Turning over the Zhongtiao Mountain, the landform is completely different from Luoyang, Shaanzhou, the west wind is strong, adding a little bit of vastness, Wanquan City stands alone on the vast flat land of the back mountain, although there is no sunset and long smoke, the closed city gate is still full of the sense of loneliness and arrogance.

Xue Ne saw that the banner of the city tower was still there, and he breathed a long sigh of relief, presumably the defenders of Wanquan City had heard that there were thieves making trouble, but before they received the order of the imperial court to suppress bandits, they closed the city gate tightly and held on to protect the safety of the people in the city.

Xue Ne looked north again, and saw no trace of Shi Yuannian's reinforcements, so he continued to lead the troops down the mountain.

About half an hour later, Xue Ne led his troops to Wanquan City, showed his military talisman, and shouted towards the city tower: "I am the commander of Lantian County, Xue Shenyan, the son of Xue Rengui, the prince of Pingyang County!" By the will of the two saints, send troops from Luoyang to this point, please open the city gate! ”

Xue Rengui's family was originally from Wanquan, Jiangzhou, and there were many relatives and side branches of the Xue family in the local area among the soldiers guarding the city. After settling the troops who had entered the city, Xue Ne and Fan Ning immediately went to Wanquan Mansion, and they were greeted by Xue Rengui's brother Xue Yiming. After the two saw the salute, Xue Yiming looked at the beautiful girl in a military uniform beside Xue Ne, and asked suspiciously, "This is ......?"

"Fan Ning, the Zhenjing general who was personally named by the Queen of Heaven, has excellent martial arts, is my deputy general, and he is also the best of the general horn with me, in short...... Yes, it's our own family. ”

The quietness of these two men and women, their appearance and bearing are rare to see one among millions of people in the world, if it is not a pair, it is rare, but I have never seen my shy and non-talkative brother take the initiative to introduce it, it can be seen that he has a deep affection for this girl, Xue Mingyi smiled: "When I was young, I heard Shenyan talk about girls, and it is really better to hear than to see." ”

Xue Ne was stunned, and immediately embarrassed, he still remembered that when he was a child, on a New Year, his parents took him and Xue Chuyu back to his hometown in Wanquan, he had no books to read, no playmates, he fell asleep in a daze, and when he woke up, he looked for Fan Ning, which made everyone in the clan laugh.

Recalling this paragraph, Xue Ne was so embarrassed that he stumbled: "Mo, don't talk about this, the enemy is now, let's talk about the enemy first." Brother, have you received any news from the borderlands? ”

Xue Mingyi motioned for Xue Ne and Fan Ning to enter the inner hall to talk, picked up a volume of secret letters on the table and handed it over, Xue Fan and the two opened it, only to see that it was an urgent report sent by the four towns of Anxi, saying that there were thieves in Luosa uprising, gathering more than 200,000 people to go north, capture the Western Regions Baizhou and other eighteen fetter states, and unite with Khotan to contribute to trap Qiuzi to change the city, currently assembled in Shuofang, as if to go east to the two capitals, the current occupation of Hangu Pass is its vanguard troops, about 30,000 people. Jiang Ke, the left prime minister, has led the Anxi capital to escort the garrison back from Liangzhou and is waiting for the arrival of the rebels.

"In that case," Xue Ne said, taking out the soldier talisman handed over by the emperor in his hand, "Spread the oracle of the two saints, Shi Yuannian led the crowd to rise up, captured Hangu Pass, threatened the two capitals, and cut off the main roads, and his crime should be punished." Now that the thieves are hoarding, resulting in the government decree not being declared, and the letter letter in the two capitals is difficult to pass, I specially ordered Xue Shenyan, the eldest son of Xue Rengui, the prince of Pingyang County, to take a long way and pass on my order, ordering all states to send troops to reinforce Chang'an and Luoyang, and hand them over to the unified command of the military department, so as to eliminate this thief as soon as possible. ”

Xue Yiming knelt down and paused: "Obey the holy decree!" He immediately ordered the adjutant to draft a document, copy Xue Ne's description, and then rub the soldier talisman on it, and send it to Chang'an by the Scud.

Xue Ne said again: "Don't hide it from my brother, this morning our two sides fought with the thieves in Shaanzhou, the thieves are menacing, and the military department ordered all over the country to help, it will take at least three or five days to arrive." In order to stop the thieves, protect the two saints and the people, and leave no trouble, it is necessary to quickly occupy the Tong Pass behind the Hangu Pass, and cut off the back road of Shi Yuannian's retreat. I would like to ask my cousin to draw a team of men and horses from the defenders of Jiangzhou, and send additional troops, weapons and baggage for me to support us in going to Tongguan to intercept us. ”

"Hey, hey, wait," Fan Ning interrupted Xue Ne's words, "When we left Shaanzhou, we didn't tell Li Yuanyan that we were going to Tongguan, in case the thieves and dogs jumped over the wall and turned around to attack us, with only 2,000 people, can they resist the attack of 30,000 people?" ”

Xue Ne said confidently: "I can't tell them that we have to go to Tongguan, otherwise General Li Jingye will be more or less involved, if there is a mistake in Shaanzhou, how can we have to compensate for the loss?" There is a cloud in the law of war of the guard: 'If he meets a great enemy and must fight, he will be ignorant and the government decree will not work, although there are many soldiers and horses, the hearts of the people are different, although the armor is wide but the strength of the people is not strong, the place of residence is not solid and the grain transportation cannot continue. The pawn has no will to attack, and there is no help from the chariots and horses, so he can attack and take it. 'Shi Yuannian's department learned that its back road was blocked, and the reinforcements would not come, and the army's heart would be shaken, even if it was bent on breaking out of the encirclement, abandoning Hangu Pass and attacking Tongguan, we had the advantage of geographical advantage, why not be able to defend it? And if we learn that Tongguan is occupied by us, the attack on Shaanzhou will also look forward and backward, be contained, and reduce the defensive pressure on the Shaanzhou side. If they are allowed to cause chaos in the Guanzhong, so that they can plunder the materials in the Guanzhong and enrich their grain and grass, it will make them linger and difficult to exterminate. ”

After listening to Xue Ne's explanation, Fan Ning bowed his head and said, "Okay, you have a good brain, then I'll listen to you." ”

Xue Yiming continued: "What Shen Yan said is. There are a total of 3,000 defenders in Wanquan and the surrounding counties, which is not a large number, but fortunately, there are many weapons, horses, grain and grass. Tomorrow morning, let them assemble outside the city, and obey your command. ”

After a night's rest, Xue Nesuo led ** was ready to go outside the city, plus the defenders of Wanquan and the defenders of Jiangzhou counties, a total of more than 4,000 people. Xue Ne led the 4,000 starry night and arrived at Tongguan early the next morning.

Unexpectedly, 4,000 ** suddenly arrived, and more than 300 people left by Shi Yuannian to guard Tongguan were quickly defeated and fled in the direction of Hangu Pass. Xue Ne effortlessly recovered Tongguan, immediately reorganized the armament, and laid a net of heaven and earth, he expected that the decisive battle was not far away.

At the same time, in the Tang army position outside the city of Shaanzhou, Li Jingye and Li Yuanyan repelled a group of thieves during the day, and the attack of the thieves was quite weak, which made the Li father and daughter quite confused. ”

The Li family and daughter immediately went out to check, and sure enough, they saw a faint red sky in the valley to the west. Li Jingye immediately understood that the attack of the day was just a false shot, and Shi Yuannian planned to give up the attack on Shaanzhou and Luoyang and return to attack Tongguan, so he burned Hangu Pass to prevent the Li father and daughter from attacking his back, and formed a siege with Xue Ne.

"Quick! Take a quick detour and go to investigate General Xue's situation as quickly as possible! ”

Li Yuanyan couldn't listen to her father's words for a long time, stared at the fire with a worried face, and unconsciously whispered, "Xue Lang......"

Tongguan is located in the westernmost end of the Cuihan corridor, south of the world's first dangerous peak Xiyue Huashan, north of Zhongtiao Mountain and the Yellow River, with Hangu Pass is the same since ancient times is the place where soldiers must fight. Xue Netun's troops here completely blocked Shi Yuannian's backup, no wonder it made him angry, gave up Hangu Pass and turned his head to attack Tongguan.

At this moment, the 4,000 Tang troops guarding the pass were deployed in place according to Xue Ne's command, forming a fan-shaped formation in front of the pass, and all the roads that might lead to the pass were blocked.

At dawn, the early sun gradually rose, and tens of thousands of thieves appeared on the horizon, only to see Shi Yuannian wearing armor all over his body, straddle a sweaty and bloody BMW, holding a long-handled saber, and looking full of ambition. After him, 30,000 rangers poured in like a flood, gradually approaching the pass guarded by the Tang army in the canyon.

After marching to about 500 steps away from the forward of the Tang army, Shi Yuannian raised his hand to signal his subordinates to stop, drove his horse forward, and shouted: "Is it the Xue family's Xiaotian Shehan ahead?" You don't stay in Shaanzhou City honestly, running around like a hare, but now you are sent to the door, what do you mean? Anyway, save me the effort of looking for you, and let my iron hooves step over your thin body today! ”

After saying that, the 30,000 cavalry behind Shi Yuannian roared like wolves, and the sound resounded throughout the valley, but the Tang troops guarding the pass stood cold and unmoved. After calling three times, Shi Yuannian drove his horse to pat the horse's buttocks in front of the Tang army's formation, and said provocatively: "The so-called Tang Iron Cavalry, are they all just cowards? I didn't even have anyone who could come up and fight me alone, so I could only cower in the city like a king. Oh yes, I forgot, your lord is like a woman with a white arm, and this saber is so heavy that he will not be able to lift it! ”

A group of rebels burst into laughter, looking at Shi Yuannian who was provoking in front of the battle, Xue Ne never said a word, and let Shi Yuannian scold in front of the battle. Seeing that ** was not hooked, Shi Yuannian "sighed", raised his hand above his head and said: "Sudden heat!" ”

"Heat!" The 30,000 rangers shouted in unison, and then under the leadership of Shi Yuannian, they launched a charge towards Tongguan, and the galloping horses made the entire valley resound.

Directly below the city wall, the Tang Army's battle front team stood majestically with the Mo knife in hand, facing the surging rangers, the Mo knife in the hand of the battle front team was the most powerful weapon. Sure enough, although the thief rangers attacked fiercely, they immediately slowed down as soon as they arrived at the city tower, and with the order of Xue Ne on the city tower, countless Mo knives were like wolf teeth suddenly growing under the city wall, and they devoured the surging rangers and horses fiercely.

There were 30,000 thieves in the first year of history, where would he care about the loss of hundreds of people, his strong arms were raised, and he signaled everyone to continue to attack and not stop.

Suddenly, countless wooden barrels fell from the sky from behind the castle tower, falling into the Ranger formation and exploding, flames flying everywhere. At the same time, thousands of crossbow bolts were fired from the castle towers and from the heights on both sides of the gorge at the enemy's formations. The thieves looked around, only to see dozens of stone carts transported from various cities in Jiangzhou neatly lined up on the city wall, and the soldiers loaded the wooden barrels stuffed with manganese and Kunlun yellow on the stone carts in a steady stream, and threw down the city wall under the operation of craftsmen, and smashed them into the enemy army in front of the pass.

However, Shi Yuannian was still embarrassed, and led hundreds of henchmen to break through to the front of the battle, and fought hand-to-hand with the Tang army.

Shi Yuannian heard that Gao Min was dead, why did he see him here today, isn't he a ghost? Just when he was stunned, a long arrow suddenly fell from the sky, straight to the heart, Shi Yuannian was startled, immediately reined in the horse, luckily escaped, he raised his wolf-like eyes, only to see Xue Ne standing at the top of the triple eaves of Tongguan in the wind, bending the bow like a full moon, pointing straight to the sky.

From where he was to the towering tower, at least four or five hundred paces away, this seemingly powerless young man had such a strong bow? Shi Yuannian snorted coldly, then thought about it, danced the saber in his hand impenetrable, and rode his horse straight towards the city tower. Seeing this, Xue Ne hurriedly shot three arrows in a row, but Shi Yuannian either pulled the horse's head to dodge, or used a saber to turn in a circle to block it, which made Xue Ne's archery ineffective.

"Oops!" Seeing Shi Yuannian approaching the battle, Xue Ne immediately retracted his bow and wanted to jump off the roof, but he only felt dizzy. It's hundreds of feet above the ground, and when you climb up, you don't think it's going to be difficult, and if you accidentally fall down, you'll definitely fall to pieces.

Xue Ne had no choice but to jump to the stone steps on the side first, but in the blink of an eye, he heard Shi Yuannian on horseback with a lion's roar: "Girl, don't pretend to be a ghost, your thin arms and legs have long been exposed!" ”

It turned out that the so-called "Gao Min" was Fan Ning, who was wearing a special dough with a painting of Pi Xian, and with this shout, Shi Yuannian, who was close to the city tower, rose from the horse and volleyed straight to Fan Ning. Fan Ning didn't dare to slack off, and immediately kicked the enemy soldiers who were fighting with him out, and then dodged Shi Yuannian's earth-shaking blow with all his strength.

In an instant, the ground was full of smoke and dust, and Shi Yuannian stepped out of the dust, only to see that he was nine feet tall, with a tiger's back and a bear's waist, and he was fully armed, more like Yama than when he was in the annex of Hongwen Pavilion. The defenders on the tower of the city were hindered by the Tang army's vanguard below, and did not dare to shoot arrows to support.

Historically, the main general has competed, and the soldiers next to him are not allowed to interfere, and everyone consciously gives up a piece of open land. In the abbot's place in front of this city gate, on one side is Fan Ning, who is dressed in silver scale bright light armor, wearing a Lingyun helmet, and a red cloak on her back. On the other side is Shi Yuannian, who is wearing a big Qin ring chain mail, wearing a wolfskin hat, and wearing a black big coat, he is holding a long knife, and his bright blade is picked up to Fan Ning's waist, and his legs are full of bows. The two stared at each other deadly, slowly walking in circles around the field, obviously not making a move, but they had already fought hundreds of times in their minds.

Suddenly, the two of them rushed towards each other at the same time, Fan Ning took the lead, stabbed him falsely, and then used his strength to block the long knife with the blade, and then turned around like a whirlwind, and the tip of the knife went straight to Shi Yuannian's head. Shi Yuannian reacted very quickly, and the long blade was horizontal, and in an instant, the white blades met, and sparks flew everywhere.

Blocking Fan Ning's blow, Shi Yuannian smiled hideously, and his right hand struck Fan Ning with lightning speed. Fan Ning couldn't dodge, she was knocked back four or five steps by this palm, she gritted her teeth, but she still felt a fishy sweetness in her throat, and the corners of her mouth were bleeding.

"You knocked off a piece of meat in your ear, and this time it's back to you!" Shi Yuannian couldn't stop laughing, quite a bit of the pleasure of revenge.

Fan Ning raised his hand and wiped the corners of his mouth, and said coldly: "Don't be long-winded, you didn't say a word in the other courtyard that day, but there are a lot of today!" ”

With that, Fan Ning turned the tip of the eight-foot-long Mo knife, dragged it behind him, and stood with his feet in a forward lunge, ready to abandon his defense and launch an attack on Shi Yuannian.

Ever since that day when he fought in the Hongwen Pavilion, Fan Ning knew that he could not beat Shi Yuannian in terms of strength and physical strength, and the only thing he could rely on was speed. If you attack and defend at the same time, you will have fewer chances of winning. The world's martial arts are only fast and unbreakable, and only by using his speed advantage to kill Shi Yuannian before he has time to defend can he have the possibility of victory.

Seeing Fan Ning put on a posture of attacking with all his might, Shi Yuannian smiled hideously, and even gave up his defense, dragging the long knife behind him, preparing to decide the victory with one sword.

Suddenly, a wooden barrel stuffed with miscanthus and Kunlun yellow fell from the castle tower and exploded more than a foot away from the two people. It was too late to say that it was too fast, and between the lightning and flint, the two of them rushed forward with an arrow almost at the same time, only to hear a loud "clang" sound, dust everywhere, everything was unclear, and only the silhouette of the two people standing with their knives raised.

When the smoke and dust gradually dissipated, Shi Yuannian took the lead in kneeling to the ground, the hilt of the knife in his hand was split in half by Fan Ning's Mo knife, the armor on his abdomen was cut out of a big mouth, and the blood slowly oozed out, but other than that, there was no big problem. On the other side, the Mo knife in Fan Ning's hand fell to the ground with a "dang long", only to see that the armor on her shoulder was split by Shi Yuannian's long knife, and blood splattered out, which was even more bright red than the crimson cloak, and then her whole person fell forward heavily, like a broken puppet.

In just a short moment, it was indeed Fan Ning who seized Shi Yuannian's moment of hesitation and took the lead in slashing the knife into his abdomen. However, the chain mail worn by Shi Yuannian was specially made to resist the Mo knife spear, so although Fan Ning cut off the handle of his knife and even split the chain mail through a crack, it failed to penetrate Shi Yuannian's body.

Shi Yuannian smiled wildly and proudly, and was about to struggle to get up, when he suddenly felt a chill in his heart, he looked down and saw that there was an arrow that shot through his huge body at some point, and before he could feel the pain, a second or third came through him...... Shi Yuannian suddenly felt a chill all over his body, he turned his head with all his strength, only to see Xue Ne holding a big bow, his handsome body half-kneeling on the ground, his posture was extremely unnatural, as if his legs had been broken, and he gritted his teeth to hold on.

Seeing Fan Ning and Shi Yuannian facing each other, Xue Ne didn't care about the height of the roof, jumped down layer by layer, and finally even jumped directly off the city tower several zhang high, fell and fell into a short coma. The moment the barrel exploded, he was also awakened, and when he saw Fan Ning and Shi Yuannian on fire, Xue Ne only felt that the blood in his whole body rushed to his brain, and his mind became extremely clear, so that the process of connecting the white blades seemed to him to be like slow motion. When he saw that Fan Ning's shoulder armor was hit, he seemed to be completely unaware of the pain, and reflexively propped himself up from the ground and fired three arrows at Shi Yuannian.

Although the chain mail can resist the slashing of the Mo knife and spear, it cannot defend against the smaller arrows. With a "bang", Shi Yuannian suddenly fell, becoming a pool of immovable flesh and blood. Xue Ne supported her broken leg like crazy, crawled to Fan Ning's side with a walking belt, pulled her into her arms, tore her clothes hard, dismantled them into strips of cloth, and firmly bandaged her wounds, before finally stopping the bubbling blood.

"Ning'er! Ning'er! "The remnants of the army are still fighting with the Tang army, and the arrows are raining down on their sides, but Xue Ne is like being in a no-man's land, everything is empty, only the little man in his arms is real. Her breath became weaker and weaker, and her long eyelashes trembled violently at first, but now they gradually subsided, like a butterfly exhausted in a rainstorm, and Xue Ne shouted like a frenzy, "Someone! Come and help! "Hoarse, not at all like the usual taciturn.

At this moment, there was a sound of trumpets from the east, and I saw that it was none other than the reinforcements led by Li Jingye and Li Yuanxi, who were covered in black ash and had obviously just crossed the fire from Hangu Pass. Although Shi Yuannian set fire to Hangu Pass, the Tang army still found a way to break through, and finally rushed to Tongguan after a whole night of trekking.

Reinforcements from the Tang army have arrived, and their own generals have died, Tongguan is still standing, and the thieves have lost their will to fight and have dismounted and surrendered. Seeing Xue Ne holding the seriously injured Fan Ning in her arms, covered in blood, Li Yuanxi was not shocked, and immediately shouted to the army: "Where is the military doctor?" Come and save someone's life! ”