chu... the great Chu will perish..."

The assassins handed over a few boxes, with gold, silver and jewelry piled on them, but there were several small boxes under them, with several heads in them. They did not hide them, and proudly claimed that these were all Chu envoys, and presented them as gifts to the Emperor of Chu.

Shao Kejian recognized one of them. It was indeed the envoy sent by the imperial court to the Western Regions in winter. They had been working hard to go to Huju City, but they did not expect to die.

In a rage, Shao Kejian killed all the prisoners, and from then on, he closed the city gates and refused to accept guests from the Western Regions. He also wrote an urgent letter to the court, hoping to get support.

The Western Regions are no longer a barrier to the Great Chu, but an enemy.

Since the beginning of spring, the Huns returned to the north of Great Chu, and a large number of troops stopped on the other side of the Shattered Iron City to negotiate repeatedly with the Chu envoy.

The Great Chu asked the Huns to follow the previous example and bow to the Great Chu, but they were flatly rejected. The stalemate between the two sides did not make any progress for several months.

The summer is getting hotter and the Huns need to graze and cannot stay in one place for a long time. The Great Shanyu decided to advance eastward and threw it to the Chu envoy: "When the Great Chu can stop the gods and ghosts, come and negotiate."

He refused to admit that there was another great Shanyu, so he only called him "gods and ghosts".

The Chu army scouts followed the Huns from afar and found that they were indeed fleeing from the northeast, and they were becoming more and more scattered, and went to different ranches respectively. It seemed that they had no plans to fight this year.

When the Huns retreated, when Yumen Pass was attacked, the Ministry of War quickly responded and dispatched an army from Shaticheng to support Yumen Pass.

It seems that the Western Regions really abandoned the Great Chu and surrendered to the powerful enemy. The countries formed another coalition, and the direction of the attack this time was the East.

Several kings secretly sent letters, claiming that they were forced to be helpless. The envoys of the gods and ghosts, the great Shanyu, had entered the Western Regions and ordered the countries to surrender immediately. Those who hesitate to destroy the clan, and those who do not surrendered will slaughter the country.

The people of Chu had withdrawn from the Western Regions, and the countries had no choice but to send troops to create a coalition army to show their loyalty. After the army of gods, ghosts, and Great Shanyu arrived, they would officially start a war against Great Chu.

Based on the information from all parties and the strength of the countries in the Western Regions, the Ministry of War speculated that the gods and ghosts sent at most 100,000 troops, and the Western Regions coalition forces were less than 150,000. Although it would not shake the Great Chu, the pressure on Yumen Pass was quite large.

The Ministry of War recommends providing more support to Yumen Pass as soon as possible.

The emperor was a little hesitant, but Yumen Corps made an urgent request and the Ministry of War urged him. He didn't have much choice, so he agreed.

Why didn’t the gods and ghosts attack Da Chu directly from the north? Although the road was longer, it was relatively smooth.

The Ministry of War gave an explanation that the gods and ghosts must have thought that the Great Chu and the Huns had joined forces and were unwilling to fight against the two forces at the same time, so they only fought with the Great Chu family through the Western Regions.

Han Ruzi was still a little suspicious, but Yumen Pass was in a hurry and could not ignore it. So he dispatched 50,000 troops to support him. Several other troops entered the pass to garrison, which was equal to the Yumen Pass in the west and Shenxiong Pass in the north, in case of emergency.

The war is really coming. Cui Hong took office and was determined to make a great contribution in this battle to redeem his own title, so he went to Yumen Pass to command.

Cui Hong was weak and his family and the emperor did not want him to suffer. However, Cui Hong insisted on his own opinion and wrote a letter three times to explain in detail the importance of this battle and why he had to go to supervise the battle in person.

"The Great Chu showed that the enemy was weak, and even the countries in the Western Regions surrendered to foreign enemies. Although this battle could protect Yumen Pass, it would be useless. If the army advanced westward and defeated the enemy in one fell swoop, it would not be able to save the Western Regions."

Han Ruzi was convinced.

Cui Hong rushed to Yumen Pass, summoned the reserve army, and gathered 80,000 people. The main force was 40,000 Southern Army, and in late summer and early autumn, he attacked the Western Regions.

His plan was to not wait for the army of the gods and ghosts to join with the Western Regions Alliance, and first regain the Western Regions, and then make a decision as appropriate. It would rather turn the Western Regions into battlefields and ruins than make it the enemy's territory.

In the first battle, the countries in the Western Regions had no fighting spirit and were defeated at once. They all surrendered to the Chu army and led the way to quickly pacify the countries.

The emperor cared about Huju City and the soldiers in the city, and Cui Hong did not forget that he sent a vanguard of three thousand people to check the situation.

Hundreds of miles away from Huju City, this army encountered the army of the gods and ghosts. They didn't know the details and observed each other for two days. The Chu army first attacked and the enemy fought back. The combat effectiveness was much stronger than that of the people in the Western Regions. The two sides fought for one morning, and each withdrew their troops and fell into a stalemate.

Cui Hong led his army to support him, and he had to return to Da Chu before the beginning of winter, so he was eager to defeat the enemy.

Han Ruzi received notifications from the Western Regions every day. Although it was news of victory, he could not be completely at ease. These news were as fast as more than ten days or even a month ago. He hoped to understand the current situation.

But he had other things to be busy with. The court finally took shape according to his idea. Prime Minister Zhuo Ruhe re-in charge of the court. Although he was not as loyal as the emperor, he was relatively stable.

At the same time, the power of the Censorate was strengthened. Feng Ju retired as the Taishi, and the right-supervisor Qu Zixi was in charge of the supervisor alone. He was very concerned about officials. He wrote letters to impeach the ground every few days, causing all the ministers to suffer.

The General's Mansion became the emperor's direct yamen, and was specifically responsible for military training in various places. Most of the past six months, it has achieved quite some results.

Han Ruzi felt that there was enough time, and only one to three years later, although the Great Chu could not restore the peak period of Emperor Wu, it was enough to free up his hands to fight.

But things never go as smoothly as planned.

It was late autumn and the weather was getting colder. News came from outside the border that the scouts of the Shattered Iron City observed a large army in the West, such as the Huns, who were probably the Huns who surrendered to the gods and ghosts.

Before the emperor could react with the court, more news came like snowflakes. The number of soldiers was beyond imagination, and the scouts could not even make a rough estimate.

Shattered Iron City sent troops to fight and was defeated.

The Broken Iron City was besieged and destroyed one day.

The defenders of Shattered Iron City fled back to the gates, but there were very few left.

The God's Pass was attacked.

...

In just ten days, the unexpected news turned into bad news.

That afternoon, two urgent documents were sent to the emperor one by one.

A letter came from Shenxiong Pass. The situation was critical and the court needed to send troops to support him immediately.

Another letter came from the Western Regions. When writing this letter, Cui Hong did not know the situation in the north. He was very happy to claim that the Western Regions had settled and the enemy was destroyed. The army was on its way back and could reach Yumen Pass before winter.

Cui Hong also reported a good news in his letter that Huju City was still there, and he had sent someone to check it out, either to continue defending the city or to take the Chu people back to the city.

Han Ruzi finally understood that he had been fooled, Cui Hong had been fooled, and the entire Chu had been fooled, and the Western Regions had only suspected soldiers and led some of the Chu army away.

The gods and ghosts, the Great Shanyu, were not only cruel, but also very treacherous. His understanding of Da Chu was obviously much more than Da Chu knew him.

Han Ruzi put down the official documents. He always attached great importance to the enemy in the West, but he was still careless.

The eunuch Zhang Youcai hurried in, not knowing the emperor's concerns, and happily shouted: "I've been born, Concubine Shu has given birth, he is a prince!" (To be continued.)8
Chapter completed!