The scorching sun was in the sky, the sand on the ground was scorching, and the army marched on this desert as if in a furnace, and the soldiers of the Tang Army had beads of sweat on their foreheads. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The army was all cavalry, and all the horses trotted forward, and the soldiers sat on horseback, holding the reins, but their bodies did not move.

At this time, Zhao Ziliang marched with 11,000 cavalry of the Han Navy and 5,000 cavalry of Xilin to the location of the Jieshan Governor's Mansion in the Gaozong period, which belonged to the territory of the Alishi Department of the Tuqi Shi.

Zhao Ziliang, who was riding a horse and walking in the front, saw an oasis in front of him, and it was already evening at this time, so he immediately turned around and ordered: "Pass the order and camp in the oasis ahead!" ”

"No!"

There is no need to keep a record of the order for this temporary camp, as long as the herald sends a herald to convey the verbal order to the battalions, the lieutenant general of each battalion will send someone to convey the order to the officers and non-commissioned officers of the lower ranks.

When the army arrived near the oasis, Zhao Ziliang and the others saw clearly that this oasis was inhabited by some herdsmen, and in the middle was a small lake, and these herdsmen set up a circle of large and small tents around this small lake.

The camp of the entire army was deployed according to a specific formation map, and each battalion set up camp and set up tents in a specific location assigned to itself, because it was barren here, and there was no large number of forests for cutting down trees to build fences, rejecting horses and other defensive facilities, so when camping, these defensive measures could only be waived and only tents were set up.

When the herdsmen of the Alishi tribe who lived here saw this huge army coming, they all came out of their tents to watch, and everyone looked frightened in their eyes.

Zhao Ziliang gave Gao Shi and Chen Qing an order, let them arrange the camping, he came to the front of these herdsmen with some personal soldiers, Zhao Ziliang looked at the scale of the camp of the herdsmen in this oasis, there are about sixty tents, and the total number is about less than three hundred.

At this time, a middle-aged male Taoist priest wearing a Taoist robe, holding a dust, and a thin horse face came out from among the herdsmen of the Alishi Department, this person walked five or six meters away from Zhao Ziliang and was about to speak, after seeing Zhao Ziliang, he looked at it carefully, raised his palm and slapped a joke: "Immeasurable Tianzun, dare to ask if Your Excellency is General Zhao Ziliang, the soldier and horse envoy of the Beiting?" ”

Zhao Ziliang had never seen this middle-aged Taoist priest, how did he know him? So he said: "It's Zhao!" Dao Chang's surname? Why do you know the following? ”

The Taoist priest smiled, his expression relaxed a lot, and said: "If it is really General Zhao in person, the name of the poor Taoist is Wang Ximing, and the Taoist name is Qingluo Mountain Buyi. In the last years of Kaiyuan and the early years of Tianbao, he was enshrined and treated in Da Nei, and he was fortunate to have a few encounters with General Zhao! ”

Zhao Ziliang suddenly realized, but he didn't have much impression of this person, but since this person recognized himself and said that he had served and treated Zhao Hanlin in the Great Interior, it must not be nonsense, so he nodded; "I see, since the Taoist chief is in the Great Inner to worship and treat the edict Hanlin, why is he in the company of these Alishi herdsmen here?"

Wang Ximing was stunned for a while when he heard this, and only said: "This matter is a long story, and Poor Dao will chat with the general later." Looking at the army behind the general, I am afraid that there are no less than 10,000 horses, and the general's army is going to camp here, right? When Poor Dao was in Chang'an, he heard that the military discipline under the command of the general was strict, presumably this army was also out of proportion, and the herdsmen of this Alishi Department here were all responsible people, and Poor Dao also hoped that the general would restrain the soldiers, strictly enforce military discipline, and not mess around."

Zhao Ziliang said: "This is natural, this general is a real Tang Dynasty soldier, not a horse bandit!" ”

After that, Zhao Ziliang turned his head and instructed the herald Gai Nie: "After the order, no one is allowed to bathe, wash, urinate or defecate in the lake, and no one is allowed to trespass into the herdsmen's camp without permission, and those who violate the order will be engaged in military law!" ”

"No!" Gagnie agreed, and turned away.

Seeing this, Wang Ximing made another joke: "Thank you for the general's understanding!" The camp of the poor road is here, if the general does not dislike it, please follow me into the tent and drink a bowl of hot goat's milk to relieve your fatigue."

Zhao Ziliang was about to inquire about the situation in the vicinity, and he also wanted to ask someone to be a guide so as not to lose his way, so he jumped off his horse and threw the reins to the soldiers behind him, and followed Wang Ximing into the tent.

The layout in the tent is very simple, a small trench is dug around the tent, and the rain will not flow into the ground in the tent when it rains, there is a small iron pot hanging in the tent, and horse manure is burning underneath, the pot is steaming, and there are several large sheepskins on the ground, which should be used for sleeping, and there are several beautiful porcelain bowls on a small bench, which look very exquisite, this should be the most valuable thing in the tent, this kind of exquisite porcelain bowl, there is no such thing in the ordinary herdsman's house, and they are all used pottery bowls.

The two small horses were placed on both sides of the hanging pot, and Wang Ximing stretched out his hand and said, "General, please!" ”

"Thank you!" Zhao Ziliang nodded and sat down on one side of the maza.

Wang Ximing sprinkled some wild vegetable leaves and some pepper in the iron pot, removed the fishy smell, used a porcelain bowl to serve a bowl of goat's milk to Zhao Ziliang, and then made a bowl himself, and sat opposite Zhao Ziliang.

"The general has so many soldiers and horses, is this going to war?" Wang Ximing asked after taking a sip of goat's milk.

Zhao Ziliang said: "It's hard to say whether there is a war or not, a large area of land in the west under the jurisdiction of Beiting is occupied and controlled by the Great Food Army, if they continue to advance eastward, they will soon come here, this general led the troops over this time, on the one hand, he wanted to deter them, if they could go back, it would be the best, if they didn't go back, they could only drive them back, the city of Henglus in the southwest has been occupied by the Great Food Army, and Gao Xianzhi is leading the troops to fight with the Great Food Army, and the specific result is unknown!" ”

Maybe it's because he's been here for a long time, and the news here isn't very well-informed, so when Wang Ximing heard the news that the Great Food Army had already hit Henglus City, he was quite surprised, he was a little panicked, and said, "The Great Cannibal is coming?" If they kill here, won't these herdsmen suffer? ”

Zhao Ziliang soothed: "Dao Chang don't panic, the big food army is still far from here, the main force of their partial division is in Henglus City, there should not be many soldiers and horses downstream of the broken leaf water, this time the general will bring the troops to prepare to intercept them, but the army is here, and then go west is a large desert, if there is no guide to lead the way, it is easy to get lost, I don't know if this is a herdsman who is familiar with the surrounding terrain in the future?" ”

Wang Ximing pondered for a moment and said: "If the general wants to find a guide, Poor Dao can do it, Poor Dao has been here for several years, and he is very familiar with the terrain of hundreds of miles in this regard!" I wonder where the general is going to lead the army, and is there a specific location? ”

Zhao Ziliang immediately turned around and shouted to the soldiers outside: "Come on, go and bring the map!" ”

Zhao Ziliang has a detailed map in his hand, which has been surveyed and drawn by sending people to survey and draw it a long time ago, but the terrain in the desert changes quickly, and he has not been here in person, so it is important to find a guide who is familiar with the terrain, and will not take detours and lose his way.

The map was quickly taken, Zhao Ziliang spread it out, pointed to a location located in the north of Henglus City, on the north bank of the downstream of the Broken Leaf Water and said: "It's here, you look here, after crossing the river, there is a desert to the south, and the width from north to south is about four hundred miles is Henglus City, and to the north you can go directly to Yibohai (Balkhash Lake), the distance is only about four hundred miles, with the daily marching speed of our army in the desert reaching two hundred miles, you can reach these two positions in two days, if there is any problem with Gao Xianzhi's army in Hengrus, Our department can quickly rush to help, if the Great Food Army has an army from the west, either pass through us, or go to the south bank of Yibo Sea to replenish fresh water, except for these two places, they can't find a water source elsewhere, Heng Luosi's side General Ben has sent someone to investigate the situation, can report the battle situation over there at any time, and Yibo South Bank, when the army is camped, the general will send scouts to investigate, once the traces of the Great Food Army are found, depending on the number of opponents, if the opponent's troops are not much, General Ben will send a partial division to interceptOnce the opponent is too numerous, General Ben will personally lead the army to fight until they are defeated! ”

Wang Ximing doesn't understand military affairs, but he also knows that if the army doesn't have a water source, it can't support it for a few days in this vast desert, he looked at the position pointed by Zhao Ziliang's finger, nodded and said: "Poor Dao has been here, last September, Poor Dao used to go west along the broken leaf water, passing through any place along the way."

Zhao Ziliang hugged his fists and said: "Then ask the Taoist chief to be the guide of my army, if the Taoist chief has any requirements, just say, money or other, it's okay."

Wang Ximing waved his hand and said: "No, although I am a monk, I am also a citizen of the Tang Dynasty, what is it to do something for the general?" ”

"In this way, General Ben is very grateful!" Zhao Ziliang was not polite, and asked: "By the way, the Taoist chief said that the end of the Kaiyuan Dynasty and the beginning of Tianbao had been in the Great Inner to worship and treat the edict of Hanlin, how did he come out of the Great Inner Palace?" ”

Wang Ximing was stunned for a moment, and then sighed: "Poor Dao was driven out, just because in the second year of Tianbao, Poor Dao said a few words in front of the saint to admonish the saint not to favor Li Linfu too much, Li Linfu was gracious, and instructed the imperial envoy Yan Zhenqing to impeach Poor Dao in the palace to confuse the public, the saint listened to the slander, and ordered the poor Dao to be driven out of the Great Inner Road, and the poor Dao came out of the Great Inner without a fixed place, all the way to the west, and finally came here."

Zhao Ziliang couldn't help but smile bitterly: "It seems that you and I are both people who have suffered greatly from Li Linfu, and we can be regarded as sympathetic to the same disease!" ”

Wang Ximing said: "The general is the pillar of the country, even if he is framed by Li Linfu and others, he will eventually have an official position and military power in his hands, unlike the poor Dao who is now alone."

Zhao Ziliang asked: "The Taoist believes in Taoism, have you ever thought about carrying forward Taoism?" ”

"Of course, as a Taoist, who wouldn't want to be like that? It's just that Poor Dao doesn't have an official position now, and if he wants to fulfill his wish on his own, I'm afraid it's even more difficult! Wang Ximing said with a sigh.

Zhao Ziliang said seriously: "What if General Ben supports the Daoist in the North Garden?" Is it much easier for the Taoist to have faith or not? ”

Wang Ximing was stunned and wondered: "Why did the general do this?" It doesn't seem like much good for the general, right? And as far as the poor Dao knows, the general doesn't seem to have a preference for Taoism! ”

Zhao Ziliang said: "Beiting Hu people are the majority, Han people are few, although in recent years the general has been committed to migrating Han people from the mainland, but the number of Hu people is still more than the Han people, my Han people want to rule this place completely, there should be our Han culture and beliefs, people can not have no faith, people without faith have no spiritual sustenance, it is easy to get lost in their own life road, we not only let the Han people have faith that can be sustenance, but also influence the Hu people, Let them understand and learn from the culture and belief of our Han people, if you want to carry forward Taoism, you can't always be quiet and inactive, you must spread the teachings and purposes of Taoism to the people, but you can't pretend to be gods and ghosts to fool the people, pretending to be gods and ghosts will be discovered and exposed sooner or later, will the people still believe you? Don't think that the people are ignorant and easy to deceive, in fact, the wisest people are the people, and the one who thinks others are ignorant is actually the most ignorant himself! ”

Wang Ximing thought for a while, and then nodded and said: "Listening to the general's words today, it is like seeing the sun through the clouds, what I couldn't figure out before, just now I listened to the general's words, it is like an empowerment!" It's just that if you want to propagate the doctrine and purpose of Taoism and develop believers, you must build Taoist temples and dojos, which all require money, it takes a while to develop believers, and it takes time to rely on believers to raise donations. ”

Zhao Ziliang said: "General Ben can fund you a sum of money, but you will have to rely on yourself in the future!" However, General Ben wants to agree with you here that the funds needed for the development of Taoism here cannot be obtained by deceiving believers and the people, but by the voluntary donations of the people, and the willingness of the people to donate more or less depends on your own ability! ”

"Thank you, General!" Wang Ximing said and made a joke, "Don't worry, the general will definitely act according to the general's instructions!" (To be continued.) )