Cui Qigao did not see any Khitan soldiers and horses responding, and was worried that he would not be able to get out of the Jin reinforcements when they arrived, so he led everyone to plunder some armor and weapons in the fortress, beheaded dozens of heads, and then evacuated with those hard labor prisoners.

As of dawn, Cui Qigao saw a Khitan nobleman Da Helu on the territory of Khitan activities, and a few days ago he promised to lead troops to deal with Cui Qigao's troops, but he didn't even see a figure last night, and the Khitan only participated in this matter The two Khitan pawns who went with Cui Qigao were most likely to monitor them.

Da He Lu grew a beard with two cheeks, but at this time his face was full of smiles, and when he came up, he stretched out his hand and patted Cui Qigao's shoulders and said, "Congratulations to Brother Cui Xian for his victory, good job!" Oops, it was too dark last night, and my soldiers and horses got lost halfway through, and I found my way back at dawn, I'm really sorry, I'm sorry. ”

This guy said sorry in fluent Chinese, but there was no trace of guilt on his face. Cui Qigao observed the herdsmen in the camp, there were not many of them, and they were not armed enough to fight, and he was afraid that he did not plan to send troops from the beginning. Most of the Khitan tribes live on nomadic hunting, and there are very few engaged in farming, they are usually herdsmen, scattered around grazing to reduce the logistical pressure of army assembly, and will only gather into an army before going to war; The tribes of Dahelu have not gathered men and horses, so why talk about sending troops?

But of course Cui Qigao won't break it, can you still accuse him of not being able to do it under the eaves? Cui Qigao pretended to be at a loss: "We were about to dig up the Black Mountain Fort, but the men and horses of the leader of Dahe did not come, but the Jin soldiers came by hundreds. Fortunately, we ran fast, and the Jin soldiers didn't chase far after dark, otherwise the leader wouldn't have seen me! ”

"It's all too dark to see the road." Da He Lu said busily.

Cui Qigao sighed: "It's a pity, I finally broke through the Black Mountain Fort and failed to destroy them." The leader of Dahe knows that the Jin soldiers are constantly building large and small castles in Yingzhou, and this time they did not destroy the Black Mountain Fort, and it will be completed soon, and the pastures around the Black Mountain Forts will be under the control of the Jin soldiers, and you dare not approach lightly. ”

Da He Lu couldn't help but say: "Isn't Brother Cui Xian also a Han? Why do you think about it for us everywhere? ”

Cui Qigao was stunned and said in his heart, Of course, it is to please you, isn't this asking for Khitan? But he said: "Now it is the Jin soldiers who occupy Yingzhou, and they are no longer Tang soldiers." I am now an exile and a fugitive from the Jin Dynasty, and the day is precarious; When he was in the Tang Dynasty, he was a son of the scholar family, and he could be an official with a high house and good land. With this happening, why should I be loyal to the Jin Dynasty? ”

"That's right. If we can kill Jin soldiers, we are our own people! Da He Lu smiled, "There is one more thing today, I want to take you to see our county king." ”

Cui Qigao looked flattered and flattered: "It's really a blessing to meet the king!" ”

The king of the county in Da Helu's mouth is the leader of the Khitan, Li Yanhuo, who should have been surnamed He Dahe; Later, the alliance of eight Khitan tribes, changed the surname to Dahe, and attached to the Turkic Khan; After the Turkic decline Khitan declared himself a vassal to the Tang Dynasty, and the leader was also given the surname Li Tangguo, so he simply changed his surname to Li. Tang Ting gave Li the Iron Coupon of the Danshu Book, and sealed the posts of the King of Songmo County and the General of Zuojin Wuwei, nominally co-opting and annexing the several states controlled by the Khitan outside the Guan, but never actually controlled the Khitan after that. After the establishment of the Jin Dynasty, it was announced that the internal and external officials would remain the same, and Li became the county king of the Jin Dynasty again.

Now Li is going to summon Cui Qigao in person, obviously interested in him. Cui Qigao should indeed be happy, as long as Xiaozhi's pros and cons persuade Li to lose his life, it is not difficult to get the support of the Khitan. So last night, the Khitan soldiers and horses did not come, and Cui Qigao still insisted on attacking Montenegrin Fort, also out of proving the value of his gang to the Khitans.

Cui Qigao prepared before leaving, in fact, he explained a few words to his subordinates, asking them to give Da Helu the armor and good weapons captured from Montenegro Fort, thinking that the Khitans might give back some cattle, sheep and livestock, so that his group could temporarily solve the food problem.

After getting ready, Cui Qigao took Cui Mingxuan and Li Si to go to the Songmo Governor's Mansion with Da Helu's horse team. Songmofu is the name set up by the Tang Dynasty, and it is also the central seat of the Khitan Eight Divisions, where Li Shihuo is located. The Khitan themselves were nomadic people, and they were also not good at building cities, farming and other technologies, but they had developed in smelting iron and manufacturing weapons. There is a city in Songmofu, but it is a rammed city wall, both the defense and ornamental are very backward, and it is not even as good as Liucheng in Yingzhou, because Liucheng has changed hands in the hands of the Han people many times, and the city wall fortifications have begun to take shape after many transformations.

The Khitan has a total of eight divisions, and it can gather tens of thousands of cavalry who can fight well in wartime, and it is a very powerful force in the northeast, but due to population restrictions, even if it has the ambition to go south, it does not have the strength to enter the Central Plains, and even for the time being, it does not have the luxury of fighting for the land of Hebei, and only wants to recapture Yingzhou. Yingzhou not only has pastures, but its main interest is the transportation of the Northern Silk Road, which can make a lot of commercial profits. Many tribes were active in the area further north of Liaodong, among which the largest of them, the Balhae Kingdom, had long been engaged in silk trade with the Central Plains, and the road connecting Silla to the Central Plains was also a strategic location. At the same time, it is adjacent to the Khitan and has been occupied by the Khitans for a long time, so their intention to take it back is obvious.

Under the leadership of Da He Lu, Cui Qigao and the others entered Li Fuhuo's mansion to meet, only to see a few animal skins hanging at the door of the house. There were few people in the house, probably Li Yanhuo's relatives, most of the tribal leaders were not here, and they usually stayed in their own territories.

The interior is rough and cluttered, with animal heads hanging on the walls, including a colorful tiger head, and gold objects on a wooden table. And Li Yanhuo sat on a couch covered with tiger skins on it, he looked about forty or fifty years old, but he did not have a beard like Da He Lu, Li Yanhuo looked more capable, his face was angular, and his eyes were also very sharp.

Cui Qigao didn't dare to look around, so when he came in, he bowed to Li Shenghuo, "Cui Qigao of Huazhou pays a visit to the king." ”

Li Yanhuo looked at Cui Qigao without saying a word, and his blazing eyes made him feel a little uncomfortable. After a while, Li was able to speak in Chinese, he had been to Chang'an, and he had been in contact with Han people, and although his accent was not very correct, he could understand it.

"You have a lot of connections among the Han Chinese? In a short period of time, you can find the inner response in Montenegrin Fort. Li said.

"It just so happens that there are exiled people from the Cui family working in Black Mountain Fort, our Cui family offended the emperor of the Jin Dynasty and was exiled to more than 1,000 people in Yingzhou, and my connections are not here." Cui Qigao directly said what interests Li Yanhuo, "The place with real roots is in Huazhou, the Cui family is the largest family in Huazhou, if the family rebels against the government there, the Huazhou Prefecture government will be helpless." If the king doesn't know the Cui family in Huazhou, has the Cui family in Luling ever heard of it? ”

Li Fuhuo nodded: "I've heard of it." ”

Cui Qigao said: "The ancestral home of the Huazhou people is in Luling, and we can still contact the Cui family in Luling, and the strength is not trivial." ”

Li Yanhuo pondered for a moment and asked, "You said that the Cui family was exiled to Yingzhou after offending the emperor of the Jin Dynasty, what is going on?" ”

"This has to start from the Tang Dynasty, the Taiping princess party and the prince fought for power, the Huangmen squire Cui Riyong was the prince's person, and later the Taiping party won, and the Xue family once used the excuse of Cui Shilang to collude with the remnants of the prince to burn hundreds of people alive. This year, Jia Huan, the official of the political hall, funded the opening of a teahouse, in which Mr. Speak said that the imperial court should not launch the battle of Yingzhou, and in order to attract guests, he also said that the Xue family used troops in the northeast to rob the beauties of all ethnic groups......"

As soon as he said this, Cui Qigao noticed that the corners of Li Yanhuo's mouth twitched slightly, obviously a little stimulated. War and women are the eternal themes of men, and it will not be good to hear that the women of their own clan are being molested and humiliated, even if Li loses his life, and the women under his rule cannot be protected, which is a shame for any bloody man. So Cui Qigao didn't specifically say that he was robbing Goguryeo beauties, only that he was robbing women in the Northeast, and at that time, the Jin soldiers were fighting against Khitan and Xi, and Li was easily mistaken for robbing their Khitan beauties.

Cui Qigao continued: "In fact, it was just a casual thing to talk about in the teahouse, but the Xue family was furious and ordered Jia Huan to be executed, and because Jia Huan was the son of his late father Cui Mingshan, the Cui family originally had a grudge against the Xue family, so the Xue family was angry with the late father, killed him, and exiled more than 1,000 people from Huazhou to Yingzhou to work as coolies...... I was originally a minister of the Tang Dynasty, but now I bear the hatred of the country and the hatred of killing my father, and I don't share the sky with the Xue family! There is no lie in these words, and the king can send someone to inquire. ”

Li asked how you want to take revenge?" ”

"At the beginning of spring next year, the Jin people will build the Great Wall in Hebei on a large scale, the purpose is to defend against the king's men and horses, and then annex Liaodong step by step. The government has now begun to levy a large number of people from Hedong, Hebei, Henan, and other places, causing resentment among the people, and this is an opportunity. As long as the king helps me and some of my subordinates to return to China, I will start an incident in Huazhou and then develop in Hebei. At that time, the Northeast Jin Army will fight on two fronts, and the left and right sides will be weak, and the king will not take it out of his pocket if he wants to recover Yingzhou? If you go south from Rao Le Mansion to attack Youji to contain the Jin army, it will be more difficult for them to destroy the rebel army in the rear of Hebei. We all have a common enemy, the Great King. ”

Li Shihuo said coldly: "There are only tens of thousands of my eight men and horses who can go out to fight, and it is difficult for the combined Xi soldiers to exceed 100,000 horsemen. Aren't you afraid that when the time comes, I will take Yingzhou but I will not respond to you? ”

Cui Qigao smiled and said, "If the king is such a visionless person, what good do I say?" There is a ferocious hungry tiger on the side of the king's couch, can you really be at ease? The Xue clan used troops to expand on all sides, Tubo, Turkic, Liuzhao, Yingzhou, where did the Jin soldiers not have a big war? If there is nothing to do in the country, the imperial court will use troops abroad, and I believe that the king will be very happy that we are making a storm in Hebei and Henan? ”

"You stay in Songmo Mansion for a while." Li Shihuo glanced at him, then turned to Da Helu and said, "You order to go down and send some cattle and sheep tents to Cui Qigao's people so that they can settle down well." ”

Cui Qigao bowed again to end the conversation: "Thank you for the hospitality, I heard that people who are willing to share food on the grassland are friends. ”

Li Weihuo should find someone to get more information and then talk to the chief of the eight departments before he can substantively help Cui Qigao, so it will take a while. Cui Qigao was not idle, and asked Songmo Mansion to return to his own people.

On the territory of Da Helu, Cui Qigao's people got tents, cattle, sheep, food and other materials, and built a camp, after he attacked Montenegrin Fort, he took hundreds of strong men, and now there are seven or eight hundred people in his hands, most of them are young and strong people with bodies, and they are a force of people who are beginning to take shape.

Cui Qigao reads, is reasonable, knowledgeable, brainy, and assertive, and does things one by one, and he is not idle on Da Helu's territory. He said to his subordinates: "If there is no military law, no matter how many people there are, they will be a rabble." If it weren't for the surprise sneak attack and the Jin soldiers didn't have time to form a formation when they fought Black Mountain Fort, it is not yet known who will win and who will lose when we fight a team of hundreds of people. Why? We have no system and no rules, and once we encounter setbacks, everyone doesn't know what they should do, and as a result, they can only run around with the crowd, and it is very easy to rout. ”

So he selected the sturdy men to form three infantry legions, because there were no war horses. He also appointed lieutenants, brigade commanders, team commanders, and other officers at all levels, and began to drill regardless of the cold weather. Others served as military attendants, tending to livestock, making fires, cooking, and crafting weapons, and these Han Chinese had their own skills, and blacksmith workshops were quickly established. Not long after, the Khitans also wanted to order armor from Cui Qigao in exchange for cattle, sheep and livestock.

Cui Qigao has a good time, and his subordinates know what they should do; Then he drafted 20 articles of military law with his advisers, and repeated them to his subordinates every day, and everyone knew what they should not do. The Han people were industrious and obedient, and as soon as they got a foothold, hundreds of people made a good reputation, and there was no prisoner and slave style at all, which soon impressed the Khitans...... If Cui Qigao and others want to live here for a long time, it is estimated that they can still manage to get seeds to reclaim the land in the military camp.

Once Da He Lu came to watch Cui Qigao's camp, he couldn't help but admire: "No wonder the Han people are so powerful, and there are tens of millions of such people." ”

Cui Qigao said: "A few hundred people and tens of millions of people are two different things, hundreds of people can perform their duties like a family, but can tens of millions of people still be like a family?" Oh He Lu blurted out: "Infighting." ”

Cui Qigao said thoughtfully: "What we Han people are best at is pulling relationships and infighting. ”

Da Helu laughed "haha", probably because he thought it was funny for Cui Qigao to expose his shortcomings.

After a period of time, Li Yanhuo, the king of Songmo County, summoned Cui Qigao again, promised to help him return to China to revolt, and was willing to fund him with money, which can be described as very generous. But Cui Qigao knew that Li was not alive and he had no deep friendship, so he was just treated like this to help the Central Plains fight. In fact, the court of the Jin Dynasty also often did this, constantly thinking of dividing and dividing other countries in the surrounding areas in order to check and balance, as long as there is a conflict of interests, it is not exclusive to the Han people to check and balance their own people.

Li Yanhuo handed over the matter to his ally Xi Ren, and Xi Ren's method was to disperse and escort those who Cui Qigao was going to return to China. At this time, although there were mountain and river barriers in the north of Hebei, there were no continuous Great Wall fortifications, and it was not difficult for a small number of people to cross the border; In addition, Xi people also brought Cui Qigao's people over through Guò Ma City. Sometimes the form of war is not necessarily the form of two armies fighting against each other, and a variety of means may be able to achieve the results achieved on the battlefield.

Unexpectedly, things went wrong in the course of progress, and two people were found to be fugitives from Yingzhou at Hebei Pass and were arrested. After the torture, they shook out all the plans they knew to the government, saying that they would start an incident in Huazhou.

It just so happened that Yang Sidao, the envoy of Hebei Province, sent people around Youzhou to investigate the people's situation, and he was a faction that catered to the political affairs hall and advocated the postponement of the Great Wall project, and was looking for arguments everywhere; And the magistrate knew about his political proposition, and out of flattery, he hurriedly wrote a detailed confession and handed it to Yang Sidao.

Based on this confession, Yang Sidao sent someone to contact Zhang Wulang, who was guarding Yingzhou, and informed him to send him a copy of Cui Qigao's information. Zhang Wulang arranged the matter to the staff, and the staff checked that Cui Qigao and other exiles were in the jurisdiction of the Jura City guard, and asked the Yuluo City guards to report the report. This matter has been tossed and turned several times, but fortunately, at this time, the decrees and decrees at all levels of the Jin Dynasty government were smooth, and there was no delay in tossing and turning a few times. The guards of Juluo City had to write a report on Cui Qigao's absconding with the crowd under the pretext of the mine accident, defecting to the Khitan, and attacking Montenegro Fort.

Zhang Wulang's staff sent someone to send the official document to Youzhou, and Yang Sidao had another basis. He was unwilling to let go of this opportunity, and immediately used the confession and the official documents of Yingzhou as evidence to write a chapter to Chang'an. This recital is well-founded, and there are good reasons to argue that the construction of the Great Wall may lead to rebellion. Yang Sidao was full of confidence and felt that he had made another contribution in Hebei. G