There is a long and narrow canyon in the northwest of Guazhou, about 20 miles long, the narrowest place is less than one mile, this canyon is the famous Xingxing Gorge, the junction of Beiting and Hexi, and the boundary of Beiting is the boundary of Beiting after Xingxing Gorge.

Xingxing Gorge is about 400 miles away from Yumen Pass, riding fast horses has nearly three days away, just ten days after the Beiting Brigade stationed in Yumen Pass, an army of 2,000 people galloped from the northwest direction, crossed Xingxing Gorge, and ran towards Yumen Pass, this army is the Yiwu Army in the three armies of Beiting, stationed in Yizhou, and Yang Zaicheng received Li Qing'an's order, so he led the army to Yumen Pass to rush to help.

Just a day after the Yiwu army crossed the Star Gorge, the scouts of the Beiting Army at Yumen Pass finally discovered an anomaly, and a cavalry appeared near Daze.

In the evening, Li Qing'an stood on the wall of Yumen Pass and looked into the distance, the sun had set, the afterglow dyed the western sky red, and a group of geese flew from the south in a herringbone shape, and flew away to a bright color in the northwest direction, where was the famous big lake Daze Lake in the Hexi Corridor, only slightly smaller than Qinghai, formed by the dark water formed by the meltwater of Qilian Mountain.

"Shichiro, did you say those horse bandits would show up tonight?"

Li Fei Yuanli slowly walked to Li Qing'an's side, after more than a month of recuperation on the road, his injuries have basically healed, and his body has fully recovered, except for the missing two fingers on his left hand, he is no different from before, and his temper and surname have not changed.

Li Qingan smiled and said: "It should appear, if they don't show up, they won't have a chance, they want to attack us on the road, but I don't give them a chance and force them to attack the city." ”

"And what are you going to do with them? I mean, you're all set! ”

Li Fei Yuanli's old face was a little red, this is a kind of nostalgic spring color that only young men can have, and it actually appeared on his old face like orange peel.

During this time, Lifei Yuanli didn't have the heart to ask about the big things in the army, he fell in love, he fell in love with a thirty-year-old female guard, and fell deeply in love with the woman who gave him two lives, he regarded her as a part of his life, and the sky was pitiful, Shi Sanniang finally agreed to his twentieth or thirtieth marriage proposal last night, he was immersed in happiness, and it wasn't until this morning that he learned from the mouth of a small soldier that a horse bandit was coming to attack them.

He was like he had done a big mistake, and secretly came to Li Qing'an's side to ask about war preparations, he was very weak-minded, for fear that Li Qing'an would see through him and become amorous, which would make him lose face.

Fortunately, Li Qing'an didn't seem to notice his ignorance, Li Qing'an looked at the gradually dark sky, his eyes became extremely bright, and he smiled slightly: "Do you think I will take this group of horse bandits to heart?" What needs to be done with them? ”

"But there are three thousand of them, of unknown origin, far more than our number, oh! Maybe they're a rabble, but how can you underestimate the enemy? "Li Fei Yuanli's voice was very loud, and he seemed to be trying his best to show that he still knew the military situation very well, and specially bit the 'three thousand people' very hard.

"A rabble?" Li Qingan glanced at him and smiled: "I'm afraid that except for you, no one will think that they are a rabble, you have been a little absent-minded recently, are you preparing to marry Shi Sanniang?" ”

Li Qingan's question was like stepping on Li Fei Yuanli's tail, he suddenly jumped up and shouted: "Nonsense, when did I say I wanted to marry her, I just, I just ....."

He said 'I just' twice in a row, and finally his voice finally softened, "Okay! I admit that I am going to marry Sanniang. ”

He sat on the battlements, his nose was like a cold, and his voice became sad, "Since she carried me out of the place of death twice on the Red Ridge, I know that I owe her in my last life, and I want to compensate her in this life, you know? She is so petite, she actually climbed the mountain beam with my old Li's body on her back, oh my God! I really don't know how she has so much courage, he lies on her back, I want to cry, I want to tell her that I will treat her well in the future. ”

Speaking of this, he sniffled heavily, wiped his snot and tears on his sleeves, and his eyes were red as if he had suffered an eye disease, at this time, Li Qingan suddenly noticed another change in him, he became a little sentimental, so he patted him on the shoulder and smiled: "After arriving in Beiting, you will hold more than a dozen tables of banquets in a beautiful manner, and marry her, this is your fate." ”

"I will, I swear! I will not marry any more woman but her. ”

Li Fei Yuanli suddenly remembered something and asked Li Qingan, "What about you?" Shichiro, do you like Qin Xian or Mingyue, you kid seems to be a little fancy! ”

"I like both women."

"How can you kid like two at the same time?" Li Fei Yuanli was very surprised, he shook his head and said: "I think there is Sanniang alone, I am satisfied, I can no longer tolerate another woman in my heart, don't look at me once I was shocked by Qin Xian, but now I really have the opportunity to marry her, I don't think about it, in my heart, Sanniang is the most beautiful woman." ”

"Marrying you is Sanniang's blessing, but it's a pity that I'm not you!"

Li Qing'an held on to the battlements, looking at the endless wilderness in the north, the night breeze blowing his face, his heart became extremely open-minded, and he laughed loudly: "Dancing clothes and bright moon, two women are equally important to me." ”

He looked back and saw Li Fei Yuanli with a look of contempt, and couldn't help but look up to the sky and laugh.

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In the big tent, several scouts brought two leaders of the Shatuo people, the leader was a middle-aged man, with a wide face, medium stature, and a strong physique, he stepped forward and bowed to Li Qing'an's half-kneeling and said, "Shatuo Ye Bone Protector See Li Envoyjun." ”

Li Qingan hurriedly helped him up, "General Ye Hu doesn't need to be polite, please sit down!" ”

He asked Gu Luzhi to sit down, and ordered his soldiers to serve tea, and then asked with a smile: "Why did Ye Hu come to Yumen Pass?" ”

Gu Zhi bowed slightly and smiled: "I came to Yumen Pass this time to talk to the Qiang chief about grazing, the year before last because of the ownership of fifty sheep, the result was a tragedy, this year in order to prevent the tragedy from happening again, I came to negotiate with the Qiang chief, but I happened to hear that the envoy was actually in Yumen Pass, so I rushed to visit." ”

"It's also a coincidence, we are suspending the Yumen Pass, maybe we will go to Beiting tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, and I just want to talk to you, I don't know how many Shatuo people are in Beiting, where are they distributed?"

"Returning to the envoy, our Shatuo people are mainly distributed in the south of Jinshan and north of Zheluo Manshan, with a total of 12,000 tents and more than 60,000 people, who live by grazing."

Li Qingan took a sip of tea from the teacup and asked lightly: "There are rumors that the Shatuo people robbed the past business travelers, is there really such a thing?" ”

Gu Zhi was stunned, "Who did you listen to when you said that my Shatuo people robbed business travelers?" We have been here for decades, and we have never robbed a caravan caravan, on the contrary, if the caravan is in trouble, we will do our best to help, so that you must not listen to people to provoke. ”

Li Qingan smiled slightly: "I think so, An Dashuai is afraid that he misunderstood the Shatuo people, in Liangzhou, he repeatedly reminded me to be careful of the Shatuo people pretending to be horse bandits to attack my team, I think how is this possible, Shatuo dared to attack the convoy of the Beiting Jiedu envoy, don't they want to be in the Beiting?" ”

A look of anger flashed on Gu Zhizhi's face, and he got up and bowed to Li Qing'an and said: "Thank you for your trust, An Sishun has asked the Shatuo people to move to Hexi several times, but I have not agreed, but I didn't expect him to sow discord and want the envoy to force me to move east, which is really a villain's behavior." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps at the door of the tent, and a personal soldier rushed to the tent and reported urgently: "General, there is an urgent military situation!" ”

"Say!"

The soldiers glanced at the bones, and had to say: "A scout has detected that about three or four thousand cavalry are coming from the east of Daze Lake to Yumen Pass, and it is less than fifty miles away from Yumen Pass. ”

Gu Duzhi was taken aback, and stammered and asked, "Envoy, what's going on?" ”

Li Qingan snorted and said, "This is what An Sishun said that the Shatuo people are going to attack my convoy." ”

Gu Zhi was so anxious that he was sweating profusely, and said, "But the three thousand children I brought are all west of Daze Lake, and they dare not approach without my order." ”

He thought for a moment, and suddenly understood, "Could it be that An Sishun wants to frame us Shatuo people?" ”

Seeing that he reacted quickly, Li Qingan couldn't help but nod his head secretly, and he pondered for a while and asked, "Your three thousand sons may fight?" ”

"Returning to the envoy, I am afraid that the Qiang people will take the opportunity to make trouble, and they will bring all the elite soldiers of Shatuo, all of whom are warriors, and they are willing to serve the envoy!"

"Good! Then you will listen to my arrangement. ”

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Under the moonlight, a cavalry team composed of three thousand Qianghu is like a wolf pack, is overwhelmingly killing Yumen Pass, this is a Qianghu tribe living in Ganzhou and Suzhou, and it is also an important Qianghu people in the Hexi Corridor, Ganzhou's health army and Suzhou's Yumen army have the children of this tribe in the army, the relationship between the tribal leader and An Sishun is very good, this time An Sishun is entrusted to send them to send three thousand children to form a cavalry to attack Li Qing'an's Beiting convoy, the location is in Shatuo, The area of Yumen, Guazhou, where the Qianghu and Hui people often meet.

The leader of the cavalry team is called Jinde, seven feet tall, with a tiger's back and a bear's waist, but he is a famous general, he is a brave general under An Sishun's account, and he is deeply valued by An Sishun, not only powerful and good at fighting, but also cunning as a wolf, he knows that Li Qing'an's brigade is hiding in the Yumen Pass and it is difficult to attack, so he has been forbearing, waiting for him to go on the road, and launching an attack on the road, Li Qing'an lived in the Yumen Pass for ten days, and he endured it for ten days, until the news of the Beiting reinforcements appeared on the side of Xingxing Gorge, he finally decided to attack Yumen Pass at night.

It's a pity that he met Li Qing'an, who was born in the scout camp, and when they entered the Yumen Pass, they were detected by the scouts of the Beiting Army.

The second watch, Wan Lai was silent, the Qianghu cavalry was less than 20 miles away from Yumen Pass, the vast Gobi Desert had a clear vision, and under the bright moonlight, the black and swarthy city wall of Yumen Pass had been seen from afar.

In front of the Yumen Pass, Jinde hesitated, a soldier's sensitivity made him realize that the Beiting Army was very likely to be prepared, but An Sishun's order made him have no choice, he pulled out his horizontal knife, pointed at the Yumen Pass and yelled, "Kill!" ”

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Just two miles away in a poplar forest, three thousand Shatuo elite cavalry has been on standby, Shatuo people are a Turkic people, originated from the Western Turkic Department of the month, Wu Zhou Chang'an two years of the month chieftain Changsha Tuo Jinshan for meritorious service from the expedition to Tiele, was awarded the Golden Manchurian Governor. Later, due to the forced by Tubo, the son of Jinshan Fuguo led his troops to migrate to Beiting, scattered in the north of Zheluo Manshan and south of Jinshan.

Shatuo men have always been brave and good at fighting, is a sharp cavalry, and Shuofang's Absi Department can be called the cavalry two heroes, but because of their small population, backward economy, has been difficult to get great development, until the end of the Tang Dynasty chaos, has migrated to the east of the Shatuo people suddenly emerged, Li Keyong, Li Cunqiao father and son established the Later Tang, Liu Zhiyuan established the Later Han, Shi Jingjiao established the Later Jin, Shatuo people rampant in the Central Plains, brought a deep disaster to the Han nation.

But the germination of ambition also needs to be born in the external environment, at this time the leader of Shatuo Gu Duzhi never dreamed that his descendants would one day become the lord of the Central Plains, at this time it was the Tang Dynasty, Shatuo people lived in the powerful shadow of the Tang Dynasty, serving the Tang Dynasty in exchange for the land of survival, was the only choice for the Shatuo people.

Gu Duzhi's eyes were sharp, he stared at the Qianghu who was rushing in the distance, his eyes were full of anger, the Qianghu people were all dressed in white cloaks, obviously pretending to be their Shatuo people, he turned around and whispered: "Take off the cloak and prepare to fight!" ”

The Shatuo cavalry neatly undressed their cloaks, their long knives unsheathed, their eyes full of desire to kill, and they eagerly awaited the final blow of the wolf hunt.

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Three thousand Qiang Hu swept towards Yumen Pass like mercury, the roaring horses' hooves, screams and shouts, long knives waved, bows and arrows wound, murderous, in the moonlight, they were dressed in the unique white cloak of the Shatuo people, as if the hungry white wolves were overwhelming towards the Yumen Pass, the city tower also found an abnormality, the defenders shouted and screamed, the piercing bells made a loud noise, the soldiers on duty at night ran back and forth, frightened, and in an instant, the Qianghu brigade roared, the arrows were dense like raindrops, jingling to the city, mixed with one or two screams, Someone was shot by an arrow, after a dense rain of arrows, the Qianghu cavalry separated to both sides, dozens of cavalry dragged a huge crashing wood, slowly approached the city gate, at this moment, a bell rang at the head of the city, and there was a black pressure of soldiers between the battlements, they opened their bows and arrows, arrows rained down, and rushed directly to the Qianghu cavalry who were waiting to hit the city, the Qianghu cavalry was caught off guard, and the city suddenly screamed loudly, and more than 200 Qianghu arrows fell off their horses.

The sudden attack caused a great confusion in the Qianghu, they all turned around and galloped into the distance, avoiding the range of the bow and arrow, and the cavalry fled separately, rushing the team to pieces, and a Han Chinese shouted from the Qianghu team: "Bastard! Then the scolding turned into a Qiang language: "Keep the queue neat, don't mess around, use the shield to defend the bow and arrow!" ”

But his shouts were instantly drowned out by the shouts of the Qianghus, and no one listened to his orders, and the cavalry withdrew five hundred paces away, and the city fell silent at once, except for the undead who had been hit by the arrows rolling on the ground, letting out a cry of pain.

On the city wall, Yan Zhuang sat on a couch, four soldiers carried him, he gently shook a feather fan, quite Kong Ming's legacy He pointed to the wounded under the city and smiled at Li Qing'an: "General, do you see it, the wise man has a thousand thoughts, there must be a mistake, that An Sishun has a thousand calculations, but he didn't expect it to become a siege in the end, and a group of wounded soldiers exposed his lie of pretending to be a Shatuo person." ”

Li Qing'an frowned, the scar on his forehead twisted into an 'S' shape, although the Qianghu siege experience was inexperienced, but their ferocious momentum was still beyond his expectations, these Qianghu cavalry fighting ability is extremely strong, can their army be able to fight?

A drum sounded, a thousand Qianghu dismounted and turned into infantry, rushing towards the city gate like a tide, everyone holding a shield, mixed with five or six huge crashing logs between them, behind them, two thousand cavalry rushed left and right, impatiently waiting to rush into the city, the Beiting army at the head of the city unexpectedly stopped shooting, and they seemed to have made a great mistake, the drawbridge of the city gate was not pulled up, which brought great convenience to the Qianghu's attack.

Captain Yumen Pass's eyes were red with three dangers, and he jumped to his feet on the edge of the city wall and shouted: "The city gate of Yumen Pass is in disrepair and can't withstand a few hits, quickly pull up the drawbridge!" ”

But no one paid attention to him, the drawbridge and the city gate had been controlled by Li Qing'an's subordinates, who were guests, Li Qing'an was motionless like a stone sculpture, his eyes were full of cold smiles, since An Sishun was not dead, then don't blame him Li Qing'an's ruthlessness.

"Prepare the gunpowder pack!" He gave an order, more than a dozen guards skillfully took out five packets of gunpowder, they have been baptized in the blood of the Battle of Chiling, they have a deep understanding of the surname of gunpowder, and the use of gunpowder packs is also extremely skilled, in a moment, the five gunpowder bags have been set up with small trebuchets, waiting for the final order.

"Boom!" There was a loud bang on the ground, the huge crashing wood smashed on the city gate, the entire city tower shook, the Qiang Hu were extremely excited, the grain, money, and women, it seemed that they were about to belong to them, more than a hundred Qiang people holding the crashing wood screamed and quickly retreated, ready to carry out the second impact, the general Jin De behind was extremely surprised, the suspension bridge of Yumen Pass was not pulled up, what is going on? Could it be that the Beiting Army is plotting? At this moment, he suddenly heard a drum on the city tower, and saw several white-clothed witch gods dancing wildly, and an elderly old witch god in the middle raised his hands to the sky, raised his head and muttered to the heavens begging for something? Not only him, but all the Qiang Hu people saw it, the Qiang people asked for the dance of the thunder god when praying for rain, the Qiang Hu people were inexplicably frightened in their hearts, and they couldn't help but look up at the sky, the miserable white moon passed through a few gray clouds, this is the most common night scene in the Hexi Corridor, but at this time, it became a little inexplicably weird in their hearts.

"Boom!" There was another loud bang, and the gate shook violently again, and the gate that had fallen into disrepair creaked and cracked, and although he was suspicious, the surprise of the imminent crash of the door made Kinder forget all his worries, and he waved his sword and shouted, "Cavalry press up!" "The cavalry roared into action and rushed towards the drawbridge, 'Boom!' There was a third loud bang on the ground, and the city gate finally couldn't help but crash and burst open.

The Qianghu were overjoyed, shouting and shouting to the city gate to cover up, the cavalry was even more brave to be the first, brandishing long knives, shouting and rushing, the first to rush into the city gate was the foot soldiers, but they just arrived at the city gate, but saw rows of crossbows and crossbows, sharp arrows aimed at them coldly, the first hundred people were frightened and scattered, turned around and fled, a bangzi sounded, a thousand arrows were fired in the city, the arrows were strong and fast, the city gate cave was a miserable scream, a large area of Qianghu was shot down, dead bodies were all over the ground, piled up into a hill at the city gate, The people in front ran backwards, and the people behind rushed forward, making a mess.

The cavalry had already rushed less than a hundred paces away from the city gate, and at this moment, a terrible cry suddenly sounded from the city, and everyone looked up at the city, only to see the old wizard trembling all over, pointing to the sky and shouting: "Thor! Thor is here! He shouted in Qiang, and everyone's hearts were shouted in a panic, and a black cloud obscured the moon, and the sky suddenly darkened.

Suddenly, five gray packages flew out from the city, respectively in the head of the Qianghu cavalry, the crowd exploded, the earth-shattering explosion echoed under the Yumen Gate, nearly 100 people were blown up to the flesh and blood, the huge wave of air will be the stump and the body is thrown high, several plumes of smoke fly up, gathered into a huge black smoke cloud, in the explosion, the Qianghu war horse into a mess, desperately neighing, running in all directions in terror, the Qiang soldiers also hysterically shouted: "Thor!" Thor is in the Netherworld! The Qianghu cavalry turned around and fled, and everyone was frightened.

The psychological shock brought by the five gunpowder packs far exceeded the explosion itself, and with the cooperation of the witch god, it brought great panic to the superstitious Qiang people, and everyone believed that it was the thunder god who came, and they had only one thought in their hearts, 'Escape!' ’

The Qianghu soldiers were defeated like a mountain, the cavalry ran in front, the foot soldiers followed behind, a Tang cavalry rushed out of the city gate hole, Nanjiyun brandished an iron spear, like a tiger down the mountain, and like a golden snake dancing wildly, the gun saw blood, a moment will be dozens of Qianghu foot soldiers overturned, next to him is the giant spirit god Lei Wanchun, he holds two big hammers weighing fifty pounds each, the hammer is exquisite, fierce as a bear, he passed through the place, the Qiang soldiers all burst out of their brains, and died miserably.

"Not bad! It is worthy of being the second tiger of my North Garden. ”

Li Qing'an smiled slightly, he took the fire bow, put a rocket on the bowstring, pulled the bow like a full moon, the string was loose, a rocket rose into the air, the red flame was particularly clear in the night sky, as the rocket took off, the northwest direction suddenly came from the horse's hooves galloping, a real Shatuo cavalry killed, overwhelming, like a landslide and tsunami, the bones were full of strength to perform in front of the new Beiting Jiedu envoy, which was related to the survival of their Shatuo people, he brandished his war knife, and roared: "Kill it, kill the Qianghu who pretended to be my Shatuo!" ”

The sound of collecting troops came from the Yumen Pass, the Beiting military order was stopped, and the troops were collected back to the city in an instant, no one was missed, the drawbridge was pulled up high, the city gate was slammed shut, and the calm before the war was restored, the tragic fighting outside the city had just begun, the Shatuo people lost in the competition for pasture the year before last, more than 100 herdsmen were killed, they were full of hatred for the Qiang people, at this time, the new hatred and old hatred broke out on their knives, the three thousand Shatuo army was divided into three teams, such as three sharp blades inserted into the Qianghu rout, and the Qianghu army was torn to pieces in an instant, and they were like flying, Wielding a knife like lightning, the war horse passed by, the head rolled down, the limbs flew sideways, the blood flowed into a river, this battle, three thousand Qiang Hu was killed almost the whole army was wiped out, only less than a hundred horsemen fled back, even the main general Jinde was also divided into corpses by Shatuo people, and the bones were gone.

Li Qing'an stood on the head of the city and watched the battle of the Shatuo people, the bravery and sharpness of the Shatuo people made him squint and smile, and he found a good knife as soon as he arrived in the north courtyard.

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(To be continued)