A day later, Liu Wei and his party entered Yumen Pass, arrived in Dunhuang, prepared to rest, and then chose a route to bypass Jiuquan and go to Juyan.

When they arrived, Lü Bu had already entered Jiuquan with 20,000 troops and occupied many county towns.

Liu Wei was anxious to return to Hetao, worried about encountering Lü Bu's troops, so he wanted to find out the situation before making any plans.

Xue Xiantu, a general under Xue Rengui who commanded a thousand white-robed cavalrymen stationed in Dunhuang, has now been transferred to the Western Regions and placed under the jurisdiction of Xue Rengui's Protectorate of the Western Regions.

Instead, Li Er, a general under Di Qing, led 3,000 troops, including 1,000 cavalry.

This force was the same one that had followed Di Qing in defeating the Xianbei at Juyan Lake using the fire ox formation.

After Di Qing was promoted to Lieutenant General, the troops he commanded were named the Blackwater Army.

The number of soldiers has been expanded to 10,000, plus the 1,000 Mo Dao battalion and 20 triple crossbows of Li Siye stationed in Zhangye.

And Geng Chun's three thousand men.

Di Qing's troops were second only to Xue Rengui's forces under Liu Wei in terms of fighting prowess.

Xue Rengui's Xuanjia Army and White Robe Army cavalry, along with auxiliary troops, numbered over ten thousand.

In addition, Liu Wei now has Yao Guangxiao's 3,000-strong battalion, Zhang Liao's 5,000-strong spear battalion, Zhang Xun's 5,000-strong sword and shield battalion, Li Su's 5,000-strong archer battalion, and Liu Du's Pugu Huaiyu's Doyan Three Guards.

These soldiers totaled 21,000 men.

Liu Wei's main combat force now numbers 43,000!

Although their numbers are small, their combat power is the strongest.

If these 43,000 men were to form a large army, not only would the surrounding foreign tribes be uneasy, but even the Han Dynasty court in Luoyang would likely be restless.

At this time, Di Qing learned that Liu Wei had traveled through Hexi back to Hetao and had arrived in Dunhuang. He hurriedly sent someone to report the military situation in Zhangye.

It turned out that during the days when Liu Wei and Xue Rengui went to Loulan one after another, Ding Yuan, the governor of Liangzhou, learned of the situation and immediately rushed from Wuwei to Zhangye.

However, seeing the Qiang cavalry suffer such a crushing defeat, Marshal Yueji refused to fight again, and Ma Teng became even more timid and hesitant.

While Liu Wei was in the Hetao region, he shamelessly seized Juyan Lake and the three counties of Hexi while the Yuchi Xianbei were invading the south.

Even if he is a prince, does that mean he can so brazenly poach other governors' talents?

Not only that, they also laid an ambush at the Shandan River in advance, killing more than 20,000 of Ding Yuan's troops, and then slaughtered only 5,000 of the 20,000 Qiang troops who came to help.

Ding Yuan was furious and personally led his troops to the walls of Zhangye. At the same time, he contacted Lü Bu to prepare for a two-pronged attack on Zhangye.

However, under Di Qing's command, he used his familiar three-bow crossbow to its fullest potential, nearly shooting Ding Yuan off his horse from a thousand paces away.

Ding Yuan was greatly alarmed and immediately abandoned the attack. He recalled Lü Bu from Jiuquan and left Ma Teng and his son to defend the line from Helishan to Shandan River.

If this brave and unparalleled adopted son were to die from those deadly crossbow bolts that could kill from a thousand paces away, he would lose an arm.

This greatly frustrated Lü Bu, who had already captured several counties in Jiuquan, but he had no choice but to obey Ding Yuan's order and lead Han Sui and 20,000 troops to withdraw from Jiuquan.

From this perspective, Ding Yuan had decided to abandon the three prefectures of Hexi and the Western Regions.

His current situation is the same as Dong Zhuo's; the three counties of Hetao, which originally belonged to Bingzhou, have also become Liu Wei's territory.

Ding Yuan led 70,000 troops on this mission, but only 35,000 returned, a loss of half his men.

Through this battle, Ding Yuan also eliminated the weak and eliminated the strong among the rebels.

The troops that remained were even more powerful in battle.

However, what Lü Bu couldn't forget about this trip was the white-robed general under Liu Wei, who also wielded a halberd.

As Lü Bu led his 20,000 troops to retreat slowly from not far outside Zhangye City, he recalled his duel with Xue Rengui at the foot of Heli Mountain.

"We'll meet again! I hope you'll have made progress when we meet again!"

Lu Bu gazed intently at the distant Heli Mountain, muttering to himself.

Liu Wei, who was in Dunhuang, was overjoyed upon hearing Di Qing's report and immediately set off that very night, returning to the Hetao region via Juyan Lake.

"The three commanderies of Hexi and Juyan Lake are now entrusted to the Han ministers!"

"You and Rengui will manage the western frontier for me."

Liu Wei left Di Qing with this explanation.

When he learned from the Northwest Division of the Embroidered Uniform Guard that Ding Yuan had left Ma Teng and his son to defend the Shandan River and confront Di Qing, he sent someone to relay this message to Di Qing:

"Ma Teng is highly respected among the Qiang people. He has a son named Ma Chao, who will be the bravest warrior in the army when he comes of age. Keep a close eye on him!"

"If we have the opportunity to capture them, father and son, it will be a great achievement for the Han minister."

After receiving Liu Wei's message, Di Qing memorized the names Ma Teng and Ma Chao.

......

I will not elaborate on the events of the three prefectures in Hexi.

Ten days later, Liu Wei and his party returned to Wuyuan City from Jiming Pass in Shuofang, weary from their journey.

This trip to Hexi and the Western Regions took another month.

The population in Liu Wei's system has accumulated to 16 million!

During this period, apart from exchanging some emergency supplies for food and supplies to the Peacock River Production and Construction Corps, there were no major expenditures.

Looking at the impressive figure of four people per second, Liu Wei was also full of confidence.

These are the reasons for my confidence in returning to Beijing.

Moreover, his green-quality generals, yellow-quality weapons and equipment, and green-quality troops are already enough for him to dominate the world.

Empress He, I, Liu Wei, am coming back! Are you ready to scream and cheer?

Upon returning to their encampment outside Wuyuan City, Yao Guangxiao, Cai Yong, Cai Yan, Wei Ji, Yang Yi, and others had already come to greet them from five miles away.

"Congratulations, my lord, on acquiring the three prefectures of Hexi! The entire Western Regions will soon be yours!"

This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!