The head of the sword is as sharp as a man, and he always keeps his eyes on it. The iron cavalry chased the captive, and the gold was tied to the gang. In the first month of high autumn, Hudi was early in the wind and frost. The man does not hesitate to die, and he dares to taste with you. ……

In October of the eighth year of Tianbao, the wind in Datang was already strong, and the cool autumn wind swept across the land, and the land was swept away, and the land was desolate; When we arrived in the Western Regions, the wind became more biting, especially in the morning and evening, and the thick leather jacket was already difficult to resist the cold.

But to the south of Shule, about a thousand miles away in the Bole River area, here is already a world of ice and snow, at a glance, the snow covers the earth, large black boulders abruptly on both sides of the river, in the dim light like a hideous monster, the land under the boulders is not covered by ice and snow, but it looks barren and desolate, without any life, everything is frozen in the cold.

The blood-red sun was gradually setting, and the night was about to fall, and the blue night shadow shrouded the snowy valleys and hillsides, but the top of the mountain peaks that towered into the clouds turned a magnificent rose color in the last rays of the sun, like dreamy flowers shining brightly in the sky.

This is the northern foot of the Hindu Kush Mountains, the surface of the Penchi River has frozen, like a jade belt wrapped between the snow peaks and deep valleys, at this time, a group of small black dots appeared in the distance on the river surface, moving slowly, perhaps because the reference is too huge, let us swoop down, this group of small black dots suddenly became larger, this turned out to be an army, a Tang army of about 5,000 people.

They were as scrawny as horses and men, with unconcealed exhaustion on their faces, staring blankly ahead, their feet moving instinctively and mechanically. Although they were exhausted, the Tang Army flag was still erected straight and fluttered in the night wind.

They were the Tang East Route Army that set out from Shule, crossed the Geluo Ridge, and then crossed the Green Ridge to the south, and after a short rest in the Green Ridge guard, they marched southward, and on the way they spent almost the entire autumn, and in a full fifty days, he only walked 800 miles, which shows the difficulty of the march.

Then. A horse galloped along the riverbank, and immediately a high-ranking officer. He is Li Qing's deputy general, Shule captures the guard Xi Yuanqing. He was in his early thirties, small and thin, but with a wide skeleton, an angular face, a straight mouth and a smile in his eyes. At first glance, he is the kind of person who adheres to principles very much.

It could be seen that he was also very tired, but he still shouted loudly to the ice: "Li Duhu, there is Lianyun Castle twenty miles ahead, let's wait for the news!" ”

The voice went against the wind, and even the voice seemed to be frozen, and Xi Yuanqing shouted three times in a row. Li Qingcai finally heard it, and as soon as he raised his hand, the team stopped. Like the soldiers, Li Qing has completely changed into a person after fifty days of marching, his skin has become rough and dark due to strong ultraviolet rays, he has also become thin into a handful of bones, his eyes are full of red lines due to lack of sleep, his unkempt beard has not been combed for a long time, and it has condensed into ice lumps in the cold wind, but he is always optimistic and full of energy, which makes the soldiers feel that fatigue, hardship, hunger, rain, and freezing cannot subdue him.

As the commander of the Eastern Route Army, Li Qing did not have anything special, he slept on the same felt blanket as the soldiers, and swallowed the same dry food in the snow, and the soldiers watched silently, no one could connect him with the former local household servant, so day after day, his tenacity and tenacity, his simplicity and optimism finally won the heartfelt support of the soldiers.

Li Qing looked up at the surrounding environment, the river valley here is open, and there are steep cliffs on both sides, even if they roll down from the cliffs, they can't hurt them, and there can be no ambush.

"Let's go ashore and get some rest!" Li Qing immediately ordered, although the voice was low, but not resistible, the orders were conveyed one after another, the soldiers left the ice one after another, returned to the shore, everyone was tired, threw down their luggage, and sat on the ice and snow, some soldiers untied the wine jug, poured a large sip of wine to keep out the cold, and some soldiers took off their thick military boots and desperately rubbed their feet that had frozen.

Li Qing sat on a stone, and used the handle of his dagger to hit his frozen Hu, and soon knocked off two pieces of ice, and he rubbed it vigorously, and Hu became soft.

At this time, Xi Yuanqing walked over, pointed to a boulder that looked like a giant elephant, and said with emotion: "The year before last, when the handsome passed by at night, I thought it was a monster, so I shot it with an arrow, and now I think about it as if it was yesterday." ”

Li Qing patted him on the shoulder, moved his body, let him sit beside him, looked at the snow-capped mountains in the distance, and said with a slight smile: "General Xi, I heard some veterans say that after Lianyunbao, the road above is even more difficult, and you almost couldn't get down back then." ”

Xi Yuanqing nodded, "Yes, especially when crossing Tanju Ridge, the soldiers were afraid and refused to go down, so the marshal sent someone to go first, and then pretended to be a crossbow from the city to greet him, and the soldiers were willing to go down." As he spoke, his eyes were full of pride, as if he were in deep thought.

At this time, there was a sound of horses' hooves in the distance, and Xiushi, who first went to Lianyunbao to explore the way, came back with more than a dozen scouts, he turned over and dismounted, and walked quickly to Li Qing's side to report: "Dudu, there are still one hundred defenders in Lianyunbao, all of whom are my Tang soldiers." ”

"Only a hundred?" Li Qing was slightly surprised, "Didn't you say that there were a hundred defenders?" Where are the other five hundred? ”

"If you go back to the governor, the last general heard that something had happened in the city of Ayuyue, and the soldiers went to support."

"What? Something happened to Ah Ballast City! Li Qinghuo stood up, and he immediately realized that what the imperial court was worried about had finally happened, and the Tubo people and the people of the Shushi country had colluded inside and out, and finally attacked Xiao Bojin.

"Pass my order, and the whole army will set off at once!"

As soon as the order was given, the Tang troops who had just rested on the river bank hurriedly packed their things, and some of them didn't have time to put on their socks, so they put on their boots and ran with the team.

An hour later, this long-distance East Route Army finally arrived at the fortress of Xiaobojin Lianyunbao, Lianyunbao is surrounded by cliffs on three sides, and there is a barrier on the Penchi River, and the strategic position is extremely important, just like the stone fort city in Longyou.

Take Lianyunbao. It is to open the door of Xiao Bolu, when there were nearly 10,000 people stationed here in the Tubo army, Gao Xianzhi crossed the Chi River at night, and suddenly launched a fierce attack on the enemy, because of the light enemy, the Tubo army was caught off guard by the Tang army that fell from the sky, and in the battle of Lianyunbao, Mo Dao will Li Siye be the first to show his pawn, extremely brave, and take the lead in killing a bloody road. climbed to the top of the city, and he also made great achievements from this. One jumped to the Four Towns Soldier and Horse Envoy.

The chief general who guarded Lianyunbao had already led his army to support the Tang army in Aguyue City, and now the commander of Lianyunbao was a deputy surnamed Zhao. There were only 100 Tang troops under his command, and for the arrival of the army, the Tang soldiers of Lianyunbao cried with joy and cheered, and opened the city gate to welcome Li Qing's army.

"See Li Duhu!" Deputy Zhao Shu saw Li Qing for the first time, but Tang Jun, who came to explore the road first, had already told him that this was the deputy marshal of Anxi, the number two person.

Li Qing's face sank. The whip pointed at him and said, "Let me ask you, what happened to Ah Xuan Yue City?" Why don't you send someone to Shule to report it! ”

The deputy was stunned for a moment, and immediately replied: "I don't know what happened to the city of Ayuyue, I only heard that the Tubo people came back to kill again, but the inferior post sent two sergeants back to Shule three months ago to report, didn't Li Duhu see them?" ”

Li Qing did not see the person who reported the news. I think it's a difficult road, and there has been an accident halfway, since the other party has sent someone to report the news. Then there was no need to blame him, so he nodded and said, "You can boil a little more hot water, and the army will rest for the night, and set off early tomorrow morning." ”

……

'The sea is dry, the ice is gloomy, and the clouds are bleak and condensed,

From Lianyunbao to Xiaobojin to cross the Hindu Kush Mountain, here the cloud peak is towering, the air is thin, the glacier is invisible at a glance, the only place that can be passed is called Tanju Ridge, the terrain is dangerous, the road is extremely narrow, the ice hills here are undulating, the ice tower stands in a forest, the ice cliff is like a wall, the crack is like a net, it is necessary to walk close to the cliff, the cold wind is cold, it makes people stand unsteadily, and if you are not careful, you will fall down the ice crack.

Later, the British explorer Stein surveyed the route of Gao Xianzhi through the Tangju Ridge, and sighed: "There was once a brave general in the country, and the march was thrilling and difficult, compared with the famous European generals, from Hannibal, to Napoleon, to Suvorov, they crossed the Alps, I really don't know how many times." ”

As soon as the day dawned, the 5,000 Tang Army was slightly reorganized, leaving nearly 1,000 sick and weak troops and most of the horses, grain and grass baggage, the army carried dry food and traveled lightly, through the valley of the Suvana River, at noon, the army arrived at the entrance of the Tanju Ridge, the terrain immediately became steeper, and the speed of the march of the team immediately became slow, which was not an order, but an instinctive reaction of the soldiers, everyone stared ahead, and the situation gradually became serious.

Most of the 2,000 Anxi troops led by Xi Yuanqing have participated in the battle of Xiaobojin in Tianbao Niandi and have a little experience, but the Doulu army is the first time to carry out such a difficult march.

But the military order has been issued, the four thousand troops have to muster up the courage to go up, on the huge white ice sheet is still conspicuous, Xi Yuanqing is the vanguard, walking in the front, Li Qing is walking in the army, the army is difficult to trek, no one speaks, the thin air is almost breathless, the war horses are even more pitiful, they are tied with grass ropes on their hooves, and they are carrying weapons, under the desperate pull of the soldiers, they keep snorting and spewing out a stream of white gas.

Suddenly, a horse slipped under his feet, fell suddenly, and together with the two soldiers who pulled him, he fell off the cliff, screaming and neighing, and gradually, the sound disappeared, and the men and horses disappeared.

All the soldiers and generals seemed to have become ice sculptures, motionless, their faces were pale, the blood on their bodies seemed to be colder than ice, and many people's eyes showed fear, let the cold wind blow their faces, human life seemed so fragile and small at this time.

Li Qing mourned in silence for the dead soldiers, he sighed long in his heart, straightened up and ordered sternly: "Once the military order has been issued, there is no reason to turn back, do not stop, continue to move forward!" "The army started again, climbing up with difficulty.

"Governor! Why didn't you choose to attack the kingdom of Shushi? Nan Jiyun finally caught up with Li Qing, with a hint of complaint, panting and asked, his two feet had severe chilblains when crossing the Green Ridge, Li Qing originally ordered him to rest in Lianyun Castle, but he refused to live or die, and he must enter Xiaobojin with the army.

Nan Jiyun's interrogation made Li Qing unable to answer, this was a secret deal between him and Gao Xianzhi, he had promised Gao Xianzhi that he would not reveal it to anyone.

He stopped, evened out his breathing, and then slowly replied: "Ji Yun, I don't want to find an excuse to lie to you about this matter, I just tell you that this is a compromise reached between me and Gao Xianzhi, and you don't have to ask about the specific content." ”

"I'm just afraid that you will go too well in Beijing, and you will underestimate Gao Xianzhi when you arrive in Anxi." Nan Jiyun replied to him softly, and then sped up and hurried forward, and soon disappeared into the group.

"Underestimate Gao Xianzhi?" Li Qing looked at Nan Jiyun's back, he suddenly turned his head to look at Li Fei Shouyu, and saw him smile awkwardly at himself, Li Qing immediately understood, these two archers are learning archery together every day, they must be in addition to learning, Li Fei Shouyu leaked his hole cards to Nan Jiyun, not that he didn't believe in Nan Jiyun, on the contrary, Li Qing met him when he was the proprietor of Chengdu Wangjiang Restaurant, until the later trip to Nanzhao, and he was transferred to Shazhou again.

But some things must be said if the relationship is good, at least a suitable time is needed, such as Duan Xiushi, degrading him himself and then using him, comforting him outside Qiuzi City, this is the timing, Duan Xiushi is also very easy to fit in with himself, and Nan Jiyun is arrogant, if he doesn't choose a good time, let him know in a hurry, once he has a preconceived idea, it will be difficult to change it.

Fortunately, listening to his tone, he was on his side, Li Qing smiled bitterly, he looked west at the sky, the sun was already setting in the west, and the day was almost over.

At this time, the team has crossed the first ice sheet, walking through the crystal clear ice road, from time to time you can see the traces of people in the thick ice wall, these are the remains of some Tang soldiers in Tianbao year, when passing an ice mound, many soldiers have stopped, bowed in silence, only to see a young Tang Jun was frozen in the ice wall, like a model in a transparent window, he curled up, his expression was serene, as if he was asleep, although two years have passed, but the face is still lifelike, Li Qing's nasal cavity was suddenly choked, His eyes were a little moist, and he couldn't bear to look at them anymore, so he turned his head and walked quickly.

The sky gradually reached dusk, and the entire glacier became golden, as if it was the smile of death, Li Qingxin began to be a little anxious, if they couldn't get out of the glacier before dark, they would all have to freeze to death here.

At this moment, a sergeant came from the front to report: "Deputy Marshal Qi, General Xi has found a campsite in front, please go over quickly." ”

……

Four days later, the Tang army finally crossed the steep Tanju Ridge, under the glacier is the undulating plateau, dense shrubs, endless black pine forests, evergreen forests, layer by layer, in turn in a belt downward spread, the Suoyi River in the deep valley stream through the rush.

"Li Duhu, please see, that is the city of Aoyue."

Li Qing looked in the direction of Xi Yuanqing's finger, and saw that in the far south, on the west bank of the Suoyi River, traces of the city walls and fortresses could be vaguely seen.

"It's here! It's finally here! The Tang Army, who had been trekking for more than 50 days, could no longer hold back and hugged each other and cheered.

"Let's go! Come down with me. Li Qing laughed loudly and led the soldiers who saw hope across the last glacier and ran down the mountain.

……