Chapter 528 The princess does not come to me but goes deep

  Liu Inspector sent someone to send orders to the nomadic Qiangdi tribe attached to the state.

  Old Liu explained to Qin Lang that although those attached to the Qiang Di were not naturalized and did not pay taxes since the Northern Zhou Dynasty, they still needed to pay some annual tribute of musk, rosin and ghee, and they also needed to serve as flanking troops.

  The side near army is also the city side soldiers. The imperial court allows the attached Qiangdi to live under the city of the prefecture and county.

   This is a customary agreement for several dynasties.

  In comparison, the taxation of the Tuyuhun people to the Qiangdi tribe is much more important. They need to pay the cattle leg tax, that is, they have to pay a quarter of the tax for the cattle and horses they raise, and they are also obliged to send troops to fight.

Lao Liu did not lie, he sent his men out, and the next day, soldiers from the Qiangdi tribe began to approach one after another. Many of the attached tribes heard that the enemy was coming, and even took away their family members, old and young, as well as their cattle and sheep. The livestock were all driven to the edge of the city.

These attached tribes are basically small tribes, and some of them joined after being defeated in the internal strife of the Qiang people. Although all of them were small tribes, after attaching to the Tang Dynasty, the burden was much lighter, and they became stronger after recuperating. .

  In a few days, thousands of Qiang people came.

  Qiangdi is a model where all the people are soldiers. Lao Liu selected a thousand young and strong men as the side army, and then selected 800 healthy women as the city side army.

Qin Lang summoned the leaders of these small tribes, praised them, and gave some rewards to each of them. He selected some of the many trophies he had robbed from the party members and gave them to these leaders, and then used the trophies to make love to them. buy and sell cattle and sheep from them.

  Anyway, they were all looted loot, and they robbed a lot, so Qin Lang's move was bold and generous, much higher than the normal market price.

  Thus, these Qiang and Di men were all overjoyed. Before the war, they made a deal first, competing to sell cattle, horses, camels, etc. to Qin Lang, and Qin Lang would not refuse anyone who came.

  Diezhou, Fangzhou, outside several prefectures and counties, a branch of Qiangdi gathered, with continuous tents and herds of livestock.

  The Qiang Di received rewards and took many valuable things, and Qin Lang got a lot of cattle, sheep and livestock as supplies, and everyone was happy.

  On the third day, Xi Junmai sent back a message from the front, saying that the outpost of the Tuyuhun people had appeared and was wandering around, and the army should be arriving soon.

   On the fifth day, Wusu sent envoys.

  A burly man with a shaved head and braids around his ears climbed up Dushan and entered Diezhou City. The original inner city was also a yamen city, and now it serves as Qin Lang's camp yamen.

   "Tell me, what did Wusu ask you to bring?"

The envoy saluted Qin Lang with his hands crossed, and he could speak fluent Chinese, "Dear Duke Wei of the Tang Dynasty, I bring greetings to King Wusu. King Wusu said that Duke Wei must have misunderstood us, so he chased us all the way. , I just want to clarify the misunderstanding in person, Your Majesty hopes to come to Diezhou to meet Duke Wei in person and clarify in person!"

  Qin Lang chuckled.

   "Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding could there be? Isn't it true that Wu Su led a thousand troops and pursued him closely?"

"Duke Wei has misunderstood. We, Tuyuhun, have always been the best allies in the west of the Tang Dynasty. King Wusu also heard that there was a misunderstanding between Duke Wei and the party members, so he came to help, and is willing to resolve this misunderstanding for you. of."

   "Allies? Isn't Tuyuhun a vassal of my Tang Dynasty? Why do you call yourself an ally?"

   "Tuyuhun and Datang were originally allies. Back then, Emperor Wude sent envoys to Fuqi City to make an alliance with my family to attack Hexi Ligui..."

  Qin Lang was too lazy to listen to these nonsense.

"Go and tell Wusu that Dangxiang invaded our Songzhou first, and then ordered troops to invade our Tangfu and Wenzhous. They have not yet retreated. There is no misunderstanding between Datang and the party members, and there is no need for Tuyuhun to pretend to be a good person to mediate."

"If Wu Su really has no bad intentions, then he should withdraw from Xiqing Mountain. The foot of Xiqing Mountain is the territory of my Tang Dynasty, and the north of Xiqing Mountain is the territory of my Tang Dynasty. You Tuyuhun people shouldn't even step into the mountains!"

  The envoy was scolded by Qin Lang.

   But a day later, the messenger came again.

  This time they brought some gold, silver and jade, and some good horses.

   "King Wusu sent me here again to express my apology."

The envoy of Tuyuhun put forward three demands to Qin Lang. First, Datang let go of Jiachuan, let Xifeng Bulai and other tens of thousands of Dangxiang Qiang go back. Tang should return Songzhou and return the traitorous Libu.

  Third, Tuyuhun hoped to make peace with Datang as well. Why did Datang marry and marry more than a dozen Khan Yehu from the Eastern and Western Turks this time, but Tuyuhun was missed?

"My family's Great Khan sent hello to Tian Khan, and asked Tian Khan to marry a Tang princess for his son Zunwang. In addition, my family's Great Khan is willing to send a noble daughter to be a side concubine with His Highness the Prince of the Tang Dynasty. "

   Qin Lang dismissed the rude request of the Tuyuhun envoy.

"When the two countries are at war, don't kill them, or you will be killed on the spot based on your rude words. You go back and tell Wu Su, and let Wu Su tell the old thief Fu Yun, don't worry. Looking for trouble, let alone death. Tuyuhun is only a small state of Xirong, how dare you be rude to Datang?"

   "Why is Duke Wei so irritable? Do you want my king to come and talk to Duke Wei in person?"

"Hahaha, what a big tone, dare to threaten the truth? You go back and tell Wusu that if he has the seed and still has those two eggs under his crotch, then you let him come, don't be afraid to come, directly Come, bring as many people as you want, and I will see how kind he is? Dare to say such big words to me!"

   "Nonsense novels, each according to the truth!"

  The envoy turned around to leave, but Qin Lang called him to stop.

"I'm not happy with your two little braids. Since you are bald, you might as well be bald. Come here, shave all the hair of this messenger, don't leave a single hair for him, and the golden ring on his ear No matter how I look at it, you robbed the jewelry of our Tang Dynasty women, took it off for him, punched a hole in his nose, and replaced it with a big iron ring weighing one catty!"

  The Messenger was terrified.

   "How dare Duke Wei insult my Tuyuhun envoy?"

   "Hey, you were the ones who brought shame on yourself first, and dared to threaten Lao Tzu. Although the two countries will not fight each other, you can still teach me a lesson."

Several disciples from Guanzhong came up, knocked down the messenger a few times, and dragged him out like a dead dog. They shaved off his half-bald hair, put gold rings on his ears, took them off, and put them on his nostrils. He wore a one-jin big iron ring, and then drove him down the mountain.

  Old Liu was stunned to watch.

   Doing this is indeed a bit too insulting to the Tuyuhun envoy, and it doesn't give the Tuyuhun people face.

   "I just want to provoke Wusu."

  Old Liu was stunned, Wei Guogong wanted to provoke Wusu, and lured him to attack, this is really powerful. As a general, the most fearful thing is to get angry.

   Sure enough, three days later, Wu Su came, bringing with him thousands of troops.

  In addition to the 10,000 horses of Tuyuhun, there are also 50,000 horses of Dangxiang Qiang.

  Tuoba Chici, the leader of the Tuoba Department of the Dangxiang, and the son-in-law of Fu Yun even came here personally.

  The Qiang soldiers went deep, but the gates of the castles they encountered along the way were all closed, and they refused to fight.

   Wusu simply led the troops to bypass and drive directly to the city of Diezhou.

  Under the mountains, in the valleys and plains, Wusu set up camp, sent people to the city of Diezhou, and shot letters of challenge into the city.

  Qin Lang stood on the top of the city gate, looking at the Qiang people all over the mountains and plains, but only smiled slightly, and tore up the challenge letter in front of the Qiang people's envoy.

   Elemental heard the news and was furious.

   "Is the one surnamed Qin so cowardly? Didn't he humiliate my envoy arrogantly and provoke the king arrogantly before? Why is he shrinking the turtle again now that the king is here?"

   Wusu sent a group of Qiang soldiers to the city to shout at Qin Lang.

  It's a pity that Qin Lang sat on the top of the city and watched the scenery, and even talked about the piano leisurely and elegantly.

"Tell Wu Su, don't bark like a crow, if you really have the ability, just attack the city directly, no matter what the truth is. If you don't have eggs and don't dare to attack the city, then just go back to Qinghai Lake in despair .”

   As he spoke, Qin Lang asked someone to throw a set of women's clothes down the city.

   "If Wu Su has no eggs, I will give him a set of women's clothes, and he will be a woman from now on!"

  Wu Su sent someone to scold him, who knew that Qin Lang didn't scold, but instead scolded a set of women's clothes, and was scolded by Qin Lang for being eggless.

   "Obviously it's Qin Lang who is the turtle!"

After scolding for a while, Wu Su was still puzzled. Looking at the city of Diezhou on Dushan, he gritted his teeth, "Since the surname Qin is going to be a turtle with a shrunken head, then I will break his tortoise shell. Come, give me Order, prepare to attack the city!"

  Tuoba Chici hurriedly persuaded the uncle, "Great King Mo Zhong, Qin Lang's aggressive method, the city of Diezhou has high walls and is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is really not worthwhile for us to attack by force."

"I don't know this king, but the surname Qin is not stupid. How could he come out to fight us on the same level? With his two or three thousand people, he will seek death as soon as he leaves the city. He won't come out. Let's not fight with us." He's engaged in a verbal dispute, otherwise he's just falling for his plan to delay the attack, so just fight."

  Although the pass city is dangerous, Wu Su does not believe that with 60,000 troops, he will not be able to break through a small mountain city guarded by thousands of people.

   It is rare for Wusu to be able to command 60,000 horses at a time. In the northwest, if there are more than 10,000 people, they are already famous kings.

   Holding so many soldiers and horses, it is inevitable that they will swell a little.

  Although Tuoba Chici is more cautious, it is not a problem to think about Wusu's words. Qin Lang does not leave the city, so it will be a siege battle in the end. With so many troops, they should have a great chance of winning.

  Although Songzhou's defeat was imminent, he believed that it was mainly due to the discord between Sitou and Xigan, the chief lieutenant general, and his misjudgment.

  (end of this chapter)