The sky gradually darkened, and the panicked people in Hotan City went against the practice of implementing the curfew every time the lantern was held in the past, and in the midst of the crowd, the soldiers and horses were frequently mobilized, and the streets in the city were full of soldiers and horses from all walks of life in a hurry, so that the soldiers and horses were in chaos, until the time was approaching, it was gradually calmed down, most of the defenders in the city were replaced, and the Shule cavalry and the remnants of the Tubo army that were originally stationed near the south gate were transferred to the military camps in the east and west of the city. The various departments were busy and gradually recovered from the news of the disastrous defeat of King Shule's army, and although the morale of the army was still low, the panic situation had been greatly alleviated.

At three o'clock, it was already late at night, but the original Hetian Castle Guard Mansion that temporarily served as the palace of Fu Jaxiong was still brightly lit, and the generals of the various armies and departments came to report in a hurry, and the soldiers patrolling at the gate were several times more than in the past, a scene of slaughter, that is, most of the servants who were shuttling back and forth also looked solemn, without him, in this extraordinary period, everyone was afraid that the evil fire of Fu Jaxiong would attack on their heads, and they had to deal with the messenger carefully, and they were careless, and the steps were inevitably a little more hurried than in the past, of course, Not everyone is so nervous, no, a middle-aged man dressed in housekeeper clothes is very relaxed, with his sleeves and hands, holding a shelf, leading a few small servants, strolling on the road, facing the servants who passed by, looking like he ignores it, that is, when he arrived at the front of the house, he greeted a thousand household chiefs on duty with a smile: "Yo, Qi Qianhu, today is your turn, hehe, hard work, hard work." ”

Qi Qianhu, who was leading several guards to inspect the defenses everywhere, heard the greetings of the man in the housekeeper's costume, glanced sideways at the visitor, and a slightly flattering smile immediately appeared on his originally cold face, and hurriedly replied: "Steward Ye, what's the matter?" Still going out so late? ”

"Yes, the king's order is in his body, why can't he do it, a certain family was ordered to do something small in the east of the city, hehe, and ask Qi Qianhu to be accommodating." Steward Ye handed a token to Qi Qianhu as he spoke, but he never thought that Qi Qianhu did not take the token, but took half a step back, shook his hand and said: "Old Ye, are you a young general, you always have to do things, why do you need to say more, just go." ”

"Ah, hehe, Qi Qianhu is polite, another day a certain family will be the east, please Qi Qianhu have a good drink." Seeing that Qi Qianhu was doing this, Steward Ye didn't insist, smiled and took the token back into his arms, casually said a few words, and led the people out of the city guard's mansion, and walked up to the East Street with lanterns in a relaxed manner, and gradually disappeared into the night.

"Qitou, who is that person? It's so majestic, why don't you even pay attention to it? A chief obviously couldn't get used to Steward Ye's style, and as soon as Steward Ye left, he immediately came to Qi Qianhu's side and muttered in a low voice, originally wanted to take this opportunity to slap his boss, but he didn't think that Qi Qianhu, who was still smiling before, immediately changed his face when he heard Shi Chang's words, and slapped his head and face, and scolded angrily: "Bastard thing, is this also something you can ask, get out of the way!" ”

The long fart slapped on the horse's feet, and he could only consider himself unlucky, and retreated to the side in a gloomy manner, covering his red and swollen cheeks with his hands, his face was full of gloom, but he didn't have the courage to say in public that his boss was not, and a small officer on the side who was also the chief saw that his colleague touched his head and was still in the dark, and couldn't help but speak: "I said Lao Fu, you kid don't look at the time when you pat the horse's ass, do you really think that you are still in the Left Guard now, hehe, don't forget to fight today, you are a member of the palace guard, and you are not so long-eyed, You will suffer in the future. ”

At this time, although the words of his colleagues were not very good, he faintly revealed that he wanted to point out his own intentions, and hurriedly arched his hand: "Lao Wang, my brother has just arrived, there is something wrong, please give me more advice, and my brother should have a report." ”

Wang Shichang was very satisfied with Fu Shichang's humble attitude, smiled, lowered his voice and said: "Cheng, our brothers will be in the same pot in the future, teach you to be obedient, that Ye is not an ordinary person, let me tell you the truth, last month, oh, it was before the war, remember?" Isn't Your Majesty a new concubine surnamed Ye, then Steward Ye is Concubine Ye's father, you said it yourself, he is not big, hehe, if you can survive the current battle, when the Tang army retreats, this Steward Ye is afraid that it will become a green cloud, and we all have to focus on stammering people first? ”

"Oh, no wonder, that guy dared to be so presumptuous, so that's the case, my brother was taught." Fu Shi suddenly sighed in his senses, shook his head with a wry smile, touched his red and swollen cheeks again, and was deeply annoyed that he had been slapped for no reason, and was silent for a while, and then asked in a low voice: "Lao Wang, do you think the Tang army will retreat?" ”

When it comes to the Tang army under the city, Wang Shichang's face changed, without him, when the Tang army attacked the city the day before, Wang Shichang happened to be not on duty, and he did not participate in the bloody battle at the head of the city, but as the palace guard, several other departments were all with Fu Yanxiong's side, and the Tang army that attacked the city was fiercely knocked to the death, and the result was that only a few twenty or thirty wounded soldiers were left after the war of five hundred pro-guards who participated in the battle, and then there was the appearance of the transfer of Fu Shichang and others to the palace guard, as soon as he thought of the courage of the Tang army, the sweat on Wang Shichang's forehead immediately appeared, Seeing that there was no one left and right, he leaned into Fu Shichang's ear and whispered: "Lao Fu, don't talk nonsense, this is also a taboo, a few of Qi Tou'er's worshippers died in the city a few days ago, if anyone talks about Tang Jun in front of him, it is begging, do you know?" ”

"Alas......" Captain Fu Shi was originally a member of the Left Guard, and had fought with the Tang Army, so he knew the fierceness of the Tang Army, and he didn't even have a trace of confidence in whether he could hold out until the Tang Army retreated......

It was late at night, although there was no curfew in the city tonight due to the deployment of various ministries, however, both the people in the city and the soldiers of the various armies were panicked because of the fiasco of the Shule reinforcements, and no one would wander on the street at such a time, Manhetian was quiet in the city, except for a small number of soldiers who were in a hurry on the street, there were few other pedestrians, and the Ye steward and his party walking on the street with their hands behind their backs were particularly eye-catching, but no one checked them along the way, But I saw that Steward Ye led a few servants along East Avenue for a while, and then turned into a small alley, and after a long time in the dense alley, he appeared in front of a spacious independent courtyard.

Looking at the two closed red lacquer gates, Steward Ye's always unwavering face finally showed a trace of solemnity, and he didn't say much, just waved his hand and signaled the few little guys who followed behind him to retreat, but he took a deep breath, stabilized his mind, and then strode to the door, grabbed the copper ring on the door, and knocked it in a three-fold and three-light rhythm, but for a moment, the door slowly opened a line, and a family member holding a lantern leaned out of the crack in the door, glanced at Steward Ye, and lowered his voice, Spit out two words: "Long River." ”

A hint of excitement flashed in Steward Ye's eyes, and he replied in a hoarse voice that suppressed excitement: "Sunset." ”

"Please." The man didn't say anything more, just waved his hand calmly, and took the lead in the door, Steward Ye took a few breaths, looked left and right, and saw that there was nothing wrong, so he flashed into the door in a little panic.

The huge courtyard was empty, without any people, Steward Ye and the housekeeper walked in the middle of it one after the other, the footsteps actually had an echoing sound, which seemed particularly strange in the middle of the night, but neither Steward Ye nor the housekeeper who led the way in front of him seemed to mind such a gloomy feeling, just silently walked between the houses, and without counting, the two of them had already arrived in the backyard, a tall man stood in the moonlight like a mountain, looking at Steward Ye who came forward with blazing eyes, He said expressionlessly: "What's the matter?" ”

"Subordinate Yan Seventeen, see Chief Yan." As soon as Steward Ye saw the man, he hurriedly stepped forward and respectfully knelt down to say goodbye.

Yan Chief, Yan Le, the deputy commander of the "Rising Sun" Western Regions Branch, is a side descendant of the Yan family, has always been a businessman, and was ordered to lurk in Khotan, and is in charge of the intelligence work of the "Rising Sun" in Khotan. ”

Ye Guan is naturally not the Ye Guan on the surface, but the master of the "Rising Sun" Wild Goose Group, Yan Seventeen, who is responsible for breaking into the Fu Yanxiong court, although it nominally belongs to Yan Le's subordinates, but they are not a system with each other, and they have little contact with each other in the past, but they just know each other's existence, according to the rules of the "Rising Sun", the two lines are not allowed to contact each other without authorization, unless there is extremely important information to exchange, otherwise, it is a violation of the rules of the organization, and they should be punished by the organization, and the heavy ones will be executed, and the light ones will be degraded, which is not child's playAt this time, if Yan Seventeen can't say why, I'm afraid that it will be impossible to get out of this mansion, but Yan Seventeen is not nervous at all, and gets up and says: "If you return to the head of Yan, the rules are always in the hearts of your subordinates, and this time you have to come as a last resort, just because the situation is urgent, you have to be decided by the head of Yan, as far as the subordinates know, the prince of Shule, Hersa, has now been taken by Fu Yanxiong, and is now being imprisoned in the dungeon of the city guard. ”

"Oh? Is this information reliable? As soon as Yan Le heard this, he was stunned for a moment, and with the eyes of the person in charge of intelligence, he knew the importance of this news, and hurriedly asked.

Yan XVII replied in the affirmative, "Reliable, my subordinates have found out where Hersa was held." ”

"Hmm." Yan Le nodded noncommittally, frowned and thought for a while, then raised his eyebrows and said, "This matter is very important, it is not something that can be decided, and it must be decided by His Highness." After a pause, he continued, "Is it safe for you to come here?" ”

"Rest assured, Manager Yan was ordered to go to the east of the city to appease the generals of Shule, and the few people he brought here are all peripheral members of the newly developed wild goose group, so they should be correct." Yan Seventeen replied quickly.

"That's good, let's go first, what should I do, when His Highness comes with news, a certain person will send someone to inform you." Yan Le didn't ask any more questions, just waved his hand and motioned for Yan Seventeen to retreat.

"Yes, the subordinates retired." After all, there was something to do, and Yan Seventeen didn't dare to delay more, so he responded respectfully, and retreated with the family member who never said a word.

Yan Le stood silently in the courtyard for a while, after thinking about it, he strode into the wing, sat down and quickly got up, and after a while, he walked out of the wing room with a carrier pigeon in his hand, and thought about it solemnly, so he raised his hand and sent the carrier pigeon violently into the night sky, but after listening to the "fluttering" wings, the carrier pigeon flew into the night sky, circled in front of the house, and then spread its wings and flew north, but it disappeared into the darkness in the distance in a few breaths......

Today's battle is very beautiful, only a quarter of an hour, with 4,000 cavalry defeated more than 10,000 Shule cavalry, beheaded 2,000, captured 5,000 alive, captured Shule King Taganda alive, captured cattle, sheep, horses and countless horses, not only cut off the last hope of Hotan City, but also got a lot of grain and baggage, at the same time, once the whole territory of Shule was taken, the grain road problem that plagued the Tang army in Anxi will also be solved, such a big victory, since it is very morale-boosting, the whole army is jubilant, sweep away the annoyance of the siege of the city the day before yesterday, Even if it was late at night, many officers and soldiers in the army were still enthusiastically discussing the glory of the battle, but Li Zhen, who was the commander-in-chief, did not seem to be infected by this kind of joy, and after the battlefield summary meeting, he was alone in the big tent of the Chinese army in front of the large sand table and pondered, although there was no joy and worry-free on his face, but there was a faint trace of sorrow in his eyes.

Today's victory is gratifying, but it is not fundamental for Li Zhen, without him, because of Taganda's retreat, Li Zhen has wasted nearly eight days of time under this Hotan City, seeing that the Hotan River is about to enter the dry season, the water in the river is getting shallower and shallower, even if it was a rainstorm the day before yesterday, I didn't see the Hotan River rise a few points, and then there is a dozen days, the Hotan River, which is a seasonal river, is only afraid that it will be completely cut off, once the Hotan River is broken, if you want to take the Hotan Road back to Anxi, you will have to wait until next year, If this is the case, not to mention that it will not be able to catch up with the original campaign to exterminate the Qiuzi Kingdom, it is only possible to attack the north of the Tianshan Mountains, Li Zhen's original Anxi strategy will be seriously lagging behind, and the ensuing troubles are only afraid that there will be no less, and this is unacceptable to Li Zhen, but it is not easy to take Hotan City in a short period of time, if the whole army is put into a strong attack again, then casualties are not something that Li Zhen is happy to see, besides, at this time, Fu Yanxiong has no way to retreat, It's a strange thing not to fight to the death, in case the fight becomes a stalemate, the king of Guizi in the back will be confused again, and Anxi's originally good situation is afraid that it will be chaotic again.

Waiting is definitely not a way, with Li Zhen's understanding of Fu Yanxiong, this person is by no means an easy person to admit defeat, until the mountains and rivers are exhausted, he will never surrender easily, and he wants to wait for his ammunition to run out of food and surrender, not to mention whether there is such a possibility, even if there is, Li Zhen can't afford that time. Storm? It's not a good way, unless Li Zhen plans to expose the last trump card in his hand - gunpowder weapons in advance, otherwise, just breaking through Chengheng will have to pay a heavy price, as for tricking Fu Yanxiong out of the city to fight a decisive battle, that old boy has long been scared, how can he dare to have a decisive battle with the Tang army.

Annoying, really annoying! Li Zhen thought about all kinds of possibilities over and over again, but never found a good solution, in desperation, he had to hit the idea on the gunpowder head, although he had calculated how to rely on the power of the gunpowder explosion and the deterrent power to quickly break through the city, and also calculated how to divide the remnants of the enemy in the chaotic street battle, and even how to pursue the enemy army who abandoned the city and fled, but Li Zhen was still very unwilling to be exposed early in the gunpowder weapon, and could not make the final decision.

"Fucking damn it!" Li Zhen thought about it and couldn't find a quick way to win other than using gunpowder weapons, and scolded helplessly in a low voice, Huo Ran got up, just thinking about ordering the generals to be summoned, when he suddenly saw Yingda hurrying in from outside the tent, still holding a carrier pigeon in his hand, he immediately stopped, frowned and asked, "Where did the news come from?" ”

"Your Highness, it's news from Hotan City, and it has just arrived." Ying Da untied a small copper pipe from the pigeon's leg, replied respectfully, and handed the small copper pipe to Li Zhen.

"Oh?" Li Zhen originally guessed that it should be a carrier pigeon from Jiaohe or Jingshi, this heard the news from Jiaohe City, and suddenly came to the interest, without him, although the Tang army was stationed under the city of Hetian, but due to the limitation of troops, there was no siege, the south gate of Hotan City was always empty, and the people in the city went out of the city to collect firewood through the south gate, and Li Zhen's department did not go to block it, therefore, if there is news in the "Rising Sun" in the city, there is no need to use carrier pigeons, just send people to mix with the people who go out of the city to collect firewood to spread the news in the city, and now since the carrier pigeon is usedThis shows the importance and urgency of this news.

Hersa captured? How so? Ha, damn, this kid must want to abandon the city and flee, Fu Lao'er is afraid that his behavior will mess up his own army, hehe, interesting! Well, this is a good opportunity, Yan Le, this kid can come up with such a plan to sow discord, it is also rare, you might as well give it a try! Li Zhen's mind moved quickly, weighed the plan proposed by Yan Le several times in his heart, and made some modifications according to the current troop allocation of the Tang army, and roughly had a clear idea, walked to the bookcase with a smile, picked up a quick book, listed the strategies he thought and thought one by one, and after thinking about it for a while, after confirming that it was correct, he raised his head and looked at the Eagle Avenue waiting on the side: "Eagle Great, send this letter to the city immediately, there must be no mistake." ”

"Yes." Ying Da responded, and was about to retreat, Li Zhen added: "The carrier pigeon is used first, but I am afraid that it will be lost, so it's okay, early tomorrow morning, Er will take a few masters into the city, inform Yan Le, and help him by the way, go." The eagle saluted, promised, and went down to arrange for everything without mentioning it.

"There's going to be a show tomorrow!" The big event was set, Li Zhen was in a good mood, he smiled, stretched his waist, and strode into the back account......

Infinite Excitement (Full Book)