Kujiesha is a large desert in the south of Feng'an that is about 400 miles long from east to west and about 200 miles wide from north to south.

At the end of March of the first year of Kaicheng, a large army of 8,500 people gathered in a place called Fufu Ganquan in the southeast of the desert, which is a life-saving sweet spring in the vast desert, the spring water gushes out from the ground, gathers into a water pool of hundreds of acres square, forms a small oasis around this water pool, and densely grows sea buckthorn, white thorn, cistanche, poplar, sand holly and other plants.

This army came from the Langu Valley in Hedong, hundreds of miles away, and had been walking for ten days and ten nights in the deserted Gobi and grasslands, and the soldiers were sleepy and tired.

A twenty-seven or eighteen-year-old man put his hand on a pergola and looked at the boundless yellow sand in the northwest, and sighed slightly in his heart. Not far from him, nine companions were filling water bags around the pool.

"Tell you to run, tell you to run." After filling the water bags, the two soldiers were idle and playing with water.

"Nonsense! There are still hundreds of miles of sand ahead, and this is the last spring, and if you don't fill it with water bags, you will die of thirst in the desert. The captain threatened.

"Brother Lu, don't bluff us, at most there will be a day and a night to Feng'an, I can store so much water enough."

Soldier Xiao Jiu grinned, his teeth were very straight, but they were not white. Xiao Jiu's surname is Zhao, he was seventeen years old, a native of Zhaozhou, after the death of his parents, he went to his brother-in-law who ran a silk business in Taiyuan Mansion, his sister was cowardly and always bullied by her husband, he beat his brother-in-law in a fit of anger, and went to the barracks to eat food and become a soldier. Because he was the youngest in the group, the gang leader named him Xiao Jiu. The soldier who frolicked with him was slightly older than him, surnamed Yao, and because he was black and thin, his friends called him a little demon.

"Brother Jiu is right, the old general asked us to fill water, but he didn't say how much water to fill, it can be seen that it is easy to pass through this sandy land, otherwise his old man would have been checked one by one." Although the little demon is older than Xiao Jiu, but in front of Xiao Jiu, he is like a little brother who follows him, the brothers fight and make trouble on weekdays, and when they encounter conflicts with outsiders, he is resolutely on Xiao Jiu's side, of course, the gang is not an outsider.

"Uhhh

A long and majestic horn sounded, and the soldiers who had been scattered in a group quickly assembled, and a group, a brigade, and a regiment were all in place, neatly and solemnly. After the army was assembled, it formed three columns and set foot on the long yellow sand leading to the northwest.

An old general with gray hair, accompanied by a cadre of generals, climbed an earthen platform in the northwest corner of Shuibo, he looked at the northwest direction, couldn't help sighing, and said: "I, Dong Bacheng, have been fighting horses for half my life, and this is the first time to fight with myself, and I always feel that it is not a taste in my heart. ”

A lieutenant general beside him persuaded: "'Repent from the outside and stop the internal strife' is an oath that the teacher has made a long time ago, Meng Yang colluded with the Uighurs and harassed the people, they are the sinners of the Tang Dynasty, and they can't be counted as their own people at all." Dong Bacheng stroked his beard and smiled: "Yufang, you are still young, the truth is true or false, who dares to pat his chest and say that he knows everything?" ”

Deputy General Li Yufang is just in his early thirties, with a white face and a beard, he was originally a Cheng of Langu County, and after Dong Bacheng became the Langu Thorn History, he was transferred to the Langu Thorn History Mansion to join the army when he saw that he was diligent and capable. Li Yufang changed from a civilian official to a military general, but he was like a fish in water, and within a few years, he emerged in the military circles of Hedong. Dong Bacheng regarded him as his protégé and allowed his only daughter to be his wife.

Hedong is a vast place, rich in products, and the Hedong Army stationed in Taiyuan Mansion is famous all over the world, especially the Hedong Left Army, known as the Tiger Ben Male Division, and the prosperity of the army is also dwarfed by the Shence Army, which is known as the first in the world.

Dong Ba became the deputy governor of the left army in Hedong, and led the army to garrison the Langu Valley to guard the east, west and north gates of the river. He has a temperament and is a veteran of Hedong, and he is very dissatisfied with Liu Qingling, the envoy of Hedong Jiedu, bowing and flattering to Qiu Shiliang, Yu Hongzhi and others. Therefore, in early March, when Liu Qingling ordered him to send troops to fight against the rebellion of the Tiande army, Dong Bacheng was reluctant, and he wrote several times to make Liu Qingling Chen Ming's advantages and disadvantages of sending troops.

Liu Qingling was extremely angry in his heart, but he was afraid that he was a veteran general of Hedong, known as a prestige in the army, and had tens of thousands of elite soldiers in his hands, so he adopted the strategy of the judge Chai Shangyan, and promised to appoint Dong Ba to become the assassin of Fengzhou after quelling the chaos, and let him lead the left army of Hedong to garrison the south of Yinshan, and he made a vow of "repentance and civil strife".

Dong Bacheng didn't know that there was fraud in it, and immediately led the army to the battle. As soon as the army crossed the Yellow River to the west, Liu Qingling took advantage of the opportunity of his army's expedition and the emptiness of Langu to send his nephew Liu Hao to lead 8,000 people from the right army of Donghe into Langu City to disperse and reorganize the 1,000 garrisons left by Dong Bacheng.

Dong Bacheng suffered a dumb loss, and he couldn't say anything about his suffering. He did not dare to tell his subordinates the news of the fall of Arashiya, so he could only encourage them to continue to move forward, quell the rebellion, occupy the three cities of Toyosu, and defend the border for the country.

……

Feng'an is built near the Yellow River, the south of the Yellow River, the north of Kujiesha, is a grassland Gobi, in the past, Meng Chu set up eighteen military villages here, all under the jurisdiction of the patrol battalion of Feng'an South City, the commander of the patrol battalion is named Liu Xi, is Liu Yifeng's cousin. On this day, he was squinting and leaning on the soft couch to listen to the singer Wan'er singing a small song, Wan'er was in her early twenties, her appearance was beautiful, and it was a birthday gift given to him by Zeng Chongyang after the German army stayed a month ago.

Suddenly, the pro-soldier team broke in in the middle of the alley. Liu Xi jumped up and waved Wan'er and Legong out.

"Someone is coming." Hutong's eyes lit up and he said excitedly.

"How many?"

"There are 10,000 people in the black."

"Send someone into the city immediately to report the assassination of Lord Shi."

"Yes."

The front foot of the alley just went out. Suddenly, someone behind the house exclaimed: "The spy is gone!" ”

Liu Xi jumped out of the door and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"My subordinates saw Miss Wan'er lying on the window eavesdropping, and as soon as I called her, she immediately took the horse and left."

"Idiot! Give me chase! When Liu Xi heard this, he only felt that the muscles on his head were exploding, Zeng Chongyang had just sent Wan'er over a month ago, and Liu Yifeng then sent someone to bring him a message: This person is deceitful, don't get close.

"This slut, dare to play Lao Tzu." The more Liu Xi thought about it, the more angry he became, and shouted: "Prepare a horse for Lao Tzu!" ”

As soon as the guards led the horse over, the deputy commander Bian Jiang rushed to the horse and grabbed the reins of the horse and shouted: "Your Excellency can't go, Dong Bacheng's army will arrive soon, and Lord Assassin Shi wants you to meet him." ”

Liu Xi shouted: "You go for me!" I'm going to get that little slut back with a thousand cuts. With that, he broke away and urged the horse out of the door.

……

Feng'an Thorn Mansion.

Tiande Army Jiedu made Wang Qian and Zhenwu Army Jiedu make Dugu Chang and 30,000 troops approaching Jiuniang Pass, Zeng Chongyang urgently expanded the armament war, Han Sui expanded the army to 10,000 people within three days, but the Feng'an official treasury was empty, and Liu Yifeng had to make it clear that Zeng Chongyang had to collect taxes for three years in advance, and Zeng Chongyang was afraid that he would collect too much and provoke civil revolt, so he only agreed to collect taxes for one year in advance.

Liu Yifeng convened the state officials and the county commanders to discuss the matter, Feng'an is narrow and has few people, and after many years of war, the people's livelihood has withered, officials at all levels heard that Liu Yifeng wants to collect taxes in advance, and they all expressed their opposition, impassioned, tearful, each with its own reason, each with its own difficulties. Liu Yifeng listened patiently with a blushing face.

Suddenly, he saw the secretary of the Assassin's Mansion beckoning to him in the courtyard, so he excused himself to go to the toilet and walked out.

"The alley is coming, see you in the study."

Liu Yifeng was shocked when he heard this, and strode into the study.

"How? How many people came? ”

"Back to my lord, it seems that there are eight or nine thousand people."

"Why, you didn't see General Dong?"

"No, the commander is afraid that the adults will be anxious, so he will send the lowly post over first."

"Okay, you go back immediately and tell Liu Xi that he must go to greet him in person, so as not to make Dong Bacheng suspicious."

"Yes."

After leaving the alley, Liu Yifeng beckoned to Changyuan: "Call Xiang Xiaoshan." ”

Xiang Xiaoshan is the commander of the Feng'an patrol camp, and he was waiting outside the door at the moment, and immediately rushed over when he heard the call.

"The army has arrived, let's do it tonight."

"My lord, I just learned that Zeng Chongyang transferred another 300 guards into the mansion, plus the original 200 people, there are now 500 elite soldiers in the left-behind mansion, and there are only 600 people in the hands of his subordinates, so I am afraid of ......"

"Alright, alright, I'll give you another two hundred." Liu Yifeng glared at Xiang Xiaoshan in disgust.

"Lord Xie, my subordinates will live up to their mission."

Xiang Xiaoshan's back had not disappeared yet, and Changyuan asked nervously: "Send another two hundred people to patrol the city camp, and the Assassin's Mansion will be empty." ”

"If it's empty, it's empty." Liu Yifeng suddenly grinned, "Do you think you can beat Zeng Chongyang by pointing at these hundreds of people?" Jokes, prepare the car immediately, and we'll go out of town as soon as it gets dark. ”

Changyuan was stunned: "Your Excellency wants to abandon the city?" ”

"Hehehe...... Changyuan, you have been in this remote place with me for six or seven years, and now you have finally come to an end. Go ahead and prepare. Remember! As long as there are three carriages, don't be too ostentatious. ”

"Yes."

……

There is a small hill in the northwest of Feng'an City, and the northern spring comes late, and the trees on the mountain have just budded at the end of March.

Yang Hao walked cautiously with his feet raised, for fear of stepping on the flowers and plants on the ground. A man wearing a dark iron mask behind him smiled: "You can't even step on flowers and plants, how do you lead the three armies to serve the battlefield?" ”

"The teacher is taught." Yang Hao's face was ashamed.

"Your Excellency, I just intercepted three carriages heading south on the road." A small colonel came to report it.

"Bring someone here." The Man in the Iron Mask frowned, sighed, and said, "Sure enough, something like this happened again." ”

Liu Yifeng's carriage was intercepted by a cavalry squad as soon as it left the city, he thought it was someone sent by Zeng Chongyang, and he was so frightened that his hands and feet were numb for a while. A cavalry squad escorted him to the bottom of a hill northwest of the city. Liu Yifeng was surprised to find that there was an army of thousands of people lurking on this hill.

"Don't think about it?"

Liu Yifeng felt a burst of despair in his heart, don't think about the extremely ruthless means, it is really worse than death in his hands. Taking advantage of the fact that the escort soldiers were not paying attention, he grabbed a knife and wiped it on his neck. Liu Yifeng didn't die, a soldier grabbed the blade with his hand, and snatched the knife away, the horizontal knife was extremely sharp, and the soldier's palm was almost cut off.

"Is that you?" Liu Yifeng was taken aback when he saw Yang Hao.

Yang Hao was a little strange: Have you met Liu Yifeng somewhere?

"You don't have to guess, he's the horizontal knife of the Baoli Society, and he should have seen you at the faceless meeting." The man in the iron mask broke the mystery in Yang Hao's heart with one word.

"The predecessor is ......" Liu Yifeng has an inexplicable awe of the iron-masked man.

"You don't need to know my name, let me ask you, why do you want to dedicate the city to Dong Bacheng?"

"Now, I don't have much to hide. Liu Qingling, the envoy of Hedong Jiedu, is my cousin, and it was he who wrote to me and promised me the post of assassin of Yizhou. If you can't make a stabbing horse, you have to vote for another master. ”

"You're lying!" The man in the iron mask immediately exposed Liu Yifeng's lies, "You want to use Dong Bacheng's hand to get rid of Zeng Chongyang and Han Sui and seize Feng'an, do you want to make meritorious contributions?" ”

"You-" Liu Yifeng's face suddenly turned gray, and his breathing became short, "You, who are you?" ”

The man in the iron mask snorted coldly and reprimanded: "Extremely stupid, Dong Bacheng is already a lost dog, can he still pay you back if he takes Feng'an?" ”

"This, I ...... this" Liu Yifeng didn't think of this section.

"Take us into the city quickly, Feng'an will not be lost, you still have a life; If Feng'an is lost, you will have no place to die! ”

Liu Yifeng completely collapsed, he knelt on the ground with a "plop", hugged the leg of the iron-masked man and begged: "I'm confused, I should die, give me a chance, give me a chance to make up for it." ”

The Man in the Iron Mask coughed and said, "Go and open the gates and lead us into the city." ”