Moheyan is in the desert, and the mighty army is endless.

Hou Junji led the 100,000 heroes of the Tang Dynasty to finally follow in the footsteps of Du He and entered this great desert known as the land of death.

The situation they encountered was more painful than that of Duhe, and they had more soldiers and horses, so the army marched more slowly, and after fifteen days of walking, it was still some distance from the Wild Horse Spring.

On the eighth day of entering the desert, the ranks of the 100,000-strong army began to wear and tear, and some of the soldiers were already left behind, and only death awaited them. Nearly 500 war horses suffered from various diseases caused by lack of water, and they had to be killed to take their flesh and blood for later use.

Although he also has people who have traveled once, such as Ashina Sheer and Qibi He Li, who can compare to Chemiri, a businessman who has traveled back and forth five or six times? On the way forward, it is inevitable to take some unjust roads.

The desert was still lifeless, and the scorching heat shone on the dry sand dunes, and every piece of sand and gravel emitted this heat, and the ankle-length floating sand and gravel devoured the physical strength of the Tang soldiers who were almost dried by the heat wave, making their feet weak and numb.

Hou Junji looked up at the sky, and his eyes were black from the dazzling sun. The fine grains of sand seeping into his nostrils made him sneeze three times in a row, and the expeditionary war horses didn't even have the mood to snort, all of them were like wolf dogs in summer, panting with their mouths wide open.

Hou Junji regretted it a little at the moment, really regretted it.

"I wonder how they are doing?" Hou Junji thinks not of himself but of Du He, in such a harsh environment, he who has experienced a hundred battles can't support it, let alone Du He, a rookie?

He regretted it, and he was not kind-hearted, but worried about his future.

Du Ruhui and Fang Xuanling opposed him as a prime minister, and Hou Junji hated them to the core, so there was no need to say more. As long as there is a chance to destroy Fang Du and the others, he will spare no effort to kill this poisonous hand.

But Du He is not Du Ruhui or Fang Xuanling, he knows very well that if Du He dies, he, the main general who induced him to fight, will be speechless.

"Alas! If I knew this was the case, I shouldn't have decided this way in the first place! ”

He didn't expect this Mohe Yanmoi to be so bad, at first he thought that the Moheyan moraine of 800 miles was not as bad as the environment he encountered when he led his troops to pursue Tuyuhun. But now he knew that this Mo He Yan was ten times worse than the situation he encountered back then.

The situation he encountered back then was only cold, but the situation of Mohe Yanqi was hot and cold, which made people unguardable.

"How far is it?" Hou Junji asked Ashina Sheer in a low voice, in order not to let the soldiers hear, he deliberately suppressed his voice: "This is the fifteenth day, it's time to arrive, right?" ”

"I don't know!" Ashina Sheer shook his head and replied, "I can only say that our direction is not wrong!" As long as we go in the right direction, we will get out of this desert sooner or later! He walked this road two years ago and now remembers the direction, but the details are not so clear.

As he was talking, a fast horse suddenly appeared in everyone's field of vision, and immediately a sweaty scout was wearing a military uniform of the Tang Dynasty.

"Report!" His hoarse voice echoed in the sky above the desert, and he came to Hou Junji and said: "Chief Hou of Qiqi, General Du has arrived in Yiwu four days ago, and he has already determined that there is no thief army nearby, and now he is heading to Gaochang. ”

"Really?" Hou Junji was overjoyed and stopped the scout, Du He was fine, and he didn't have to be held responsible.

"What about the losses of the vanguard?" Hou Junji's mind also moved, Du He was fine, he didn't have to be responsible for it, he was not worried in his heart, so he naturally thought of making trouble with Du He, as long as he lost too many soldiers and horses, he could use the power of the coach to reprimand him, and then remove him from his position as a pioneer on the grounds of incompetence, and let him watch the play on the sidelines. Anyway, he has 100,000 troops in his hands, plus tens of thousands of local soldiers and horses who accept the rule of the Tang Dynasty, such as Yiwu and Yanqi, and the front and rear troops are as high as 1230,000, even if they don't use Du He's 6,000 people, it will not hinder the war.

After returning to Chang'an, even if His Majesty questioned the reason why he didn't use Du He, he could openly say that Du He was not even a pioneer officer, and he didn't dare to use him if he lost his troops. At that time, it was how His Majesty was favoring Duhe, and he couldn't say anything in the face of the fact that Duhe was incompetent.

Hou Junji had already thought of all the means to deal with Du He, and in his own mind, he seemed to see the scene of Du He who had not made a success and was depressed and would be in Chang'an, and vaguely thought of Du Ru's appearance of being so angry that he was like thunder, his heart was secretly refreshed, and he hated: "Who asked you to stop me Hou Someone from being a prime minister?" Let you know the fate of offending my Hou Junji......"

Just when he was thinking about himself, the scout had already answered the question: "Back to the general manager, General Du did not lose a single soldier when he broke through Moheyanmoraine, but when the horses encountered the quicksand, they lost more than a dozen horses. ”

The scout's words made Hou Junji's eyes widen: "Is there really no one who has been broken?" His heart has turned up a monstrous wave, in the face of this vast desert, even he can't do it without breaking a person, but Duhe .......

"It's true! The small one is the scout under General Du, who came back on the order of the general to report the military situation to General Hou. He handed over his token.

After Hou Junji confirmed his identity, he couldn't help but stand on the spot.

Ashina Sheer on the side was also a little surprised, and sighed: "Mr. Hou is in charge of this ability to use people to understand people, and I, Ashina, have only seen it today." I really can't imagine that General Du Xiao is so young that he has such ability. At first, I also misunderstood Manager Hou, thinking that Manager Hou was prejudiced against Du He! Now I know that the chief manager is a bamboo in his chest! ”

When Hou Junji heard this, he smiled awkwardly, his face was very red, just like his surname, red like that monkey's ass.

"Gaochang soldiers and horses are like frost and snow, and the Han family soldiers and horses are like the moon. It is said that the moon shines on the frost and snow, and it will be destroyed by returning! ”

This is a catchy nursery rhyme, I don't know how long it took, spread in the five major cities of Gaochang, in just a few days, the nursery rhyme spread throughout Gaochang, especially in the middle of Gaochang is known to everyone, everyone sings.

Nursery rhymes are endless. The streets were full of soldiers who were looking for and singing nursery rhymes, they shouted loudly, looking at the innocent children, how did the soldiers do it? We can only stop it, but we can't bear to grasp it. They stopped it in one place, and the nursery rhyme spread in another place.

Exquisite Kochang Palace!

"Who, who is it!" Gaochang King Lu Wentai roared angrily, and the whole person was like a lion in a madness, roaring loudly and venting.

Several ministers of Gaochang Kingdom knelt on the ground, and they could all see it.

Ko Wentai was not a lion at all at this moment, but a dog, a dog barking indiscriminately.

The reason why he was angry and roared was not because someone touched his scales, but because he was weak in his heart, he was afraid, and in order to hide his fear, he could only keep roaring and venting.

"Who came up with the ballad? I'm going to kill him, I'm going to kill him! ”

The ministers of Gao Changguo were silent one by one, and they also wanted to know. But this ballad came too suddenly, too weird, as if it appeared out of thin air, and there was no way to start.

"Waste, waste!" Lu Wentai scolded, "What are you doing kneeling here, not going to arrest people?" He turned his foot up at the ministers before him, and kicked him to the ground, driving them out.

After the minister had gone, out of the screen came a richly dressed woman in her fifties, with a better countenance, but the years had left a staggering mark on her face. She is dressed in the Central Plains and has a noble temperament, and it is completely conceivable that she must have been a beautiful woman with all kinds of charms when she was young.

She is Mrs. Xiangyi, the mother of Gaochang monarch Lu Wentai, that is, Princess Huarong of the former dynasty. At that time, Lu Wentai's father Lu Boya had entered the Sui Yang Emperor, and from the Sui Yang Emperor to Goryeo, afterwards, the Sui Yang Emperor married the daughter of the princess Huarong to Lu Boya as his wife.

Mrs. Xiangyi looked at Lu Wentai, who had fallen into helplessness, and sighed: "I knew it earlier, why bother in the first place!" When you robbed and killed the merchants, my mother persuaded you that Datang couldn't afford to provoke you. But you didn't listen, and even said arrogantly, 'Wouldn't it be nice for the eagle to soar in the sky, for the pheasant to scurry in the artemisia bushes, for the cat to wander in front of the hall, and for the rat to settle in the burrow, and each has its own place!' Why bother to see Datang's face? 'Do you think that Gaochang is thousands of miles away from Datang, the road is difficult, and Datang will not be overwhelmed by an army? How is it now, Datang is here, and he also brought tens of thousands of troops. How can I resist if I have less than 20,000 Gaochang soldiers? ”

Ko Wentai's face was blue and white, and the green tendons on his forehead were exposed, but he was speechless and secretly regretted it.

Mrs. Xiangyi broke his mind in one sentence: Gaochang occupies a favorable geographical position, is the only way to pass through the Silk Road, extremely important, everyone is red, but Gaochang's military strength is not bad, and it has a strong city, and the nomads can't help them.

Only the Western Turks, with 150,000 troops and countless allies, could threaten the existence of Gaochang. He felt that although the Tang Dynasty, which was thousands of miles away, was strong, it could not threaten him, and the Western Turks were close at hand, which was a mortal threat.

Moreover, during the Righteous Peace Rebellion, the Western Turks had a great favor to him, so they chose to deal with the Western Turks.

The Khan of the Western Turks had the intention of unifying the Western Regions, reproducing the heroic style of the Turks in the past, and confronting the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, he cut off the Silk Road and cut off one of the most important economic sources of the Tang Dynasty.

At first, Lu Wentai was still afraid of the might of the Tang Dynasty, but then he thought that as long as he disguised himself as a horse thief, it was thousands of miles away, how could the Tang Dynasty know?

So, at the request of the Western Turks, he took over this mission.

That is in line with the old saying, after walking many nights, they will eventually encounter ghosts, and their deeds will not escape the doom of being discovered.

"Your Majesty!" A cloaked general rushed over and knelt down in front of Ko Wentai, "Urgent military situation!" The vanguard army of the Tang Dynasty has arrived at the border of our Gaochang! ”

(To be continued)