"Let's go!" Li Hong roared, and two teams of elite horsemen, 1,400 people, urged the horses to gallop wildly, and followed him to the bank of the Weishui River outside the city. Along the way, the guards always protected Li Hong in the middle, which was their duty, and the six hundred elite cavalry calmly acted as the vanguard troops, always opening the way in front.

The riding skills of the Tubo elite horse are really exquisite, and they were trained by Zhao Zhongyong fiercely, when they walked side by side in a sequence of eight horses on the official road, this momentum alone was very amazing, although it had not yet reached the pace of the war horse for a while, but in just a few days, it was trained by Zhao Zhongyong to be like this, and even Chen Gong beside Li Hong was surprised.

"He is worthy of being a person valued by His Highness, but he is not ordinary!" Chen Gong said with a sigh.

In fact, Li Hong told Chen Gong that Zhao Zhongyong trained the formation of the Tubo soldiers and asked Chen Gong to train the guards like this. Now the guards can also do the level of the Tibetan spirit horse. It's just that compared to the fact that the Tubo elite cavalry can do it in a short time, the guards take a lot longer to talk. This exposed the gap between the Tang cavalry and the Tubo cavalry from the side. Although they are also the elite of their respective cavalry, in terms of horsemanship, the Tang soldiers are still not as good as the Tubo people who live on horseback all year round.

"Chen Gong, if you encounter such a Tubo elite cavalry and give you six hundred guards, what are your chances of winning?" Li Hong asked suddenly. Chen Gong was silent, he was thinking, but he still didn't answer Li Hong's question immediately, and it took a long time before he replied, "If it's in the plains, there is a sixty percent chance of winning; If you put it in a hilly terrain, you only have a 50% chance of winning. ”

"Why?" Yan Zhuang asked.

"Because our riding skills are not as good as theirs, fighting in the hills, they can make up for the terrain with their superb riding skills, we can't do that." Chen Gong said very seriously, "To put it bluntly, the quality of our soldiers is not as good as that of the Tubo people who live on horseback all year round. However, in terms of the combat effectiveness of the soldiers, they may not be our opponents. It's just a cavalry battle, which considers not only the individual combat ability of the soldiers, but also factors such as riding skills and terrain. ”

Chen Gong said a lot, and Li Hong could only nod slightly.

"Is Su Xiang bringing cavalry this time?". Li Hong asked.

"A thousand Western Regions elite riders!" Yan Zhuang replied.

"Who is the cavalry general?" Li Hong's eyes lit up, and he was looking forward to what the Tang cavalry would be like that would make the countries of the Western Regions frightened and the Tubo people tremble. Yan Zhuang immediately replied, "The deputy general of this thousand cavalry is the black tooth Changzhi. ”

"Black Tooth?" Li Hong was surprised.

Hei Tooth Changzhi is a famous general of the Tang Dynasty, but this person is from Baekje.

And the early deeds of the black tooth Changzhi are unknown, and when he grows up, he is more than seven feet tall, good at using soldiers, and history calls him "brave and strategic". Later, Hei Tooth Changzhi served as a leader and a county general in Baekje, which was equivalent to the position of assassin in the Tang Dynasty. When Su Dingfang captured Baekje, Heizhi Changzhi surrendered to Su Dingfang, and then in the decades after the Tang Dynasty, Heizhi Changzhi repeatedly made military exploits, crisscrossed Qinghai and Tibet invincible, broke the Turkic power of the world, entered the Duke of Yanguo, and became the feudal official of the Tang Dynasty.

It's just that in the first year of Yongchang, he was framed by the cool official Zhou Xing and hanged himself to death.

Now, when Li Hong heard that the deputy general who was following Su Dingfang was Hei Tooth Changzhi, he was very curious, and at the same time he was even more eager to see Su Dingfang, because this veteran is really a fierce man who is good at discovering talents and cultivating talents.

Suddenly, thinking of this, Li Hong's body was agitated.

He suddenly realized that he seemed to be wrong, that he had forgotten something. That is, since Su Dingfang is so good at discovering and cultivating talents, why don't he establish a military academy and let Su Dingfang be the dean to train high-quality generals for Datang?

With this thought, Li Hong's heart was even more impatient, he was eager to talk to Su Dingfang about this matter, and wanted to hear Su Dingfang's opinion.

In a few moments, Li Hong arrived at a makeshift shed on the banks of the Weishui River, where he dismounted and chatted and drank tea with Yan Zhuang, Chen Gong, and Zhao Zhongyong. After waiting for nearly a stick of incense, I saw a fast horse appear on the official road ahead. Immediately, the knight was black-clothed and black-armored, and it was Li Hong's guard cavalry. The knight rode in front of Li Hong, dismounted and said, "Your Highness, General Su has arrived." ”

As soon as the knight's voice fell, dust flew on the official road ahead. In a moment, a suffocating and terrifying cavalry appeared in front of everyone.

"It is worthy of being a horse in the Western Regions, and it really deserves its name!" When Chen Gong saw this cavalry, he said with emotion that he was also a member of this cavalry at the beginning, and it was only because of his excellent performance that he was selected by Gaozong to be Li Hong's guard general.

"It's so strong!" Zhao Zhongyong only said this sentence, and then stopped speaking, although he is now Li Hong's person, but because he left a shadow at the beginning, he has never been confident in this cavalry.

As soon as Li Hong got up, he saw that this cavalry stopped when it was still three hundred paces away from him. I saw two horsemen rushing out of the brigade of cavalry, trotting in their own direction. Li Hong strode forward, and Chen Gong, Zhao Zhongyong, and Yan Zhuang followed closely. When he walked thirty steps forward, he clearly saw the two people on the war horses in front of him, one was an old man over seventy years old, his beard was white, but his spirit was shining, and the cold air between his eyes was pressing, he was Su Dingfang, a famous general of the Tang Dynasty, and the other was tall, brother, with a rough face, and he was only in his thirties.

Su Dingfang saw Li Hong and was about to get off the horse, but was stopped by Li Hong.

"Su Xiang, you don't have to dismount, let Gu lead the horse to the stirrup for you today!" Li Hong said loudly, just when Su Dingfang was about to turn over and dismount, he walked quickly to his horse and quickly supported the old general who was about to dismount.

Su Dingfang's body was shocked, and he hurriedly excused himself, "Su Dingfang sees His Highness, His Highness can't help it, and the veteran can't afford it!" ”

However, Li Hong steadily pressed Su Dingfang on the horse's back, quickly took the reins from his hand, and said loudly, "Su Xiang guarded the Western Regions for the Tang Dynasty, expanded his territory for tens of millions of miles, and cultivated Pei Xingjian, Wang Fangyi, Guo Yuanfeng and other generals for the Tang Dynasty, how can he not bear it?" Besides, Lone is doing this now on behalf of his father, and I hope that Su Xiang will not shirk anymore. ”

Li Hong's words did not have too much sensationalism, and there was not much meaning to praise Su Dingfang, but the words were simple and heartfelt, which made Su Dingfang's tone choked.

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Su Dingfang strongly suppressed the emotion in his heart and said, "The veteran is ashamed!" ”

Yan Zhuang and Chen Gong beside Li Hong, as well as Zhao Zhongyong, did not expect His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to do this, except for being surprised, there was not much admiration for the prince's humility and courtesy.

As courtiers, they knew very well that it was a blessing for them to have such a king.

Especially when Zhao Zhongyong saw the scene where the prince treated the veteran well, he was moved. If you can meet such a monarch, what does it matter if you let Zhao Zhongyong die? Because he was willing.

The black-toothed Changzhi who was riding on horseback was shocked by Li Hong's actions and did not salute, and only came back to his senses when Li Hong led the horse to leave, but at this time he did not salute Li Hong immediately, but shouted loudly, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Chitose!" ”

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Chitose!" The Iron Cavalry of the Western Regions of the Thousand Tang Dynasty shouted!

At this moment, Li Hong's actions moved Su Dingfang very much, and Heiya Changzhi was very moved, and also won the heart of the Tang Western Regions Iron Horseman.

"General Blacktooth dismounted, and slept alone in front of him, let's rest for a while, and then we will meet Chang'an City." Li Hong turned back to the black tooth Changzhi and said. Blacktooth Changzhi commanded, "No! ”

He turned over and dismounted, and followed Li Hong to the temporary shed.

Li Hong led Su Dingfang's war horse, Su Dingfang rode on the war horse, and walked outside the shed under the gaze of the three fine horsemen.

As soon as he got off the war horse, Su Dingfang wanted to bow down and salute, but was stopped by Li Hong.

"Su Xiang, don't do this big gift, you are a lonely young guard, a prime minister, or the governor of the Northern Ya, and a minister of the Tang Dynasty, how dare you accept your big gift." Li Hong hurriedly supported Su Dingfang and said.

Su Dingfang was moved again.

For Su Dingfang, he now has more military merits than Li Ji, and the reason why Li Ji is listed as a famous general like Li Jing is because he pacified Goryeo, and now Li Ji Goryeo has not been pacified, his military merits are naturally not as good as Su Dingfang, and Su Dingfang's prestige in the army is not lower than Li Ji.

As for why Li Ji has such a high glory and Su Dingfang does not, it is because Li Ji is the founding general, he has stood in the right position in several times, Su Dingfang did not follow Li Yuan and Li Shimin at the beginning, and did not make contributions in Li Shimin's d'état, and in the Gaozong period, he was not Gaozong's minister, so he was suppressed by Li Ji.

Now Li Hong only gave him a little courtesy, but in Su Dingfang's heart, this is the greatest affirmation of his contribution to Datang. And he still knew that if it weren't for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, his Prince Shaobao, and his Tongzhongshu Menxia Sanpin, his Northern Governor would not have been able to obtain it.

Before, with his military exploits, he could have obtained these honors, but he did not obtain them.

Now, he has also obtained these honors that only Li Ji enjoys, which is the greatest affirmation of his great contributions to the Tang Dynasty, and it is also the affirmation of the crown prince, and the affirmation of the future emperor of the Tang Dynasty, how can he not be moved...