After Xue Yantuo's tribe was defeated in the early years of the Great Cause under the city of Dali in Fengzhou, its strength was greatly reduced, so it took refuge in the Turkic Qimin Khan, and was placed in the north of the Turkic tent, with a large grassland with rich pastures.

After more than ten years of low-key development, the population multiplied rapidly, Xue Yantuo successively annexed many small tribes, and gradually became stronger, with nearly 300,000 troops and 100,000 troops.

In the battle of Fengzhou the year before last, Xue Yantuo had a profound lesson, and they were not optimistic about it at the beginning, and Khan Yinan only symbolically sent a few thousand people to participate under the pretext of resisting the invasion of the Utu tribe.

As a result, the battle of Fengzhou made the losses of the Xue Yantuo Department the least, and when Utu led the army into the Turkic tent, they avoided it far away, and after several times of avoiding harm and seeking benefits, the Xue Yantuo Department became the second largest steppe force after the Turks.

This time, the Turks went south to establish their authority and ordered Xue Yantuo to send troops, and Xue Yantuo's troops could no longer evade, so Yi Nan Khan personally led an army of 40,000 to go out with the Turks.

Yi Nan Khan was the eldest son of the great chief of Xue Yantuo, he opposed his father's attack on the Sui Dynasty, and finally his father was killed by the Khibi, and Yi Nan, who was in the prime of life, was supported by the remaining Xue Yantuo nobles as the new chief.

More than ten years have passed, Yi Nan is nearly fifty years old, his beard is white, and he is already a high life expectancy in the grassland where the average life expectancy is only in his thirties.

Yi Nan understood what Jieli Khan meant, he stood up and said with a smile: "According to tradition, the spoils of war are naturally decided by the Great Khan on how to distribute them, and this time should be no exception, I believe that the Great Khan will definitely distribute it fairly." ”

As soon as his words fell, Pei Sa sneered and said, "If there was the word 'fairness' in the world, there would be no Xue Yantuo today." ”

The relationship between the Hui and Xue Yantuo has always been very bad, starting from the early years of the Great Cause, when the Turks settled Xue Yantuo, the land where Xue Yantuo was placed originally belonged to the Hui and was forcibly assigned to Xue Yantuo by the Turks.

In addition, the Turks are particularly eccentric to Xue Yantuo. Feng Yi Nan is the Khan. And Hui Hui's Pei Sa is only a big chief, so today Xue Yantuo spoke for the Turks, how could Hui Hui give him a good face.

Yi Nan didn't expect the other party to ridicule him like this. Immediately glared at Pei Sa and said, "What do you mean, you make it clear!" ”

Pesahodi stood up, his hand on the hilt of the knife. glared at each other viciously and said, "What do you have to say to this dog!" ”

Not only was Yi Nan angry, but the four Xue Yantuo Captains beside him were all furious, and they pulled out their knives together and pointed at Peisa, and several Hui Commanders did not show weakness, and pulled out their knives at the same time.

The Turkic king's tent was tense and the atmosphere was extremely tense, Jieli Khan did not expect such a scene, he was very annoyed in his heart, but he still restrained it. He coldly ordered: "Put away all the knives for me!" ”

For the sake of the face of the Turkic Great Khan, both sides put away their swords, but Pesa was still angry in his heart. He snorted heavily. He turned around and walked out of the tent, and several Hui Wanfu captains followed him away.

There was silence in the tent. Jieli Khan's face was gloomy as water, staring at Peisa's back, his eyes burst with murderous intent, and he quickly endured it, and now is not the time to clean up......

At the same time that the Turks were encamping to celebrate their success, a team of 8,000 cavalry was speeding westward in the starry and dim night.

In the north is the swarthy Wuzhou Mountains, the tall mountain ranges are majestic and tall, under the sprinkling of the cold moon and silver light, steep and steep into the sky, sinister and abnormal.

Li Jing pursed his lips tightly, his eyes were grim, the fierce night wind was whistling in his ears, and he kept whipping the war horse and galloping the horse.

Their time is very tight, they must rush to Zihe before dawn tomorrow, this is a dangerous move, if they can succeed, they can delay the Turkic army for more than five days, this crucial five days, can ensure that the people of Mayi County retreat south, the main force of the Sui army can also go north in time.

But if he fails, he will bear the responsibility for failing to block, Li Jing's gaze became more and more solemn, and he felt that the pressure on his shoulders was very huge......

After a day and a night of running, when the sky was bright, the 8,000 cavalry of the Sui army arrived at the Purple River, which originated in the lofty mountains of Mayi County, gurgled all the way north, and after flowing out of the Great Wall, it bent into an arc like the bow of the Sui army, turned to the lower left, and straightened majestically.

The light blue and lilac water of the river flows through the mountains, through the grasslands with abundant pastures, and finally into the Yellow River.

The lower reaches of the Purple River had always been the main passage for the northern nomads to enter the Central Plains, and although the Turks were almost certain to move south from Qifubo in order to annihilate the Utu tribe this time, Li Jing still acted steadily and deployed 5,000 defensive troops along the Yellow River channel in the lower reaches of the Purple River.

Facts have proved that his steadiness is completely correct, who would have thought that the last troops of the Utu tribe would flee to the Purple River, but they attracted the pursuit of 20,000 Turkic cavalry, and the Turkic army also appeared in the Purple River Valley.

The sky was completely bright, and the Sui army entered the Purple River Valley, which is a river valley about one mile wide, the river valley is more than 20 miles long, and it is actually a mountain stream that is slowly formed by the river after thousands of years of erosion.

On both sides are straight cliffs, the cliffs are overgrown with dense variety of plants and vines, although it is winter, but the withered yellow vines still cover the stone walls, although today's sun is exceptionally warm, but the sunlight does not shine into the mountain stream, making the mountain stream dim, some gloomy and depressing, the river has long been frozen like a mirror, the cold wind whistling through the mountain stream, making a huge and strange sound, so that people always have a strange feeling when walking on the ice, as if this is a gate to the underworld.

The 8,000 cavalry of the Sui Army silently walked through the narrow mountain stream, and the noise of the war horses on the ice occasionally startled some unknown winged creatures, who screamed and flew to the top of the mountain dozens of feet high, and the sudden sharp screams were always terrifying.

At this time, more than a dozen patrol guards came against the ranks, and among them was a Taoist priest wearing a blue Taoist robe, his hair was tied in a bun at will, and he was wearing a shabby bamboo crown.

"Mr. Li!"

The patrol soldiers finally found Li Jing and greeted him, Li Jing also saw the Taoist priest among them, and asked with a whip, "What's the matter with this Taoist priest?" ”

"Back to the chief, this person was found in a rock crevice in the cliff, he is a medicine picker, and he has news of the Utu Department."

Li Jing was overjoyed and hurriedly asked, "Where are you a Taoist priest, and what do you want to tell me?" ”

The Taoist priest hurriedly bowed and saluted: "Xiaodao is the Taoist priest of Xuanqingguan, the Taoist temple is here about fifty miles to the south, and has been collecting medicine in this area for a long time, probably at the fifth watch last night, Xiaodao hid in the rock crevice to sleep, was awakened by the sound of horses' hooves, Xiaodao probe came out, and saw about five or six thousand people passing through the mountain stream, they were holding torches, most of them were women and children, and there were hundreds of young and strong men, at a glance, they were Turkic, many men were injured, they cried and cried all the way, like a mourning team. ”

After a pause, the Taoist priest added: "Their leader seems to be a woman, dressed gorgeously, protected by dozens of guards, and constantly wiping away tears. ”

Li Jing nodded, it should be the last survivor of the Utu Ministry, Anuri is also among them, they went south, and they happened to miss themselves, but Li Jing thought about it for a while, and immediately understood, the scout said that there were nearly 10,000 people left in the Utu Ministry, but the Taoist priest only saw five or six thousand people. Most of them were women and children, and hundreds of men were injured.

This shows that the Utu Department is divided into two routes, one should be a soldier, responsible for attracting Turkic pursuers, in order to cover Anuri and women and children escaping from the mountain stream, Li Jing quickly estimated the time, the Taoist priest saw them at the fifth watch, then the Turkic pursuers should have chased through the mouth of the mountain stream and went west.

Li Jing's heart immediately became worried, the five thousand Sui soldiers stationed in Zihe Fort were not very far from here, only more than a hundred li, they were likely to encounter the twenty thousand Turkic pursuers, thinking of this, Li Jing became anxious in his heart, and he asked again: "How far is it from here to the north mouth of the mountain stream?" ”

"It's not far away, there are still seven or eight miles to go out, you can go all the way along the Purple River, after leaving the hilly area, there is grassland all the way, and it is estimated that the person you are looking for will also go west along the river."

"Thank you!"

Li Jing immediately said: "Reward him with ten taels of silver and let him go." ”

The soldiers released the Taoist priest, and a personal soldier gave the Taoist priest a piece of silver, and the Taoist priest left with a thousand thanks, and Li Jing immediately ordered: "Pass my order, and the team will speed up the march!" ”

The cavalry of the Sui army accelerated abruptly and quickly headed towards the north mouth of the mountain stream......

Seven or eight miles of journey passed in a moment, and in a short time, the team went out of the mountain stream, on both sides were gentle hills, dense forests, all reckless black pine forests, there was no road to the west, the Sui cavalry had no choice but to continue along the riverbed to the northwest rapid march.

After walking for about 20 miles, the hills became lower and lower, and soon came to the turn of the Purple River, only to see that there were no hills in the distance, but an endless grassland, and the Purple River made a big turn here and flowed to the southwest.

Behind them is the majestic Wuzhou Mountain Range, which is exceptionally tall and majestic under the reflection of the sun, and the mountain stream they wear has become a thin black line, which is difficult to see clearly.

"Mr. Li!"

One of the scouts rushed to report: "We have found a large number of horseshoe prints, and tens of thousands of horsemen have passed by, along the north bank of the river to the west, and more than an hour has passed. ”

Li Jing thought for a moment in his heart, Zihe Fort was about a hundred miles away from here, if he accelerated the speed of the horses, he could arrive in about half a day, but they had been marching for a day and a night, and the men and horses were extremely tired.

Of course, Li Jing did not want to rescue the last few thousand soldiers of the Utu Division, their purpose was to annihilate the 20,000 lone Turkic cavalry, if the 20,000 Turkic cavalry were completely annihilated, it would be enough to make the Turkic army dare not go south easily.

Li Jing immediately ordered: "Pass my order, and the whole army will dismount and rest!" ”