The goose feather snow kept falling, and the sky and the earth were white.

The team of more than 3,000 people, on the endless snowy field, was as thin as a swarm of ants. Wherever the team passed, Yukino was trampled by the horse's hooves in a striking black line, and the heat lingered. However, soon the heat was blown away by the cold wind, and the black line was reburied by the snow, and there was no trace between heaven and earth, as if they had never come.

With such a heavy snowfall, Zhang Qian doesn't have to worry about getting lost. Not because of his skill as a guide, but because of the simplicity of the road. It was the passage that the merchants trodden out with the soles of their camels, always along the banks of the river. Even though the river is frozen and covered in snow. The difference between the river and the surrounding terrain is still very clear.

He didn't have to worry about the cold weather, last night Luo Huaizu forced Guo Yuanzhen's secretary Xun Yingda to take out enough tents and winter clothes. And it is common knowledge that the snow does not turn cold into snow in the Western Regions.

He didn't even need to worry about enemy attacks along the way, and according to Sha and the other captured Turgish generals, in order to take the Qiuzi in one fell swoop, Suog had almost emptied ten of the Turgish. Therefore, there were only two suspicious armies in the western and southern directions. With the capture of the cover himself, the suspicious army on the West Road collapsed without a fight. The 350-mile road from Shule to Gushi Mountain can be said to be unimpeded. (Note: Lonely Rock Mountain, a fortress in the Western Regions at that time.) stuck on the north bank of the Kashgar River)

What Zhang Qian needs to worry about the most is that Guo Yuanzhen changed his hexagram, risked the life of his son Guo Hong, and led all the remaining horses in Shule City to chase and kill. In that case, the 3,000 soldiers who had just been borrowed would definitely disperse in a hurry. With only more than 200 brothers and more than 10,000 Jinshan troops in the field, Zhang Qian's side had no hope of victory.

Fortunately, according to the news that kept coming from the scouts, Guo Yuanzhen did not send troops to chase after him. Zhang Qian did not dare to be careless, with a break every 20 miles, a speed of 80 miles a day, rushed for three days in a row, and on the morning of the fourth day, he found that he had already walked out of the range of falling snow, so he lowered the marching distance of the day, and only walked 60 miles, so he ordered to set up camp. (Note: According to the data of the horse farm test, under the condition that the feed can keep up, the war horse carries a weight of 120 kilograms and walks 120 kilometers a day, which can last for more than a week.) Forty kilometers a day, it will be very easy. ）

The most important thing in the Western Regions is horses, so the soldiers all rely on their mounts to travel all the way, and they are not very tired. However, the morale of the entire team is infinitely close to zero. Especially when the soldiers of the Jinshan Army learned that they were forcibly "borrowed" from General Manager Guo by Zhang Changshi by means of armed hijacking, and were about to go to fight with Suo Ge, they had no fighting spirit.

If it weren't for Zhang Qian's preemptive step and replaced the general captain, brigade rate and team leader of the team with his own cronies, and after the individual left the team, it would be easy to become the target of the wolves, and when he stopped the team to camp on the first day, there might be deserters. Even so, when the team set up camp for the fourth time to rest, it was on the verge of collapse.

"The surnamed Xun secretly installed Guo Yuanzhen's henchmen in the team, and he has been agitating for mutiny in the past few days!" Wang Zhihuan was careful and quietly arranged for the brothers to visit, and soon found the crux of the problem.

"I should have slaughtered the one surnamed Guo and replaced him!" Luo Huaizu gritted his teeth in anger, but the horizontal knife in his hand could not find the target of chopping, so he could only swing it towards the air. "That guy is not a good bird at all, you only see that when he leaves Ganliang, the people of all ethnic groups send him off. But when I passed by Ganzhou with Ziyu and Ji Ling, I didn't hear a good word from a Han person. ”

"There are many Han people in Ganliang, so they will take some more food and money out of the hands of the Han people to please other ethnic groups. Of course, the chiefs of all the tribes praised him! Wang Han sighed and nodded beside him to confirm.

Immediately, he quickly reversed his tone, "However, it is right to use Zhao not to kill Guo Yuanzhen." After all, someone has to guard Shule. And if you kill him, the morale of the army will inevitably be in chaos. The big cannibal got the news and will definitely take the opportunity to attack next spring! ”

"Kill him, and we'll really be a rebellion. If you don't get it right, the imperial court will order Niu Shi Award, Zhou Yiyi and Suo Ge to give up their previous suspicions and join forces to 'quell the rebellion'! Wang Zhilian smiled bitterly and sighed faintly beside him.

"If you don't kill him, if he makes a false accusation, and Princess Taiping reverses black and white, we can't get it right, and we have to be treated as a rebel!" Luo Huaizu was not convinced, so he just said the worst.

According to his opinion, it is the pleasure to kill the generals and capture the army. At present, Zhang Qian's choice, but he did not grasp enough soldiers and horses, and did not get rid of Guo Yuanzhen's threat, it is really the next strategy among the next strategies.

"If we win, he won't make false accusations, but will take the initiative to cover up the kidnapping of him with Zhao!" Wang Han glanced at him and shook his head dejectedly, "After all, it is a great achievement to exterminate Suoge. And Yong Zhao has just made a great contribution, even if he sues, the court will not investigate deeply. If we lose, or if we have a draw with Suo Ge, it's hard to say! Alas—"

In the end, the smile on his face was obviously bitter, and his voice was also full of helplessness.

When he left Chang'an, he and Wang Zhihuan thought that since they had already left their names in the annals of history by participating in the compilation of the "Dictionary". Next, you might as well follow Ban Dingyuan's pen from Rong and follow Zhang Qian to do some hot-blooded men's things. Unexpectedly, after coming to the Western Regions, they were shocked to find that the enemy they needed to face was not just Suo Ge!

If Guo Yuanzhen and Zhou Yiyi could work together at the beginning, even if Suo Ge had the support of the Turks, he would not be able to make any waves. If Guo Yuanzhen had been able to send troops in time more than a month ago, take Gushi Mountain, and coerce Gumo, Suo Ge would not have had the courage to risk being attacked by the enemy on his back. If it weren't for the secret instruction of someone in the imperial court, Guo Yuanzhen would not dare to set up a Hongmen banquet to deal with the marching history of the Anxi army. If Guo Yuanzhen hadn't been around him, if there was no one who had secretly communicated with Suo Ge, everyone would not have been intercepted and killed by the heavy soldiers on the way to Shule!

If......

Open guns are easy to dodge, but hidden arrows are difficult to defend. While dealing with the enemy army in front, you have to beware of your own people attacking behind the back, how can people not feel cold? With Wang Han's temperament, if it weren't for the friendship between him and Zhang Qian, he would have gone away a long time ago. He is neither short of money nor fame now, and there is no need to toss in the troubled waters of the Western Regions. The point is that no matter how much you toss, the court may not think about the benefits of everyone.

However, whenever he saw Zhang Qian's always upright body, he had a stronger desire to tell him that he should stay. Not to gain fame, not to seal a wife and a son, but to witness the birth of the next miracle.

Zhang Qian is a person who can create miracles, and he has witnessed it more than once in Wang Han's past interactions with Zhang Qian. Every time, it makes his blood boil. The feeling of almost burning blood was so intoxicating that it far surpassed all previous adventures, including brandishing horizontal knives in the border army and charging with the soldiers.

Today, in addition to his helplessness and frustration, he is also looking forward to a miracle. And Zhang Qian did not live up to his expectations. Just frowning and groaning slightly, there was an immediate solution.

"Ruosi, you go and inform the captains of the leading troops, and after feeding, take the brothers under your command to the Chinese army in turn to receive the money. 400 wen per person is counted as the military salary for these four days. "Nodding to the side of the pro-soldier captain Guo Jing, Zhang Qian ordered with a smile." By the way, let the captains of each leading army tell their brothers that they will send 100 articles one day after following Zhang. It will be issued once every five days, and it will never be in arrears. When encountering an enemy army and breaking it, the Japanese salary of the combatants will be doubled. Annihilation or capture of their commander, and double the number of combatants. Breaking the city, the same as capturing the enemy commander! ”

"Hiss-" Rao was born in the Taiyuan Wang family, and Wang Han was also shocked by Zhang Qian's generosity, and gasped.

Three thousand two hundred and fifty sixty soldiers, although the number sounds small. But one hundred wen per person per day is more than three hundred and twenty hangs. In such a month, even if he didn't fight, Zhang Qian would have to pay nearly 10,000 hangs. In a year, it is 120,000 hangs, and even if there is a mountain of gold at home, I am afraid it will not be enough for him to spoil it.

"Yongzhao, this is different from the manuscript you gave me!" Luo Huaizu was also taken aback, and instinctively reminded on the side.

Zhang Qian gave him the manuscript, which he has always regarded as a treasure. As long as he has free time, he will take it out and read it, and even copy the subtle passages by hand. Although I always feel that the things given by Zhang Qian are incomplete, some places have obviously been cut off, and some places have obviously been misinterpreted. But he still felt that many of the ideas in the manuscript could be used as a guideline.

"Don't worry, how much I spend today, I will take back from Suo Ge in the future, and I will never lose money!" Zhang Qian smiled and nodded at Wang Han, his young face full of confidence. Immediately, he turned his gaze to Luo Huaizu and added in a low voice, "In the manuscript I gave you, there is an important point, that is, you can't read from the script. Well, it should be the eighth, no, it's the seventh, don't believe you go to the page yourself. ”

"Huh?" Luo Huaizu frowned, his brows furrowed, and his face was full of suspicion. However, soon, his face began to turn red, and he gave up his hand at Zhang Qian.

He didn't come to the Western Regions for Zhang Qian. At least according to his own words. He never owed Zhang Qian anything, but Zhang Qian owed him a lot of favors to repay. The reason why he came thousands of miles away was because he was worried that the Mo family would break the inheritance.

Also according to his own statement, although Qin Mo and Qi Mo have been independent of each other for many years, the knowledge that Zhang Qian has belongs to the entire Mo family. In particular, the nameless manuscript given to him by Zhang Qian was worth far more than black powder and alcohol! And the manuscript is definitely not only the volume that Zhang Qian has already taken out, there must be a follow-up.

Although, Qin Mo could not have only one disciple, Zhang Qian. But so far, Luo Huaizu has only seen Zhang Qian, the inheritance of Qin Mo. Therefore, before Zhang Qian copied the other volumes of the manuscript by dictation, he could not let Zhang Qian die under any circumstances. Otherwise, he, Luo Huaizu, would be the sinner of the entire Mo family.

However, the task he set for himself was not ordinary. Next, Zhang Qian's decision made him jump to his feet in a hurry.

"Ruosi, go and give orders, and by the way, let the lieutenants inform the brothers that they will arrive at the foot of the Lonely Rock Mountain tomorrow and attack the mountain immediately. At that time, the regiments will only need to watch from the foot of the mountain. In the first battle, Ben Changshi took his own soldiers to fight! Glancing at Guo Jing, who was stunned, with a smile, Zhang Qian commanded softly, as if he was not talking about a battle, but a polo game.

"Wait, Yongzhao, you're crazy!" Without waiting for Guo Jing to respond, Luo Huaizu had already shouted, "In the lonely stone village, although there are only 500 people stationed in the lonely stone village, it is an earthen fort after all. If you choose to attack, you will have to at least triple the strength of the defenders......"

"Uncle Shi, believe me!" Zhang Qian winked at him and interrupted in a low voice. Immediately, he waved his hand at Guo Jing again, "Pass the order!" By the way, if there are brothers in each regiment who are willing to take the initiative to participate in the battle tomorrow, they can also sign up with their respective captains. ”

"Yes!" Guo Jing has always been full of confidence in his young eunuch, and after giving up his order, he turned around and ran away.

"Uncle Shi, Ziyu, Ji Ling, the three of you come here." Zhang Qian thought about it, took out a damp white paper from the temporary bookcase, and sketched with charcoal with a smile, "The fortress on the lonely stone mountain is built of rammed earth, the height of the city wall is only two zhang two, and the defenders inside are not Suo Ge lineage, the morale is not high, and in the case of the number of people far less than our army, the desperate heart may not be strong." So ......"

Fighting, he is actually a layman.

Leading soldiers, he is also a layman.

But, fortunately, there are ready-made examples of the difficulties he has encountered in his memory.

In another time and space, the army of kings who were regarded as the children of the people, he couldn't learn from himself. However, taking a few steps back, Zeng Guofan's experience in forming the Hunan army, he can draw a scoop from the gourd.

Back then, Zeng Guofan didn't know the art of war, but with a generous military salary, he was stunned to form a Hunan army. And the money of the Hunan army never came from Zeng Guofan's own pocket.

This trick cannot be used in the Central Plains, but in the Western Regions, in the face of a mad dog-like sagger, Zhang Qian did not have the slightest ideological burden when he performed it.

And if you want to build an elite team that wins all battles, it is far from enough to have a generous military salary. Under the circumstance that he could not copy the original version of the ideology and soul of the modern army, Zhang Qian could only continue to take a few steps back and rely on continuous victories to establish the cohesion and confidence of the army under his command.

Therefore, in the battle tomorrow, he can only bring his own soldiers and those who are willing to participate. And, it is necessary to win cleanly. Fortunately, the enemy army was small in number and knew almost nothing about him!

Facts have proved that in the feudal era, Zeng Guofan's method was simply the right medicine. When Zhang Qian worked tirelessly, he personally handed out the four hundred dollars to the brothers one by one. Throughout the camp, the whining and cries of bitterness immediately disappeared without a trace. Some people even secretly found Ren Wu, Ren Liu, Guo Chu and other new captains, and pointed out the hidden piles that Guo Yuanzhen left in the team one by one.

It's no wonder that these people are shallow-eyed, and they were bought for a few hundred dollars. Guo Yuanzhen is a standard scholar, who treats the generals around him very kindly, but rarely cares about the life and death of ordinary soldiers. In this era, the government military system only exempted the families of military servicers from taxes and labor, but did not pay any military salaries. Therefore, in the eyes of the rich, a mere 400 wen is already a windfall from the sky in the eyes of the bitter soldiers.

And the military tun that Guo Yuanzhen has always been proud of has only fattened the generals and the official treasury of Shule City, and for ordinary soldiers, it is equivalent to being a tenant for General Manager Guo for free in addition to fighting, which has long overwhelmed everyone. Now that the general manager Guo Da, who has just left, has obtained the heavy Kaiyuan Tongbao from Zhang Shaojian, compared with the two, fools know who to choose!

People have a pole in their hearts that after weighing the gains and losses, many brothers are eager to be "borrowed" by Zhang Changshi all the time and never return to Guo Yuanzhen's command. Some of them, who were bold and physically strong, simply followed the introduction of the captain and took the initiative to sign up to participate in tomorrow's battle, so that they could get double their daily salary.

For these people who took the initiative to ask for help, Zhang Qian instructed Guo Jing to accept them decisively and directly incorporate them into his own personal corps. Then it was a separate brigade, which was only responsible for cooperating on the side and not taking the lead. And the person who is responsible for acting as a pioneer is still the old team of the pro-corps. (Note: Tang system, a regiment of 300 people, a brigade of 100 people, a team of 50 people.) ）

After more than 100 people were dispersed to serve as captains, brigade leaders and team leaders, Zhang Qian's pro-corps now has only 146 people left. With more than 140 people, he was ready to storm the lonely stone mountain city garrisoned by 500 Turgish warriors! After the news spread, the soldiers who had just received their salaries all felt unbelievable.

"Zhang Changshi should use the method of agitation, and when he fights tomorrow, he will definitely ask everyone to go together!" With a little confusion, many soldiers secretly muttered in their hearts. "Let's go up, 3,000 people fight 500 people, and you won't lose."

"Take people's money and sell your life with others. The same is a battle, which is better than nothing! "There are also people, for the sake of money, who decide that even if Zhang Qian's words today are coaxing everyone to continue to follow him, when they fight tomorrow, they will sell more strength. Don't ask to be able to defeat Lonely Rock Mountain, at least don't disappoint Zhang Shaojian.

However, what happened the next day surprised them all. Zhang Qian was not agitating the generals, nor was he trying to coax everyone to continue to follow him. After the team arrived at the foot of the lonely stone mountain, he really took more than 140 personal soldiers and resolutely killed the fortress on the top of the mountain.

The more than 100 brothers who took the initiative to invite Ying last night, under the leadership of Ren Qi, rode their horses and walked in the second echelon. Except for Ren Qi's brigade rate, everyone in the team had apprehension written on their faces.

Is one hundred and forty men enough to siege the city? I'm afraid that even the feather arrows in the city can't be suppressed. And if you can't suppress the feather arrows on the city, you can't erect a ladder, and if you can't erect a ladder, how can you climb over the two-foot-high city wall?!

"No, they didn't bring a ladder!" Someone was walking on the road, suddenly noticed a fact, and then, exclaimed.

The rest of the soldiers were also dumbfounded. Looking at Zhang Qian's back with straight eyes, he couldn't believe that the coach would make even such a simple mistake.

However, it was too late to go back and build the ladder. Finding that Zhang Qian only had more than 100 people, he launched an attack from the front, and the turk who guarded the fortress was so angry that he was furious. Decisively led three hundred subordinates and rushed out of the gate of the fortress. (Note: Sakun, official position, equivalent to general.) ）

The slopes are gentle, and there has been no snow recently, making it especially suitable for cavalry to be condescending. With 300 cavalry condescending to attack more than 100 foot soldiers, Ye Xun was sure enough to eliminate the opponent before the opponent's large army rushed to the rescue, and then drove away.

It's a pity that the reality is completely different from what he expected. Before he could rush to within a hundred paces of his opponent, a neat wooden wall had been erected in front of his opponent. Immediately after, the feathered arrow rose from behind the wooden wall.

"Accelerate, accelerate, rush to within fifteen steps and turn to the left!" Ye Xun secretly said something bad in his heart, and decisively raised his right arm wrapped in double leather armor to protect his face and neck. At the same time, the reins were quickly shaken with the left hand and the stirrups were pounded hard with both feet.

The spurs on the stirrups pierced a string of blood beads in the belly of the war horse. The horse was in pain, screaming and continuing to accelerate, allowing the feather arrows to whizz past him.

The turquoise warrior behind Ye Xun made the same movement as the coach, squeezed out the limit speed of the mount, and tried to get closer to the wooden wall.

Fifteen steps, as long as they rush to within fifteen steps of the wooden wall, they can pull the horse and spin, using the galloping technique to kill the opponent behind the wooden wall. With their triple advantage of height, number and speed, they were able to seal the win before the first round was complete.

A samurai was unfortunately hit by an arrow and fell from his horse, and immediately the mount that rushed up from behind him was trampled on repeatedly, and in the blink of an eye, it turned into a mass of flesh. However, the samurai who were not hit by the arrow were the vast majority. With skillful riding, they continue to accelerate, accelerate, and accelerate again. The cold wind whistled in his ears, but he didn't feel the slightest chill on horseback. Death is close at hand, but it only excites those on horseback! At this moment, each of them was filled with a desire to kill.

At a distance of eighty-five paces, the war horse only needs four snaps of fingers to rush through. And four snaps of fingers, only enough for the Tang army behind the wooden wall, to fire a round of feather arrows. From the beginning of the war to the present, there has been no mistake in the decision-making of the Turgist Sakun Yexun, and the reaction has been quick and decisive enough. However, just as he turned his horse's head to the left and raised his bow sideways, several slender fire dragons suddenly jumped up on the shield wall.

"Shhhh "Brute, what are you doing?!" Ye Xun was so angry that he cursed, and while trying to control his mount, he turned his head to observe the situation of his brothers. Immediately, his eyes widened, and he let go of his hand, allowing his mount to flee with him.

Except for himself, the mount under his crotch was quick to react and barely escaped. The dozen or so Turgist warriors who rushed to the front were all spared, and all of them were ignited by the fire dragon that fell in mid-air, even with people and horses! The war horses that rushed over one after another were afraid of the flames, and instinctively turned to the left and right, but because of the suddenness of the incident, they lacked coordination with each other and collided with each other.

More dragons, flying out of the wooden walls, continued to fall on the heads of the cavalry. Burn all targets within 20 steps of the wooden wall, whether people or mounts, into torches!

"Stop, stop, retreat to the fort!" There were big arrows shouting at the throats, but they couldn't get the team to obey their orders. Running down the hill makes it easy to accelerate and has a lot of inertia. However, whether you want to hold your mount or change direction, you need more space to cushion it. What's more, the companions behind him are still trying to press forward.

More dragons descend from the sky, drawing more horses and warriors into death traps.

No one counted how long the total was, and after the disaster began, it was as if the movements of the men and horses had become slow and clumsy.

People kept rushing out of the fire and getting burned.

Constantly people were knocked off their mounts by their companions and then trampled into flesh by the horses' hooves.

Someone managed to turn around and avoid the flames, but they were hit by the crossbow arrows that came from behind the flames, and in despair they spread their arms and slowly fell off their horses!

"Sigh, shh One after another, Turgish warriors rushed into the wall of fire and became new "fuel", but with the instinct of animals to be afraid of fire, there were still many lucky ones who were carried by their mounts and escaped the fire trap.

With a face full of surprise and confusion, the lucky ones don't know what to do next. And in the next moment, a few meteors fell from the sky, "Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "The thunder rolled, and the limbs of men and horses, accompanied by dirt and gravel, flew in all directions.

"Sigh, shhh

"Sigh, shhh

……

The war horse, which had just been frightened by a round of flames, was blown away by the thunder again, and ran away with a scream. The owners on their backs were thrown off the saddle one by one, and their heads were broken and bleeding.

The Turkey warriors, who were lucky not to be thrown off their mounts, also turned pale and let their mounts flee with them. I didn't have the courage to look back at the Tang Army behind the wall of fire, let alone find out where the mine came from.

The killing range of the primordial black powder bomb was only about three steps, and the first round of explosions killed no more than five cavalrymen and war horses. But it became the last straw that crushed the Turgish warriors. Including Sakun Yexun himself, he was unwilling to stay on the battlefield for another snap of his fingers, let the mount carry it, or take the initiative to urge the mount to run as far as he could.

The gates of the black hole fortress were wide open, and no one even thought to close them. The more than 200 Thirshi warriors who stayed in the fortress looked at the battlefield outside in a daze, their faces were pale, and they were trembling, not knowing what to do.

"Capture the city, what are you doing in a daze? Do you really want to take today's bounty for nothing?! Seeing that the time was ripe, the pro-soldier brigade led Ren Qi to follow Zhang Qian's arrangement, decisively opened his throat, and shouted at the brothers around him.

"Take the city?" The soldiers of the second echelon, who were already stunned, responded instinctively, and then saw their own brigade rushing out first, bypassing Zhang Changshi, Luo Zhushu and the two kings behind the shield wall, and went straight to the gate of the fortress.

"Take the city!" Someone instinctively shouted, and then the blood went up, instigated the mount, and followed closely behind Ren Qi.

"Take the city, take the city!" The shouts resounded through the heavens and the earth in an instant. More than 100 Tang Dynasty men who took the initiative to sign up for the battle last night all instigated their war horses, bypassing the first echelon of the fire dragon carts and simple catapults that were busy sorting out the fire dragon carts and simple catapults, and rushed to the fortress on the top of the mountain. Along the way, they encounter Turgish warriors, whether they choose to surrender, flee for their lives, or resist stubbornly, all of them wield their knives and cut them into pulp.

Inside the fortress, a Turgish warrior finally recovered from his panic and roared to try to close the gate. Ren Qi rode his horse straight in, the spear in his hand flew up and down, and stabbed the two Turgi warriors who stepped forward to block the road in the doorway.

More Turgish warriors rushed at him, but he rode alone, and he was scrambled to kill. The Tang Dynasty boys who followed up raised their horizontal knives and broke in, and in a blink of an eye, they killed the enemy army at the gate of the city.

When the flames on the hillside gradually extinguished, the earthen fort on the lonely stone mountain also completely changed owners. The battle flag of Datang was planted at the highest place of the soil, waving in the wind. The sun is setting in the west, dyeing the sky and the ground red.

"Sigh, shhh————h

"Sigh shhh————h