To the east of Xuejiabao is a barren land that is uninhabited. Here, there is only loess that cannot be seen at a glance.

In the middle of the boundless loess, there is a meandering river, which is as striking and beautiful as a blue ribbon. She is like a dragon lying on the loess, and over time, it is affectionately called "Panhe" by passing passengers, and is also called "River of Hope" because it brings hope to countless hungry passers-by.

But now, the hope in the river of hope is drifting away with the rushing river.

Along the riverbank, you can see countless Tang Dynasty soldiers gathered densely together. Some of them held a handful of river water and put it on their faces, some sat on their knees with blank eyes, and some even covered their faces and wept silently.

Again, no one spoke, only a wave of frustration spread through the crowd.

It can be seen that they have just experienced a tragic battle. Not a single person's clothes and armor were intact, and many of them were painted. Even Dai Tianya, one of the commanders, had gauze wrapped around his shoulders, oozing a lot of Yin Hong's blood.

Mo Lingtu's whole army attacked at night, causing the Tang Dynasty soldiers to suffer a rout and lose the last important town in the Western Regions. As soon as Xuejiabao is lost, the road to the east will be flattened, and there will be no danger to defend.

The thought of this made everyone's hearts extremely heavy - relying on a strong castle could not stop the Hu people's footsteps, and in the vast plains, who could stop them?

It's not that the Datang soldiers want to give up, they know very well what kind of miserable situation the Datang will become if the Hu people like a plague come in, and each of them has done their best.

But they were too tired.

Most of the people in this army had just experienced the Xiangguo rebellion and were barely reorganized, and they were sent to this barren land before they could be systematically trained.

They dragged their tired bodies and resisted stubbornly with a belief that they would not be prestigious. However, there is a lack of tacit understanding, and secondly, the number of people occupies an absolute disadvantage. With 200,000 people, including countless brave people, it was difficult to face an enemy nearly twice their size.

What's even more terrifying is that this time the opponent is different from the past. They are fierce and come and go like the wind; There are no conventional routines, no fixed style of play, no care about the consequences, and no care about sacrifice.

In order to achieve their ends, they can use any means and all the forces at their disposal. Their ferocity, bravery, and tyranny left an incomparable impression on all the defenders. And after really fighting with them, these people knew how difficult it was for Zhan Lingyun to be able to stick to the country and not let the Hu people cross the Lei Chi by half a step.

As for the story of Tang An leading 3,000 remnants of the army to kill a round trip in the eastern frontier of the Western Regions and wipe out several times the Hu people of his own, it can only be described as a miracle.

Now, the veteran generals have become ancient, so the soldiers who have just swallowed the bitter fruit of defeat miss the mythical Tang Daren very much.

He seems to be the lucky general of the Tang Dynasty, and everywhere he goes, he can always turn evil into good fortune. Thinking back to the beginning, he led the army to guard the West Xuanmen, and he would take the lead in every battle, and he was like a family with the soldiers, which made the soldiers who heard about it envious.

If it were a manager like this, maybe ...... Xue Jiabao won't be lost, right?

Many people have the same thoughts, but when they think about the ruthless reality, they can only sigh.

Lord Tang won't come. If you offend the emperor's generals, how can you win trust again?

None of them can count on it, they can only rely on themselves.

After resting long enough, Dai Tianya and Peng Yuanzheng glanced at each other, and they both saw the helplessness in each other's eyes.

Peng Yuanzheng needless to say, he came to the Western Regions with great ambitions, wanting to show his strengths, make immortal achievements, and become a famous general like Xiang Wushuang, but the ruthless reality soon gave him a blow to the head.

Losing the backbone of Zhan Lingyun, many generals in the Western Regions suddenly lost their direction. In the face of a strange general who probably doesn't even know what Hu Ren looks like, who would rest assured that the lives and deaths of countless brothers under his command would be entrusted to him?

Peng Yuanzheng was struggling here, every order was not carried out smoothly, and every idea could not be effectively cooperated by the soldiers. He wanted to fight a few beautiful battles to create an image, but he didn't touch the routines of the Hu people, and only got two fiascos in exchange for two fiascos, as well as the private ridicule of the generals.

The Western Regions are out of harmony, and the situation is becoming more and more unfavorable.

Before Peng Yuanzheng could figure out how to break the impasse in front of him, the war broke out.

Xia Guo attacked in a big way, and Datang was caught off guard.

Several strategic points that could not be held together suffered a devastating blow in an instant. At the cost of countless lives and large tracts of land, the generals finally realized the seriousness of the problem, and they voluntarily abandoned the checkpoints they were guarding and moved their defensive positions eastward, but it was too late. Even the imperial court increased its troops several times, but it could not recover the decline.

This retreat, all the way to Xuejiabao.

But right now, even Xuejiabao is gone.

The successive defeats made Peng Yuanzheng unable to raise his head in front of Dai Tianya. Although his position is higher than that of the other party and his age is older than the other party, in the face of this dark-skinned and heroic rising star, Peng Yuanzheng can't afford to stand up to the big brother's shelf.

The two of them calculated, stood up silently on behalf of Tianya, and walked to the middle of the remnants of the defeated army. He didn't speak, but grabbed a handful of loess and dipped his other hand in the water from the river.

In the incomprehensible gaze of everyone, Dai Tianya's face was solemn, and he gently sprinkled the soil and water, and said: "Brothers, this soil is the soil of our Datang, and this water is the water of our Datang, you look around, here--all of them are the land of our Datang!" ”

The land of Datang has lost city after city, village after village in its own hands. Thinking of the tragic deaths of the people and the robes that were sacrificed in vain, everyone had a touch of shame on their faces.

Dai Tianya looked at the faces of the soldiers, and he knew that if he couldn't recover the lost momentum, he wouldn't have to fight the next battle.

"Our west side is gone...... When we first stepped on the battlefield and put on this uniform, were we proud? Of course proud! No one has come here for humiliation, and we look forward to expanding our territory and making a name for ourselves! However, it is a pity that over the years, Datang's territory has not expanded an inch, and today, it has lost a large area. What is even more tragic is that these lands are lost from us! ”

The deafening sound made everyone's heads bury deeper.

Dai Tianya paced and said: "Failure is not terrible, no matter how successful a person is, he will not be able to become a victorious general." But the terrible thing is that we lose confidence because of failure, and we are willing to fall. What is such a person called? Call a coward! It's called a bad seed! ”

"I admit that Xia Guo's beard does have a terrible side, and that spirit of not fearing death is indeed very shocking—but can this be a reason for our fear and timidity? Look at your back, look at the east of the river! ”

Everyone looked at Dai Tianya's fingers, and the other side of the royal blue river was still yellow all over the sky. But at the end of the yellow, there is a vibrant green.

It's their home.

"We all know where it is, because that's where we came from, and those damn beards are trying to hit there. Between the two, we're just separated. ”

Dai Tianya sighed, his eyes immediately burned, and he continued: "It may be easy to give up, but it's not too big to kill someone. But after the fall of the Tang Dynasty, we will all become rootless duckweed, where else will we and our families behalf? What's more, their knives will cut our parents' throats! Our women will hiss and resist, but in the end they will not escape their doom! As for our children -- who saw the picture of a bearded man picking up an infant with a spear and throwing it into the fire without mercy in Xuejiabao? I promise, it was the most memorable scene I've ever seen, and for this one I wanted to kill all my beards, because I didn't want my children to suffer the same fate! ”

"Bang!"

A warrior slammed his fist into Le, his eyes blood-red. The rest of the people stared at the bull's eye, snorting and panting.

There is no doubt that they have been provoked by Dai Tianya.

From the moment they embarked on the journey, they understood the mission on their shoulders. At first, no one was afraid of death, but after seeing too much life and death, most people can look at the final destination with an indifferent attitude. And now, after some encouragement from Dai Tianya, this indifference to life and death is very obvious.

If you can use your life to protect the health and safety of your parents, wife and children, what else is there to be nostalgic for?

Dai Tianya sighed, pointed to the east and said, "Further east, the only one that can be used as a checkpoint is Chang'an City." It is a testimony to the glory of our Han people, and we will never allow it to be tarnished by foreigners. Think about the sentence of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty back then, "Those who offend me in China will be punished even if they are far away" is so domineering and majestic! As a member of the Tang Dynasty, as a man with strong blood, who is willing to choose to retreat, who is willing to give up the land along the way to others? ”

"No!"

The soldiers hissed and shouted, and the mountains and rivers were magnificent.

Dai Tianya is very satisfied. The experience of leading troops from Mobei for more than ten years has made him know how to mobilize the enthusiasm of these men to protect their families and defend the country.

His sharp gaze swept around, and said: "Now, the emperor of the Xia Kingdom is personally on the expedition, and the heart of destroying my Tang Dynasty is clearly revealed. And we are the shield of Datang! Although we don't have as many people as them, the reinforcements from the imperial court are coming quickly, and we still have the strength to fight! The river under our feet is the bottom line drawn by God for us! ”

"We ...... Are there any reinforcements? A warrior asked weakly.

Not only him, but everyone stared eagerly at each other, seeking an answer that would be reassuring to them. They really want to know, after the battle of Bianjing, the forces of the Tang Dynasty have been sent to the Western Regions, will there be adjustable troops?

Are there any reinforcements......

Dai Tianya also put a question mark in his heart about this question, but he couldn't say a more frustrating answer.

"Of course! Every Tang boy will become the best warrior in the face of righteousness. The men who defended their loved ones had taken up arms and embarked on a journey. And what we have to do is to bite those dog mongrels who killed a thousand knives by this river! Even if our blood stains the river red, we will never take a step back! You guys - can you do it! ”

"Yes!"

Everyone raised their arms and shouted, murderous. Sometimes, it's not too difficult to move on from the grief of a loss.

Dai Tianya was very satisfied with everyone's performance, he nodded, and said, "Build fortifications!" ”

"Whoa!"

With a roar, the soldiers endured their exhaustion and got busy again.

Peng Yuanzheng, who was worried about a lot of white hair, came to Dai Tianya's side with admiration, and said: "General Dai is young, but he is very good at gathering people's hearts, and he is worthy of being a handsome talent. ”

Dai Tianya glanced at him with some disgust, this failed commander who failed the emperor's grace did not deserve his respect.

He said lukewarmly: "General Peng, there is no need to say more gossip. The army of the Xia Kingdom is menacing, I am afraid it will not take long to call, and if you have time to chat, it is better to supervise the soldiers. ”

"Wait!" Seeing that he turned around to leave, Peng Yuanzheng frowned and said, "I want to know, will the imperial court really increase its troops?" ”

"I don't know."

Dai Tianya paused, sighed slightly, and said with persistent eyes: "If there are reinforcements, we will fight back together, and return the suffering brought by the beard to Datang tenfold and hundredfold!" If there are no reinforcements...... Even if it is death, I am not willing to take a step back! ”