The ninth son of the emperor was demoted at the beginning. I have a famous Chinese general.

"promise!"

Huo Qubing took the order.

"General Guan, you can't rest either. Although there hasn't been any movement from the Anxi side in the Battle of Changhe, we still have to be on guard."

"You must also lead your troops back and continue to monitor the movements of the Anxi Army."

Ning Quan looked at Guan Yu again and said.

"promise!"

Guan Yu clasped his fists.

"Okay, go ahead. Let's set off together tomorrow morning." Ning Quan waved his hand.

"I will retire at the end!"

Huo Qubing and Guan Yu bowed again and left.

"Your Majesty, the Xiongnu issue has been resolved. Next is Anxi?"

"But should we start right away, or should we take a break?"

After Huo Qubing and the other two left, Zhuge Liang said to Ning Quan.

"It's not realistic to start right away. We should take a break and wait a month before starting!"

After thinking for a moment, Ning Quan said.

"I agree with your Highness. Our army has been fighting continuously and should indeed take a good rest."

Li Jing echoed.

"Well, that's settled then. Take a month off."

"It's a good opportunity to make more preparations during this time." Ning Quan said finally.

"Yes," everyone nodded.

…… ...

Anxi Protectorate.

In the study room.

Fang Xiaolian sat in the first seat, with two people standing beside him, one was Fang Shijie and the other was Li Xin.

Li Xin has married Fang Xiaolian's daughter and is now Fang Xiaolian's official son-in-law.

"Father, this is the urgent news from Hulan that we just received."

"The Xiongnu were defeated in Hulan, their entire army was annihilated, and Huhanye was killed in battle."

Fang Shijie handed Fang Xiaolian an urgent letter and said with a serious expression.

"what?"

"Defeated so quickly?"

Fang Xiaolian said in horror.

"Yes, I lost."

Fang Shijie smiled bitterly.

Fang Xiaolian said nothing more and quickly opened the urgent letter to check.

"Hey, I didn't expect that."

"I never thought that His Highness the Ninth Prince would develop to such an extent, defeating both the Arabs and the Xiongnu at the same time. What kind of strength does that mean?"

After reading it, Fang Xiaolian took a deep breath.

"Shijie, after His Majesty the Ninth Prince defeated the Arabs and the Xiongnu, what do you think he will do next?"

After a moment of silence, Fang Xiaolian suddenly asked

"This...I don't know." Fang Shijie hesitated.

"I don't know?"

"Don't you think that the Ninth Prince's next target will be us?" Fang Xiaolian immediately scolded.

"Father is saying that he will attack Anxi?"

"That's unlikely. We in Anxi are not the Arabs."

"We have a hundred thousand strong troops, all of them elite frontier troops. How dare he do that?"

Fang Shijie widened his eyes in disbelief.

"Huh, really stupid?"

"What is he afraid of? Why isn't he afraid?"

"He came to Hulan single-handedly, and in just over a year, he defeated the Xiongnu twice, defeated the Arabs once, and even took over Beiting. Is there anything a man like him wouldn't dare to do?"

Fang Xiaolian said coldly.

"Father taught me what I wanted, and I understand."

"Then what should we do next? Should we make some preparations in advance?" Fang Shijie asked tentatively.

"Of course we have to prepare, is there any doubt about that?"

"Immediately convene a meeting of civil and military officials to discuss countermeasures."

"Yes!" Fang Shijie replied.

Soon, all the generals of Anxi Protectorate gathered in the conference hall.

.........

Hulan.

The next morning, Huo Qubing led 30,000 cavalrymen to the Western Xiongnu royal court.

Guan Yu also led his army to garrison at the Anxi border.

After the two left, Ning Quan immediately arranged for the soldiers to rest and wait for a month to send troops to Anxi.

Another thing was to deal with prisoners. After two battles, Ning Quan captured 50,000 Arab soldiers and 40,000 Xiongnu soldiers, a total of 90,000 prisoners.

The Arab captives were easy to deal with, and Ning Quan had already made plans for this.

The reason he let Hassan escape was so that Hassan could return and then pay money to redeem the captives.

Ning Quan is very short of money now. If he gets a large ransom, it will greatly relieve the pressure.

He was not afraid that Hassan would not redeem the captives. The 120,000 Arab troops that Hassan dispatched this time were the entire force of his eastern province.

If these captives were not redeemed, it would be questionable whether Hassan could keep the eastern provinces.

Another purpose of letting Hassan go was also from a strategic perspective.

Hassan lost this battle and his strength was greatly reduced. It is basically unlikely that he will pose a threat to Beiting again, so Beiting is safe.

If Hassan was killed, the Arabs would definitely appoint a new governor.

If that is the case, Beiting will inevitably face new threats.

Therefore, a half-disabled Hassan is more in line with the interests of Beiting.

But the Xiongnu prisoners of war were not so easy to deal with. Most of these captured Xiongnu soldiers were from the Huhanye tribe and were extremely loyal to him.

It is basically impossible to make them surrender or use them for one's own purposes unless the Western Xiongnu are completely destroyed or surrender.

After much deliberation, Ning Quan sent them all to build a new city.

It just so happens that we need manpower to build a new city. As for how to deal with it in the future, we will deal with it later.

In addition, Ningquan also has to appease the people, actively carry out disaster relief, and help the people resist the drought.

Of course, Ning Quan doesn't have to do these specific things himself. Zhuge Liang, Changsun Wuji and others will handle them. Ning Quan just needs to arrange them.

After finishing all this, Ning Quan finally had time to accompany Aruna.

But even if she had time, Aruna could not stay for a few days and would have to return to Loulan soon.

Since Aruna was due to give birth in less than two months, they had to return early.

Otherwise, once she gave birth in Hulun, she would not be able to go back for at least half a year.

Aruna is the Queen of Loulan. It is okay for her to be away from the country for a short period of time, but it is definitely not okay for her to stay away from home for a long time.

……

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, another half month has passed.

The time came when Aruna had to leave.

Early that morning, Ning Quan brought everyone to see them off in person.

"Husband, Aruna is leaving, please take care of yourself." Aruna said softly with red eyes.

"Don't worry, I will take good care of myself."

"You should also take care of yourself and eat on time."

Ning Quan instructed.

"Yes, I understand." Aruna nodded.

"Sister, Aruna is gone,"

"You must take good care of your husband."

Aruna then took Li Wanyue's hand and said with a smile.

"Don't worry, sister. I will."

"Don't be sad, my husband said we would go to Loulan to see you in the next six months."

Li Wanyue comforted.

"Ah."

Aruna smiled and nodded, reluctantly letting go of Li Wanyue's hand.

"Husband, I'm leaving."

Aruna turned to Ning Quan and said,

"Well, your husband will miss you."

Ning Quan said gently.

Aruna nodded slightly and boarded the carriage.

After a while, the convoy slowly left.

"Ugh."

Looking at the convoy going away, Ning Quan sighed.

Although he and Aruna had only been together for a short time, they had already developed a deep affection for each other.

And he also liked this gentle, virtuous, beautiful and generous woman.

It’s a pity that she is the Queen of Loulan and has her own responsibilities, so she can’t always be by his side.