The next day, Huo Shiqi was woken up. At this moment, the sky is still pitch black, and only a hazy white line can be seen in the far distance. The guards had already put everything to a halt, and when they saw that his eyes were blank and his hair was hanging down, someone immediately handed him a wet towel with green salt, and after a hurried wash, he barely bothered himself, and was immediately helped to the horse. Duan Si next to him said: "The brother who explored the road in front has been walking for half a moment with a guide", and handed over a bag of dry food and a skin bag filled with water, and instructed him to "eat on the way when he is hungry", and the horsewhip swept back slightly, followed by a "go", and the horse ran first. Dozens of guards surrounded Huo Shiqi and immediately drove their horses up. The women and children who were locked in the tattered tent next to them didn't dare to close their eyes all night, listening to the movement outside, for fear that Zhao Bing was going to kill someone, and they trembled and hugged into a ball and everyone wept silently, until the sound of the horseshoe copper bell stretched south and faded away, and the aftermath was faint and inaudible, so that they knew that they had escaped death, and suddenly they all howled loudly......

After a night's rest, everyone and horses were relieved, and the group did not stop on the road, just beat the horses and went south. When the sky was bright in the middle of the morning, the horses were slowed down to raise their horsepower, and everyone ate and drank on horseback by the way, and after a while, they continued to gallop south. In the middle of the day, I can already see the Yanshan Mountains in the distance.

It is already April Mengxia, although the bitter cold land outside the plug has not yet been paved with new greenery, but the Central Plains has long been blue water and green mountains and green mountains. The closer you get to Yanshan, the more you can feel the countless vitality. Most of the guards who followed Huo Shiqi were soldiers from Yanshan, who had been out for more than a month, and all they saw every day were the high sky and the daytime and the earth, and every day they saw the dead trees and grass and barren hills. At this moment, I feel close to my hometown, and I can't help but shout while being excited and excited, and some people can't help but sing loudly. The folk slang song is also mixed with "Mother's! I'm back" and other indulgent cries...... Duan Si didn't stop it, but only led the team to follow the guide and galloped non-stop.

It was almost noon, and the horse team approached the foot of Yan Mountain. The outpost reported that it had already been in contact with Ma Zhichuan's forefront, and the local garrison sent dozens of cavalry troops to meet him arrived as soon as he spoke. Duan Si discussed with Huo Shiqi, and felt that now was not the time to reveal Huo Shiqi's identity, so it was decided that Duan Si would come forward to contact him, and it would not be too late to talk about other matters when he entered Beizheng City.

Ma Zhichuan is also a large military town in Yanshanwei, but because of the drought in Yanbei for many years, the current garrison scale is far less than that of Liuzhen and Ruqizhai. But the silhouette of the garrison of the army is still there. From the north entrance of Yanshan to the south, along the post road that was only rectified last year, the beacon tower lookout tower along the way is endless, and the stone watchtowers are like a tireless sentinel, standing lonely and lonely on the top of the mountain cliff. Then cross the Great Wall of the Han Dynasty that is about to be submerged in the long river of history and the withered and dilapidated border wall of the old Tang Dynasty, and rely on the meandering Mazhi River, block the horse village, the horse village, the Qingchuan Fort, the Xiahe Fort, the Chengchuan Pass, and the six-foot children's village...... There are more than ten pass fortresses in succession, large and small, guarding the great rivers and mountains behind them like an airtight wind.

Without a military order, Huo Shiqi and his entourage failed to change horses at the forward outpost, so they had no choice but to continue south with their tired horses. All the cards along the way are verified and will not stop, so that before noon, we will rush to the middle fort.

The middle fort was the command post of the Mazhichuan garrison. Said to be a fort, in fact, it is more like a city, the enemy wall of the urn city arrow tower is not lacking, the walled wall is not a few points lower than the town, that is, the strategic significance here is far less than that year, and it is not valued, so all kinds of buildings are not repaired for many years, and it looks a little ruined. But the tiger is majestic; The scorching sun shines brightly, and under the protection of three or four garrison bases, the century-old city built of blue bricks and stones still sits on the river like a giant python, proudly looking at the group from the south.

The Zhongbao garrison had already received a report, and several lieutenants and dozens of officers and soldiers had crossed the river early, and two or three arrows away, some people shouted Duan Si.

Duan Si answered, and whispered to Huo Shiqi: "Jin Xi, who also came out of Xima, followed the general, and is now the commander of the Beizheng Border Army. He grinned and nodded at Jin Xi, and muttered, "It's weird, he doesn't stay in Beizheng if he has nothing to do, what is he doing here?" It's not hot yet, and he's coming to cool off? ”

Huo Shiqi's bones had already been bumped apart, if he wasn't in the prime of life, and he had the habit of getting up early to practice swords since he was a teenager, and he had also practiced a good body, he didn't know if he could still climb on horseback. He replied weakly, "I know him." "He had been to Ximazhi in the spring of the previous year, and happened to meet the army to the north, when Shang Cheng went to report to Ruqizhai, it was Jin Xi who stayed behind to entertain him for half a month, and later sent someone to send him back to Yi County. He had a son last month, when Jin Xi happened to be on a business trip in Yanzhou, and after hearing about it, he sent ten "years of peace" Jin Qizi without saying a word. He was not at home at that time, he was received by his mother-in-law, and there were too many people rushing to give gifts, and he was probably a little neglectful. Her mother-in-law also learned later that Jin Xi didn't actually bring a lot of money with her when she went out on official business, but she borrowed money from someone and died as a wedding gift for an heirloom. Money is not a trivial matter, and what he likes is this ancient custom of "full peace". He is also very grateful for Kim Hee's friendship......

In the blink of an eye, the horse team arrived, Jin Xi came over and grabbed Duan Si's bridle, and said with a smile: "You are a plague ghost!" I haven't seen you for more than two years, and my official rank has climbed higher than mine! It doesn't matter if the tiger didn't catch you with a slap, this god is also blind? Grabbing Duan Si's arm, he dragged him off the horse, punched him the shoulder, and said, "Good girl! The water and soil in Yanzhou are nourishing people, and they eat white and fat. Now if you go back to Ximazhi, the widow of the Zhou family will ...... for a while" Speaking of this, she was silent for a while, and her eyes glared at the boss suddenly, and she stared directly at Huo Shiqi, who was also a seventh-grade lieutenant on the horseback next to him, and swallowed several mouthfuls of saliva in a row, but he couldn't speak.

Huo Shiqi knew that he probably recognized himself, so he arched his hand on horseback: "Brother Jin ......"

Jin Xi raised his finger and pointed at Huo Shiqi, and the person also became stuttering: "You are, it's ten, ten......"

Duan Si hurriedly grabbed his two arms and said, "I'm back for business." I have official business to go to Beizheng! As he spoke, he winked and squeezed his hand hard, "What are you doing here?" ”

Jin Xi is not a stupid person, although his eyes kept glancing at Huo Shiqi, he said to Duan Si without a sentence: "Ah, what, do you have a business trip...... Oh, yes, I inspected the border defense, and I just arrived yesterday. Hey, hey, don't you know, there are a lot of bullshit in the army here, more than 2,000 people eat, drink, and sleep, and I'm taking care of it. It's hard to be a border army! Dad doesn't hurt his mother, he doesn't hesitate to eat what he doesn't eat, he doesn't wear it. Finally, I looked forward to General Li Shen's stationing in Beizheng. No, a few days ago, I begged Li Zuzong to issue an official document on the allocation of supplies, so I ran non-stop to cry poor in the big library of Nanguan in Yixian County, begging grandpa to tell grandma to give up, real tears and fake snot on my face, and finally pulled something back, and the people below came to cry poor with me. Of course, the things were brought back to be divided, but I was afraid that they would not divide the spoils evenly, so I had to put on a horse-drawn cart and send them one by one by one......"

Duan Si and Huo Shiqi glanced at each other.

Li Shen is really in Beizheng!

After Jin Xi finished a story, seeing that Duan Si still didn't mention Huo Shiqi, he introduced the captains of the brigades and battalions behind him to Duan Si.

Several schools knew that Duan Si was the person who followed Shang Cheng, regardless of the three-seven-twenty-one, he came to pay a salute first, and the warm words of the tired people on the road immediately smashed a few baskets, and some people asked about the results of the battle of the Middle Route Army. I heard that the army had occupied Mogan and drove the enemy across the Heishui River, and when I boarded, my eyebrows flew and danced a little bit of a fist; sighed again that he was unlucky and did not be in the Chinese army, and he was unable to catch up with this great achievement......

Jin Xi found a gap in the conversation, interjected and said: "The banquet has been cleaned up in the village, and they killed a tiger yesterday, and there are good things to eat...... After speaking, he nodded to Huo Shiqi silently. "It's not easy for you to come here, and I don't have anything good to give, just right, that tiger skin is a good leather goods, you take it back and make a few clothes for the little boy." Anyway, no one next to him knew that Duan Si was a bachelor, and no matter how loudly he spoke, no one could understand that this was for Huo Shiqi.

Duan Sidai Huo Shiqi thanked him, and then said: "I am going to rush to the Nanguan camp in Yixian County immediately, and I will go back to Yanzhou immediately. It would be better if there was liquor. ”

Jin Xi slapped his face and said with a smile: "It's better to be in time than to be in time." I went to Yi County, and the sixth uncle of the Huo family half bought and half gave me two carts of liquor before it came out of the pot. Whatever you want! ”

"Are there any good horses in the middle castle? We ran for two days and two nights, and the horses couldn't stay up, so we had to change them! ”

Kim Hee frowned. There are horses in the middle fort, but all the guards are stationed here, and he is a border army commander, but no one can command here. But he immediately had an idea, and pulled a six-rank lieutenant from the side, pointed at the man, and said, "You look for him!" He is the direct commander of the horse, not to mention changing a few horses, it is to ask for another hundred and ten people, that is, he nods! One by one, can you help swap their horses? Or, I'll write an IOU, even if the border army asks you for a temporary exchange? In this way, you can also deal with the above inquiries. ”

Old Qu Pu waved his fan-like slap and said with a big grin: "Just change it!" And a bullshit IOU! ”

Duan Si didn't expect this surnamed Qu to be so refreshing, and said happily: "Then I will accept the kindness of Captain Qu!" I didn't say anything, if there is anything difficult in the future, go straight to the Yanzhou Admiral's Mansion to find me! ”

Lao Qu suddenly laughed so loudly that he almost grinned at the back of his head, and immediately asked people to prepare the best horses.

Duan Si smiled and asked Jin Xi again: "When will you return to Beizheng?" He thought, Li Shen is the lord of the army, and he has done such a thing of anger and resentment, needless to say, the guards around him must be strict, so the trip to Beizheng must be dangerous. At this time, multiple people have more than one grasp. Jin Xi is the commander of the border army, maybe he can meet Li Shen in his name, and then he will respond immediately, maybe he can do it with one blow!

Jin Xi replied casually: "Stay here for one night, and tomorrow I plan to go to the first few border army stockades to take a look...... Suddenly he raised his eyes and saw Duan Si winked at him, and the tone of his words changed, "...... However, since I bumped into you here, I don't want to go to those stockades. Then I'll let them run a few times, and I'll walk with you for a while, and talk by the way. Mother, our brothers haven't talked for more than two years! No, you have to teach me this time, why did you climb from a hunter to a seventh-rank lieutenant so quickly? I fucking wanted to shoot Li Shen's ass every time, why did I slap it all on his hooves again? ”

Hearing this, several officers around were all stunned, and then laughed insolently......