"General, I always feel that there is something wrong here."

When the team arrived in Ganzhou, Yan Zhuang finally expressed the doubts in his heart, "General, An Sishun is not a generous person, on the surface he has nothing to do with An Lushan, but I know that they are actually very close in private, every time they receive a letter from An Sishun, An Lushan is like a festival, and he can't wait to lock himself in the room to reply to the letter, and the letter is very long, he has to write for an hour, or even more, General, forgive me for being rude, I see that An Sishun is very affectionate to you, When he saw An Lushan in Fanyang, he didn't have such intimacy, did you have a relationship with him that surpassed that between him and An Lushan? ”

Li Qing'an sat opposite Yan Zhuang, the carriage was sparkling, through the window, you could see the three thousand cavalry sent by An Sishun loyally guarding them, not so much guarding, but a kind of surveillance, they led the way in front, the walking route was determined by them, and they had the final say on the rest and departure time along the way, they always said beautiful words: 'General, we are the masters in Hexi, we know the situation better, and treat the guests as they please!' ’

In fact, after Liangzhou, Li Qingan already felt that something was wrong, An Sishun was too enthusiastic, and he had to let them go to Liangzhou to live for five days, but in the end, when they left, he didn't even give saliva, not to mention the military rations of the three thousand protectors, all of which were provided by them, but behind An Sishun's enthusiasm was extremely stingy, indicating that he didn't want to pay a little bit for the Beiting team at all, his enthusiasm was either his hypocrisy, or what he wanted to hide?

What is he trying to hide? When he arrived in Ganzhou, two words kept popping up in Li Qingan's mind: 'Horse bandits! ’

Yes! He walked through the Hexi corridor many times, but he had heard that there were a few small groups of horse bandits, but he had never heard of horse bandits with thousands of people, if there were really thousands of horse bandits, then what were the eight armies of Hexi Jiedu for? And it's three or four thousand horse bandits, which is simply incredible.

"Sir, mean, An Lushan recently wrote to him?" Li Qingan pondered for a moment and said.

Wang Changling next to him was taken aback, he understood what Li Qingan and Yan Zhuang meant, An Sishun was about to attack the convoy, he hurriedly interjected: "This is unbelievable, An Sishun, as a prince of a town and a dignified envoy of Hexi Jiedu, will he be like a child to extinguish the fire for others?" Once known by the imperial court, will he still be able to do this? I thought he shouldn't have been so reckless. ”

Yan Zhuang smiled and said: "Mr. Wang is reasonable, of course An Lushan's letter will not make An Sishun take risks, but I think he doesn't just want to vent his anger for An Lushan, after all, he is a town festival envoy, he will not take such a big risk, if I guess correctly, he has other plans." ”

"Shatuo people!" Li Qingan blurted out.

Yan Zhuang squinted his eyes and smiled, "General Li hit the nail on the head, and I also think that An Sishun is trying to provoke the relationship between General Li and the Shatuo people, perhaps expecting General Li to drive the Shatuo people to Hexi." ”

Wang Changling next to him was also silent, he was an upright person, he had never thought of any conspiracies, tricks, and deceit, and he didn't understand this, he didn't want to think about it, and he didn't bother to think about it, so he was demoted step by step, and he couldn't even get along with a small county lieutenant, and no one from his friends and family told him why he couldn't get along, he was an officialdom from beginning to end.

And this time, he sat in a carriage with a figure like Jia Xu, he did not feel disgusted, on the contrary, he had a kind of sudden understanding that the power struggle in the officialdom could still be so scheming.

"So what are we going to do?" Wang Changling muttered, "If someone really comes to attack us, how should we prepare?" ”

"Mr. Wang don't have to worry, this kind of attack by An Sishun is just wild ghosts that are active at night, and as soon as the sun shines on them, they will disappear."

Yan Zhuang smiled slightly, he glanced at Li Qing'an, Li Qing'an also laughed, and said slowly: "They really can't see the sun, but I want to meet these little ghosts at night." ”

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After the team passed through Ganzhou and arrived at Suzhou, An Sishun's army was no longer escorted and withdrew to Liangzhou, and the Beiting convoy continued to walk westward, and five days later, the team came to the border of Guazhou.

"Dance clothes, the jade gate is closed in front." Li Qingan pointed to a city in the distance and smiled.

A month's long journey has made her dance clothes thinner, but she is in good spirits, and she seems to be more elegant.

She was playing chess with the jade slave, and she heard that she had reached the Jade Gate Pass. The ground exclaimed, the probe stared at the city in the distance, there is a poplar forest in the distance, a small river flows through, Yumen Pass stands on this endless Gobi desert, why should Qiang Di complain about the willows, the spring breeze does not pass the Yumen Pass, she suddenly understood the artistic conception in the poem, so that her mood was difficult to calm down for a long time, for a long time, she asked Li Qing'an: "General Li, where is the Yangguan?" ”

"Yangguan is in Shouchang County, Shazhou."

Li Qing'an pointed to the south and said with a smile: "The reason why Yumen Pass is important is because the Silk Road is divided into two branches from here, one goes southwest to Shazhou Dunhuang, passes through Yangguan and goes to Loulan, and enters Anxi; The other group went northwest to Yizhou to enter Beiting, I used to go to Dunhuang when I returned from Anxi, this time we went to Beiting, and I also took the northern route of the Silk Road for the first time. ”

"So we don't go to Yangguan!" Mai sighed lowly.

Li Qingan smiled slightly and said: "Persuade you to drink a glass of wine, there is no one in Yangguan in the west, dance clothes, I listened to you play this song in the Liyuan Courtyard, right!" ”

"When?" Wuyi looked at Li Qingan in surprise, but she had never heard him talk about it.

"The year before last!" Li Qing'an thought for a while and smiled: "I remember that it was La, I accompanied Shouyu to the Liyuan Courtyard to find his sweetheart, but I overheard you playing the piano, at that time, when it came to the Qin Fairy, everyone worshiped it very much, and the Qin Fairy in Chang'an, who was obsessed with countless people, actually came to the North Court with me Li Qing'an, hehe!" If it spreads, how many people will jump to scold me Lao Li, and I will be proud when I think about it. ”

"You want to be beautiful!"

Wuyi glared at him with a blushing face, "I came to Beiting to learn the piano, and after learning the piano, I will go back to Chang'an, and you can dream alone!" ”

Li Qingan smiled bitterly: "Then I will give you a ride, and persuade you to drink another glass of wine, and there will be no old people in Yangguan in the east." ”

Wuyi couldn't help but laugh when he heard him change his poem, and gave him a coquettish glance and said: "Where will you send me, maybe you will pretend to be a horse bandit and intercept me halfway." ”

"Quite possibly."

Li Qingan took two steps to the side, raised his eyebrows, and waved his hand with a big grin: "Stop!" I opened this mountain, I planted this tree, if you want to live from now on, leave to buy road wealth, hey! The little woman is penniless, where can she buy road wealth and leave it to the king? Ha ha! This king doesn't want you to be rich, you are so beautiful, then stay and give me Lao Li as the wife of the village. ”

After the performance, Li Qingan fled, and the dance clothes listened to his performance with an interesting image, and couldn't help but smile, but when she heard the last sentence, she suddenly blushed, and raised the chess pieces to smash him with infinite shyness, but Li Qingan ran away.

"When did you become so flamboyant!" Wuyi said angrily, "I'll never pay attention to him next time." ”

Although he said this, a pair of beautiful eyes couldn't help but look at Li Qingan's back.

At this time, the jade slave on the side smiled and said, "Girl, I should drink your wedding wine when I come to Tingzhou!" ”

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

Wuyi was shy and anxious, her face couldn't hold back, she pinched Yunu's arm fiercely, and scolded in a low voice: "Dead girl, what are you drinking wine, I think you are asleep and talking nonsense." ”

"Originally, you are in love with concubines, and you are a good couple, why can't you marry him?"

Speaking of this, Yunu covered her mouth violently, and she suddenly remembered that she was still the daughter-in-law of the Cui family in the name of the dance dress, and if the marriage contract was not dissolved, how could she marry Li Qingan.

"Don't think nonsense, let's finish the game!"

Wuyi's expression was very calm, she put down her son, and said with a smile: "It's your turn, drop quickly." ”

Yunu had no choice but to accompany her to continue playing chess, but after walking a few steps, the dance clothes fell more and more slowly, she stared blankly at the chessboard, her eyes were full of sadness, she had just embarked on a new road that belonged to her, but her identity was like a huge mountain pass, blocking her hope, she hated the Cui family, the Cui family gave her an invisible shackle, imprisoned her for five years, and made her breathless, but now she has to continue to be imprisoned, desperate thoughts stabbed her weak heart like a bee sting, she felt that her heart was swollen due to pain.

"Girl, do you remember what Madame Yang told you?" Yunu whispered.

'Mrs. Yang? Wuyi remembered that Yang Shangshu's wife, Yang Wanrong, often came to her two years ago.

"On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival two years ago, what she said about leaves, do you remember what the girl said?"

Wuyi quietly looked out the window, and the words that Mrs. Yang said to her on the Mid-Autumn Festival night two years ago resurfaced in her mind like flowing water.

"You are a leaf on the big tree of the Cui family, the Cui family will do everything possible to obstruct and prevent the wind from blowing you away, but when you break free from the branches and go away with the wind, the Cui family will immediately announce that you do not belong to their tree, and there ......is not a single leaf missing from their tree."

Maiyi's heart was in a mess, and she didn't know what to do.

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Li Qing'an rushed to the front of the team, the scout had already brought information about the horse bandits, he opened a map, and while listening to the scout's report, he determined the location on the map.

"Three miles to the north of us is Daze Lake, last night on the shore of Daze Lake we found a large pile of fresh horse manure, and countless horseshoe prints, the number of horse bandits is about three to four thousand, this morning we went to the west of Yumen Pass, but did not find any trace of horse bandits, from this inference, this group of horse bandits should still be near Daze Lake, we have entered their ambush range, it is very likely that they will attack us tonight."

On the map, Daze Lake is close to Yumen Pass, and about two hundred miles south of Yumen Pass is Jinchang County, Guazhou, where there are Moli troops in the Hexi Eighth Army stationed, 5,000 people, and this road from Yumen Pass to Jinchang County, all the way is the Gobi Desert, which is extremely conducive to cavalry combat, Li Qingan looked back at his brigade baggage, although he has 2,000 troops, but these thousand carriages are a big burden.

He pondered for a moment and then said, "Pass my order, and the team will be stationed at Yumen Pass!" ”

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Yumen Pass is an important city in the Hexi Corridor, there are hundreds of households living in the city, there are about 300 garrisons, of which 200 people are stationed in the pass, there is a fort 15 miles north of Yumen Pass, called Heheshu, there are 100 garrisons.

At noon, the Beiting Brigade drove into the Yumen Pass, squeezing the small city to the brim, the two cross streets were crowded with horse-drawn carriages, and each of the hundreds of families vacated an empty house for the families of the soldiers.

Li Qing'an arranged the master and servant of the dance clothes in the courtyard of a large Han family, the courtyard is small and exquisite, three rooms, ponds and rockeries are readily available, the woods are dense, and they are full of all kinds of flowers and trees.

Li Qing'an was going to rest in Yumen Pass for three days, so that the dance clothes that had worked hard all the way could take good care of their bodies, and he saw that the dance clothes and the little lady got along well, so he walked out of the mansion quickly, and just arrived on the street, an officer hurriedly greeted him.

The head officer is the highest position of Yumen Pass, is a school captain, surnamed wine, called wine Sanwei, Dunhuang County, wine is the surname of Dunhuang, Sanwei Mountain is a hill in the east of Dunhuang, he got his name, wine from the mountain is short and fat, very good at expression.

He hurriedly stepped forward and gave Li Qingan a military salute on his knees, "The lowly Yumen guard will leave the mountain to see the envoy." ”

"Captain, please, I'm going to look for you."

Li Qing'an had seen this person when he passed by Yumen Pass in the past, and when he saw that he had grown fatter than before, he couldn't help but feel very kind, so he smiled and said, "Does the wine captain still remember me?" ”

The captain scratched the back of his head and said, "It's a little familiar, but I really can't remember it." ”

Li Qingan also knew that there were a lot of people in Yumen Pass, and it was estimated that he couldn't remember himself, so he smiled and said, "Go to my big tent!" I have something important to ask you. ”

Li Qing'an's main camp tent is a hundred steps away, when the street is built, just set up, the soldiers are still beating the wooden stakes, so that the camp tent is firm, Wang Changling in the camp is busy packing up all kinds of documents, the general high-ranking people have a lot of staff, some are for the lord to handle official business, or part of the exercise of power, such as the Tuntian envoy, the soldier envoy, etc., this kind of staff often hangs a false position; The other part is the strategist staff, Wang Changling belongs to the former, and Yan Zhuang is the latter.

Wang Changling was busy sorting out the papers, and Yan Zhuang was sitting at the table carefully studying the map near Yumen Pass.

Li Qing'an walked into the big tent, waved his hand, more than a dozen personal soldiers retreated one after another, Li Qing'an sat down and asked: "Captain Liquor, are there horse bandits in the Guazhou area?" ”

"Yes, there are several bandits, most of them are Qianghu, at most there are about 300 people, and at least there are dozens of people."

"Then why didn't the army annihilate them?"

"Annihilation?" The wine captain licked his dry lips with his tongue, and said with a wry smile: "No matter how you annihilate them, you can't catch them at all, they are all herdsmen during the day, and at night they turn into horse bandits, attacking merchants everywhere." ”

"What about the army?" Li Qingan asked coldly: "Is Mo Lijun acting like it?" ”

"Don't mention the army, there are 5,000 people in the Mo army, but 3,000 people are Qianghu, ask them to fight their own people, dream! Many horse bandits have been passed down for generations, the eldest brother is a soldier in the army, and the brother robs the merchants, generally speaking, as long as they don't do too much, they will not be asked. ”

"What do you mean by not excessive?"

"Just don't kill them all, don't kill anyone, and don't touch the Hu Shang escorted by the army, as long as these two rules are met, the above will turn a blind eye."

"I see." Li Qing'an exchanged glances with Yan Zhuang, and then asked, "Will there be three or four thousand bandits appearing?" ”

Jiu Sanwei was frightened, and he shrunk his neck and said: "Don't joke with you, three or four thousand people, that's not a horse bandit, that's the army of Hui, coming down from Juyanhai, it's possible, three or four thousand horse bandits, how is it possible?" ”

"What if it's a Shatuo? Is it possible? ”

"It is very likely that the Shatuo people, they are generally thousands of people dispatched, crossing the Xingxing Gorge to graze in the Daze area, if it is them, things will be troublesome, there is a chance of bloodshed, and nearly 100 people died in a bloody fight with Qianghu the year before last."

"Why do you shop?" Wang Changling also put down the paperwork and asked.

"Fight for pasture!" Jiu Sanwei sighed and said: "The grass north of Daze is abundant, the water source is sufficient, it is the most ideal grazing place, at this time of year, the Hui people in the north, the Shatuo people in the west, and the local Qianghu, as well as some scattered Turkic tribes will be concentrated here, until June after the new lambs can walk will not leave one after another, if they can be peaceful, it is okay, I am afraid that the sheep and horses will be lost and other things will happen, and there will be a fight." ”

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The wine captain left, Li Qing'an was silent, things have become complicated, the three or four or three thousand horses found by the scouts may be herdsmen, Qianghu, Shatuo, and Hui people, of course, it may also be the 'horse bandits' sent by An Sishun to attack them, the question is where will the horse bandits attack them? Is the jade gate closed? Maybe the surname is not big, if he is a horse bandit, he prefers to attack halfway, without the protection of the city.

"Mr. Yan, it seems that An Sishun is not as stupid as we think."

Half-loud, Li Qingan said with a bitter smile.

"He is a big handsome, this kind of thing can not be carefully planned, it is he who knows that there will be chaos in the Dazehu grassland at this time, so he took advantage of the chaos to make us not know who the attacker is, if I guess correctly, the traces found by the scouts yesterday should be Shatuo people, and the horse bandits are still standing still, waiting for an opportunity."

Speaking of this, Yan Zhuang immediately said: "General, we are too passive to wait like this, and our subordinates suggest that we immediately send someone to Yizhou and order the Yiwu army to come to help and disrupt An Sishun's deployment." ”

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(To be continued)