The palace urged travel several times, and Chen Ao was busy with the delivery. Yang Lin was watching from Honglu Temple. The Wubei Academy also had to explain the recruitment of lieutenants and also chose entourages and horses to travel with him. This time, a thousand lieutenants from the military department followed Chen Ao on his way to Xixia.

First, the cavalry is fast, and there are deserts everywhere in Xixia. It is said that there are hundreds of miles of uninhabited places everywhere, so it is more convenient to bring cavalry. Second, the cavalry instructor Li Qing is also from Xixia. With him by his side, he has more care.

When Li Qing heard Chen Ao order him, he was stunned for a moment. According to common sense, after all, he was flowing with the blood of the Xixia people. If it were others, suspicion was inevitable. For example, when he was in a border town, he deliberately avoided him whenever he fought against Xixia and transferred him to the rear to supervise the transportation of money and grain. Chen Ao did not shy away at all, and he was quite interested in treating him as his confidant.

Li Qing bowed to Chen Ao solemnly and said, "I will definitely not let down the prince's high expectations." After that, he stepped down and prepared for his trip.

The lieutenant of this thousand-horse military has been practicing for a full year. During this year, he has been riding on horses for more than seven hours every day. He will never leave the horse's back when eating or practicing. He has already achieved the point of banning orders on horseback and has gradually become familiar with the habits of fighting horses. How to stop raising horses, deal with the disease of war horses, and communicate with war horses, these are no longer a problem.

The remaining time for practice is to practice archery constantly. First, I sit on the horse and shoot on the horse, and then I shoot on the rush. The exercise is very hard, but it is very effective.

According to Li Qing, the combat power of these cavalry is a little stronger than that of the Western Xia cavalry. The Western Xia cavalry is also elite, which makes the border town suffer many losses. However, after all, it is impossible to do so hard, and it is due to the strong spirit and the skillful control of war horses since childhood. However, the cavalry captains are different. Their control of war horses is no longer inferior to that of the Western Xia cavalry, and they are even better in cavalry. Moreover, they can implement orders. As long as they go through a few actual combat, they will be an elite cavalry that can compete with any cavalry.

Except for the Ma Jun Captain, Chen Ao did not take any other person. On the surface, he was just on missions or even just participating in the selection of a son-in-law, but inside, he was trying to provoke Jin Xia's diplomatic relations, and his future was extremely dangerous. One more person would only be one more burden.

Chen Ao entered the palace and said his final goodbye to Zhao Ji. Zhao Ji comforted him. Chen Ao resolutely left the palace and rode his horse to the outside of Bianjing City. Outside the city, a thousand elite cavalry were already on standby, divided into three rows, raised flags, and waited for Chen Ao to give orders.

The envoy of the Western Xia Dynasty, Li Yong, was shocked when Li Yong saw these lieutenants, and then he was disdainful. He had seen such a lot of erotic auras. Just like the imperial guards of the Song Dynasty, they looked burly, but they were useless when they were fighting.

Chen Ao pulled his horse around in front of the team, then said, "Go away."

"Set out." Li Qing roared and led the flag team to follow Shen Ao.

From Bianjing to Xixia, you have to pass through Yongxing Army Road first, exit from Weiqiang Village, enter the border of Xixia, and then enter Longzhou, Yanzhou, and Huaizhou to Xingqing Prefecture, the capital of Xixia. Fortunately, this is an envoy. You don’t have to bring too many equipment. You can get supplies along the way, and you don’t have to carry baggage. You can travel with light cavalry. It took only four days to cross Jingji Road and go straight to Yongxing Army Road. When you arrive at Yongxing Army Road, you will gradually increase castles. In some places, there are just a lonely earthen building with camps inside, and earth walls, flags, and military horses are everywhere. These are all wing troops under the jurisdiction of the border army. They have long received the general order from Tong Guan. When they see Chen Ao’s men coming, they immediately opened the camp to welcome them.

The Xiang army is also different from the Xiang army. The Xiang army on the mainland is really fragile, but in this town, it is completely different. Just looking at their dusty appearance and their callous palms, you will know that they have combat power. Chen Ao just asked them for horse materials and food, and then continued to move forward.

The northerly it is, the more desolate it is, and the number of people is less and less. On the official road, there are many labor-service servants pushing grain trucks to the north, but the kind of soil trunks I have seen before are increasing.

The weather is getting colder and colder. When crossing the river, I found that there was a layer of ice on the surface of the river. This kind of air conditioning is different from the air conditioning in Bianjing. It is nothing when there is no wind. When the wind blows, it hurts like a knife.

Chen Ao searched for a turret to rest, and let the cavalry rest for a day. One of the local soldiers was accompanying him. When Chen Ao respectfully, he even gave Chen Ao a sheepskin wine bag, saying that it was because he was rushing to go without drinking a few sips of wine. Chen Ao refused and drank by himself, but let others watch him. Not to mention that he violated the military rules of the Martial Arts School, he could not hold on to his face. However, when the Western Xia envoy Li Yong entered the turret camp, he looked around. Chen Ao did not dare to let him stay alone. Although this was not a military base, he could not reveal anything after looking at it, but he always felt unhappy. He always brought him by his side and did not allow him to go out to move around.

Li Yong was quite afraid of Chen Ao at first, but later he gradually let go of his courage and sometimes he wanted to publish his high arguments. For example, when he saw this Tulei camp, he would say that we Xixia people were like this, which meant that it was easy to break the Tulei camp. After drinking the wine here, he felt that this wine was not as strong as Xixia. In short, everything could be found with countless problems.

Chen Ao ignored him at all, rested for a day, and continued on the road. Li Qing was most familiar with the roads nearby, and finally arrived at Xihe seven days later.

Xihe is an important border town, and the center of the border army is located. On this Yongxing Army Road, it is already very prosperous. The towering city walls are not big, and the urn city, moat, inner city, and outer city are all ready. Chen Ao first asked someone to inform him. Tong Guan had personally led the border army general to take the horse out of the gate and welcomed him three miles away.

Tong Guan couldn't afford to offend Chen Ao and could not favor him. Fortunately, Shen Ao had never paid any attention to Tong Guan in addition to the last time he had made a fuss and a slightest remark. Tong Guan also knew that his family was already in the sky and in the earth and the earth. He earned some of the credit he earned by eating dust and bleeding in the border town. How could he compare with a close minister like Chen Ao? Therefore, he pursued the idea of ​​not offending him as much as possible.

As for the generals in the border town, they had different thoughts and most of them did not agree with them. These people were rebellious and difficult people. Chen Ao had already known that they were practicing lieutenants in Bianjing, and they were even more dissatisfied with them. It was not a joke that they would steal jobs in the future.

However, in front of the Prince of Penglai, they are just ants. No matter whether they are satisfied or not, who dares to say anything in front of him? It is more than enough to trample you to death, and they don’t take it seriously at all.

Chen Ao came over, and the cavalry captain behind him rumbled and stopped. Tong Guan smiled and pulled over to meet Chen Ao, and bowed immediately, "Prince, the family is polite."

Chen Ao looked at Tong Guan up and down, and suddenly subverted his impression of Tong Guan. He thought he was a white-faced eunuch, but looking at his tough appearance, he had a thick beard under his jaw, and he looked quite energetic and full of spirit. Although he was wearing a palace dress, his every move was full of tough style.

No wonder this guy has some skills in governing the army. It is said that in the early years, Tong Guan's army supervisor attacked Xixia, a major incident occurred when he arrived in Huangchuan. Because the fire broke out in the palace, Huizong issued an order to Tong Guan to return to his army. After Tong Guan read the edict, he folded it up as if nothing had happened. The general of the army asked him what the emperor wrote? Tong Guan replied: The emperor hopes that we will succeed as soon as possible. In this war, Tong Guan performed low-key and calmed the rebellion of the tribes in the northwest. At the celebration banquet, Tong Guan slowly took out the emperor's edict and told the generals in the army. Everyone was shocked when they saw it.

, asked him in panic why he did this? Tong Guan replied, "The morale was in high spirits at that time, and if the troops were stopped like this, how could he fight in the future?" The general asked, "What if he was defeated?" Tong Guan said, "This is the reason why the miscellaneous families would not show you at that time. If he was defeated, I will bear all the blame." At that time, the generals knelt on the ground, and everyone was grateful and admired. At the same time, Tong Guan also adopted the children of the fallen generals as their adopted sons, which moved the generals who fought on the field of life and death very much, and believed that Tong Guan was a boss worthy of his life.

Tong Guan may not be very capable of marching and fighting, but he is very prestigious on the side of the border army. Shen Ao was not good at offending him at this time, so he bowed to him, "You are kind to you, Eunuch Tong."

After saying that, they rode the horses into the city together, so naturally they first had a dust banquet, and then Shen Ao and Tong Guan closed the door and chatted privately.

From the beginning, Shen Ao and Tong Guan were testing each other. At this time, they looked at each other. Tong Guan had roughly known Shen Ao's temperament and said with a smile: "If it weren't for the prince's mercy, the old family would have been in a different place. Remember this kindness clearly, and there will be a reward for it."

Shen Ao smiled faintly. It was him who had messed with Tong Guan, but Tong Guan said it as if he had done kindness to him. His scheming was much deeper than Cai You.

Shen Aohe said, "It's easy to say. After entering Xihe today, you can see that Eunuch Tong is good at regulating the army and has rich experience in combat. The martial arts school lacks the most. At that time, you must bring a team of people here for training, and you must have to take care of Eunuch Tong."

Tong Guan said: "The prince told me, how dare the family members refuse to respond?"

After a while of greeting, it was considered a bit of friendship. Tong Guan said straight to the point: "It is not a good thing for the princess of Xixia to choose a son-in-law, but the side report from the Zajia heard that the Xixia king had already belonged to the Jin Kingdom, and the prince was afraid that the prince would change when he went there. Your Majesty had already sent an order in an urgent manner and ordered the Zajia to dispatch the army and horses to make complete preparations and to support the prince and the prince at any time. If there is anything to do, remember to send a messenger to send the news immediately, so that the Zajia could attack at any time."

Shen Ao smiled and said, "I'm afraid there is no need for Eunuch Tong. It's enough to deal with those people from Xixia. Eunuch Tong is just relaxing. Your Majesty is too careful."

Tong Guanhe nodded and smiled, "It's good if you can do nothing. Since the prince is sure, the miscellaneous family will not say those despicable words."

After saying that, the two of them had tea together, Shen Ao rested at Tong Guan's mansion and continued his journey early the next morning. Tong Guan wanted to transfer a team of confidant guards to go with him. Shen Ao politely refused and said with a smile: "It's enough to have a lieutenant." This tone made him feel very confident in the lieutenant of the cavalry. After hearing this, Li Qing and others all raised their chests immediately.

Tong Guan said: "Prince, we will meet in Xihe in March. At that time, the family will celebrate the achievements of the prince."

Chen Ao just nodded, then led the team to the horse and came out of Xihe. Chen Ao and Li Qing walked side by side and said to Li Qing: "This Tong Guan is a powerful character. Do you see the look of the generals below looking at him?"

Li Qing said: "The humble man has also worked in this northwest town. The ability of the eunuch Tong master is indeed extraordinary. If the towns around the northwest town are asked to die for the Song Dynasty, they might hesitate, but if they say that they are serving the eunuch Tong master, they will rush to go."
Chapter completed!