Chapter 6658 Everyone has his own ambitions

Chapter 6658 Everyone has his own ambitions
After Masinde left, Fuward sat alone in the palace of the Zhangzhung Dynasty, quietly thinking about how to return to Kushan. Yes, he had made up his mind. No matter how difficult it was, he would choose to go back, even if it cost him his life, he would return to Kushan.

After all, his original mission to Tibet has come to an end today, and there is no point in continuing. Mashind's choice seems completely reasonable to Fuward. At least as a rational person, Fuward has no way to hold Mashind accountable.

"After all, it was the Kushans that failed you. It is only natural that you choose to leave Kushan now. In fact, when I first learned that you made such a choice in Qunu City, I was extremely shocked for you. Now I understand. I think you had already made the choice at that time." Fuward raised his hand and looked at his palm lines, as if he was looking at the former Masinde.

I can understand Mashind and realize that his choice is correct, but Fuward is not Mashind and he has his own choices.

"Military Advisor, do you think Fuward can go back?" Assam asked with some curiosity when he followed Masinde away. He not only understood and agreed with Masinde's choice, but even surpassed it to some extent.

In other words, if Masinde had not stopped him, Assam would have most likely used Fuward's head as a stepping stone to advancement. There was nothing else to it. Just thinking about how he was suppressed for some trivial matters during his youngest and best years, and finally he had the Heart Abyss and the ability, and the Kushans found him again in the midst of a precarious situation, Assam was very unhappy.

Therefore, when there was an opportunity to cause trouble for the Kushan Empire and disgust the Kushan Empire, Assam was still willing to do it. However, with Masinde holding him back, Assam had no way of realizing some ideas.

"Yes, Fuward can definitely go back. As long as you don't take any action, he will soon find the way back. The only difficulty is how many people he can take back with him." Masinde said calmly. Masinde was actually very clear about Assam's malice. After all, he was the one who educated him, so he understood what kind of character he had.

"We can still go back!" Assam said somewhat unhappily.

"You can't beat Fuward, at least not now." Masinde glanced at Assam, "Maybe you could beat him before, but the mind image is very dependent on the legion commander's belief, and Fuward's belief is probably that he will not regret even if he dies. This belief will greatly enhance his mind image. Considering the accumulation and improvement in strength over the past few years, it will be difficult for you to defeat him. After all, it is not the same as it was a few years ago."

In fact, there is a very important point that Masinde did not say, that is, in the current situation, the Kushan soldiers who are still willing to follow Fu Ward, and then follow Fu Ward back to Kushan from Tibet, even if they are surrounded and blocked, flee back to Kushan, as long as there are still hundreds or thousands of people left, then the new camel cavalry formed by these people will quickly surpass the past.

This is a qualitative change at the level of mind and will, a reflection of the unity of officers and soldiers, and the result of truly experiencing the test of death and despair.

"Unfortunately, Fuward is still a little weak. If he could be stronger, the military soul would most likely be able to set foot there." Masinde sighed lightly, then shook his head and left. This was his last help to Fuward. It was not to help Kushan, but to the warrior who had loved Kushan as deeply as he once did. The last gift, even if it was death, this funeral would give him enough dignity.

"Military advisor, can you see how to achieve the military spirit?" Assam asked naturally. When there is an opportunity, one must rush forward to take advantage. After all, he has called military advisor so many times and it would be in vain. We are all Shu people. Uncle, please help your dear nephew.

"It just slightly increases hope." Masinde shook his head and said, "After all, I witnessed the end of Arvind and Celian with my own eyes, and also witnessed the rise and fall of their elite troops. With my spiritual talent, I have the ability to observe the growth and positioning of personnel. In theory, I can form a legion that has a higher chance of becoming the military soul. There is still hope to fight a war that may achieve the military soul, although the hope is extremely slim."

Mashind's wisdom and vision allowed him to understand and recognize many things, so he knew very well that his methods could indeed increase hope a little, but military spirit was not something that could be achieved simply by increasing hope. A true military spirit basically became the hope of others in despair, so Mashind thought that his so-called possibility was extremely slim.

"Is that so? Then come and help me later, military advisor." Assam said shamelessly. Compared to those two guys Urdu and Salman, Assam was even more shameless. This was also the reason why he was brought to Tibet by Mahinde. It was not because he was strong, nor because he was suitable, but simply because Assam firmly clung to Mahinde's thigh.

"We'll talk about it when we have time. After joining the Han Dynasty, what do you think your position will be?" Masinde asked Assam tentatively. He was worried that Assam would feel disappointed after joining the Han Dynasty. After all, no matter how generous the Han Dynasty was, it was impossible for them to casually arrange a legion commander like Assam who was in his prime, possessed enough strength, and had the mental image.

Therefore, even if Assam does not conduct an open review in the future, there will probably be a lot of secret tests. Since Assam has chosen to follow him, Mashind must arrange a way out for the other party.

Over the years, the benefit of following Mahind is that Mahind will always choose to take responsibility no matter what the time is, except for Arvind. This is indeed Mahind's problem, but Mahind also accompanied Arvind to the end of his life.

As for the rest, whether it was the navy, the army, the Kushan Empire, Vasudeva I, or even the current Fuward, Masinde did his best to help these people arrange a retreat, and then cut off the shackles on himself.

This is also why Fuward did not hate Masinde very much, because Fuward knew very well that if he had encountered all of Masinde's things, he would have fought with the Kushan Empire long ago - I have the strength to do so, I would have tested all the princes in the world with my sword, I am the son of destiny!
As a result, Masinde accepted the exile and the final result. Even though he had some other ideas after returning, he still made his own contribution to the continuation of the Kushan strategy. In this situation, Fuward could not say any bad words to Masinde.

Even if Masinde wanted to surrender to the Han Dynasty and take most of his elite Kushan troops with him, Fuward would not be able to blame Masinde and insult him for being unpatriotic and disloyal to Kushan?
These accusations are meaningless. Masinde was a Saka. He loved the Kushans but was kicked out by them. He was loyal to the Yuezhi but was exiled by them. Under such circumstances, what could Masinde do? He could only make a choice that was consistent with his own behavioral logic - to follow the century-old wish of the Kushan Empire and the Yuezhi, and I followed the Han princess to do it.

So this is a truly decent person, a decent person who will truly help his fellow travelers with their plans. Even if he knows that these fellow travelers will drift away from him at some point and will completely part ways with him, before that moment comes, Masinde will still help them and stand on their side to make the best and most correct choice for them.

“I…” Assam was silent for a long time. Ever since Mahinde was exiled, he and his companions had been sent to a remote mountain area as local guards, training day after day. Then, they had the mind image and were promoted to the commander of a certain front army. They still stayed in the mountain area for training. Then, when the situation in northern Guizhou got out of control, they were re-employed. Until they met Mahinde again and followed him to Tibet.

To be honest, Assam had never really thought about what the future would be like. He just hated the Kushans. He had the mind image only because he was in the poor mountainous area and had no other entertainment. He could only train himself day after day, drill soldiers, and use the information left by Masinde to keep moving forward to avoid falling into confusion. However, after achieving the mind image and becoming the commander-in-chief of the front, there was no change.

When following Urdu, Salman and the others out of the mountains, Assam learned that among the more than 30 brothers back then, only the three of them had achieved the mind image. The others had given up on training long ago due to the difficulties in the mountains. Only the three of them followed Masinde's information and took one step at a time to reach their current level of being considered strong among the three empires.

"You don't know, do you?" Mahinde looked at Assam and knew that the other party had never thought about these things.

"Please show me a clear way." Assam gave up thinking. It's not that he didn't have a brain, but with Mashind by his side, he really didn't need a brain.

"What do you want to do?" Masinde asked, looking at Assam.

"There's nothing I want to do." Assam said bitterly.

"Then follow me first. I should still have several decades to live, and I should be able to help you find something you want to do before I die." Masinde was silent for a while and said with a smile. Since Assam chose to follow him, he would not let him down.

On the other side, Zhang Ji and Chen Zhen had already received the information sent from Chang'an and were discussing how to deal with the matter. Yang Pu and others also rushed back at about this time.

"Governor Zhang, come and have a drink. We just came back from Hanzhong and brought you some gifts." Yang Pu greeted Zhang Ji while holding a jar of wine.

After all, a large-scale military expedition cannot bypass Zhang Ji no matter what. What's more, with Zhang Ji around, the other party can help get more things regardless of whether they win or lose, so this kind of thing will naturally not bypass Zhang Ji.

"Okay, thank you for your help." Zhang Ji was not polite when he heard it. If it was something precious, he would not accept it. But for Hanzhong's rice wine, he would not be polite. After all, it was delicious and not expensive. The only trouble was that the price in the Tibetan area was too high and transportation was difficult, resulting in that sometimes he could not drink it even if he wanted to. As for the homemade rice wine, to be honest, there was a big gap between it and the official ones.

"It's just right that you're back. I have something to discuss with you. Fu Ward has caused trouble again. We have to think of a way to suppress him and make him do less noise." Zhang Ji put away the wine and explained to Yang Pu.

"Ah, what did Fu Ward do again? We've only been out for such a short time, and something bad happened again?" Yang Pu remained expressionless, but he was delighted in his heart. This was just the beginning. He had been thinking about how to mobilize people to deal with Fu Ward, but he didn't expect that Fu Ward would cause trouble first. He had to strike back with a heavy blow.

"This matter is very troublesome. Fu Ward sent people to assassinate Doctor Liu who was in Xinzhou. Although Madam Liu was fine, it caused a considerable impact on the Han Dynasty." Zhang Ji succinctly recounted what happened in Xinzhou.

"Ah, Sima Lang is still alive?" Yang Pu didn't understand who Doctor Liu was, but when he heard that Sima Lang had been assassinated and was still alive, he couldn't help but ask.

"Calm down and don't say such things. Sima Lang is still a governor after all. If you want to assassinate him on a whim, it will not be easy if the censors hear it." Zhang Ji warned in a bad mood. He had heard about the Qiang people's assassination of Sima Lang when he came here. Fortunately, he was persuaded by him. However, the road in Tibet is really difficult to build, so it can only be done slowly.

"I am a straightforward person. I say what I think directly." Yang Pu sneered. Other matters were fine, but he would definitely not be polite when it came to Sima Lang. If he had a chance to find Sima Lang, it would definitely not be a problem to shoot him with two arrows. As for the possibility of death for assassinating the governor, damn it, killing Sima Lang would at least make him a hero. Even if he died, the Qiang people would come to see him off collectively when he was buried. It would not be a loss.

Zhang Ji had nothing to say. He knew that the Fa Qiang, Qing Qiang and Di people were very dissatisfied with Sima Lang, but he had been the governor of Zangzhou for so long, and it was weird that these people still hated Sima Lang so much.

Nonsense, how can I not hate them? The roads are not repaired, the villages are not connected, and the Fa Qiang, Qing Qiang and Di people in the Tibetan area are left to merge villages and villages themselves. Although from a practical point of view, there is nothing wrong with Sima Lang's approach. After all, the focus is on the Thirty-Six Kingdoms, and the altitude of the Tibetan area is indeed too high. It is better to sacrifice pawns to save the chariot. The most important thing is to solve the internal problems of Xinzhou first. As long as there is no explosion in the Tibetan area, there will be no big problem.

Generally speaking, Sima Lang had this idea at the time, and the Qiang people in the Tibetan area were very unhappy about it. After Sima Lang cut off ties with the Tibetan area and Zhang Ji was appointed as the governor of Tibet Prefecture, with the attitude of developing the local area, Zhang Ji would report to Chang'an from time to time and apply for something.

These things will definitely fall on the heads of the people in the Tibetan area in the end. This creates a more obvious contrast. Yang Pu and others became even more resentful towards Sima Lang. Damn, look at Zhang Ji, and then look at you, Sima Lang, what a beast you are!
In short, the Qiang people in Tibet really wanted to kill Sima Lang. If it weren't for Zhang Ji's suppression, if they received news that the Yuan and Yang families wanted to assassinate Sima Lang and were willing to take the blame, the Qiang people could really organize fifty archers to beat Sima Lang into a sieve.

"Forget it, let's not talk about him." Zhang Ji waved his hand with a bit of tiredness and said, in this situation, all we can say is that there must be a cause and an effect.

"Let's continue talking about Fu Ward. Fu Ward's behavior here is indeed a bit excessive, so we need to organize a certain number of people to force the Zhangzhung Dynasty. Moreover, I have already instigated several Zhangzhung tribes to rebel. They admire the kingship and will assist us after we attack." Zhang Ji took out the drawn map and pointed to a certain location and said.

"Okay, Governor, you make the arrangements. I will discuss it with those chiefs." Yang Pu looked at the location and thought about the tribe found by Liu Zi who was shepherding. They decided to fight together. They couldn't defeat your Kushans with tens of thousands of elite soldiers led by Fu Ward, and they still couldn't defeat your eighteen hundred people.

"The military force is now relying on you. Remember to select 500 elite soldiers to charge at the front. The armors sent by Chang'an will be worn by those 500 warriors." Zhang Ji said to Yang Pu.

Chen Xi first made a batch of shield armors with defensive etchings and distributed some to various states and counties. On the one hand, it was to test the defensive performance, and on the other hand, it was to determine the working conditions and duration of this thing. The Tibetan area is a high-altitude and oxygen-deficient place, so the working conditions also need to be determined, so 500 pieces were also distributed. For this purpose, Sun Guan was asked to help the people of the Tibetan area select 500 warriors to train as shield guards.

Of course, with the physique of the Qiang people at that time, using them as shield guards would definitely result in a huge defeat, so Chen Xi had to distribute two thousand muscle-building needles and two thousand bone-strengthening needles. Relying on these two things as well as the secret medicine of Tibet, meat, eggs and milk, he managed to gather more than five hundred strong men.

Again, the Shield Guards do have a lot of problems, but their survivability and sense of security are really not comparable to those of ordinary legions.

Yang Pu trotted all the way to inform Lin Dai of the good news, and then Lin Dai summoned the leaders of each tribe without saying a word. It only took half a day for all the leaders to gather.

"Fu Ward crossed our patrol line, arrived in Xinzhou, and assassinated the Han bureaucrats. Which leaders are leading the patrol in the northwest? Stand up!" After everyone arrived, Lin Dai roared at the leaders angrily.

More than thirty chiefs stood up. They were the heads of the villages in the northwest. Of course, there was nothing wrong with calling them village chiefs, because the Han Dynasty basically treated them as village chiefs.

"Do you know how our lives now came about? Touch your clothes and recall the heavy snow last year. Mangzhong, you are the greatest chief of the Qiang people in the northwest. Check your conscience and think about how all of your sons are alive!" Lindai cursed at Mangzhong. Originally, Lindai was optimistic that Mangzhong would replace Zhuzhi as the chief in the northwest, but Zhuzhi and Lindai, Yangpu and other big chiefs went down the mountain to transport supplies, and then Mangzhong happened to do something like this.

"I..." Mangzhong touched his clothes, then recalled the heavy snow last year and the seven or eight children who had survived in the family in recent years. He immediately knelt down and admitted his mistake.

"Do you know why the uncles in Chang'an asked us to be here? We don't ask you to fight bravely. To be honest, except for those 500 warriors, we can't kill the Kushans. But at least if the Kushans run through our territory, someone will be notified! Doctor Liu has been assassinated. Do you know what Doctor Liu does?" Lin Dai cursed at the leaders of his men, and the leaders of his men lowered their heads and said nothing. There was nothing they could do, because what Lin Dai said was right.

"Everyone, you don't think that our life today depends on our efforts!" Lin Dai looked at his chiefs, "Think about ten years ago, think about twenty years ago, damn, have you never experienced it? Why is there no fifty-year-old chief here, don't you know?"

Basically, only the highest-ranking nobles of the Hu people can live to the age of fifty. The bitter cold and heavy snow on the grassland, as well as the overly fierce law of the jungle among the Hu people, make it difficult for a Hu person to live to the age of fifty. As a leader, he has to rely on force to suppress others and avoid being seen as weak by others. It is inevitable that he will be replaced by young people when he is a little older.

The result of being replaced by the Hu people is that your wife will become the wife of the new chief, and if your son is lucky, he will become the son of the new chief, but if you are unlucky, he will follow you down with him.

Therefore, the Hu people did not have a good life, especially in the feudal era when resources were scarce. Even the Han Dynasty could suffer seven or eight out of ten deaths from an epidemic. If the Hu people were to suffer from a plague, a large tribe of tens of thousands of people might be reduced to only a dozen or dozens of people.

Therefore, Lin Dai was very rude when he scolded this group of people, because he didn't want to go back to being the leader of the Qiang people. There was no point in that. He was already over 40 years old. In the past, in a few years, maybe young men like Yang Pu would have chopped off his head and used it as a wine vessel.

But now, with sufficient nutrition from the Han Dynasty, his physical indicators are almost the same as they were ten years ago, and Yang Pu no longer has any thoughts about him because of the improvement in his life. After all, fighting for the position of leader will really result in death, and not just one or two people, but a group of people. Unlike the Han Dynasty, where there is a chance of exile after the fight, the only thing for the Hu people is death!
The scarcity of resources is there, and there is no choice. Sometimes, in order to survive, they have to fight even if they cannot win. So this group of people have no fear of death. Although they want to survive and live long, they feel that the current situation of their tribe's prosperity is enough even if they die.

In this era, people value the continuation of the collective more, because individuals are too small in the torrent of the times, so small that they cannot resist external forces, so small that they cannot live independently. Even the so-called marriage is just to enhance risk resistance.

Therefore, for the Lin Dai people, anyone who dares to disrupt this situation will be wiped out.

Three days later, before Masinde arrived, the Qiang people mobilized 220,000 young and strong men.

My computer crashed this morning and I was almost screwed.