"Good brother, I've finally found you!" Hearing that Xiao Dapeng was Xiao Xin's grandson, Empress Dowager Xiao burst into tears.

Li Ben didn't expect Empress Dowager Xiao's reaction to be so intense, and couldn't help but be stunned, Xiao Dapeng was even more dumbfounded, not knowing why. However, Li Ben was an outsider after all, and quickly calmed down and said, "Niangniang, could it be that Dapeng is really your relative?" ”

At this time, Li Ben couldn't care about pretending, and Suo Xìng made things clear.

Empress Dowager Xiao nodded and said, "Dapeng, I am the granddaughter of your grandfather, speaking of which, you should call me sister." ”

Xiao Dapeng heard Xiao Xin say that he had a cousin who was five years older than him, and later went into exile, but he didn't expect her to be the queen mother of the dynasty, and he couldn't help asking: "Dare to ask Niangniang, are you twenty or four this year?" ”

"Dapeng, don't call me Niangniang, call me sister." Empress Dowager Xiao stood up and hugged Xiao Dapeng and cried silently.

Empress Dowager Xiao's age is a secret, and only a few people know it. Li Ben was actually sent by Li Yuan to monitor the Empress Dowager Xiao, so he knew it, but even most of the eunuchs and palace maids in the Empress Dowager Xiao's bedroom could not know this secret, let alone Xiao Dapeng from the people. Xiao Dapeng can report the age of the Empress Dowager Xiao in one mouth, which proves that he is the long-lost cousin of the Empress Dowager Xiao. As for what Xiao Dapeng said about Xiao Xin, Li Ben didn't believe it.

However, Xiao Dapeng is the cousin of Empress Dowager Xiao, and Li Ben is more confident. If Xiao Dapeng is just an impostor, maybe he won't do his best. But since it must be a family, Xiao Dapeng will naturally do his best. But if you want to bring down Li Yuan, it is obviously not enough to rely on Changshan Chariot and Horse Shop and his left and right reserve mansions alone, and it is also necessary to let Xiao Dapeng master a certain amount of strength, and it is best to go to the army to develop and master the military power, which is also what Li Ben and Empress Dowager Xiao have discussed a long time ago.

Thinking of this, Li Ben bowed down and said, "Niangniang, shouldn't you mention it to Master Li and arrange a job for Xiao Gongzi." ”

Empress Dowager Xiao waved her hand and said, "No! The introduction must also be considered in the long run! ”

If Xiao Dapeng was just an impostor, Empress Dowager Xiao would naturally let him go to the army to be a general and colonel in order to take charge of the army. But Xiao Dapeng is indeed her cousin, a descendant of the Xiao family, how can she be willing to let Xiao Dapeng take risks?

Xiao Dapeng is also full of thoughts, if Empress Dowager Xiao can really overthrow Li Yuan and regain the power of the imperial court, his nephew is the current emperor, and he is also the current uncle, this risk is worth taking! But Xiao Dapeng, Empress Dowager Xiao, and Li Ben thought differently. He knew that even if he could enter the army, it would be difficult for him to make a difference under Li Yuan's nose, and he would even be secretly sent away by Li Yuan for an excuse. Xiao Dapeng's first thought was the power of Changshan Village, but he quickly dismissed the idea.

It is Gao Xiu'er who really controls Changshan Village, and the reason why Changshan Village can become a military fortress is inseparable from the support of Yuhang Yingyang Mansion. Thinking of Ying Yanglang and Hua Yun, Xiao Dapeng was disgusted. What's more, Changshan Village is thousands of miles away from Luoyang, and there is a big river in the middle, so far water can't quench the thirst of the near, how easy is it to bring down Li Yuan? Of course, Xiao Dapeng didn't know that Gao Xiu'er had already raised a large number of treasures from the Yang family's manor on the outskirts of Yanguan City, and used these treasures to secretly train tens of thousands of jīng soldiers. Moreover, with the drawings and smelting methods provided by Liu Ziqiu, Wei Zheng and Li Jing are organizing people to make five kinds of knives. The strength of Changshan Village was not what he imagined, and it was enough to compete with any prince on one side of the separatist side.

Xiao Dapeng may only be able to use the long mountain cart and horses. Thinking of this, Xiao Dapeng suddenly had an idea and said, "Sister, there is someone who can be used!" ”

Empress Dowager Xiao hurriedly asked, "Who?" ”

Xiao Dapeng said word by word: "Wang Shichong of Jiangdu! ”

……

However, it is said that Liu Ziqiu led the army to cross the Zabhan River, crossed the Jinshan, and came to the territory of the Western Turks, from here to Dunhuang, which belonged to the sphere of influence of the Xue Yantuo Department. The Xue Yantuo Department belongs to the ten surnames of Tiele, which is composed of the two surnames Xue and Yantuo. Last year, it was this tribe that attacked the Dunhuang border and defeated Feng Xiaoci.

The lord of the Western Turks was called Ashina Daman, and he was elected by his people as the Khan of Chuluo. Daman had no way to govern the country, and rebellions broke out in the Western Turks, and its strength was already far behind that of the Eastern Turks. Three years ago, Daman sent troops to attack the Tiele tribes and plunder their belongings, and it was at that time that the Tiele Hun tribes led by Hun Luo fled to the Western Sea and surrendered to Murong Fuyun. At that time, Tiele was the most powerful was the Xue Yantuo Division. Xue Shixiong, the leader of the Xue Yantuo tribe, contacted several surrounding tribes to raise troops to resist, defeated Daman's Western Turkic military horses several times, and gradually occupied half of the Western Turks.

Last winter, Xue Shixiong became more and more arrogant after defeating the Sui army led by Feng Xiaoci. Although he was later afraid of Yang Guangju's nationwide crusade, Xue Shixiong sent someone to take the initiative to ask Da Sui for guilt and avoided a sword disaster, but in his heart, Xue Shixiong no longer took Da Sui in his eyes.

Recently, the news of the civil strife in the Great Sui gradually spread to the Western Turks, and Xue Shixiong was about to organize men and horses to attack and disturb the territory of the Great Sui, when he heard the news that a large army had entered from the east. The east is the territory of the Eastern Turks, although the Eastern and Western Turks belong to the same family, but since the Turks were divided into two parts, the East and West Turks have become feuding since they were divided into two parts by Changsun Sheng. When Xue Shixiong heard that the brigade was coming from the east, he immediately became nervous and ordered the horn to be sounded. Although they were Tiele people, they had long been under the jurisdiction of the Western Turks, and they did not contribute less to the conflict between the Eastern and Western Turks. If the Eastern Turkic army came to attack, they would definitely not let go of their Xue Yantuo Department easily.

Liu Ziqiu used the Western Turks this time, although it was to show off his strength, he was still extra careful. He didn't want to be careless and lose Jingzhou and be attacked by the Western Turks, so he would be laughable and generous. Therefore, in front of the team, Liu Ziqiu sent a large number of scouts, and the scouts sent by Liu Ziqiu were discovered by Xue Yantuo. Because the scouts sent by Liu Ziqiu were all hundred-man teams, the Xue Yantuo people thought that the army was coming.

Although the Xue Yantuo tribe won great victories in the two battles against Daman and the attack on the Sui Realm, after all, the tribe has a limited population, and the other tribes of Tiele are only in alliance with them, and they are not controlled by them, so they can mobilize only a thousand soldiers and horses. Even if there are only ** thousand people, it is a decisive force in the Western Turks. When Xue Shixiong's army was assembled and headed to the east, Liu Ziqiu also got a report from the scouts.

Jiao Liyan arched his hand and said, "Lord, do you want to send someone to inform them, we are just borrowing the way." ”

Liu Ziqiu waved his hand and said, "There's no need, keep going!" ”

He understood that the grassland people respected heroes, and if they took the initiative to send someone to inform Xue Yantuo, it would provoke their contempt, but Jiao Liyan was a little worried. Jiaoliyan's thinking is still in the stage of nomadic tribes, and he has finally robbed so many people, cattle and sheep, and has a feeling of getting rich overnight, of course he doesn't want anything to go wrong and make chickens and eggs fly. But he didn't dare to disobey Liu Ziqiu's order, so he had to hold the reins in one hand and the saber in the other, concentrating on vigilance.

After a while, the sound of horses' hooves was heard in front of them, and a group of cavalry swept in. Liu Ziqiu waved his hand and asked people to release arrows to show jǐng. If you don't let go of the arrow, the opponent will rush all the way to you. If the arrow is released, and the opponent still refuses to hold the horse, then it is necessary to prepare for battle.

The first arrow is an ordinary cavalry bow, and the place where the feather arrow falls is still far away from the opponent, and this distance is commonly known as the place of an arrow. If the other party is a friend or foe, seeing the arrows released here will slow down the speed of the war horse's gallop. But there is a situation where the opponent wants to show off his riding skills, and often rushes straight to the land of a stone's throw before slamming the horse to the horse. If you don't stop when you reach a stone's throw away, you're ready to fight.

There are 3,000 people in this forward force of Xue Yantuo, and their leader is called Yantuo Agan, who is a brave man, and he invaded the border of the Great Sui last year and defeated Feng Xiaoci. At this time, in the face of this unknown army, Yantuo Agan chose the second situation, leading the army to rush until a stone's throw and then stop. But Liu Ziqiu couldn't let him rush so close. Impact power is a major advantage of cavalry, and to maintain a strong impact force, it is necessary to have sufficient speed, if the enemy rushes too close, the cavalry under Liu Ziqiu loses the power to maneuver.

Of course, Liu Ziqiu would not allow this to happen, he saw that the other party did not show the slightest sign of stopping, waved his big hand, and said, "Cavalry crossbow, release!" ”

The shè of the cavalry crossbow was twice as long as the cavalry bow, and at this time, the forward of Yantuo Agan was still one and a half arrows away from Liu Ziqiu's brigade, and it had completely entered the effective killing range of the cavalry crossbow. Yantuo Agan was waiting to take a few dozen steps to show off their superb riding skills, when he saw a loud "bang" from the other party. In fact, it was not a sound, but the sound of tens of thousands of cavalry crossbows striking at the same time, but these cavalry were well-trained and their movements were uniform. When Liu Ziqiu gave an order, it was really ten thousand crossbows fired in unison, and all the sounds were superimposed, which was naturally shocking, and what was even more shocking was the dense iron arrows.

The iron arrow broke through the air, and even made the sky dark. Yantuo Agan, who rushed to the front, felt that his eyes were dark, and his entire body instantly became like a sieve, and dozens of blood lines rushed out. Then he shook his horse and planted it, and then he knew nothing. The iron arrow passed through Yantuo Agan's body and did not stop, but continued to shè towards the knight behind.

Xue Yantuo was very poor, and he didn't even have processed leather armor, and the ordinary sheepskin jacket on his body had no protection against the iron arrows in the disease. The most important thing is that these knights didn't expect that the opponent's iron arrows could still hurt them from such a distance. The hordes of Xue Yantuo knights planted them as if you were cutting rice.