The setting sun sets west, and the autumn wind is rustling. The thatched grass several feet high sways in the wind, showing waves like waves, layer by layer, successive, and enjoyable.

On a mountain ridge about a hundred meters high, more than a hundred horses stopped in the wind, and the thatched grass blew between the horse's legs. The horse sniffed from time to time and swung its tail, as if it could not withstand the teasing and caressing of the weeds.

The ridge of the mountain can bring you all the hillsides, villages and rivers within a radius of dozens of miles, with a wide view, which makes you feel like you are looking at the small mountains. At this moment, the group looked down at the abandoned Taoist temple three miles away, and the scene of more than 200 young and strong men lying on the stones in front of the Taoist temple was reflected in their sight, as well as two figures sitting on the stone steps in front of the Taoist temple.

"This place is less than thirty miles away from Xingyang Camp and more than ten miles away from the official road. These people are very brave and dare to stay here. It seems that they are really exhausted."

On the back of a maroon horse with a divine horse, a handsome man wearing a dark red brocade robe and a black jade crown was sitting. He looked at the Taoist temple below with indifferent expression and said quietly.

"What the lord said is very true." Jia Xu, who was smiling, nodded in response, and looked down at the young and strong people who were tilted in the dilapidated courtyard with a smile, and said with a laugh: "In three months, they have crossed two hundred miles of jungle, and they cannot eat or sleep. For those who have been pampered for a long time, they have long exceeded the limits that their bodies can bear. The reason why they can survive until now is the strong belief of pursuing fame, wealth, and glory. If not, they would never be able to hold on here and would have been buried in the jungle long ago. At this moment, they were physically and mentally exhausted, thinking that this place was safe, so they fell asleep. They didn't even have a guard post. From this, they were extremely tired, hungry but could sleep as sound as pigs, which was really amazing and amazing."

It is not difficult to infer the identity of a handsome man from Jia Xu's words. After all, there are only one person in the world who can be called "lord" by him, and this is Li Li and Li Wenchang, the lord of Xiliang.

As early as a month ago, the battle in Hanzhong was over. After the war, Li Li lingered in Hanzhong for half a month, and then led the Jin Qiwei, Shuofengying and Wushuang Iron Cavalry to return to Chang'an. At the same time, he recruited the Hanzhong surrendered troops, screened and identified them, and reorganized them into 50,000 county government soldiers, led by General Guo Si of Zhenxi. He entered Yangping Pass and was controlled by Hanzhong Prefect Fazheng.

This means that although the war in Hanzhong has ended, the Western Expedition army is still retained, forming a strong deterrent to Yizhou. Once the fighter appears, the troops stationed in Yangping Pass, the troops of Yang Ang of Wudu County, and the 20,000 county government soldiers in Hanzhong County can go to the front line of Jiameng Pass at any time and meet with the Qingong camp under Huang Zhong's tent. The troops still have a hundred thousand troops, which is enough to attack Yizhou.

Because of this, Liu Zhang from Yizhou recruited a large army to enter the Shudao Pass and defended heavily. He was always wary of the Western Liang army and had no peace for a moment.

At this point, the land passage between Yizhou and the Central Plains prefectures and counties were blocked, and the business and travelers were cut off. The only port for foreign trade in Yizhou was Ba County, and went to Jingzhou by water to turn to the Central Plains. However, many caravans still entered Yizhou through Qiang tribes, and most of these Qiang tribes were controlled by General Pingxi Teng Yu. Only the tribes near the western part of the plateau had not yet surrendered and were still resisting stubbornly. Given the current situation, Li Li did not intend to launch a large-scale army to recover the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and still adopted a strategy of gradual erosion, steadily and pressed step by step, gradually compressing the nomadic space of the Qiang tribe and the Xiaoyue tribe. When the time is right, Li Li vacated his hands and sent troops to recover the plateau and advance into the Western Regions.

After the war in Hanzhong ended, the entire Xiliang army was resting and there would be no large-scale war in autumn and winter. After returning to Chang'an, Li Li took his family to the east after dealing with the squeezed military and political affairs, and arrived at Hangu Pass five days ago. Last night, Li Li led 300 personal guards to the Xingyang camp. As soon as he entered the gate, he met more than 500 "shock horses" who entered the camp with a large amount of gold, silver and fine softness.

Early this morning, Li Li and his team of more than 500 cavalry set out from the camp, and climbed the ridge under the guidance of the scouts, and observed the journey of the emperor and all officials from the east.

Looking down at the situation of the decisive Taoist temple expressionlessly, Li Li turned his head to look at Xu Chu beside him, and asked in a calm tone: "How was the battle last night? Did you hurt the innocent?"

"Innocent?" Xu Chu's neck shrank when he heard the sound, his eyes drifted, and he didn't dare to look at Li Li's eyes, and he didn't know how to answer. Then he turned his head slightly and looked at Jia Xu, his eyes full of asking for help, obviously hoping that Jia Xu would come forward to smooth things over, otherwise he really wouldn't know how to explain to Li Li.

Last night, Xu Chu personally took 500 personal soldiers to pretend to be horses and loot the emperor and the officials. He originally planned to rob money and not kill people. However, more than 300 emperor guards were unwilling to give up their horses and packages, and then rose up to resist, so a fight was inevitable. It was not until after the war that Xu Chu realized that these soldiers really regarded them as thieves and bandits, and they were thugs, so they fought bravely. Unfortunately, these emperor guards encountered tough problems, and were beaten by Xu Chu's personal soldiers for a moment and fled in a hurry.

After a massacre battle, Xu Chu and others killed more than 100 people on the spot, intercepted all war horses, boxes and packages, and captured more than 100 officials and female relatives alive. A total of nearly 300 people were captured and killed, and returned with a full load. Unexpectedly, when they returned to the camp, they happened to meet Li Li and his party unexpectedly. Therefore, Xu Chu hid all night and did not dare to meet his lord Li Li, but now Li Li mentioned this matter again, but he couldn't escape it.

Seeing Xu Chu's face flushed, his eyes drifted, and he eagerly asked Jia Xu for help, but Jia Xu pretended not to see it and had no intention of saying a word. Li Li couldn't help laughing and said loudly: "The commander of the Qinglong Camp, one of the five tiger generals under the general, pretended to be a horse and robbed refugees and killed them wantonly. Zhongkang, how do you think I should punish you? Three hundred lives, and they are all hungry people. Why don't you even have a mercy at all, how can you do it?"

When Xu Chu heard the voice, he changed his expression and hurriedly defended: "Lord, I am wronged! How could there be three hundred lives? The old men and women are still alive, and I am not killing them!"

Li Li's expression changed and he said with a stern face: "No, do you still want to argue?"

"No, really not." Xu Chu shook his head repeatedly, denied it without thinking: "Military Wenhe has given instructions to not hurt those old men and women, so even if the last general has the courage to disobey the military order!"

Li Li said in a deep voice: "If you don't kill them, you will capture more than 100 old men and young women into the military camp. Could it be that you will take them to the military camp to enjoy your life?

"This" Xu Chu was stunned when he heard the sound, his expression was confused. He didn't know what Li Li said meant. Could it be that I asked me to execute those officials secretly?

Seeing the confused look on Xu Chu's face, Li Li stared at him and said in a deep voice: "Even so, what's your intention to catch so many young women? According to the truth, otherwise you will be severely punished!"

Seeing that the lord Li Li looked serious and his eyes were sharp, and a strong murderous intent was faintly revealed, Xu Chu felt something, and nodded understandingly and said respectfully: "The generals dare not hide it. The young women's military camp was originally intended to be used as a dance trick. If the lord makes other arrangements, the generals will wait for the order."

Li Li nodded slightly and said to Jia Xu: "These people must be properly handled. What does Wenhe mean?"

After hearing the sound, Jia Xu thought for a moment and said respectfully: "Most of the young women are concubines or refugees' daughters, so it doesn't matter how to deal with them. As for those nearly fifty-year-olds, they all died at the hands of Xiangma robbers. They were buried with a grand ceremony after their death, and they could just do everything they could."

"Well, Wenhe is very much." Li Li nodded slightly and turned to Xu Chu: "You have heard the words of the military advisor, and then handle the matter properly without leaving any troubles. As for those women, there are no need for martial arts. There are many generals in the Qinglong Camp who have made many military achievements. Please give them to their wives and concubines. But the life experience of these women must be investigated clearly. Those with unknown backgrounds can do martial arts, and there will be no hidden dangers afterwards. After that, you must remember that you must not rob female relatives at will, and you must not disturb the people. Those who violate the order will be killed without mercy!"

"No, I will accept the order!" Xu Chu replied happily.

Li Li nodded gently and pondered: "This place is not far from Luoyang, but our army has no war in autumn and winter, and the whole army will rest and practice. The goal has been determined, so it is not easy to change. Can Wenhe have good ideas for this?"

Jia Xu smiled slightly, pointed his hand towards Luoyang, and said with a smile: "This matter is easy. As far as I know, there are at least a dozen bandits of bandits in the mountains and forests in the east, including at least two or three hundred people, and at least fifty or sixty people, making a living by robbing the family. Then, I asked the scouts to reveal the news to them one by one, blocking them one by one. I guess the two hundred miles of journey will be no less dangerous than the jungle, and it is difficult to move forward, and the level of danger is even worse than that of the jungle. In this way, they will not be able to reach Luoyang within four months or even half a year. When the flowers bloom next spring, they may return to Luoyang. I wonder what the lord wants?"

"Well, let's do it like this." Li Li nodded slightly and said in thought: "Be sure to ensure their safety. Except for Dong Hou and that person, the rest of the people will not care about life and death. Now that things have come to this point, we must not be compassionate. We must be decisive in killing and not take a wrong step, otherwise our situation will be worrying."

Jia Xu's expression changed slightly and he said solemnly: "Lord is it that there are chaos in Chang'an. Is anyone ready to move after learning that the emperor and the officials fled?"

Li Li nodded and said, "The century-legged worm will die without being stiff. Although the emperor and all officials are useless to us, their influence in Chang'an has not completely disappeared, and people's hearts are inevitably fluctuating. However, these are all trivial matters, which have nothing to do with the overall situation. A few grasshoppers occasionally jump around and cannot stir up big waves, and they can be determined. Afterwards, Dong Hou will be bound to issue an edict to serve the king. Wenhe must pay more attention to it. Only by the end of this year can the news be revealed, and it is best to spread from far to near. In this way, we will have enough time to prepare to avoid the emergence of the outward lines."

Jia Xu nodded happily: "No, I know what to do, please don't worry, lord."

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———————To be continued—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Chapter completed!