The battlefield was roughly cleaned, and the corpses of hundreds of dead ** were buried in several large pits, covered with soil, and wooden monuments were erected. Wang Yuan asked Liu Dehai to make a roster for them for future commemorations.

The soldiers, tired and tired, went back to the woods, ate some hot dry food, drank some soup, and fell asleep, and after a while snoring began in the woods. Wang Yuan was also extremely tired, but he did not sleep, according to the terrain described by several veterans of Fan Yang Jiedu, he laid out a simple topographic map on the ground, and carefully designed the route of the march after crossing the river.

There is no need to think much about the route of himself and Gongsun Lan's advance, the two of them only need to go straight to Yunzhou, but the route of the brigade needs to be carefully designed, not only to consider not being intercepted or found by the soldiers and horses of Fanyang Jiedu stationed in Huai'an County, but also to consider the supply of materials that they are already lacking. Wang Yuan's gaze moved all the way from a dead branch representing the Yanghe River to the northwest, and his gaze fell on a stone representing the mountains.

The stone represents a mountain peak located 80 miles north of Huai'an County, 30 miles from the Tibetan border, and 120 miles from Yunzhou. It was an important pass for the defenders of Huai'an County to defend against the soldiers and horses of Tubo in the mouth of the veterans, called Boulder Pass. Detouring to the north of the boulder pass, it is out of the control of the soldiers and horses of Huai'an Fanyang Jiedu. Moreover, this place is also the closest point on the northbound route from Yunzhou. It is possible to use the pressure of Tubo to force the Huai'an defenders not to extend their tentacles outside the Boulder Pass. The only thing that worries people is that outside the Boulder Pass is an area where Tibetan soldiers and horses are frequently active, and it is very likely to encounter Tibetan cavalry.

But Wang Yuan has not many options, and now that it has entered the harsh winter season, Wang Yuan believes that the chance of encountering the Tibetans is not great, because after the border enters November, there are basically few battles. The harshness of the winter in the north is beyond imagination, and even the Tubo Xi and Khitan people living in the north are reluctant to go out at this time, they are still in awe of nature.

After drawing up the route, Wang Yuan sighed, reached out to touch the tea bowl next to him to drink water, but found that the tea bowl was empty, so he was about to get up to pour water, but saw a white palm stretched out from behind him, handing over a bowl of hot soup.

Wang Yuan looked back and saw Qing Yun'er sitting behind him, her eyes shining, looking at herself.

"Why didn't you sleep?" Wang Yuan took the bowl and asked with a smile.

Qingyun'er said softly: "I can't sleep, I'll accompany you, we will be separated after dawn." ”

Wang Yuan smiled and stretched out his hand, hugging her waist, Qingyun'er leaned her head against Wang Yuan's arms, looking at the firelight silently.

"Are you afraid of staying?"

Qing Yun'er shook her head slightly and said, "Don't be afraid." ”

Wang Yuan sighed and said, "Don't worry, I will bring reinforcements to meet you." ”

"I know...... I just want to accompany you, Cousin Gongsun's body is a little weak, you have to take care of her on the way. The young boy stays, Zi'er and I will take care of him, you can rest assured. Qingyun'er said softly.

The firelight shone on Qingyun'er's beautiful face, dyeing the ends of her hanging hair all golden, and the curves of her face were soft and moving, and she looked lovely. Wang Yuan sighed in his heart that although he had a bumpy journey, there were always people around him who treated him sincerely, and he was ashamed that he knew very little about them. Just like Qingyun'er, part of the reason for accepting her is simply because she was born beautiful and can satisfy her selfish desires and vanity, but she has never really understood her, nor has she been treated as a person with respect.

To a certain extent, Wang Yuan has felt that he is being assimilated by this era, becoming vain and greedy, especially in terms of selfish desires, and even began to treat women as accessories, which makes Wang Yuan feel very ashamed.

Although Qingyun'er Ziyun'er and her sisters are indeed gifts from Mrs. Qin Guo, they are also living people, with their own thoughts and personalities, and their own loves and hatreds, but they are completely ignored, and no one cares about them. In these days, most men only need to possess the beauty of women, but few people bother to care about their hearts, how unfortunate women are.

"Qing'er, you are very reasonable and understand righteousness. He is also very virtuous and very good to me. Thank God for letting me meet you and allowing you to be by my side, thank you. Wang Yuan said softly.

Qingyun'er's eyes lit up, and she looked at Wang Yuan shyly and was silent, Wang Yuan took her hand and brought it to her mouth and kissed it gently.

The bonfire crackled, shining on the two figures snuggling up to each other, and in the tent behind them, Zi Yun'er leaned on the stake of the tent, looking at the backs of the two with a pair of eyes stupidly, not knowing what they were thinking.

Wang Yuan was so tired, extremely tired mentally and physically, the warm fire roasted his body, and he fell asleep unconsciously. He had a dream, dreaming that when he returned to his home in Chang'an, Li Xin'er and Lan Xinhui made a table full of good wine and food to entertain him, and there was a warm brazier in the house, everyone was very happy, talking and laughing while drinking, and they were a happy family. also dreamed that he married Gongsun Lan as his wife, and Gongsun Lan stood with Lan Xinhui with a big belly, which was really funny. But for some reason, suddenly there was a violent storm, the roof was lifted, the banquet was blown away, and even the people around him were blown away one by one, leaving him alone in the dilapidated house and looking around, not knowing where to go.

"Ahh Wang Yuan woke up screaming, his body was covered with cold sweat, and he looked around blankly, with no illusions, and everything around him was the same. The bonfire was still crackling, and Qing Yun'er looked at herself with concern.

"Erlang, what's wrong?"

Wang Yuan shook his head, closed his eyes, and sighed: "It's okay, it's almost dawn, it's time to leave." ”

The sky above the treetops was indeed almost bright, and the cloudy dome was faintly white. Wang Yuan got up and wiped his face simply, and when he wiped the water droplets on his face, Liu Dehai, Liu Jun and the others had already gotten up from their respective tents and began to call out loudly to the sleeping soldiers. The soldiers struggled to get up with a pale face and only slept for less than two hours, far from being able to relieve their fatigue, but everyone knew that they could not delay any longer.

After hastily eating dry food and drinking some water, Wang Yuan stood on a wooden stake in the middle of the woodland and gave an order: "Carry all the wood to the river beach, the water is gentle three miles downstream, tie the wood into a wooden raft and lead it there with a rope, and prepare to tie the wooden raft pontoon." The Yanghe River must be crossed in two hours. Liu Jun led people to reconnoitre, especially in the southeast and southeast directions, your horse is fast, and the reconnaissance range has expanded to ten miles away. ”

Liu Jun shouted a promise, turned on his horse, and walked out of the forest with more than a dozen soldiers with fast horses and feet. The rest of the people immediately took action, carried all the wood used to build shelter to the river beach, pushed it into the water and tied it tightly together with the dozens of wooden rafts that had been tied on the river beach last night, and divided into several teams to carry it downstream with long ropes to the selected river crossing site.

Three miles downstream, there is a gentle river with a wide width, so the river is relatively gentle. But it's still very difficult to build a pontoon bridge. The rafts are tied together with ropes, and they are tied with ropes and huge stones as anchor points. When we reached the position near the center of the river, the undercurrent was so turbulent that even the big stones could not fix the wooden rafts, but fortunately, the silt at the bottom of the river was deep enough, and finally the logs were sharpened and erected, and the stumps were fixed on both sides, which barely solved the problem.

But such a toss, the time exceeded expectations, three hours passed, the wooden pontoon bridge was barely formed, if you want to pass the people, you still need to do reinforcement and part of the adjustment, but at this moment, Liu Jun galloped back with the reconnaissance horse team.

"Teacher, there is a large force of cavalry coming towards this side ten miles to the east, not from the Xi tribe, it seems to be Fan Yangjiedu's soldiers and horses. I'm afraid it's already five or six miles away at this moment. ”

Wang Yuan scolded angrily: "Needless to say, Yan Zhuang and An Qingxu must have chased after them through the Jiming Mountain Canyon, cross the river immediately, and don't delay for a moment." ”

Three hundred soldiers and horses immediately began to go up the pontoon, but the people were easy, the horses were the most difficult, more than half of the horses were killed and did not want to go on the wooden rafts, and the river beach was full of scolding and cursing, and there was a mess.

"All the horses that did not want to cross the river were killed, and the supplies were changed to manpower, and they crossed the river immediately." Wang Yuan immediately ordered.

"What are you doing to kill? If you let them go, it's a little unbearable to kill. Liu Dehai objected in a low voice.

"Fart, leave it here for them? Let them keep their rivals? Don't do it yet. Wang Yuan reprimanded sharply.

Liu Dehai woke up like a dream, and immediately ordered, the cavalry wept and gritted their teeth to attack more than 100 war horses, and suddenly there were bursts of sorrow, neighing, and one by one the horses fell down on the river beach, and the blood was steaming, dyeing the entire river beach red. The soldiers took whatever they could, carrying supplies on their backs and crossing the river quickly.

When all the men and horses arrived on the opposite bank of the river beach, they heard the rumbling sound of hooves, and on the barren grass embankment on the east bank, a cavalry had arrived on the river beach, and it was An Qingxu and Yan Zhuang who led seven hundred cavalry to arrive.

"Wang Qin, when we hear the news that you have been attacked, we will come back to meet you, so come across the river quickly." More than a dozen cavalrymen on the opposite bank shouted in unison, conveying the words of Yan Zhuang and An Qingxu.

"Don't bother, I'm going back to Chang'an, say hello to An Shuai for me, and say that Wang can't say goodbye to him in person." Wang Yuan's soldiers also shouted in reply.

An Qingxu scolded angrily and ordered: "Rush across the river and catch him back." ”

Hundreds of cavalry immediately rushed down the river beach and rushed towards the floating platoon.

"Cut." Liu Dehai gave an order, and several soldiers waved their knives and began to cut from the wooden rope in the middle of the river, all the way to the shore. The pontoon bridge was scattered in an instant, and scattered wooden rows and logs floated down the river.

As soon as Wang Yuan waved his hand, the brigade of soldiers and horses immediately tidied up and went on the road, went up to the river embankment, and did not turn back to the west.

An Qingxu jumped like thunder, Yan Zhuang's face was blue but calm, and he said coldly: "The second prince doesn't need to be angry, Yongxing, Huai'an, Wende, the soldiers and horses of the three counties have been dispatched, surrounded on three sides, and they can't escape far." It's the second son, you need to rush back to Youzhou immediately to report An Shuai's matter, so that An Shuai can be prepared. ”

An Qingxu nodded fiercely, watching Wang Yuan's men and horses on the opposite side gradually go west, gradually disappearing into the long grass.