Outside the barracks, there was a tall flagpole, about five feet high, and the flag was removed—a bare wooden pillar, and at this time at the top of the wooden pillar stood a person, a golden rooster was independent, and at the top of the flagpole with only a thick wrist was doing all kinds of difficult movements, sometimes turning over, standing with one hand, the body was upside down and straight, and sometimes the golden hook was hung on the curtain, and the body was hung upside down on the wooden pole, which attracted the soldiers to amaze.

Su Lie, who was in charge of patrolling, came on a flying horse, and when he saw this, he couldn't help but be furious, and Zhang Yin shouted with an arrow: "Top snitch, if you don't come down again, I will nail you to death on the stake!" ”

The man on the top of the flagpole chuckled, jumped down from the top of the five-zhang high flagpole, opened his arms, and swooped down like a flying swallow, when the palm of his hand just touched the ground, his body was lightly bounced, and he supported the ground with his palm, and walked backwards with his upside down body, and then jumped up, attracting applause.

At this time, Yang Yuanqing also arrived at the gate, saw the scene just now, and secretly thought in his heart, "Could it be that the person from Chang'an is also hiding in Dunhuang County?"

Yang Yuanqing heard Niuniu say that she has a clan brother, who is a member of the Shen family, a person who learns martial arts from the Shen family, with extremely high light skills, named Shen Guang, who also lived in Chang'an, and served under Yang Liang, Yang Liang was removed after the defeat, and then disappeared, is it him?

The young man lightly flipped over, jumped in front of Yang Yuanqing, smiled and saluted, "Little-son Shen Guang, I am here to join the army, and I implore General Yang to include it!" ”

Yang Yuanqing looked at him, about ten years old, with a long baby face, not very tall, but with broad arms, he looked extremely powerful.

"You're the Meat Flying Fairy?" Yang Yuanqing said with a smile, this is Shen Guang's nickname.

This young man is Shen Guang, Shen Qiuniang's nephew, came to Chang'an with his father since he was a child, because he was extremely agile, and bold and righteous, he was very famous in Chang'an, and won the nickname of 'Meat Flying Fairy', and was later favored by Yang Liang, the king of Han, after receiving the defeat of Yang Liang's army, Shen Guang was implicated, in order to escape arrest, he hid in Dunhuang's uncle's house - hiding for four years.

Shen Guang didn't know the relationship between Yang Yuanqing and the Shen family, he traveled to the Western Regions a few months ago, and only came back last night, missed the recruitment, Shen Guang wanted to make contributions to the army, and seeing that the Sui army was leaving, he couldn't help it anymore and rushed to join the army.

He knelt down on one knee and hugged the lane: "The kid is Shen Guang!" ”

Yang Yuanqing nodded: "Although you once served as an officer under the King of Han, but with me, you have to start as a pawn, are you willing?" ”

Shen Guang was secretly shocked, how could Yang Yuanqing know that he had done it under the King of Han, but at this time he couldn't escape, so he had to bow his head and say, "I'm willing to start with a pawn." ”

Yang Yuanqing beckoned to Su Lie, who stepped forward and saluted, "See the general!" ”

Su Lie was appointed by Yang Yuanqing as a scout lieutenant, and there were three hundred people under him, Yang Yuanqing pointed at Shen Guang and smiled at him: "This person belongs to you, take him well!" ”

Su Lie didn't like Shen Guang's swagger, but at this time, he had no choice but to nod and say, "Obey orders!" ”

"That's it!"

Yang Yuanqing turned around and ordered: "The army is cleaned up, and Yi Ke is leaving!" ”

- A quarter of an hour later, 3,000 Dunhuang troops and 2,000 Zhangye troops, a total of 5,000 Sui troops, were fully equipped and marched north.

Yiwu country is the Hami region of today's play, since ancient times is the bridgehead of the Central Plains into the Western Regions, as early as the Han Dynasty built Yiwu city here, sent troops to garrison, the Western Jin Dynasty, the imperial court set up Yiwu County here, so that the Yiwu region was officially included in the county of the Central Plains court, the Central Plains of the Northern Dynasty was in turmoil, Yiwu County gradually lost the contact with the imperial court, was occupied by the Tiele people, and established the Yiwu country.

During the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Central Plains court began to gradually regain control of the Western Regions, but due to the pressure of Rouran, its power eventually only reached Yumen Pass, and it was unable to expand westward.

This time, the Sui Dynasty sent troops to Yiwu, not only to cut off the connection between the Western Turks and Tuyuhun, but also to restore the control of the central court over the Western Regions since the Han Dynasty, which is extremely important in history, and it is the foundation laid by the Sui Dynasty that the Tang Dynasty can continue to expand the Western Regions, so that the Western Regions legally belong to the Central Plains, and finally form today's territory.

At the beginning of June in the fourth year of the Great Cause, it was the summer season, and the Sui army of 5,000 people was stationed on the boundless Gobi Desert, which burned like a raging fire, and only eggs were placed on the ground, which could be roasted in a moment, and soldiers continued to fall from heat stroke, and in just three days, more than 200 people had been killed by the extreme heat.

Although the Sui army marched day and night, it was difficult for the camp to be hot and hot, water had become the source of life at this time, and there was a small river next to the camp, and in the middle of summer, the river did not dry up, there was still a trickle.

The Sui army dug a ditch here, causing the river water to flow into the camp, and the meltwater of the cold snow-capped mountains became the treasure of the Sui army's summer heat.

Yang Yuanqing inherited his grandfather Yang Su's style of leading the army, and was meticulous in camping and marching, although it was surrounded by hundreds of miles of Gobi Desert, but the spears were barbed and the thistles were all over the place, a lookout tower was erected, and patrol sentries were dispatched.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, Yang Yuanqing was holding a meeting with the officers, a total of five partial generals, barnyard general Wang Wei, long history Li Yannian, Li Yannian was born in the Li clan of Hexi, and Li Yuan's ancestor pretended to be different from the Li clan in Hexi, he was a son of the Li family in the real year, less than thirty years old, he was the governor of Dunhuang County, and there was also a marching Sima Xue Wanshu, Xue Wanshu is the eldest son of Xue Shixiong, and he is also a strong martial arts general.

In addition, Scout Lieutenant Su Lie, as the commander of the independent battalion, also attended the meeting.

In the middle of the big tent, there is a map of Yiwu country, next to it stands a middle-aged man, named Xiao this song, is the leader of the Xiao family caravan, this time he led the Xiao family caravan and the Sui army to pass, Xiao Yuansong is also the guide of the Sui army, he has been going back and forth between Dunhuang and Yiwu since he was twenty years old, and has been fifteen years now, and knows the terrain of Yiwu like a finger

He pointed to the map with a wooden pole to the crowd: "The river next to us is called the Luo Man River, which originates in the north of the Luo Man Mountain, in the spring it is a big river, which dries up because of the summer, and then more than 100 miles forward is the Liugu water, which is also the source of the Luo Man Mountain, but the water volume is larger than our river, so there is a town in the lower reaches of the Liugu water, called Rouyuan Town, there are 300 Shehu households, it is an important resting place for business travel, there are 500 Yiwu garrisons in the town, there are beacon towers left by the Han Dynasty, and it is still Yiwu ** The team used the Gobi Desert from Rouyuan Town to Yiwu City, which is two hundred miles away, and there are ten beacon towers in the middle, each of which has five soldiers, and there are water storage wells in the beacons......"

Xiao Yuansong introduced the situation of Yiwu in a slow tone, and the officers in the camp listened attentively, but Yang Yuanqing was a little preoccupied, he was thinking about the situation of the Khan of Qimin, when the two sides agreed to meet the two armies at the Greedy River in early June, but until now the Turks have not moved at all, and it seems that they have missed the appointment.

After Xiao Yuansong finished his introduction, Yang Yuanqing stood up and said to everyone: "Maybe the Turks encountered something on the way and may have been delayed, but we don't have time to ask the Holy Lord to hear the good news before the Zhongwu Festival, this is the deadline he set, but from here it will take a month to report the news to the Jingneipin Text City at the earliest, and it is now the fifth day of the sixth month, in fact, we only have ten days left, and we must take the Yiwu country within ten days, and we can't wait for the Turks." ”

Li Yannian, a long history of Dunhuang, has been a general for a long time, and he knows more about the Yiwu ** team, so he stood up and said: "Yiwu country is a country established by the Wusun people, but there are also a large number of Tiele people living in Yiwu country, especially the people of the Chuyue tribe, they are scattered all over the Yiwu country, and the relationship with the Western Turks is very good, if we take Yiwu City, the Turks will definitely know soon, so I think our strong enemy is not the Yiwu country, but the Western Turks, General Yang, we are not strong enough, we will not be able to withstand the counterattack of the Western Turks, we have to take precautions, It's best to get in touch with the Chippers to get reinforcements from them. ”

Wang Wei also advocated using Qi Cheng as reinforcements, and he also smiled: "I agree with Li Changshi's idea, we can't be too risky, if Qi Cong is willing to send troops to help us, our follow-up enthusiasm will be much less, general, feasible!" ”

Yang Yuanqing was still in silence, did not agree to everyone's suggestions, for a long time, he said slowly: "Although from a military point of view, it is completely feasible, but from the overall situation of the imperial court, it may not be a good thing, everyone, please God is easy to send God, - once the power of the Qili people expands to the north, we want to establish Yiwu County, it is not so easy, this is why the Holy Lord let the Qimin Khan come to fight together, instead of letting the Khami people come to fight together." ”

Everyone was silent, although Yang Yuanqing was right, but the five thousand army wanted to withstand the counterattack of the Western Turks, it was indeed a little difficult, at this time, Yang Yuanqing smiled and said: "We have at least five thousand troops, don't tie your hands, take down the Yiwu country!" ”

Rouyuan Town is a small town born from an oasis, with a population of more than 300 households, but the garrison has 500 people, it is the gateway to Yiwu City, and the people of Chuyue transmit the alarm through the beacon tower built in the Han Dynasty, so to take Rouyuan Town, you must first kill the beacon.

On the hill about 20 miles west of Rouyuan Town, there is the first beacon tower, which is made of huge stones, three zhang high, divided into three layers, below is to raise horses, people live in the middle, and on the top is the beacon fire, and there are five soldiers of the Yiwu country in the beacon tower.

It has been nearly a hundred years since the founding of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and there has never been any war here, and for these beacons, preventing wolves in the wilderness has become their main thing.

At night, when there were no three clouds in the sky, the full moon sailed in the endless sea, and the cold light of the earth was scattered, and the beacon tower was bathed in this strange silver moonlight, unusually quiet.

At this time, dozens of black shadows quickly approached the beacon tower, most of them were hidden behind dozens of boulders within a hundred steps, only an extremely agile figure quickly approached the beacon tower, his body was close to the stone wall of the beacon tower, and the rope was thrown upwards violently, and the rope was accurately set on the female wall battlement on the top of the third floor, he was like a light and sensitive ape, climbing the rope and quickly climbing upward, not far away, Su Lie looked at the black shadow with complicated eyes, he didn't like this person, but this person's superb light skills made him have to admire.

In a moment, the black shadow turned into the top of the beacon tower, threw the pot that lit the beacon fire and all the firewood, grass and wolf dung down the beacon tower, and waved his hand to this side, Su Lie was overjoyed, and shouted in a low voice: "Up!" ”

Dozens of people rose up and swooped down on the beacon......

An hour later, when the news that the two beacon towers had been taken reached Yang Yuanqing's ears, Yang Wuqing also gave an order to attack: "Surround Rouyuan Town, annihilate all the enemy troops, and no one is allowed to let go." ”

The cavalry of the five thousand Sui army formed a fan-shape, overwhelmingly surrounded Rouyuan Town, two miles away, and the sound of horses' hooves was like thunder, and they entered Rouyuan Town in an instant.