After the Qilian Mountain in the west of Liangzhou City, the wind in the north of the city gradually prevailed, and Li Tiantu only persisted for a day, and then returned to the carriage with a disgraced face.

Su Ling'er hurriedly took out the wet square towel to wipe off the dust on Li Tiantu's face, and said distressedly: "Childe, why are you so troubled?" ”

Li Tiantu didn't care, and said with a light smile: "If I don't go out to eat with them all day long, just rely on Gongtu to give an order, I'm afraid I won't be able to reach Xizhou City in half a month." ”

"Weststate?" Su Ling'er muttered to herself, the Western Regions penal colony that has always made her grandfather remember it for a lifetime, is the place where she told her countless times when she was a child, but she didn't expect to be able to come and see it in this life.

Li Tiantu remembered Su Ling'er's grandfather, Su Dingwen, the great Confucian of the previous dynasty who offended Emperor Taizong, was exiled to Xizhou City, and suddenly apologized in his heart, and sighed softly: "I'm sorry, Ling'er, I was negligent." I shouldn't have brought you this time. ”

Su Ling'er shook her head, barely squeezed out a smile at Li Tiantu, and said with a complicated face: "The past is over, Ling'er is just a little touching." Don't worry about it! ”

The little girl with a calm expression held the Kunwu sword in her arms, curled up in the corner of the carriage with her hands folded, but the whole person looked a little lonely.

If there is anything else that can make Su Ling'er, who is rarely happy, emotionally rise and fall, it is the Su family, a Confucian family that has suffered the wrath of the Son of Heaven and has a bad fate. After decades of vicissitudes of life, Su Ling'er and Su Lian'er are the only surviving bloodline of the Su family. And Su Ling'er, as an older sister, is the only eldest lady of the lonely Su family. Grandpa's deathbed words are still in my ears, "Ling'er, my Su family will also wither and wither to your generation, you are the elder sister, the eldest lady of the Su family, you must take the responsibility and take care of your mother and your sister." It's a pity that my Su Dingwen's protégé has countless old days, and when he is really in trouble, there are only a few people who can help. Su Dingwen took a hard breath, a pair of old eyes filled with tears, showing the twilight of the hero, and said with a smile: "Scholars, you should be high and self-appreciative, proud of the turbidity of the world, how can you bow your head to the rebellious ministers and thieves who lightly start the army!" Grandpa never regretted what happened back then. The stubborn and pedantic old man who was famous in the literary world gradually lowered his voice, and suddenly lowered his arrogant head.

Li Tiantu looked at Su Ling'er with tears in her eyes, and felt pity in her heart, but she felt that she couldn't comfort her, so she had to squint her eyes silently, so as not to embarrass the little girl.

The convoy traveled a lot faster, leaving Liangzhou, entering the Western Regions, and gradually approaching Xizhou.

The Anxi Prefecture was originally in Qiuci, but since the 300,000 Tubo iron cavalry surrounding Liangzhou City was collected by Lingyou to Dafeichuan, the 60,000 Anxi soldiers who had been tentatively confronting the 100,000 Tubo North Route Army under the leadership of Li Laoduhu decisively gave up Qiuci, reduced the 60,000 subordinates to zero, and slowly retreated, taking Xizhou, which was deep in the rear, as the wartime command center, to block the 100,000 iron cavalry of the Tubo Northern Route Army and the 200,000 iron cavalry that came out of Dafeichuan immediately after taking the opportunity to attack. Thanks to Li Laoduhu's quick decision, although the current Western Regions of the Celestial Empire have lost one-third of their territory, 60,000 Anxi soldiers have dragged 300,000 iron cavalry from Tubo, and although the defeat is a matter of time before it happens, it finally gives the Celestial Empire a chance to breathe.

Xizhou City is located at the confluence of the Taer River and the Yazi River, this oasis is long and narrow from north to south, and narrow from east to west, hanging high on the riverbed. This place used to be the capital of the ancient country of Cheshi, which has flourished after hundreds of years of vicissitudes, and is one of the important towns in the Western Regions of the Central Plains Dynasty in recent generations. The layout of the whole city is obviously from the hands of the predecessors, built according to the natural principle of the shape of the landscape, showing the trend of flapping wings and flying high and easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Li Bu led 20,000 Anxi soldiers to Xizhou City half a month ago, stored water and tuntian, consolidated the city defense, and put on a posture of fighting with 300,000 Tubo iron cavalry here, or, subconsciously, Li Laoduhu, who was loyal to the monarch and patriotic and fought all his life, had already regarded this oasis city that was easy to defend and difficult to attack with his back to the North Tianshan Mountains as the burial ground for himself and the last 20,000 Anxi soldiers.

In the center of Xizhou City, the top floor of the only two-story tall stone building, Li Bu stands alone in the wind and looks at the railing, facing the direction of the Central Plains in the East. This seventy-year-old veteran with a blank look looked at the starry sky in the far east, and his heart could not be calm for a long time. Originally, he felt that there were constant small frictions, and the big war was almost impossible, and he was destined to die in the Western Regions, and he never dreamed that at the critical juncture of the Celestial Empire's expedition to Goryeo, the Empress Dowager of Tubo and Princess Shuo, who was close to the Celestial Empire, would die suddenly, causing the Tubo ministers who had lost their restraints, Ling Zanpu, and King Agaliming, who had lost their restraints, to renegade the covenant that had been repaired by the Celestial Empire and Tubo for eternity, and to restart the war at this critical time, and turn against the Celestial Empire. Under the rapid turn of the situation, Anxi, which was far away from the Central Plains and close to Tibet, bore the brunt. Even since the beginning of the Tubo war in Liangzhou, he has seen that no matter what the results of the battle, the Western Regions will eventually be lost, this is an inescapable fate, so he gave the emperor of the Celestial Dynasty Tianxuan, who was far away in Beijing, with a mortal heart, to give the last twist and turn, his purpose is naturally not to ask for a reward, after all, everyone has to die, what is the use of a high reward? What he wants is to die and leave some shadow for his children and grandchildren, after all, his only son is still in the army.

Although Li Laoduhu, who has been trembling and guarding himself all his life, is not as peerless as the peerless generals such as the North Underworld, Ding Fangfang, Xue Rang and other peerless generals, but he is by no means a straw bag with no strategy, recalling that he has no great merit or great fault in this life, and when he dies, he still wants to seek some blessings for his children and grandchildren, the old man in armor smiled bitterly, and finally understood why he was so far from the North Immortal, saying a thousand ways and ten thousand, his mind was not ten percent in the army, and he always had to leave one or two percent to think about his family descendants, which was not selfless at all, he is not a pure soldier after all, and naturally he can't be a god on the battlefield.

A dark and thin middle-aged man in armor walked over with a sad face, and stopped talking: "Dadu Protection..."

Li Bu, who was pondering, turned to look at this general who had been with him for nearly twenty years, and said with a light smile: "Qin Lan, what's wrong today, this is not your previous style. ”

Qin Lan, the armored man, did not relax his expression because of Li Bu's friendly tone, he gritted his steel teeth at the moment, and blurted out: "My lord, my sons and daughters all say that the imperial court has given up on us. ”

Li Laodu squinted his eyes tightly, how could he not know about this problem that even ordinary soldiers could see clearly? But ordinary soldiers can say whatever they want, but as the commander of an army, he cannot.

The old man glared at Qin Lan fiercely, turned around and pointed to the vast land outside the city, and said with infinite emotion: "Qin Lan, you see the vast landscape of the Western Regions, although the climate is impermanent and not as fine as the Central Plains, but it also has its rough and majestic side. ”

Qin Lan was stunned for a moment, and only after thinking carefully did he comprehend the meaning of Dadu's words, and said with a wry smile: "Twenty years, I have followed my lord in the Western Regions for twenty years, how can I have no feelings?" Even if I don't serve the country and the people, I don't want to see this land being safely taken by the Tibetan aliens. ”

(End of chapter)