Chapter 986: Hou Junji
Cheng Qian looked into the distance.
"Why haven't the damned Tuyuhun people appeared yet? Shouldn't they have sent someone to intercept us, or try to ambush us?"
Hou Junji handed the roasted deer chops to Chengqian, thinking that this prince is really big-hearted, leading troops to fight, how can anyone always expect the enemy to intercept and ambush him?
Any normal commander would probably not have such an idea. Every qualified commander will try his best to collect the enemy's intelligence, find out the enemy's whereabouts, and even spy on the enemy's plan.
We will try our best to avoid being ambushed and raided, so when marching, we must send out scouts and cavalry far away. When camping, we should also choose a place that is easy to defend. If we pass through some narrow valleys, dense forests, cross mountains and cross rivers When the time comes, it is even more necessary to cheer up and be careful.
No matter how well-trained the army is, it is also afraid of being ambushed, and even more afraid of being raided.
Being ambushed and raided will make the army unable to form an array to face the enemy, and may even lose command.
"It is indeed a bit strange."
Hou Junji nodded.
They had already crossed Chiling. Chiling was the actual border between Tang Dynasty and Tuyuhun during the reign of Wude. Chiling (Mingyue Mountain) is the boundary.
But Chiling was originally used as the boundary because Chiling was a natural and dangerous barrier.
A north-south horizontal barrier of high mountains, only a few valley tunnels in and out, are suitable for guarding.
The imperial court enfeoffed many meritorious officials and clans in the west of Chiling, and expanded the land for hundreds of miles, but Chiling is still an important dividing line.
Along this boundary line, Datang not only retained the military towns, guards, and garrisons on the original border, but also added many new military fortresses to create a more stable border line.
And on the line of defense of Chiling, many Guancheng and border cities were established to do business with Tuyuhun and Dangxiang people.
After the Chiling line of defense, the former frontier and the land that was repeatedly plundered immediately became stable, and relying on the Qinghai trade roads, as well as trade in the livestock and fur of the Tuyuhun party people on the border, many new handicrafts were built. The production workshops include fur processing, some small handicraft workshops, and even quite a few mines.
This Chiling made the Hehuang Valley more prosperous and prosperous.
Chiling is equivalent to the Great Wall of Longyou. To the west of Chiling, there are still hundreds of miles of land belonging to the Tang Dynasty, but most of these lands are hereditary lands bestowed by the imperial court to the heroes and clans, and they are developed and managed by them.
Moreover, the land to the west of Chiling used to belong to Tuyuhun territory. There was not much farming, mainly nomadic, lack of population and agriculture, and there was no such good defensive geographical conditions as Chiling. Army and several other armies, but after all, it is already outside the pass.
Now that the two countries are fighting again, even if Murong Cheng's Tuyuhun soldiers will not go to the pass for a while, they should show up in the pass anyway.
Not to mention a large-scale invasion, but a small group of ranger scouts will inevitably appear.
Even the garrison border guards and their rangers may have fought many games.
But now the strange thing is that they marched slowly all the way, which took a lot of time, and until they got out of Chiling, along the Huangshui River Valley, they were almost at the edge of Qinghai Lake, but they didn't see a single Tuyuhun.
This is very abnormal.
"The spit thief must have been afraid of His Royal Highness, and fled far to the west!" Hou Junji patted Cheng Qian's flattery with a smile.
Chengqian took the deer steak and took a bite.
"It's almost hot. If you want to talk about this cooking skill, the best one I've ever seen is Qin Lang. Let's take barbecued meat as an example. He is very particular about it. From selecting meat to roasting, there are many processes in between. Pay attention. For example, different meats have different parts that are suitable for grilling. After the meat is selected, it has to be shaped and marinated. Let me tell you, there are many exclusive secret ingredients for the cured meat. Different meats use different ingredients. The secret recipe of this recipe, after being marinated and then grilled, it is not only tender but not stale, but also delicious and juicy.”
"During the roasting process, the control of the fire, even the charcoal fire used and the slender meat piercing the meat are also very particular, and you have to rinse the oil, sprinkle spices, etc. while roasting. In short, if you watch him roast meat, That is really a kind of knowledge, and it can even make you look pleasing to the eye, and when the meat is roasted, the color and aroma will be perfect."
"It can even make you reluctant to eat."
"Bite a bite, and it will feel more like a dick."
The flesh on Hou Junji's face couldn't help twitching, seeing Chengqian swallowing his saliva while talking, did he really want to talk about it?
Although he had eaten Qin Lang's fried locusts before, he could fry the ugly locusts into a delicacy, golden on the outside, charred on the outside and tender on the inside, crispy and delicious, but not everything is like this.
Besides, a big gentleman, still a dignified prime minister, spends all day studying some things under the kitchen, so he can't get on the table.
If you are a man, you have to be rough, and you can’t be so particular about your food, not to mention that this is a wild deer he hunted specially in the army, and the fresh venison is roasted.
"Your meat is too roasted." Cheng Qian was still chattering.
"After the deer is hunted, the blood must be drained immediately, especially the urine must be taken out, otherwise the meat will change its taste."
"Besides, your deer steak has not been processed. It is too rough. The whole deer steak is directly cut into a large piece and roasted. This will not work. You have to process it, remove the part that is too fat, and then remove the part that is too thin , After processing, fat and thin are mixed, flesh and blood are connected, and you have to dry the meat."
Hou Junji was stunned, the meat still needs to be dried?
"This is also what Qin Lang said. He said that freshly killed meat needs to be dried. What is it called acid discharge? I don't know where the acid comes from, but it is true that dried meat tastes better. .”
After Chengqian took two bites, he had no desire to eat any more, and handed the meat back to Hou Junji as a reward.
Hou Junji took a big bite and thought it was delicious. The meat was very tender and grilled just right, and it even smelled oily. It felt so good.
He also sprinkled pepper on purpose.
"The skewers are also very particular. The twigs you use casually for this deer steak are not right. The twigs themselves have a foul smell, and when they are roasted in the meat, the taste of the venison will be ruined."
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Chengqian said that the venison roasted by Hou Junji himself was worthless, but Hou Junji ate it himself with relish.
"We'll hunt some more deer later. I'll bake some for you myself. You'll know the difference after you try it."
Hou Junji looked up at the sky.
"Your Highness, it's still early. It's just after noon. Let's hurry up and march. These days, we stop marching just after noon every day. We've lost too much time on the way."
Cheng Qian said disapprovingly.
"What's the rush? Didn't you send Qingqi to Haiyan Fort and Shenwei Military City? Didn't you report the news? Besides, Cheng Yaojin from Liangzhou, Hexi, Xue Wanche from Lanzhou, and Tuoba Xici and Xifengbu from Dangxiang Lai these people haven't arrived yet!"
"Your Highness, we can go to Haiyan Fort or Shenwei Military City to rest and wait for them. It is also safer to rest in the fortress." Hou Junji said.
Chengqian looked at Hou Junji playfully, "Why, is General Hou still afraid that the Tuyuhun people will attack? I'm still hoping that they will come."
"Speaking of which, why hasn't Cheng Yaojin arrived yet?"
Hou Junji explained, "Cheng Yaojin led Hexi soldiers and horses to come, because there were a lot of soldiers and horses, and they had to carry food and supplies with the army, so they couldn't directly cross Guzang Mountain, so they had to detour to Lanzhou first and join Xue Wanche's Lanzhou soldiers and horses. , first go south to Didao, turn west at the Long Castle of Kanglang Mountain, cross the Tao River, and enter Hezhou westward along the Daxia Mountains and Rivers."
"At Fenglin Pass in Hezhou, pass through the tunnel of Jishi Mountain, cross the Yellow River, then enter Shanzhou, and come west along the Huangshui River Valley to join forces."
Chengqian frowned, "Isn't that right? I came from Chang'an and passed through Qinzhou and Weizhou. This is the road I took. Why did Cheng Yaojin also take this road when he came from Liangzhou? Isn't it getting farther and farther?"
"This road is the most smooth, suitable for the march of the army, and convenient for the transportation of luggage. Of course, there are other routes, such as going west from Liangzhou to Zhangye, then turning southeast, crossing the Qilian Mountains and entering the Hemen Water Valley. Passing through mountains and valleys, turning into Huangshui Valley, this road has to climb many mountains and cross many rivers, which is not conducive to the movement of the army, and it is not easy to carry a large amount of food and grass."
"The other road goes from Liangzhou to Lanzhou, then goes directly west along the Hemen River, and then enters the Huangshui River Valley. This road is the closest, but there are many places that are not smooth enough."
Hou Junji didn't want to argue with Cheng Yaojin, what he said was true.
The road that Cheng Yaojin is walking now is officially called Qinghai Road, and its full name is Qinghai Road, the Silk Road from the Tang Dynasty to the Western Regions. Different from Hexi Road, it can be regarded as an auxiliary road of Hexi Road. road.
This road starts from Chang'an, crosses the Longshan Mountains along the Wei River Valley, reaches Qin and Long, goes west to Hezhou, and crosses the Yellow River through Fenglin Pass.
After crossing the Yellow River, it is divided into two roads, the north and the south. The north road goes directly across the Jishi Mountain and then goes north into the Huangshui Valley in Shanzhou, and then goes west to the Heyuan Army in Shancheng. One is to continue to the west, which is the route that Chengqian and his troops came here now, going west out of Chiling to the northeast corner of Qinghai Lake, and then westward along the north bank of Qinghai Lake to Fucheng City.
The South Road turns southwest at Heyuan Juncheng in Shancheng, passes Niuxinchuan, that is, the Nanchuan Valley, goes south, leaves Chiling, takes the Panshan Road, crosses Laji Mountain, and finally arrives at Chengfeng Shubao (Guideqian) at the southern foot. Huzhuang), and then from here along the Yellow River west to Shudun City, along the Dafeichuan Valley in Hunan, Qinghai, and westward to Fuqi City.
These are two different routes after the Huangshui Valley route of Qinghai Road North Line arrives in Shanzhou.
And after crossing the Yellow River in Hezhou, there is another Qinghai Road South Road that does not enter Shanzhou, that is, it does not enter Shanzhou and does not go through the Huangshui Valley, but follows the southern foot of Maiji Mountain and enters Kuozhou along the Yellow River, and finally It also arrived at Chengfeng Garrison Fort on the border of Kuo and Shan, and then went west to Shudun City, Moliyi, Damomen City, Jintian Army, etc.
Because Qinghai Road is a commercial route that has been going for hundreds of years, it is very mature and the road is smooth. Therefore, it can be said to be the first choice for going west to Tuyuhun. The south road is better than the north road. A small branch of the road is not easy to walk.
Cheng Yaojin wants to join forces with Xue Wanche, and he wants to bring a large army, many peasants, and luggage. He must have come along the Qinghai Road. It is impossible to go to Zhangye, Ganzhou to cross the Biandukou Pass in Qilian Mountains The river turned over.
From this route, it seems that it is only in Liangzhou Cheng Yaojin in the north of Shanzhou, and it takes a big detour to get here.
In order to make it clear, Hou Junji took out his sword and drew it on the ground for a long time, drawing a road map of Qinghai Road, and also marked the Longyou prefectures.
"Your handwriting is so ugly!"
Hou Junji painted for a long time, and his mouth was dry and tongue-tied.
In the end, after Chengqian looked at it for a long time, he said this leisurely, and Hou Junji was so angry that he almost vomited blood.
"Your drawing is too bad. It's as bad as your barbecue skills. You should really learn from Qin Lang. Not only do you have to learn how to barbecue, but you also have to learn how to draw maps. By the way When you learned the art of war with Duke Li Jing, didn’t he teach you how to draw a map? I learned some art of war from Qin Lang before, and this map work is one of the basic skills!"
Hou Junji blushed a little.
"It's not easy to draw a picture on the ground with a sword. Your Highness will just take a look at it. That's what it means."
Cheng Qian hummed.
"But what I see is still too awkward, let me redraw it."
Chengqian drew out his dagger, squatted on the ground, first scraped the ground flat with the blade, and then took the tip of the knife to outline on the ground, and quickly outlined a map of Helong and Qinghai prefectures.
Immediately afterwards, the north and south roads of Qinghai Road were also drawn. By the way, while asking Hou Junji, he also drew several large and small passages between Hexi and Longyou.
Qilian Mountains, Chiling, Qinghai Lake, Yellow River, Huangshui, Taohe, Weishui...
"Well, it looks much more pleasing to the eye now."
Hou Junji was stunned. He had to admit that the Crown Prince's mocking of him just now made him very uncomfortable, but His Royal Highness is really capable.
"Your Highness, did you learn from Qin Lang?"
"Well, in fact, Qin Lang also taught me how to build military sand tables and sand table deduction, the sand table looks more visual and intuitive."
Hou Junji looked at the same map drawn by the two of them, but he couldn't bear to look at it now, but Chengqian's was simple and intuitive, and seemed to be more accurate.
Even the bends of the Yellow River have their own characteristics.
Cheng Qian stared at the map he had drawn, "Before you said that Murong Cheng's soldiers from Tuyuhun invaded eastward in four ways, but now we haven't even seen them all the way. He should have arrived at the foot of Chiling a long time ago, and he even sent Haiyan to the east. The fort was taken, but it's so quiet now..."
Cheng Qian squeezed his chin and stared at the map for a long time, "Is it false news that you said that the four roads are attacking together? Could it be that the Shenwei Army is going east to attack the west? You said that Murong Cheng would take the main force of the Tuyuhun army, but actually go to Dafeichuan on the south bank of the West Sea? He said he wanted to fight the Shenwei Army, but he actually went to attack Shudun City on the South Road. Attack Jintian Army City and Weisheng Army City?"
Hou Junji looked at Chengqian in surprise, he didn't expect that His Royal Highness, who only knew horseback riding and hunting in tents since he left Shanzhou, could say such a thing.