Chapter 204: Return

It took a day for a three-story earthen platform to be built by the herdsmen of Xue Yantuo.

This is an altar for the alliance of blood. After the initial determination of the intention of military cooperation, Li Daoxuan put forward a request for a blood oath to Yi Nan. So Yi Nan ordered this three-zhang high altar to be built in one day.

The second day is the day of the blood oath.

It was a gloomy day and the north wind was howling. The thick clouds on the horizon pressed down heavily, reminding Zhang Yunwen of a poem: Black clouds overwhelm the city and want to destroy it.

Looking at the situation, I'm afraid it's going to snow again!

With slow steps, step by step on the high platform, climb up.

Yi Nan, Bodhisattva and Li Daoxuan walked in the front. The tribal leaders and Zhang Yunwen and several accompanying officials walked behind.

When they reached the top of the altar, a cold northwest wind blew, and everyone shrank for a while. At this time, the top floor of the high platform was already neatly placed with two cases, one long and one short. There were three silver bowls on top of the broken cases, and a long silver bowl on the long ones.

And in the corner of the high platform, a sturdy black bull was firmly trapped on a wooden shelf, and a well-dressed old man Tiele stood next to the black bull with a sharp knife in his hand.

Yi Nan, Bodhisattva, and Li Daoxuan walked to the shorter table, and respectfully picked up the silver bowl with both hands.

At this moment, the old man Tie Le, who was holding a sharp knife, stabbed the black cow's neck and cut the black cow's artery. In an instant, the red blood shot out, and within a zhang, all the red blood was sprinkled with it. The sturdy black bull did not die immediately, its four legs twitched slightly, and a terrible wail came from the bull's mouth.

Yi Nan, Bodhisattva and Li Daoxuan took the silver bowl and walked to the black cow who was flowing blood and wailing in a low voice, took half a bowl of blood, and then walked back to the side of the case.

The rest of the tribal leaders and Zhang Yunwen also picked up the silver bowl from the long case, walked to the black cow in turn, took half a bowl of cow blood, and returned to the case.

Holding the bowl of blood in both hands, in the low wail of the black bull, Yi Nan said loudly in Chinese: "The sky is above, the grassland is below, today there is Tiele Xue Yantuo Zhenzhu Viga Khan, Tiele Hui Hui Zhu Khan, Tang Dynasty envoy Huaiyang King Li Daoxuan and all the chiefs of the large and small tribes are in Mobei, and its preface says: The transformation of the ancient Yanhuang, that is, there is a war, Hanquan, Zhuolu, called the king's division. Then Yao and Shun gave up and ruled the world, gave benevolence and stopped the conquest, and did righteousness and stopped fighting......"

After reciting the oath, Yi Nan put down the silver bowl, dipped his fingers in the silver bowl with blood, and applied it to his lips. The rest of the crowd followed suit.

After smearing the blood, Yi Nan raised the silver bowl again, and continued to read aloud: "Wei Tang Zhenguan for three years, the age is ugly, the King of Huaiyang of the Tang Dynasty, the Governor of Yizhou, General Zuo Xiaowei, Kaifu Yitong Three Divisions Li Daoxuan, Xue Yantuo Zhenzhu Viga Khan, Huifu Huizhu Khan, etc., dare to declare to the emperor and the queen of heaven, the gods of the valley ......"

I only heard Yi Nan recite the oath in standard Chinese, and the entire Turkic and Jieli Khan were counted fiercely in the words, and finally said that they would fight together with the Tang Dynasty.

After reciting this oath, Yi Nan respectfully picked up the silver bowl, leaned against his mouth, and drank half of the bowl of blood "gurgling". The Bodhisattva and Li Daoxuan also drank all the blood in the bowl.

So, on this day when the clouds were accumulating and the north wind was howling, on this high platform, Datang and Tiele temporarily became allies for the common goal of public interest.

Hiding in the tent and watching the snowflakes falling outside the curtain, Zhang Yunwen thought of his wife thousands of miles away. At this time, it is already the first month of the third year of Zhenguan, and during the Spring Festival this year, I am afraid that I am still marching in the desert. And the two of them are probably also leaning against the window and watching. Thinking of this, a deep melancholy surged in his heart.

It had been snowing heavily for a whole day, and the entire grassland was sprinkled with a layer of snow.

After the oath, Zhang Yunwen wanted to return to Chang'an, but it began to snow that night. Zhang Yunwen had to stay for one more day. Looking at the snowflakes, Zhang Yunwen got up a little irritably, walked two steps in the tent, and finally made up his mind to open the thick curtain and walk out.

"I want to go back to Chang'an!" When Zhang Yunwen saw Li Daoxuan, the first thing he said was this.

Hearing this, Li Daoxuan was taken aback: "What? Are you going back to Chang'an now? But if you look at the heavy snow outside, can you go back in this weather? ”

Seeing that Li Daoxuan was a little excited, Zhang Yunwen sighed softly: "Alas, I know that it is very dangerous to walk in this weather, but I have a reason to go back." ”

When Li Daoxuan heard this, he quietly took a sip of milk wine: "Then you tell me!" ”

"First, Jieli's business!" Zhang Yunwen raised a finger, "Jieli sent an envoy to pay tribute, we must sabotage this matter, otherwise this year's crusade against the Turks, my Tang Dynasty will be nameless!" ”

Hearing this, Li Daoxuan nodded slightly. If the Turkic mission successfully arrives in Chang'an, with the heroic character of being able to bend and stretch, even if it is a land cession and a vassal, the Tang Dynasty must suspend the dispatch of troops in order to be in order. At that time, Datang became passive.

"Second, on the issue of artillery!" Zhang Yunwen threw out what he had thought about for a long time, but he couldn't do, "The war is about to begin, and there are a large number of artillery pieces in my equipment yard, but there are almost no soldiers who can skillfully operate the artillery. So I have to take advantage of these few months to train a group of non-commissioned soldiers who can skillfully use mortars and form an army of their own! ”

Hearing this reason, Li Daoxuan was a little puzzled and said: "Is this artillery really necessary?" ”

Zhang Yunwen's face was solemn: "He will become another big branch of the army after the foot soldiers, cavalry, and navy!" If my Datang can be trained, I will be almost invincible in the world! ”

Li Daoxuan had a puzzled expression: "Aren't we almost invincible in the world now?" ”

Zhang Yunwen was stunned for a moment. It is also said that the Tang army, which was trained in the war at the end of the Sui Dynasty, has an extremely high victory rate in internal and external wars, and even if it is not winn, it will win back later. Therefore, Li Daoxuan said that the Tang army was almost invincible, and there was indeed some truth. For a while, Zhang Yunwen didn't know what to say, so he had to argue strongly: "That's a scene where you haven't seen a hundred cannons firing together." If you see it, I'm afraid you will also strongly approve of the formation and training of artillery! ”

Li Daoxuan didn't argue with him, and smiled slightly: "Yunwen, since you have made up your mind to leave the grassland, then I won't stop you, but you still have to be careful, the winter on the grassland is not easy to survive!" ”

Zhang Yunwen arched his hand: "Thank you Brother Daoxuan for your understanding!" ”

So, in this snowy sky, Zhang Yunwen took his three personal soldiers and a team of Tiele knights to embark on the way back to the south. Several officials of the Ministry of Rites also wanted to return to Chang'an with Zhang Yunwen, but were stopped by Li Daoxuan. The first is that these civil officials are not as strong as Zhang Yunwen and his personal soldiers, and the second is that they stay in Xue Yantuo, and there are many things to deal with, and it is of course better to have a few helpers.

There are a total of twenty Tiele knights in this team, all of whom are strong men with strong backs. They were responsible for sending Zhang Yunwen and his party across the desert and returning when they arrived in Monan.

Facing the cold wind, frost and snow, stepping on the ice, snow and mud, everyone walked south with difficulty. At first, the snow was so thick that it was almost knee-deep, and the horses walked in the snow as they walked and fell. On this return trip, Zhang Yunwen ordered each person to bring two slave horses, and the horses carried enough dry food.

As we walked south, the snow on the ground gradually became lighter, and when we reached the edge of the desert, we saw only a pile of snow falling in the shade of mountain cols and valleys, and the rest of the place was showing yellow grains of sand.

There are people in the Tiele Knight who often walk in this desert, so the two guides who took Zhang Yunwen across the desert are now left behind in Xue Yantuo and have become one of them.

It took five days of hard work, and everyone quickly got out of the desert. When there is no water, directly grab the snow in the shade, pour it into the skin, and put it for a while to become clear water, although there are a lot of sand grains in it, but everyone is not very particular, just drink it.

When he arrived at the southern end of the desert and saw the grassland, a Chinese-speaking knight of Tiele couldn't help but say, "Thank you for the grassland!" It is a blessing to have an envoy here. In this month, I walked through the desert and didn't encounter a sandstorm! ”

Hearing the words of the Tiele Knight, Zhang Yunwen also felt that his luck was good.

The Tiele Knight, who arrived at the Monan Grassland, did not continue south, but reflexively entered the desert and returned to Xue Yantuo.

Zhang Yunwen took the three personal soldiers around him to walk south on the ice and snow. Along the way, the ice blades and frost swords, the north wind was cold, the ground was covered with snow, and the attacks of some hungry lone wolves with red eyes, this journey was not easy.

Fortunately, the supplies were sufficient, and Zhang Yunwen continued to explain some basic points of snow warfare to the three of them during the march, and also demonstrated them in person from time to time, so the morale was high all the way south.

Reaching the range of the Turkic tent, Zhang Yunwen did not dare to enter. Although Jieli tried his best to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, no one could say whether he would do it to himself. For the sake of safety, Zhang Yunwen avoided the tooth tent and went all the way south.

Relying on the abundant supplies of two horses per person, it took nearly half a month for the four of them to finally get out of the grassland, and the majestic posture of the Great Wall across the south can be seen in the distance.

When they crossed the Great Wall and reached a small county town, they were stopped by the city guards. Looking at the appearance of the guards of the city, looking at themselves, they couldn't help but laugh, and suddenly understood. It turned out that in the past nearly a month, they only lived on dry food and snow water, and they had yellow and thin faces, deep sunken cheeks, plus they had never trimmed their edges, and their beards were long, no wonder the guards of the city stopped themselves. In the end, it was Zhang Yunwen who showed his waist card before entering the city.

It was renovated in this small county town. I bought some necessary daily necessities first, found a restaurant, and the four of them ordered a table of vegetarian dishes and wine, and devoured them. The children who can see the dishes are despised.

They set out from Xue Yantuo, all the way, the dry food they ate was almost all dried meat, dried fish, cheese and other foods, after eating for a month, almost all of their mouths were meat and milk, so as soon as they arrived in this small county, they directly ordered vegetarian dishes to eat.

After a delay of half a day in this small county, everyone set off again and walked straight to Chang'an.