About 300 miles from Fu Qi City to Da Fei Chuan, in order to protect the safety of the grain road, the Tubo people built several castles in the middle, among which Haixi Fort is the closest castle to Fu Qi City, from two months ago, the Tubo people mobilized more than 2,000 Han young and strong slaves to build the castle, the construction of the castle is very difficult, first to go to Da Fei Sichuan 200 miles away to quarry, and then by the stonemason to chisel the stone into a square, and then build the city wall, the stonemasons are not enough, the Tubo people transferred more than 100 Han blacksmiths from the blacksmith camp to help.

The Tubo army that supervised the work of these Han slaves had more than 100 people, led by a centurion, and their main supervision task was to prevent the Han people from escaping, so he focused on preventing the situation on the way to quarrying the Han people, and was not very strict with the Han slaves who usually worked, but used the most severe punishment to force the slaves to work hard, and the completion was completed within three months, and the delay was all beheaded!

Haixi Castle is not big, the scale of the complete garrison is three or four hundred people, it is only half a mile away from Qinghai, located on a small hillside, there is a beacon tower next to it, standing at the head of the city, you can clearly see the blue and boundless Qinghai.

In the afternoon, 2,000 slaves were busy building the city walls, most of them shirtless, their skin tanned by the intense ultraviolet rays, and several Tuyuhun overseers roamed back and forth with leather whips in their hands, staring fiercely at each slave's body.

The Tuyuhun people are the same as the Qiang people and the Turkic people, and they belong to the second-class people in Tubo, their status is much higher than that of the Han slaves, they can fight in the army, they can have their own cattle and sheep, and they can even own Han slaves.

Among the 3,000 garrisons in Fuqi City, 1,000 were Tuyuhun people, and most of the Tubo soldiers drank and had fun in the camp tents to build Haixi Fort, and the on-site supervisors were handed over to ten Tuyuhun people.

A Tuyuhun overseer suddenly saw several Han slaves gathered together, and he immediately rushed up and whipped his head and face, "Bastard! Want to be lazy? ”

"His foot twisted!"

A tall slave whipped his leather and said angrily, "Can't we rub him?" ”

In order to improve the efficiency of work, the Han slaves also implemented a military establishment, 2,000 people were divided into four large Wu Bai, a team of 500 people, each by a prestige slave in charge, this tall slave is the leader of the first team of slaves, his name is Luo Han, a native of Fengxiang in Guanzhong, is a captured Tang military captain.

On the ground sat a young man of sixteen or seventeen years old, who had been extremely weak by long and hard labor, and his face was pale and covered with beads of sweat, and he had just fainted while carrying a stone.

Overseer Tuyuhun suddenly saw him, he took a step back, narrowed his eyes and said, "You're sick!" ”

"Nope! I'm not sick. ”

The boy struggled to his feet, gasping for breath, "I'm fine, I can work." ”

The overseer of Tuyuhun gave the young man a cold look, turned and left.

Luo Han was anxious, and hurriedly shouted to everyone: "Hurry up and help him away, hurry up!" ”

The Tubo people do not raise useless people, the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled are all executed, several slaves helped the young man to walk to the castle, but not waiting for them to go far, more than a dozen Tibetan soldiers got the report and rushed out of the camp tent, they held spears in their hands, shouted and chased after the young man, several slaves who helped him saw the Tibetan soldiers chasing, frightened to let go of the young man and fled, the young man was so frightened that he trembled, knelt on the ground and begged for mercy, but the spear of the Tibetan soldier pierced his chest without pity, the young man screamed, and died of anger immediately.

The Tibetan soldiers raised his corpse high, laughed insolently, and the cruel killing made the two thousand slaves present scratch for a while, and countless people began to be angry, and suddenly someone picked up a stone and threw it at the Tibetan soldier, the Tibetan soldier was furious, and one person rushed towards the person who threw the stone with a spear, and the crowd was in chaos.

Luo Han's face was red, his fists were clenched, when the Tibetan soldier passed by him, Luo Han suddenly roared, jumped up from behind, and knocked the Tibetan soldier to the ground, the other dozen Tibetan soldiers were taken aback, roared and killed Luo Han, the unbearable slaves finally became angry, they rushed up, smashed with stones, punched with fists, and bit with teeth, instantly drowning more than a dozen Tibetan soldiers.

Luo Han snatched the spear and plunged it into the chest of the Tibetan soldier below him, and he roared, "Rather than be tortured to death by them, it is better to fight!" ”

"Fight! We returned to the Tang Dynasty from Dunhuang. ”

2,000 Han slaves held wooden sticks and crowbars, rushed to the Tubo military camp, ten Tuyuhun overseers knelt on the ground and begged for mercy, and were killed by the angry slaves in a moment, at this time, dozens of Tubo soldiers in the camp rushed out, they were all terrified, and ran towards the war horses with rolling and crawling, and the slow ones were caught up by the slaves and beaten to death, only a dozen soldiers who ran fast turned over and got on their horses, and ran away without their lives.

At this moment, the beacon tower on the top of the hillside was lit, and the smoke rose into the sky, and it was two Tibetan sentinels who sent a distress signal.

Luo Han was taken aback, he frowned, fled the Tibetan soldiers, and lit the beacon tower, which would inevitably attract the suppression of the Tubo army.

Suddenly, someone pointed into the distance and shouted: "Army! ”

Suddenly, everyone fell silent, and an army was seen galloping towards this direction, the sound of horses' hooves beating the ground like thunder, and the slaves slowly retreated, and everyone had a look of horror in their eyes.

'Dangchang! The sticks and crowbars fell to the ground, and the fear of death hung over their heads.

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The war horses galloped, and several patrol soldiers galloped towards the Tang army camp, and on one of the horses among them, a man with blurred flesh and blood was carried.

In the big tent, Li Qingan was convening a military meeting of officers above the brigade commander, and he said to He Yanming, who had just rushed back: "Tell me about it!" The intel you've discovered. ”

He Yanming stood up and said to everyone: "I was ordered by the general to go to the Datong Valley, the Datong Valley is about 100 miles wide, and it is easy to pass, but after traveling dozens of miles, the canyon is getting narrower and narrower, and the narrowest part is only five miles wide, and the Tubo people have built a high wall five miles wide, choked the canyon, and built three castles, we dare not approach, judging from their dense camps, there are at least 30,000 garrisons, that is to say, if we want to pass through the Datong Valley, we must mix these 30,000 people." ”

There was silence in the big tent, everyone's hearts were heavy, He Yanming's meaning was very clear, it was impossible for them to pass through the Datong Valley, and the Dafeichuan in the south was even more dreaming, if they could pass, what else would they need to fight in the river.

At this time, Li Qingan reluctantly said to everyone: "It seems that we have embarked on a dead end, and we can't get to Hehuang from here." ”

Immediately whispered below, Li Fei Shouyu laughed loudly: "General, even if we return to Dunhuang, we must make a little merit before leaving, we can't come in vain!" ”

Li Qing'an nodded, "That's what I mean, at least we have to burn the grain in Fuqi City and annihilate thousands of Tubo troops, and we can be regarded as making a lot of contributions." ”

Bai Yuanguang next to him also smiled: "Actually, let's hurry up and take the Biandu Mouth from Liangzhou to Hehuang, we can take a long way to avoid walking, and at the end of October, we should be able to reach Shanzhou." ”

The words of several generals had almost set the tone, and after taking Fu Qi City, they turned around and returned to Dunhuang.

At this moment, there was a rush of footsteps outside the tent, and a soldier said, "Report to the general, the scout found a Han slave on the road." ”

"Bring him in!"

In a few moments, several scouts carried the man they found on the road in, and one of the scouts reported: "We found that a beacon fire had been lit, so we went to check it out, and just in time we saw this man fleeing on a horse, and he said that he was a Han slave in Heixi Fort." ”

Li Qingan stepped forward to take a look, this man, covered in flesh and blood, had been slashed at least a dozen times, but he was strong and did not die.

Li Qingan asked, "What's your name and what happened?" ”

The man opened his eyes slightly, and said with a weak breath: "The humble name is Luo Han, he was originally the captain of the scout battalion of the Longyou Army, Tianbao was captured in five years, and today the Han people in Haixi Fort rioted and were suppressed by the Tubo army, which is too miserable." ”

"When was it?"

Li Qing'an asked twice, but the man had already fainted, and the scout added: "It should have happened two hours ago, and the humble official suddenly found that there was a beacon fire lit on the side of Haixi Fort. ”

Two hours ago, an unexpected situation disrupted Li Qing'an's deployment, he unfolded the map, looked at it carefully, from Haixi Fort to Dafeichuan about 200 miles, the beacon fire was lit, which meant that there would be a large number of Tubo reinforcements coming, and they had no time.

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Fort Hercy was already a bloody slaughterhouse, littered with corpses, and the viscous blood flowed into a pool of blood, bubbling and smelling incomparably fishy.

Nearly a thousand headless corpses were piled up on a hill, the Tibetans poured fire oil on the corpses to prepare for burning, the unfinished city was covered with slaves' heads, and in a forest near Haixi Fort, a disemboweled, Han Chinese slave was tied to each tree, and they died in agony.

When the beacon tower was lit, a Tibetan army in the city of Fu was exactly a few miles away, and this morning, the chief of a tribe came to report that thirteen of their families were missing, and traces of Tang army sentry posts were found nearby.

The top general of the Tubo army stationed in Fuqi City attached great importance to it, so he personally led a thousand troops to capture the Tang army's outpost, but he happened to meet the Tubo soldiers who escaped from Haixi Fort, and when he learned of the Han Nu riot, he was furious and rushed to Haixi Fort to brutally suppress the Han Nu rebellion.

The supreme commander of Fu Qi City is called Shang Xi Dezan, the younger brother of Shang Xi Dongzan, the minister of Tubo, the official worships the governor of Haixi, and the entire west of Qinghai is under his jurisdiction, Shang Xi Dezan is short-tempered, extremely cruel, Tianbao four years, he once bloodily suppressed the escape of Jiuqu Hannu, and personally tied more than 300 captured serfs to the stake and disemboweled, which is one of his great hobbies, and killing women is another hobby of his.

This time the troops were gathered, he did not get the position of the main general of the forward, but was assigned to Fu Qi City to manage the logistics and food, which made him extremely unhappy, he vented his anger on the Han female slaves who accompanied him, and the female slaves were immediately killed as long as they did not obey at all, and in the past two months, there have been no less than 50 female slaves who have been tortured and killed by his own hands.

Today's rebellion of the Hannu in Heixibao inspired the killing of his bones, and he roared angrily: "All the rebel Hannu will be killed on the spot, and the head will be repaid!" ”

At this time, a commander of a thousand said in a low voice: "Governor, Haixi Fort will be completed soon, it is better to keep a few hundred people first, and it is not too late to kill them when it is completed." ”

Shang Xi Dezan nodded slowly, "Okay! Leave 500 strong, and the rest will be beheaded, and the heads will be sent to Jiuqu, so that the other Hannu will know the fate of the rebellion. ”

He suppressed the rebellion, leaving a hundred soldiers to oversee the work, and he led more than a thousand Tibetan troops to return to Fuqi City with satisfaction.

It is only thirty miles from Haixi Fort to Fu Qi City, but the road is not smooth, there are mountains and forests along the way, and the war horses are not fast, especially when Haixi Fort goes fifteen miles north, it is necessary to cross the Fu Qi River, a simple bridge is built on the river, the bridge is not strong, and the large group of people and horses can not ride across the bridge, they can only lead the horses on foot.

It was already dark, and the narrow and small wooden bridge was dark, and the river below was churning, which was particularly chilling, and fifty paces from the bridge was a large forest, which stretched to the sea.

Shang Xi Dezan led a large group of Tubo troops to gallop over, he was anxious, he had just received information that on the north bank of the Fuqi River, he found a Tang army patrol of more than 100 people, and was fleeing westward.

Shang Xi Dezan was so anxious that his eyes were full of stars, in his opinion, killing a hundred slaves was not as enjoyable as killing a Tang army, there were actually a hundred Tang soldiers entering his territory, how could he let them go.

The Tibetan army ran to the wooden bridge, they got off their horses and lined up, the wooden bridge is a dozen iron cables covered with wooden planks, no more than five feet wide, they must go one by one, no matter how urgent it is, Shang Xi Dezan roared and screamed, urging the Tibetan soldiers to cross the bridge, as long as he was a little slow he could not tolerate it, he stood by the bridge, waved his whip and beat with whips.

"Get over the bridge!"

"Damn, why didn't you get off the horse and get ready just now, roll to the back and line up."

Shangxi Dezan couldn't wait any longer, and rushed to the bridge first, dozens of Tubo soldiers were like parts on the assembly line, one kept leading their horses on the bridge, walked more than fifty zhang, and finally came to the opposite bank, the bridge began to shake violently, and they couldn't walk for the time being.

More than 900 people were waiting on the other side, and only Shangxi Dezan led 30 people across the bridge.

"You guys hurry up and get on the bridge!" Shangxi Dezan stood at the head of the bridge, waving his arms and roaring loudly.

At that moment, an arrow came from the nearby forest like lightning, and when he heard the sound of the air breaking, he instinctively turned around, and an arrow slammed into his face, and the arrow peeked through the back of his head.

Shang Xi Dezan let out an earth-shattering scream, and even the people and horses fell into the rolling Fuqi River, and in the forest fifty steps away, Li Qingan put away his bow and smiled coldly.

A rocket rose from behind him, especially bright in the night sky, suddenly the arrows rained down, the screams were endless, the first thirty Tubo soldiers who crossed the bridge ran in all directions, but none of them could escape the fate of death, all were shot and killed by the bridge, and a few people fled on the bridge in panic and chaos, the chain bridge shook violently, they stood unsteadily, and even people and horses fell into the river.

On the opposite bank is also in chaos, in the night, the rain of arrows from the forest on both sides of the fire, densely shot at the enemy group, the Anxi archers at this moment to give full play to their advantages, they rushed to the west, the bow is like a thunderbolt arrow, the arrow is fed with poison, as long as an arrow hits, not long after, the Tubo soldiers will fall to the ground with poison, in a moment the Tubo people have hundreds of people were shot to the ground, especially the war horses of the Tubo army are a large number of deaths, the rest of the war horses broke free from the reins of the master in terror, scattered and fled.

After the initial panic, a commander commanded the Tibetan army to stabilize the situation, and the remaining 500 or so people quickly raised their shields and gathered together, ready to retreat backwards, with the boiling river behind them and could only cross the bridge.

When more than 100 people on the bridge crossed halfway, the bridge head at the other end suddenly ignited a raging fire, the red flame swept the wooden planks on the iron chain bridge, the air was filled with the pungent smell of fire oil, the fire burned very fast, quickly approached the bridge, the Tubo army on the bridge was in chaos, and some people kept screaming and falling into the river, and were swallowed by the rolling river in an instant.

To the south of the bridge, Li Fei Yuanli smashed into the enemy group like a mad tiger, he brandished a bird's beak broadsword, slashed up and down, and killed dozens of people in an instant, behind him, five hundred Tang troops waved their horse lances to cover up, and the two armies collided together in the narrow open space at the bridgehead, and began a bloody fight.

Most of the Tubo army lost their horses and could only fight on foot, although they were at a disadvantage, they were still extremely strong, and fought with the Tang army in groups, and the two armies were killed with their heads rolling and bleeding like a river.

Nan Jiyun was the first time to participate in this kind of bloody hand-to-hand combat, his body was stained with the flesh and blood of the Tubo people, and the pungent smell made him nauseous, but as soon as he thought of the bloody massacre in Haixi Fort, the fire of hatred burned in his heart, and the iron spear in his hand danced like snowflakes, killing countless people, and gradually, he led a hundred Jiangdu soldiers to kill a bloody road, and at this time he had seen the commander standing at the head of the bridge and commanding the Tubo army to fight.

He hung up the long robbery, the bow is an arrow, the Tubo commander in the distance fell in response, the Tubo army lost its command, can no longer withstand the impact of the Tang army, the fighting spirit collapsed, they scattered and fled, shouting and fleeing for their lives.

Half an hour later, the 1,000 Tubo army led by Shang Xi Dezan was annihilated by the Tang army on both sides of the Fu Qi River.

In this battle, the Tang army also killed and wounded dozens of people, including eight Jiangdu soldiers, they turned back to copy Haixi Fort, hundreds of rescued Han slaves changed into the chain mail of the Tubo people, picked up swords and guns, and followed the Tang army brigade to Fuqi City with hatred.

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Several slaves were led to Li Qing'an's horse, they looked at each other, knelt down together and wept, "Thank you General Li for saving your life." ”

"Get up quickly!" Li Qingan sighed slightly: "It's me who is late." ”

"If the general doesn't come, we have to fight, after repairing the castle, they will kill us, we can only flee, flee west, flee to Dunhuang, if we are lucky on the way, we may also encounter scattered Tubo logistics, seize their horses and grain."

"What about the Tibetan army chasing you? You are unarmed, how can you deal with it? ”

Another slave sighed and said, "If you can escape your life, it will be a fluke, you will die after all, and it is better to fight than to be killed by the Tibetans." ”

Li Qing'an nodded, and said: "This time we came very hidden, so far we have not been discovered by the Tubo people, I am ready to attack the city of Fuqi immediately, I am short of manpower, I hope to get your coordinated battle, we will return to Dunhuang together." ”

"Our lives were saved by the general, and we must also avenge our dead brothers!"

At this time, a slave suddenly remembered something, and he hurriedly said: "General, if I can capture Fuqi City, I will have a way to return to Hehuang directly." ”

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There are only more than 20 miles from the Fu Qi River to the Fu Qi City, but the road is difficult, until the two watches, they saw the Fu Qi City from a distance, the Fu Qi City is the second capital of the Tuyuhun people, although it is not as good as the Xiongcheng in the interior of the Tang Dynasty, but it is also made of big stones, it is extremely strong, the city wall is about four zhang high, there is no moat, the city gate is made of fine iron, it takes 10,000 catties of battering hammers to be able to hit it open, the governor Shang Jie Dezan led a thousand troops to suppress the Han riot in Haixi Fort, the garrison in the city is very vigilant, the Tuyuhun sentinels on the city wall patrol back and forth, Don't dare to slack off.

At this time, a team of torches meandered in, it was a group of Tibetan cavalry, about 300 people, they slowly came to the city gate with torches in hand, at this time, the first officer said loudly: "We are from the Datong Valley patrol post, there is a beacon fire lit here, what happened?" ”

He spoke Tubo very fluently, with an accent from the Wuhai area, and the Tuyuhun sentries at the head of the city saw that they were all dressed in regular army attire, so they did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly replied: "There is a Han slave rebellion in Haixi Fort, and we have led the army to suppress it." ”

"I see, we are patrolling all the way, we are very tired, and we want to go into the city to rest for the night, you guys open the door quickly."

As he spoke, he held up a silver medal of a thousand commanders in the air, and the rest of the officers also untied the bronze medals from their waists, and the Tuyuhun sentries saw that their identities were correct, so they slowly opened the city gate.

The leading officer was the prisoner of war captain Luo Han, who had been a slave in the Wuhai area for two years and could speak fluent Tubo, and when he saw that the deception had been successful, he could not help but be overjoyed, and drove towards the city as soon as he urged his horse.

As soon as he entered the city gate, the Lifei Yuanli behind him suddenly attacked, and the Lifei Yuanli roared angrily, and split the soldiers in Kaicheng into two with a knife, waving the knife and shouting, "Brother, kill the Tibetan barbarians!" ”

There was a great chaos at the city gate, the Tang army worked bravely, and killed dozens of defenders at the city gate. ”

The cavalry galloped, followed by a 500 slave army, and the Tang army rose like a raging wind, swept into the city with a monstrous murderous aura, shattering the dreams of the Tubo people.

The shouts of killing in the city shook the sky, and a raging fire rose into the sky, reflecting the sky into daylight, which was clearly visible from hundreds of miles away.

At the same time that the Tang army was deceiving the city, Nan Jiyun led two hundred Tang troops to march quickly on the shore of Qinghai Lake, with a Hannu guide pointing the way.

"General, it's in front, slow down, not far away is the Tubo military camp, there are only more than a hundred people, they should have fallen asleep by now."

They walked into a wood, the woods were filled with mist, from time to time there was the sound of cooing night owls, the cracking of dead branches, and some strange rustling sounds swam past the footsteps of the Tang army, and they cautiously and quickly passed through the woods.

The Qinghai Sea shrouded in night suddenly appeared in front of them, the sea breeze came with a trace of fishy smell, the endless sea surface waves were surging lightly, and on the barge, dozens of large ships carrying grain were quietly moored in the sea.

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(To be continued)