In the early morning, the big ship sailed into the territory of Kaiyang County, the ship condensed a thin layer of white crystals, passing through the dense fog, a cold north wind blew, swept over the river, through the giant sails, and made a sharp whistling sound in the air, temporarily blowing away the dense fog, revealing the already clear sky.

Zhang Huan slowly walked to the bow of the boat, the deck was empty, there was no one, he silently stared at the dark and turbulent river, his eyes were full of awe, and he couldn't help but clasp his palms together and murmur.

"Are you asking the god of Weihe to bless you in the imperial examination?" Suddenly a young woman's soft voice came from behind her, she was still covering her face with a light veil, and in the hazy mist, it looked more and more mysterious.

Zhang Huan nodded lightly to her, and continued to meditate with his palms together, and after a while, he finished his silent recitation, and said with a faint smile: "Chao is a scholar, and he ascends to Tianzi Hall, this has always been the ambition of a scholar, in front of the mother river that gave birth to the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties, how can I not ask for its protection?" ”

The young lady slowly walked to Zhang Huan's side, she held the side of the boat and looked at the hazy vista on both sides of the strait, and after a while, she said to herself: "Why don't you take Wu Hook and collect Guanshan Fifty Prefectures, it's a pity!" I'm not a man. ”

Zhang Huan glanced at her and said with a slight smile: "The male rabbit's feet are fluttering, and the female rabbit's eyes are blurred." Twin rabbits walk on the ground, can Ann tell that I am male and female? ”

She wiped a blush on her face, hurriedly waved her hand and smiled: "I'm just talking about ambitions, I haven't even touched a knife since I was a child, and I can't compare to you ambitious scholars." ”

Speaking of this, she diverted the topic and asked, "I don't know your name in last night's competition, can you tell me?" ”

"In Xiataiyuan, Shizi Zhang is sick, and I also ask Miss Fang's name?"

"Zhang Quai!" She recited it twice, and suddenly said, "Could it be that you are a child of the Zhang family in Hedong?" ”

Zhang Huan nodded silently, waiting for her reply, but a sly smile flashed in her eyes, "The morning breeze is cold, I'm a weak woman who can't withstand such a cold, I'll go back to the cabin!" ”

After that, she pursed her lips and smiled softly, turned around and left, and walked to the escalator, only to hear her low voice coming: "Pei"

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The fog was thick, the big ship docked and waited for the fog to dissipate, Zhang Huan also returned to the cabin to read, until noon, the fog finally began to dissipate, and then Xin Lang hurriedly ran over.

"Go sick! There seems to be something unusual on the shore, why don't you go and see it? ”

Zhang Huan put down the book and smiled: "What is abnormal?" ”

"There were a lot of people on the shore, as if they had fled for the distance."

"Oh! And that kind of thing. Zhang Huan put down the book and walked quickly to the deck, at this time, the scenery on both sides of the strait began to become clear, and the shore was indeed crowded with groups of people, helping the old and the young, all with a look of panic, and people kept coming to this side in the distance. Many boats that were moored and waiting for the fog to clear saw the opportunity and began to transport them across the river for a fee.

"The boatman has already gone ashore to ask." Xin Lang was a little worried, "Go to the sick, do you think it will be a call from the Hui people." ”

"Probably not." Zhang Huan shook his head, "If the Lingwu army is defeated, how can we go all the way here." ”

In a moment, the boatman came rushing from the shore, and he shouted as he ran, "Prepare to lift anchor, get out of here immediately!" ”

'Boom! Boom! Boom! The boatman rushed to the pedal with a frightened face, panting and shouting: "Oh no, Kaiyang City is broken, the Hui people are coming, hurry up and start the boat!" ”

The sudden news shocked everyone, and they only got the news the day before yesterday, and the Hui people were still confronting the Tang Army in Lingwu County, when will this hit Kaiyang County?

"Boatman, can you find out how many Hui troops there are?" Zhang Huan asked suddenly.

The ship's frightened man was stunned, and while he ordered his crew to pull the sails, he replied: "I heard that about 10,000 men, all of them are cavalry!" ”

Zhang Huan thought about it for a while, then turned back to Xin Lang and said: "If I guess correctly, this should be a sneak attack by the Hui army, Kaiyang County is where the Wei family's main sect is located, and the Hui army is trying to attack the rear of Wei Shangshu and force him to come back." ”

At this time, Xin Lang was anxious, Kaiyang City was broken, not only the Wei family was finished, but their Longyou Academy was also very likely to be finished, so many students and professors, how would they live and die? He couldn't hold back any longer, and said anxiously to Zhang Huan: "Longyou Academy still has many of my subordinates, I have to take a look no matter what!" ”

The boatman next to him was startled, and he waved his hand again and again to persuade: "You must not go, those Hui people are more fierce than wolves, you are all scholars, and if you go, you will be sent to death?" ”

Xin Lang ignored him, he stared at Zhang Huan and said, "Go sick, what do you say?" ”

"I'll go with you!" Zhang Huan replied without hesitation.

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From the Wei River to the north is the endless Longyou Plain, which is the richest place in Longyou, where you can see large areas of fertile land everywhere, and many fields have sown winter wheat.

From the Wei River to Kaiyang County less than two hundred miles, a day on horseback can be reached, a group of knights galloped on the field, there were more than 30 of them, in addition to a dozen scholars, there were also fifteen Miss Pei's guards, led by Zhao San.

The woods along the river were left far behind, but the pace of the procession began to slow as groups of refugees appeared on the official road.

"Go sick!"

Zhao Yan galloped over, "I just asked the people, the reinforcements of the Tang Dynasty arrived in Kaiyang County half a day after the city was broken, and the Hui army has fled westward, I'm afraid there is no point in us going!" ”

Zhang Huan glanced at Xin Lang and said without hesitation: "Since you have already come, even if you can't save people, it's good to learn about the situation, especially the situation of Longyou Academy, everyone continues to hurry, and strive to rush to Kaiyang County before dawn tomorrow." ”

Xin Lang cast a grateful glance at Zhang Huan, he immediately turned his horse's head and rushed out diagonally towards a path, only to hear his shout from afar, "It's too slow to take the official road, let's take the small road." ”

The speed of the march increased again, over the gentle hills, through the vast dark green pine forests, and the setting sun gradually turned blood-red, dyeing everyone's bodies red, and even a small river that was drying up shimmered red.

'Huh~' Zhao San tightened the reins on a piece of high ground, the war horse stopped, and he looked around suspiciously.

At this time, Zhang Huan caught up from behind, "Brother Zhao, what did you find?" ”

"I faintly heard a cry for help just now, but now it's gone."

Zhao San listened intently for a moment, and suddenly pointed to the northwest direction, "It's over there!" ”

He rode his horse down the gentle slope, and by this time everyone could clearly hear the distant cries for help and the rhythmic sound of the horses' hooves beating on the ground.

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Passing through the cedar forest, there was a small river that was almost dry, and about a few hundred paces away on the diagonal opposite bank of the river, I saw several horsemen guarding a carriage and desperately fleeing along the river, and behind them, the yellow dust was billowing and the battle flag was fluttering, as if a group of cavalry were chasing behind.

"It's a Hui man, about twenty horsemen!"

Zhao San's eyes were quick, his eyesight was beyond ordinary people, and he saw the wolf's head on the banner clearly from afar, and he looked at it for a moment and said to Zhang Huan: "It is very likely that the scout team of the Hui Army, Childe, save or not?" ”

Zhang Huan saw that the cavalry guarding the carriage were all Tang Army, the carriage was wide and gorgeous, and it was very likely that there was some important person in the Wei family, he pondered for a while, of course he had to save it, but half of them were scholars, how could they fight against the Hui soldiers?

He carefully checked the surrounding terrain, from here, there are dense forests as far as the eye can see, only there are dozens of zhang of open land on both sides of the river, it is impossible for the wide carriage to enter the dense forest, and can only escape along the river, Zhang Huan's mind suddenly flashed a thought, just now I also saw a small river on the road, and this river is very similar, is it this small river around a circle, and turn north?

Thinking together, Zhang Huan immediately said to everyone: "Turn around, turn back the way you came!" ”

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The horse pulling the cart was exhausted, the white foam kept squirting out from its mouth, and the pursuers were getting closer and closer, but the speed of the carriage slowed down after turning a big corner, and the eyes of several Tang soldiers were red, and the horses that were driving were slammed with whips, and the wheel shaft made an unusually harsh creak in the bumps, as if it was about to fall apart.

The hooves of the war horse are flying, the sand is misty, and the waist and abdomen are all shrouded in yellow dust.

"One hundred steps..... Fifty steps ....."

Suddenly, more than a dozen tripping ropes suddenly appeared in the dust, the front five or six war horses were tripped and fell, the war horses neighed, and then the Hui people behind were unable to retract, and collided with their companions, just when the Hui scouts were in a mess, dozens of powerful arrows broke through the air from the woods next to them, and the last few Hui soldiers who had just collected the reins fell from the arrows.

At this moment, nearly 30 horsemen rushed out of the woods on both sides, they raised their swords, shouted and surrounded them, the Hui scouts had been on the battlefield for a long time, although they were ambushed, and there were many dead and wounded, but they were still in danger, and simply formed a formation, with the last few cavalry in front of the road, and the soldiers who lost their horses followed in two teams behind, and rushed towards the road with all their might.

"Kill!" The guards shouted, the spurs were clamped, and they rushed into the enemy formation like wolves and tigers, swinging their swords and slashing and slashing, these guards seemed to be more elite than the regular army, and their combat effectiveness was extremely strong.

It was a skirmish, both sides were extremely powerful fighters, and if they didn't want to die, they had to kill each other, and although there were only two dozen people fighting in a small scale, it was just as brutal and bloody.

More than a dozen soldiers were cowardly, they didn't dare to step forward, and took the guards' bows and arrows to cast cold arrows on the periphery, and only Zhang Huan participated in the battle.

The guards fought in a very orderly manner, they interspersed and divided, disrupted the formation of the Hui soldiers, and then divided a few people to resist the cavalry, and the rest of the guards concentrated their forces to deal with the Hui soldiers who had lost their horses one by one, and after killing one together, they immediately went to deal with the other.

The Uighur army gradually lost the upper hand, and the more they fought, the last few men resisted stubbornly, while looking for an opportunity, suddenly, they found a Confucian robed scholar in the enemy's ranks, and the two Uighur soldiers looked at each other, and they both rushed towards them in unison.

"Be careful!" Zhao Yan saw that the two Hui soldiers pounced on Zhang Huan at the same time, and in a hurry, he opened his bow and arrows, and a wolf's tooth arrow 'whoosh!' He shot out, knocking one of them over, while the other flew up at the risk of his life, and with a sinister laugh, he slashed at Zhang Huan's neck with the knife in his hand.

"Good time!" Zhang Huan clenched the handle of the knife with both hands, shouted violently, and slashed at his knife with all his strength, 'Click! The two knives were in harmony, sparks splashed everywhere, and at the moment when the people and horses were wrong, Zhang Huan's hand flipped over, and the blade struck his face like lightning......

Zhang Huan slowly pulled out the blood knife from the split skull in half, and the pleasure stimulated his whole body, he didn't feel terrible at all, but felt an inexplicable excitement.

By this time, the battle was over, and all nineteen Hui scouts had been killed, but the guards had also lost ten dead and wounded.

"Let's kill for the first time!"

Zhao San patted Zhang Huan's shoulder heavily, a battle brought them closer, and he smiled affectionately: "It's very different from me at the beginning, his grandmother's!" The first time I killed someone, I actually threw up. ”

Zhang Huan shook his head with a wry smile, he looked back at the carriage, only to see Xin Lang respectfully helping out a white-haired lady from the carriage.

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