Tang Jun soon left Atumu Town and embarked on the journey back to Broken Leaves, but Shi Yang was silent, he was still thinking about the group of returning soldiers just now, the gloomy gaze of the man in black always lingered in his mind, and he had a strong intuition that the identity of that man was by no means simple.

"Team Liu." Shi Yang finally stopped the war horse.

"Captain, what's the matter?

Shi Yang pondered for a while and said, "Can you go to that tavern again and buy the news of the Hui cavalry just now, especially the identity of the man in black, it doesn't hurt to spend a little more money." ”

"Subordinates obey!" Team Liu turned their horses around and galloped towards the town.

Everyone found a leeward place to wait for news, time passed little by little, about an hour later, Liu Team Zheng finally returned, he brought two news that surprised Shi Yang, one was that the great chief of Ge Lulu was seriously injured and died, and the other news was about the man in black, he was the old man Mengyue, the national teacher of Hui, and he was going to eat a big food.

The previous news made Shi Yang excited and surprised, he never dreamed that the person who was shot off the horse by his own arrow that night would be the great chief of Gelulu, God really favored him.

But after a short period of excitement, his thoughts returned to the body of the Hui Guoshi, how could he be here? A few fragmentary clues appeared in Shi Yang's mind, the appearance of the Hui Division, the attack of the Qarluq people on Broken Leaves, the delivery of siege weapons by the Hui Dynasty, the death of the Great Chief, and the departure of the Hui Division, all of which seemed to be unrelated, but they happened in the same area at almost the same time, was it really that coincidental?

An intuition told him that this was not a coincidence, these things were related to each other, and there might be a conspiracy hidden behind it that was unfavorable to Datang, and Shi Yang remembered that his father-in-law had told him that the bloody case three years ago was planned by the Hui Guoshi. I thought about it for a quarter of an hour. Shi Yang finally made up his mind.

"Team Lee." He said to the other team: "You lead the brothers of this team to return to the broken leaf first, and please report to the general, saying that we have found something abnormal and want to go to investigate it clearly." ”

After a few brief commands, the two Tang armies parted at a mountain pass, horses, craftsmen, and materials brought back broken leaves, and Shi Yang led more than 200 brothers to gallop westward.

The man in black was Sulman, of course, who had just arrived from the small town of Hatush of the Qarluqs. According to the original plan, he was going to Dashi to ask for food for Hui. At the same time, it is necessary to persuade the Great Eater Caliph to put pressure on the Qarluqs again and attack Broken Leaf as soon as possible

Surman was a very mysterious man, he became the national teacher of the Hui because of Manichaeism, but he was also a high-ranking worshipper of the Great Cannibal royal family, thirteen years ago, he accepted the offer of 200,000 taels of gold from the Great Cannibal, and led 500 warriors to Byzantium. In the end, he stole the Greek fire recipe for the Great Eclipse, and was hailed by the Caliph as the most honorable man in Baghdad at that time

In addition to this, he was a secret organization: the supreme spiritual leader of the revival movement of the Sassanid Empire, the revival of the Sassanid Empire, an ideal for which he fought all his life. Because he was the descendant of the last Sassanid emperor, Isai III.

Sulman arrived in the town of Amtu last night, and rested here for the night, although he met the Tang army on the street, but he didn't pay too much attention to it, after all, Amtu is an undefended city, and it is extremely normal for the Tang army scouts to appear here, and his mind has flown to Baghdad, thousands of miles away, and he is eager to persuade the caliph to support his apprentice Atre to take over the position of the great chief of the Qarluq land, so that the Qarlu will be controlled by him.

Sulman provoked Athran to attack Broken Leaf with the intention of triggering a full-scale war between the Tang Dynasty and Qarluq. In the end, both Hui and Da Shi were dragged into the mud pond of the Broken Leaf War. He was able to make a profit, but he didn't expect the situation to take a dramatic turn. Athran was actually killed by the cold arrow of the Tang army, which triggered a battle for the position of the Great Chief of Qarluq, and the three younger brothers of Athran, as well as the two Diye Protectors of Po and Ta Qiang, all joined the battle for the position of the Great Chief, and they did not give in to each other.

This opportunity is also Sulman waited for more than ten years, his former apprentice Butru was not liked by his father, there was no hope of ascending the throne, and he was decisively killed, if his new apprentice Atre also inherited hopelessly, then his more than ten years of hard work were also wasted.

Surman left Atumu Town three hours later than the Tang Army, it was already dusk when he left, more than a hundred Hui cavalry escorted Surman to the west quickly, crossing the Broken Leaf Valley This section of the road is the actual control of the Tang Army, you must be cautious, especially not to encounter the Tang Army's outposts, they travel day and night, if it goes well, they will be able to get out of the Broken Leaf Valley tomorrow morning, into the control of the Great Cannibal.

At the third watch, Suerman and his entourage finally entered the Broken Leaf Valley, which is the middle section of the Broken Leaf Valley, about four hundred miles away from the Broken Leaf City, without the influence of the Great Qing Pond, the Broken Leaf Valley is also a cold and frozen scene, the Broken Leaf River has formed a foot of thick ice, under the thick ice, the river flows slowly to the south, both sides of the river are large bare poplar trees, it seems barren and desolate, the night is still a steep mountain range, but the road to the west can be seen nearby, From the foot of the dark hill sloping westward, the road is lined with thorny bushes.

Sulman and his party walked along the bumpy road, they were silent, and in the darkness they could only hear the clatter of horses' hooves! This section of the road is not easy to walk, and even a little difficult, but it is the shortest shortcut through the Broken Leaf Valley, which is less than twenty miles wide.

"Do you want to rest for a while?" A Hui centurion asked with great concern.

Now they had walked on one of the most difficult mountain paths, here was a narrow slope, the slope was very steep, the ground was uneven, and it was necessary to walk five or six miles to reach the top of the slope, Sulman looked up at the top of the slope, and after the top of the slope came out of the valley of broken leaves, and the sky above the top of the slope was already showing a touch of blue and white, and the day was about to dawn.

He said a little breathlessly, "Let's work hard, we must get out of the valley before dawn." ”

"The national teacher will not rest until he crosses the valley, let's speed up!" The centurion led the horse and walked briskly to the front to inspect the road.

The terrain of the valley mouth is even more dangerous, it was originally a cliff with no passage, but thousands of years of wind, rain, ice and snow erosion have broken and collapsed this cliff, and finally formed this steep mountain pass.

The night wind passes through the pass. Let out a strange and terrifying whistling sound. Looking up, the rocks were swarthy, darker than the sky behind him, the road winding in the shadows of the rocks, and to the left was a steep hill that was a hundred feet deep, and Sulman suddenly felt uneasy that this was a foresight that he had slowly formed over the decades. When danger comes. This feeling will arise.

There were still a hundred steps from the valley mouth, he deliberately slowed down his pace, and fell to the back of the line, and the centurion on the hillside was waving to everyone, signaling that there was no abnormality, that it could be passed, maybe victory was in sight, and the soldiers were full of energy. Lead the horse and run to the top of the mountain.

But at this moment, there was a sudden bang sound above the top of the mountain, and the rain of arrows in the darkness was intensively shot, and the Hui soldiers were caught off guard and fell to the ground one after another. The war horse neighed and fell into the abyss.

Although Sulman was nearly seventy years old, his reflexes and physical agility were swifter than those of a young man, and at the same time as the bang sounded, he almost instinctively rolled to the right, and at this moment, two crossbow arrows came at him one after the other, as fast as lightning, the first arrow grazed his face, but the second one deviated slightly to the right.

Sulman felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, and a crossbow bolt plunged deep into his left shoulder socket. Pain into the bone marrow. Almost all of his strength was gone, when another arrow came at him. He had no strength to hide any longer, and Sulman was terrified, the second time in his life that he felt death so close to him, the last time thirteen years ago in the icy waters of Constantinople.

"National Teacher!" A Uighur soldier jerked him away, and the arrow swept past him and landed on a rock. With a bang, sparks flew from the tip of the arrow.

Sulman suddenly curled up into a ball, bones rolled to the foot of the mountain, at this time, the Tang army ambushed on both sides of the mountain road shouted to kill, and the mountain road on the Hui soldiers fought together, the road has been blocked, Shi Yang jumped on a rock, in the light of the morning fog, he picked up the crossbow arrow and aimed at the rolling Sulman, just about to pull the trigger, more than a dozen Hui soldiers suddenly blocked his ray.

Shi Yang put down the crossbow with some regret, seeing that the other party was fleeing farther and farther, the crossbow arrows could no longer be shot, and the black-robed national teacher finally escaped this catastrophe, at this time, the battle had come to an end, more than a hundred Hui people, except for the thirty or so people who fled with Suerman, the rest were all shot or killed by the Tang army, but the Tang army also killed eight people.

The Tang army burned the brothers in the place of death, and put the ashes into jars, at this time the sky was almost bright, and a magnificent purple red appeared in the eastern sky, and the Tang army all looked at the captain, what should they do next?

Shi Yang bit his lip and said loudly: "Hunters never give up halfway, now that the Hui Guoshi is our prey, we have come this far, why don't we continue to chase?" ”

Under Shi Yang's instigation, the Tang army was in high spirits, packed up their weapons and arrows, and led their horses to continue the pursuit along the route of Suerman's escape.

If you walk along the Pearl River, there will be endless grasslands and gentle mountains covered with green, but from the north of the Broken Leaf Valley to the west, it is a reckless lofty mountain, and between the mountains is the Gobi Desert that runs through the north and south, and the sand and rocks fly in spring and summer, and the sand and soil are solidified in winter, and the silence is like death.

Seven days had passed since he left the Broken Leaf Valley, and Sulman had been in a coma for three days, the wound on his shoulder was inflamed, and dozens of Uighur soldiers had carried him on his way westward, they had lost their way and were far away from the trade route.

It wasn't until the morning of the fourth day that Surman suddenly woke up, and miraculously was able to walk on horseback as if he had gotten up in the morning, and the wound on his shoulder was no longer inflamed, which made the thirty or so Uighur soldiers revere him even more, believing that the Lord Manichaean had bestowed Surman with mysterious powers.

For the next three days, Sulman remained gloomy and silently endured the pain of the wound, which became more and more deep, as if it came from the bone marrow, although the wound outside the body had scabbed, but his left arm had no strength, as if it had injured the meridians, and he understood that the arrow had completely destroyed his left arm.

Before dawn, the cold hits and the moon sinks. The group climbed over a desolate hillside. There is a black boundary monument here, and they have finally entered the realm controlled by the Great Eater.

"River!" A soldier pointed to a small river like a jade belt in front of him, and shouted excitedly, all the soldiers saw it, and raised their hands to cheer, they had not seen the river for three days, and the water in their skins was exhausted, and suddenly a river appeared. How can you not let them be ecstatic.

Sulman also had a smile on his dry face. As long as there is a river, they can regain the official road, if they don't get lost, they should have arrived in Ashi Bulai City, but they are still going around in circles between the mountains and mountains, and they can't find anyone to ask for directions, and they don't know where they are. I only knew that they were at least eight hundred miles away from the Valley of Broken Leaves.

All this is due to the inexplicable appearance of the Tang army, Sulman has not yet recognized the Tang army that attacked him as the Tang army they met by chance in the town of Atumu, he always thought that it was the Tang army outpost, in order not to be pursued by the Tang army, he specially ordered his men to stay away from the trade road. Ended up getting lost today.

At this time, several soldiers had already cut through the thick ice and hung the leather bag with a rope to go down to fetch water, and a soldier ran towards him with a bag full of water, and presented the leather bag to him with both hands, "National teacher, please drink water."

Sulman shook his head as he looked at the heavy water bladder, and looked up at the sky, the stars were dim and it was almost dawn. Then he turned back to the crowd and said, "Rest for a while." Grab a bite to eat and then hurry. ”

The soldiers jumped off their horses and ran towards the river, and Surman turned and dismounted. Leaning against a bare poplar tree, he reached for a piece of dry cake and took a bite of it, but the gnawing of his teeth caused a spasmodic pain in his left arm, which almost made him faint, and Sulman sighed helplessly, and put the dry cake back in the bag.

"Look! There's someone over there. Another soldier pointed to the east and shouted in surprise, all the people by the river stood up and looked to the east, Sulman also struggled to stand up, and looked to the east, only to see some black shadows on a hill about seven or eight miles away in the distance, which appeared clear in the morning light, and they seemed to be riding horses looking into the distance, as there were more and more black shadows, Sulman suddenly lost his voice and shouted, "It's the Tang Army, damn it!" They haunt them. ”

He turned around and yelled, "Get out!" ”

There was no need for him to shout, the Hui soldiers turned on their horses, and Sulman also endured severe pain and mounted his horse and galloped westward, he was already haggard, completely lost his former calm and calm, and for a time he was in chaos, and forgot to look for a trade route north along the river.

The group of horses that appeared on the hill was indeed tracking the Tang army of Sulman for five days, but they now only had more than 100 people, and the Tang army encountered a fork in the road the next day, and the soldiers were divided into two ways to pursue, this team was the team led by Shi Yang, although the road he took to Ashi Bulai City had to go around hundreds of miles, and the road was difficult, but Shi Yang still deduced from some clues that the Hui Guoshi was the way to go, and they chased for five days, and they finally found some items discarded by the Hui cavalry on the road, and knew that they were on the right track.

From afar, Shi Yang had already seen the Hui soldiers running wildly on the Gobi Desert, he was like an old hunter who had found his prey, looking at them coldly and smiling, since they had escaped for seven days and had not been able to get rid of themselves, could they still run away now under their noses?

"Catch up!" Shi Yang shook the reins of the horse, and the war horse rushed down the hill, more than two hundred war horses followed, and the fierce sound of the horse's hooves broke the quiet morning.

After chasing for nearly two hours, he was getting closer and closer to the Hui soldiers, in the panic, the Hui soldiers were like a herd of frightened elks, fleeing in a panic, Sulman had no grace at all, he took off the black robe that he had never left for twenty years, just because the robe hindered his horse speed, he kept looking back in horror, the Tang army was less than two miles away from them, and the sound of horses' hooves was like a strange cry urging death, shaking his already fragile heart.

The Uighurs turned a corner, and suddenly two roads appeared in front of them, one went straight and the road was quite flat, while the other was a small road, leading to the mountains to the south.

Almost without hesitation, Sulman commanded: "Divide into two roads, and thirty people will go straight along the main road." ”

He himself urged the horse to flee to the trail, and the Hui soldiers had no choice but to divide two soldiers to accompany the national teacher, and everyone galloped towards the main road.

In just a few moments, the Tang army behind them caught up, and they were also faced with a choice, although there was a faint sound of horses' hooves in the distance. But Shi Yang still looked at Xiaodao suspiciously. A strong intuition told him that the national teacher of the Hui people was a person who liked to gamble on his life, and although it was dangerous to take the trail, it was also the easiest to get rid of the Tang army's pursuit, so he simply gambled with him.

Shi Yang waved his hand and immediately ordered: "Team Liu, you lead seventy brothers to chase along the main road, and the rest of the brothers follow me on the small road, and meet at the river after the battle." ”

"Yes!" Team Liu was yelling. "Brothers from one to seven come with me!"

The Tang army seemed to split in two. The brigade pursued along the straight road, while Shi Yang led more than thirty brothers to chase down the rugged and winding path.

The so-called trail is also a dirt and gravel road washed out by the flash torrent, which has formed a groove road over the years, and the path is full of thorns, and the stones and mud are frozen hard, very slippery, and the more you go to the mountain. The steeper the mountain road became, the more the horses began to struggle, and after only a hundred steps, the Tang army found three horses in a clearing on the side of the road, and Shi Yang knew that he had bet correctly. He turned over and dismounted, and said to Tang Jun excitedly: "Put the horse here, leave a few brothers to guard, and the rest of the people take bows, arrows and knives and chase after me." ”

The Tang army dismounted one after another, leaving five brothers to guard, and the rest were armed with bows and knives, and followed Shi Yang to the top of the mountain.

This mountain range is a branch of the Qianquan Mountain (present-day Kyrgyz Mountain), stretching for hundreds of miles, like a huge screen across the vast Gobi, and its nearest mountain pass is also fifty miles to the north, which was washed away by the river just now. And here there are no cliffs. There is no other passage, but after crossing this mountain range. In the west, there is a fertile grassland, with rivers and countless lakes dotted on the grassland, as if it were a piece of pure jade.

The Tang army has chased to the top of the mountain, the top of the mountain is a cliff, and below is a vast forest, although it is a cold winter, but the forest can still see a large area of pines and cypresses dark green, the cliff is about 100 zhang high, the cliff is full of various vine plants, several huge gaps are distributed on the cliff, there is no sunlight for thousands of years, it looks gloomy, as if there is some terrible creature hidden inside.

At this time, the trail turned at a right angle at the top of the mountain and extended to the south, and Sulman had lost his trace, and the Tang troops searched around, but there was no trace of them around, so they could only flee along the ridge to the south, and dozens of Tang soldiers turned around and chased south along the ridge.

Waiting for the Tang army to go away, suddenly, a hand appeared on the edge of the cliff, and slowly, the pale face of Sulman climbed up from under the cliff, he was already doing his best, and the instinct to survive allowed him to overcome the pain in his left arm.

Finally climbed the cliff, Sullman sat on the ground in prostration, gasping for breath, he suddenly felt something, slowly raised his head, and saw a young Tang army standing more than twenty steps ahead, drawing his bow like a full moon, the tip of a cold arrow aimed at him, with a mocking smile on the corner of his mouth.

"It's you!" Sulman suddenly recognized the Tang army chasing him for nearly a thousand miles, in the town of Atumu, they used to staggered face to face, Sulman slowly stood up, he stared at each other with fire-filled eyes, "I am the national teacher of the Hui Dynasty, and my status is respected, if you do this, it will trigger a war between the Tang Dynasty and the Hui Dynasty, do you understand?" ”

He roared loudly, but his hand slowly stretched to his waist, whoosh! An arrow burst through the air, piercing his palm.

"Raise your hands above your head, and if you dare to make any move, my next arrow will pierce your head."

Sulman shuddered, he knew that this young Tang army could say and do, he raised his hand with the arrow above his head, a long trail of blood ran down his arm, he had a faint hint of luck in his heart, and perhaps the last hope, there was a Hui soldier hidden behind him.

At this moment, the arrow in Shi Yang's hand shot out again, passing past him, and then there was a long scream behind him, and the opportunity appeared in this fleeting moment, at the moment when Shi Yang re-set up the arrow and drew the bow, Sulman was like a dexterous ape, and a backflip actually jumped off the cliff.

Shi Yang rushed forward to look down, only to see the wind blowing the dead vines on the cliff, as if the arms of the demon girl were flying in the air, but Sulman was nowhere to be seen, he actually disappeared out of thin air.

Shi Yang suddenly smiled coldly, he raised his bow and shot an arrow in the direction of the southwest Great Eclipse, "Go tell your Great Eclipse master!" I, the Datang soldiers, have been waiting for this day for a long time. ”

(If you think there is something inappropriate, even if you put it forward, or if you have a good suggestion, you can also put it forward, in the second half of this book, Zhang Huan will appear as a national decision-maker, and the specific stories that occur in Anxi will be completed by Shi Yang and Cui Yao, one of them represents the bloody and rigid of the Tang Dynasty, and the other represents the elegance and broadness of the Tang Dynasty, I hope you can like them)