Chapter 451 Twenty Counties

At the end of February, there was a heavy snow in the north, and it rained for a day and a night, and the whole north was covered with a thick layer of pure white quilt, there is no doubt that when the ice and snow melted in the warm spring, the wheat in the field would be full of melt water, and with the first water of spring, the wheat would grow like crazy when the sun warmed a little. If there are two more heavy rains before this summer, then a bumper summer grain harvest is already a sure thing.

Although the Great Sui looks chaotic now, it is the overall situation that is chaotic, and the places where the rebels or gate lords are divided are very stable and peaceful individually. The people have land to grow and wear clothes, the number of people who have frozen to death in this cold winter has been more than double that of previous years, there are many fewer hungry and dry bones in the ditches on both sides of the official road, and a heavy snowfall has hidden all the sores on the earth, and it seems that the snow scenery on both sides of the official road is beautiful and dizzying.

The sound of horses' hooves in the distance shattered the tranquility, and also shattered the mirror-like snow on the official road. As the horse's hooves flew, the snow was swung up and left far behind. This is a group of more than 20 knights, looking at the horses they sit on are all majestic, but the people are not wearing armor, it seems that some people from a large family are traveling with their servants to see the snow, just to see where they are in a hurry to appreciate the snow. Looking at the fact that each of these people is very exquisite, and their bodies seem to be stable in the saddle when they gallop on the horse, it can be seen from this that these people are by no means ordinary people.

The leader was a man who looked to be in his thirties, with a long beard, not like a martial artist, but in fact he was the weakest man in the group. Only the pain on his face was the heaviest, obviously extremely unsuitable for such a long run. The hand holding the reins tightly was a little blue from the cold, and the fact that his knuckles were not thick meant that he did not practice martial arts often. His furrowed brows betrayed his inner anxiety, and there was a hint of worry and fear in his eyes that was deliberately hidden.

"My lord, don't be too anxious."

A rugged man who followed closely behind him persuaded: "It is snowing heavily, and if there is an ambush, you can see at a glance that we have entered the pass, and we can enter the city fifty miles ahead." ”

"Can't be careless!"

The leader of the literati looked like a horse, and he owed a debt to his already worn buttocks, but he felt no pain. Rushing continuously, my buttocks were already bumpy and numb, and even the pain became very blurry.

"We are the fourth group of people sent by Tang Gong, and the first three groups of people didn't even hear from us. I didn't see anyone alive or dead, and I only knew that they disappeared out of thin air after they went out of the customs one after another. We finally got out of the customs to find out such an important matter, if we don't rush back, I'm afraid we will delay Tang Gong's big event! Thinking that at this time, Tang Gong's army is about to leave Taiyuan, if we don't rush back, Tang Gongmo may fall for the thief! Although we didn't go to the Turkic royal court to see Ashina Jishi this time, we found out the details of that Ashina Duoduo, which is of great use to Tang Gong! ”

He spoke as he rode his horse, and the wind poured into his mouth and he seemed a little slurred.

This person was Li Zhengshen, a staff member of Tang Gongmen, who was ordered by Li Yuan to go to the Turkic court in Saibei to contact Shibi Khan Ashina Jishi, but he was ambushed not long after leaving the pass, and there were only about 20 people left with 60 or 70 people to fight out of the encirclement. They seemed to be steppe people, but they didn't know which tribe they were.

When they were hiding in a small tribe of the steppe, they accidentally discovered a great secret. It turned out that the Turkic tribe in the eastern part of the steppe was not sent by the Turkic Khan, but a rebel army! Tang Gong has already sent someone there to contact the steppe saint Gesang Meduo, if the contact is successful, it will be known by the Turkic Khan, but I am afraid that it will immediately anger Ashina Jishi! Tang Gong failed to contact the Turks, but provoked the Turks to retaliate, which was tantamount to a disaster for Taiyuan.

Once the rear is unstable, how can Tang Gong go south with peace of mind?

Therefore, Li Zhengshen did not dare to delay, and simply stopped risking to go to the Turkic royal court, turned around and returned to Guannei, and hurried to Taiyuan day and night.

"I remember!"

The guard suddenly thought of something, and said loudly: "My lord, I know that we were besieged when we went out of the customs, and those steppe people belonged to which tribe, and my subordinates used to be merchants in the early years to sell tea to Saibei, and they only went once, so I don't remember the words of those steppe people too clearly." I suddenly remembered just now that those people were talking like the Khitans living on the south side of the Xilamulun River! ”

"Khitans?"

Li Zhengshen was stunned, and then his heart suddenly lit up.

"What kind of holy woman's tribe is next to the Khitans!"

He felt that he had discovered a great secret, which was that someone had deliberately dug a big pit for Tang Gong to jump into! Those Khitans intercepted and killed the envoys sent by the Duke of Tang to the Turkic royal court, just so that the Duke of Tang would contact that Gesang Meduo instead. And although that Gesang Meduo is the daughter of Ashina Jishi and the saint of the steppe, she is a person who betrayed the Turkic royal court, once she allies with her, Ashina Jishi will definitely be furious!

It's a trap!

Li Zhengshen thought of this, he suddenly felt a chill all over his body, and a sense of uneasiness and fear in his heart spread uncontrollably, and he involuntarily hit the horse a few more times, trying to make the war horse run faster. This uneasiness came from his speculation, and he suddenly thought that if this person who set up the bureau could actually reach out to the grassland, how strong would he be?

Thinking of this, Li Zhengshen's heart jumped uncontrollably.

Someone wants to subvert the Li family!

In the end, Li Zhengshen, who speculated about this, where can he still experience the fatigue and pain of his body, and where can he still feel the cold wind like a knife in the first month, and the cold in his heart is 10,000 times stronger than the cold of the weather.

"Marshall people don't stop!"

Li Zhengshen shouted loudly: "Rush back to Taiyuan as soon as possible!" ”

Just after he finished shouting these words, at least fifty or sixty samurai dressed in white dazes suddenly appeared from the ditches on both sides of the official road, all of them were white, white cloaks, and snow-white felt hats.

As soon as these people appeared, they immediately pulled the crossbow in their hands.

The crossbows poured out like a torrential rain, and in a moment, most of the people in the Tang Mansion fell! The tripping horse that was buried in the snow on the official road was pulled up, and the guards of the Tang Mansion, who had no time to rein in their horses, fell down six or seven, and the people behind did not have time to collect their horses, so they lost their balance and fell a lot on the fallen war horses.

The crossbows of those white-clothed men kept being pulled, and in just a few minutes, the guards of the more than twenty Tang Mansions were all shot over in a rage, and the injured and not dead were hacked to death by those white-clothed warriors one by one before they had time to stand up.

The white-clothed samurai led by him walked over, raised his foot and kicked Li Zhengshen, who was still moaning after being hit by an arrow, and turned over, he slowly pulled down the white scarf covering his face, revealing a slightly dark face.

"How could the people of Saibei be so sloppy! There were even people who escaped back. ”

He didn't even look at Li Zhengshen's pleading eyes, and stabbed Li Zhengshen in the neck. With a twist of the horizontal knife, Li Zhengshen's throat and major artery were cut off. The hot blood that bubbled up from the arteries splashed on the snow, and soon melted into a puddle of blood.

At this moment, a group of fifty or sixty knights on the official road caught up, and the knight led by jumped off his horse and ran in front of the leader with a slightly dark face, and said apologetically after giving a military salute: "General Luo, we didn't expect Li Yuan to be so cautious, and he actually sent four groups of people out of the customs in a row, so I was a little careless, fortunately, I am here." ”

"Don't explain it to me."

The young man known as General Luo waved his hand and said, "You should know what a big deal your lord is planning, if it is because you have neglected to ruin his layout for a while, it is useless to explain anything." ”

After saying that, he turned his head to look south, his eyes admiring.

Ann ...... You've played a big game of chess.

……

……

At the beginning of March of the thirteenth year of the Great Cause, none of the people sent by Li Yuan to contact the Turkic royal court in Saibei returned. The four groups of people before and after lost their news as if they had been covered in the ground by the heavy snow in the north. This clouded Li Yuan's heart with a layer of foggy unease, which had to make him postpone the time for the army to go south. Although when he taught Li Shimin, he said that military orders are like mountains, and orders must be done, but there is no news from the north, how can he send troops with peace of mind?

Therefore, Li Shimin and Liu Hongji's vanguard had already arrived 200 miles away, and his Chinese army was still in Taiyuan, so he really had no choice but to send people to catch up with the vanguard team and let Liu Hongji rest on the spot with his men and horses.

Li Yuan's brows were locked deeply, thinking about who was having trouble with him, and it was no coincidence that four groups of people were wiped out. Chen Yinshou suspected that it was the Yanshan horse thief Liu Jizhen's hand, but he didn't think so, Liu Jizhen was fierce and barbaric, but this person was mainly targeting the Turks and not the Han people. Liu Ji is really a descendant of the Huns, and he has always wanted to return to the grassland to reproduce the glory of the Xiongnu nation. So in the past few years, most of the people Liu Jizhen killed were Turks.

What he suspected was Luo Yi, he had a conflict with Luo Yi last year, and the two of them were sent to Jiangdu to impeach each other, Yang Guang simply ignored it, Li Yuan knew that Luo Yi was a yin and resentful character, and he wouldn't forget the last incident so quickly.

But how could Luo Yi know that he had sent someone to contact the Turks?

Could it be that there are people in Luo Yi in the mansion?

Thinking of this, Li Yuan's brows furrowed even tighter.

I was about to call Chen Yinshou and Pei Lin and others to discuss, when I suddenly heard someone outside shouting in an excited tone: "Tang Gong! It's back! It's back! ”

Li Yuan was shocked and strode out of the study.

The two old rivals, Changsun Shunde and Chen Yinshou, came together, and their faces were very excited.

"Tang Gong, the person sent to Saibei to contact the Golden Wolf Holy Maiden has returned!"

Chen Yinshou said with a laugh.

"Where's the man?"

Li Yuan asked eagerly.

The eldest grandson Shunde said: "The people are tired, and they died a few horses and fainted as soon as they entered the door, I asked them to carry them to rest in the gatehouse, and fed some water before they breathed a sigh of relief, and after asking in detail, the two of us rushed over, and the people sent to Saibei couldn't stand up for a while." Also resting in the concierge. ”

"Good news!"

Chen Yinshou said with a smile: "That holy woman Gesang Meduo promised to send someone to the royal court to talk to Ashina Jishi. She is willing to first send two wolf cavalry teams from the tribes of the Eastern Turks to assist Tang Gong in his southward journey, and she is also willing to provide us with war horses! ”

"What about the conditions?"

Li Yuan asked anxiously.

Condition ......

Chen Yinshou said: "First, you have to be a vassal to the Turkic court, if you achieve great things, you are still a courtier of the Turkic court." Second, you must ascend the throne and be the emperor, Gesang Medo said that the Turks and the Great Sui are feuds, and they will never join forces with the courtiers of the Great Sui, if you are called emperor in the future, then the alliance will be completed, not the emperor, but the Qing monarch's side, she will not agree to the alliance. Thirdly, if you are emperor, the Turks will have twenty counties. ”

"Twenty counties?"

Li Yuan said angrily: "Is she crazy! ”

"Tang Gong!"

Chen Yinshou said: "At this time, don't say twenty counties, even thirty counties can also agree to her." ”

Li Yuan was stunned, and then understood.

"20,000 is too many!"

Li Yuan thought for a while and said: "I can agree to all her conditions, but the wolf riders she sent must not exceed five thousand, I want the alliance, not her wolf riders!" ”

"Twenty Counties ......"

Li Yuan sneered: "This woman is really a crazy woman!" If I have twenty counties in my hands, why bother begging you Turks?! ”