Anyone who can be named a "famous general" in history books cannot be a fool.

Famous generals are particularly sensitive to military power. They are decisive in killing. What they want is the execution of orders and prohibitions. What they want is the unity of military power, so that the generals under their command can command them like arms.

To Gao Xianzhi, Gu Qing was the deputy envoy of Jiedu, equivalent to his second-in-command.

The second-in-command assists the first-in-command and does not have to personally take charge of the military. Since the Battle of Talos, the Anxi Protectorate has suffered serious losses in the number of soldiers in the four towns. Gu Qing's 10,000 soldiers and horses are the elite of Chang'an, and it is the right time to rush them into the four towns in Anxi.

When Gao Xianzhi asked about the 10,000 soldiers and horses when they first met, it was not that he was careless, but he was really anxious to fill the vacancy. After all, in his eyes, these 10,000 soldiers and horses were not Gu Qing's personal property, but were appointed by the imperial court.

Gu Qing is just a courier at best, and it's public goods. What's wrong?

Gu Qing's answer was hearty: "Commander Jie, these 10,000 soldiers and horses are the elite of the left guard. Your Majesty specially asked the general to bring them from Chang'an. If you need them, Commander Jie, I will give you all 10,000 soldiers and horses. I don't want any of them."

Gao Xianzhi was stunned: "So happy?"

Gu Qing suddenly laughed: "As for me, I have always been a happy person. I am not only happy, but also lazy. In fact, I don't want to do such troublesome things as commanding troops. What I like most is to find a place to lie down comfortably and eat.

Eating, drinking when necessary, and gatherings with drums and drums on weekdays, etc., I will attend them in a casual manner, and there is nothing else to ask for."

Gao Xianzhi's eyes flashed with an inexplicable light, and he smiled and said: "Brother Gu Xian said this, and I roughly understand what you mean..."

Gu Qing smiled again and said: "Commander Jie, please wait a moment, I haven't finished speaking yet... What I just said is my personal opinion, but after all, I have the favor of the emperor, I am an official in the court, and I am a general in the outside world.

It would be too naive to live according to your own ideas, don’t you think so?”

"I really want to give these ten thousand soldiers and horses to you, but...since Commander-in-Chief is worthy of my brother, and you and I met for the first time today, I really can't bear to harm Commander-in-Chief..."

Gao Xianzhi said in astonishment: "What do you mean by this?"

Gu Qing took out a yellow silk imperial edict from his arms, handed it to Gao Xianzhi, and said with a smile: "You take a look at this first. After reading this, if you still want these ten thousand soldiers and horses, I will offer it to you with both hands, and I will offer it to you with joy.

, never break your promise.”

Gao Xianzhi took the imperial edict and unfolded it to read it. It was an imperial edict for the appointment of Gu Qing. It clearly stated that he would lead 10,000 soldiers and horses from the left guard out of the customs to guard the border in Anxi, but at the end he wrote the sentence "The troops and horses are handed over to Gu Qing for restraint."

This means that the military power of these 10,000 troops belongs to Gu Qing alone from beginning to end.

Gao Xianzhi frowned. Although he was a Korean, he was very familiar with the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty. He definitely had a lot of political consciousness and sensitivity. From this sentence, Gao Xianzhi had a different meaning.

Then looking down, Gao Xianzhi's eyelids suddenly twitched.

"...You can act cheaply and dispose of the military aircraft yourself."

These words in the imperial edict were like a thunderbolt, which made Gao Xianzhi burnt on the outside and tender on the inside.

If the granting of ten thousand military power to Gu Qing was an overestimation of the emperor's favor towards Gu Qing, and he could barely accept it, then the saying "doing things cheaply will destroy the army" is more than just a favor.

Gao Xianzhi's heart instantly sank to the bottom.

The Emperor is already suspicious of me!

Gao Xianzhi immediately made this judgment.

This imperial edict was not so much for Gu Qing as it was deliberately for Gao Xianzhi. It was a warning and a foreshadowing.

In the Battle of Talos, the Tang army lost more than 20,000 people, and the emperor was obviously dissatisfied with him.

In just a short moment, Gao Xianzhi thought a lot, and his expression kept changing.

Handing the imperial edict back to Gu Qing with both hands, Gao Xianzhi remained silent.

Gu Qing said softly: "Commander, the four towns of Anxi are currently short of major generals, and it is difficult to deter the Western Regions. I just said that I was lazy, and I was not being polite. Why don't I give these ten thousand soldiers and horses to your control, and I will eat and drink myself every day."

If you don’t tell me about my little life, no one in Chang’an will know…”

Gao Xianzhi smiled bitterly, no one in Chang'an knew?

There is a eunuch who came from the palace to supervise the army. Do you think no one in Chang'an will know about it?

"My dear brother, since it is the holy will, I will not force it. I will ask my dear brother to work hard for the ten thousand troops and control it myself..." Gao Xianzhi sighed and said: "But it is true that Anxi is short of major generals now.

If there is any enemy in Anxi, please ask my virtuous brother to lead the troops to help, Anxi... is the Anxi of the Tang Dynasty after all, there is no room for failure."

Gu Qing sighed reluctantly: "It's really hard to lead the troops in person. Don't worry, Commander Jie. If there is a war in Anxi, my troops and horses will be at the command of Commander Jie, and we will never miss the chance of fighting."

Gao Xianzhi forced out a smile.

Gu Qing suddenly wanted to slap himself. This time he got an advantage and acted like a good boy, but he really didn't deserve to be slapped when he said it.

Seeing Gao Xianzhi and Gu Qing exchange a few words, Gao Xianzhi's expression suddenly changed. Feng Changqing, who was accompanying him next to him, had a worried look on his face and was drinking alone in silence, one cup after another.

There was a smile on the face of the supervisor Bian Lingcheng. He was also drinking. While sipping lightly, he kept observing the changes in the expressions of Gao Xianzhi and Gu Qing.

It was originally a banquet to welcome Gu Qing, but it ended on a somewhat unhappy note.

This banquet greatly shocked Gao Xianzhi, and at the same time he also understood one thing.

The emperor was dissatisfied with him, and his dissatisfaction turned into suspicion. He Gao Xianzhi could not move Gu Qing's 10,000 soldiers and horses. Not only the soldiers could not be moved, but also the extra horses, weapons, food and grass that Gu Qing brought with him could not be moved. Those people

From the moment Hemo left Chang'an, his surname was already Gu, so it is reasonable to understand these ten thousand soldiers as Gu Qing's private soldiers.

In the future, any deployment of troops and horses in Anxi must be discussed with the Deputy Envoy of Jiedu. However, any deployment of troops and horses must not touch Gu Qing's private soldiers. This is a red line and must not be touched, otherwise there will be disaster.

.

I originally thought that the imperial court had sent additional soldiers to Anxi, but what I didn't expect was a group of senior officers. Not only could they not mobilize him, but they also divided his military power, leaving him tied up and unable to move.

After the banquet was over, Gao Xianzhi sat alone in the hall, staring dejectedly at the remaining wine in front of the table, his eyes dim and lifeless, not knowing what he was thinking.

…………

Gu Qing said goodbye and left Kucha Town, leaving the city and returning to camp.

While Gu Qing was attending the banquet, Chang Zhong had ordered to set up camp outside Kucha Town. The camp was in the shape of a plum blossom, with the opening of the camp facing west outside the city. When Gu Qing returned to the camp, the soldiers were burying pots and making rice.

The handsome tent was pitched directly behind the camp. Han Jie directed his guards to set it up. Seeing Gu Qing return, Han Jie hurriedly greeted him.

"Master Hou, do you want to eat?"

Gu Qing shook his head and asked the guards to eat by themselves, then entered the commander's tent alone, followed by Han Jie.

Gu Qing sat cross-legged on the futon and said: "Brother Han, pass the order, the soldiers will start training after eating."

Han Jie was stunned: "Practice? It's... going to be dark soon."

"You can practice even in the dark. Send the order and let the soldiers be more energetic and powerful when practicing..."

Han Jie asked in confusion: "Why is this?"

A mysterious smile appeared on Gu Qing's face: "If nothing else happens, there should be visitors coming after dark. Make the noise louder and shock them, otherwise they will really think that I am easy to control."

Han Jie clasped his fists: "Yes, I understand. Go and deliver the order immediately. The momentum will be huge. Anyone who is less courageous will be scared to death."

Gu Qing hesitated for a moment and said: "Well, it doesn't have to be too scary. Just take care of my feelings. After all, I'm not very courageous..."

Han Jie was startled, then twitched the corner of his mouth to show that he had laughed: "Master Hou is getting more and more interesting."

After giving a perfunctory compliment, Han Jie decisively turned around and left the tent.

Gu Qing touched his chin and muttered to himself: "This guy seems a little drifting... It is said that there is oil in the Taklimakan Desert not far from here. Should I send him to dig for oil?"

After dark, the soldiers finished their meal and soon began to drill.

Outside Kucha Town is a vast desert, with endless flat sandy land both inside and outside the camp. The camp was set up quite loosely, and ten thousand soldiers were spread out neatly on the open space in the camp without being too crowded. They held long swords in their hands.

With halberds and spears, he made moves one by one under the battalion officer's instructions.

Less than half an hour into the training, a guest arrived outside the camp.

The guest is not Gao Xianzhi, but Bian Lingcheng, the supervisor of the army.

Gu Qing was studying a sheepskin map of the Western Region in the commander's tent. Looking at the disorderly distribution of countries and forces on the map, the more he looked at it, the more headache he got. He always felt that there was a halberd pointed at his nose at any time, and he could kill him at any time.

life.

When he heard the guard outside announcing that there was a visitor outside the gate of the camp, Gu Qing hurriedly put away the map, then immediately messed up the things on the table, and asked the guard to bring him several plates of meat and a jug of wine, artificially creating

He looked like the dishes were in a mess, and finally sprinkled a little wine on himself, and took a few more sips of wine to make his whole body smell like wine.

Gu Qing took advantage of the situation and slumped to the table, unbuttoned the front of his clothes, took off one foot garment and threw it on the ground. The image of the mediocre and incompetent coach who did not want to make progress suddenly became fuller. After doing this, he asked the bodyguard to lead Bian Lingcheng in.

Camp gate.

Bian Lingcheng waited outside the camp gate for a long time, but he was not in a hurry at all and still had a smile on his face.

A personal guard was ordered to lead Bian Lingcheng into the camp gate. After Bian Lingcheng entered the camp, he walked and talked with the personal guard when he had nothing to say. Unexpectedly, the personal guard coldly did not say a word and just said silently.

Lead him forward.

After Bian Lingcheng said a few words, he felt bored and stopped talking.

After walking for a while into the camp, Bian Lingcheng suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck. It was dark everywhere, but he always felt like there were many pairs of eyes staring at him, as if he had broken into a wolf's den alone in the middle of the night.

Being targeted by a pack of hungry wolves.

Bian Lingcheng couldn't help but shrink his neck, and was wondering if it was an illusion. In a dark open space not far away, a loud shout suddenly came out: "Kill!"

Then it was like a thunder exploded on the ground, and countless voices shouted at the same time: "Kill——!"

With a bang, yellow dust flew into the sky, birds flew away in fright, and a chilling atmosphere suddenly arose in the vast desert. Its sound shocked the heaven and earth, and its force caused mountains to collapse and the earth to crack.
Chapter completed!