Li Bing and other generals led 10,000 troops have appeared outside the north city gate, although there is no moat outside the city, but there is a dry suspension bridge, used to protect the city gate, the city has been ignited on the head of the fire, the suspension bridge has also been lowered, but the city gate has not been opened, only heard from the city shouting and killing, which makes people anxious.

The battle at the city gate was extremely bloody, there were 100 Shatuo soldiers in the east and west to kill the city to reinforce the city gate, Guo Song led 60 soldiers and 400 people to fight fiercely, although the dead bodies were all around, but the Shatuo people were still very strong, desperate to kill the front.

In the narrow city gate hole, people are crowded, people are next to people, the long weapon can no longer be used, the two sides can only use daggers to stab, bite with teeth, the dead bodies on the ground are piles, the soldiers who have not yet lost their breath are trampled alive and died, the tactics of the Shatuo soldiers are also very obvious, blocking the Tang army in the city gate hole, so that they can not open the city, and buy time to wait for reinforcements to kill.

Guo Song was also anxious, he roared, jumped up, jumped to the periphery with his head, and killed the enemy from behind, his martial arts were also vividly played, specifically chopping the opponent's throat, simple and effective, only to see the black sword like a lightning bolt in the crowd fleeting, where the Shatuo soldiers fell, the originally dense group of enemy troops finally loosened, the Tang army in the city gate cave will kill the enemy step by step, and finally open up a little bit of open space.

At this time, Guo Song found that a large number of enemy troops in the city were rushing towards this side, and he shouted: "Open the city gate!" ”

Several Tang soldiers quickly pulled out the three iron bolts on the city gate and the ground bolt below, the city gate had been opened, but it could not be opened, and nearly a hundred corpses piled up on the ground blocked the city gate.

"Get the body out of the way!" Brigade Marshal Deng Feng shouted anxiously.

Guo Song's heart was also on fire, the other party's reinforcements had appeared a hundred steps away, densely packed with as many as eight or nine hundred people, and the morale of more than 100 Shatuo soldiers who were fighting fiercely at the city gate was greatly boosted, and they fought back desperately, and the Tang soldiers in the city gate cave were still desperately moving their bodies outward, but it was too late.

At this moment, only an earth-shattering muffled sound was heard, and the city gate shook violently, and it was opened two feet wide, and someone outside the city shouted: "One more time!" ”

It turned out that there were more than 100 soldiers outside the city holding a big tree and banging on the door, and the soldiers took more than a dozen steps back and rushed forward again, 'Boom! There was another earth-shattering crash, and the gates were shattered, and they were struck four feet wide enough for a horse to pass through.

The enemy army had already killed fifty paces away, and Guo Song shouted: "Retreat!" Retreat to the city! ”

He led more than 30 soldiers to retreat to the east, and the Shatuo soldiers poured into the city gate hole, trying to close the city gate, but it was too late, and there was another earth-shattering impact, half of the city gate collapsed, Li Bing waved his spear, "Kill in!" ”

The cavalry of the Tang Army suddenly launched, like a gust of wind rolling up on the ground, sweeping towards the city gate from a hundred paces away.

The Tang soldiers who hit the door dodged to both sides, and the Tang cavalry rushed into the city gate in an instant, and the Shatuo reinforcements had just arrived at the city gate, the two armies met head-on, Li Bing waved his spear and led the cavalry into the enemy crowd.......

10,000 cavalry slaughtered into Jiuquan County, the enemy army in the city collapsed instantly, the Shatuo soldiers knelt on the ground and surrendered, and dozens of refusals were killed by the Tang army.

Guo Song took his men to sit on the road to rest, his sixty soldiers were killed eighteen and nine were wounded, nearly half of the casualties, and the forty soldiers led by Zhang Yun also suffered nearly twenty casualties, Zhang Yun himself was also wounded, and was stabbed in the leg by the enemy's spear, and the five hundred Shatuo soldiers who fought fiercely with them were killed more than four hundred, and more than a hundred died under Guo Song's sword alone.

Guo Song felt the difficulty of capturing the city for the first time, at this time, Li Bing brought up the lord of Jiuquan City, his name was Zhu Xie Shenglu, about fifty years old, was the cousin of Shatuo Khan, he had just served as the envoy of Suzhou for less than ten days, and became a prisoner of the Tang army.

"What about the casualties of the brethren?" Guo Song asked Li Bingdao.

"Back to the governor, there were no casualties, only a dozen were slightly injured, and a few war horses were lost."

Guo Song nodded, his eyes fell on the chief general Shatuo behind him, and asked, "What's your name?" ”

Zhu Xie Shenglu stepped forward tremblingly and said: "The villain's name is Zhu Xie Shenglu, the current envoy of Suzhou, I implore the governor to spare the villain's life, and I will let the soldiers of Fulu County and Juyanhai surrender." ”

"What is the relationship between you Shatuo Khan?" Guo Song asked again.

"Shatuo Khan's grandfather and my father are brothers, and I am his cousin."

"Your Chinese is good!" Guo Song said with a smile.

"During the Tianbao period, the villain stayed in Chang'an for ten years."

During the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty, the children of the nobles of many ethnic groups in the Western Regions were studying and living in Chang'an, and it was not surprising that this Zhu Xie Shenglu was a Shatuo nobleman who lived in Chang'an when he was young.

Guo Song smiled: "Don't worry! I will not kill you, and according to the custom of the steppe, you khans can ransom you with their possessions. ”

Zhu Xie Shenglu hurriedly said: "If the governor lets me go back, I am willing to exchange 200,000 [ ] sheep." ”

It turned out that he had caught a big fish, Guo Song smiled and said, "Don't worry, I believe that your khan will send someone to negotiate soon." ”

.........

Meng Jiao and more than 100 other soldiers went to the Western Regions to serve the army with enthusiasm for serving the country, but before the Liupan Pass, they were splashed with a basin of cold water.

"We are all tribute people from various states and townships, dignified Tang scholars, how can we not have an identity?"

The scholars were extremely angry, arguing with the guards, and Meng Jiao even shouted angrily: "Ban Chao threw his pen from Rong, and I haven't heard of any pass to stop him, we want to serve the country and go to Ganzhou to join the army, why do you stop us?" ”

The captain of the guard said coldly: "I don't know anyone with the surname class, I only do things according to the rules, and you can't pass the customs without the imperial court issuing a customs clearance document!" ”

An lieutenant next to him said: "I'll teach you a way, you go to Pinggao County to find Yuanzhou Zhang Tingshi to open a customs clearance paperwork, and you can also pass the customs." ”

"Pinggao County is still more than a hundred miles to the north, how can we go?"

"That's your own business, anyway, I'll just admit it."

The lieutenant sneered again: "What's so good about being in the army, eating chaff all day long, still not having enough to eat, dressing more tattered than a beggar, and not being warm, the military is deducted from above for various reasons, in the end you can't support your family at all, you can't see a woman for a few years, you feel beautiful like a fairy when you come to a sow, you die in a foreign desert only wild dogs come to give you a funeral, and the court won't admit credit, this kind of life you nerds still look forward to?" It's just full of food and panic! ”

The words of the generals guarding the pass were heart-wrenching, completely extinguishing the enthusiasm in everyone's hearts, making them depressed, at this time it was already late, and seeing that the pass could not be passed, everyone had to return to Xigang Town for the night.

Xigang Town is located in the west of Kongtong Mountain and gets its name, here is close to the exit of Kongtong Mountain Kite Gorge, only a dozen miles away from Kongtong Mountain, the official road is divided into three roads here, one way to the north to Pinggao County, the other road to the west to Liupanguan, and all the way to the southwest to Longshan Pass.

An inn in the town has been chartered by Meng Jiao and others, everyone sat in the lobby and sighed, Meng Jiao said to everyone: "It seems that the only way is to go to Pinggao County first, and then come back to pass the customs, delaying for four or five days." ”

At this time, the two soldiers walked up to Meng Jiao and said: "Brother Meng, I really want to follow you to Ganzhou to join the army, but my mother is already sixty years old and in poor health, I really don't worry about her, I want to go home to see, Feng will definitely go to Ganzhou to join the army after the next day." ”

Another scholar also said: "Me too, I still have a wife and two sons at home, I didn't tell them, I also want to go home." ”

Meng Jiao's face was angry, and he was about to reprimand, but Du Siye hurriedly persuaded: "Every family has difficulties, we can't force it, everyone has their own ambitions, let everyone consider and choose for themselves!" ”

Huaisu also advised Meng Jiao to respect everyone's own wishes.

Meng Jiao was persuaded, he nodded and said to everyone: "I still have more than 3,000 taels of silver here, which is the entanglement raised by the people of the capital for us, I will share it with everyone, I want to go to Ganzhou, I will gather here tomorrow morning and set off, if I want to go back, I will not be reluctant." ”

He took out all three thousand four hundred taels of silver, divided them into one hundred and twenty parts, twenty taels for each person, and left the remaining one thousand taels of silver for those who wanted to continue to Ganzhou, and no one had any opinion.

The next morning, Meng Jiao and the others gathered in the lobby, which was really to his surprise, only about 20 of the 120 scholars were willing to continue to Ganzhou, and the others all checked out and left before dawn.

Enthusiasm and enthusiasm for serving the country are finally no match for family affection and firewood, rice, oil and salt, and the words of the Liupanguan guard woke up many people, and after thinking about it all night, they finally chose to give up, but they were embarrassed to say it clearly, and they all secretly left before dawn.

Meng Jiao was really a little disheartened, sitting there in a daze, at this time, his friend Du Siye came over, Du Siye was the youngest among everyone, only twenty years old, his father was Du Fu's second son Du Zongwu, Du Fu's two sons were relatively mediocre, but his grandson Du Siye had great ambitions since he was a child, when he was one year old, he grabbed a sword in his left hand and a pen in his right hand, and his grandfather Du Fu was so happy that his mouth couldn't close together, and he was trained since he was a child, but unfortunately when he was nine years old, his grandfather died.

The year before last, Du Siye raised a sum of money, rushed to Baling alone, moved his grandfather's coffin back to Luoyang for burial, quite praised, he was not married, his grandmother Yang had a father and uncle to support, Du Siye inherited his grandfather's will, and decided to follow Meng Jiao to Ganzhou to join the army.

Du Siye saw Meng Jiao sitting in a daze, so he stepped forward and said with a smile: "Brother should be happy, it's better to leave now than to go back to the house after arriving in Ganzhou, originally everyone decided to join the army with passion, to put it bluntly, it is hot-headed, now calm down and make a real choice, I think it's a good thing." ”

Meng Jiao sighed, "You're right, in fact, I'm also hot-headed, it's just that I'm hotter than them for a little longer." ”

After saying that, he himself couldn't help but smile bitterly, and at this moment, several businessmen walked in from outside.

One merchant complained, "What bad luck! I actually lost the customs clearance documents, and I couldn't save some money if I wanted to, so I had to go to Longshan Pass. ”

Meng Jiao's eyes lit up, and he seemed to see a glimmer of hope.