In the Ziwei Pavilion of Jinyang Palace, Xiao Jin hurriedly walked into Yang Yuanqing's official room, Shen Chun went to Dunhuang County, and Xiao Jin was the only one left to join the army in the book, he sorted out confidential documents every day, quite busy, Xiao Jin stepped forward and bowed and said, "Is there anything wrong with me in charge?" ”

Yang Yuanqing nodded and smiled: "This time has worked hard for you, and it is wonderful to start pinyin"

"It's a subordinate business."

"You are really too busy alone, I plan to let Pei Qingsong, the new science detective, go back to Wenxi County to pick up his wife and daughter, he should come back tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, you have to teach him more, let him share the affairs for you as soon as possible."

"My subordinates understand, and I will do my best to teach him."

Xiao Jin is the Xiao family in Dunhuang, he is Xiao Yinyin's nephew, who has followed Yang Yuanqing for many years and has been handling various documents in the army.

Today Yang Yuanqing received an eagle letter from Yumen Pass, basically understanding some of the things that happened in Dunhuang County, which surprised him, Yang Dalang actually stood on the side of the old clan of Dunhuang and severely suppressed the Jiangnan Shi clan in Dunhuang, although this was contrary to Yang Yuanqing's expectations, but he believed in Yang Dalang's caution, and there must be a reason for him to do so.

It's just that in this way, he needs to appease the eighteen children of the Jiangnan Shi clan who have followed him for many years, there are three children of the Xiao family alone, in addition to Xiao Jin, there are two children of the Xiao family who work in the army, just by virtue of this, Yang Yuanqing also has to give them an explanation.

After a deep sigh, Yang Yuanqing asked him again, "Do you still have a connection with the family?" I mean the Xiao family in Dunhuang. ”

Xiao Jin was silent for a moment, in fact, he also received a letter from his aunt Xiao Yinyin last year, hoping that he could think of a way for the family, the family has been forced to stay in Dunhuang anymore, Xiao Jin has not replied, and he doesn't know how to help the family.

"Back to the manager, I received a letter from the head of the family last year, saying that the Xiao family is in a difficult situation in Dunhuang and may not be able to stay in Dunhuang anymore."

"And then?"

Yang Yuanqing asked again: "Is there any news later?" ”

"I heard that the clan brother said. The Xiao family has left Dunhuang and moved to Nanjun, where our ancestral home is. ”

Yang Yuanqing sighed slightly, and said a little apologetically: "I am very sorry for the Xiao family for this matter, in fact, Li Zhu, that is, Yang Dalang, he is still my confidant, although it is not my order for him to suppress the Jiangnan Shi clan." But I did ignore the interests of your family, as well as the Xie family and the Shen family, you can write a letter to the head of the family to convey my apologies to her on my behalf, and if they are willing to come to Taiyuan, I will arrange for them well. If they still want to stay in the south, then one day in the future, I will definitely compensate them, and I only hope that they can forgive Li Zhu, who has a heavy responsibility and has his difficulties. ”

Xiao Jin hurriedly saluted: "Thank you for your concern, in fact, General Li Zhu is also measured, he didn't hurt anyone in the Xiao family, but just robbed the land and cut off their financial routes." These are all things outside the body, they will definitely understand General Li Zhu, and their subordinates also understand why General Li Zhu chose the old clan of Dunhuang. ”

Yang Yuanqing was interested, so he asked with a smile: "Tell me, why did he choose the old Dunhuang clan?" ”

"This has to start with the first emperor, when Emperor Wen decided to exile several major families in Jiangnan, he adopted a tolerant attitude, preparing them to go with money, and at that time, the Taishou of Dunhuang County and the head of the garrison were biased towards the Jiangnan Shi clan, plus my aunt married the leader of the army. Later, he married the new Taishou. This made the Jiangnan Shi clan stronger and stronger in Dunhuang, but in fact. The locals of Dunhuang did not like the Jiangnan Shi people, and were even hostile to them, because they used various means to occupy the already small arable land in Dunhuang, and at the same time monopolized Dunhuang's trade and shops.

And the locals can only be reduced to the Jiangnan Shi clan and tenants, like the Suo family, the Cao family, the Zhang family, these local clans are also forced to almost move away, but the strength of the Jiangnan Shi clan is not stable, the locals do not support them, they have no roots in Dunhuang, as long as the Sui Dynasty's control over Dunhuang is slightly weaker, the locals will rise up to resist, General Li Zhu also saw this, so he turned to support the old Dunhuang clan, so that he can really take root in Dunhuang. ”

Yang Yuanqing nodded again and again, Xiao Jin's explanation made him understand why Yang Dalang supported the old Dunhuang clan, because he was the one he left, and his troops were all Dunhuang's disciples, only by supporting the old Dunhuang clan, he could really control his army, it should be said that Yang Dalang was very discerning.

"I see, you go first! I must write a letter to my family, explain the matter clearly, and tell them that I will need their full assistance in the future when I unify the South. ”

Xiao Jin said goodbye, Yang Yuanqing walked to the east wall with his hands behind his back, staring at the map of Hexi and Longyou hanging on the wall, Dunhuang County is located in the far northwest, but it is the key connection point between Hexi and the Western Regions, if he can lay this wedge in the Western Regions and control Dunhuang County, then he will have the best springboard whether he recovers Hexi or marches into the Western Regions in the future.

However, Yang Yuanqing also knew that Li Yuan would never give up the strategic place of Dunhuang easily, and a battle for Dunhuang County would inevitably break out, so he wondered if Su Dingfang and Yang Dalang would be able to withstand it? A trace of deep worry flashed in Yang Yuanqing's eyes.

The 3,000 cavalry of the Sui army has left the ancient pass of Yumen Pass, stationed in Changle County, south of Yumen Pass, which also belongs to Dunhuang County, is a small county town with only more than 2,000 residents, there is no garrison, the city is short and dilapidated, and can only barely defend against the blue wolf on the Gobi.

The Sui army camp was stationed outside the county seat, and in the big tent, the main general Su Dingfang stood next to the map, listening intently to the latest report of a scout.

"Li Zhaojin's army is now located near Liuyuan, about 10,000 people."

Su Dingfang found the Liuyuan on the map, a small town about 80 miles away from the county seat of Dunhuang, which attracted dozens of families because of a lake, and was more than 40 miles away from Changle County, where he was located.

Su Dingfang is twenty-seven years old this year, if you count the battle of Lake Harry in the fourth year of Renshou, then he has followed Yang Yuanqing for more than ten years, from a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers to grow step by step to a general who stands alone, when attacking Yiwu, he also had a gullible mistake, almost wiped out more than 100 people under his command, since that time, he has slowly matured.

This time, Yang Yuanqing appointed him as the head of the Yumen Road march, with full responsibility for the seizure of Dunhuang and Yiwu County, in addition. also asked him to take Shanshan County and Jimo County, Su Dingfang felt that he had a heavy responsibility, and he was also full of confidence in himself.

Su Dingfang has obtained the information of Li Zhu, Li Zhaojin has a total of 15,000 people, of which 3,000 are stationed in Yiwu County, and the garrison of Dunhuang County has more than 12,000 people, and now Li Zhaojin personally led 10,000 people to meet the battle, so there are still 2,000 people left in Dunhuang County. Now he needs to get in touch with Li Zhu.

As soon as he thought of this, a soldier outside the tent reported, "General Qisu, General Li Shatuo sent his subordinates to send information." ”

"Order him in!"

After a moment, a scout of Li Shatuo's subordinates hurriedly walked into the big tent, knelt down on one knee and clenched his fists, and said, "Report to General Su." General Lee has urgent intelligence. ”

The scout presented a piece of information, Su Dingfang took the information and slowly unfolded it, read it carefully, there were 2,000 people guarding Dunhuang County, all of whom were Li Zhu's subordinates, and as expected, Li Zhu had cut off Li Zhaojin's back road, so among Li Zhaojin's 10,000 people, at least 3,000 people were Li Zhu's army.

"Where is General Li Shatuo now?" Su Dingfang asked again.

"General Li Shatuo, General Li Shatuo, was ordered by General Li Zhu. Led the army to defend Dunhuang County. ”

Su Dingfang nodded, with Li Zhu's biggest internal battle, then this battle to capture Dunhuang County became extremely simple, and he immediately ordered: "Pass my order, the whole army will mount and march to Liuyuan!" ”

The three thousand cavalry were already ready, and with Su Dingfang's order, the three thousand cavalry flew on their horses and ran out of the camp gate. Mighty rushed towards the direction of Willow Garden. It was noon at this time, and the willow garden was not far away. It's only forty miles, and it can be killed in an hour.

Willow Garden is located between Changle County and Dunhuang County, there is an ancient swamp lake covering an area of thousands of acres, the lake is full of red willow trees, so it is named Willow Garden.

In the north-western corner of the lake there is a town of thirty or forty families, which live by grazing and fishing in the lake, and who can also provide food and lodging to the merchants for a little payment when they pass by.

The town was old and peaceful, but a sudden war broke their peace, more than 10,000 troops appeared outside the town, hundreds of soldiers rushed into their town, house-to-house search for enemy spies, the townspeople fled into the lake by boat, hiding on the small islands in the lake, waiting for the end of the war.

The leader of this army, Li Zhaojin, is about fifty years old, with a big nose of wine lees, squinting eyes all the year round, and his eyes show a cold color from time to time.

After the fall of the Great Liang Kingdom, Li Shentong sent people three times to persuade him to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, Li Zhaojin was not unable to surrender, but his conditions were very harsh, he wanted the Tang Dynasty to continue to be the king of Dunhuang, the army was still commanded by him, and his descendants would inherit his prince and army, in fact, what he wanted was independence, he wanted to establish the Dunhuang State, and he could submit to the Tang Dynasty, but he was a lifelong king.

It was impossible for the Tang Dynasty to agree to him on this condition, the two sides were in a stalemate stage, Li Zhaojin also knew that the Tang Dynasty could not take care of him because of the Western Qin State, once the Western Qin State was destroyed, it would be his turn to be next, so during this time, Li Zhaojin was in full swing to build a kingdom, but he did not expect that at this time, the forces of the Sui Dynasty were also inserted into Dunhuang.

Li Zhaojin was very nervous, but fortunately, the Sui army only had 3,000 cavalry, and he had five times the enemy's army, which was enough to annihilate it, and Li Zhaojin personally led an army of 10,000 to attack the Sui army, trying to annihilate the Sui army in one fell swoop.

Li Zhaojin looked into the distance, he felt that the Sui army was almost there, and at this time, the deputy general Li Zhu was standing behind him, his face expressionless.

At this time, someone pointed to the distance and shouted: "The prince is coming, the Sui army is coming!" ”

I saw a group of black dots appear in the distance, and as the black dots became more and more and closer, all the soldiers could clearly see that this was a cavalry rushing towards this side, stopping at a distance of hundreds of paces.

"Army formation!"

Li Zhaojin shouted sharply, and the 10,000 troops under his command lined up in formation, he led 4,000 men to the middle army, Li Zhu led 3,000 men from his headquarters to the left wing, and another general, Zhang Zhitai, led 3,000 men to the right wing.

Li Zhu didn't leave, he stepped forward and whispered to Li Zhaojin: "Lord Wang, it seems that the other party wants to talk to you." ”

Li Zhaojin was stunned, and sure enough, a senior general on the other side slowly stepped forward and shouted: "Where is General Li Zhaojin?" Please come up and answer. ”

Li Zhaojin hesitated in his heart, he didn't want to go up, but Li Zhu persuaded him, "The prince might as well listen to what he has to say, if he offers better terms than the Tang Dynasty, he can negotiate a settlement." ”

Li Zhaojin pondered for a moment, then urged him to go immediately, stopped fifty steps away, and several personal soldiers used shields to guard him left and right to prevent the Sui army from cold arrows, Li Zhu immediately behind him, holding a big iron gun in his hand, looked at Li Zhaojin coldly.

"I'm Li Zhaojin, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Su Dingfang said coldly: "If you don't want to die, get off the horse and surrender immediately, otherwise today next year will be your death day!" ”

Li Zhaojin was furious, "Who dares to kill me!" ”

"I dare to kill you!"

Li Zhu shouted angrily, the big iron gun shook, and a shot pierced Li Zhaojin's chest from the back, and the big gun picked him up, lifting him high in the air, Li Zhaojin looked at Li Zhu in shock in the air, and then died, but his eyes couldn't be closed.