rising, the purple glow changes in the sky, smearing the city of Anxi with colorful and gorgeous city gates as usual still open early, but a little more slaughter than usual, only one city gate is opened, the soldiers guarding the city are twice as many as usual, the city sells vegetables, firewood, merchants, pawns, noisy, huddled together, almost crush the city gate, but the soldiers defending the city are still strictly checking everyone, no more.

At this time, a group of strange people came up on the road, saying that it was strange because they were all dressed in black, their heads and faces were tightly covered, and they had to stop every step they took, and they only used their left foot to step out, and they must not make a mistake, and the people in front picked a black flag, and a golden moon was printed on the dark background, which was a witch cult from the east city, in fact, the witch cult in the east was originally a family, believing in the sun and the moon, two priests, one in charge of the sun and one in charge of the moon, until fifty years ago, it was divided into two factions in the north and the south.

The place where the Wuyue Sect passed, the pedestrians stopped, silently retreated to the side of the road to give way, although it is the Northern Sect, but the same sect and the same origin, just like two brothers who split the family, they had a big fight for the uneven distribution of property, but the blood on the body is the same vein, and it is for this reason that the idea of the two factions reuniting has not been broken, and every year they have to send people to contact each other to learn the doctrine and eliminate hostility.

The Wuyue Sect gradually arrived at the city gate and was ready to start entering the city, the crowd at the city gate quieted down and consciously spread out to both sides, while the soldiers were a little embarrassed, and everyone was required to be checked. But what about this Wuyue Sect? Do you want to treat everyone equally, all eyes are focused on the chief's body, the city gate guard touched his chin and thought for a long time, and suddenly waved his hand and said: "It's good that everyone wants to check, but they are not people, let them go!" ”

The Wuyue Sect envoy entered the city, and many people wanted to sneak in, but the soldiers were sharp-eyed. They all came out, but the Witch Moon Envoys didn't seem to be affected, and still walked their strange steps seriously, turning the corner of the street, and one of the Witch Moon Envoys made a mistake, and she was so nervous that she wanted to cry. The reason for her wrong foot was simple, there was suddenly one less person in front of her.

In a doorway where the envoys passed, a man quickly took off his black robe, tore off the black cloth covering his face, looked to both sides, and soon disappeared into the crowd.

Han Rijin once went to Chengdu to study at the official school as a nobleman of the Han people in the Kaiyuan period, and almost lifted people, and almost married a Han woman as a wife, he has a deep affection for Sinicization, and it is he who has read. So now he is also the military advisor of King Hangui, and Han Rijin is a person with a cold personality. The city is very deep, and emotions are never exposed. But these two days were obviously irritable, the reason was that he was unable to prevent the king of Hangui from sending troops again, seeing that the war was inevitable, he couldn't help but be deeply worried about the political consequences of this war, the previous time was to fight for a woman, although the reason was far-fetched, but Datang did not interfere, but this time it was under the premise of Datang intervention to send troops. This will undoubtedly push himself to the opposite side of Datang, and Han Rijin almost wants to slap the table and scold people. With such a short-sighted vision, he wants to kill people, and he doesn't want to rely on the powerful Tang Dynasty and does not interfere with the autonomy of the Han people, but he wants to take refuge in Nanzhao, joke! Will Nanzhao make the Han people autonomous? Will Pilo Pavilion allow him to remain in his current position? It's stupid to not understand such a simple truth!

At this time, a family member quietly came to report, "Second master, there is a guest looking outside, he refuses to say his name, he just wants to interview you." ”

It doesn't matter if it's usually so mysterious, but on the eve of the army, a mysterious guest suddenly came, which made Han Rijin a little puzzled, "What kind of guest?" ”

"It's a man in his thirties, and by the way, he speaks Chinese."

"Chinese?" Cold Rijin suddenly had some realization, "Please come in quickly!" ”

The person who came was the person who left the class from the Wuyue Sect, he was the first in the archery skills of the Tang Yulin Army, and the right-hand man under Li Qing was Wu Xingsu, and he was ordered by Li Qing to come to Anxi City to do a big thing.

All the way in, Wu Xingsu saw and heard what he saw and heard when he entered the house on a cold day, no matter the decorations, layouts and the conversation and clothing of the subordinates, they were no different from the Han people, making people feel like they were in the mainland.

Without waiting for Wu Xingsu to enter the house, Han Rijin observed him carefully through the crack in the window, only to see that although he was not tall, his skin was tanned, and thick calluses were grinding out of his palms, but his steps were vigorous, his waist was straight, his eyes were firm and confident, and there was a sense of atmosphere and calmness between his gestures.

"This is a soldier, a soldier of the Tang Dynasty!" Han Rijin didn't wait for him to enter the door, and immediately came to a conclusion.

"I'm the cold sun, what is your excellency looking for me?"

Wu Xingsu stopped, looked him up and down, his thin face, his temperament was cold, and he was consistent with the general's description, he arched his hand and said: "In Xia Wu Xingsu, from Dongcheng." ”

After speaking, he handed over a shrine maiden token, Han Rijin took it and looked at it, then nodded and said, "Please come with me!" ”

Han Rijin took Wu Xingsu to turn a few corners and came to the study in the backyard, this study is no different from the study of the Han family, several rows of bookshelves against the wall are full of books, and there are one table and two chairs in the room, the layout is light and elegant, and it is filled with a touch of sandalwood.

"You may be seated!"

Han Rijin personally poured him a cup of tea, waved his hand to let the subordinate at the door step down, and said straight to the point: "Say it!" Find me something. ”

Wu Xing didn't answer, first took out the Yulin Army waist card and put it on the table, and then took out a letter and handed it to Han Rijin, Han Rijin glanced at the waist card on the table, and then pulled out the letter and unfolded it, which was densely filled with small characters, the words were round and beady, and without waiting to see the content, he praised it first, "Good words!" ”

"This is what my general wrote." Wu Xingsu, who usually cherishes his words like gold, showed a smile at the corner of his mouth and said one more word.

"General?" Han Rijin showed a look of surprise in his eyes, and looked a little lost, "A martial artist can also write such beautiful words, it seems that I am outdated." After sighing, he said casually: "Who is your general?" Li Qing? ”

Wu Xingsu didn't speak, only glanced at the envelope, Han Rijin lowered his head, and saw that the envelope was written on it: Li Qing, the Taishe of the Tang Dynasty and the Guoyi Captain of the Yulin Army.

He smiled slightly, and began to skim the content of the letter, the content was very simple, just said that the Tang Dynasty hoped that he would unify the east, resist the eastward expansion of the Southern Zhao, and continue to maintain the status quo of the Han people, and others

No, Han Rijin had no expression on his face, but the careful Wu Xingsu was trembling slightly, Han Rijin seemed to feel Wu Xingsu's staring, his eyes were raised, his sharp gaze pierced Wu Xingsu, and his trembling hand immediately became stable, as if nothing happened, he spread the letter on the table, picked up the teacup and took a sip, but his eyes did not leave the letter, tasting the meaning outside the letter, Han Rijin had already understood, let him be the lord of the east, so what should his eldest brother do? What should I do with Han Chongdao? The implication is to get rid of them first.

His face sank, slapped the table fiercely, stared at Wu Xingsu gloomily and said, "You want to use the strategy of borrowing a knife to kill people, and borrow my hand to get rid of the eldest brother, don't you!" With a fierce gaze, he drew his sword and put it on his neck, and as soon as the person in front of him was the slightest panic or hesitation, he would slash him with a sword.

Wu Xingsu only smiled faintly, "Why go too far, my general only asks if you want to be the lord of the east." ”

Han Rijin sneered, "What do you want?" What if you don't want to? ”

Wu Xingsu's face was raised, he stretched out his extra-long arm, and gently pushed the sword away, "Think, I'll be a hostage; No, you killed me. ”

"I won't kill you, but you have to make it clear to me."

Han Rijin smiled, his face warmed up, intuitively, he believed that Li Qing was telling the truth, presumably it was the witch who recommended himself to him, it seems that this Li Qing is not stupid, he has seen through Han Chongdao and his people, Han Chongdao is not a pity to die, but his eldest brother is not easy to do, kill him, he can't do it, but he can't kill him, and he is afraid that he will mourn Han Ren. The cold day was conflicted, but his face was not shown at all, and he only looked at the content of the letter over and over again.

Suddenly, he felt something, rolled his eyes and smiled: "You must have another letter!" ”

Wu Xingsu nodded, "My general said that if you take back your sword, I can send you another letter." ”

He pulled out a bamboo tube from his bosom. He shook out a scroll of paper from it and handed it to him, this scroll of paper was very detailed, all the details were taken into account, and there was also the signature of the witch as a guarantee underneath, but asked Han Rijin to send his son to the Tang Army as a hostage.

The cold day took a long breath of cool air. This man has thought everything through, even if he doesn't kill his eldest brother, then he still won't be able to live. ’

He lit a fire and burned the two letters, looked at Wu Xingsu again, and said with a faint smile: "What if I don't take the sword back?" ”

Wu Xing glanced at it, and saw a picture of a tiger descending the mountain hanging on the wall about three zhang away on the opposite side, he raised his hand and a small crossbow arrow on his sleeve, 'Whoosh!' The ground shot out, and a black shadow flashed in the sky. The bolts broke the strings on which the paintings were hung, and the Tiger fell from the wall.

Han Rijin stared at the painting on the ground for a long time. Only then did he say slowly to Wu Xingsu: "You stay by my side first, let me think about it again." Even if I don't want to, I won't hurt you. ”

.

Two days later, the rumbling war drums shattered the temporary tranquility of the Eastern Plateau, and the King of Hangui attacked the East City again, and a group of soldiers marched in line on the field, carrying a long bamboo ladder, and from time to time there were war horses passing through the army, and grain trucks one after another. Lined up in long lines, heavily guarded by heavy troops. The black armor, the cold sword light, exuding a soaring murderous aura, there was no resistance along the way, and it arrived in Dongcheng in only one day, and the army set up a large camp two miles away.

Han Chongdao inspected the war readiness on the city tower, he had not slept well for a few days, his eyes were red, but he was still full of anger, he kept shouting loudly, correcting the mistakes of the soldiers, and there was food assistance, Han Chongdao was fully prepared, and carried out the clear of the strong wall outside the city, so that the enemy could not get food supplements, and mobilized the people in the city to defend the city to make up for the lack of soldiers.

At night, countless torches converge into a sea of fire, as if to set the sky on fire, the city is also a long dragon of fire, in the red firelight, the earth becomes day, the rumbling drums urge wave after wave of soldiers to charge, the rain of arrows on the city is overwhelming into the air, and the arrows shot from the city are intertwined, weaving into a huge arrow net, and turning into arcs, with the greeting of death, destroying the fresh life on the earth.

Li Qing stood in the corner of the city wall and watched coldly, this was a farce, a bloody fight between brothers, neither to protect the family nor to defend the country, just to satisfy the selfish desires of the two careerists, he only saw the cold and noble screams in the city, and saw the cold king in the city shouting with blood-red eyes. That's enough! Can't let them fight anymore, the internal losses of the Han people are too great, and in the end they will only cheapen Nanzhao in vain.

All the Tang troops behind him were also watching this low-level underground city attack and defense battle with interest, and the attacking side had neither building cars, arrow towers, nor ladders and battering rams, not to mention large-scale long-range offensive weapons such as stone generators; And the defending side, bed crossbows, trebuchets, chain crossbows are also the same, both sides only bow and arrow, short-distance shooting, the battle is extremely tragic, as if it is a meat grinder, whether it is on the city or under the city, groups of soldiers arrows fell, the soldiers on the city arrows, screaming and falling down the city, and the soldiers under the city stepped on the corpses of their fathers and brothers, carrying the stairs and roaring forward, until they were shot again, but no one retreated timidly.

The cold courage and fear of death made every Tang army have the same thought in their hearts, if they are trained well and equipped with sophisticated equipment, this will be a strong force.

After all, this is just a tentative battle, just to find out the reality of the other party, soon, both sides invariably reduced the number of offensive and defensive people, and gradually collected the troops and stopped drums, and then both sides sent people to clean up the corpses on the battlefield and rescue the wounded soldiers, only at this time can not attack each other, Li Qing saw that the agreed time had come, turned back to Gao Zhandao and gave a look, Gao Zhandao understood, led several subordinates to quietly swing down the city, and quickly came to the battlefield under the cover of night, the battlefield was full of corpses and people all over the ground, the same, Several black shadows quietly ran from the opposite side, whispered to the code, pushed a slender and thin figure to Tang Jun, and then moved a few corpses, and returned to the camp with others, Gao Zhandao took the thin figure, hurriedly ran back to the city wall, climbed along the long rope, and after a while, several people returned, Gao Zhandao was carrying an eleven or twelve-year-old handsome young man on his back, who was looking at Li Qing nervously and uneasily.