Recently, Gongsun Yang has been muttering in his heart: he still cannot guess the ruler’s mind even though he had stayed at his side for many years.

Initially, they planned to go to Jinyang at the beginning of the spring. Suddenly he said he wanted to leave just after the Lantern Festival.

Gongsun Yang naturally had no objection.

As soon as the Marquis gave the word, the subordinates immediately ran out of legs and ordered the army. Those who went with the Marquis waved goodbye to their wives and children, waiting for their departure.

Everything was ready, but after he returned from Wuzhong City, he suddenly stopped talking about going to Jinyang.

Instead, he came to the government office after dawn every day, not leaving unless it was dark.

It was just the beginning of the year, so there was not much to do.

There was a customary tradition of not deploying troops at the beginning of the year since ancient times, so after the first day of the year, there were not many important things in the government office, which required the ruler to be tied up personally behind the paperwork.

Gongsun Yang did not understand.

Because the subordinates were waiting for the ruler’s decision, Gongsun Yang asked him.

At that time, the ruler said that it was to appreciate the soldiers and was rare to enjoy the New Year holiday, so he temporarily changed his mind and let everyone have some more leisure time. All the subordinates gave cheer and gratitude.

Gongsun Yang was instinctively unconvinced, but he could see one thing, the ruler did not want to leave yet.

So he also does not urge him.

But this time, he needed to rush him because something had happened.

Three days ago, Zhang Jian and Li Chong’s side sent a report saying that the Shao Dang tribe of Qiang in Longxi rebelled and attacked the area of Shang County. Fortunately, they were able to be suppressed. Zhang Jian and Li Chong requested the Marquis to go there as soon as possible to decide the next step.

Last night, another urgent report came from Bingzhou, which was now in Gongsun Yang’s hands.

Although he was still waiting for the Marquis to open the letter, he guessed it should be a follow-up to the chaos in Shang County.

Gongsun Yang had already waited for the Marquis all morning, but he was late today.

Gongsun Yang waited until his neck was almost straight and was about to send someone to the Wei Manor to deliver a message when he finally saw the Marquis coming, so he hurriedly handed over the letter and asked a question in passing.

Wei Shao opened the letter, glanced at it, and handed it to Gongsun Yang.Zhang Jian reported he suspected Feng Zhao, the ruler of Liangzhou, had secretly instigated the Shao Dang tribe of Qiang to commit crimes and requested the Marquis to come quickly.

Shao Dang tribe was one of the most dominant Qiang tribes in the west. Like the Xiongnu, they lived on animal resources at first and then gradually integrated with the Han and became farmers. In the eyes of the Han people, the Qiang were ‘horrible and inhumane.’ More than ten years ago, the Qiang tribe, with hundreds of thousands of people, had surrendered to the Han Dynasty but was later ruled by Chen Xiang ruthlessly. Chen Xiang treated the Qiang tribe as an animal. Not only did he make the Qiang pay tribute to himself, but he also took the men into slavery and the women into prostitution. The new leader of the Qiang, Diao Mo, was displeased by this and rebelled again, taking over Xihe County for a while.

Last year when Chen Xiang lost Bingzhou, Wei Shao tried to placate Diao Mo. But Diao Mo did not respond, only retreating to the Qiang Land.

Wei Shao was in a hurry to go back to Youzhou, and when he saw that the border was peaceful, he put things aside for a while and rushed back.

The year had just started, and the Qiang people attacked Shang County again. Furthermore, it also involved Feng Zhao, the ruler of Liangzhou.

“What is your decision, my lord?” Gongsun Yang asked.

To stabilize Western Liang, recruit the Qiang tribe, and eliminate any future problems for his journey to conquer the south, was the military purpose of Wei Shao to go to Jinyang at the beginning of the year. Gongsun Yang was naturally clear of these.

Wei Shao frowned and said, “I’ll leave tomorrow morning! The army will leave at a normal pace three days later.”

……

Wei Shao came back from the government office just before noon.

He usually rarely returned home at this hour. Therefore, the servants in the West House were surprised and served dinner for the Marquis.

But Xiao Qiao had not returned yet.

Wei Shao was somewhat distracted and did not even eat. He rode his horse out of the city and went to the Taishe Temple.