At two o'clock on October 22, the fifteenth year of Zhenguan, the sun was already slanting in the west, and the already weak winter was already dim at this time, even if it was shining on the body, it could not bring much warmth, but Hou Guozhong didn't care very much, without him, he just repelled a fierce attack of the ancient department of Baye, at this time his body was sweating and hot, wishing that there would be a trace of coolness to cool down, this tired winter day was also just what he wanted, no, Hou Guozhong, who was already tired enough to choke, sat on the head of the city, Regardless of the blood flowing everywhere under him, he just leaned against the battlements and gasped.

"General Hou, you're alright, doe, hiss!" Liu Tietao, who was also rude, slowly walked to Hou Guozhong's approach, sat down heavily on the ground, and accidentally hit the wall with his bandaged hand, and immediately gasped.

"It's okay, I can't die yet, but Lao Liu, you have to take it easy, Lord Yan is calling for a son-in-law recently." Hou Guozhong was in a good mood, and joked with Liu Tietao with a smile.

"Hey, we're still young, Lord Yama wants to call us as sons-in-law, I'm afraid we will have to wait for seventy or eighty years." Liu Tietao has been fighting side by side with Hou Guozhong these days, but he has shown his feelings, and he has spoken a lot more casually, and said with a smile: "General Hou, we are fighting so hard here, His Royal Highness King Yue doesn't know what kind of virtue it will be, alas, why haven't the reinforcements of the marshal arrived yet." ”

As soon as he talked about Li Zhen, the smile on Hou Guozhong's face immediately put away, squinted at the dim sky, sighed and said: "Your Highness Jiren has his own heavenly appearance, and he should be fine, just don't talk about this, no matter when the commander's reinforcements arrive, this killing tiger mouth can't be lost from a certain hand." After a pause, he continued: "Lao Liu, how are the casualties of the brothers?" ”

"Not good." Liu Tietao shook his head with a wry smile and said: "The brothers are all cavalry, and they are not good at defending the city, from yesterday to now, the barbarians of the dog day have attacked seven times, and the brothers who are hoarding are only more than 400 at most, and there are more than 100 people who are lightly injured, and the seriously injured are not counted, and the soldiers who can fight are more than 500 when they are full." ”

"Well, I'm waiting for hardship, the barbarians are even more bitter, and the corpses of the barbarians lying down are more than a thousand years old, and now it's up to who can grit their teeth and persevere."

"Yes." Liu Tietao replied lightly, raised his head to look at the sky, and said no more.

Disappointed! Extreme disappointment! Qu Li's eyes were already red, at this moment, he had long lost the vigor when he first won Kaiyang City, and he also lost the pride of pointing out the country when he faced the killing of the Tiger Mouth Xiongguan a day ago, and some only had a deep loss, and in the face of a group of generals who had no morale, he didn't even have the interest in losing his temper - he attacked seven times in a day, and the various departments took turns, day and night, this kind of intensity of attack has never been seen in the history of the ancient department of Baye, but the cruel reality is just in front of him, In vain, more than 1,800 string control soldiers were lost, but Guan Cheng still failed to take it.

"High Priest, what now?" Qu Lishu spun around in place a few times, suddenly raised his head, and stared at Na Long Dao with blood-red eyes.

What to do? Looking at the goods in front of him, who was obviously not a wise lord, Na Long felt a sense of powerlessness in his heart, smiled bitterly, and said calmly: "Our department now has only two ways to go: one is to attack again and take Guancheng as soon as possible, now our department is certainly suffering heavy casualties, and the Tang army is no better, and it may be possible to take it if it attacks again; The second is to hide, hide outside the battlefield, and then look for opportunities. ”

"Attack again?" Qu Li glanced at the dejected generals, shook his head and said: "High priest, we can't attack it, if there are more casualties, even if we can return to the grassland with our belongings, we can't hold it, how can we hide from it?" ”

Now is the time to consider the survival of the entire tribe, but Qu Lisu is still thinking about those belongings, which makes Na Long really don't know what to say, and he was silent for a long time before he spoke: "Great Commander, if the expectations are good, now the main force of the Tang Army has been dispatched, the eldest prince is only afraid that he is already in a crisis, Shenwu and Shuozhou directions are absolutely impossible to go, and there is a Tang army guarding the tiger's mouth, and the Tang army at the end of Yungang will not be negligent, and the direction of Datong cannot go, and now, the only place where my department can go is to return to Kaiyang." ”

"Kaiyang?" Qu Lichuan muttered unconfidently, frowning and not saying anything.

Although he felt extremely disappointed by Qu Li's incompetence, for the survival of the entire tribe, Na Long still opened his mouth and advised: "Great Commander, I think that the eldest prince's department is in a catastrophe this time, even if he can barely get out, he is really afraid that he will not survive until he can return to the grassland, and the hegemony of Xue Yantuo's department in the grassland is about to be lost, if our department can preserve its strength, it may not have the opportunity to replace Xue Yantuo, provided that our department can return to the grassland, the most direct way is to capture the tiger's mouth and kill a bloody road, The second is to return to Kaiyang, and then look at the progress of the war, and find an appropriate time to attach to the Tang army and jointly crusade against Xue Yantuo's department, so that our department has a glimmer of life. ”

"Huh?" Qu Lifu was taken aback, and with a sigh, his eyes burst out, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses and ask suspiciously: "This, how can this be done?" ”

"The commander should know that a certain has traveled to Chang'an for several years, and he still understands some things about the Tang people, although the Tang army is strong, but the grassland is vast, and it is not something that the Tang army can fully control, in the end, the grassland affairs are still the grassland people's final say, the Tang Dynasty has always dealt with my grassland departments with a constraining strategy, the previous * Ji and Tuyuhun are now Xue Yantuo is jealous of the Tang Dynasty because of his excessive power, so there will be a constraint policy*, Xue Yantuo's anti-Tang is actually a last resort, but it is just self-preservation, and now Xue Yantuo's bad luck is inevitable, However, the hundred-legged insect is dead but not stiff, even if this defeat, Xue Yantuo's strength is greatly damaged, but it is still the overlord of the grassland, Datang needs someone to contain Xue Yantuo, if my department is to vote for Tang, attack Xue Yantuo, and make a contribution, it is not without the opportunity to get the support of Datang, once this is the case, our department will be able to take this opportunity to grow, and then one day can replace Xue Yantuo to become the new overlord of the grassland, the opportunity must not be lost, the time will not come, the commander thinks twice. Na Long suppressed the dissatisfaction with Qu Liyu in his heart and analyzed it carefully.

The mud can't always support the wall, although Na Long said it right, but Qu Lisu hesitated for a long time, but finally came up with a sentence: "Rest in place, and attack again tomorrow." As soon as the words fell, he turned back to the big tent on his own.

"Alas!" Seeing that Qu Liyu didn't listen to his own persuasion at all, Na Long was disheartened, looked up to the sky and sighed, ignoring the group of generals who were in a daze, turned around and walked to the mount tied to the small tree, stood silently for a long time, suddenly gritted his teeth, turned over his horse, and was about to whip away, Ba Ye Taku, who was standing on the side, reacted very quickly, hurriedly grabbed the reins of Nalong's horse, and hurriedly asked: "High priest, where are you going?" ”

A wry smile appeared on Nalong's face, and he sighed and said: "I will go to find a way to make a living for my ancient department, I hope it can be done, I will do my best to restrain the people, I can't surrender in wartime, I must not be reckless, and I will go!" As soon as the words fell, he shook the reins, knocked Bano Taku to the side, and rode away alone......

At three o'clock in the Shen hour, more than ten miles in front of Yanmen Pass, in the Tang army camp, the commander of the Tang Army, Li Jizheng, was sitting silently in front of the sand table, listening to the analysis of the battle situation in front of the commanders of the various armies, his face sank like water, and he never said a word, Li Ji knew the danger of the Shenwu crisis, Li Zhen was in danger, and he also understood that if it was possible, he would not have the courage to let Li Zhen risk life and death, but unfortunately in this situation, even if he had the heart, he was powerless, not to mention that the Li Xiyu Department of the Right Route Army had not yet arrived at the battle assembly site, even if all the troops had arrived at the designated destination, The Tang army will not be able to launch an attack for a while and a half, without him, after two days and two nights of rapid marching, the Tang army is at the end of the crossbow at this moment, and the combat effectiveness is not one in ten, if there is no sufficient rest, how can it defeat the Xue Yantuo army that is nearly twice as strong as itself, therefore, as soon as the Tang army leaves the Yanmen Pass and achieves the strategic purpose of deliberately exposing itself to attract the attention of Xue Yantuo's troops - covering the roundabout action of the right route army, Li Ji ordered the center and left armies to camp and no longer move forward, of course, He also knew that this move would inevitably trigger Xue Yantuo's strong attack on Shenwu, but he was worried that Li Ji would not be able to risk the safety of the whole army, and at this time he had no choice but to pray to God to bless Li Zhen's safety.

"Report!" Just as Li Ji was pondering, a sweaty scout horse rushed into the big tent and reported loudly on one knee: "Commander, it has been found that there are ambushes on Niutou Ridge, and the number of enemy troops is unknown. ”

"Huh?" Li Jihuo got up suddenly, stared at the sand table for a long time, stretched out his hand and planted a small flag on the side of the sand table on Niutouling, silently pondering.

Jin Wuwei Zhonglang reported with an excited face to Li Wanling: "Dashuai, the situation is clear, it is really as His Royal Highness the King of Yue expected, the enemy chief really laid a heavy army in Niutouling and Dancaoling to try to hit our army's ambush, although the terrain is complicated, but it is not invulnerable, our army attracts the enemy ambush with most of it, and takes the trail with a partial division, and under the front and rear attacks, the enemy army will be defeated, and these two places are all mountains, the enemy army is all cavalry, unable to maneuver at high speed, it is suitable for our infantry to play, the commander fights, and then does not fight, once the divine force is lost, His Royal Highness the King of Yue is in danger. ”

Huo Yi, who joined the army in the Xiao Cavalry Guard, also stood up and said: "Marshal, the last general is willing to lead the troops and horses of his headquarters to attack, please give the order of the marshal." ”

"Dashuai, give an order, a certain is willing to obey the order of the Dashuai." The generals under the tent came out one after another to ask for battle, and for a time the big tent was full of fighting spirit, and all of them had high morale.

"Stand by in place, all armies hurry up to rest and recuperate, send troops early the day after tomorrow, and all retreat!" Li Ji's face changed, and he calmly issued a combat order to rest and be on standby, and the generals looked at each other for most of the time, but they didn't dare to disobey the order, and they each stepped back without mentioning it.

"Hey!" After Li Ji stood in the tent for a while, he looked at the sky outside the tent, and silently turned around and walked back to the back tent......