At midnight, the vast Gobi Desert looks even more desolate and bleak, and a crescent moon hangs lonely in the night sky. A group of more than 3,000 horse bandits galloped from a distance. Leading the team was a sturdy one-eyed dragon, their faces covered with black cloth, only two eyes exposed, all dressed in black, and a scimitar at the waist.

"Sadiq, are you sure they're all big fish?"

"Batur, I have been following them for a long time, they are indeed very rich big fish, and their goods must be very valuable."

"Haha, it looks like we're going to make a fortune this time!"

"Haha!" The surrounding bandits also shouted excitedly.

After a while, these more than 3,000 horse bandits had already arrived in the Wind Eclipse Valley where Xia Xue and they were camping.

"It looks like this group of Tang merchants are sleeping hehe, hehe!" Batur came to a place more than fifty meters in front of the mouth of the valley and carefully observed it for a while, and found that the caravan inside did not move, and it seemed that he was sleeping soundly. "Brothers, copy guys! The old rule is that all men and women are killed, leaving no one alive. After killing, dig a big pit and bury the corpse, and take all the goods and money away! Kill, brethren! ”

"Kill—"

The horse bandits drew their scimitars one after another and rushed towards Xia Xue's camp.

Sadiq rushed to the front, his eyes were full of gold and silver glittering, "Now you are going to make a fortune, this group of Tang merchants is so rich!" ”

Suddenly, he heard a boom, and he felt the horse and his body fall down violently, and then there was a "coo", and he didn't know anything in front of him. Along with Sadiq fell a hundred and ten horse bandits, screaming, neighing, scolding, wailing, and crashing...... Echo in the night sky.

"Stop attacking!" Batur roared, and hurriedly grabbed the reins of the horse, and stopped the horse, but the horse's butt was struck by the head of a stupid fellow who was a little slow to react, and he was still knocked into a large pit in front of him.

Fortunately, the pit was already full of men and horses, and he didn't fall deeply, so he picked up the fallen scimitar and stuck it in the scabbard, climbed out of the pit with great difficulty, and tore the fool who hit him from the back of the horse, and slapped him hard. "Damn, you idiot, your horse is mine!" Batur rolled over and jumped onto his horse, knowing that the first person to fall, including Sadiq, must have been finished.

"Damn, the boat capsized in the gutter, and it was actually pitted by a group of Tang businessmen. Brothers, rush in and skin these damn Tang merchants for me. Kill! Sadiq's one-eyed anger was angry.

"Kill!" The bandits bypassed both sides of the pit and entered the caravan's tent.

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

……

A row of dense feathered arrows broke through the air, and the arrows in the sky shot at the horse bandits like a torrential rain, and the horse bandits who were rushing forward and charging were as if they had been punched in front of them, and hundreds of people quickly fell, fell off the war horses, and were instantly trampled into meat sauce by the galloping war horses behind.

"Retreat!" Xia Xue ordered, and the angel army soldiers took strong bows and crossbows, pulled out their horses and quickly retreated.

"Want to run?" Batur was furious, since he robbed Tang Shang, he had never suffered such a loss, and Batur's eyes were blood-red. "Brothers, chase me! Don't let any of them go, I'm going to chop them all up and roast them and eat them! ”

"Kill-" The horse bandits were also indignant one by one, they had indeed never suffered such a loss today, they must catch these damn Tang merchants and eat them alive.

At this time, Xia Xue led five hundred angel army soldiers to gallop backwards, and soon rushed out of the Wind Erosion Valley and came to the vast Gobi Desert. Batur led the horse bandits in hot pursuit.

Just as Batur led the team to continue the pursuit, he found that the Tang merchants who had fled in front turned around and released their arrows. The arrows of this group of Tang merchants were very accurate, and many horse bandits around him fell from their horses with arrows.

Batur quickly took off the round shield behind his back and protected it in front of him, leaned on the horse's back, hid behind the shield and continued to chase frantically, he was so angry that his eyes were dripping blood. "Tang Shang of dog R, if you don't take revenge for this, I Batur swears not to be a person!"

As he was chasing, he heard another round of feather arrows coming at him, and he could feel the powerful impact of these feathered arrows on his shield. "Damn, it seems that there are guards in this group of Tang merchants, and they are still masters of bows and arrows! However, there are only four or five hundred of us of three thousand, so it's no wonder that we don't kill you today. ”

"There's a kind of don't run!" Batur roared hoarsely.

Another rain of arrows came from a flurry of arrows, and all of a sudden, three or four hundred of the horse bandits fell from the arrows.

Batur had never encountered this style of play, shooting arrows as he retreated, and the enemy did not fight them head-on at all, but only responded with bows and arrows.

What he didn't know was that this tactic was called: Mangugu! Also known as the "Sabbath archery method", this is a tactic of backfire. That is, the mounted archer shoots arrows at the enemy in the rear while fleeing, does not confront the opponent head-on, retreats when the enemy charges, and shoots back at the enemy while retreating. The core of this tactic is to feign a rout, induce the enemy to pursue, and thus constantly shoot and consume the enemy's living forces.

In later generations, the powerful Mongols, the Mongol cavalry led by Genghis Khan, a generation of Tianjiao, rode horses and archery, and occupied a great advantage. The typical Mongol tactics are not to let you get close, and retreat while shooting arrows, always maintaining a range of 50 meters to ensure that the bow and arrow can penetrate your armor.

Of course, Batur didn't know such tactics, but he became more and more angry, blindly chasing after him.

After chasing for many hours, Batur found that Tang Shang, who had been running away in front of him, no longer fled, but turned his horse's head and rushed towards him. Shocked, he looked back and was so frightened that he almost fell off his horse. I saw that there were only a hundred people behind him, and there were hundreds of war horses with no one on their backs, and in the hazy moonlight, on the road of pursuit, lying all over the body with feathered arrows, all the way to the darkness that could not be seen.

Batur's hairs stood on end in shock, "What's going on?" Why are we only so few people left? However, he suddenly sneered, "Oh, no, we were fooled, these people are not businessmen at all, but well-trained professional soldiers, they are Don. Army. Breaking out in a cold sweat, Batur quickly turned his horse's hair and ran back like mad, ignoring the lives of his surviving companions.

The other living horse bandits are all wearing shields, and they also use shields to protect vital points like Batur, and hide behind the shields with their bodies on horseback, and most of the horse bandits do not have shields, they never thought that thousands of fierce horse bandits still need shields against hundreds of merchants who can only do business, and even very few carry bows and arrows, they only need a war horse scimitar, they have easily succeeded many times before, looting and killing many merchants, and there are almost no tricky ones, except for this time. When they saw that Batur suddenly turned his horse's head and fled in a hurry, a sense of foreboding welled up in their hearts, and they raised their heads to look forward, only to see that the group of merchants who had been fleeing all with long knives turned their horses' heads and ran towards them.

The wind was whistling in Batur's ears, and when he was desperately trying to escape, suddenly the war horse fell to the ground, and he was also thrown far away from the horse's back by a huge inertia, and he fell on the barren Gobi Desert with a fierce upside-down onion, and the scimitar was also thrown far away, and the rough ground covered with coarse sand and gravel threw him to the ground covered with blood, and he was just about to struggle to get up, and his intuition was like being bitten by a mosquito, and his head was numb, and he didn't know anything.

When Batur awoke, he found himself lying on the cold ground of a large tent, with his hands tied behind his back and his feet tied, and the tent dimly lit, and he opened his swollen one-eyed eye to see that there were more than twenty of his accomplices lying around him.

A handsome and charming woman walked up to Batur, looked at him contemptuously and asked, "Who is your mastermind behind the scenes?" ”

Batur's swollen eyes widened, and in the dim light he could see that it was an 18-year-old girl of breathtaking beauty.

"Who is this beautiful girl?" Batur muttered to himself.

Seeing that Batur didn't say anything, a big black man beside the beautiful girl roared viciously: "What about you, are you dumb?" ”

"I don't have a mastermind behind it, we're just a bunch of horse bandits who loot property." After a pause, he hurriedly replied.

"Is it just a robbery? Then why kill all the people and destroy the corpses? The beautiful girl snorted coldly and glanced at the big black man beside her.

The big black man stepped forward and picked up Batur and pulled it out of the tent, and Batur, who weighed at least more than 180 pounds, was like carrying a chicken in the hands of the big black man.

More than 20 other horse bandits were also pulled out of the tent by others, and after a while, they heard the screams of killing pigs outside, one after another.

Xia Xue sat on the carpet of the tent and took a sip of water, listening to the screams outside, she knew that whoever fell into the hands of Ouyang Yong and the others would confess even if they were beaten with iron.

Sure enough, in less than half an hour, Ouyang Yong walked into the big tent and saluted Xia Xue, "Your Majesty, they are all recruited!" This is a confession record. ”

Xia Xue took the confession and read it carefully, her face became solemn.

"Rush back to Chang'an immediately!"

……

In Chang'an Daming Palace, Li Shimin, Xia Xue, eldest grandson Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Gao Shilian, Wei Zheng and other ministers all looked solemn, and Li Shimin was even more gloomy. "Ashina Helu, I trust him so much, I appointed him as the general of Zuo Xiaowei and the governor of Yaochi, he actually secretly colluded with Tuyuhun, Gaochang, Qiuzi and other countries, pretended to be horse bandits, robbed and killed my Tang merchants, and privately established himself as the Western Turkic Shabaluo Khan, wanting to betray the Tang Dynasty and restore the Turkic Khanate, which can be described as a heinous crime and unforgivable! I must personally lead an army to recruit him! ”

"Your Majesty, the Western Regions are far away, the environment and climate are harsh, Your Majesty must cherish the dragon body, my Tang Dynasty will be full of talents, I don't think the emperor needs to drive the expedition in person, it is enough to send a few generals to the Western Regions." The eldest grandson Wuji hurriedly admonished.

"Yes! is only a small country in the Western Regions, and it is enough to send a few generals to send a few generals without the emperor's personal conquest. Fang Xuanling, Wei Zheng and other ministers also advised together.

Xia Xue also dissuaded Li Shimin not to go to the Western Regions to drive the expedition, she went to the Western Regions this time, knowing that the environment and climate there are harsh and harsh, and her husband's health and body are more important, besides, the small countries in the Western Regions do not need the emperor to drive the expedition in person. It is also a good thing to take advantage of this incident to let the generals under him exercise and exercise.

After everyone's unanimous admonition, Li Shimin calmed down his anger, calmed down, and finally discussed with the queen and ministers, and decided to appoint: "Li Jing is the head of the march to conquer Tuyuhun, leading 20,000 elite cavalry regiments of the angel army to conquer Tuyuhun; Su Dingfang was the head of the march against the Western Turkic Ashina Helu, and led 20,000 elite Tang people. the army conquered the Western Turks; Xue Rengui was the head of the march to conquer Gaochang, Qiuzi and other Western Regions countries, and led 10,000 elite Tang people. The army conquered Gaochang, Qiuzi and other countries. Border Don. The army garrison and rear auxiliaries sent a large army to support at any time. ”

As soon as the emperor decreed, the Tang Dynasty war machine immediately began to run at high speed.

Su Dingfang and Xue Rengui were originally when Empress Changsun went to the Western Regions to investigate the real murderer, in order to protect the queen's safety, they had already been arranged by Li Shimin to guard Yumen Pass, an important town in the Tang border pass, not far from the Western Regions. Each of them already has 10,000 Tang in their hands. The elite of the army, after receiving the holy decree, Xue Rengui immediately led 10,000 elite Tang people. The army went straight to Gaochang, Qiuzi and other Western Regions countries.