Autumn is getting stronger, the cold wind is bleak, Zhao Deyan led more than a thousand elites to rush to Dingxiang, and can only spend the night on the grassland at night, although the autumn of the grassland is very cold, but it has not yet reached the coldest time, so everyone just rose the fire, wrapped in felt and lay on the side of the fire and fell asleep. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

But in the early hours of the morning, Zhao Deyan was still frozen awake, when he opened his eyes, he found that there was still starlight above his head, and there was still no light in the eastern sky, it seemed that there was still a period of time before dawn, and the fire next to him was about to go out, no wonder it was so cold.

The people around were sleeping, there were patrols outside the camp, Zhao Deyan didn't bother to wake up others, he stood up at the moment, picked up a few dried cow dung and threw it into the fire, and after a while, the fire in the fire finally burned more and more, and he also felt much warmer on his body.

Although it was not yet dawn, Zhao Deyan estimated that he couldn't sleep, and he happened to be a little hungry, so he took out some mare's milk and poured it into a small pot to boil it.

After a while, the mare's milk in the iron pot was hot, and Zhao Deyan took out the steamed buns that his wife prepared for him yesterday, broke them and put them into the mare's milk, so that he would not feel uncomfortable if he soaked it softly. Speaking of which, he has been in the grassland for so many years, but he still doesn't like to eat meat, so he usually eats pasta, of course, the flour on the grassland is very expensive, but with his identity, it is nothing.

"Hey, why did Zhao Yehu wake up so early?" Just when Zhao Deyan was about to have breakfast, he suddenly heard someone laughing behind him, and then he saw a short and sturdy, vicious-looking Turkic general coming over, this person is named Kang Sumi, one of Jieli's most trusted generals, this time he led the troops to protect Zhao Deyan and asked Empress Xiao to retreat north.

Ye Hu is Zhao Deyan's official position, and his status is similar to that of the little Khan, but he is not in charge of military power, but only in charge of internal affairs, and his position is more like the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, in fact, Zhao Deyan's official position is the Turkic Prime Minister, which is also his suggestion to Jieli to learn the official system of the Tang Dynasty, but the Turks do not like to use the official name of the Han people, so they usually call him with the title of a Turkic official like Ye Hu.

"The weather is cold, my body is not as healthy as the soldiers, but I was woken up by freezing, I wonder why the general woke up so early?" Zhao Deyan saw Kang Sumi coming over, and replied with a smile, and at the same time invited the other party to sit beside him, and also served a bowl of mare's milk to the other party.

Kang Sumi, as Jieli's favorite general, is usually very familiar with Zhao Deyan, Zhao Deyan and most of the generals around Jieli have a good relationship, so Kang Sumi was not polite to him, took the mare's milk and drank it all, and then said with a beard: "We are only a few hundred miles away from Dingxiang, and Dingxiang is on the edge of Xiangcheng, I don't believe that those former Sui remnants can stop the Tang Army, so we have to be careful, just now I went outside to take a look to see if those patrolling boys are lazy?" ”

"It's still thoughtful to the general!" Zhao Deyan also immediately praised when he heard this, don't look at the fierce appearance of this Kang Sumi in front of him, it seems that he is just a brave horseman, but he knows that this Kang Sumi is a person who is thick on the outside and careful on the inside, and he is very thoughtful about things, otherwise Jieli would not trust him so much.

"It's not thoughtful, it's not good, although many people were clamoring to give Tang Jun a little color to see, but I was really scared by Tang Jun, when the Weishui War, Tang Jun's firearms were simply too powerful, not only was I injured by Khan, I was also bombed and lay in bed for a few months to heal my injuries, this time Tang Jun is prepared, I'm afraid they will carry more firearms, which makes me even more worried!" Kang Sumi said with a worried face at this time, he didn't treat Zhao Deyan as an outsider, so he said these words in his heart.

"It seems that the general has no confidence in repelling the attack of the Tang Army this time?" Zhao Deyan asked with an intriguing smile when he heard this.

"It's not just that I don't have confidence, I don't want to fight with the Tang army at all, those firearms are simply terrible, so I used to be very supportive of the opinion of stubbornness, for the Tang army to avoid its edge, it is best for us to withdraw far away, so that the Tang army can't catch up at all, so that when winter comes, the Tang army can't retreat!" Kang Sumi said again with palpitations.

"It's normal for the general to think, in fact, I think the same way, after all, it's not a few years ago, Datang's strength is growing too fast, and we are actually at a disadvantage, so we can only retreat temporarily!" Zhao Deyan smiled again at this time, and when he said this, he suddenly paused, and then asked again, "By the way, I remember that the general was born in Tuo, right?" ”

The Turkic army is mainly composed of three parts, the first part is the guards, in short, the khan's personal soldiers, these people are not producing, only responsible for the safety of the Turkic khan, and at the same time follow the khan to conquer the east and west, and the status is extremely high; The second part is called the people who control the strings, in fact, they are the ordinary herdsmen of the Turks, and all the Turkic people are soldiers, and these herdsmen will immediately become soldiers in wartime, that is, the people who control the strings, and the third part is the Tuoqi, which is actually a subordinate tribe that does not belong to the Turks, such as Zhaowu Jiu and other Hu people, etc.

"Yes, why did Ye Hu ask that?" Kang Sumi heard Zhao Deyan suddenly ask about his origin, and asked very sensitively at the moment, Jieli reused the Hu people, which gave him a chance to get ahead, but the nobles of the Turkic tribe still despised them as outsiders, even if he was often ridiculed by some Turkic nobles.

"General, don't get me wrong, I'm just curious, I want to ask the general where your family is and whether you have retreated with the Khan?" Zhao Deyan laughed again at this time.

"I see." Kang Sumi heard that Zhao Deyan only cared about his family, and he also showed a relieved smile at the moment, but then he smiled bitterly and said, "Ye Hu doesn't know, I was originally a Kangguo person with one of the nine surnames of Zhaowu, since I was reused by the Khan, I took my family to live in the royal court, I wanted them to enjoy a few days of happiness, but I didn't expect someone to exclude us, and even the children in the family were bullied, so the family didn't want to stay here, I went back to Kangguo to live two years ago, and now I only have a few female slaves left around me, I usually go to Kang Guo to see my family when I have free time. ”

When Kang Sumi said that his family was bullied, he couldn't help but show a resentful expression, Jieli's favor for them could not change the contempt of other Turks for them as outsiders, and even their families could not live well in the royal court, which was also a common experience of many foreign generals, but it was precisely because of this that Kang Sumi's generals often clashed with Turkic nobles, and even made ordinary Turks angry, which was also one of the problems of internal division in Turkism.

"The general's experience is indeed sympathetic, in fact, not only you, but even I am usually angry with some Turkic nobles, fortunately, the Khan trusts us, so these small things don't have to be taken too seriously!" After Zhao Deyan learned about Kang Sumi's situation, he smiled indifferently again, but there was a bit of pride in his smile.

Hearing that even Zhao Deyan was squeezed out by the Turkic nobles, Kang Sumi couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic, although Zhao Deyan told him not to take it to heart, but they have a long-standing grudge between these exiled generals and the Turkic nobles, where can Zhao Deyan resolve it with a few words? Therefore, Kang Sumi also vented the dissatisfaction in his heart, although Zhao Deyan repeatedly comforted, but he also agreed with Kang Sumi's words very much.

The two chatted until the eastern sky lit up and the surrounding soldiers got up, then they stopped talking, and then Kang Sumi ordered everyone to hurry up after breakfast, and after striving to arrive in Dingxiang as soon as possible.

In the evening of the same day, after a whole day of running, Zhao Deyan and his party finally came to Dingxiang City, speaking of Dingxiang and Xiangcheng actually belong to the later generations of Xinzhou, the name Dingxiang originally came from Xiangcheng, originally these two cities belonged to the territory of the former Sui, but later the Sui Dynasty was in turmoil, the Turks only expanded their territory, laid down Dingxiang City, and later placed Empress Xiao in Dingxiang City to live, originally Luo Khan also wanted to help Empress Xiao they lay down the entire Xinzhou, but unfortunately he died too early.

In the city lord's mansion in the center of Dingxiang City, this has been changed into the palace of the King of Sui, usually Empress Xiao and Yang Zhengdao live here, managing the former Sui relics living in Dingxiang City, but Yang Zhengdao is too young, so the usual affairs are handled by Empress Xiao.

In the main hall of the Sui Palace, an old woman with gray hair and wrinkles sat in the hall, her face was also full of sadness, for the Tang army to capture Xiangcheng, she had already received the news, in fact, after Xiangcheng was captured, the defeated soldiers of Xiangcheng came to Dingxiang for the first time, and took over the defense of Dingxiang.

Although the number of these defeated soldiers is not large, but Empress Xiao does not dare to offend them at all, not to mention that the number of former Sui remnants under his command is even smaller, and there are only more than 20,000 people in the full battle, most of them are old, weak, sick and disabled, she only has a 500-person guard in her hands, and she can't even support these 500 people, and she usually needs these people to farm and feed themselves, these people usually need to maintain law and order, and it is impossible to rely on them to fight.

"Grandmother, the Tang army is about to fight, let's run away quickly, presumably Jieli Khan won't blame us." At this moment, I saw a thin child standing next to Empress Xiao suddenly whispered.

This child is Yang Zhengdao, the king of Sui, who is twelve years old this year, but because he is too thin, he looks a few years younger than his actual age, and his little face is full of cowardice and fear.

"Run? Where can we escape? Empress Xiao smiled bitterly when she heard her grandson's words, and then muttered to herself, and her old face also showed a little numbness and helplessness.