The most beautiful moment in the desert scenery is the sunset.

Wang Wei once wrote a poem, in which the sentence "The desert is lonely and the smoke is straight, and the sun sets on the long river" is a sentence that describes the scenery of the desert.

Sitting on the pile of sand dunes, watching the sunset slowly sink from the desert alone, Gu Qing's heart felt extremely calm.

From the sun turning golden to slowly sinking below the horizon, a seemingly long but short period of time makes people can't help but think of life experiences.

Every regret or pain or joy of life experience, under the reflection of the golden halo of the sunset, seems to be covered with a layer of precious color, and every paragraph is indispensable.

Recently, a question that touched his soul always popped up in Gu Qing's mind.

If God gave him another chance to choose, let him decide whether to stay in Datang or return to the modern era after a thousand years, how would he choose?

The question scared him.

Back to modern times, there are air conditioners, TVs, computers, and all the convenience and comfort brought by high technology to life.

He is still the business elite who leads the team in a certain field, and then he will slowly forget the life he once lived in Datang, and as the years go by, he may also forget Zhang Huaiyu and Zhang Huaijin, so that history will return to the original trajectory, and their lives will also return to the original trajectory, as if he never appeared.

However, can he really let go of the memories and experiences left here?

Datang, this ancient and backward place in his eyes, has a lot more warmth than his previous life, and there are countless people and things that make him feel angry, unconsciously, he has become one with this world and can no longer give up.

is like the hypocritical saying in literature and art, "We can't go back." ”

The sunset had slowly sunk below the horizon, Gu Qing sighed in amazement, got up and walked to the camp.

Han Jie followed behind him, helped him carry a recliner, and said as he walked: "Master Hou, what is there to look at in this round sun, it is better to make a fire and make a sheep to roast and eat at the same time, if you can have a jar of wine, it will be more refreshing......"

Gu Qingtou smiled without looking back: "You live better than me, I don't know why I want to watch the round sun, after reading it, I feel that it is far less interesting than drinking wine and eating meat." ”

Han Jie said with a smile: "Master Hou figured it out, the last general will give you barbecue, and the last general also knows that there are a few bastards who secretly hid a few skinned wines when they went out on the expedition, and the last general will get them for you, so that you can enjoy the days of drinking and eating barbecue." ”

Gu Qing said slowly: "The 'bastard thing' you said also includes me...... You don't have to get any wine, I have it in my tent. ”

Han Jie sneered, and was about to ask the guards to bring the grill, but found that some dense small black spots suddenly appeared in the sand dunes far away from the camp, and there were more and more black spots, about thousands of people.

Gu Qing also saw those black spots, paused in his steps, and said, "The guards just came to report that the defeated and retreating defenders of Khotan are coming, and those people are about to be, right?" ”

Han Jie nodded, and then ordered the guards to ride forward and ask.

Gu Qing glanced at it again and said: "After the Khotanese defenders come, let them assemble outside the big camp, and give an order to all the soldiers of the left guard, not to call them 'defeated army', thousands of defenders against the enemy 30,000, it is reasonable to retreat, they are robes, if the soldiers of the left guard dare to be sarcastic and mocking, they must be severely punished." ”

Han Jie's order.

Half an hour later, the Khotanese defenders lined up outside the camp, and the team was silent, quietly looking at Gu Qing who was standing tall in the front.

Gu Qing was also quietly looking at them.

Everyone in this team seems to have the word "failure" engraved on their faces, everyone is untidy, some people have empty hands, and they are so panicked that they even lose their weapons when they retreat, and there is an indescribable depression in the silence of the team, if the "morale" thing can be expressed in numerical terms, then the morale value of this team has probably become a negative number.

The only advantage is probably that there are fewer wounded, most of them are some minor injuries, this is also very reasonable, when the war is defeated and retreated, it is difficult for the seriously injured people to escape, most of them have died in the city of Khotan, and the remaining ones who have been slightly injured do not affect their escape, and it is not easy to assemble again.

Slowly looking around, Gu Qing asked loudly, "Is the formation of the team still complete?" Is there a leader in the general? ”

A general with scattered scales and armor came out, hugged his fists and said: "The last general, Shen Tian, is the captain of Guoyi of the garrison of Khotan Town, with ten regiments under his command, and is currently the highest-ranking general in the Khotanese army. The rest of the generals fled in different directions when they were defeated, and their whereabouts are currently unknown. ”

Gu Qing nodded and squinted at Shen Tian.

Shen Tian was about thirty years old, he looked quite steady, burly, holding a horizontal knife in his hand, the blade of the blade was covered with blood, obviously after a fierce fight to the death, the scabbard was also lost, and the armor on his body was missing a few parts, looking very embarrassed.

The strange thing is that Shen Tian's eyes are still very clear, there is no depression on his face, and there is not too much frustration, and there seems to be a flame brewing in his calm gaze, which will burst out at any time.

He had just experienced defeat, but the general's blood was not cold.

Gu Qing smiled and said, "I am the deputy envoy of Anxi Jiedu, Hou Gu Qing of Qingcheng County, and I am fortunate to meet General Shen." "Yunnan

Shen Tian bowed and saluted back: "The last general has heard of Gu Houye's name, and the general of the defeated army will ask Hou Ye for guilt." ”

Gu Qing shook his head: "Don't call yourself 'the general of the defeated army', don't take it to heart about the gains and losses for a while, the defenders of Khotan are only 8,000, and the enemy has 30,000, and it is a surprise attack at night, and a small defeat is also reasonable, not to mention that you also brought back most of the defenders, which is already rare." ”

"General Shen, I thank you on behalf of the parents of these living athletes, it was you who brought them out of the ghost gate, thousands of parents in the gate saved the pain of losing their children, you are a hero."

Shen Tian, who had been scarred by defeat, calmly and calmly collected the defeated army along the way, planned the route and joined the main force of the Anxi army, and experienced so many painful and tragic things that he couldn't be moved, but at this moment, he was moved by Gu Qing's words and almost shed tears.

With red eyes, trying to calm down his emotions, Shen Tian said: "The last general lost Khotan Town, but the last general is not convinced, after my Khotanese army rests and supplies, the last general will finally let the Tubo thieves know that my Tang Anxi Iron Army is not in vain!" ”

Saying that, Shen Tian suddenly stood up straight, turned to face the five thousand defeated soldiers, and roared with a hideous face: "From today on, give me good food and sleep, and recuperate well!" In Khotan, we will take it back with our own hands! ”

With a bang, it seemed to ignite a pile of woody pyres that had been dry for a long time, and the team exploded in an instant, Gu Qing could clearly feel that a fierce morale was slowly condensing and forming, from depression to passion, almost in the blink of an eye, the spirit of the whole team was completely different.

"Retake Khotanese with your own hands!"

"Sleep on the skin of a Tibetan thief! Eat the meat of the Tibetan thief! ”

"Revenge! Avenge the robes that died in battle! ”

Gu Qing's heart was agitated, and a satisfied smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

This defeated army, available!

"General Shen, from today onwards, you Khotanese defenders will be included in my Left Guard battalion, and I will personally control it, and you and I will be brothers in Pao Ze in the future, the Left Guard soldiers have built barracks for you, since your establishment has been chaotic, then rebuild them all, redivide these soldiers into regiments, battalions, brigades, and Shi, and leave this matter to you, and give me a list when the time comes."

Shen Tian clenched his fists and took his life.

Gu Qing said again: "Now you go back to the barracks and settle down, the hot food will be sent to you immediately, you will eat and drink well, recuperate your injuries, there will be a war soon, I hope your performance will not disappoint me." ”

Shen Tian said heavily: "The last general swears that we will never retreat again, and if we retreat, we will have no shame to see the parents and elders in Guanzhong, and our parents and relatives will be ashamed of us!" ”

The 5,000 soldiers raised their right hands in unison and shouted, "Never retreat!" Never go back! ”

Next, 5,000 soldiers lined up in an orderly manner into the camp, and in the open space in the camp, countless left guard soldiers quietly lined up to watch them, and the two sides stood still, staring at each other.

For a long time, Chang Zhong, led by the Left Guard soldiers, suddenly clasped his fists and saluted the five thousand defeated troops, and the Left Guard soldiers behind him also saluted them silently.

Shen Tian returned the salute awe-inspiringly, and the five thousand soldiers bowed down and clenched their fists, and the two strange armies stared at each other.

The eyes met, and it was already a robe.

…………

Back to the handsome tent, Han Jie was still amazed.

"Hou Ye, the last general has always thought that this defeated army is no longer usable, but I didn't expect the morale to be so excited, look at their spirit, like a newborn tiger calf as vigorous, Hou Ye said that this defeated army is really a wise opinion, the last general will obey."

Gu Qing also smiled, his face full of relief.

"They...... What is needed most is a victory, and I will give them a victory. ”

At night, a rapid sound of horses' hooves came from the gate of Dayingyuan, and it didn't take long for Han Jie to wake up Gu Qing who was sleeping.

"Master Hou, Wang Gui, they are back, and they have a major military report!"

The oil lamp was lit in the tent, and Wang Gui stood in front of Gu Qing with his waist bowed, describing in detail the military situation that Qiuzi Town had heard.

The more Gu Qing listened, the more serious his face became, and without saying a word, he took the map and crunched down on the map to find the city and route.

"The Tibetan merchants bought and sold grain and grass to the Tubo army stationed in Tuyuhun? Tugu Hun ......" Gu Qing muttered to himself, his fingers slowly moving on the map.

Immediately, Gu Qing frowned and said in a low voice: "Tugu Hun ...... The junction with the Tang Dynasty is the two major Jiedu envoys of Hexi and Longyou, the main force of the Tubo thieves will have a big move, their real intention is the garrison of these two major jiedu envoys, the 30,000 Tubo troops faced by the Anxi and Beiting Jiedu envoys, just to contain our troops, not to let us reinforce Hexi and Longyou, so they entered the desert, led our noses in circles, so that we did not dare to move......"

Wang Gui on the side said softly: "Master Hou, the female shopkeeper of the inn seems to have said the same, she said that what Tubo really wants to attack is the border in the direction of Tuyuhun......"

Gu Qing was stunned: "What female shopkeeper?" What does this have to do with the female shopkeeper? ”