When Ma Huaiyuan and Ma Xiaodao arrived at the place where the fire was soaring, there was not much fire left, and all the living things on the entire mountain were turned into ashes and extinguished in the evening breeze. At the foot of the mountain, dozens of Khitan barbarians were pointing at the remnants of the mountain and laughing loudly, all of them arrogant and proud. The fire has not completely dissipated, and these Khitan barbarians have prepared to go up the mountain, but they have not yet moved.

Seeing the outline of the fort in the firelight on the mountain, and seeing the Khitan barbarians laughing loudly at the foot of the mountain, Ma Huaiyuan and Ma Xiaodao were dumbfounded, and the two of them drew their swords at the same time, without even taking out their bows and arrows, instantly raising the speed of the horse to the extreme, ignoring the formation, and rushing to kill these culprits from the mountain road.

The Khitan barbarians, who were celebrating with their crowns, obviously did not expect that on this night, there would be Tang Army elite cavalry suddenly appearing here, and the murderous spirit rushed directly towards them. Some of them got off their horses and were about to attack the mountain, cut off the heads of those Tang border soldiers, and go back to use them as military merits, while the other part was also resting beside the horses, and there were very few people on horseback. Suddenly found this Tang cavalry, they hurriedly got on the horse, fled in all directions, and made a mess.

Ma Huaiyuan and Ma Xiaodao led the hundred horsemen behind them, rushed to the Khitan army, and fell into the Khitan army, swordsmanship and scattered, and surrounded and annihilated them.

In a few moments, most of the Khitan barbarians were killed and wounded, corpses were all over the ground, and the rest fled in a hurry, ignoring the bad vision of the night, and fled everywhere to the forests, ravines, mountains, and mountain roads.

Ma Huaiyuan was furious, and yelled on horseback: "No one is allowed to be spared, not a single barbarian is allowed to stay, do not accept surrender, kill!" ”

The elite horsemen responded violently, and each formed a team, or pursued on horseback, or dismounted to chase and kill, or shot with bows and arrows, vowing to kill none of these enemies of life and death.

Ma Huaiyuan and Ma Xiaodao, with a team of men and horses, rushed to the fort on the mountain.

All the way to catch up with the fort, the closer to the fort, the more frightened Ma Huaiyuan and Ma Xiaodao became, on the mountain road, on the slope, there were rolling stones, wood, charred corpses everywhere, the closer to the mountain gate, the more corpses and remnants. Inside and outside the mountain gate, there was a clear accumulation of corpses, and the number of corpses here alone was equal to the sum of all the corpses on the hillside below, or even a lot more.

The two of them looked at each other, and they both looked at the shock in each other's eyes, the number of corpses on the road was too much, and there were no less than forty in total, and at most three sergeants in this fort, that is to say, the sergeants in this fort had caused almost three times as many casualties to their opponents yesterday! This is still when the Khitan barbarians have about 100 people.

The walls of the fort were burned black, many places had collapsed, a broken wall, Ma Huaiyuan and Ma Xiaodao walked into the fort with grief and indignation, although they knew that it was impossible, but they still hoped to find one or two surviving sergeants.

There was a one-piece bed in the fort, which was supposed to be where the fort sergeants slept, and now the bed was completely untouched, and on the bed and in front of the bed, seven or eight charred corpses were lying together, and they had horizontal knives stuck in their bodies, and some of them were still in the hands of people.

Ma Huaiyuan and Ma Xiaodao glanced at each other, and both knew what it meant. When the last fire approached the fort, the survivors of a fierce battle with the barbarians, who had fed each other the last stab, ended the suffering.

Ma Xiaodao's eyes were red, he pulled out the knife and slashed at the wall, facing the charred wall, he lowered his head, gritted his teeth, and tears fell from his eyes, "It shouldn't be that the group of barbarians under the mountain should die so simply, it shouldn't be!" They should be skinned with cramps, tortured for three days and three nights, and then thrown to feed the dogs! ”

Ma Huaiyuan didn't say anything, he just stared at the sergeants in front of him who were in a tragic state, silently clenched his fists, and trembled slightly.

Suddenly, a groan sounded in the corner of the wall, and everyone followed the sound, only to find that in that extremely cramped and inconspicuous corner, in the pile of rocks, there were still two people lying on their stomachs. It is not accurate to say that there are two people lying on his stomach, because one person is holding the corner of the wall with both hands, and the rubble and soil that have fallen behind his back have held up a small space under him, and in that space, there is another person curled up, and Fang Cai's voice came from that person's mouth.

Ma Huaiyuan, Ma Xiaodao and others hurriedly rushed over in surprise, and when they saw the scene in front of them, they were immediately shocked and speechless. The man who knelt on the ground with his hands on the wall was dead, but even if he died, he did not fall, and the earth and rocks behind him built a small mountain of earth. His robe was almost scorched, revealing the charred skin and bones inside.

Unlike the sergeant who ended his life in front of the bed, this person did not give up the struggle when he was dying, and the purpose of his struggle was only for the person in his chest.

Ma Huaiyuan, Ma Xiaodao and others, after a short period of shock, hurriedly and carefully and extremely quickly pulled out the person who was curled up in the corner.

This is a young man with a somewhat immature countenance, his dark face cannot be seen through his true face, his brow is furrowed, as if he is enduring some great pain.

"Help!"

Ma Huaiyuan and Ma Xiaodao didn't know who this person was, they carried him out, and when they treated his injuries, Ma Xiaodao, who looked up, saw a tear flowing from the corner of this person's eye.

……

When Ma Xiaodao woke up again, he saw the twilight sun.

He was lying on a stretcher, far away from the military fort of Daoshuigou, the sun was setting in the west, the warm sun was flowing in the mountains, and the four fields seemed peaceful and peaceful. However, Ma Xiaodao felt the cold and felt a heart-wrenching pain.

He opened his eyes for a moment, and for a moment, he remembered the last scene in the fire.

Zhou Loufeng reported him to the fort with serious injuries and poured the last bit of water into the corner, Zhou Xiaoquan instinctively resisted such a move, but he really didn't have the strength to do anything.

At the end, when the earth and stone fell on his father's thin body, which knelt in front of him, the pain on his father's face flashed, and then he smiled peacefully and said the last words of his life.

He said, "You used to protect me, but now I want to protect my son." ”

Zhou Xiaoquan's eyes fell into darkness again, he tilted his head, and passed out again. He didn't know that the tears in the corners of his eyes kept flowing.

Ma Xiaodao kept looking at Zhou Xiaoquan, and he saw the sadness in the other party's eyes when he opened his eyes, and his eyes went deep into the bone marrow. also saw the tears in the corners of Zhou Xiaoquan's eyes, he didn't know who the other party was who dedicated his life to the other party, but he knew that it must be the one who loved him the most.

……

I woke up a few times in a daze, drank some gruel in my memory, and opened my eyes again consciously, Zhou Xiaoquan found himself lying in a room, the room was not small, but the furnishings were simple, and the bright light shone in through the window, allowing Zhou Xiaoquan to see the people sitting in the room.

"Where is this, who are you?" Ma Xiaodao heard the voice of the person on the bed.

Ma Xiaodao, who was wiping the horizontal knife, immediately put down the knife and ran to Zhou Xiaoquan's window, with a lot of surprise, and laughed: "You kid is really fateful, you can survive such a serious injury, tsk, I can't say that I will be a character in the future!" ”

After speaking, he remembered the other party's question, Ma Xiaodao said: "This is Jizhou City Thorn Mansion, I am Ma Xiaodao, and it is Ma Huaiyuan, the new Thorn Shi of Jizhou, who saved you—that's my brother." ”

"Where's the fort? What about the people in the fort? Zhou Xiaoquan's words pulled the horse knife back from the joy.

Ma Xiaodao was silent for a while, "The military fort of the inverted ditch has been destroyed in the fire. On that day, I patrolled the border with Lord Thorn Shi, and I was camping in the wilderness, and I saw the fire burning there, so I rushed over. Fort Inside...... There are no other living people, we have buried them, and we have saved you only. ”

After saying these words, Ma Xiaodao saw that Zhou Xiaoquan's head was tilted inward, and he knew that it was because Zhou Xiaoquan didn't want to see him cry.

Ma Xiaodao sighed and said: "During this period of time, the Khitan rangers have attacked many forts on the border of Jizhou, and you pour the ditch, which is already the only fort left along the line. ”

Zhou Xiaoquan eased his nerves and asked Ma Xiaodao: "The Khitan rangers suddenly attacked the border fort on a large scale, or did they use this thunderous technique, they clearly intended to control the border line, isn't there a big war on the border?" ”

"I don't know." Ma Xiaodao shook his head, he thought about it, and still said: "Now in the Khitan country, Yelu Abaoji is leading 200,000 troops to conquer the Bohai Kingdom, it stands to reason that it is impossible for the Khitan to use troops against my Tang Dynasty at this time, but this series of actions of the Khitan on the border, if it is not to prepare for a big war, it is indeed unreasonable...... Forget it, you can rest for a long time, these things will be talked about when you recover from your injuries. As for whether there is a war on the border, the assassin has already reported the situation here to the military commander, and the military commander will naturally make a decision. ”

It was a high-level thing that was too far away from Zhou Xiaoquan, he couldn't touch it, and nodded, "Thank you for saving me, thank you for burying the soldiers of the Baoshuigou Military Fort, they ...... It's all men! ”

……

Youzhou.

After Li Congjing received the news from Ma Huaiyuan, he pondered for a long time about the letter, and then specially called Tao Yaoyao in the middle to ask him about the situation of the military intelligence department in the Khitan.

"Nothing out of the ordinary." This is Momo's answer.

After receiving such an answer, Li Congjing's brows furrowed deeper, and then asked about the movement of the Khitan troops in the north of Jizhou, and the answer he got was that these Khitan barbarians were extremely vigilant, and the military intelligence department tried to approach several times, but they were stopped, so that they could not control the movements of this Khitan army now. However, the Military Intelligence Department still learned from other places that there was no major movement of these tens of thousands of Khitan troops.

After thinking for a long time, and reading the information compiled by the Military Intelligence Department several times, he did not find any clues, so Li Congjing called the General Staff Office to come over and discuss the abnormalities on the border of Jizhou at the moment.

"After Yelu Abaoji personally conquered the Bohai Kingdom, there were suddenly signs of large-scale Khitan elite cavalry activities on the border of Jizhou, not only the scouts of our border army were hunted down and killed, but also seriously, the military fort on the northern line of Jizhou was pulled out by Khitan rangers almost overnight, and this move almost made Jizhou completely lose control of the border situation." Li Congjing told the staff of the staff office who were present the news reported by Ma Huaiyuan, "What is the intention of the Khitan to act like this suddenly, do you have any opinions?" ”

Mo Li pondered: "Jizhou is different from Danzhou and Pingzhou, the border of Danzhou and Pingzhou is mostly along the Great Wall, there is Xiongguan as a reliance, and it is quite difficult for the Khitan army to break through the pass, while Jizhou is different, the northern border is far beyond the Great Wall, there is no Great Wall as a barrier, and there is no Xiongguan, it has always been the road often chosen by the Khitan to invade south. Therefore, there are many military forts on the Jizhou border, especially in the past two years, Lulong has nearly doubled the number of forts, in order to prevent the southern invasion of the Khitan, we found that the clues were not timely and the response was hasty. The military fort has become the front line of defense of the army standing on the border, and the patrol sergeant in the fort is my Lu Long's eyes staring at the border and grassland. This time, the Khitan rangers raided the border and pulled out the military fort, paralyzing the fort system in the north of Jizhou almost overnight, which seems to be a precursor to a big war. ”

The meaning of Mo Li's words was to speculate that the Khitan might invade from Jizhou, so he continued: "At this time, to deal with the Khitan, there are three things that must be done, first, Ma Huaiyuan should be ordered to recapture the military fort; secondly, ordered Ma Huaiyuan to gather the Jizhou army and go to the border town to station in order to intercept the Khitan army; Third, let the Hundred Battles Army reorganize its armament and be ready to respond to emergencies at any time to support Jizhou. ”

Li Congjing nodded, basically agreeing with Mo Li's point of view, whether the Khitan went south or not, this move was the safest plan.

However, Wang Pu did not agree with Wang Pu's opinion, he said: "Now Yelu Abaoji personally conquered the Bohai Sea, almost the elite of the country, at this time, the focus of the Khitan conquest should be in the Bohai State. In the case that the Bohai State has not yet been captured, Yelu Abaoji will definitely not open up another battlefield. The Khitan rangers' attack on the Jizhou military fort is more like a trick to attract our attention and prevent us from supporting the Bohai Kingdom in time. Because of this, according to the following opinion, although the changes in the northern border of Jizhou cannot be ignored, there is no need to spend a lot of effort. The focus of our attention at the moment should still be in Bohai State. ”