Li Qing'an slowly urged him forward, stared at her and said, "Princess Julan, we haven't seen each other for a long time, have you always been good?" ”

Julan lowered his head and whispered, "Do you remember me?" ”

Li Qingan lifted his hair, revealing the scar on his forehead, and said with a slight smile: "As long as this scar is still there, I will not forget you for a day." ”

Julan's eyes showed a look of joy, and then a trace of sadness flashed, what do you remember? The years have changed her fate, and there can be no more results between them.

"I accompanied my brother to Beiting, and I want to see how you are doing?"

She raised her head and looked at Li Qing'an, and said with a forced smile: "I came to Anxi to look for you last year, and I heard that you went to Qinghai to fight. ”

"I really wasn't in Anxi last year, and I can't tell for a while, so let's go to my house for dinner! Tell me about your two years. ”

"This ....."

Julan looked at the two brothers with some embarrassment, and Yuan En smiled eagerly: "Julan, go!" I haven't seen you for a few years, and you should go and talk about it. ”

Hassan also saw the subtlety of this, he and his little sister also had a good relationship, if his sister could get the Eye of Light, he might not have no chance, he also smiled and nodded, encouraging his sister to go.

"Alright then!" In the end, Kulan agreed.

Li Qing'an was overjoyed, turned around and hugged his fists at the two princes and said, "Your Highnesses, let me think about the matter of gems for a few more days, and I will give you an answer." ”

He urged his horse and led Kulan to his mansion.

Julan seemed a little preoccupied along the way, she didn't secretly look at Li Qing'an, the smile on his face was still the same, still as handsome and upright as before, but there was a little more maturity and vicissitudes in her eyes, Julan's heart couldn't help but give birth to a trace of sadness, at this moment, she felt that she was far, far away from this Han officer who had left her unforgettable memories.

Li Qingan looked back at her, she also happened to look back at him, their eyes met, Li Qingan read a deep sadness in her eyes, he couldn't help but restrain the horse, "What's wrong with you?" ”

Ju Lan bit her lip lightly and said, "General Li, I'm still not going." ”

"Why?"

Li Qingan smiled and said, "Is there a husband surnamed anxious waiting for you to go back?" ”

"Nope! No. ”

Tears suddenly welled up in Shi Julan's eyes, "I shouldn't have come to Beiting, I shouldn't have appeared in front of you." ”

She turned the horse's head and left, Li Qingan didn't stop her, just silently watched her go away.

"Let's go!" Li Qingan whipped his horse fiercely, and sped up and ran towards his mansion.

．．．．．．．．．．．

After dinner, Li Qingan locked himself in the study, and he stood in front of the window and silently stared at a willow in the courtyard at night.

At this time, Rushi walked in gently with a cup of tea, and she found that Ai Lang was a little uneasy when she was eating.

"Have a cup of tea!" Rushi gently brought the tea in front of him.

Li Qing'an sighed, took the teacup, and slowly sat back in his seat, Rushi stood behind him, gently massaged his head for him, and asked in a low voice, "Did you encounter something unpleasant today?" ”

"No, I just met an old man, a princess of the Western Regions who once made me nostalgic."

Li Qingan briefly recounted the experience more than two years ago, and finally he smiled bitterly and said: "I have been looking forward to being able to meet her again more than once, and I have sketched countless beautiful pictures in my heart, but when I see her again, I find that she is far away from me and will never return to the old years." ”

"Brother, you have been separated by too much time, so you are a little forgetful."

Rushi carefully massaged his head and said with a smile: "Although I haven't seen her, I feel that her heart is very painful, she may have something unspeakable, not necessarily married, something must have happened to her, so that she can no longer treat you like before, brother, you should have a good talk with her." ”

At this time, there was a sound of footsteps outside the door, and a personal soldier reported outside the door: "Envoy, the proprietor of Atami often enters the door to ask for a meeting." ”

"Take him to the small guest room and wait."

Li Qingan stood up and smiled at Rushi: "I will go to her when I have time, and now I want to meet the guests first." ”

He walked out of the room quickly, in the small guest room, Chang Jin was holding a teacup with a heavy heart, just now Li Huichun had told him that the imperial court was ready to recover the broken leaves, although this was also what he was longing for, but he knew that it was not so simple to recover the broken leaves.

"Brother Chang, proprietor Li is gone, you are here again, are you here for wheel warfare?" Li Qingan walked in from outside the door with a smile.

Chang Jin hurriedly stood up and said, "The envoy said that I laughed, I came this time to have nothing to do with the young master, just for the matter of breaking leaves." ”

"Brother Chang, please sit down and speak."

Li Qingan invited Chang Jin to sit down, and said with a smile: "Brother Chang, please speak freely." ”

Chang Jin sighed and said, "I'm worried that the envoy will think that taking the broken leaf is too simple. ”

Li Qingan said: "How do you say this? ”

"Did the envoy think that the Tuqi Shi would be weakened, as long as the army pressed on, the Tuqi Shi people would lose their armor and flee in embarrassment, right?"

Li Qing'an didn't speak, he really thought so, the combined strength of the two surnames of Shi Huang and Hei was only 6,000 people, and they had a deep hatred, it was impossible to fight together, they could be defeated in one fell swoop, he didn't understand what complicated situations arose, the reason why Gai Jiayun failed to attack Broken Leaf back then was because of the lack of follow-up, coupled with the fact that the Great Cannibal sent troops, and now that the Great Eater is infighting, he has built five castles in the north of Broken Leaf, what other accidents will happen? ”

"The envoy may not know that the Great Food has two thousand garrisons in Ashi Burai City, west of Broken Leaves."

The sudden news surprised Li Qing'an, and he asked urgently: "Isn't Ashi Bulai City a small city in the north of Ning Yuan Kingdom?" How can there be a garrison of big cannibals? ”

"Envoy, the current Lingxi is not the Lingxi of thirty years ago, the Great Food has already conquered the Lingxi countries, the kings of the Sogdian countries either surrendered to the Great Food, or were re-established by the Great Cannibals, Ashburai City was originally the city of Ningyuan Kingdom, but the twenty-fifth year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty has been occupied by the Great Food, and it has been assigned to the Stone Kingdom, and the Stone Kingdom and Ningyuan Kingdom have become hostile, and the Great Cannibals have stationed two thousand troops each in Ashbulai City and Talas City, controlling the trade corridor west of the broken leaves, and since last year, the Stone Kingdom has increased its troops in Ashbulai City, and its intentions are obvious, It is to use the support of the big cannibal to take the broken leaves for himself, so if you attack the broken leaves, it will inevitably infringe on the interests of the stone country, and the stone [***] team is not to be afraid, the key is the big food army. ”

Li Qing'an suddenly remembered what Prince Hassan said to Yuan En in the afternoon, 'Didn't you go to break the leaves?' Why did you come to the North Court again? ’

Could it be that Yuan Enlai came to break the leaves to go to Ashburai City?

Li Qing'an pondered for a moment, and then asked, "Is the Great Food Army of Ashburai City black or white?" ”

"They were originally Khubdeh's men, but now they have surrendered to the Abbasids, and one of my fellows saw that they had changed their black flags."

Li Qing'an paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, the two thousand food army is not worried, and the stone [***] team is not a problem, the key is that the big food army has surrendered to the Abbasids, but it is still stationed in the city of Ashburai, it can be seen that the Abbasid ambitions are ambitious, once the Tang army occupies the broken leaves, sooner or later it will attract the counterattack of the big food army, and the historical Battle of Talas may have broken out from this.

In this way, it seems that Shi Guo is a pivotal role, if Shi Guo can fall to the Tang Dynasty, Da Shi will lose the springboard for the eastward expansion, and the broken leaves will really become the logistics base for the Tang army's westward expansion.

Thinking of this, he asked: "Now there are two princes in Beiting, one is the eldest prince Hassan, and the other is the second prince Yuanen, I want to know, which of them is more inclined to the Tang Dynasty?" ”

Chang Jin sneered and said: "These two princes are almost the same, they are all wall grass, Datang is strong, they are biased towards Datang, Da Shi is strong, they are biased towards Da Shi, but Yuanen's master Huo Yanbai stayed in Da Shi in his early years, and he was also an official of Da Shi, he will have a great impact on Yuan En, Hassan was also sent to Da Shi as a hostage for five years, in fact, the real heart of Da Tang is their third prince Campo, but unfortunately he disappeared four years ago, I heard that he stole the treasure of Shi Guo, and his whereabouts are still unknown. ”

Speaking of this, Chang Jin sighed again: "General Li, it is not difficult to take down the broken leaves, but it is not easy to keep the broken leaves, I hope that General Li can fully understand the situation in the river, make correct judgments, and stop using the ideas of thirty years ago to make decisions in Lingxi, otherwise, the Tang Dynasty will be defeated." ”

"I see."

Li Qingan stood up and arched his hand: "Thank you Brother Chang for your information, it is very important." ”

．．．．．．．

Shi Julan lived in the largest Dong'an inn in Jinman County, and after running back from the street, she locked herself in her room, and her heart was full of pain, which dragged her into the endless abyss.

Every day's thoughts, the three-thousand-mile trek, is to take one last look at the person she once loved, I thought that this reunion could be full of passion, leave her the best memories, let her take this memory away, forever engraved in the depths of her heart.

But no, when they saw each other again, there was no lovesick passion, just a bland greeting, as if two acquaintances met on the road, and each other'Oh! With a sound, they walked away, and this blandness pierced her heart deeply.

At this time, one of her maids reported outside the door: "Princess, someone is looking for you outside." ”

"I don't see anyone."

"It's a Han officer, and he said that he once saved you at the hands of Du Luo Xian."

"Ahh Outside the gate, under the dim light, Li Qing'an was wearing civilian clothes, looking at her with a smile on her face, she slowly stopped, hiding an excitement in her heart.

"Why are you here?"

"Come and see you."

He pointed to a small wine shop in the alley across the street and said, "There's a wine shop over there, I'll invite you to drink." ”

Ju Lan followed him into the small wine shop, this is a small wine shop, more than a dozen tables, opened by an elderly couple, there are no customers in the wine shop for the time being, it is very quiet, they entered a separate small room, Li Qingan smiled at the old woman who ordered the food: "Come to two pots of wine, one plate of side dishes in your store." ”

"Please sit down, and you'll come."

The old woman went out, came in with two pots of wine in a moment, and quietly closed the door and retreated, Li Qingan poured himself a glass of wine and said with a smile: "It's good in the afternoon, why did you run away again?" ”

Julan lowered her head and didn't speak, Li Qingan wanted to pour her wine again, but she covered the wine glass with her hand, shook her head and said, "I can't drink." ”

"Why?"

"My identity is not to drink."

"What identity?" Li Qing'an asked strangely, "Besides the princess of Shiguo, what other identity do you have?" ”

A trace of sadness flashed in Julan's eyes, and after a while, she whispered: "I am now one of the twelve holy women under the Sun God Throne, and I can't eat meat or drink alcohol for the rest of my life......"

Her voice became quieter and quieter, "I can't marry either." ”

Li Qing'an drank the wine down, and said with a heavy glass: "That Ahuramaz?" ”

Julan was so frightened that he hurriedly waved his hand, "You can't mention his name, it's disrespectful to the Lord God." ”

"I don't believe in it, what is there to be respectful and disrespectful!"

Li Qingan poured himself another glass of wine, drank it dry, and then let out a long breath and said: "When did this happen, I mean you became a saint." ”

"Last October, the Persian archbishop came to Sogdia to select two new holy women, and I was chosen."

Shi Julan raised her head and slowly took off her veil, her beautiful face was already full of tears, "General Li, I have made a heavy oath in front of the Lord God and will serve him for the rest of my life. ”

Li Qing'an looked at her with teary eyes, and couldn't help but feel heartache, he grabbed her hand and said, "You must have been forced, right!" It was your father who forced you to marry, and you were forced to become a saint because you had no choice but to become a saint, don't worry, I will definitely free you. ”

"Nope! No. Shi Julan struggled to break free of his hand, "General Li, it's not what you think, my father has never forced me, to become a saint, this is the pride of Shiguo, and it is also my glory, General Li, no one forced me, this is God's will, it is my own choice." ”

"It's your own choice."

Li Qing'an's heart swelled with an inexplicable loss, the journey two years ago, the enthusiasm like the princess of the Western Regions, like a cloud that is difficult to dissipate, has always remained in his heart, inadvertently, when he recalls that experience, a sweet memory of the past will pour into his heart.

But when they reunited a few years later, when this beautiful girl reappeared in front of him, he suddenly found that the former princess of Julan had passed away quietly, as if a gust of wind blew away the fog in his heart, and the memory hidden in his heart began to blur, just like he broke a fine porcelain by mistake, and when he picked it up again, the beauty had become pieces.

He silently took out the flame gem from his arms, put it on the table and pushed it in front of her, "I have always wanted to give this gem to you, I wanted to surprise you, but now it has become a thing to return to its original owner." ”

After saying that, he stood up and strode out of the room, Princess Julan sat there in a daze, and suddenly, she shouted, "General Li! ”

She stood up and chased out, Li Qing'an had already walked away, Julan leaned against the door, she looked at his back, held the gem on her chest, and muttered: "General Li, I think about it for a long time, I just look forward to seeing you one last time, and I am satisfied." ”

．．．．．．．．．．

(To be continued)