Jinshan, the grassland nomads who take the wolf as their totem, believe that this is the place where the wolf god lives, so they call it "Wolf Mountain", and regard it as a sacred place in their hearts.

Between the Jinshan Mountain and the desert steppe, there is a large desert that stretches for nearly a thousand miles, commonly known as the "Eight Hundred Desert", and it is also the geographical watershed of the Eastern and Western Turks.

"I can see the gold mountain." Xue Rengui raised his eyes to look into the distance, looked back again, and sighed, "Unexpectedly, we have crossed the Eight Hundred Desert again......"

"Brother...... "Ashina?" Xue Lian couldn't help but wonder and asked, "Since the first day I stepped into this desert, I have seen you and the soldiers under your command, and my mood is heavy and depressed. I've always wanted to ask why, but I can't get it. Now that we're out of the desert, can you tell me why? ”

"Actually, it's nothing." Xue Rengui said indifferently, "Not long ago, I led 20,000 Western Expeditionary Army to break through to the north, fighting dozens of battles along the way, and now I have suffered more than half of the casualties. I remember that at that time, we were at the foot of Jinshan, and we fought a bloody battle with tens of thousands of troops of the Western Turkic Hulu Department, and finally broke through and escaped into the 800 desert. At that time, we were short of food and horses, and it was difficult to find drinking water in the desert. Many of the wounded brothers died in the desert because they did not receive timely recuperation and treatment. At that time, we were afraid that the Western Turkic army would come to pursue and flee, and we would not have time to let them be buried in the ground, and at most we would cover the bodies with some stones and branches. Along the way back to their hometown, we saw that the bodies of many soldiers had turned into bones, and many of them had been destroyed by wild beasts......"

"No wonder......" Blood Lotus also sighed and said, "Actually, I should have thought of it a long time ago. What else can make someone like my brother sentimental? ”

"Really?" Xue Rengui smiled slightly and said no more.

At this time, several sentry riders in front came back and reported to Xue Rengui that the front was about to step into the territory of the Hulu Tribe, and their military camp could already be seen; Depending on the situation, the Hulu people have also discovered the army on this side of the desert and are gathering troops and horses.

"Brother, do you want to fight them again?" Blood Lotus said, "You only had one or two thousand remnants of soldiers before, and you were still able to kill nine in and nine out of his formation, and no one could stop the enemy. This time, with the help of Xiaomei and the 40,000 elite Hui cavalry under her command, they will definitely be able to defeat him with one blow! ”

"There's no hurry." Xue Rengui's face sank like water, and said, "This time is different from the past, when I was on the run, now I am borrowing. Moreover, the sun and the moon are changing, and the situation is changing, I don't know what kind of position the Western Turkic Northern Court has taken against my Tang Dynasty now, and I can't rashly use force. ”

"Oh, salute before you go?" Blood Lotus smiled, "Yes, the big officials and generals of the Central Plains like to get a set. ”

Xue Rengui was slightly stunned, and then smiled meaningfully: "You're right, I learned this from a big official." That big official is the person you are anxious to meet thousands of miles away. ”

"Dare to make fun of me?" Blood lotus apricot eyes are round and willow eyebrows are flying, and her posture is about to change her face.

Xue Rengui laughed, "Hugh is messing around." Look, the smoke and dust are rising in front of you, as if there are soldiers and horses coming. ”

Sure enough, in less than a stick of incense, a large cavalry array was discharged a few miles ahead, about sixty or seventy thousand. On this side, Xue Rengui and Xuelian led the two armies of the Han Hui army, and there were also 50,000 people. The two sides lined up, and the cavalry was all the same, and it seemed that a big battle was about to begin.

The soldiers and horses of the Hu Lu Department set up their formation, but they did not rush to move, but rushed out of a rider holding the command flag, came to Xue Rengui's array, and said: "Marshal Hu Luwu, the chief general of our army, I have asked General Xue Rengui Xue to answer before the battle." ”

"Please." Xue Rengui agreed, only brought one flag envoy, and stepped forward on a single horse, and even Fang Tian's halberd was inserted on the ground.

"Brother, beware of deception!" Blood Lotus reminded, "How can you step forward so alone? No matter what, you need to bring weapons! ”

"It doesn't matter." Xue Rengui turned around and smiled indifferently and stepped forward.

The other party only came out of two people. Hulu Wu, the chief of the Hulu tribe and one of the two generalissimos of the Western Turkic Northern Court, also had a banner envoy.

The two stood side by side, Xue Rengui hugged his fists, and Hu Luwu stroked his chest and chin, which was regarded as a courtesy.

"General Xue, there is an old saying in the Central Plains, it is called salute first and then soldier." Hu Luwu's Chinese is quite fluent, and he said, "It is my duty to be ordered to intercept and pursue you in the previous round; But why did you go back today? Could it be that you really can't get along with my Hulu department? ”

"That's not what I mean." Xue Rengui said, "If this were the case, I would not have released the captured prince in the first place. I know that your Hulu Department was forced by the pressure of Beiting to become an enemy of my Datang, so I don't blame you. Today, I'm just here to borrow the Tao. If the general agrees, please get out of the way and let me wait. Xue promised that he would not commit any offences along the way, and would never be an enemy of your Hulu department. ”

"Borrow?" Hu Luwu obviously took a long breath, a smile appeared on his face, and he stroked his chest again and bent down to bow to Xue Rengui, saying, "Hu Lubu, you must be tolerant." Originally, Beiting had abandoned its relationship with Tubo and reconciled with the Tang Dynasty. There is no reason for us to be an enemy of Xue Rengui again. Not only do I want to give way to General Xue, but I am also willing to ask General Xue to lead your troops and horses to spend a few days in our department, so that I can fulfill the friendship of the landlord! ”

"Beiting has been reconciled with Datang?" Xue Rengui was taken aback, and said in his heart: How is this possible? Beiting is the culprit who killed the marshal, even if the court agrees, how could the young marshal forget this blood feud? …… By the way, Beiting abandoned Tubo to repair the Tang Dynasty, the purpose is nothing more than to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight; At this time, the young marshal was facing a powerful Tibetan enemy, and it was also a good strategy to temporarily appease Beiting and reduce an enemy. In that case, why don't I follow the young marshal's wishes, try my best to enlist the help of Beiting, and use them to help me deal with Tubo?

"Since the marshal is victorious, Xue will not shirk!" Xue Rengui, who had figured out the twists and turns, said heartily, "It just so happens that our army has just crossed the Eight Hundred Desert, and the people are sleepy and need to rest urgently. ”

"That's great! - General Xue, please! ”

That night, Xue Rengui's troops and horses were stationed in the territory of the Hulu people. Hu Luwu also really fulfilled the friendship of the landlord, slaughtering cattle and sheep for three days of hospitality. At this time, Xue Rengui knew that the generalissimo of Beiting, who was shot by him during the Tianshan War, was lucky not to die but was seriously injured, and he can only rest in bed and cannot take care of military affairs. Although Hu Luwu was second only to the deputy marshal of Ni Shusi, the tooth tent did not hand over the military power to him, a "foreign chief" who guarded the frontier, but dragged it to the hands of the Beiting Khan Desire Gushe and his sons who could not fight.

For this reason, Hu Luwu complained to Xue Rengui more than once after drinking, saying that he and the whole clan sacrificed their lives to work for the valley, but in the end he was still only regarded as an outsider and a watchdog.

Xue Rengui can be regarded as smelling the flavor of his words - he wants to say that instead of working hard for Beiting, it is better to take refuge in Datang!

So Xue Rengui struck while the iron was hot and said to Hu Luwu that the Tang Dynasty had sent Li Tao to lead a large army to the north to attack Xue Yantuo, which was quite peaceful. At that time, the Tang Dynasty will definitely dominate Mobei, and the nine surnamed Tiele and the Turkic Hui tribes will definitely be attached one by one. Hulu is located between Beiting and Mobei, and since it is the throat of the Western Turks, it is the first place where soldiers must fight. If one day the war between Datang and Beiting resumes, then the first to suffer from the war will be the Hu Lu Department!

Xue Rengui told the big truth. Hu Luwu also knew in his heart that it was natural for Datang and Tubo to "fight between the two tigers", but no one dared to persuade them to fight - so Beiting and Datang temporarily reconciled. Another important reason is that the vitality of the North Court in the Tianshan First War was greatly damaged, and the top beam and pillar of the mud were seriously injured and could not be controlled. Now that Datang has swept Mobei, sooner or later it will advance west to clean up Beiting - in any case, there is a deep blood feud between Beiting and Datang, which cannot be resolved by peace!

Since Hu Luwu can be the chief of a clan and the marshal of a country, his vision is naturally not bad, and he is not stupid. After several deep conversations with Xue Rengui, he made a bold decision - to secretly break away from Beiting and join the Tang Dynasty!

Xue Rengui was naturally overjoyed, but he also knew that this kind of thing should be slow rather than urgent, and should be dark rather than bright. It is unrealistic to want Hu Luwu to agree to join Datang now. After all, now Li Tao's army is still thousands of miles away in the north of the moraine, fighting with Xue Yantuo; Qin Mubai in Guanxi also won or lost the battle with the Tubo people; The current Western Regions is still dominated by the Beiting family!

So Hu Luwu agreed with Xue Rengui that one day the king of the Tang Dynasty would reach Jinshan, and it would be the time for his Hulu tribe to join the army! And before that, this could only be a secret agreement between him and Xue Rengui. Xue Rengui said that he was just a general under Qin Mubai, the commander of the Kansai Army, and he couldn't decide such a major matter. Unless Hu Luwu writes down a document and makes a contract, it will only be counted when Xue Rengui returns to Lanzhou and hands over the contract to Qin Mubai for his approval.

Hu Luwu readily agreed, and immediately wrote down the contract document and handed it to Xue Rengui, who took it to Qin Mubai.

The Tang Hui coalition army rested in the Hulu Department for five days before leaving here and advancing towards the southern Tianshan Mountains, pointing directly at the throat of the Western Regions - Gaochang Kingdom!

On the way, the puzzled Blood Lotus asked Xue Rengui, "Brother, what is Hu Luwu's idea?" His hospitality to us these days is even more warm and thoughtful than we were to you at that time, like a slave serving his master, and he is clearly trying to please you. Could it be that he wants to break away from Beiting and join the Tang Dynasty? ”

"It's the intention, it's pretty obvious at a glance." Xue Rengui smiled, "But he still thought that he was doing it very secretly." ”

"So he really told you about it? So did you promise him? ”

"For the time being, I agreed, but I can't be the master, and I have to make a decision with Young Marshal Qin." Xue Rengui said.

"Huh! Why don't you leave Young Marshal Qin in three sentences? Blood Lotus pursed her lips and said, "To say, now that he is thousands of miles away, he can't even care about your life or death." Now there are still 10,000 Western Expeditionary Army, which you fought hard to keep it, and there are 40,000 more iron cavalry, and you defeated Yi Nan a long time, so that Li Tao can pacify Xue Yantuo easily, this is all your own credit! Now, in the Western Regions and Mobei, who knows him as Young Marshal Qin, but not you Xue Rengui? - What else do you have to do? ”

"The ancient precept of the Central Plains is called 'Father, father and son, monarch and minister', do you understand?" Xue Rengui smiled.

"I don't understand, I'm embarrassed to read it. Although my mother was Han Chinese, she did not teach me such profound knowledge. Blood Lotus shook her head.

"Explain it to you like this...... Xue Rengui smiled slightly and said, "Even if you live to be eighty years old, you are still the daughter of your parents." ”

"......" Blood Lotus was silent for a while, then sighed lightly and nodded, "I understand!" …… You men, especially the men of the Han family, are so strange! ”

"You won't understand." Xue Rengui raised his eyes and looked into the distance, looking at the vast Tianshan Mountains in the distance, and sighed leisurely to himself, "It's like many people don't understand, why did the handsome do that in the first place......

"Report - General Xue!" A sentry horse galloped over, and Fei reported, "More than a dozen horsemen were found at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains ahead, and the people who came claimed to be the confidant envoys sent by the Nanting Shabo Luo Yehu Khan, and made a special trip here to greet General Xue!" ”

"Strange things happen." Xue Rengui couldn't help but laugh and said, "I just sent the Hulu House in the North Court, and the messenger of the Khan of the South Court has come again!" - Are the Western Turks so sensitive to smell? ”

All the soldiers of the Tang Army laughed together, and Blood Lotus was confused, eagerly asking Xue Rengui what he meant by this.

"Tianshan is the territory of the North Court, but the envoy of the South Court has appeared here, isn't it interesting?" Xue Rengui smiled, "Someone, please come to the messenger!" - I look at him, what do you want! ”