The scene was suddenly in chaos, and without waiting for the order, nearly a hundred pro-soldiers rushed up frantically and surrounded the governor, Li Dingfang's heart was so frightened that he stopped beating, he reacted instantly, and yelled, "Protect the governor, control the scene!" With that, he drew his sword, swooped down viciously at the man who had sent it, and when he came near, several of the soldiers who had knocked him down had already stolen, and a short arrow had pierced the back of his neck, and he was dead.

Ping Ping had already helped Zhang Huan to stand up, just now Zhang Huan's head hit the steps hard, and he was not fully awake until now, the hundred pro-soldiers had not given him a chance to interrogate, and almost carried him into the restaurant, Ping Ping flashed to the side, and picked up a few colored pastries he had just bought with some distress, which had already been trampled on by his feet.

"Miss Pingping, thank you so much this time." Li Dingfang thanked Pingping with palpitations, this assassination, obviously the same method as killing Yuan Zai, the praying mantis catches cicadas, the yellow finch is behind, the poisonous arrow is shot from the opposite building, two arrows are shot at the same time, it should be two people, one person shoots Zhang Huan, one person kills people and destroys the mouth, and these two people must still be in the city.

Ping Ping waved her hand to say that she didn't need to thank her, she remembered something, and asked again, "What about that Fang Wurui?" Why isn't he with your governors? ”

"He went with Miss Li on errands, and originally made an appointment to meet in Changsha, but he didn't expect to be assassinated in Baling County." Speaking of this, Li Dingfang was thoughtful, he secretly glanced at Pingping, and said seriously: "It seems that there is no one with strong martial arts around the governor, it is indeed not good!" ”

Ping Ping didn't bother to pay attention to his deep meaning, she pointed to the pastries on the ground and said angrily: "This is all done by your subordinates, should you compensate me?" ”

"The! Should! Should! Li Dingfang agreed, he hurriedly called a few personal soldiers, and ordered them to buy a car to come back. At this time, a soldier walked out of the restaurant and said to Li Dingfang: "General, the governor told you to go in!" He saluted Pingping again, "Pingping girl." The Governor invites you to come in. ”

In the room, Zhang Huanzheng carefully inspected the flying knife, which was three inches long, willow-shaped, and had been quenched with poison all over his body. It emits a strange blue light, but no matter where you look at it, you can't find the mark of the maker, you can only say that it is made by yourself, and the poisoned arrow is a standard military crossbow, in the weapons prison, there are millions of such crossbow arrows, and the preemptive and batch numbers have also been scraped off, and no clues can be found.

In fact, Zhang Huan didn't really care who killed him. There are many people who want to kill him, how can he check them one by one, as long as there are no obvious clues, this matter is just that, just thinking. Li Dingfang walked into the room. He bowed and said, "Please command?" ”

"Let me ask you, what clues did the man who shot the knife find?"

Li Dingfang shook his head, "No, he has nothing but this flying knife on him." There is nothing else, and even the style of clothes is the most common pedestrian dress. ”

Zhang Huan thought about it with his hands behind his back and said: "This matter is over, there is no need to search the city, order the brothers to clean up, and we will go south immediately." ”

Li Dingfang agreed, turned around and left. Zhang Huan stopped him again. "There is also the matter of Xiangyang land, send someone to tell Li Shuangyu. I don't want to have a next time. ”

"Yes!" Li Dingfang saluted and walked quickly.

After dealing with the assassin's matter, Zhang Huan praised Ping Ping, who was standing aside: "I only found out today that Ping Ping is actually very smart and quick to react, and none of the hundreds of men present can match it. ”

Ping Ping was rarely praised by Zhang Huan, she scratched her head a little embarrassedly and smiled: "Actually, I have seen that person a long time ago, everyone else dragged their families and carried large bags and small bags, all of them were emotional, but he was extremely calm, in order to squeeze to the front, he also overthrew several women and children, I wondered if he wanted to make trouble, so I drew my sword and guarded you, I didn't expect him to be an assassin." ”

"There's one more thing I want to discuss with you."

Zhang Huan groaned for a while and said: "I still have to go to Changsha, can you go back to Longyou first, don't go with me." ”

This time back to Longyou, he may marry Pingping, Pei Ying's intention to let her come also clearly hints at this, but she has always followed her, and if she goes back and marries her, I am afraid it will affect her reputation, Zhang Huan thought about it, and still felt that it was good to let her go back first, but unexpectedly, as soon as he raised the matter, Pingping's face immediately changed, she didn't say a word, only nodded silently, and turned around and walked towards the door. Seeing her lonely back, Zhang Huan suddenly felt a little unbearable in his heart, he thought that he had no intention of calculating it, which was very unfair to her, "Pingping!" Just as she was about to leave the room, Zhang Huan suddenly stopped her.

Ping Ping stopped, she didn't look back, just lowered her head and secretly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, "Is there anything else you need?" Her voice was already a little choked.

Zhang Huandi felt more and more sorry in his heart, he hurriedly stepped forward and pulled her shoulder, Ping Ping was already in tears at the moment, "I'm sorry!" I'm worried about your safety, so why don't you stay and we'll go back together. ”

Ping Ping finally cried out loud, she hugged Zhang Huan tightly, how many years of grievances and pain turned into tears at this moment, surging out, and at this moment, Zhang Huan's eyes were also a little red, he suddenly remembered the girl who wore red clothes to bring food to himself many years ago, remembered that he was depressed and lonely, only she was by his side, bringing countless laughter and comfort to herself, she may not be smart, even a little clumsy, but her heart is pure, her love does not need anything in return, The reason why she recalls Zhang Shibai in the past is because she has no power or money in the past, only a love for her, which is this love, she is willing to spend her life to recall its bits and pieces, and has no regrets, this is a woman who has not been polluted by power and worldliness, where is she worthy of her?

Zhang Huan hugged her tightly in his arms, and he felt that he owed her too much. "I'll take you home, home."

An hour later, Zhang Huan, under the strict protection of thousands of soldiers, left Baling County and continued to Changsha.

At this time, it was late spring, the weather began to be hot, and it was also the most vigorous season of the year, the trees were flourishing, the pasture was fertile, and at the same time when Zhang Huan went south to Changsha, the throne changed again

Viga Khan died of illness and his eldest son, Loyal Khan, ascended the throne. He inherited his father's determination to go west, and in order to appease the Tang court, the loyal khan killed the Tang general Li Zhengji, who had fled to Hui, and sent an envoy to return his head to the Tang Dynasty. And sent 30,000 good horses to apologize to the Tang Dynasty, after pacifying the east, the loyal khan sent the general Jiegan Gas to lead an army of 100,000 troops divided into two routes, one way across the Jinshan to attack the Qarluqs, the other way down the north court south to attack the Baifu Turks and Shatuo people, at the same time, the Tibetan Zanpu Trisong Dezan and the Great Cannibals reached a reconciliation, and were able to get out of Tocharian in order to support the Qarluq and the Baifu Turks. He personally led an army of 60,000 to the north of Anxi, and the battle for Anxi, which had been resting for nearly half a year, once again kicked off

Carrier pigeons flew in the sky, and eight-hundred-mile urgent messengers galloped along the Hexi corridor, stirring up billowing yellow dust, and countless pieces of information about Anxi were sent to the east. End of April. Zhang Huan temporarily changed his plan to visit Changsha and urgently returned to Longyou.

The sea is boundless, the Gobi is long, the desolate wilderness is endless, and the night is low. In the distance were the swarthy mountains of the Folded Mountains, and on the bleak earth, there was nothing but the impenetrable black shadow and the unbreakable silence.

This is the junction of the north of Dunhuang County and Jinchang County, about 50 miles away from Xingxing Gorge, and a 6,000-strong Tang army cavalry is speeding north like black mercury. The world of black rumbling flew past them. In the distance, a lake looms.

The main general who led this army was none other than Wang Siyu, Zhang Huan's main general in Hexi. Two days ago, the defenders of Xingxing Gorge sent a courier, a large number of Shatuo people fled into Hexi, Wang Siyu immediately realized that this was the Shatuo people in Beiting who had an accident, and now it is the Shatuo people who are fleeing, but if you take it lightly, the next defeat will be the Shatuo army, he ordered the army overnight, and rushed to Xingxing Gorge to help.

The army galloped and arrived at the lake in an instant, there was a large area of Hu ** by the lake, green grass, Wang Siyu raised his hand and ordered in a deep voice: "Rest in place for half an hour." ”

Ling Rushan fell, six thousand cavalry dismounted, each led their horses to the lake to drink, the lake immediately became lively, Wang Siyu was very worried, he walked quickly to a flat boulder, spread out the map of the north court.

Since the outbreak of the tug-of-war between the Hui and the Tibetan last year, due to the rebellion of the Qarluq and the white-clad Turks against Beiting, the Hui retreated to Mobei in December last year, and tens of thousands of Shatuo people who have been attached to the Hui in Shatuo Prefecture also surrendered to the Qarluqs.

Judging from the map, Shatuo Prefecture is located in the north of the original Tingzhou, and there is also Yiwu County (today's Hami area) between Xingxing Gorge, if the Shatuo people walked hundreds of miles to flee, it means that the Beiting Rebellion was at least ten days ago.

"General, Cheng Changshi is here." I saw that in the dark, Changshi Cheng Duo walked over with a smile accompanied by more than a dozen entourages, "General Wang, what a coincidence, I am also about to go to Xingxing Gorge." ”

Cheng Duo is the highest civil official in Jiuquan, Jinchang, and Dunhuang counties, and is fully responsible for handling the government affairs of the three places.

Wang Siyu hurriedly stood up and bowed his hand to Cheng Duo: "It seems that we are all for the same thing." ”

Cheng Duo walked closer, and by the faint red light of the torch, he glanced at the map, frowned, and said, "General Wang, I have an ominous premonition. ”

"Come on! Sit down and talk. Wang Siyu pulled him to sit on the boulder, and he was also a little worried, "To tell you the truth, I feel that the Hui people are not good at coming this time, and it is very likely that they will not abide by the agreement reached with us last year." ”

"You mean Vigha Khan's death?"

Wang Siyu stared at the lake reflecting a white light, nodded slightly, and said: "Yes, there has always been a tradition that the Hui Khan did not recognize the promise of the previous Khan, and besides, the Governor did not sign any written agreement with them at the beginning, and they only cooperated for the common good, and now I am worried that they will invade Hexi under the pretext of pursuing the Shatuo people." ”

Cheng Duo was also silent, he admitted that Wang Siyu was right, when Li Zhengji rebelled, the Hui people attacked Shuofang, which may have hinted that their cooperation was over, the previous cooperation was to jointly attack Tubo, and now when Tubo does not become a threat, will the Hui attack Hexi?

"No, I think this matter is very important, and we must report it to the governor immediately!"

Wang Siyu stood up, and he resolutely said to Cheng Duo: "We can't sit back and wait for them to attack. From now on we will enter a state of war, and it may be too late to decide when the governor comes. ”

When the sky was bright, Wang Siyu's army finally arrived at Xingxing Gorge. Xingxing Gorge is located in the westernmost end of the Hexi corridor, here is the throat of Anxi and Hexi, the strategic value is immeasurable, although it has a gorge in its name, in fact it is a narrow passage about three miles wide and more than ten miles long, both sides are lofty mountains and mountains, the geographical location is very dangerous, and the later Red Army West Route Army was wiped out here.

The Don army stationed two battalions of 4,000 troops here, firmly holding this place. There is a lake next to Xingxing Gorge, a small town is built near the lake, called Huliu Town, more than 200 households, most of them are the original Hexi military family members. Han Chinese make up about half. Usually they live by herding, but since the Tang army occupied Xingxing Gorge and garrisoned heavy troops, more than 100 prostitutes who came from all over the country to do business also settled here, making the original fresh and simple town full of cheap and pungent fat powder. But at the moment, Huliu Town is already overcrowded. Nearly 10,000 Shatuo people who fled from Beiting crowded around the town, and there were tents everywhere, and the stench was so bad that the townspeople made a long wooden fence to separate the Shatuo people from the town.

Camels, cattle and sheep could be seen grazing and drinking everywhere around the lake, and the Shatuo people were disarmed. Guarded by a thousand soldiers. They are not allowed to leave at will.

When Wang Siyu's army passed through the town, countless Shatuo people ran out of their tents to watch from afar. Especially groups of children, running on both sides of the cavalry of the Don Army.

"Okay, General Wang, let's break up here." Cheng Duo bowed his hand to Wang Siyu, and his task was to accept these Shatuo people and place them in several counties to prevent them from gathering to make trouble.

"What does Changshi need, just ask."

Wang Siyu left 500 cavalry to assist Cheng Duo, and he himself led a large group of men and horses to gallop towards Xingxing Gorge.

After the Tang army occupied the Xingxing Gorge last year, it built two castles again on the mountain, connected with the original fortress, there were three castles in total, and the 4,000 Tang troops were stationed in them, separated by four or five miles from each other, respectively guarding the eastern, middle and western sections of the Xingxing Gorge, echoing each other, so that the entire gorge mouth defense was not leaky.

The commander of the easternmost castle is called Ding Xiaoyuan, more than 30 years old, he was originally a Han slave who was taken captive, Zhang Huan broke through the Han ear eight miles, he was free, he joined the Tang Army, has been following Zhang Huan to this day, his wife and children are now in Longxi County, I heard that Wang Siyu arrived, Ding Xiaoyuan came all the way out of the castle to meet.

"In addition to these Shatuo refugees, have any troops been defeated recently?" This is Wang Siyu's main concern, and the signs of defeat mean that the Hui army is advancing to this side.

"General Hui, not yet, we have sent five teams of scouts to find out the news."

Wang Siyu nodded, "You have done a good job, but you also have to prevent the defeated army from appearing as refugees, I mean, any refugee must be strictly checked, especially the young and strong." ”

"The last general obeys!"

As the two spoke, they went up the mountain road and walked briskly towards the castle, at this moment the sky was already bright, but the clouds were overcast, there was no sun, although it was almost the middle of May, but the wind on the mountain road was very strong, and it was still cold.

"Everything is good here, but the weather is sad, it's early summer, but it's still freezing in the morning and at night, and people have to put on winter clothes to keep out the cold, and it's hot to death at noon, and I'm sweating bare-chested, it's fucking weird!" Ding Xiaoyuan was obviously not used to the climate here, and he hated it angrily.

Wang Siyu didn't want to hear him complain, so he asked again: "What is the connection between the three of you?" ”

"Burn dry cow dung, a pile of smoke means that there is no trouble, burn once a day in the morning, noon, and evening, and contact with cavalry at night, general, please see, it is now."

Wang Siyu looked at it from afar, and sure enough, he saw a pillar of black smoke rising up in the distant castle, but it was blown away by the wind not too high, Ding Xiaoyuan continued to introduce: "Two black smoke indicates that there is an abnormality, reminding us to start on guard, a few months ago the Tibetan envoy went to Longyou, lit one or two black smoke, the problem is not big, but if it is three black smoke, and there is a bell ringing, it means that there is an army attacking, but so far it has not been encountered." ”

As soon as Ding Xiaoyuan's words fell, he suddenly found that the smoke column in the distance suddenly became three, and there was a faint rush of bells, Ding Xiaoyuan's face changed greatly, he was only stunned for a moment, and immediately jumped up and shouted, "Quick!" Ring the bell and order the brethren to assemble. ”

While! While! While! The piercing bell echoed over the castle, and a group of soldiers began to rush up to the city with crossbows, waiting for the battle, Wang Siyu didn't care about entering the castle again, he ran back along the original road, and shouted loudly: "Everyone get on the horse immediately!" Get on board now! ”

The cavalry turned over one after another, and the more than 5,000 cavalry completed the whole team in a moment, and they urged the war horses, like a black torrent, galloping towards the depths of the Star Gorge.