In the fifth year of Taihe, in September, at the beginning of the year.

Victoria, outside Xue City.

The unit escorting the prisoner cart consisted of three teams of Wuwei troops, and more than 60 Tang troops escorted the prisoner cart carrying 300 people, and the whole team stretched for a mile on the narrow official road. The prisoner cart was cumbersome, and the whole journey was unusually slow, and in the end it took twice as long to reach the outside of Xue City by the next day.

When the Tang army left Chengdu, the wails of the Tibetan people were endless. When they reached their destination, they all seemed to have accepted their fate, and they didn't hear anything except the footsteps of the march.

The messengers sent by the troops had returned from Victoria in the early days, and the defenders in Victoria must have known the news of their imminent evacuation by this time, and the torches at the head of the city were much less lit than before.

The sky was already dark, Zhang Yijun stood beside "Sa Yuhu", while secretly feeding "Sa Yuhu" crunching apples, while staring straight at the black Victorian city wall through the fog, the closed gate looked like a deep one-eyed in the night, looking at Zhang Yijun from afar.

Bing Cao Lu Qi walked up to Zhang Yijun, after all, there were only two of them in the entire team.

Lu Qi is half a head shorter than Zhang Yijun, but he is a round older, if the two usually stand side by side, there is an indescribable sense of funny, but now the two of them have a solemn look on their faces.

"The city has received news, and I think it will be the beginning of tomorrow, and it will be evacuated......"

"What about the Tubo people in the prison car?" Zhang Yijun listened carefully, in addition to the complaints in the prisoner car, there was also the cry of a baby, "Do you really want to stay in the city as planned and wait for the Tubo people to kill?" ”

Lu Qi's face was pale, looking at the cloudy night sky, and a breath came out of his mouth, it was obvious that he was also extremely resentful of this unkind and unrighteous errand. After a long time, Lu Qi said softly: "Xi Tanmou is dead, and the rest of the women and children may be able to hide in Victorian City......"

"So ...... that case?"

"But ......" Lu Qi poured cold water again: "Your Excellency has been in Victoria for a year, what do the people of Victoria think of these Tibetan defenders?" ”

"Hate to the Bone......"

"Come to think of it...... Even if they were hiding in the city, the Tibetan soldiers were brutal, and after entering the city to change their defenses, the people would probably not hesitate to confess the hiding location of this group of people, so as to avoid being poisoned. The so-called can hide for a while, but can't hide for a lifetime. The punishment of the Tibetans for defectors must be clear...... Sometimes, dying early is more of a relief than surviving. ”

Zhang Yijun sighed, how did he not know that the punishment of defectors under the Tubo Law was already light, and those who were skinned alive and made into adult skin thangka also abounded. After Lu Qi patted Zhang Yijun on the shoulder comfortingly, he went to order the soldiers to camp on the spot.

The all-night march made the soldiers sleepy and tired, and at the same time of camping, at the request of the soldier Cao Lu Qi, the men of each team began to light a fire to cook porridge, and after a while, the aroma of porridge mixed with a mushy smell wafted into Zhang Yijun's sinuses, combined with a hot aroma of sesame seeds, so that many sleepy foot soldiers gathered over.

"Come one by one, don't rob ......"

Although they arrived at their destination hundreds of miles away from home, there was no sad look on the faces of the foot soldiers. They drank porridge, ate cakes, joked with their colleagues, complained that the porridge cooked by the husband was too thin, and the older talked about their wives and children, and even the fatigue of a day's march disappeared at this moment.

After all, they all know that this time they came only to send hundreds of barbarians to Huangquan Road, and when the sun comes, the team will embark on the way home, and it will completely save the cumbersome prisoner car, who is not happy?

Zhang Yijun also nibbled on some cold Hu cakes, and looked deeply at the torches on the Victorian city wall, and the Tang flag at the head of the city hung weakly. Even though he had seen this incident when he was in Chengdu Mansion, when he really came to the city of Victoria and saw the city where he had been dormant for a year again, a strong sense of sadness still arose spontaneously from his heart.

Zhang Yijun took a deep breath, but felt a gurgle in his chest, as if something was there......

Reaching for it, he pulled out a thick piece of letterhead.

By the way, this is to be handed over to Yang Zong.

Perhaps because of the long journey, the lacquer seal on the letterhead had been worn off, and now the letterhead looked like it had been opened. At that time, he accepted the letterhead without saying anything, and Zhang Yijun noticed that the letterhead was not decently thick, like stuffing a thin book into it, no wonder he would cough his chest.

Driven by curiosity, Zhang Yijun put the cake in his mouth, carefully opened the letterhead, and really took out a thin book and a few pieces of stationery from it. Look at the handwriting, the book and the letter are from the same person's handwriting. Ling Hulu was previously in charge of transcribing the books of the Library Pavilion, presumably this thin book was a transcription of an excerpt from a book in the Library Pavilion.

In the title of the book, it is written "Anxi Jiangmen Lineage Table - Yanqi Volume".

Victoria, Weichuan County, Xuecheng County.

The west side of the city wall, the beginning of the child.

With the breeze blowing, Yang Zong stood alone at the head of the city, chewing several mint leaves vigorously, and the cool numbness in his mouth was enough to numb a cow. He spread his arms outstretched, letting the whistling autumn wind blow through his fingers.

As far as the eye can see, after learning the news that the Tang army will withdraw, the camp of the Tubo people lit a bonfire at the beginning of the day, and dozens of people sang and danced around the bonfire. The cheerful and melodious eagle flute tune came with the wind, but it made Yang Zong feel like a world away.

Yang Zong can still recall that when the Wuwei Army and the Heavenly Expeditionary Army entered the city, the Victorian father and the common people greeted him and shouted long live from the mountains.

"I don't want to see the Tang family again today......"

What did he say at the time?

"Tang Jun is not leaving, and he will never leave again this time......"

He finally broke his promise.

Yang Zong has been in Victoria for the past few days, and what he sees is the people living and working in peace and contentment, and the smiling faces of people when he walks on the streets. And all of this will come to an abrupt end tomorrow. Is it because of the confession he signed? Yang Zong shook his head, and secretly said in his heart, even if it wasn't like that, he would be a Tang soldier and a Tang minister in vain. Even if you apologize for your sins with death, you will still be innocent......

Yang Zong sighed softly, his gray-brown eyes were gloomy, but his thoughts were unconsciously back to the past.

"Master Jun, this is Xiang'er, my little nephew, see if you can arrange a bed for him in Bingcao......"

It was Yang Zong's uncle who said this, Yang Guan. He has the same Hu Ren face as Yang Zong, his face is angular, and what attracts attention is that there is a long scar under the root of his left ear, which extends to his throat, which may have been burned by fire, which makes his voice very hoarse. For as long as Yang Zong can remember, his uncle has been pointed at and respected because of this scar.

"You bastard, why are you still energetic when you give you military status?" Nodding to Yang Guan, the soldiers who were dressed up looked at Yang Zhou and Yang Zong, who was only seven or eight years old on his side, with some disgust, and then put his legs on the desk, leaned back and scolded: "Take the waist card and hurry up to Lao Tzu!" ”

Yang Zong's childhood memories are full of uncle's nods and the white eyes of others. The two are often mixed together, making Yang Zong think more than once that it is Uncle A's weakness that makes them discriminated against. When he reached the age of almost twenty, this idea became even more ingrained.

Especially when he thinks he can support himself.

"Xiang'er, you will be weak next year, and when Uncle saves up more money, you will also have a military status by then......" The perennial inferiority made Uncle's back stiffen early. Nineteen-year-old Yang Zong saw it in his eyes, but he was not distressed, but said impatiently: "Don't worry about it!" ”

Uncle was not annoyed by Yang Zong's rebuttal, but chuckled honestly: "I don't care who you ...... care"

"Then it won't be your turn, and you're not my grandfather!"

Yang Zong dropped this sentence contemptuously, and walked out of the door without looking back, leaving his uncle a lonely and lonely figure, holding on to the porch and sighing for a long time.

During that time, Yang Zong was actually obsessed with gambling, and with a flick on the gambling table, he exchanged for a large amount of snowflake silver, which attracted people around him to applaud. For the first time in his life, Yang Zong experienced the joy of being proud and alive. However, Yang Zong later learned that it was actually a game for him, and on the third day, he lost all the money he had won before, and he owed a "huge amount of money" comparable to Uncle A's year, but he couldn't afford it anyway.

What happened? Yang Zong can't forget it until now, it was the first and only time Uncle beat himself. In order to pay off his gambling debts, he stole the jade that Uncle offered at the head of the bed, and after being discovered by Uncle A, he discounted three willow sticks in a row. As for the money owed, in the end, it was the uncle who paid it back.

Thinking of this, Yang Zong smiled self-deprecatingly, and at some point he took out the jade token on his waist with both hands, and stroked the words on it.

A year ago, in the fourth year of Taihe, in winter and October.

River meander, outside the city of Luzhou.

A remnant sun crossed the sky of the Gobi Desert. Several teams of Hequ soldiers are lined up neatly, and they can be ready to go after the state assassin history comes to practice.

Ten days ago, the imperial court issued an edict, Xichuan was in an emergency, and there was a shortage of soldiers. Yang Zong is the leader of one of the teams, he is carrying a Mo knife on his shoulder, with a mustache, chewing mint leaves in his mouth, and the masseter muscles on his cheeks squirm with the chewing.

Yang Zong stood as steady as Mount Tai, his eyes looked directly at the open southern road on the Gobi, and at the position of the horizon stood the continuous peaks, beyond the mountains, it was the boundary of Xiazhou, and then it was Guannei, which was also the only way for them to go forward.

I'm really going to Chengdu...... Yang Zongxin said, he was born in Luzhou and grew up in Luzhou, this will also be the first time he set foot on the land of Datang Pass, although he is about to say goodbye to his hometown, what fills his heart at this moment is full of yearning for Furong City.

"Hey!"

Someone's shout came from the direction of the city gate behind the soldiers, causing the deputy and a few curious soldiers to turn their heads and look back. When the deputy of the team saw it, he quietly pulled Yang Zong beside him.

Yang Zong smacked the mint leaf in his mouth, "What are you doing?" ”

"That's Uncle Xuan......" Before the deputy of the team could speak, Yang Zong turned his head sharply to look back, only to see a fifty-year-old soldier wearing cloth armor, and he was staggering towards this side while greeting.

"Ah...... Uncle? ”

Yang Zong's face was full of surprise, he lowered his body a little, touched out of the queue, and approached Uncle in three steps and two steps. Uncle is no longer young, his slightly curly hair is mottled and his temples are soaked in gray, Uncle was wounded in the leg in battle two years ago, and the sharp crossbow arrow of the Tibetan man pierced his right calf, and his leg has been a little lame since then.

The moment he saw Yang Zong, Yang Zhou's fierce expression on weekdays was soothed, and he added a little kindness.

"Didn't I tell you a long time ago that you don't need to send it on the expedition?" Seeing Uncle's faltering steps, Yang Zong blamed him with some annoyance and distress.

The veteran's thick palm patted Yang Zong's shoulder armor, "Xiang'er is out of breath, and he is in the same team as your uncle, now he wants to go to Xichuan, but he can get ......."

"Got it, got it!" Yang Zong has never been good at dealing with this kind of separation moment, his nasal cavity is a little sour, Xu is afraid that Uncle will notice the unbearable in his eyes, Yang Zong involuntarily skimmed his face, and pretended to be calm: "You go back quickly, the assassin is coming in a while." ”

Yang Zhou was silent for a long time, looking straight at his nephew who he had brought up. Even no matter how ruthless a person is, he can't ignore the reluctance in the eyes of the old man. Yang Zong caught a glimpse of his uncle's eyes, and felt that his cheeks were a little hot, and was about to say something, when the veteran silently took out a piece wrapped in linen from his arms.

"Come, take the ......"

"It's ...... What the? Yang Zong took it, his face full of doubts.

"Your grandfather has always taken it, and my uncle has helped keep it for the past twenty years, and now ...... It's yours. ”

In the fifth year of Taihe, in September, Xuzheng.

Jiannan Road, Xichuan, Victoria.

"Captain Yang?"

"Captain Yang!"

Yang Zong's thoughts returned to reality, and when he realized that someone was calling him, he quickly snorted. At this hour, he had no idea that anyone would hang out on the city walls. Since it will be opened tomorrow, and there is no need to defend the city, the garrison at the head of the city has already returned to the barracks to rest.

Zhang ...... Zhang Yijun?! ”

Although Yang Zong knew that Zhang Yijun came with the Tubo soldiers who were bound and sent, he was also quite surprised by his sudden appearance, "The city gate is closed, how can you ...... How did you get in? ”

"Yi Jun has been doing Victorian dark piles for a year, and he still knows what culverts there are in this state city and how to climb the city wall."

With the gusts of wind, Zhang Yijun's words sounded a little helpless.

The two of them looked at the Tibetan camp side by side, speechless for a long time.

What is there to hide today?

"When I was in Hequlu Prefecture, because of the identity of the son of Liuren...... People look down on me. There are also people who slander me and want to put me in prison. Uncle has been protecting me, and used his savings to buy me a military membership, so that I became a soldier," Yang Zong said in a calm tone, and sighed: "Later, he became the head of the Shangyi Guards and was transferred to Xichuan, Li Gong did not judge his character by his background, and then became a ......general of the tooth soldiers."

"Later, ......" Yang Zong paused, choked in his throat, closed his eyes and said: "In order to correct the name of my father and uncle, I signed and drew a charge on the confession of the envoy Li...... Disturbed by his conscience, he invited himself to Victoria ......"

There was a long silence between the two, in fact, it may just be a breath, but in Yang Zong's opinion, it is as long as half an hour.

"Li Gong knows ......"

"What?" Yang Zong couldn't believe his ears.

"Li Gong knows," Zhang Yijun held the cold arrow stack in his hand, and looked at Yang Zong with clear eyes, without any reproach in his eyes, "Li Gong not only knew that there was that confession all along, but also knew that there was the name of Yang Duwei on it......"

"How did Li Gong ......?"

"Xue Yuanxian said."

"Ah......" Yang Zong blinked his eyes a little ignorantly at this short answer, but after a moment, his eyes still dimmed after all, "In this case, Xiangyi has no face to go back to see Li Gong......"

"The edict to return the city this time has nothing to do with that confession......

Knowing such an answer, Yang Zong was even more puzzled, and repeatedly pointed to the black eaves in the city and said loudly: "That...... Why did the imperial court abandon the recovered city? Why abandon 5,000 Victorians? Isn't this a mess? You guys...... Just accepted like that? ”

Zhang Yijun looked at the city numbly, this city he had high hopes for, after all, he still failed to help Li Deyu make meritorious contributions to the court as he wished. For this city, Zhang Yijun has suffered so much, he can't remember. What to do after that, his mind was also blank for a while.

"I actually envy you very much," looking at the corners of Zhang Yijun's secretly pursed lips, Yang Zong inexplicably felt that Zhang Yijun was probably more heartbroken than himself for the return of Victoria City, "Mr. Zhang must have ...... Born in the Zhong Ding family, no matter how bad it is, it is impossible to be worse than Yang......"

"Xiangyi has never read many books, he is a rough person, and he has not even read much military books...... Although the official residence is six grades, in the final analysis, he is just a soldier...... Naturally, I don't understand the national policy of the imperial court, and I don't understand what the prosperous era is," Yang Zong said this, and lowered his eyes helplessly, "But Xiangyi knows that the prosperous era is definitely not like this when he returns the recovered homeland." ”

After Yang Zong finished speaking, he concentrated with mixed feelings, put his arm on the arrow stack, put the jade pendant in the palm of his hand, and stroked the inscription on it with his thumb, wanting to calm down the chaotic mind.

"What's that?"

"Oh, it's just a jade pendant handed down from home. It's been so long, and I don't know what it's for, but it's just a talisman to carry on me...... If the gentleman could understand what was written on it, it would be of great help......" Although he said this, Yang Zong did not hold out any hope.

Yang Zong handed the token to Zhang Yijun, but unexpectedly only hurriedly swept the beard, Zhang Yijun raised his sword eyebrows, and carefully looked at Yang Zong's angular appearance in surprise, "So, what Ling Hu wrote is true?" Yijun thought it was a joke...... "After speaking, Zhang Yijun took out the letterhead from his arms and solemnly handed it to Yang Zong.

"First...... What do you mean, sir? ”

Yang Zong looked at Zhang Yijun, and hurriedly opened the letterhead, took out the thin book and stationery, and leaned slightly sideways towards the light of the torch.

"One of the four towns in Anxi, have you heard of Yanqi Kingdom?" Zhang Yijun looked serious, and carefully recounted the words written on the letterhead, "His national Zhenguan surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, Yuanhe fell into Tubo at the beginning, his king's surname was Long, and the last Yanqi town guard Yang Riyou married his daughter and the last Yanqi king, and gave birth to two sons." On the day of the destruction of Yanqi City, the king of Yanqi was defeated and killed with the town guard Yang Riyou, and the eldest son fled with his younger brother, in order to avoid people's eyes and ears, he called himself a wanderer, and took his mother as his clan, and then he did not know what to do......"

"The eldest son's name remains, and the second son's name is ......"

Yang Zong listened to Zhang Yijun's words silently, but his hands trembled uncontrollably.

Yang Liu and Yang Zhou are the names of Yang Zong's father and uncle.

"This piece of white jade is not a jade pendant, but a seal of the Yanqi Kingdom! The four-character "dragon riding branch" in Sogdian is the seal of the first Yanqi king! ”

Yang Zong's eyes gradually dimmed, and Zhang Yijun handed back the white jade token with both hands.

"Yang Duwei has never been a rogue son...... Zhang Yijun's eyes were blazing, and he felt his heart burning between his words: "It's the heir of the king of Yanqi!" ”

When Yang Zong looked up and Zhang Yijun looked at each other, they were already in tears.