If the Hexi Corridor is compared to a belt that maintains the Central Plains and the Western Regions, then Dunhuang County is the iron buckle on this belt, or it is the throat of the Western Regions leading to the Central Plains, and has a pivotal strategic position in the entire Western Regions.

Dunhuang County is also a very peculiar region, when the other counties in the Western Regions were swept away by Xianbei, Rouran, Turkic and other steppe iron horses and gradually Hu, Dunhuang County still maintained a strong Han culture, like an oasis in the vast desert.

At this time, Dunhuang County was still controlled by the remnants of the Great Liang Kingdom, Li Rail's brother Li Zhaojin has been appointed as the governor of Shazhou in the Great Liang Kingdom, after the fall of the Great Liang Kingdom, Li Zhaojin has decided to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, but at this time came the news that Li Liang was killed in Chang'an, Li Zhaojin changed his mind and established himself as the king of Dunhuang, he proposed to the Tang Dynasty to surrender on the condition that he was willing to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, but he still had to maintain his army and territory.

The Tang court could not accept such conditions, and the negotiations between the two sides reached an impasse, at which time the Tang Dynasty was going all out to exterminate the Western Qin state, which caused Dunhuang County to temporarily become silent.

The cold wind in Dunhuang in November is howling, the sand and dust are long, the harsh cold makes the ground lifeless, as if the stones are going to freeze and crack, Dunhuang has entered the harsh winter, the Silk Road that was busy with commerce and trade in the past has also become deserted, and there is no trace of the caravan anymore, the merchants have gone home to rest, waiting for the coming of spring.

But in this cold wind, but faintly heard the pleasant jingle of camel bells, under the dim sky, sure enough, there is a team of camels braving the cold wind and sand and dust in the direction of Dunhuang City trudging with difficulty, in the vast land looks particularly vibrant.

"General Lee. How far is it from Dunhuang City? I couldn't hold on anymore. In the wind and sand, a young man who looked like a man lay on a camel, opened his throat and shouted loudly.

Captain Li was their leader, a man of about thirty years of age, with a burly build, a well-defined face, and thick brush-like eyebrows. The eyes are bright and sharp, revealing the perseverance of a man.

His name is Li Shatuo, and he is the second son of Li Jing's brother Li Duan. He has been following his uncle Li Jing for many years, and has been promoted from a soldier step by step to a scout eagle general, and this time he followed Su Dingfang to Dunhuang. He was ordered to contact the pro-Sui faction in Dunhuang, that is, some of the forces that Yang Yuanqing had left in Dunhuang County that year.

He took twenty of his subordinates to pretend to be a caravan from Chang'an, bought a dozen camels in Yumen County, and also had the Tang Dynasty's Guan Mu on his body, Li Shatuo was the first time to come to Dunhuang, but he stayed in Fengzhou for many years, and he could adapt to this harsh windy weather, he looked at the sky, the sky was dark, and he couldn't see the time. But it was estimated that it was almost evening, so he asked the guide next to him loudly, "Uncle Ma Guo, how far is Dunhuang City?" ”

The guide's name is Ma Guo, and he is an old man in his sixties. Half Han Chinese, he used to be a merchant who traveled to and from the Hexi Corridor all year round, and knew the terrain and climate of this area well, and he was found by Su Dingfang's army to be a guide.

Ma Guo laughed and said, "It's almost there, you can see the outline of the city after walking a few more miles." ”

The crowd walked a few more miles. Sure enough, they vaguely saw the outline of a city, and the twenty subordinates immediately cheered, and after trekking in the wind and sand for nearly half a month, they finally saw the destination of their trip.

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The inventory of Dunhuang City was much more relaxed than the Sui army thought, and the soldiers defending the city only briefly looked at the pass and let them into the city.

Compared with the cold wind outside the city, there is no one in the city, but the inside of Dunhuang City is a different scene, the street is full of people coming and going, quite lively, there are men shouting loudly in front of many shops, many hawkers set up stalls on both sides of the street, selling food and handicrafts, blocking both sides of the road, many carriages are difficult to walk, and the coachmen are shouting and scolding.

A group of people led the camel on the street slowly walking, everyone has a kind of excitement in their hearts to return to the world, feeling this kind of lively like a world away, here and the Central Plains is not much different, whether it is a building or a human face, is a big city in the Central Plains, some exotic faces occasionally appeared, so that they suddenly realized that this is actually the Western Regions separated from the Central Plains, Li Shatuo settled his men in an inn, and hurried to the south of the city alone, in the south of the city, after several inquiries, He found the Shen Mansion, a black gate mansion, in the Central Plains, a big family like the Shen family without a title is not allowed to have a gatehouse, but in Dunhuang, there is no such restriction, Li Shatuo even saw two stone lions at the door, this is the sign in front of the official mansion and the mansion of the powerful, and the Shen family actually has it.

Li Shatuo walked up the steps and bowed his hand to an old family member who was sweeping the floor: "Please tell the master of the house, just say that the Central Plains guests are visiting." ”

The old family glanced at him, turned around and slowly swallowed into the house, and after a while, a person who looked like a housekeeper came out, shrewd and capable, he smiled and said, "May I ask if this gentleman is looking for the Shen family?" ”

"I was sent by the third son, and I am here to deliver a letter."

"Third son?" The housekeeper read it twice in his mouth, and suddenly realized, and hurriedly said, "Please enter the house and wait for a while." ”

The housekeeper invited Li Shatuo into the door of the mansion and ran to the inner house, and after a while, a middle-aged man wearing a gauze hat and a brocade robe, accompanied by several family members, walked out quickly, and asked excitedly: "Where is the messenger?" ”

This man is Shen Chun's father Shen Tongren, since the eldest brother Shen Wanchun passed away last year, because the eldest brother has no children under his knees, he became the head of the Shen family in Dunhuang, Shen Chun is his third son, away from home for many years, three years ago wrote a letter home, saying that he served in Fengzhou, and now finally the news is coming again.

Shen Dongren also heard about the great changes that had taken place in the Central Plains, and that the Fengzhou army had occupied Hedong and established a new Sui dynasty, which made him look forward to the news of his son even more.

Li Shatuo stepped forward and saluted, "Mr. is the father of Shen joining the army?" I mean Shen Chun Shen joined the army. ”

"Exactly! Precisely! ”

When Shen Dongren heard that his son had joined the military, he smiled happily, Li Shatuo took out a letter and handed it to Shen Dongren, and said with a smile: "In Xia Li Shatuo, it is Ling Lang's colleague." ”

"Oh! It turned out to be Li Yuanjun. ”

Shen Tongren heard that the other party was not an ordinary messenger, and hurriedly said politely: "Li Yuanjun, please come into the inner hall to speak." ”

Shen Dongren invited Li Shatuo into the inner hall and ordered someone to serve tea, although they were in the far Western Regions, they still maintained the customs of the Southern Dynasties, and the tea was also transported from the far south.

Shen Dongren read his son's letter, his face was a little solemn, his eyes flashed with joy and surprise, he was the son of Shen Xuanhui, they had a total of four brothers, and there was also a youngest sister, the younger sister Qiu Niang married Zhang Zhongsu, the general of the Chen Dynasty, soon after the fall of the Chen Dynasty, their father raised an army against the Sui, but was suppressed, the father and eldest brother died tragically, the mother committed suicide, and the three brothers were exiled to Dunhuang together with their families, and more than 20 years passed in a flash.

Unexpectedly, the Shen family did not improve, but their sister Qiu Niang became Yang Yuanqing's nurse, and her daughter Chuchen married Yang Yuanqing, and is now the concubine of the King of Chu, which gave the Shen family another chance to revivenation, which made him excited and difficult to calm down for a long time.

Shen Tongren saw the end of the letter, and then he knew the identity of the messenger in front of him, he glanced at Li Shatuo, and hurriedly apologized, "It turned out to be General Li, disrespectful." ”

Li Shatuo smiled slightly, "How likely does the Shen family master think it is that the Sui army will capture Dunhuang?" ”

"It's hard to say!"

Shen Dongren sighed slightly, "Since the establishment of the Liang State by the Li clan in Longxi, we who moved from the south have been declining day by day, and the former clans of Dunhuang, such as the Suo clan, the Cao clan, the Zhang clan and the Li clan, have regained power and repeatedly oppressed us, last year Xiao Yinyin led more than 200 people from the Xiao family to move back to their hometown in Jingzhou, and the Chen family also moved back to Danyang, leaving the three surnames of Xie, Lu, and Shen to be weaker, all relying on the protection of Sima Lu Chunxing of Dunhuang County, otherwise we would have to be forced to move away." ”

Li Shatuo understands their difficulties, now that the Central Plains is in turmoil, no one will move to the war-torn land unless they are forced to do so, which shows the oppression of these Jiangnan scholars, but Shen Dongren is unwilling to say in detail, and Li Shatuo is not good to ask.

Li Shatuo was very concerned about the situation of the other person, and he hurriedly asked, "What about General Li Zhu?" ”

Li Zhu was Yang Dalang back then, who was left in Dunhuang by Yang Yuanqing as a lieutenant and in charge of the Dunhuang army, Shen Dongren sneered, "Is this person?" If it weren't for this person, how could the army of Liangguo easily seize Dunhuang County, he recognized Li Liang as his father-in-law, and was named the general of the right military guard, so he turned into Li Zhaojin's nephew, acting as Li Zhaojin's vanguard, taking away our land and grain, Chen Shouhe's two sons were killed by him, the Chen family was forced to move back to Danyang County, the Xiao family's caravan was also robbed by him, horses and camels became the things of the army, and the property was dedicated to Li Zhaojin, and he also married the daughter of the Suo family as his wife. ”

Li Shatuo was greatly surprised in his heart, and General Su told him that this Li Zhu was someone they could trust, how could it become like this?

After pondering for a while, Li Shatuo asked again: "What position does this Li Zhu hold in Dunhuang County now?" ”

"He is one of Li Zhaojin's two lieutenants, and he is notoriously ruthless, and the general had better not go to him."

Shen Dongren sighed, although the Sui Dynasty wanted to recapture Dunhuang, and named his son Shen Chun as the Taishou of Dunhuang County, which is of course gratifying, but they really couldn't help the Sui army, all their land was taken away, and half of the family property was forcibly requisitioned as military expenses, and the Shen family is now cut off from the source of income, and can only barely maintain the family's life by relying on a little savings in the past, and several major families in Jiangnan have long lost their past glory.

At this time, Shen Tongren suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly said: "I can contact the Lu family, Sima Lu Chunxing is the brother of Lu Chunhe, the head of the Lu family, and I have a friendship for more than 20 years, and we are very familiar with each other, I know that he hates Li Zhaojin very much, and more importantly, he has a certain amount of power in his hands, and he is familiar with the officialdom and connections of Dunhuang County, so he should be able to help you." ”

Li Shatuo thought about it, it was good that he could learn about the distribution of troops, equipment and other important information of Dunhuang County from Lu Sima, which would be of great help to them to seize Dunhuang County and stabilize the situation in Dunhuang.

"Then it's going to trouble the Shen family master."

"You're welcome, I should do my best to help you."

Shen Tongren thought for a while and said, "Where does General Li live?" I'll contact him tonight, maybe I'll come to you. ”

"We stayed at the Ping An Inn near Beicheng."