The snow has not fallen, the sky is blue and the sun is delicate, but the sun here seems to be not the same as the sun in Chang'an, bright but no temperature. The white snow radiated the glow of the sun, but the cold air was still the same, even colder than when it snowed.

The meandering water lies quietly on the earth, motionless like a hibernating snake, and the frozen water surface glistens in the sunlight like a silver-white ribbon. From the east of Xihai (Qinghai Lake), from west to east, Stone Castle, Shancheng and Shanzhou are all on the first line of Huangshui, and this river has witnessed the life and death of many ethnic groups. At this time, more than 8,000 Tang troops lined up in a neat line and marched west along the river bank to the front line, and the quiet Huangshui extended into the depths, as if they could hear the beating of war drums. The sentence "The side court bleeds into the sea, and Emperor Wu opens the side with no end" seems to be able to interpret a qiē.

The main force of the Jiannan Army was divided into three armies, with the cavalry battalion and several Hu cavalry regiments opening the way in the forward, the Chinese army as the main force of infantry and cavalry, and the rear army with more grain and grass. The snow along the road had already been trampled into crushed ice and it was difficult to walk, and the infantry soldiers tied straw ropes to their shoes to grip the ground.

Xue Chongxun's Flying Tiger Regiment was also in the Chinese army, guarding a carriage of two state officials in the middle, and there were two little ladies in it. Originally, it was forbidden to bring women in the army, but Xue Chongxun was not a military general, and no one would be embarrassed if he wanted to take it. The two women in the car, one was Xue Chongxun's inner relative Cheng Ting, she didn't realize that Xue Chongxun brought her because she was afraid that something would go wrong in Shanzhou; The other is Zhang Wulang's lover Cai. When Cai learned that Xue Chongxun was going to bring reinforcements to save people, he met Cheng Ting and begged to go to see Zhang Wulang together.

Cai thought that it was Xue Chongxun's efforts that allowed him to send reinforcements, so he was naturally grateful and grateful to Xue Chongxun's family. Cheng Ting told the truth: "The former Langjun has been sullen since he came back from Langzhou, and there seems to be no result. Later, it was the Jiedu envoy who personally ordered the Jiannan army to set off. ”

"If it weren't for Xue Lang's multi-faceted campaign, the Jiedu envoy would not have given the order so quickly." Cai said as he folded his hands, and the expression on his beautiful face was very reverent, and he muttered, "I hope God will bless Gorou to be safe and sound." ”

Cheng Ting didn't hide her affection at all when she heard this little girl, and she couldn't help but gently pick up the corner of the curtain to see Xue Chongxun riding a horse outside, he was with the main general Li Yi and the deputy general Huang Zhonghou.

They seemed to be talking something.

Along the way, Li Yi was lively and talkative because he was in a good mood; And the deputy general Huang is not good at words, Mu Ne is silent, but this old man is the real helmsman of this army and horses, and the main general is just an ornament.

Li Yi turned his head to chat with Xue Chongxun from time to time, and then he made a thoughtless remark: "The Tuyuhun people claim to be an army of 200,000, and Shancheng has been guarding it for more than two months with only 4,000 officers and soldiers, which is really admirable." The Tugu Hun laborer mobilized the crowd to consume the people there, and he didn't get the slightest benefit, and he was afraid that his lungs would explode. ”

Xue Chongxun thought that Shancheng had no food, so he said casually: "A strong fortress is the easiest to attack from the inside. ”

Unexpectedly, his words were crooked, and not long after a while, the scouts of the former army rushed to the Chinese army to report: "The city of Shancheng is broken, and the enemy soldiers attack the city and set it on fire, only to see that the city is on fire." ”

The generals' expressions sank when they heard this, and Li Yi scolded: "I have been guarding it for so long, and I can't do it for a day longer!" How did these people get into trouble? ”

Xue Chongxun hurriedly said: "Quickly transfer the cavalry to rescue first!" ”

The Jiannan Army, like the other Tang Army, is equipped with a combination of foot and horse, as well as various ordnance materials, and the normal march can go up to dozens of miles a day. For the entire army to reach Shancheng, even if it is a rapid march, it will take at least half a day.

All the generals focused their eyes on Vice General Huang, but they didn't expect the main general Li Yi. A general advised: "The enemy soldiers are numerous, and if our horse team ventures alone, it will be a drop in the bucket, but it will be in vain." ”

Someone said: "When our main force arrives in Shancheng, I'm afraid that the tired army of Shancheng will be buried long ago." We're all halfway there, and it's really a waste of all our efforts! ”

Xue Chongxun only cared about Zhang Wulang's life and death, and even said: "No matter what, you can be saved." After saying that, he called Bao Cheng over and ordered: "Immediately lead the Flying Tiger Regiment to attack Shancheng!" Don't get Zhang Wulang out, come and see you! ”

"The last will be ordered!" Bao Cheng hugged his fists.

"Wait." Huang Zhonghou finally spoke, he frowned and groaned for a moment, the yellow and black wrinkles on his old face were deeper, and when he raised his head, he already had a resolute expression, "If Wei Guogong's guards can catch up with the forward horse team, they will rush to Shancheng together." ”

A subordinate general was stunned and said: "Think twice, deputy marshal!" ”

Huang Zhonghou said coldly: "Order, the forward light cavalry rushes into battle, and the Chinese army accelerates its march!" ”

The person next to him persuaded again: "If you fight for profit for fifty miles, you will jump on the general, and the law will be half there." Labor is rushing, and defeat is inevitable. ”

Huang Zhonghou said disdainfully: "Talking on paper, at this time and that time, I should apologize for my guilt if I lose my teacher." "After that, he insisted on sending someone to expedite the order for the front army to attack.

The Flying Tigers also threw everything behind, and the soldiers galloped away with only weapons and horses. The two-hundred-man horse team is the elite who have been together for a long time, and there are many restrictions on the march of the army, and they only care about whipping and hurrying.

……

The Tuyuhun army outside the city has entered the city from the west gate. At that time, the Tang army in the city mutinied, the bell rang, the defenders of the south gate all rushed to the west city to fight, Chen Tuanlian led the Xicheng camp and other troops to meet the battle, and the four gates and two gates of Shancheng were no longer defended. Seeing this situation, the Tuyuhun people are strange, they don't attack at all, they don't worry about it at all, how can they ambush them when they are so hungry with soldiers and horses in the city?

The enemy soldiers poured in from the west gate, and the Chen regiment training unit suffered heavy casualties from the enemy, so they ran along the streets and alleys to the north of the city, and ordered the defenders of the north city to abandon the city head for reinforcements. Together with the mutiny, some joined Luo Duwei and their team, and some still listened to Chen's regimental training, and the Tang army completely abandoned the city defense and fought in the city.

There were Tuyuhun soldiers who came in, and street battles broke out, but the Tuyuhun people didn't care about the camp within the Tang army, as long as they saw that the Han people were killed regardless of the army and civilians, they set fire to the city again, and the fireworks burst into the sky for a while. Most of the houses are civil structures, and there are many beams, doors and windows, as well as furniture and flammable materials in the house. Many civilians were forced to flee for their lives, and were slaughtered when confronted by the rebels. The whole city was shrouded in blood and fire.

King Tuyuhun Khan looked at the fire of this ancient city from afar in front of the big tent of the Chinese army outside the city, and couldn't help but sigh: "The fortified city will be broken from the inside." His views are similar to Xue Chongxun's.

The prime minister on the side, Fu Lu, was not happy about the broken city, and his face was gloomy. It is true that they have nothing to be happy about, they were coerced by the Tubo people to attack the Tang Dynasty, and they fought for so long before the next city, which really outweighed the losses and lost their old capital.

"Despicable Han people like infighting the most, and they hate their own people more than outsiders." Fu Lu spat out, "If you take advantage of the weakening of its internal strife, it will not be the end of today." The Tubo people stuffed wool in their heads to start the war now, and they had to pull us on their backs in vain! ”

Murong Xuan said lightly: "The Tang people killed the envoy to welcome their relatives, and some cities naturally want to start a war to show their strength, and sooner or later they will have to negotiate peace." The Tubo army in Jishi Mountain is already preparing to retreat, and we should also prepare as soon as possible, otherwise it will not be good when the Longyou army frees up its hands to cut off our retreat. ”

"This city has taken so much effort from us, let's slaughter it first." Frü said indignantly.

Murong preached, "What is the benefit of having a grudge against someone? ”

Fu Lu said coldly: "The Han people are unreliable, the king should not have any tendencies, let alone be afraid, they are only strong and have a lot of people." ”

Murong Xuan shook his head lightly and said calmly and slowly: "People should not only respect the gods, but also respect the opponent; It is important to see not only the weaknesses of others, but also the strengths of others. I look at the ancient books, and know that in ancient times, there were many people in the land of the Central Plains, and the ancestors of the Dutang people defeated all their opponents in the long time of thousands of years, and now occupy a large area of grassland, rich and warm land, and inexhaustible rivers. Thousands of years of long-lasting people, how can there be no reason? ”

At this moment, a general in leather armor rode his horse to the front of the camp and dismounted, walked over quickly, put his hand on his chest and bowed down, and said: "Your Majesty, Great Minister, the Ranger Detective, the Tang Army reinforcements have set off from Shanzhou and are coming along the Huangshui. Their forward horses marched quickly, and we sent the Elo to the east to keep an eye on them. ”

Fu Lu hurriedly asked, "How many are there?" ”

"There are less than 10,000 foot riders."

Fu Lu breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this: "That is not Cheng Qianli's main force, it must be the Jiannan army in Shanzhou City...... They gave up Longyou County (Shanzhou)? ”

Murong Xuan groaned: "The Tang people must have also learned that the Tubo people are going to withdraw their troops, and it is expected that we will not dare to continue to advance eastward. ”

Fu Lu said: "Of course, the Tubo soldiers are going to run away, and now there are Tang people in Longyou who have no chance to take advantage of it, what did we do in the past?" ”

Murong preached: "Shancheng is no longer profitable, and it is useless to kill more. Don't dwell too much on it, just retire now. ”

Fu Lu was angry, waved his fist and made rude movements: "There are less than 10,000 people, what can I do?" This city has cost us so much effort, and it is difficult to vent the hatred in our hearts if we don't raze it to the ground! ”

Murong Xuan's face was expressionless: "The Tubo Allied Army is difficult to protect itself, if Cheng Qianli takes advantage of the reinforcements from Shanzhou to entangle our army, suddenly removes heavy troops and goes directly north, and puts a large number of men and horses to the east of Shibao City, what should we do?" I call 200,000 horses, how great a merit it is for Cheng Qianli, you should know. ”

Fu Lu calmed down a lot after hearing this, frowned and muttered for a long time before saying: "The order of the king, order all the troops to prepare to retreat, and let the Yilou department keep an eye on the Tang people after the break." ”

…… When the Flying Tiger Regiment galloped to the east of Shancheng with the forward horse team of the Jiannan Army, they found that the siege had been lifted, and only a Tuyuhun horse team stood far away, and there was no offensive posture. And the city was filled with fire and smoke, and many people ran out of the city gates.

At this time, the scouts came to report that a large number of Tuyuhun troops had retreated westward.

The front army originally came to break the siege, but there was no way to rush, and the general was afraid of the plan, so he asked someone to go to the city gate and bring a few people over for questioning.

The general asked, "Are there any enemy soldiers in the city?" "The people all said that the barbarians were gone, and the Tang soldiers were still fighting in the north of the city, and their own people were fighting their own people.

When everyone heard this, they immediately understood: I am afraid that there has been a mutiny.

Bao Cheng said: "How to fight is your business, if you don't fight, remember to put out the fire." My task is to get Gorou out, and since I can enter the city, I'll take my leave. With that, he led the Flying Tiger Regiment to ride his horse straight into the city through the east gate and walk north along the main road in the city.

I saw that there were corpses on both sides of the street, most of the dead were ordinary people, and there were some Tang soldiers, and it was rare to see the corpses of Tuyuhun people. Many people who escaped from various squares saw the Tang Army's armor of the Flying Tiger Regiment, and they pointed to the fires everywhere on the side of the road and shouted "fire fighting", they didn't know that there had been a case of the army eating people, so they didn't seem to be afraid of the Tang soldiers.

The soldiers of the Flying Tiger Regiment replied as they walked: "There are more brothers in the back, let them save them." ”

When the army came to the horizontal street in the north of the city, they saw that they were still shopping at the gate of the line. On both sides were the Tang army in disheveled armor, some inside, some outside, blocking the gates and fighting inside and outside the walls, and the whole street was covered with corpses and I don't know how many people died.

Bao Cheng shouted: "Stop! But those people didn't listen at all.

At this moment, I only heard a thunderbolt like a thunderbolt on a sunny day: "Reinforcements have arrived, there is food!" "It's not Li Kuiyong, who has such a loud voice?

There was a loud shout, and the tiles on the roof seemed to be ringing, and the rebels looked over one after another, and the fighting gradually stopped. Seeing this, Bao Cheng took advantage of the situation and persuaded: "When the army arrives, the merits and demerits are decided, what are you still fighting?" Put down your weapons, let's bring some dry food......"

The soldiers of the Flying Tiger Regiment knew that these brothers were already hungry, so they took down the dry food they had brought with them. "Dangdang......" Many weapons were thrown to the ground, and the rebellious soldiers came to get food, and the soldiers inside the wall also ran out to look for food.

"I've got pancakes here." Li Kuiyong had just taken out a piece of flatbread, and was immediately snatched away by a sergeant who rushed to the horse, opened his mouth and bit it, and the thing was eaten long and stretched his neck to swallow desperately. Li Kuiyong took down the kettle and said, "Drink saliva, don't starve to death, choke to death!" ”

There are 200 people in the Flying Tiger Regiment, and according to the marching practice, in addition to the grain and grass they carry, each soldier will generally carry three days of dry food with them, which is enough for the remaining Shancheng army to have a full meal, because they only have the appearance of a thousand people left.

Bao Cheng asked, "Are all your people here?" Where is your general Zhang Wulang? ”

Some people said that they were still in Xingyuan, Bao Cheng listened to it and walked with Li Kuiyong and others to the gate of Xingyuan, and as soon as they walked to the door, they saw Chen Tuanlian and more than a dozen other people coming towards him, and Zhang Wulang was supported behind. I saw that Zhang Wulang's face was pale and he lost a lot of weight, but fortunately, he was still alive, which made Bao Cheng, Li Kuiyong and others breathe a sigh of relief.

"Gorou, what are you doing, why are your own people fighting? They don't listen to you? Bao Cheng frowned and asked.

Zhang Wulang's face was angry, he gritted his teeth and pushed away the two sergeants who were supporting him, his body immediately shook, the two sergeants hurriedly held his arms again, Zhang Wulang pushed away again, "Get out of the way!" ”

He then looked at Chen Tuanlian coldly and said, "Chen Tuanlian, your wings are stiff, aren't they?" It's just a matter of breaking my promise and breaking my promise, and I actually put Lao Tzu under house arrest and wants to feed the living! Now that the mutiny has been provoked, how can the thousands of soldiers who died explain themselves? How do you explain the hundreds of people who were slaughtered after losing the city?! Thief thing! ”

Chen Tuanlian said with a bloodless face: "The situation is forced to do it as a last resort, but I never thought of harming Goro. ”

Bao Cheng's heart was very alert, and after listening to it, he didn't say a word, so he stepped forward first and pulled Zhang Wulang and got him to the side of the soldiers of the Flying Tiger Regiment to protect him. Then he said coldly: "Chen Tuanlian, you are so wrong this time that you can't be wrong, and you can't save it." ”

Chen Tuanlian hurriedly said: "Brother Bao, for the sake of your friendship with me, say a few kind words in front of the lord." ”

Bao Cheng sneered: "What are you doing with your brains?" It's still a fluke now, hehe, just cut it off as soon as possible! ”

Chen Tuan practiced: "The lord has a life-saving grace for me, and I can't repay it before and after the saddle. ”

Zhang Wulang stared at Chen Tuanlian and said: "There is one thing and one thing, there is no one and another, this time I can't atone for my sin if I cut off your head, you still want to live?" ”

Bao Cheng sighed: "It's not that we don't treat you as a brother, you can't listen to people's words, I woke you up last time: who are you, what can you do and what can't you do, and you don't have a number in your heart?" To tell you the truth, lest you die unclear, even if you lose the city, lose the battle, or even eat people, you can live, but if you hold Gorou hostage, you will die! You dare to hold Gorou hostage now, are you going to hold the lord hostage one day, ah? ”

"Brother Bao woke up the dreamer with a word, I knew it was wrong!"

Zhang Wulang didn't care about him, and only said to Bao Cheng: "The cannibalism must not leak out, otherwise my Tang Army will lose face." The crime of executing Chen Tuanlian was used as a reason to provoke a mutiny. As he spoke, he grabbed the saber on Bao Cheng's waist and pulled it out with a snort, "I slaughtered this guy with my own hands!" ”

Chen Tuanlian was stunned: "Wulang, although you are a guard, you have no right to kill me, and the lord has the final say on what is the crime." ”

Zhang Wulang staggered forward with a knife and said coldly: "Stand for me!" Dare to take a step back and hide, Lao Tzu guarantees that you will be slashed all over the house! ”

Seeing this, Li Kuiyong and the others quietly put their hands on their weapons and stared at Chen Tuanlian quietly.

Chen Tuanlian froze in place, and finally sighed and said, "For the sake of our comrades, don't embarrass my sister." Bao Cheng said: "Go with peace of mind, the people of our Flying Tiger Regiment have their own proportions." ”

Zhang Wulang finally walked in front of him, stabbed him with a knife, and with a "bell" sound, he didn't pierce the armor, and his injuries were not good and he didn't have much strength.

At this time, Zhang Wulang grabbed the handle of the horizontal knife with both hands and lifted it, and slashed it head-on, "Ah" screamed, Chen Tuanlian covered his face, and blood suddenly leached out from his fingers, but it didn't seem to be fatal, he was still crying out in pain.

"Damn, I can't do it, his bones are quite hard!"

Chen Tuanlian cried with a bloody face and said inarticulately: "Can you be happy?" Someone, help me get the armor! ”

As soon as he went to protect his head, his neck was exposed, so Zhang Wulang pressed his shoulder armor, took a knife close to his neck, and sawed it vigorously. Chen Tuanlian screamed, and hurriedly grabbed Zhang Wulang's arm in pain, but the blade still didn't stop, and saw back and forth twice, and blood splashed Zhang Wulang's face. G