Ning Yuanguo was thirsty in the northeast of the city, more than two hundred miles away, and a team of men and horses were coming to the southeast without hurrying.

This is the northernmost edge actually controlled by Ning Yuanguo, with undulating mountains and difficult roads. After here, continue to the north is the road is more difficult, surrounded by high mountains, zigzag to the northwest for more than 70 miles, then turn to the northeast for more than 70 miles, and then all the way to the north, over the snow-capped mountains, desert, and then walk a few hundred miles, is now occupied by the stone country of Talas City.

The men had come from Talas, and the knights looked quite brave. Although Shi Guo is also known as the Nine Kingdoms of Zhaowu along with Kang Guo, An Guo, Cao Guo and so on. However, this group of knights was completely different from the people surnamed Zhaowu Jiu (that is, the Sogdians) with high noses and deep eyes, purple hair and many beards, white skin, and light hair.

Most of them have black hair, large eyes, mostly yellow skin, blurred facial contours, and not as many beards as those surnamed Zhaowu Jiu. In fact, they are all Turkic.

As early as more than 100 years ago, the country of Shi has been Turkicized, not only their main and deputy kings are all Turkic, but most of the residents of the country are Turkic. Ten years ago, the vice king of Shiguo asked Tang Xuanzong to ask for a big meal, and wrote: "...... Today's Turks belong to the heavenly khan, and they are plagued by the west, and there is only a big food, which is more than the Turks. Fu begging Tian's grace does not abandon the Turkic tribes, breaks the great food, and the countries are naturally at peace. ”

This has to do with their geographical location, the Shiguo is in the northeast of the Transoxiana region, and to the north of them is the Western Turks. Ninety years ago, before Su Dingfang pacified Hezhong, the Nine Kingdoms of Zhaowu in Hezhong had been ruled by the Western Turks. At that time, the country of Shi, which was closest to the Turks, had already become Turkic, and for a time it was the seat of the Khan of the Western Turks. Later, the Turkish rose and dominated the Western Regions for decades, and the Stone Kingdom was also the closest to the Turgys.

Turgish, in fact, is a part of the Turks.

The city of Talas had been occupied by the Turgish, and had been owned by the Turgish at least twelve years earlier (739). More than ten years ago, Sulu Khan, the lord of a generation of turphoria, rebelled against the Tang Dynasty and was defeated by the Tang Dynasty and the Great Food at the same time, and Sulu was killed by his subordinates. The Turkish split into the black surname Turqishi, and the yellow surname Turchaishi, the three khans stood side by side (two black Khans, one Huang surnamed Khan, and Sulu belonged to the black surname).

One of the two black Khans occupied Talas City as a base, and the other occupied Broken Leaf City as a base, and the combined forces resisted the Tang Dynasty, and attacked with the Huang surnamed Tucai, and the Huang Khan was once alone. At that time, the Tang Dynasty supported the Khan surnamed Huang, so twelve years ago, the Tang Dynasty sent troops to help the Khan surnamed Huang attack the Khan surnamed Hei of the two turbulent cavalry.

At that time, the Beiting Metropolitan Protector Gai Jiayun and Mohe Dagan, the actual ruler of the Huang surnamed Tuqishi, led the army to break through the Broken Leaf City and capture alive the son of the black Khan Sulu. In this battle, the vice king of the Stone Kingdom, Mo Hedu, Tutun, and King Shi also sent troops to help.

At the same time, on the other hand, Gao Xianzhi's predecessor, Fumeng Lingcha, who was still the guard of Shule Town at the time, together with the king of Ningyuan Dou Zhongjie (at that time, Ningyuan was still called Dongba Khanna, and Dou Zhongjie's name was still Asilanda), led an elite army to break through the city of Talas, and beheaded another khan surnamed Tuqishi and his younger brother.

After the two battles, the city of Broken Leaf was occupied by the Yellow Turkish, and the city of Talas was occupied by the Eastern Bakhanna. In addition, all the tens of thousands of scattered people who were scattered were given to Dongbakhana.

The Huang surnamed Tuqi Shi defeated his mortal enemy, and occupied Broken Leaf City, and gained the most, Tang Dynasty was the eldest brother, and he didn't ask for anything. The three vassal states of the Tang Dynasty, Shi Guo, Dongba Khana and Shi Guo, came to help. But after the battle, the three subject states who came to help, only the Dongba Khan family got all the benefits, and the other two countries only received the reward of the title. The contradiction between the Shi Kingdom and the Eastern Bakhana (that is, the current Ningyuan Kingdom) arose.

On the other hand, Mohe Dagan thought that the Tang Dynasty would crown him as the Ten Khan, but he didn't expect the Tang Dynasty to give the Ten Khan to Ashina Xin. So when the Tang Dynasty sent troops to escort Ashina Xin to his post, he killed Ash Naxin and openly rebelled against the Tang Dynasty.

So the Tang Dynasty turned to support the black surnamed Tuqishi, released the son of Sulu Khan, who was captured in Chang'an, and began to attack the rebellious Huang Tuqishi, and in the third year of Tianbao (744), Mohe Dagan was killed. But it did not completely eliminate the Tuqi Shi surnamed Huang, and the Tuqi Shi surnamed Hei had already been disabled, and the Tuqi Shi surnamed Huang had always occupied the area of Broken Leaf City and Broken Leaf River.

Shi Guo has always supported the Huang surnamed Tuqishi, and the two sides soon connected privately. About five years ago, with the support of the Huang Tuqishi, Shi Guo snatched the city of Talas from Ning Yuanguo, and the two countries have been in flames ever since.

A few years ago, Ning Yuanguo's backer, the Anxi Army, finally preliminarily dealt with the biggest enemy, Tubo, and with leisure, Ning Yuanguo immediately asked Gao Xianzhi of the Anxi Army to attack Shiguo. Of course, Gao Xianzhi could not simply stand out for Ning Yuanguo, and the collusion between Shi Guo and Huang Tuqishi blocked the northern route of the Silk Road, which also damaged the fundamental interests of the Tang Dynasty.

So more than a year ago, on the way back from the expedition to the Exhaustive Division, Gao Xianzhi slaughtered the capital of the Shi Kingdom, Tuozhi City. And this time Gao Xianzhi sent troops to the river, on the one hand, it was of course to crack down on the big food, on the other hand, it was also to open up the northern Silk Road and completely solve the anti-Tang forces composed of Shiguo, Huang Tuqi Shi and Zhaowu Jiu surnamed people living in the area of Shaye River.

For this reason, Gao Xianzhi also deliberately secretly contacted Ge Shuhan, the envoy of Longyou Jiedu, and asked him to help attack Broken Leaf City. At this time, Ge Shuhan's Tianwei army was almost near Broken Leaf, and just waited for Gao Xianzhi's Anxi army to attack Talas City and lure away the troops of Broken Leaf City surnamed Huang Tuqishi, and the Tianwei army could attack Broken Leaf in one fell swoop.

Shi Guo, Huang surnamed Tuqi Shi, and the local Zhaowu Jiu surnamed Hu did not know that the Tianwei Army was near Broken Leaves. There is only one thing they are concerned about now, that is, Gao Xianzhi's Anxi army has arrived in Thirsty City, when will they attack Talas City.

For this reason, they have sent several batches of scout spies to Ning Yuanguo in a row. But somehow, since more than ten days ago, the deputy commander of the white knight was killed by the Anxi army, this road seems to be impassable. Several batches of more than 200 scouts were sent in succession, but none of them were able to return to their lives.

What a hell of a ghost!

In a fit of rage, the king of Shiguo, Teller, sent a thousand of the most elite cavalry of Shiguo and Huang Tucai Shi to sentry in the direction of Thirsty City to warn Talas City.

Now this team of 100 people is the pathfinder team they have sent. The remaining 900 men followed them ten miles behind, and the horses continued to pass back and forth in the middle.

Ba Ye He Li is the leader of these two hundred cavalry, he is a centurion surnamed Huang Tuqishi. The so-called Tuqi Shi surnamed Huang is not a Tuqi Shi surnamed Huang, but a Tuqi Shi with golden hair and yellow eyes. But Ba Ye He Li is actually black-haired and black-eyed, just because their khan is yellow-haired and yellow-eyed.

Ba Ye He Li was born as a grassland hunter, with sharp eyes and a keen sense of hearing, and he can find prey on the grassland from a distance of one or two miles. Coupled with a hard bow that could be fired three stones, riding on a fast warhorse, within one hundred and fifty paces, he was quickly promoted from an ordinary soldier to a centurion.

Because of this expertise, Ba Ye He Li was sent to be a pathfinder. At the beginning, He Li was quite unimpressed with this, which is really a bit of a knife to kill chickens. But later, Commander Ge Shu Sili secretly told him that the several batches of more than 200 scouts sent out earlier had all gone and had not returned, and He Li paid attention to it.

This hundred pathfinders were mobilized by him, seven or eight horsemen actually rode in front of the sentry, more than 20 horses cruised on the left and right sides, and more than 10 horses in the rear, ready to report to the rear brigade at any time, and led dozens of horsemen to sit in the middle. Be cautious along the way, and I really want to turn over a rock to see.

Fortunately, after walking for hundreds of miles, nothing happened at all, and after walking more than ten miles, you can get out of this mountainous area and enter the Fernagan Basin. He Li breathed a sigh of relief at this time, and then there was a plain and a smooth road, and there was no need to worry about the ambush.

Several of his guards had also been to Ning Yuanguo, and when they saw that they were about to walk out of the mountains, they relaxed one by one, talking and laughing, soothing the nerves that had been tense.

"Centurion, we're still more than ten miles away from entering the grassland flatland, and our mission is almost complete, right?"

"It's too the way, you have to rest when you get to the grassland, and when you hunt a few yellow sheep and roast them on the fire, the taste makes your mouth water when you think about it."

"Who said no, you are too careful along the way, we have been on this mountain road several times, where is there any ambush, it's not me bragging, even if there is an ambush, can you escape my eyes?"

"It's just that I'm too careful!"

Ba Ye He Li waved his hand and said: "In short, there is no big mistake in being careful, there are still more than ten miles, everyone don't relax first, and then go to the front to patrol the sentry." Surrounding grass and trees, poke with a spear, and shoot an arrow at a suspicious place. ”

Several guards were ordered to go, but they still couldn't help but mutter: "Where is there an ambush, in the mountains and forests, if there are people in ambush, this bird has already been discovered, you can see that these birds are chirping on the tree, you can know that there is no one under the tree." Could it be that there could be a person hidden in the pile of grass under the tree? ”

He ran over on his horse, trying to clear the haystack, but he heard the muttering of the guards. He shook his head slightly, and also felt that it was impossible, maybe he was really overreacting and suspicious. But what happened to the previous batch of more than 200 scouts? If Ning Yuanguo wants to ambush, he can only choose here, when he arrives at the grassland, there are roads everywhere, how can he kill more than 200 scouts without missing a single miss?

Just as Ba Ye He Li was thinking about it, he suddenly heard a dense whistling sound. He immediately heard the sound of hundreds of crossbow arrows breaking through the air.

Sure enough, there was an ambush!

How can it be? The person who listened to the sound of the ambush was not far from him, and the nearest crossbow arrow was less than a hundred paces, how could he not find it?

didn't have time to think too much, and he Li immediately covered his side with a shield, and at the same time danced the spear in his hand impenetrable. A few clanging and fluttering thoughts, several crossbow arrows shot at him were blocked and knocked down. But the other soldiers who were not fast enough to react and were not agile enough were not so lucky, and they heard countless pops, crossbow arrows into the flesh, and a rain of arrows shot down nearly half of his men.

Ba Yehe Li was in disbelief to find that the ambush actually came from the hillside, as well as the inconspicuous-looking grass piles and dead leaves on both sides of the mountain road. The bolts were shot from these places, and those who looked like a pile of weeds and dead leaves were actually people lying in ambush!

Anxi Army, sure enough, Anxi Army! As soon as I heard the sound, I knew that these were the single-bow crossbows equipped by the crossbowmen of the Anxi Army, and they had fought with the Anxi Army. They even thought of dressing themselves up as weeds, and the dead leaves blended in with their surroundings, no wonder they didn't even notice the birds in the trees!

Tight, tight, tight......

The crossbow bolts continued to ring, and He Li watched with tears in his eyes as his men were shot down one by one, and his own guard, who was muttering quietly, had been shot into a hedgehog. Ba Ye He Li roared loudly with a sad and angry face: "Retreat, retreat, their crossbow arrows are about to run out!" ”

The surviving more than 20 Shi Guo, the Tuqi Shi cavalry immediately turned their horses' heads, kicked the horse's belly like crazy, and ran back desperately. The Turks are a people on horseback, and these movements are performed only on their legs, and their hands are still waving their weapons and firing the crossbow arrows they shoot.

There are constantly subordinates falling off the horse, but he can't care about it, and he kicks the horse's belly desperately. They had run more than sixty paces, and there were still crossbow arrows coming from both sides. These damn Anxi troops are so deep and so hidden. There were already seven or eight crossbow arrows hanging on He Li's body, but none of them hurt the vital point, because of the protection of the iron armor, it didn't go deep into the flesh. But the war horse is not armored, it has been shot three arrows, bleeding nonstop, and if it runs down, I am afraid that it will die violently!

Are you going to die here this time?

I don't know which insidious, cunning, despicable and shameless Anthy dog thief actually came up with such a solution. If Lao Tzu dies like this, he won't let him go even if he is a ghost!