In the fifth year of Taihe, September Bingchen, the beginning of Chouchu.

Xichuan, Victoria, Xuecheng County, Jie'er House.

Zhang Yijun was in the underground Bon Buddhist Hall, closed his eyes and stayed up quietly for only an hour, but found that his heart could not be calm for a long time and could not sit still at all. In the past, in the sixteen kings' mansion in Chang'an, he often cultivated the road and opened the valley with King Ying, and often sat for a whole day.

How long has it been since I've worn a robe?

Zhang Yijun didn't have a number in his heart, as if since he was sent to Tubo and Victoria to make a dark stake in the winter of last year, the Taoist robe has become a distant memory of the past.

"The avenue is invisible, and the fertility world is ......"

Zhang Yijun silently recited the "Qingjing Sutra", but there was still a faint uneasiness in his heart, and he couldn't sink his mind at all. Wasn't the plan going smoothly? Sidney took his sturdy retinue of guards from another culvert in this temple to Jie'er's Mansion to attend to what he called "unfinished business"; After the deed was completed, Xi Tan conspired to lead 300 soldiers to defend the city and surrender to the Tang Dynasty; Nothing seems to go wrong.

So what is it that keeps him from feeling at ease?

Zhang Yijun opened his eyes and looked at the mural of King Rulai of Fuxian in front of him, and stared at it for a long time in a daze, and couldn't help but realize.

It's because of this Buddhist hall!

The Buddhist hall is buried deep underground, and the location is really weird, besides, if it is a conspiracy to seize Victoria, kill chickens and use cattle knives, dig culverts so aggressively, and build such an underground Buddhist hall, what is the purpose?

Zhang Yijun carefully observed the details of the mural, rubbed his fingers, and the thickness of the ash showed that the mural was obviously made in the past year.

Just as Zhang Yijun was thinking about the strange place of this Buddhist hall, there was a "squeak", and the culvert on the east side opened.

There was a dark stain of blood on Xi Tanmou's rough cheeks, and the corners of his lips pulled out a ghostly arc. He was dressed in armor, with his hand on the hilt of the knife hidden at his waist, and stepped in, followed by the bearded man, and a slave in a tattered fur, holding a wooden letter in his hand. The slave is obviously because he has been a slave for a long time, and his back has been habitually rickety. Judging from the appearance of the slave, Zhang Yijun has affirmed that this is a Han person.

Xi Yimou stood still five steps away from Zhang Yijun, and was silent, his slightly dirty one-eyed half-open, staring at Zhang Yijun like a golden eagle locking on its prey, as if he was carefully estimating the value of this Tang Army's secret stake. If you are an ordinary person, you must have been stared at by this strange atmosphere and the bloodthirsty eyes of Xi Tanmou. However, Zhang Yijun had no fear on his face, and his eyes were facing Xi Tanmou's gaze without dodging, which seemed to make Xi Tanmou's originally fierce gaze slightly weaker.

After a glance of eye contact, Zhang Yijun took the lead in speaking.

"The unfinished business that the deputy envoy said, is it still going well?"

Xi Tanmou was silent, but the bearded man behind him asked sharply in stiff Tang dialect: "Why don't you salute when you see the deputy envoy?" ”

Zhang Yijun looked at the bearded man with slightly squinted eyes, and then swept his gaze to Xi Yimou, raised his chin lightly, took out the Jieshuai token from his arms, and said in a loud voice: "It is Zhang Yijun, the staff member of the Xichuan Jiedu envoy...... This is the token of the festival commander, you see it as if you see the festival envoy, a certain does not order you to salute, how to ask for a certain one? ”

When Xi Tanmou heard this, he smiled strangely, and his eyes widened, and his face looked a little hideous because of this. Then with a flick of his fingers, Xi Yumou actually leaned forward, quickly pulled out the hidden knife at his waist, and pointed the tip of the knife directly at Zhang Yijun's throat, stopping at a finger away from Zhang Yijun's neck.

To Xi Yimou's surprise, Zhang Yijun's expression was calm and light, and he didn't care, his blazing eyes still looked at the Tubo people without the slightest fear.

"This is the Victorian culvert, isolated from the world, even if I kill you here, no one will know......"

Zhang Yijun pulled the corners of his lips and said quietly: "The deputy envoy conspired against a felony and killed a certain person?" It is the road to the Tang Dynasty. At that time, if the Tibetan army comes to investigate, not only the deputy envoy, but also the slave soldiers in Victoria City, they will all be slaughtered for your Tubo ......"

Xi Yimou didn't seem to be intimidated, he snorted coldly, the hand holding the knife did not loosen in the slightest, but took a step forward, and put the sharp tip of the knife against Zhang Yijun's throat, just a little force, he could stab the blood, although Zhang Yijun was still standing in place, his eyes also flickered. Even if it was only for a moment, Zhang Yijun's reaction was naturally keenly noticed by the Tubo people, and his single eye was then flooded with bloodthirsty fanaticism, and the slightly raised corners of his mouth looked extremely terrifying in the dim light of the Buddha hall.

"What if I don't descend to Tang?"

Zhang Yijun lowered his eyes and stared at the blade that shone with cold light, and then fixed his gaze on Xi Yumou's single eye, and after a moment of silence, he raised his hand to put the Tibetan knife aside.

"The deputy envoy laughed," Zhang Yijun's tone was like frost, and he laughed loudly: "Not only does I know that the deputy envoy's words are bluffing, but I also know that the deputy envoy's intention to surrender to Tang has long been ......."

"Oh?" Xi Yumou sneered disapprelicly, lowered his hidden knife, and raised his hand to wipe the blood stains on his cheeks, "I'm a big fan, but I heard that your Tang Kingdom treats foreign generals very well, how can you have any intention of surrendering to the Tang Dynasty for a long time?" Guess...... I have to beat the belly manuscript too......"

"Just for the sake of wealth and nobility, they will not take the risk of the army, and do this act of killing the people and leading the people to surrender," Zhang Yijun raised his sword eyebrows slightly, and the corners of his lips rose, "Outside the city of Victoria the month before, the corpses were ambushed for several miles, as far as a certain person knows, all of them were the defenders who were dismissed by the previous reckless, and then the deputy envoy expressed his wish to surrender to the Tang Dynasty in a secret letter to Li Jiedu...... However, he clearly demanded that he should lead the Victorian garrison to Chengdu. Will a person who only seeks wealth and wealth be like a deputy envoy who cares about the life and death of the soldiers? ”

Xi Yumou's eyelids twitched, and although there was still hostility in his lone eye, it seemed to have dissipated a little.

"Victoria has been short of food for several months, although the deputy envoy does not admit it, but to a certain extent, the deputy envoy descended to Tang, in order to save the lives of the Tubo soldiers......" Zhang Yijun said this, bowed slightly, and said in a harmonious voice: "Dare to ask the deputy envoy, Yijun guessed in vain...... How? ”

Xi Yumou first smiled lightly, and then laughed out loud, and the bearded man behind him also smiled. Xi Yimou inserted the clenched Tibetan knife back into the sheath, lowered his eyes for a moment, and looked at Zhang Yijun again, although he was speechless for a long time, Zhang Yijun already felt that the tense atmosphere had weakened.

Zhang Yijun said in a moment: "The deputy envoy has the intention to surrender to my Tang, which is the luck of the country." Presumably, at this time, the 'unfinished business' mentioned by the deputy envoy has already been taken care of? ”

Sidney replied with a deep groan: "Of course. ”

Xi Tanmou looked back at the Han slave, and with a look, the Han slave moved forward, holding the wooden letter with both hands, and Xi Tanmou took advantage of the situation to open the lid of the wooden letter. Zhang Yijun only felt a smell of blood coming to his face, which complemented the atmosphere of this Buddhist hall.

There was a human head inside.

After really seeing the difference between Victoria's Jie'er and Ke Mang's head, Zhang Yijun couldn't help asking: "This is your unfinished business?" ”

"We Dafan people are not as complicated as you Tang people." Xi Tanmou smiled and closed the wooden letter, his tall figure made Xi Tanmou look quite domineering, "In order to take this 'Sanssouci City', I sent people to dig culverts and build this Buddhist hall." ”

Wait a minute......

Zhang Yijun exclaimed: "The deputy envoy is saying...... This culvert and the Bon church were dug by the previous Tang Army's dark piles? ”

Hearing this, Xi Yimou narrowed his eyes and stared at Zhang Yijun's face, not knowing what he was thinking, but this gaze was true, and Zhang Yijun felt a chill on his back.

"Isn't the sir? Why don't you even know what your former colleague did? ”

Seeing Zhang Yijun's suspicious appearance, Xi Yimou went on to explain: "The predecessor's secret pile is called Sima Zhu. He opened a butcher shop in this shop, and bought two men who worked in the shop, selling meat during the day and digging culverts at night, for more than a year, and finally opened a secret room directly under this Jie'er Mansion. Later, the identity of the secret pile was exposed, and Lun Ke Mang asked me to raid his shop, torture to extract a confession, and forced out the location of this secret room and culvert, but I didn't tell Lun Ke Mang, and later Lun Ke Mang saw that the person was of little use, so he killed him in the state and city. ”

I have to say that Xi Tan, a Tubo person, does know more about the secret pile of his predecessor than Zhang Yijun, who is a dark pile.

The predecessor secretly entered Victoria and hid in Xuecheng as a Han merchant for more than two years. According to the records of the Marshal's Office, it was just to pass on some innocuous information and the movements of the Victorian defenders, and the envoy of Xichuan Jiedu at that time was still Guo Zhao.

"When the envoy found this secret room, what was inside?"

"Empty."

"Empty?"

"It's empty." Xi Tanmou nodded and emphasized again, and closed the wooden letter with the head of the reckless person, "A certain is a Bon, and now the whole territory of Tibet strictly prohibits Bon, so he changed this secret room into a Bon church, which is what Mr. sees now." ”

Zhang Yijun secretly felt that the killing of his predecessor's secret pile seemed to be full of strange things when he thought about it at this time. If Sima Zhu dug this culvert and this secret room, then the seizure of Victoria should have been planned two years ago, but this is contrary to the existing records of the Shuaifu, and no one in Xichuan knew about this major matter, and it was obviously impossible to rely on the secret pile to plan it alone. In addition, shortly after Li Deyu appointed Xichuan Jiedu as the envoy, the predecessor of the secret pile inexplicably and quickly caused the disaster of death.

A chill hit, causing goosebumps to arise all over Zhang Yijun's body.

"How was the ex's secret stake exposed?"

Xi Yimou raised his head and thought about it, and then glanced at the square wooden letter, "I remember, it seems that Ke Mang found something...... Anyway, I was just doing what I was told. However, you must not remember the matter of killing the secret pile. ”

Zhang Yijun sighed, now that he is in a different place, it is impossible to interrogate him. However, what Xi Tanmou said confirmed one point: his doubts are justified. On the reckless whole day long, he only cares about greedy military salaries and does everything to collect money, and such a person can suddenly discover the traces of hidden hidden piles, which can no longer be explained by coincidence.

An intuition told Zhang Yijun that there was another hidden story about the death of his predecessor.

Just as Zhang Yijun was secretly thinking about it, Xi Yimou then looked at the Han slave and pulled his head contemptuously, interrupting Zhang Yijun's thoughts.

"What else? Hand them all over. ”

The Han Nu didn't dare to make a sound, but quickly rummaged through every pocket on his body, and then took out an official seal and a reckless token.

Xi Tanmou was overjoyed and held the official seal and kept looking, it was the official seal of the Victorian Festival. Xi Yumou reluctantly handed over the official seal and the reckless token to Zhang Yijun and looked at it, "Be careful, this thing is just one piece." ”

Zhang Yijun solemnly took it with both hands, of course he knew the origin and significance of this official seal.

This is the history of the Tang Victorian Thorn that has been lost for 67 years.

Seventy-six years ago, "Yuyang Mo agitated and broke through the dance of neon clothes and feathers", and the rebels of An Lushan in Hebei Province were like a sharp knife, tearing apart the central defense line of the Tang Dynasty. Since then, the thirty-three states of Longyou and several states of Xichuan have fallen into Tibet. Thirty years ago, the Battle of Victoria made Wei Gao, the king of Nankang County, famous. However, Victoria's city is strong, the terrain is dangerous, and it has not been able to recover it throughout his life.

And now, it is only one step away from the recovery of Victoria. Zhang Yijun understood that the surrender of Victoria was only a starting point, and from then on, Datang and Tubo reversed the offensive and defensive momentum.

The counteroffensive is coming......

Zhang Yijun silently returned the official seal to Xi Yimou, but the Tubo people were not polite and put the official seal into the cloth bag around their waists.

However, what happened next was what Zhang Yijun did not expect, Xi Tanmou looked at Han Nu, and then glanced at his bearded guard, nodded slightly, only to see that the bearded man pulled out the saber on his waist suddenly, shouted something in Tubo, and raised his knife towards the Han Nu to cut.

The slave didn't have time to run, and was so frightened that he crawled on the ground, as if waiting to die. Seeing this, Zhang Yijun immediately raised his hand and grabbed the bearded man's forearm holding the knife, and with a flick of his fingers, the Han slave who was prostrate on the ground was about to fall to the ground.

"What are you doing?!" Zhang Yijun roared.

Xi Yimou looked at Zhang Yijun with some surprise, and a fleeting hint of hostility flashed in his eyes.

"A Ula, who killed his master with his own hands, should be disemboweled, and died of blood according to the law of Dafan, and it is already cheap to cut off his head."

Zhang Yijun knew that "Ula" means slave in the Tibetan language.

"Isn't he a man of merit?"

Xi Yumou sneered, and deliberately accentuated his tone, "Yu Datang is the heart of Wanghua, of course he has merit; Yu Dafan is killing the lord for glory, which is a serious crime. Besides, there is no need to keep a slave, and you should cut down the grass and eradicate the roots! Then he glanced at the bearded man, who tugged at the corners of his mouth and retracted his knife with great reluctance.

Zhang Yijun said with a straight face: "Since Victoria has been surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, it is my Tang territory, and the Tang Dynasty has no slaves, and he should cut off the slaves." The deputy envoy has the wish to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, and he should abide by the Tang law! ”

Xi Yimou's masseter muscles were tight, if he had drawn a knife on weekdays, but at this moment, he faced Zhang Yijun, who was neither humble nor arrogant in his speech, although he was secretly unconvinced, he inexplicably appreciated him in his heart. He stared at Zhang Yijun deeply for a long time, and asked with a little curiosity in his tone, "Can you ask Mr. a question?" ”

Zhang Yijun nodded slightly.

"Mr. is so capable, after the matter is completed, what is the position of the imperial court?"

"I don't get into the office." Zhang Yijun's voice was cold, and he answered very simply.

"Oh?" Xi Yimou raised his eyebrows, but he was interested in Zhang Yijun's short and unbelievable answer, "If you don't enter the office, you still deliberately hide in this Victorian city to be a secret pile?" ”

Zhang Yijun didn't bother to reply, flicked his sleeves, the ugliness was coming, and he should return to Chengdu Mansion immediately to resume his life.

"Time can not be delayed, please also ask the deputy envoy to quickly lead the army to set off, Victoria Jie'er has been killed, the night is long and dreamy, if the vigilance of the troops in South Tubo Road changes, the consequences are unimaginable!"

Xi Tanmou's right eye narrowed, and after a long silence, he turned around and led his bearded guard straight to the exit of the culvert.