The sky was drizzling, the camp was in shambles, the tents were overturned, the bowls and basins were smashed, mud-stained clothing and household items were discarded everywhere, patches of blood were everywhere, and a Tang cavalry was tense and separated the Shatuo and Qarluqs.

The Shatuos and Qarluqs glared angrily, their swords drawn and swords, and a dozen wounded lay in pools of blood groaning in pain.

At this time, a Tang soldier shouted: "General Li is here!" ”

I saw a group of cavalry coming at a gallop, Li Qing'an put on his armor, his face was like sinking water, he rushed to the front first, and shouted angrily: "Who dares to use force in my north courtyard!" ”

Shatuo Ye Bone Protector hurriedly said: "Envoy, it's not that we are rude, it is the Qarlu people who killed my hound first and insulted me Shatuo people as dogs. ”

Li Qing'an's eyes glanced coldly at the Qarlu people, the eldest prince of Qarluq snorted heavily, turned his head arrogantly, and the second prince Sihan hurriedly stepped forward and bowed down and said: "It was the Shatuo people who invaded my Qarlu ranch first and killed my people, and we have been very restrained." ”

Gu Duzhi was furious and accused: "Eight years ago, I killed my Shatuo people and robbed my Shatuo women and children, and the leader of Shatuo died under your sword, do you forget?" ”

The assassin was furious and scolded: "Shatuo dog, I cheapened you eight years ago, and this time I will slaughter you to extermination. ”

"Shut up!"

Li Qing'an shouted angrily, he stepped forward, pointed at the two Hu with a horsewhip and said: "I don't care if you have any old grudges, from today on, whoever dares to do anything more between the Shatuo people and the Gelulu people will despise my Tang Dynasty, and I should send troops to ask for it." ”

He also commanded his men to "separate them and camp them not near." ”

The Shatuo people and the Gelulu people were silent, Li Qing'an glanced at the eldest prince again, and saw that he looked contemptuous, he couldn't help but sneer secretly, and said: "I repeat, from today onwards, no more things are allowed, don't take my words as a deaf ear, if you don't believe it, you can give it a try." ”

After speaking, he turned his horse's head and galloped towards Beiting City, no longer asking, Mou Jian Sihan looked at Li Qing'an's back, his brows furrowed, he seemed to think of something wrong, but he couldn't say it for a while.

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At the same time when the two Hu fires merged, Zhao Tingyu, the governor of Xizhou, came to Cheng Qianli's house, Zhao Tingyu was about thirty-five or sixteen years old, tall and thin, fair-skinned, with a hooked nose, Zhao Tingyu was originally a general of Jin Wuwei, Tianbao was transferred to Beiting in five years, in Chang'an he belonged to the Qingwang Party, Cheng Qianli also became a member of the Qingwang Party after the failure of the competition for the Anxi Festival, and it was for this reason that the two got very close, and later developed into an in-law relationship, Zhao Tingyu's younger brother married Cheng Qianli's daughter.

Since their marriage was completed in their hometown, very few people in Beiting knew about it, and only old bureaucrats like Yang Fengche found clues from various documents.

This time, Zhao Tingyu came to Beiting, not for spring hunting, but to use this as an excuse to come to Cheng Qianli to discuss the next step.

On the surface, the contradiction in the North Court seems to be the contradiction between Cheng Qianli and Li Qing'an, in fact, Cheng Qianli does not have any power, especially no military power, so the real contradiction in the North Court is the contradiction between the three real power governors, Yizhou Governor Han Zhi has expressed his willingness to accept Li Qing'an's leadership, which can be ignored, the real contradiction is the contradiction between Zhao Tingyu and Li Qing'an, Zhao Tingyu's Tianshan Army has 5,000 people, it is a strong force, which is also his confidence to dare to fight against Li Qing'an.

In particular, he represents King Qing's interests in Beiting, and his confrontation with Li Qing'an is actually a kind of confrontation between King Qing and the crown prince.

This time he led five hundred personal soldiers to Tingzhou, stationed in a military camp outside Jinman County, five hundred personal soldiers are always around, extremely vigilant, he also handed over the Xizhou army to his henchman Long Qianfei command, without his order, no one can transfer the Tianshan army.

In the study, Cheng Qianli's expression was solemn, and there was a letter in front of him, which was a handwritten letter written by King Qing, in which he clearly asked them to continue the confrontation with Li Qing'an and appease them, he was already fighting for a place as a deputy envoy of Jiedu from Shengshang, as for whether this place was for Cheng Qianli or Zhao Tingyu, the letter did not say clearly.

"I heard that Han Zhi has taken refuge in Li Qing'an." For a long time, Cheng Qianli said in a hoarse voice.

Compared with a few years ago, Cheng Qianli has aged a lot, he is only forty-five years old this year, his hair has turned more than half white, his official luck is indeed not very good, in Anxi and Gao Xianzhi fight, Gao Xianzhi took the throne, he tried his best, did not hesitate to take refuge in King Qing, only to get his wish and be transferred to Beiting, appointed as the deputy protector, King Qing also promised him that he would become the protector of Beiting in the future.

He looked forward to it day by day, but he didn't expect that the last thing he was looking forward to was Li Qing'an in charge of Beiting, he suffered a heavy blow, just one month, his hair was already gray, Li Qing'an came to govern Beiting for more than a month, he almost didn't care about anything, indulged in wine all day long, and his body was much weaker.

Zhao Tingyu's back was straight, he glanced at Cheng Qianli, and saw that he was exuding a strong smell of alcohol, his eyes were timid and godless, and he couldn't help but be very dissatisfied in his heart, so he said coldly: "Do you think Han Zhi really took refuge in Li Qing'an?" He, like us, is not allowed to involve Li Qing'an's Yiwu army, but he is more hidden, and it is Yang Fengche who really takes refuge in Li Qing'an, I don't know how you did it, you have a handle in your hand, and you can't control him. ”

Zhao Tingyu spoke very politely, and did not show modesty because Cheng Qianli was his brother's father-in-law, in fact, his Xizhou Governor was from the third rank, and Cheng Qianli's deputy capital was only the fourth rank, and he was half a level lower than him, and his status was higher than Cheng Qianli's in the Qingwang Party.

Cheng Qianli's face was a little unbearable, and he scolded in a low voice: "You know a fart, Li Qingan is the middle prince of the imperial history and has the right to supervise, if he doesn't investigate, Yang Fengche's handles are nothing." ”

"But you're too decadent."

Zhao Tingyu knocked heavily on the table with his knuckles, "Look at your current appearance, you are the deputy capital protector of Beiting, even if you don't have military power, you can always take care of things like military household food!" But you actually gave up everything, you disappointed Your Highness too much. ”

"I'm so tired, I don't think we can beat him."

The weakness of his body eroded Cheng Qianli's will, and his confidence was losing day by day, he sighed and said in frustration: "The Holy Lord not only gave him military power, but also gave him the right to supervise, and even the camp envoy gave it to him, integrating military and political power, it is not easy for him to clean me up!" You are still good, you have an army to rely on, what do I have? ”

"You can't say that, you are a person of His Royal Highness King Qing, and you are fighting for the interests of King Qing, you think too much about yourself, Cheng Duhu, don't forget, you swore a poisonous oath in front of King Qing."

Thinking of the poisonous oath he had made to King Qing, Cheng Qianli couldn't help but shiver, and after a long time, he forced his spirit and said, "Then what should we do now?" ”

"Don't do anything, just wait patiently for the appointment letter from the imperial court to come, as long as we can also get the deputy envoy of Jiedu, then we will not be afraid of him at all."

"But he's not going to sit idly by."

Zhao Tingyu smiled coldly and said, "He is now being overwhelmed by the contradictions between the Qarlu and the Shatuo people!" How can you have the heart to take care of us, after the spring hunt, I will go back to Xizhou immediately, you have to cheer up, don't indulge in wine anymore. ”

"Spring Hunting!" Cheng Qianli sighed, "Hunting is actually not bad. ”

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Spring hunting is the official traditional leisure activity of Beiting, in March and April every year, the spring is bright, and the masters of riding and archery in Beiting gather in Tianshan Mountain to learn riding and archery skills by hunting.

The hunting ground is in the south of Luntai County, that is, today's Urumqi, here is the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, the forest is dense, the rivers are numerous, the grassland is fertile, there are many wild animals living there, wolves, bears, argali, antelope, red deer, foxes, goose-throated antelopes, etc., Li Qing'an hit a black panther on the other side of the Tianshan Mountains, and the black leopard skin is still hanging in Li Linfu's outer study.

At noon, the mighty hunting team appeared on the endless grassland, because of the large number of people, the hunting team was divided into three, the three governors each led a team, distributed in the long hunting ground of three or four hundred miles, Li Qing'an's Han Navy took Shatuo and Ge Lulu, as well as the senior civil and military officials of Beiting and the athletes of the three counties of Tingzhou, about 800 people, the falcons in the sky circled, the hunting dogs barked wildly, the horses flew like flying, and in an instant, thousands of horses swept over Pinggang.

"The old man talks about the madness of youth, the left leads the yellow, the right Qingcang, the brocade hat and the mink Qiu, and the thousand horses roll Pinggang."

Li Qing'an laughed loudly, he rode a majestic chestnut Gaochang horse, holding a flaming bow in his hand, and galloped up to a high post, followed by hundreds of flying horses.

The north wind hunted on the hill, a falcon retracted its wings and fell, stopping on his shoulder, Li Qing'an looked far away, the front was a reckless forest, the north was an endless grassland, a river meandered like a jade belt on the grassland, until it flowed into the Tinghai hundreds of miles away.

Shatuo Leader Gu Zhi galloped forward and laughed loudly: "I have heard for a long time that Li Envoy Jun is unparalleled in his divine arrows, can you let me wait to open my eyes?" ”

Most of the officials in the North Court had only heard that Li Qing'an was the first arrow in Anxi, but they had never seen him demonstrate archery skills, and they all agreed with it.

"Envoy, shoot an arrow!"

Li Qingan didn't shirk either, so he happily said: "Okay, I'll give you a scandal." ”

He drew a long arrow engraved with his name and looked up for his target, just then several harrier eagles flew over the forest in the distance, circling towards this direction, it was the falcon that invaded their territory, and they came to drive it away.

The leader was a large eagle with five feet of wings outstretched, much larger than all falcons.

"This is the Eagle King!" Several eagle slaves shouted excitedly.

The eagle seemed to be enraged by the intruder's rudeness, it spread its wings and whistled over the intruder's head, causing an exclamation, and he put down his bow and arrow in frustration, he wanted to shoot down this eagle king, but the speed was too fast, his arrow could not catch the target, not only him, but all the warriors showed a look of disappointment, this eagle king could not be conquered by the arrow.

Li Qing'an did not raise his bow, but constricted his pupils to look at this pride of the sky, this is a newly grown goshawk, with a sharp and curved beak, covered with iron-gray feathers, and powerful toe claws with sharp hooks.

He was tempted, just as the cavalry loves horses, the generals of the frontier have a special yearning for the eagle, and the eagle is also a symbol of status, and it is also a dream of Li Qing'an to be able to accept the eagle king as a soldier.

He slowly drew his bow, he knew that the Eagle King would come again to show off his strength, and sure enough, the Eagle King soared in the sky, and the falcons scattered in all directions, and they were afraid of the Eagle King's momentum.

The Eagle King let out a sharp long roar, as if to send out a shout of victory, it circled down again, whistling over the hill, and at the moment it swept by, Li Qing'an's powerful long arrow came out of the string, like a bolt of lightning, and pounced towards the Eagle King.

Hearing only a wail, the Eagle King's body sank suddenly, his body continued to lower, hovering like a feather falling from the sky, everyone's eyes widened, almost everyone saw it, the Eagle King had a long arrow stuck in its wings, it tried to fly back to the forest, but it was already weak.

The Eagle King screamed sadly, and finally landed on the grassland three hundred paces away, the hounds barked wildly and pounced on the falcon, Li Qing'an galloped his horse and shouted, "Get out of the way, don't touch it!" ”

He opened his bow and shot arrows, and the arrows were like meteors, and in a moment, several hounds that had already pounced on the Eagle King were killed by him one by one, and the hounds were timid, whimpering and fleeing in all directions.

Li Qing'an dismounted and slowly approached the eagle king, the eagle's eyes were blood-red, glaring at him angrily, and there was a burst of sad and desolate howls from his mouth, it wanted to pounce on the person who shot it, but it was powerless.

"General, leave this Eagle King to me! I can tame it. ”

Eagle slave Meng Wulang's eyes flashed with excited anticipation, Li Qingan nodded, "Heal it from its injury, I will tame this eagle myself." ”

Meng Wulang spread the fine net, covered the Eagle King, carefully caught it, and held it high, and the hill suddenly burst into cheers.

At this time, three horses galloped from afar, and the cavalry reported loudly on their horses: "General, there is a herd of antelopes thirty miles ahead, and there are as many as a thousand heads." ”

"Good!"

Li Qing'an turned over his horse, took out a horn and blew it vigorously, the low horn sound resounded through the heavens and the earth, this was the order to hunt, he pointed his longbow to the east, and the cavalry shouted, roared down from the hill, and followed Li Qing'an to the east gallop away.

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This is a herd of several antelopes that have lived in the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains for generations, there are more than 1,000 of them, spring is their breeding season, they are gathering by the river to drink water, suddenly, the distant faint barking of dogs alarmed them, they raised their heads vigilantly, and ran towards the forest.

But it was too late, and a cavalry came up from the edge of the forest and cut off their retreat, and then there were cavalry on all sides, cutting off all their escape, and the cavalry began to shrink the encirclement, and the antelope flock fled in terror.

The tragic hunt began, the cavalry shouted and rushed close to the herd of antelopes, the arrows came like a rain, and the antelopes continued to fall to the ground, as the hunt officially began, the original queue gradually broke up, the cavalry went their separate ways, excitedly opened their bows and arrows, shot at the poor antelopes, shouting, horses' hooves made loud noises, the hound bites, and the water splashed.

At this moment, there was a sudden scream from the cavalry, and the leader of Shatuo fell from his horse, and a wolf's tooth arrow was stuck in his back.

The sudden change stunned everyone, and the hunt gradually quieted down, and suddenly, a dozen Shatuo cavalry roared and pounced on the assassin, who was blue in his face, holding a bow and arrow, and with a cruel smile on his face that had not yet dissipated, he finally seized the opportunity.

Ge Lulu surrounded one after another, drew his sword and angrily rushed towards the Shatuo people, Li Qing'an's eyes flashed a sneer, he waved his longbow, and hundreds of Tang troops galloped up, separating the Shatuo and Gelulu people who were about to break out into conflict.

The antelope was saved by an unexpected human event, and hundreds of antelopes seized the opportunity and fled into the forest.

Li Qing'an urged him to step forward, but Gu Duzhi had already been rescued by the military doctor, and although he dodged in time, the arrow that stabbed Luo Duo still hit him in the back, leaving him dying.

"Return to the station immediately!"

Li Qingan glanced at Erhu coldly and said, "It seems that it is necessary for me to settle the old accounts for you." ”

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In a large white tent, more than a dozen Qarluqs and Shatuo people sat opposite each other, old hatred accumulated new hatred, hatred burst out in their eyes, and the bone branch could not come to the mediation meeting because of serious injuries, and was replaced by his son Zhu Xie Duzhong, who held the handle of the knife in his hand, and the bone joints were pinched 'quack! Eight years ago, his grandfather was seriously injured by the arrows of the Qarluq chieftain who plotted to assassinate Montenegro, and died three months later, and eight years later, his father was seriously injured under the arrows that assassinated his son in Montenegro, whether his father could survive or not, it is not yet known, the blood feud between the Shatuo and the Qarluqs can only be washed with blood.

He didn't care about assassinating Luo Duo, he had no intention of participating in this bullshit spring hunt at all, he was bent on killing Jinshan Ranch and breaking the damned Shatuo people into thousands of pieces, but today's arrow was successful, so that he felt that he had not come to Beiting in vain.

The assassin Sihan next to him was worried, he had always faintly felt that something was not good, just now he suddenly figured it out, it was Jinshan Ranch, Jinshan Ranch was still in the hands of the Shatuo people, but Li Qingan said that whoever was committing the crime would send troops to fight whom, so what should Jinshan Ranch do? Can't the Qarluqs take it back?

At this time, Li Qing'an spoke: "Ge Lulu and Sha Tuo were originally the same family, but today they have such a deep hatred like the sea, which makes General Ben embarrassed!" ”

"Envoy!" Zhu Xie was about to speak, but Li Qingan stopped him with a wave of his hand.

"For the sake of the harmony and peace of the North Court, General Ben decided to mediate for your two clans, I will try my best to be fair and fair, but there is an ugly sentence I want to say in front, in fact, I have already said it the day before yesterday, after I make a decision, no one is allowed to make trouble again, otherwise it will be disrespectful to the Tang Dynasty, I will send troops to ask for it, have you heard?"

Li Qing'an looked at them, and he said to Zhu Xie loyally: "Sha Tuo should make a statement first!" ”

Zhu Xie had received his father's advice in advance, and he hurriedly said, "Sha Tuo will obey the order of the envoy." ”

"What about Qarluq?" Li Qing'an glanced at the assassination of Luo Duodao.

He was anxious to speak, but he glared at him fiercely, "You are not qualified to speak on behalf of Qarlu. ”

Mou Zhu Sihan was suddenly dumbfounded, Mou Zhu Luo Duo twisted his neck, and said angrily: "Our Ge Lulu's statement is very simple, if General Li disposes of it fairly, we obey, if General Li disposes of it unfairly, we can't accept it." ”

His unruly words made the high-ranking officials of the Beiting beside Li Qing'an sink their faces, Yang Fengche and the prison army Wang Tingfang glanced at each other, Yang Fengche snorted and said, "Is this what your father Montenegro means?" ”

"Yang Duhu, since my father sent me, then I can represent Ge Lulu with full powers."

"Oh well! Now let me mediate. ”

Li Qing'an stood up and said to Zhu Xie first: "As far as I know, the intensification of this contradiction was caused by the Shatuo people attacking the Qarlu people first, I want to know, why did Shatuo attack the Qarluqs?" ”

"General Hui, eight years ago, Beiting suffered a snowstorm, my grandfather went to the Qarlu people to intercede, and asked them to allow us Shatuo people to avoid a winter in the Jinshan Ranch in the face of the same sect, originally the Jinshan Ranch was not owned by the Qarlu people, but was forcibly occupied by them, my grandfather also looked for them out of respect, but they not only refused, but also took advantage of the unpreparedness of the Shatuo people, and killed on a large scale, my grandfather died under their arrows, more than 500 Shatuo shepherds were killed, and 1,300 Shatuo women and children were snatched away, including my mother, this blood feud, We've been waiting for eight years. ”

Li Qing'an nodded, and then asked the assassin Luo Duo: "Do you have any doubts about the words of the Shatuo people?" ”

Assassin Luo Duo chattered and laughed, "That's right, the Shatuo people are not wrong at all, eight years ago I killed hundreds of Shatuo dogs, robbed their women, we had enough, and sold them to the Hui people, this is nothing, the grassland is originally the strength of the king, they Shatuo people killed the Qarluq, I also admit it, I will not come to find someone to judge and mediate like a girl, I want to kill the Shatuo people in the past, there is a ability, the Shatuo people will also kill us, this is the reason why we advocate wolves, survival on the grassland, it depends on whose strength is strong. ”

The theory of assassinating Luo Duo ** naked wolf attracted a lot of boos, Wang Tingfang frowned, and whispered to Yang Fengdao: "This person will definitely bring trouble to the Qarlu people." ”

Plotting to stab Sihan was in a hurry, he kicked the eldest brother hard, and reprimanded in a low voice: "How can you talk like this!" ”

"Dog mongrel, shut up!"

He scolded mercilessly, and his face turned pale, and he lowered his head, but a resentful look flashed in his eyes.

Li Qing'an saw it in his eyes, he continued quietly: "Since the hatred between the two of you cannot be eliminated, then I can only use a compulsory order, from today onwards, you two families are not allowed to seek revenge again, the two leaders of the Shatuo people were injured, your women and children were robbed, no matter how much you hate, I will not allow you to seek revenge again, and the Gelulu people, you are not allowed to retaliate against the Shatuo people, the two families will stop, I will say it again, whoever dares to do it again is disrespectful to the Tang Dynasty, and do not blame me for sending troops to conscript." ”

After speaking, he beckoned, and the two personal soldiers carried over a table, and there was a settlement contract written in Turkic on the table, Li Qingan pointed at Zhu Xie and said loyally: "There is no evidence for empty words, and the words are proof, you can sign them first!" ”

Zhu Xie was loyal and couldn't use a pen, so he bit his thumb and pressed a handprint under the name of the Shatuo people.

"It's your turn."

The two pro-soldiers raised the table in front of the assassin Luoduo, who picked up the contract and looked at it for a long time, and the assassin Sihan next to him couldn't help but say, "What about Jinshan Ranch?" ”

He finally reacted, and he raised his head and roared, "Then what should we do with Jinshan Ranch? ”

Li Qingan said coldly: "Whether it's Jinshan Ranch, whether you killed the leader of the Shatuo people or played with their women, it's all in the past, I don't care about your past grievances and grievances, I just don't care about the future, and I don't allow any of you to use swords again." ”

Zhu Xie was loyal, and Li Qing'an meant to admit the status quo, and the Jinshan Ranch for hundreds of miles in the fertile field was owned by the Shatuo people.

"Fuck your shit!"

The assassin was furious, tore up the contract, kicked over the table and strode away, and the rest of the Qarluqs hurriedly followed him, leaving only the assassin Sihan alone in the tent, and the assassin sighed and hurriedly chased out.

Li Qing'an kept looking at their backs and went away, and then said coldly to the high-ranking officials in the North Court: "You have also seen it, I have the heart to reconcile for them, but the Qarlu people do not appreciate it, and they must force me to use force." ”

He shouted: "Someone! ”

A few soldiers came up immediately, and Li Qingan immediately ordered: "Immediately pass my order, order Han Zhi, the governor of Yizhou, and Zhao Tingyu, the governor of Xizhou, to come to see me quickly." ”

Cheng Qianli next to him suddenly felt that something was wrong, and his eyes darkened for a while.

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(To be continued)