Late at night, Luoshui camp.

Torches are lined up, and battle flags are hunted.

The guards lined up to and fro back and forth, their armor making a rhythmic howl sound. This voice sounds absolutely oppressive and murderous to outsiders. But for the soldiers in the barracks, it was like a wonderful lullaby.

There were no less than 150,000 kings guarding the capital outside Luoyang City, most of whom were government soldiers who came to the capital in turn from all over the city, and they were stationed for several months before they returned to their respective military offices and returned to the fields to farm. If there is a war, they will ring the call of the country and gather urgently, and bring their own food, grass and ordnance to fight for the country.

This is the military system of the Tang Dynasty. The peasants served as soldiers in their spare time for agriculture and war, prepared their own grain and grass to fight for the country, and were rewarded for their military exploits. However, in recent years, the phenomenon of land ownership in the Tang Dynasty has become increasingly serious, and many peasants have lost their land, and are forced to become tenant farmers, servants, handicraftsmen, merchants, and even sell themselves into slavery because of their livelihoods, and can no longer fight for the country as government soldiers.

The gradual collapse of the government military system made it necessary for the country to spend money to recruit mercenaries as soon as there was an urgent and major war. When the first emperor Li Zhi pacified Goguryeo, he once levied 300,000 mercenaries. The total number of soldiers in the two Northern Expeditions presided over by Pei Xingjian also reached 300,000, and they were mainly mercenaries.

Later, Pei Xingjian was also ready to lead them to quell the rebellion in the Western Regions, but he died before he could get out of the army. Later, the Western Expeditionary Army was pulled back to the capital by the then Prime Minister Pei Yan to garrison, and some of the soldiers were reduced. Later, Xue Shao led the remaining part of the men and horses to conquer the northwest, and stayed in Fengzhou and Xiazhou after Dejie, and since then he has been known as the Shuofang army. After rounds of differentiation and disarmament, only 50,000 of the original 300,000 horses remained.

These 50,000 Luoshui soldiers are all professional mercenaries who make a living from war, and after going through layers of elimination and screening, all those who remain are the elite of tigers and wolves.

is also stationed in the capital, and the government soldiers are all iron-clad battalion soldiers, and all the people are changed every few months. Many of these soldiers were strong men forcibly brought in by the local government to cope with errands, or slaves temporarily sacrificed by wealthy landlords who had annexed other people's lands to replace the soldiers. Such soldiers are already quite reluctant to come to the capital, and once a war really breaks out, it is difficult to really gather them and rush them to the battlefield. Even if they go, don't expect them to be so strong in combat.

However, the professional mercenaries of the Luoshui battalion are recruited by the Yongshu capital and come and fight immediately, and they are well-trained, well-equipped, and quite fierce in combat effectiveness, which is by no means comparable to the amateur government soldiers who have been improvised together.

Wu Zetian once said in person that the Luoshui army is the last blade of the country hidden in the sheath of the Tang Dynasty, and it is easy not to show people. Once it is sacrificed and killed, it will either be a nation that destroys the enemy or a kingdom that destroys itself.

As a result, from the first day of garrisoning the capital, there were only two total movements of the Luoshui army.

The first time was that Xue Shao was threatened by Empress Wei and independently launched the "Right Guard Exercise". Its power was so great that Wu Zetian, who was idle in the harem at that time, came to the Luoshui camp in person to appease Xue Shao in the name of traveling and hunting, and eventually led to the loss and fall of Empress Wei. In order to keep his empress, the emperor Li Xian, who was still reigning at that time, had to abdicate due to illness and ask Wu Zetian to return to power.

Until now, Xue Shao often thinks about this matter, and can only say to himself in his heart - blame Li Xianzhi for being too unreliable, and at that critical time, he actually played such a stinky card as "exchanging imperial power for the queen". The final result is already known to everyone, and he now has nothing left except the title of King Luling. Empress Wei thinks too highly of herself and has a bad heart, she is even more unreliable than Li Xian. Li Xian at least took care of the relationship between husband and wife, and Empress Wei is the stinky hand and culprit who messed up everything, absolutely useless! - If it weren't for the unreliability of the emperor and queen at that time, my choice might not have been like that. What color the sky in Datang is now is really unpredictable.

Looking back now, Xue Shao believes that his big military exercise was definitely an important turning point in the struggle for imperial power between Wu Zetian and Li Xian. It was almost a turning point in history.

The second all-out movement of the Luoshui army was to "patrol Hebei" with Xue Shao, with the purpose of preventing Cheng Wuting from rebelling. Although this page was quietly revealed, the danger and power in it were definitely no less than that big martial arts.

Tonight's Luoshui camp, as clean and quiet as before, is like a peerless sword that has drunk countless blood but has been hidden deep in its sheath. But there was a dark shadow like a ghost, quietly sneaking into the camp. The layers of sentry were nothing to him, and his shadow slid like a butterfly through the nose of these sentry posts, and no one noticed it.

In the end, this dark shadow appeared in Dang Jinbi's tent and patted him on the shoulder to wake him up.

Dang Jinbi, who was sleeping in a daze, thought it was haunted, and broke out in a cold sweat on the spot. The shadow quickly covered his mouth and restrained him completely, so that he could not make a sound. Dozens of henchmen and guards under the command of Dang Jinbi, who were only one tent away, did not notice anything unusual.

After Dang Jinbi regained his composure, the man slowly let go of his hand.

"Guo, General Guo An?" Seeing the person coming clearly, Dang Jinbi was surprised, "Why are you here?" …… How did you get in here? ”

Guo An didn't say a word, and showed something from his arms, "Invite General Guo Dafeng Guo here." Right now, secret. ”

"Yes! - I'll go right away! Go for yourself! ”

Dang Jinbi was like a flattened spring that rushed up in an instant, and his heart was beating wildly - the purple gold fish talisman!

Something big is going to happen in the capital!!

A moment later, Dang Jinbi and Guo Dafeng came at the same time, and there was no one waiting for them.

The two generals held their breath and stared as if they were facing a great enemy, and with their eyes and expressions, they expressed their heartfelt awe for Xue Shao, who did not even have a formal official position.

"What is the young marshal's order?"

"The young marshal has no orders."

Guo An's answer greatly surprised the second general of the party, Guo Er, and the two looked at each other, not knowing why for a while.

"Young marshal, just let me come and visit the two generals." After Guo An finished speaking, a kind smile appeared on his face that had always been unsmiling, and he hugged his fists and bowed, "The mission has been achieved, and I will leave next." ”

"Huh?"

"Let's go?

The second general of the party Guo hurriedly invited Guo An to stop, and asked left and right for instructions and kept interrogating, what is the purpose of the young marshal?

Guo An also smiled bitterly, "The two generals just let me go, I really don't know." Otherwise, I have no reason not to say it to the two generals. ”

Dang Guo Erjun looked at each other for a while again, perhaps because he was in a hurry, Dang Jinbi hurriedly asked, "Has the young marshal been okay recently?" Where are you now? What is the noble man busy with? - General Guo can always tell us about these! ”

Guo An smiled and said truthfully.

Dang Jinbi and Guo Dafeng burst into action at the same time, "The pastoral court is on trial? ”

"It's worth it!"

"It's the other way around!!"

"Guo Laosi, hurry up and beat the drums to gather the generals and overturn his mother's bird pasture!!"

"Broken into pieces!"

"Stepping on the powder!!

"I'll go right away! I beat the drums myself!! ”

The second general instantly turned into an angry King Kong, and the angry bullfighter ran out. Guo An was not in a hurry, and when the two of them were really about to rush out of the tent, a quick shake stopped in front of the two of them, and said lightly: "Two generals, please stay." ”

"At such a critical juncture, what is General Guo still stopping us from doing?"

"Yes! If it was too late, the young marshal would have suffered from the prison in which he was imprisoned. Even if it can be saved, it will either be dead or disabled! ”

"Not really." Guo An stretched out his hand to stop the second general left and right, still quite calm, "Trust me." Please also believe the young marshal. He went to the pastoral house on his own initiative to stand trial. ”

"Active?" The two generals were stunned at the same time.

"Yes." Guo An said calmly, "There are a lot of twists and turns, and to be honest, I don't know too much." But the young marshal must have a reason for doing so. If the two generals recklessly sent troops to the pastoral courtyard to make trouble, not only would they cause a big disaster, but they might also implicate the young marshal. ”

After hearing this, the second general suddenly calmed down a lot, and nodded frequently, "It makes sense." ”

"Then why doesn't General Guo teach us how to do it?"

"I don't know." Guo An shook his head in confusion, "The young marshal's original words are that I will enter the camp overnight with the purple gold talisman and visit the two generals." When the work is done, go back and return to life. ”

The second general of Dang Guo actually patted his head at the same time, "As soon as you say that, we will understand!" ”

Guo An immediately smiled, and said in his heart that these two generals have been getting along for a long time, and even the habitual small actions are the same.

"We don't need to talk about such secrets." Dang Jinbi leaned closer and whispered, "Please reply to the young marshal, just say that my brothers know what to do, and please rest assured." From now on, the Luoshui battalion will only recognize the young marshal, and not others! ”

Guo An didn't say a word, hugged his fists and bowed, "Farewell!" ”

"Wait, I'll send the guards to get you out of the camp."

"No need. I'll go how I came to be. The fewer people who are alarmed, the better. ”

As soon as the words fell, Guo An disappeared.

The second general was frightened into a cold sweat, and Dang Jinbi said in a panic: "The young marshal is really Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. If this Guo An is an assassin, I am afraid that you and I would have died coldly a long time ago, and no one would find out until dawn. ”

"yes!" Guo Dafeng also patted his chest, "Our guards always regard themselves as elites on weekdays, and they are all pretentious and show off their power everywhere. Compared with Guo An today, it's just piles of thin cow dung - no, I have to clean them up when I go back! ”

"Brother, this is secondary." Dang Jinbi hurriedly reminded, "If you think about the previous things, if it weren't for the protection of the young marshal, I'm afraid we would have been cleaned up by Pei Yan Lao'er a long time ago, or forced to jump into the fire pit with him." Where did it come from today? ”

"Yes, yes......" Guo Dafeng calmed down and nodded frequently.

"Think about tonight. If the young marshal wants to take our head, it will be absolutely effortless. Before that, if he wanted to remove you and me and replace them with his henchmen, for him, the secretary of the military department, it would only be a matter of turning over his hands. But he didn't. Dang Jinbi whispered: "At this special and critical moment, he sent someone to the camp privately to inform you and me, which is not only a severe beating, but also a great trust in us. Brothers, should we do something to show our response? ”

"So what should I do?" Guo Dafeng looked confused, "Guo An also said that our unauthorized actions will not only not help the young marshal, but will harm him!" ”

Dang Jinbi slapped his brain, "Let's train the troops!" Train the troops fiercely and make some big moves! ”

Guo Dafeng also patted his head, "Yes! Just like last time, the right guard launched by the young marshal talked about martial arts!! ”

"I will immediately call the record office to write the official document and ask the Ministry of War for approval!" After Dang Jinbi finished speaking, he was about to rush away.

Guo Dafeng dragged him back, "Please show me a fart, let's do it first!" ”

Dang Jinbi was stunned, "Isn't it okay? It's a camp-wide move. If you don't have an order, you will be sentenced to death if you transfer more than 50 people in private! ”

"It's been a long time since you were so pedantic! This request comes and goes, and it takes ten days and a half to approve it? Guo Dafeng slapped Dang Jinbi's skull, "Think about it, even if the young marshal is not in the military department now, isn't there still Yao Yuanchong?" Let's start to practice martial arts while asking for instructions. In fact, even if we don't ask for instructions, Yao Yuanchong, a smart person, will make a request for us first in case of investigation! - Are you relieved? ”

"Still talking about? - Do it! ”

"!"