Chapter 22: The Assassins

When night falls, when people are ready to rest after a busy day, it is time for the Turkic army to start a new journey. After entering the Guanzhong Plain, they have been like this day and night, looking like ghosts, maybe they are already a group of ghosts, and they go to the side of other people's couches without knowing it.

Concealment is the most important thing, so sometimes it will go the wrong way, but when the main force lurks during the day, it is the time for the accompanying Han soldiers to scout and correct the route dressed as travelers, and then the team enters the correct march direction with the assistance of "Sinan".

In cooperation with Otler and Zhang Zhifu, the team successfully bypassed Suyi in the first two days, which is a complex area bordering the Guanzhong Plain in the plateau area and the garrison of the Chinese army. The Turkic soldiers touched this section of the road and spent it in fear.

Now the area where they are preparing to "smuggle" is Fengxian County, which is also a hurdle, because the Chinese garrison is also on alert. Although the garrison was inferior in number and terrain to Suyi, the greater difficulty for the odd soldiers was that they were becoming denser and denser. Fengxian is no better than the sparsely populated plateau and mountains a while ago, which has completely entered the plain area suitable for agriculture in Guanzhong, and there are ordinary people everywhere, even if you want to find a hidden place to lurk during the day, it is more difficult.

I finally survived a day, and as soon as the night came, the centaurs began to move. Tong Otler seemed a little distracted, people from the nomadic tribe were more sensitive to intuition, and it was easy to smell the danger through the details, he couldn't help but say to Zhang Zhifu: "We have been discovered when we are resting during the day, will we encounter ambushes on the road?" ”

Zhang Zhifu said with good words: "The Han people are afraid of officials, not to mention that we are dressed as Tang soldiers, even if they are seen by the people, they will not run to the official mansion to report without incident." ”

"What if we find out that our people are officials?" Said with Otler.

Zhang Zhifu said: "Huaqing Palace is not far away, if it is discovered by the government, it can only launch a surprise attack immediately, my cavalry is already in the Guanzhong Plain, and there is no obstruction in all directions, so why worry now?" As for the ambush soldiers,......" he smiled, "Ashina believes me, the procedures for the mobilization of soldiers and horses in the mainland of the Tang Dynasty are complicated, and it is impossible to arrange an ambush in a day or two." ”

When he arrived at the territory of the Han people, Zhang Zhifu had a landlord-like feeling, which was much calmer than that of Tong Otler. It is normal for people who originally lived on the steppe to suddenly find themselves in such a completely unfamiliar place and lack a sense of security.

"I hope what the Tang envoy said is true." After listening to Zhang Zhifu's words, Tong Otler finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the words fell, I saw a series of torches in the distance on the flanks, and soon the voices of people became noisy and noisy. Tong Otler and the others were shocked, and someone asked, "Is it Tang Bing?" ”

The other person replied: "Nonsense, where are we now, besides Tang Bing, there are other people?" ”

With Otler shouted: "We have been discovered, prepare for war!" ”

"Wait." Zhang Zhifu suddenly stopped, "It's not time to start a fight!" ”

Tong Otler said angrily: "If you don't start fighting at this time, do you have a way to explain to Tang Guan, what excuse to use?" If we wait, if it's really a bright Tang soldier, why do you sneak around at night? ”

Zhang Zhifu said: "I don't mean to explain to them, but not to entangle." Don't care about this Tang army, immediately ignite a fire and go directly to Huaqing Palace along the post road! ”

Tong Otler frowned and said: "If you don't care about these people, we will be stuck behind by them, and when we arrive at Huaqing Palace, won't we have to face the situation of being attacked on our backs?" ”

"Without a warrant from Princess Taiping, it is strange that the guards of Fengxian County dare to lead the army to approach the Huaqing Palace without permission, and afterwards he is not afraid that the yellow mud will fall into the crotch of his pants? Based on my understanding of the generals of the Tang Dynasty, the most likely response he will take is to gather troops and horses to prepare on the one hand, and report urgently to the Huaqing Palace on the other, but he will never approach the royal family lightly! Our Datang government has a set of procedures, as long as it is an official, few people will ignore the rules...... What's more, although our group of people is suspicious, no one can confirm what they are doing for the time being. Zhang Zhifu said hurriedly, "You believe me once, don't delay the war and delay the raid plane!" ”

Although most of the men and horses here were Turkic soldiers, and they all obeyed the orders of Tong Otler, but Tong Otler listened to Zhang Zhifu's reasoning and was not rigid and self-serving, so he quickly adopted Zhang Zhifu's construction and ordered a big fanfare to rush south. At this moment, I can't care about anything hidden or something.

…… It soon proved that Zhang Zhifu was familiar with and understood the Tang Dynasty system, and almost everything was said by his prophecy, and the Tang army pursued the soldiers for a while and did not keep up. Tong Otler also felt very incomprehensible, if the situation of the steppe people was followed, the pursuers would certainly not give up the pursuit lightly.

The next thing was as Zhang Zhifu expected, Feng Xianshou sent three urgent reports one after another, and rushed to the Huaqing Palace overnight to report the military situation. When the military messenger arrived at the Huaqing Palace, it was still three watches in the middle of the night, and the people had already fallen asleep, and the messenger banged on the palace door and shouted loudly, and was soon held by the defenders for inspection.

The officials of Huaqing Palace were quite competent, and immediately reported to the Changchun Palace after learning of the emergency. Xue Chongxun, who lived on the side of Xingchen Tang, also quickly learned about the situation, he directly approved a fur coat, did not wear socks, and rushed to Changchun Hall with bare feet and boots.

Princess Taiping was not much better, she had already fallen asleep in her wide clothes, and when she was called up, she was naturally disheveled and didn't have time to clean up.

"I'll look at the magistrate's detailed report." Xue Chongxun said a short and direct word, and then got an urgent report from Yu Liben's hand, and pulled it apart and looked at it quickly. The focus is nothing more than the place and time of these useful information.

Princess Taiping stood in front of the bed tent, asked the palace maid to serve her and dressed, and said with an angry face: "Leading the army to force the palace in the middle of the night, is this a rebellion?" ”

"Father-in-law Yu, hurry up and pass on the general of the Yulin Army to gather all the soldiers and horses, and bring their ordnance to prepare for battle!" Xue Chongxun turned around and ordered directly.

After a while, Princess Taiping's clothes were roughly dressed, but her long hair was too late to comb and could only be scattered and draped on her back. She was obviously in a very bad mood and asked, "Feng Xianshou doesn't know who the people and horses are crossing?" ”

"It's a big night, I didn't get any news beforehand, I'm afraid it's hard to confirm for a while." Xue Chongxun saluted, "Don't worry, Mother, the military newspaper said that the enemy army is about 1,000 people, even if they really force them to come to Huaqing Palace, Erchen will lead the Yulin army to defeat them." ”

After all, Princess Taiping is a person who has seen battles, although she is angry at this time, she is not chaotic, and soon made another order: "Order the garrisons of the four counties around Huaqing Palace to encircle the center, don't let the thieves run away!" ”

The mother and son have a very tacit understanding, and when arranging things, they are almost the same, and they have made some arrangements but do not contradict each other.

After making these arrangements, Princess Taiping sat down at the dresser and asked her attendant to comb her hair. Xue Chongxun paced back and forth behind her, pondering what was going on, and after a while, he suddenly said, "That Zhang Tianshi, the three masters and apprentices...... Kind of suspicious. ”

After Xue Chongxun's reminder, Princess Taiping also turned around and wondered: "Do you suspect that the person who rebelled is Zhang Renyuan?" ”

"The enemy soldiers were found in Fengxian County, that is, from the north, the possibility of Zhang Renyuan cannot be ruled out, that old way is Zhang Renyuan's people......" Xue Chongxun said this, and hurriedly shouted, "Come on, send an order to arrest Zhang Tianshi and the other three who sent the strange stone!" ”

As soon as the words fell, there was a noise outside the hall, and Princess Taiping asked, "What happened?" ”

Then someone downstairs could be heard shouting, "There are assassins!" ”

This is the upstairs of the Changchun Palace, it is the dormitory of Princess Taiping, there are many guards around the five steps and a sentry, and ordinary people are not allowed to approach at all.

Princess Taiping stood up, and at this time a eunuch ran in and reported: "The assassin is that old way, but please rest assured, Your Highness, the guards are surrounded on all sides, and they can't escape." ”

Xue Chongxun reflexively touched his waist and grabbed a handful of air, imagining that the textured horizontal knife handle could not be grasped in his hand, and his waist was empty. He came to Princess Taiping's bedroom at night, and he didn't think of wearing weapons at all. Seeing that the palace was full of palace maids and eunuchs, and he couldn't find a weapon at all, he felt a little unsteady in his heart and asked, "How many assassins are there?" ”

The eunuch who reported the news was stunned and hurriedly said, "The slave and maid go to the railing and take a look." ”

At this moment, there was a sudden "bang" on the roof, Xue Chongxun looked up, and saw a rope put down, and his heart sighed, and the guards around the Changchun Hall were afraid that they had fallen into the plan to divert the tiger from the mountain, and the assassins took advantage of the chaos to climb onto the roof. "Watch out, the Assassins are coming from the rooftops!" He shouted and ran towards Princess Taiping.

Said that it was too late, but it was fast, and I saw a petite and dexterous figure sliding down from it as soon as she slipped through the smoke, she seemed to have already seen the position of Princess Taiping, and after coming down, she didn't move a little mud and water and went straight to Princess Taiping.

Rao is not alarmed, Taiping, also exclaimed "ah" at this time, his face was full of panic. The palace people around were even more useless, and the untrained palace maids and eunuchs were completely at a loss in the face of this sudden situation, and they were like chickens for a while.

Princess Taiping, a court lady, is only good at power, but not good at the courage of her husband, the cold light flashed, she could only stare at her round eyes and even forgot to escape. At this moment, Xue Chongxun just rushed behind her, and without thinking about it, he grabbed her arm and pulled her into his arms. She threw herself into Xue Chongxun's arms at once, and the sword light flashed, only to see a piece of red silk floating in the wind, but it did not hurt Princess Taiping.

But the girl immediately took two steps forward to attack again, Xue Chongxun held Taiping in his arms, facing the girl, and saw the cold murderous intent on the childish face in a glance, only to feel that the air was as weird as tonight's night. G