The first snow has quietly descended on the Hexi Corridor, and the sky and the earth are white, and the fine and dense snow particles are falling tirelessly, and the land of Hexi is wrapped in a thick layer of silver overnight.

The big and small rivers have been frozen, the trees have been jade trees and branches, crystal clear, there are hundreds of miles of ice hanging endlessly, people seem to be in the crystal world, the official road is scarce, often it takes a few hours before a horse-drawn carriage occasionally appears, carrying a cart of charcoal, to Wuwei to sell.

Suddenly, a rapid sound of horses' hooves woke up the silent morning, more than a dozen war horses galloped from the west, the heavy sound of horses' hooves shook the snow on the branches on both sides of the official road and fell down, the carriage carrying charcoal hurriedly avoided the official road, and more than a dozen cavalry seemed to blow a whirlwind, swept past the carriage, and soon became a group of small black spots.

"Is there any urgent military situation?" The charcoal seller muttered to himself, lifted his spirits again, and accelerated his speed towards Wuwei City.

Although it was already cold, the school field outside Wuwei City was in full swing, and the 10,000 militia groups gathered from various counties were actively practicing. To the west is the cavalry training ground, where several groups of cavalry gallop on horseback, and the horses fly dozens of paces from the target position, and the crossbow arrows suddenly shoot from the horses, either hitting the target or missing the target.

Zhang Huan, accompanied by Li Shuangyu, the militia envoy, was inspecting the training of the militia soldiers, who were no different from the regular army except that they did not wear armor

"The effect of the training is not bad, I don't know how the actual combat is, remember, to strengthen the training of them to obey the military order, even if there is a cliff in front of them, the order does not stop, you have to jump off me!"

"Subordinates obey! Tomorrow, I will take them to climb Qilian Mountain. ”

Zhang Huan saw Li Shuangyu's solemn face. couldn't help but smile slightly: "Climbing a mountain can train their physical fitness, but don't really go to the cliff, I'm just making an analogy." ”

At this time, Zhang Huan saw a lot of soldiers gathered by a river outside the school yard from a distance, so he walked towards the river.

The width of the river is about 20 zhang, the ice on the surface of the river has been chiseled, and it is steaming white, and there are more than 2,000 soldiers gathered on both sides of the river, all of whom are wearing their upper bodies and lined up in several teams.

An officer waved a red flag. Immediately, two teams of nearly a thousand people ran into the river together, and they shouted in unison and jumped off the river without hesitation. Swim to the other side.

Zhang Huan nodded knowingly and asked Li Shuangyu, "How long have they been holding out?" ”

"Back to the governor, from the beginning of October to the present, I have to go to the river for half an hour every day. Wind and rain constantly. ”

Zhang Huan nodded, "I have ordered Luo Guangzheng to prepare all the armor, and it will be sent down this afternoon, and they will bring the armor for training from tomorrow, and when they put on the armor, you have to tell them that they are no longer a militia group, but a regular Xiliang army." ”

Li Shuangyu was overjoyed, and he hurriedly asked, "Governor." Could it be that the time has come to send troops to Longyou? ”

"It's coming!" Zhang Huan stared at the dozen or so small black dots running in the distance, and he smiled faintly: "I'm waiting for the best time to come." ”

In a moment, a dozen black dots rushed closer, and it was a dozen scout cavalrymen, who turned over and dismounted. stepped forward to report: "Enlighten the governor." The situation in Hehuang was calm, and there was no sign of an army build-up. And the road surface is seriously frozen, and large baggage cannot walk. ”

"And what about the freezing situation of the Yellow River?"

"The surface of the Yellow River has frozen, and the boat cannot travel, but it will take time for the brigade to pass."

"Thank you for your hard work."

Zhang Huan immediately turned back to Li Shuangyu and said, "You have to step up your training, and it will be within ten days to send troops to Longyou." ”

With that, he immediately mounted his horse and returned to Wuwei City, and as soon as he arrived at the governor's yamen, he saw Du Mei hurrying over.

"Governor, there is news from Shu County!" Dumeyang said excitedly with a roll of pigeon letters.

"Let's go! Go into the room and speak. ”

There were coals lit in the room, it was very warm, Zhang Huan sat down, and took the paper roll from Du Mei's hand, which was the news that they had placed in Hanzhong to send to Kaiyang, and then from Kaiyang to Hexi.

Only a few sentences were written on the scroll, saying that the Tang army was like a bamboo, Cui Qinggong had recovered Ba County, and Wei Ge's Western Route Army had gained more momentum, and had conquered Langzhong County and grabbed Cui Qinggong's front.

And Zhu Wangfeng fled, and more than 100,000 people have retreated to the front line of Zitong County.

"Governor, I'm afraid the situation of the Tang Army is not good."

"Why?"

Du Mei smiled bitterly and said: "The Tang army occupied more than ten counties before the first battle, is Zhu really so incompetent?" I think he is using a strategy of arrogance, the longer the battle line is stretched, the more troops will be divided, and the advance is too fierce, I am afraid that the logistics supply will not be enough. ”

Zhang Huan didn't speak, in his opinion, logistics is not a problem, it can be supplied on the spot, the key is that Cui Qinggong and Wei Ge obviously have a battle of intentions, if the Tang army is defeated, then this is the root of defeat.

After a long time, he sneered lightly, "Let them call, and we can handle our own affairs." ”

He threw the pigeon letter into the brazier and burned it, and said to Du Mei: "Let Kaiyang act inside, and then sneer the Wei family's heart, once the Yellow River freezes, we will act immediately!" ”

It has been nearly a month since the Wei family sent troops, and the news of the increasingly serious situation in Hexi has been continuously sent to Kaiyang County by the spy Hu Shopkeeper who Wei has planted in Hexi, and at the same time, Zhang Huan's letter asking for help from Longyou has also flown to Wei's house like snowflakes.

Wei Ge has personally led the troops to Jiannan to suppress bandits, the Wei family is in charge of the overall situation in Kaiyang County at the moment is Wei Ge's third brother Wei Du, he was originally the assassin of Longxi County, this year was transferred to Kaiyang County Assassin History, Wei Du is extremely cautious, he did everything according to the deployment of the eldest brother before leaving, he ignored Hexi's request for help, opened and closed the city gate on time every day, and personally inspected the situation in the city.

The original army of 110,000 people in Longyou was carried by Wei Gen Nanzheng with 60,000, and 10,000 people served as logistics to transport grain and grass, and there were still 40,000 troops left in Longyou area at present, mainly deployed in Huijun and Kaiyang County, and there were also 5,000 troops stationed in Jincheng County.

For more than a month, Wei Du was worried every day, lest Zhang Huan and Duan Xiushi would not abide by the contract and take advantage of the situation to send troops to Longyou, so the first thing he did when he got up every morning was to get news from Hexi and Lingwu County. The situation in Lingwu County is calm and there is no change, but the situation in Wuwei County is not good, according to the eldest brother, it is the party members who are in turmoil.

On this morning, Wei Du inspected the city as usual, and the route he walked every day was very simple and fixed, only walking twice on the central axis street of Kaiyang City before returning to the Thorn Mansion.

When he walked near the Xijia restaurant, he suddenly heard a man shouting at the top of his throat. "Folks, Hexi is in turmoil, and the party has killed thousands of Han soldiers. If you have relatives over there, hurry up and burn incense to bless you! ”

With his shouting, many people on the street gathered around him, asking for news. Wei Du's face sank. Immediately ordered left and right: "Bring this person up!" ”

In a moment, the man who was shouting news was brought in, and Wei Du asked him, "Who are you?" Where did you hear the news that the party killed the Han people? ”

The man knelt on the ground and said tremblingly: "The villain is a guy from the Xi family restaurant, and the villain's relatives fled back from Hexi in the morning, and the villain listened to what he said." ”

Wei Du became interested and immediately asked, "Where are your relatives now?" "The villain just arranged for them to eat in the restaurant."

"Take me to them quickly."

The man who fled back from Hexi was a family, and the man was about 30 years old, and he was honest and honest. Behind him was a yellow-skinned woman, with a child on each side, and all of them hid behind her mother timidly, and there were some items piled up on the ground.

Seeing that a thorn Shi came in, the shopkeeper Xi hurriedly greeted him with a smile. The guy pointed to his relatives. whispered a few words to the shopkeeper, and the shopkeeper hurriedly took the woman and the child to the back. The man was led to Verdo by the man.

"Don't be afraid, tell me about the situation in Hexi, this official will be rewarded." Wei Du saw that the man's face was flushed, and he looked honest, and couldn't help but smile slightly: "Where are you from, why did you go to Hexi?" ”

The man knelt down and stammered: "Xiaomin was originally from Longxi County, and his younger brother was a soldier in Hexi. ”

Wei Du has been an official in Longxi County for many years, and when he heard that he was from Longxi, his compassion rose, so he gave a look to the left and right, and immediately someone put down more than a dozen yuan in front of the man, and the man kowtowed again and again to thank him, and he was grateful.

Wei Du smiled and asked again: "I heard that the party members in Hexi are in chaos, what kind of chaos is it, you can tell me in detail." ”

The man's gratitude calmed down slightly, and he said: "Originally, the party members were okay when they first came, some grazing, and some rented official fields, but since August, many party members suddenly asked for the same distribution of land as the Han people, and the government did not agree, so they began to make trouble, and then the official uniform suppressed, I heard that a lot of people died, and the party people made more and more trouble, a month ago tens of thousands of party people occupied Guzang County, they seized the land, expelled the Han people, killed thousands of people, and the family of the second uncle of the small people was killed by them, and the small people saw the opportunity quickly, took his wife and children and a group of people to escape from Hexi, and finally crossed the Yellow River in Jincheng County, but thinking that there was nowhere to go, he came to join Xiaomin's cousin. ”

"I see!" Wei Du stroked his beard, pondered for a moment and asked, "Is there a war in Hexi?" ”

"When Xiaomin walked to the ground, I heard that tens of thousands of officials and soldiers had gathered, and the party members had also gathered 20,000 people, but I only heard about it, and I didn't see it in person."

Wei Du stood up, looking relaxed, and he smiled slightly at the shopkeeper: "Their family will stay in Kaiyang County!" You come to settle them, and if you need anything, you can apply to the government. ”

Shopkeeper Xi nodded again and again and said, "Please rest assured, the little one will do it!" ”

Wei Du left the restaurant, he was completely relieved, Zhang Huan could not attack Longyou again

A few days later, the winter solstice of the second year of Xuanren arrived, and the Yellow River had been completely frozen, and at this time, a snowstorm swept towards the Helong area.