In the middle of May of the 11th year of the Great Cause, the Turks began to bibi the Great Khan Ashina. Du Ji led 300,000 wolf horsemen to the south, and the soldiers took Dali City in Dingxiang County without bloodshed, and took all the grain and grass in the city. After resting for only half a day, he turned east and broke into Mayi County along the Great Wall.

300,000 cavalry attacked at night at the pass of the Great Wall of Wuzhou Mountain, and the beacon tower on the Great Wall was completely controlled by the advance of the Turks before it even had time to send out a beacon fire. On the same day, the cities of Hengan and Yunri fell one after another. The defenders of the two cities were only more than 1,000 people, and under the siege of 300,000 wolf horsemen on all sides, the defenders only held out for less than an hour, and the two cities were destroyed one after another. Fortunately, Shibi listened to Daniel Zhang's advice and did not massacre, but collected all the grain and grass, and then left a thousand-man team in each of the two cities, and continued to go south.

At this time, the news from the Turkic scouts showed that Yang Guang of the Sui State had not yet discovered the fact that they had been south to Hedong for seven days. And the intelligence shows that at this time, Yang Guangzheng with 150,000 guards has passed through Loufu County, and has gone out of Yanmen Pass, heading towards Mayi.

"God help me, Yang Guang Xiao'er is impatiently rushing towards my grassland 300,000 warriors, and there are only 150,000 horses around him. It was leaving Yanmen Pass, going out of the Xicheng Dangerous Road, and arriving at the Sanggan River. It is only a few hundred miles away from us, and we only need to hurry up and move forward at full speed, and in three days at most, we will be able to meet Yang Guang Xiao'er in the county town of Mayi and invite him back to the grassland. ”

After reading the parchment letter in his hand, Shibi Khan laughed excitedly at the leader.

When the leaders heard that Yang Guang had actually arrived at the Sanggan River, they were all equally excited at this time. The grasp of this southward movement is even more a little more, this southward journey, secrecy is their advantage, and the weakness is that the steppe cavalry is not good at attacking the city and fighting.

Yang Guang was in Taiyuan before, so Jieli and they refused to go south. Later, because the Liaodong envoy said that they could lead Yang Guang out of Taiyuan, they agreed to continue south. But no one thought that Yang Guang not only went out of Taiyuan, but also out of Yanmen.

Yanmen has been an important line of defense between the Central Plains and the grassland since ancient times, and many dynasties have fought against the Hu people in the grassland here. The Central Plains Dynasty has also always relied on the natural terrain of Yanmen, like a gate to keep the grassland people out. Although there are two counties of Mayi and Dingxiang in addition to Yanmen, according to the traditional saying, out of Yanmen is already outside the Saiwai.

Outside the Yanmen Pass, it is the famous dangerous road Xicheng Pass, out of this pass, that is outside the fortress, there is no longer a famous fortress Jiancheng, if the Central Plains and the grassland people are at war, this outside the fortress is the first place to fall into ignition. Most of the soldiers and horses in Hedong County of the Sui Dynasty were within the Yanmen Pass, and there were only a few small soldiers and horses outside the Saiwai, which were purely used as alarms.

Everyone understood what Yang Guang meant to them when he went out of Yanmen Pass. Yang Guang's exit from Yanmen Pass was equivalent to losing all guarantees, and the only thing he could rely on was the 150,000 guards and Li Shimin's 5,000 road soldiers. But for the steppe people, as long as it is not a siege war, and it is a two-to-one ratio of soldiers and horses, any tribal leader is confident that such a battle can be won.

Shi Bi's face was glowing with excitement, "Pass on the order of Ben Khan, 300,000 wolf horsemen will set off immediately, three days, Ben Khan only gives everyone three days, and within three days we will definitely go to Mayi County and capture Yang Guang alive." ”

Chu Luo Khan was a little embarrassed and said, "Great Khan, since the steppe sent troops to the present, we have marched day and night, and there is no day of rest. After taking Dali City, he traveled in a hurry for a day and night, and just captured two big cities in a row, and his subordinates were really tired. The distance between the county town of Mayi is not close, and if you want to arrive within three days, you must travel day and night, and I am afraid that many tribal brothers will not be able to keep up. Even if the sons and daughters can withstand it, they are afraid that the war horses will not be able to bear it. ”

Shibi shook his head, "You haven't understood the current situation yet, we have entered Hedong for seven days and captured three cities in succession. Yang Guang didn't know we were here yet, but such a good thing wouldn't last long. No one knows when Yang Guang received the news here. If we have to rest because we are tired for a while, and then Yang Guang knows the news here and turns back to Taiyuan, then we will be stillborn if we want to take Yang Guang and defeat the Sui army. Therefore, we can do what we can now, and we can do what we can't. Tell the brothers that as long as Yang Guang is captured alive and the Sui army is defeated, then Ben Khan will allow all the tribes to plunder for seven days. ”…,

Seeing that the leaders of the various tribes were still a little hesitant, Shibi Khan continued, "After conquering Liaodong, Ben Khan will only take the property of one city in Taiyuan, and the wealth, money, food and population in the other counties and counties in Liaodong will be given to the leaders. At that time, these counties will all belong to you, and you can grab them as much as you want. ”

There was a great temptation on the one hand, but there was a possibility of failure on the other, and after a moment of exchange of words, the chiefs of the tribes all agreed to the decision of Shibi Khan. According to Shibi's instructions, all the tribes killed all the cattle, horses, pigs and sheep that were plundered, roasted sheep and boiled cattle, 300,000 horses were fed for a meal, and after resting for two hours, they got on their horses again and gathered into a black wave, rolling towards the county town of Mayi.

Shortly after the Dragon Boat Festival in May, the mountains, forests and grasslands are full of all kinds of fragrant flowers. In particular, the banks of the Sanggan River are covered with red, yellow, blue and purple wildflowers, which are not as delicate as the flowers in spring, but they also decorate the earth.

In the midst of the wildflowers, a small group of knights was galloping along the Sangan River toward the south. The Sanggan River is a tributary of the Yellow River, and it also has another name, the Wuding River. As the name suggests, this is a river that often diverts.

The Wuding River under the mud and sand is the river of life on the Loess Plateau, and Yang Guang's car is heading north along the Wuding River at this time.

"Swore to sweep away the Huns without regard for themselves, and five thousand mink brocade mourned Hu Chen. Poor and uncertain riverside bones, like a person in a spring boudoir dream. Standing on top of the tall wooden mobile palace, Yang Guang stood with his hands behind his back and gently recited a poem.

After reading it, he still felt unfinished, and praised it a few times.

Yang Guang turned his head to Empress Xiao beside him and said, "Does the Empress know who made this poem?" ”。

Empress Xiao wore a long purple shawl on her arm, standing in front of the railing of the palace, standing in the wind, her clothes fluttering, like a fairy. "Concubines often love to read and taste poems, and the first poem is very sad but atmospheric, and it is a rare good poem. It's just that the concubines have never read it before, could it be that His Majesty just watched this Sanggan River along the way, and felt it? ”

Yang Guang shook his head, sighed lightly, and said for a long time, "This is what the black-clothed guard handed over to me, according to them, this is what Chen Pojun once did." I didn't come to this river, I still can't feel the extraordinaryness of this poem, but now that I am by this river, I suddenly feel that this poem is elegant and majestic, and it is indeed a rare good poem. Sighing again, Yang Guang looked into the distance and said with some feeling, "Chen Pojun is indeed a masterpiece, no wonder Izumo likes him." Maybe I paid more attention to him at the beginning, and even married Izumo to him, maybe it wouldn't have been the result today. ”

Queen Xiao stood beside her and was silent, and she also felt a little regretful in her heart, with a peerless talent like Chen Kefu, if she married the princess to him, she might really be able to cage him. And if Chen Kefu had not rebelled, then maybe the Turks would have been pacified long ago, let alone the current situation.

"Your Majesty, although Chen Pojun has returned to Liaodong, he has not rebelled so far, and he has only played the banner of the Qing monarch. With a talent like Chen Pojun, if he can't be used by His Majesty, he will become an enemy, which is really a pity. Is it true that all of this can no longer be changed? Maybe Your Majesty can summon him, maybe. ”

Yang Guang shook his head, "If my army defeats the Liaodong army, maybe I can spare him a death or even give him an idle official position." But if the hundreds of thousands of troops in the imperial court can't even set foot in Liaodong, even if he is willing to be appeased now, I will not agree. "When you are an emperor, you can't think like ordinary people. Not to mention that Chen Ke Fuming rebelled, even if he misunderstood him before, this matter is already like this. Those who are superior can correct their mistakes, but they cannot admit their mistakes again. This is a sentence that the former emperor Yang Jian once told him personally. If you are wrong, you can know your mistakes, you are already a qualified emperor, and if you know your mistakes and can change them, you are a good emperor. If you know your mistakes and correct them, and still admit your mistakes, you will be an unqualified emperor.

What's more, in the confrontation between him and Liaodong, he is still in an embarrassing situation, which is even more important because he can't change his previous decision.

Empress Xiao sighed, "It's just that Izumo is suffering this child." ”

"The most ruthless emperor's family," Yang Guang could only say helplessly.

There was a rush of footsteps, and an inner messenger trotted over.

"Your Majesty, General Zuotunwei and Li Shimin, the Duke of Liaoyang County, saw him and said that there was an urgent military situation to report to His Majesty."

Yang Guangyi frowned, Li Shimin set off a day earlier than him, and with 5,000 soldiers and horses, he was more than 100 miles away in front of the emperor's car. According to the plan, they are all going to enter the Mayi County Town in the end, and now there are at least two days left before the Mayi County Town, why did Li Shimin run back again.

"What kind of emergency military situation does he say?"

"It was said that it was the military situation on the steppe Turks, and the urgent military information sent by Princess Yicheng to the messenger, and the specific messenger said that he would personally deliver the letter to His Majesty." The chamberlain hurriedly said what Li Shimin told him.

Princess Yoshisei? As soon as Yang Guang heard this name, he felt that it was a very important thing, Princess Yicheng was now Kedun of Shibi Khan. At the critical moment of the attack on the Turks, the princess suddenly asked someone to send a letter, then there must be an urgent military situation.

"Hurry up, let Li Shimin bring a messenger to see him immediately" ......,