The team went out of Chang'an, crossed Weishui, passed Chencang, and passed through Tianshui along Weishui to the west, and maintained a normal marching speed of one or twenty miles every day, which was already twice the normal marching speed, and this marching speed made the soldiers complain, but before departure, Zhao Ziliang's strict military regulations, coupled with unstinting rewards, made the soldiers only grit their teeth and insist, so that after ten days, the team arrived in Jincheng.

When he arrived in Longyou Road and Hexi, Zhao Ziliang had many friends, although he had only been in Hexi for less than two years, but Zhao Ziliang's reputation Longyou Road and Hexi were almost unknown and unaware.

Huangfu Weiming also made a special trip from Shanzhou to Lanzhou to meet with Zhao Ziliang, Huangfu Weiming already knew that Zhao Ziliang was in the court for Li Linfu to frame him in front of the emperor and beat Li Linfu on the spot and was imprisoned in the prison by the emperor's decree, this kindness is not small, Huangfu Weiming is a person with clear grievances, so when he heard that Zhao Ziliang was going to escort Ashina Xin to Tuqishi, he rushed to Jincheng to meet with Zhao Ziliang.

This is Huangfu Weiming's territory, Huangfu Weiming wants to repay the favor, and the hospitality specifications of Zhao Ziliang and his party can be imagined, although the two are very different in age, they can be described as sympathetic to each other in temperament, so as soon as the two met, they had a good greeting and left everyone else aside.

The team rested in Jincheng for a day, everyone took a good bath, washed away the dust and smell on the way, the next day, Zhao Ziliang said goodbye to Huangfu Weiming and everyone in the team to every place, Zhao Ziliang and other people were warmly received, the wine and meat were enough, and special camps were prepared in various places, and Zhao Ziliang did not need to send people to camp.

In this way, on the eighth day of the seventh month, the team arrived in Liangzhou, Hexi, and the road conditions on this road had begun to become bad, and the desert Gobi began to appear, and often there was no figure for two or three hundred miles.

Liangzhou in July, hot during the day, but very cold at night, the temperature difference between day and night is very large, hot and sweaty during the day, but shivering at night, especially in the field camping, this situation is extremely obvious, fortunately, Zhao Ziliang has walked this road, has experience, and is very well prepared, so he did not delay the trip.

According to the plan and agreement between Zhao Ziliang and Gai Jiayun, Fumeng Lingjing, Gao Xianzhi and others a few years ago, no matter who is in charge of Anxi, Ashina Xin must be sent back to the Turkish to fight with Moheda in the ring, so that the Turkish will kill each other and consume their internal strength, and Datang is in the middle of the position to mediate, whoever is strong will fight whom, so that the Turchishi will always be in a scattered situation, and this purpose has finally been completed by more than half.

Since the imperial court appointed Ashina Xin as the ten surnamed Khan two years ago, Mohe Dagan has a breath in his heart, and he has been secretly developing his strength in the past two years, and has achieved quite results. Twice sent troops to attack Xiao Bolu failed to return, but fortunately, the loss of troops was not large, and the four towns of Anxi quickly recovered.

Therefore, for Zhao Ziliang and others, it is very important to temporarily ensure the safety of Ashina Xin's life, and at the same time, it is also urgent for him to return to Turgish as soon as possible to take over as the ten surnamed Khan, so in terms of marching speed, Zhao Ziliang can be as fast as he can, and he can't be fast or deliberately delayed, but even so, it took eight days to arrive in Liangzhou City from Jincheng, and the time taken from Jincheng to Liangzhou is almost as long as the time taken from Chang'an to Jincheng, and the former's journey is almost half of the latter. It can be seen that the further west you go, the more difficult the road becomes, and the more time it takes.

Zhao Ziliang and his entourage in Liangzhou City were also warmly received by Wang Qi, the envoy of Hexi Jiedu, in terms of official rank, Wang Qi is much bigger than Zhao Ziliang, but Zhao Ziliang has a lot of military merits, and he has obtained the title by virtue of these merits, although the title cannot be exchanged for real benefits and benefits, but the status of having a title is completely different from not having a title.

Wang Qi put down a rich banquet for Zhao Ziliang to wash the dust, and also called many civil and military officials in Liangzhou to accompany him, but he did not call Ash Naxin, leaving Ash Naxin and Princess Jiaohe aside, it can be seen from here that Wang Qi is not a Khan with the surname Ash Naxin at all.

During the banquet, Zhao Ziliang raised his glass and said: "Liang has been in Hexi for the past two years, thanks to the care and help of the marshal and his colleagues, the last time His Majesty's holy decree was urgent, and the last general did not have time to say goodbye to the marshal and his colleagues one by one, this is the fault of the last general, and the last will make a toast to make amends first!" ”

After saying it, I drank a glass in one gulp, and everyone applauded.

Zhao Ziliang said again: "This time I will come, and I will inevitably trouble the marshal and all my colleagues on the road, and the last general will pay tribute to the marshal and your colleagues here again, and the last general will do it, the marshal and you are free!" ”

Another cup poured into the area, everyone drank with them, as soon as the words were said on the wine table, the atmosphere was up, everyone pushed the cup to help the lamp, so lively, some people drank red neck, some people drank red, some people drank white, some people were drunk in the clouds, some people looked as usual, and the various states of life were fully displayed on everyone's faces.

During the banquet, Wang Qi asked, "General Zhao, do you really want to send Ashina Xin back to Tuqi Shi as a ten surnamed khan?" And then raise a tiger for trouble? According to Ben Shuai, just kill him on the road, and then when he returned to the court, he said that he encountered a strong wind and sand, and Ashina Xin and Princess Jiaohe were blown away by the wind and sand, wouldn't it be a hundred? ”

Wang Qi still doesn't know the true intentions of the imperial court, so it's normal to have such thoughts and suggestions, Zhao Ziliang was worried that the wall had ears, so he didn't say much, only said that he didn't know what the above ideas were, and he only carried out the emperor's holy decree and the decision of the imperial court, and sent people to Tuqishi and came back, as for how Ashina Xin returned to Tuqishi, he didn't care.

When Wang Qi saw Zhao Ziliang say this, he didn't mention this matter again, and only beckoned Zhao Ziliang to drink.

On the tenth day of the seventh month, the team continued to march westward after a day of rest and supplies, passing through Ganzhou, Suzhou, Guazhou and other places along the way, the marching speed became more and more busy, the temperature was too high during the day and the sun was too big on the desert Gobi Desert in the Hexi Corridor, but they could not take off their clothes, not only could not take off their clothes, but also had to wrap their whole body and face tightly, otherwise it was easy to get sunburned skin, and the food and water along the way were limited rations, and they could no longer eat and drink as openly as they had just come out of Chang'an. Money doesn't necessarily mean you can't buy food and water.

On the road from Liangzhou to Guazhou, Zhao Ziliang's team marched slowly, this is no way to do it, although the soldiers of the Shenwu Army have all retired from the border pass to join the Shenwu Army, but the comfortable life in the capital has made them begin to pamper themselves, willpower and physical fitness are much inferior to the border army, Zhao Ziliang can only let them maintain enough physical strength while maintaining the speed as much as possible, despite this, the team's march is still declining, Sometimes you can only walk 40 miles a day before you have to stop and camp to rest, because in this desert and the Gobi region, not only the roads are difficult to travel, but the climate is also fickle.

When passing through Ganzhou and Suzhou along the way, Yuan Kui, the military envoy of Ganzhou and Jiankang, and Cao Yu, the military envoy of Suzhou and Yumen, were very enthusiastic to entertain Zhao Ziliang and his party, and before leaving, they also prepared food, grass and drinking water for Zhao Ziliang and his subordinates to escort the army, so that Zhao Ziliang and his soldiers and horses could spend the desert and Gobi along the way.

After arriving in Jinchang (Guazhou), Zhao Ziliang and his entourage were warmly received by Jinchang Taishou Le Tinghuan, Zhao Ziliang and Le Tinghuan had a good relationship, and when attacking the canal bend, the two also worked closely together, which was considered a friendship on the battlefield.

The situation in Jinchang County is not very good, not refers to the border situation, but refers to the economic conditions and living environment, in fact, now the Turkic tribes in the north of Jinchang are very honest, and the south of Qilian Mountain in the south has been swept away by Zhao Ziliang since the troops were swept away, the local Tubo and Tuyuhun people have been attached to the Tang Dynasty, so there is basically no threat to the south of Jinchang, only a small part of the border of Shazhou in the southwest borders with Tubo, but there is Kunlun Mountain to block, Tubo basically has no threat to Shazhou, Therefore, Zhao Ziliang's several battles in Hexi in the past two years completely solved the threat of Tubo to the Hexi Corridor, which is also the reason why Zhao Ziliang and his party were warmly welcomed by the assassins and guards of various states along the way.

The wind and sand in Jinchang County are very large, much larger than the wind and sand in Ganzhou and Suzhou, after all, this is the westernmost point of the Hexi Corridor, especially in the north, there are no mountains to obstruct, the cold wind in the north blows over the desert, not only brings the cold wind, but also brings a lot of sand and dust.

On the march in Jinchang County, the soldiers had to cover their mouths and noses with breathable cloth day and night to prevent the wind and sand from blowing into it, and the perennial drought made the climate here very dry, and the demand for water was much greater than in other places.

On the first day of August, Zhao Ziliang and his entourage set off from Jinchang and continued to advance westward, Jinchang Taishou and Mo Lijun sent Le Tinghuan out of the city, to ten miles, Zhao Ziliang stopped and hugged his fist to Le Tinghuan and said: "Sending you a thousand miles must be goodbye, please go back, at most two months, and the army will return in the next place!" ”

Le Tinghuan nodded and said, "Then Le Mou will not be sent far, I don't know which way the general plans to go?" ”

Zhao Ziliang said: "It's summer now, the desert weather is hot, the further north you go, the cooler the climate will be, I plan to go to Yizhou over there, through the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate and then turn to the southwest to Qiuzi, and then go to the Changing City through Bodaling to Broken Leaf City!" ”

Le Tinghuan nodded and said: "This road is easier to walk, but whether it is to go to Yizhou or directly from Shazhou to Xizhou, you must pass through the eight hundred miles of Mohe Yanmoi, Le got the news, recently these eight hundred miles of Mohe Yanmoi have gathered a lot of horse bandits, many caravans have been looted in that area, although Brother Zhao's martial arts are world-famous, but when passing through that area, you still have to be careful to pay attention, after all, open guns are easy to dodge, and hidden arrows are difficult to prevent!" ”

As soon as Zhao Ziliang heard this, he felt that there was something in Le Tinghuan's words, but it was inconvenient to ask in detail, after all, people didn't explain the words, they must have some concerns, he kept this matter in his heart, and arched his hand and said: "Thank you Lord Le for informing me, I will be careful in the future, please go back!" ”

"It's easy to walk all the way, if you really can't get by, the general can return to Jinchang City first and then make plans!" Zhao Ziliang's team went away, Le Tinghuan was still chanting, Zhao Ziliang couldn't help but be moved when he heard it, people in this era are either bad to the bones, even if they are cut by a thousand knives, or they are extremely affectionate, even if they only have one side, they can be worthy of trust. (To be continued.) )