Chapter 457: The Kushan Empire Emerges
"Report!"
A soldier of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry roared and rode his horse forward. Xu Rong frowned. The enemy had just retreated, what happened now?
"What happened!" Although it was a headache, Xu Rong remained calm on the surface. This is the basic quality of being a commander.
"Reinforcements have arrived. Nearly 20,000 people have reached the outskirts of Pamir Mountains. They will arrive in about half a day!" the messenger reported loudly.
"Inform everyone and prepare the troops!" Xu Rong shouted in a long and high voice, and then the messengers quickly issued the order one by one, and soon the whole Congling area entered a state of combat readiness.
"Hahaha, the reinforcements are finally here. I will teach these bandits a lesson next time!" Xu Rong was overjoyed. The reinforcements finally arrived. After the cheating Li Que and others ran away, he really had no good way to deal with the nearly 10,000 people with double talents.
These miscellaneous soldiers from the Western Regions in our hands can bully the natives, but they are really not capable of dealing with ten thousand pairs of talents. Moreover, the opponents are a special type of troops. It is no problem to block them, but it is really unrealistic to stop them.
Especially when these miscellaneous soldiers faced local retreat, they would unconsciously avoid fighting. Even if he reorganized them several times, it was useless. He was reluctant to use new recruits from the Western Liang Iron Cavalry to fill the gap, so he could only choose to allow the enemy to harass them.
"Bo Yue, order the army to line up and wait for the enemy to come!" Zhuge Liang cautiously issued the order to be on alert. They must not let their guard down until they see Xu Rong again.
There are many battles in history that were disguised and then messed up. It is not like he was defeated and killed because of carelessness.
The two sides soon gathered together. Xu Rong led his army to rein in their horses about 500 meters away. From this distance he could clearly see Xu Huang and others.
"Stop! Go!" Xu Rong led a few people and headed forward.
Seeing Xu Rong stepping out, Xu Huang and others nodded to Zhuge Liang, and the army became alert, but the formation remained the same.
"Thank you all for coming to help!" Xu Rong dismounted and saluted Xu Huang and others with his fists clasped.
After seeing Xu Huang, he knew that it was safe. Even if there was only Xu Huang, he would be enough. As long as Xu Huang brought 5,000 new Xiliang Iron Cavalry recruits to stop the camel cavalry for a while, he could lead the army to kill the camel cavalry in minutes.
"General Xu, you are too polite!" Since Xu Rong gave him face, Zhuge Liang would not be rude. He dismounted and walked, then bowed in return.
Xu Rong was shocked this time. He thought Zhuge Liang and others were brought here. It seemed that Zhuge Liang was the one in charge.
Sima Yi looked at Zhuge Liang who was chatting with Xu Rong, and a hint of jealousy appeared in his eyes, but it disappeared in an instant.
After spending many days together, he saw Zhuge Liang's abilities and found that he was indeed superior to Pang Tong. He had no choice but to admit that he was inferior to Pang Tong.
However, he did not give up. A wise man will turn the impossible into the possible. Chen Xi is an insurmountable mountain for him, but Zhuge Liang has not yet daunted him. It would be interesting to defeat such a Zhuge Liang.
Pang Tong on the other side had the same idea. Compared with Zhuge Liang, he was indeed weaker now, but like Sima Yi, he did not admit defeat. Instead, he planned everywhere to defeat Zhuge Liang.
"Let's go, let's talk when we get back to the camp!" Xu Rong had a brief conversation with Zhuge Liang, and enthusiastically led everyone back.
Xu Rong secretly looked at Zhuge Liang and others around him. He had heard of Zhuge Liang and others. They were talents that the general valued very much, but he did not expect that they would be sent here.
After a brief exchange, he felt relieved. It was just as the rumors had said.
He used to be afraid that Zhuge Liang and others were all playboys, but now he is much more relieved. As long as their personalities are not very bad, these people can be used in Congling even if they have no abilities.
What's more, these young men are valued by the general and the prime minister, so they are definitely not ordinary people.
Xu Rong led Zhuge Liang and others all the way to his camp and arrived at the destination just in the evening.
"You can set up camp here as you like. Many facilities are not yet complete. If you need anything, go to the highest tent and ask for it!"
Xu Rong gave some instructions, and then naturally someone took the new soldiers to set up camp. These things did not require him to follow up personally, and he had already arranged people to receive them long ago.
The next day, as the sun rose, all the generals gathered in Xu Rong's tent.
"Everyone, time is running out. We don't have much time to adapt. Let me introduce the current situation!" Xu Rong sat in the main seat and pointed to a rather sloppy map.
"Now that the Congling Ridge has been initially settled, it is mainly divided into two areas. One is the main camp under construction, just to our north. The camp is full of natives that our army has subjugated here and craftsmen who have migrated from the Western Regions. The other is our sub-camp, which is mainly to prevent enemy attacks."
Zhuge Liang and others nodded when they heard this. They said that this place didn't look like it had been built at all, and their doubts were answered.
"The enemy has about 15,000 men, which should be 10,000 pairs of talents and 5,000 new recruits. They often come to harass nearby for training. I don't have any elite troops, so it's difficult to stop them."
Xu Rong quickly explained the current situation, allowing Zhuge Liang and others to have a basic understanding of the situation in Pamirs.
"We observed from a distance yesterday that the enemies are all elite legions. They come and go like the wind and are definitely not ordinary opponents. I'm afraid our legion has no rivals." Jiang Wei said, briefly explaining their findings yesterday.
"It's okay. The talents of the generals' legions are enough to help us."
Xu Rong was a little disappointed when he heard this, but not too disappointed. With the legion talents of Xu Huang and others, it was enough. He was confident that he could kill those camel riders.
"The next point is the enemy coming from the south, and to the west of our army is the Parthian Empire, which is also an opponent we need to guard against."
"More than 10,000 pairs of talents are not something that ordinary forces can possess. The south has such a number of elite troops. It should be the Kushan Empire. It should be their test of the Han Dynasty!" Sima Yi knocked on the table and expressed his thoughts.
"The Great Yuezhi, the predecessor of the Kushan Empire, should be our ally. Why are they doing this?" Pang Tong frowned, somewhat confused about the situation.
"During the period of Marquis Dingyuan, the relationship between our two sides was very tense. At that time, the Pamir Mountains were still the territory of the Kushans." Sima Yi took over the conversation. He had previously handled intelligence work on behalf of Li Ru and was very familiar with various classics on designing diplomacy.
"Marquis Dingyuan...is it about asking for the princess?" Zhuge Liang frowned this time. They are now the regent of the eldest princess. Maybe the Kushans think they are powerful again and want to test the weight of the Han Dynasty.
